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Posts Tagged ‘Basics’

Photography Deck is a camera-themed deck of playing cards to help teach photo basics

02 Jul

There are many ways to learn the basics of photography, such as classes, tutorials and simply capturing more images. However, there’s a neat new method using playing cards, Photography Deck.

Launched on Kickstarter, the campaign far exceeded its funding goal during its first day. At the time of writing, over 600 backers had contributed more than $ 20,000 USD, compared to the goal of just $ 1,122.

The unique and attractive deck of cards are designed to appeal to shutterbugs and photography newcomers alike. Each suit covers a different topic: Clubs cover technical details, diamonds showcase shooting styles, hearts offer composition tips and finally, spades teach camera basics.

The 3 of spades card features the exposure triangle. Image credit: Photography Deck on Kickstarter

The technical details on the clubs cards include manual shooting, white balance, color theory and more. For example, the 6 of clubs teaches the viewer about the histogram. The shooting style-themed diamonds cards illustrate styles of photography including flash photography, macro, portrait photography among others. The hearts cards feature composition topics such as negative space, symmetry, patterns, leading lines, the rule of thirds and more. Adorned with basic camera information, the spades cards illustrate camera topics such as aperture, shutter speed, focal length, depth of field and more. The 3 of spades illustrates the exposure triangle of shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

Via the Kickstarter page, creator Eric Bohring states that each card ‘illustrates the most important rules and techniques about photography’ while featuring unique camera artwork. ‘Think of them as pocket-sized cheat sheets that you can bring wherever you travel,’ the campaign continues. The product is designed as a unique gift for photography enthusiasts and as a useful and artistic addition to your own camera bag.

The deck of cards is a standard playing deck with 52 cards and a pair of jokers. Each card features a micro-linen texture and is a standard playing card size: 3.5 x 2.5 inches (89 x 64mm).

If you’d like to make a pledge to the Photography Deck project, it’s about $ 14 USD to receive a standard Photography Deck, with shipping expected in August. For about $ 17, you can receive a limited edition green deck. If you’d like both decks you can receive a standard and limited edition deck for $ 29.


Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Back to Basics: Everything You Need to Know for Choosing the Right Tripod

22 Jun

The post Back to Basics: Everything You Need to Know for Choosing the Right Tripod appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

tips for choosing the right tripod

Although they seem simple enough at first glance, tripods are tremendously important tools for photographers and videographers. Talking about camera support systems might not be the sexiest topic in photography, but there’s so much to know about tripods. So, allow me to do you a favor. I’m about to clue you in on a few things I wish I’d known about tripods when I first began making photographs nearly twenty years ago. These things will help you when it comes to choosing the right tripod for your needs.

Back to Basics: Everything You Need to Know for Choosing the Right Tripod
Choosing the right tripod may seem overwhelming – but not once you know these things.

Camera tripods come in all shapes and sizes. Materials and mechanisms vary a lot, as do the specific usages of the tripods themselves. This article will show you the basics of tripod anatomy and talk about the things you need to know about them, so choosing the right tripod for your needs will be easy.

Tripod legs: putting the “tri” in tripod

Conceptually, tripods are delightfully simple beasts. Three extendable (usually) legs offer three points of contact to the ground/floor, then terminate at an apex where your camera will hopefully be securely mounted. This is all deceptively simple and leaves a lot of room for many different types of legs made from many different materials with equally varied locking mechanisms.

choosing the right tripod – Legs of tripods.

Let’s break down some of the common tripod leg variants you’re likely to encounter when choosing the right tripod.

Materials

Tripod leg materials range from the oddly archaic to the weirdly space-aged. Fortunately, in most cases, you can make the best choice for which material will be best for your uses based on these three simple maxims:

  1. Your tripod can be lightweight.
  2. Your tripod can be strong.
  3. Your tripod can be inexpensive.

The catch here is that you can only choose two of those when selecting a tripod. This is where tripod leg materials come into play and where you should be honest with yourself about what you need the most from your tripod.

1. Wood and Steel

As difficult as it might be to believe in this day and age, I still own and regularly use a wooden tripod; yes, really.

choosing the right tripod – Tripod with medium format camera.

It’s a beautifully made contraption of steel and ash wood, Berlebach Report 2042 (new version is 242). Primarily, I use it for large format and medium format work and any other time in the studio when I want to use a large setup or happen just to be feeling extra meta. It supports around 27lbs(12.25kg) and is absolutely rock solid. The drawback is my lovely Berlebach weights over 7lbs without a head, and it tips the scales at over 10lbs when fitted with one.

The point here is that yes, there are still tripod legs made using “old world” materials like wood and steel. Many of these are vintage tripods you can pick up for a wide range of prices.

If weight is not a concern for you, a heavier tripod is more ideal than a lighter one. If you do primarily static studio work, don’t overlook these wood or steel tripods.

2. Plastic

Yes, there are some plastic tripod legs out there. Most of these, thankfully, are relegated to smaller, desktop-type tripods for blogging – as they should be.

A plastic tripod.
A tiny little plastic tripod….

As a construction material for longer tripod legs, plastic and plastic derivatives aren’t ideal. Often the strength is far from adequate for the camera support system and flexes under the load.

While some plastic components on a tripod are perfectly fine, it’s advisable to steer clear of a large tripod with legs completely made from plastic.

3. Aluminum

Ahhhh yes, good ol’ aluminum. In the world of tripods, aluminum is the ultimate workhorse. It has an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, is relatively low in price (dropping lower all the time), and makes for a nice, healthy compromise between leg rigidity, compactness, and weight.

choosing the right tripod – Legs of an aluminum tripod.
Aluminum tripod legs.

For the last couple of decades, aluminum has been the tripod leg material of choice when it comes to camera support systems because it checks so many boxes in terms of performance.

However, in the last ten years or so, modern science has thrown a new material into the mix that has all but unseated aluminum as the ideal material for tripod leg construction.

I’m talking about…

4. Carbon Fiber

I’ve made photographs for over half my life now, with about ten of those years professionally. For as long as I’ve been slinging a camera, I only acquired my first carbon fiber tripod about three years ago. Carbon fiber is a lightweight, strong, and extremely corrosion-resistant material, making it perfect for tripod legs.

Carbon fiber legs of a camera support system.
Carbon fiber is strong, lightweight and becoming increasingly affordable.

Not to get all “sciency,” but carbon fiber is, in fact, more stiff than aluminum, being 181Gpa and 69Gpa, respectively. This means that a tripod leg made of carbon fiber flexes less than an aluminum leg of the same diameter. That’s a good thing for a tripod.

Of course, there are multiple carbon fiber species out there, and each has different characteristics.

Going back to our “big three” maxims for tripods, while carbon fiber tripods are strong and lightweight, they are often not cheap. Expect to pay around double for a set of carbon fiber tripod legs compared to aluminum.

However, this price gap is quickly closing as more and more manufacturers begin to bring carbon fiber tripods to the market. In most cases, the benefits of having an easy-to-carry tripod that is both strong and stable are often worth the investment.

5. Titanium

After an exhaustive internet search (okay, maybe about ten minutes), I couldn’t turn up any tripod legs made fully from titanium alloy. However, I did find some tripod sales pages using vague language and simply naming aluminum tripods as “titanium” models.

While titanium is making its way into the world of tripod legs, it is doing so in the form of hardware too. This is expected since titanium offers superb tensile strength and corrosion resistance. Yet, oddly enough, titanium isn’t the ultimate material for tripod legs and parts. It doesn’t wear well against other parts, and the strength-to-weight isn’t as good as some carbon fiber materials.

And the price? Words like “astronomical,” “insane” and “laughable” spring to mind.

Locking Mechanisms

To offer portability, tripod legs generally feature either folding or telescopic sections, with the vast majority being of the latter variety. This means that those leg sections sport some sort of locking mechanism. In general, you’re likely to encounter two main types of leg locks.

1. Flip locks

My very first tripod had flip-type leg locks. Then, my second tripod had flip-type leg locks…so it’s no surprise that I became accustomed to, and prefer, flip-type leg locks on my tripods. This, of course, is wholly subjective.

Flip locks are exactly how they sound: a locking mechanism that flips up to release the tripod leg section and flips down to secure it into place.

Flip locks on camera support system.
A flip-lock.

These locks make deploying the tripod fast and easy. Flip locks can be made of a variety of materials and vary in strength accordingly.

2. Twist locks

It seems as if twist locks are slowly becoming the more prevalent method for locking tripod legs into place. Much like their flip-lock cousins, a twist-type leg lock doesn’t function just as you might expect. Simply twist one direction to unlock and twist the opposite direction to secure.

choosing the right tripod – Twist-locks on a tripod.
A twist-lock style of locking mechanism.

Twist locks are generally less likely to fail due to dirt and sand over flip locks. However, not all twist locks are made equal. Some twist locks require a good deal of “throw” (twisting) to lock or loosen the mechanism resulting in slower deployment retraction.

Tripod Feet

Now that we’ve reached the bottom of our tripod, it’s time to talk about the silent hero of all tripod legs – the seldom applauded feet. No matter what, your tripod ultimately comes to rest on its feet…well…hopefully.

The feet of a tripod come in all shapes and sizes and are another important consideration when choosing the right tripod. In most cases, tripod feet are made from some sort of rubber or rubberized plastic.

choosing the right tripod – rubberized feet
Rubberized tripod feet.

This is where things get interesting.

Now, the shape and characteristics of tripod feet make them more or least apt to remain solid in different environments. The larger the feet of your tripod, the more “flotation” they will offer; meaning the load will be distributed over a wider surface area. The more flotation a tripod foot has, the less likely it is to sink into softer ground materials like sand and mud.

High flotation tripod feet on camera support system.
An example of large, high-flotation tripod feet. These kind are great for sandy environments.

Speaking of the ground, if you know you’ll be using your tripod in widely varying outdoor environments (looking at you landscape shooters), it would be a good idea to make certain your tripod feet feature some type of spike system.

Tripod foot spike.
Retractable foot spike.

Foot spikes are your best friend when you find yourself shooting in icy winter conditions or on exposed rock. However, they are also your worst enemy when shooting indoors and are the menace of wedding venues everywhere. So if you’re a photographer who shoots both outdoor and indoor scenes, make sure your leg spikes are retractable or removable.

It’s also worth mentioning that many major tripod manufacturers offer interchangeable feet for their products, which means you can change your tripod feet depending on the situation.

Center column or nah?

Let’s move a bit north and talk about a topic of contention when it comes to tripods – center columns. A center column allows the photographer to increase the tripod’s height after deploying the legs to their maximum extension.

choosing the right tripod - center columns.
A selection of tripods with center columns.

Center columns add wonderful versatility to a tripod’s capabilities simply because they facilitate the quick and tailored height adjustment. At the same time, center columns also introduce a point of movement into your shooting platform. Thus, causing the debate about whether or not using a center column hinders the overall quality of your photos.

Center columns are very much a double-edged sword in that they can add immense versatility to your shooting possibilities while also causing a few problems if poorly executed. As cliche’ as it might sound, the choice of whether or not you prefer a center column is entirely up to you.

Fortunately, the decision is becoming less and less of an issue, as many tripod makers now offer removable center columns for a large number of tripod models.

There’s so much more!

We’ve covered the main components of your tripod, but we haven’t even begun to talk about the wide world of ball heads, pan heads, and fluid heads! There are even base plates and plate clamps to talk about! So instead of reading about all of these cool little gadgets, why not see them in action?

Have a look at this video I made that covers all of the things we’ve already talked about plus the options that are currently available for mounting your camera to your particular camera support system.

As always, feel free to post your questions and comments about choosing the right tripod below. Have a favorite camera support system or setup you’d like to share with us? We would love to hear about them as well!

The post Back to Basics: Everything You Need to Know for Choosing the Right Tripod appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.


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Back to Basics: What is the Reciprocal Rule in Photography?

16 Jan

The post Back to Basics: What is the Reciprocal Rule in Photography? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

what-is-the-reciprocal-rule-in-photography

There are extremely few true “rules” in photography. This is an odd thing to say, especially in an article explaining the “Reciprocal Rule”. In an effort to do you and I both a favor, I think it’s best to get this out of the way right here at the beginning. Whenever we refer to the Reciprocal Rule in photography as…well…a rule, just know that it’s meant as more of a helpful guide rather than an iron-clad rule. Got it? Good.

Now, onward to the good stuff!

In photography, motion is both our friend and enemy. Intentional or anticipated movement from our subjects or camera can result in magically extraordinary photos. At the same time, unintentional motion, specifically unwanted camera shake, can rob our images of sharpness and depth.

Sanderlings on the Pacific Coast

Falling short of the Reciprocal Rule requirements. 1/200th of a second at F/5.6 with a 300mm lens.

We’ve mentioned the Reciprocal Rule quite a few times in other articles, but today we’re going to dig a bit deeper and learn more about how to use this extremely simple technique. It very well could be one of the most useful bits of knowledge you can possess when it comes to helping you prevent unwanted camera shake.

What is the Reciprocal Rule?

Banish all thoughts of grade school math and algebra class from your mind when you read the word “reciprocal.” True, the Reciprocal Rule hints at mathematics but the technique itself is incredibly simple.

Simply put, for full-frame image sensors (more on this in a bit) the Reciprocal Rule states that your slowest shutter speed when shooting handheld should not be longer than “1” over your selected focal length in millimeters.

Reciprocal Rule in photography formula

Not so bad, right?

In order to reduce the appearance of inherent camera shake when hand-holding your camera, just don’t allow your shutter speed to dip below the reciprocal of your focal length.

Author’s Note: In mathematics, the word “reciprocal” is generally considered interchangeable with “multiplicative inverse”…which sounds much cooler. 

It’s here where our previous discussions of the Reciprocal Rule in photography have ended but that is not the case today! Let’s drill down a little further and examine how the Reciprocal Rule works.

A caveat on reciprocal vs reciprocity

Talking about the Reciprocal Rule in photography can be tricky at times because it sometimes gets confused with another photographic principle called “reciprocity.”

Reciprocity, or more specifically reciprocity failure, is a phenomenon photographers sometimes had to manage back in the pre-digital photography days of film. Simply put, film emulsions become less light-sensitive as they are exposed which requires adjusted exposure times based on the type of film and the duration of the metered exposure.

Kodak Ektar 100 35mm film

Each of these 35mm frames is approximately the size of a modern full-frame digital sensor.

Fortunately for us, digital camera sensors don’t suffer from reciprocity failure. However, there are times when autocorrect or well-meaning individuals sometimes confuse the Reciprocal Rule and reciprocity failure as being one and the same when they absolutely are not.

Why does the Reciprocal Rule work?

While the Reciprocal Rule centers around estimating exposures based on your focal length, it is not actually dependent on that variable. In fact, the reason why the focal length of your lens matters is because longer focal lengths result in more constrained angles of view (field of view). The tighter your angle of view, the more noticeable camera shake becomes.

Long focal length camera lens

So, shorter focal length lenses can achieve relatively long handheld exposures over longer focal lenses due to their wider angle of view – not their optical focal length. The Reciprocal Rule is useful because it takes into consideration the progressively decreasing angle of view produced as focal length increases.

Check out this quick video where I breakdown why the Reciprocal Rule works.

?

Sensor size and the Reciprocal Rule

First, a bit of backstory on sensor sizes, but I promise it will come back around to the Reciprocal Rule.

If you’ve been involved in making photos with a digital camera for any length of time, then you likely have encountered the phrase “crop factor” when talking about digital camera sensors. Albeit there are exceptions, today almost all consumer photography lenses center around the standard 135 film format, commonly known as 35mm.

This is where the concept of “full-frame” digital sensors originated as they are roughly the same dimensions as those of a frame of 35mm film, give or take. Therefore, mounting a lens of a focal length based on the 35mm full-frame film standard to a cropped sensor camera, the field of view becomes inherently more narrow (cropped) due to the smaller sensor size.

Essentially, a cropped sensor will “zoom” a full-frame lens and cause it to have a longer effective focal length.

Hasselblad medium format digital sensor and full frame Sony A7r sensor

Every camera manufacturer’s cropped sensor has a crop factor you can use to approximate the resulting focal length of a full-frame lens when used on a cropped-sensor camera. For example, Canon’s cropped sensor (APS-C) has a crop factor of 1.6x because a full-frame Canon sensor is approximately 1.6x larger than that of its cropped-sensor counterpart.

Canon 5D MK3 compared to Canon 7D MK1 sensor

So, my 50mm lens is considered a true 50mm lens when mounted to my full-frame sensor 5D MKIII. However, if I were to mount that same 50mm to my cropped sensor 7D, it would instantly become approximately an 80mm lens (1.6 x 50mm) instead of 50mm.

The reason why sensor size and crop factors become important when using the Reciprocal Rule in photography is due to their effect on the effective angle of view.

The Reciprocal Rule states that I should use a shutter speed no slower than 1/50th of a second with a 50mm lens and full-frame camera.

A cropped sensor camera with that same 50mm lens would dictate a faster shutter speed be employed since the crop factor has changed the effective focal length of our lens to 80mm.

This results in a reciprocal of 1/80th of a second minimum shutter speed.

Without going much further down the rabbit hole on sensor sizes, just know that the opposite is also true when using sensor sizes larger than the full-frame standard. The resulting “reverse crop factor” would be less than 1x. It would mean that a full-frame sensor camera lens would now produce a wider angle of view, thus, increasing the duration of your allowable handheld shutter speed.

The effects of image stabilization

Another aspect to consider when talking about the Reciprocal Rule is that of image stabilization. More and more often today, manufacturers are building better and more efficient image stabilization into their cameras and lenses. Many of these image stabilization systems offer upwards of 2-stops of reported stabilization (meaning you can shoot 2-stops or more slower shutter speeds).

Lens image stabilization

This means that we can incorporate the approximate stops of image stabilization (should you have it) when making use of the Reciprocal Rule.

It’s actually quite simple.

If you engage your lens or camera’s image stabilization, you are effectively lengthening your allowable handheld shutter speed by ever how many stops the stabilization states it will compensate. Feel free to adjust the shutter speed of the Reciprocal Rule and see if you can manage even longer shutters due to the stabilization.

Final thoughts on the Reciprocal Rule

There are very few absolutes when it comes to making photographs. Every photographer is different, and what works for one might very well not work for another.

This is especially the case when dealing with techniques such as the Reciprocal Rule in photography. Although it attempts to help us prevent unwanted camera shake by providing a quick and easy baseline shutter speed based on our lens, it should not be considered a true “rule.”

Granted, some of us are simply better at holding our cameras more steady than others, but there is no replacement for practice and optimal body mechanics when it comes to producing less shaky photos.

The next time a tripod is not handy or practical, use the Reciprocal Rule to help you increase your odds of getting a sharper photo each and every time you’re shooting from the hip.

 

You may also like:

  • Back to Basics: Deciphering Shutter Speed and Motion
  • Back to Basics: Understanding the “Sunny 16 Rule” in Photography

 

The post Back to Basics: What is the Reciprocal Rule in Photography? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.


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Back to Basics: Deciphering Shutter Speed and Motion

27 Nov

The post Back to Basics: Deciphering Shutter Speed and Motion appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

back-to-basics-shutter-speed-and-motion

One of the things I love about photography is its simplicity. Now, I know that might be a contested statement in today’s seemingly endless world of digital photography. There are hundreds of cameras, likely thousands of lenses and virtually limitless combinations of the two. Not only that, but there are so many ways we can use our cameras. Landscapes, portraiture, street photography, architectural, abstract, wildlife, nature…the list continues. And yet, for all it’s technological and creative facets, the basics of photography remain alarmingly simple even today.

shutter-speed-and-motion-beginner-tutorial

The principles of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO constitute something called the “Exposure Triangle” and yes, I know, you’ve probably heard of it before today. The thing is, it is often these most fundamental nuances of photography that present themselves with the most difficulties, especially for beginners (and some pro) in photography.

It’s shutter speed and motion that we will be discussing today in this edition of “Back to Basics”. To be more precise, we’re going to be talking about the ways shutter speed relates to motion so that you will gain a more concrete understanding of how shutter speed affects your photos.

Shutter speed or shutter time?

Many years have passed since then, but I still remember how confused I was the first time I understood that shutter speed had absolutely nothing to do with how fast the shutter of my camera opened and closed.

Up until then, I had intuitively assumed that some cameras were simply made with faster shutters than others. I mean, come on, give me a break! I was new.

Anyway, I finally realized that shutter speed refers to the amount of time the shutter remains open…and not how fast it mechanically opens or shuts. So many concepts about shutter speed seemed to click (pun intended) in my mind.

shutter-speed-and-motion-beginner-tutorial

One of the greatest epiphanies brought about by this sudden revelation was the direct relationship between the time the shutter is open and how apparent subject motion became within my images. In reality, Einstein was right when he put forth that everything is indeed relative.

So, in a way, there are no slow or fast shutter speeds. There are only longer or shorter shutter times relative to the inherent motion of your camera and subject.

Let’s drill down a little deeper on this.

Shutter speed and the effects of motion

For just a moment, let’s pretend you are the fastest runner in the world – absolutely no other human can beat you in a race. That’s great.

But now I want you to picture yourself running next to a cheetah.

Suddenly, your speed doesn’t seem quite so fast, but let’s not stop there. Let’s say that cheetah decides to race the world’s fastest jet plane, and the jet wins every time. Then put that furiously fast jet up against the speed of light, and, well, you get the idea.

The point is, your camera’s shutter speed interacts with motion in the exact same fashion.

Back to Basics: Deciphering Shutter Speed and Motion

A shutter speed (or think shutter time) of 1 second is no problem at all when your camera is mounted securely on a tripod. Take the camera off the tripod and shoot handheld at the same shutter speed, and it becomes difficult not to introduce camera shake into the image.

The same is true for subject movement; we can blur or freeze motion depending on our selected shutter speed.

shutter-speed-and-motion-beginner-tutorial

Perceivable subject motion is due to the relationship between the amount of time the shutter is open and the speed of the subject itself.

Practical examples

Let’s pick a shutter speed randomly; we’ll say it’s 1/60th of a second. If you’re shooting a still object which has absolutely no motion in relation to your camera, like this switched off ceiling fan, then everything appears calm and still.

Back to Basics: Deciphering Shutter Speed and Motion

For the time being, we’re just going to pretend that you love shooting photos of ceiling fans. So you decide to snap another image with the fan now switched on, and the situation changes.

The blades of the fan are now moving through space much faster than 1/60th of a second shutter speed can capture with the result being perceived blurring of the blades.

Image: At 1/60th of a second, the blades have blurred

At 1/60th of a second, the blades have blurred

This is where Einstein sweeps in to save us. All we have to do to take control of the motion of the blades is to make our shutter speed faster than the speed of those ceiling fan blades. Let’s dial it in.

shutter-speed-and-motion-beginner-tutorial

At 1/125th of a second, the motion begins to become less pronounced…

Image: …and 1/500th of a second all but completely freezes the motion of the blades. Another s...

…and 1/500th of a second all but completely freezes the motion of the blades. Another stop faster (1/1000th) and the motion would be completed arrested.

The implications of this are absolutely profound for you and your photography. Once you understand that shutter speed is the deciding factor in controlling the amount of perceived subject motion in your images, you can then control how apparent that motion appears in your photo.

How does shutter speed relate to ISO and aperture?

So how exactly does the shutter speed play into the whole Exposure Triangle thing? I’m glad you asked.

All of the pieces of the Triangle: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed; all of them determine the amount and duration of light that enters your camera. Each of these factors complements each other in that you can achieve similar exposure outcomes by adjusting the variables in relation to one another. In our case, since we’re dealing with shutter speed, we’ll be needing to adjust our aperture and/or ISO to compensate for our shutter speed selection.

shutter-speed-and-motion-beginner-tutorial

Entire articles (and books) here at Digital Photography School have been written on each of these subjects, so I’ll be brief. But be sure to check out this cool cheat sheet on the Exposure Triangle for more info.

Simply put, for every full stop of adjustment in shutter speed you make, you are either doubling or halving the amount of light which enters your camera. This means a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second is twice as fast and lets in half the amount of light as 1/125th of a second.

Alternatively, a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second is approximately twice as slow as 1/125th, and therefore lets in double the amount of light. So, 1/250th of a second is one stop faster than 1/125th of a second with 1/60th of a second being one stop slower.

You still might be saying, “but what does this have to do with aperture and ISO?” We’re about to find out, I promise.

The connection comes into play when you realize that ISO and aperture are also measured in stops, albeit in slightly different ways, but in stops nonetheless. This means that we can directly relate shutter speed to our ISO and aperture by thinking in terms of stops.

shutter-speed-and-motion-beginner-tutorial

Let’s say we are shooting a moving subject at 1/60th of a second at F/5.6 and ISO 100. The image is exposed correctly, but the subject is blurred. We find that a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second (two stops faster) will freeze the motion, but it also leaves our scene underexposed by two stops since we have effectively decreased the amount of light by a factor of four.

To maintain our exposure, we must somehow compensate for the reduced amount of light from the faster shutter speed by either increasing the ISO by two stops or shoot an aperture that is two stops wider than F/5.6. So to maintain the same exposure, our new exposure settings would be either 1/250th of a second at F/2.8 and ISO 100 or 1/250th of a second at F/5.6 and ISO 400.

Some considerations for shutter speed

Here are a few helpful tips that you should keep in mind when it comes to shutter speed. Some of these are simply good everyday practices, and others might be new to you.

  • The longer the focal length of your lens (higher zoom), the more apparent subject motion and camera shake will become. So plan accordingly if you are intending to employ longer shutter speeds by making sure you have a sturdy tripod and even a remote shutter release for your camera.
  • At times there will be situations when you can’t equalize your exposure using your camera settings alone and still achieve the level of motion you want for your final photos. This is where a good quality neutral density filter will truly be worth its weight in gold. I recommend keeping at least one in your bag no matter what sort of photography you shoot.
  • When shooting long exposures of the night sky, make use of the “600 Rule” to approximate the longest shutter time possible before stars begin to streak based upon your lenses’ focal length. The 600 Rule states that 600 dived by your focal length will give you an approximate maximum shutter speed from which you can base your other exposure factors.
  • Reduce camera shake when shooting handheld by implementing what’s known as the “Reciprocity Rule”. Simply put, this guideline states that you should not shoot a shutter speed which is slower than 1 over your focal length. This means that with a full-frame sensor and an 85mm lens, you should never shoot slower than 1/85th of a second. If you’re using a crop sensor camera, then the formula would be 1 over (focal length x sensor crop factor). You can find the crop factors for virtually all digital camera sensors with a quick web search.
  • Use mirror-lockup (if your camera has this feature) when making long exposures. In DSLR/SLR cameras, the mirror mechanism flips out of the way during exposure. This can cause camera shake, especially when using a lightweight camera and lens setup. Mirror-lockup moves the mirror out of the way prior to exposure so that the camera remains as steady as possible.
  • Cover your viewfinder during extremely long exposures. Much like mirror-lockup, DLSR/SLR cameras make use of an optical viewfinder which means light can creep in through the viewfinder during long exposures. It’s a good idea to cover the viewfinder with tape, a lens cloth, or the dedicated viewfinder cover that comes attached to some camera straps should you be shooting ultra-long exposures (upwards of a minute or more) to ensure stray light doesn’t ruin your exposure. Some older film DSLR cameras actually have a build-in viewfinder cover for this exact reason.

Summing up shutter speed

If you’re just getting into photography, I hope this article on deciphering shutter speed and motion helps to demystify some of the enigma surrounding shutter speed (time) and aids you in becoming a more confident photo maker.

If you’re a seasoned photographer, then hopefully the information here will serve as a gentle refresher course on just how simple it is to control your photos using only the most basic of photographic principles.

Shutter speed is directly related to motion and therefore becomes a relative construct based on the inherent motion in our scene (or camera). Depending on the desired outcome, we can control the perception of this motion using our shutter speed.

Shutter speeds that are relatively slower than the motion in the scene will cause blurring. Shutter speeds relatively faster than the motion within the scene will freeze that motion. That is truly priceless knowledge, and once you learn how shutter speed interacts with aperture and ISO, you will be able to have virtually complete control over your photography. Once you understand the basic fundamentals of photo making, everything else becomes almost secondary.

 

Do you have any other tips on shutter speed and motion that you would like to share? Please do so in the comments!

The post Back to Basics: Deciphering Shutter Speed and Motion appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.


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Photoshop Basics: Working with Layers

01 Oct

Photoshop.  For photographers, web developers and graphic designers alike, its the go-to program for creating and editing professional grade graphics.  And like every beloved piece of software, it has to have a strong foundation to build upon; a base system that supports all other operations.  For Photoshop, it’s layers. Operations we describe here are applicable to all Creative Suite versions Continue Reading

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Back to Basics: Understanding the “Sunny 16 Rule” in Photography

12 Sep

The post Back to Basics: Understanding the “Sunny 16 Rule” in Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

sunny-16-rule-in-photography

In life, we are sometimes met with certain inalienable truths; water will always flow downhill, there will always be an unhappy baby on your flight, and the milkshake machine at your favorite fast food place will always be broken when you need it the most. There are also some self-evident truths that we must accept when it comes to photography; one being, one day, you will need to set your own exposure manually. If you’ve been shooting exclusively in Auto Mode or Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes, this can be an enormous challenge.

Take heart! I’m about to show you one of the easiest and most long-standing methods for calculating exposures. Using it will help you almost always get a usable baseline exposure when shooting your camera in full manual mode. Yes, really.

It’s called the Sunny 16 Rule, and it’s going to be your best friend.

Back to Basics: Understanding the "Sunny 16 Rule" in Photography

You may very well have heard of it before but never fully understood how simple it truly is to implement (and modify) this handy little formula to fit the situation in which you find yourself shooting.

Getting to know the Sunny 16 Rule

Understanding the Sunny 16 Rule couldn’t be more simple. It’s all based around the relationships between our three key elements of exposure: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

Sunny 16 had its roots in film photography when it was used to help photographers figure out their exposure when a light meter wasn’t available. However, it works perfectly well with digital photography too. In fact, since we have the added convenience of on-the-fly ISO adjustments with our digital cameras, the Sunny 16 Rule becomes even more universally useful.

sunny-16-rule-in-photography

As you might have guessed, the concept of the Sunny 16 Rule begins with bright sunlight and setting our aperture to…*drum roll*…f/16. Bright sunlight refers to unobstructed sunlight on a cloudless day; think noon with a clear sky, and its brightness is virtually constant.

After we’ve got our aperture set to f/16, we can now dial in our shutter speed based on the ISO we happen to be shooting. To calculate your shutter speed based on Sunny 16, all we have to do is put “1” over our ISO. This will be your shutter speed.

Keep in mind that some cameras measure exposure in full, half or third stops and your shutter speed might not be exactly the same as your ISO. For example, in half-stop increments, if you are shooting ISO 400 then your exposure would be (for slight underexposure) f/16 at 1/500th of a second. At ISO 100 your settings would be f/16 at 1/125th of a second. For ISO 800 it would be 1/1000th of a second and so forth.

As far as ISO settings are concerned, it is a good practice to “set it and forget it.” There’s not much need to adjust the ISO as we can vary our exposure using our aperture settings – unless the scene dictates otherwise…more on this in just a bit.

Back to Basics: Understanding the "Sunny 16 Rule" in Photography

Why the Sunny 16 Rule is so useful

The reason the Sunny 16 Rule is such a fantastic concept is due to the fact it gives us a usable exposure setting based on what will likely be the brightest light you will encounter – the sun. 

Once you know what your shutter speed will be at a given ISO and f/16 in bright sunlight, you can essentially estimate any exposures for darker environments. The reason for this is that ISO, aperture, and shutter speed are all connected. You can adjust each relative to the another so that you can control your exposures based on the needs of a particular scene. If you’d like to learn a little more about how ISO, aperture and shutter speed relate to one another, have a look at this great article on understanding the exposure triangle.

Perhaps one of the best things about working with the Sunny 16 rule is that it’s a great way to teach yourself to read light and adjust your exposure based around the creative requirements for your photo. Let’s look at some considerations to take into account when you need a little more control over your photographs when basing your exposures around the Sunny 16 concept.

sunny-16-rule-in-photography

How to modify the Sunny 16 Rule

Years ago, when I first heard of the Sunny 16 Rule, my first thought was “That’s great, but what if I don’t want to shoot at f/16?”

Indeed, a great question.

What happens when you need a more shallow depth of field than f/16 can produce? Alternatively, what if the indicated ISO-based shutter speed just isn’t fast enough or slow enough for your subject? Furthermore, you definitely won’t always photograph in blazingly bright sunlight (ironically not ideal for most photography).

The good news is that the Sunny 16 Rule is incredibly flexible.

Remember, the Sunny 16 Rule does nothing more than eliminate variables in your exposure to produce a baseline camera setting which you can then manipulate given your particular needs.

sunny-16-rule-in-photography

Virtually identical exposures in direct sunlight based on the Sunny 16 Rule with constant f/16 apertures and ISO-dependent shutter speeds.

For example, let’s say you’re shooting a subject that requires a more shallow depth of field, like a portrait or still life that is in bright sunlight. At ISO 100, your resulting Sunny 16 exposure would be f/16 at 1/125. For reference, here’s a sample photo I shot at those settings in direct afternoon sunlight.

Back to Basics: Understanding the "Sunny 16 Rule" in Photography

Needless to say that if I open up my aperture to f/2.8 (five full stops wider) in order to better blur the background, the resulting image will be completely overexposed, and looks something like this:

Image: Yes…there is a photo there.

Yes…there is a photo there.

So, how to remedy this problem? Since we are working from the Sunny 16 Rule, all we have to do is apply some basic photographic principles (remember the exposure triangle?) to normalize our exposure based on our new, wider aperture.

Seeing as we opened up our aperture by five stops, we simply need to increase our shutter speed by five stops to compensate.

So if my initial shutter speed were 1/125th at f/16, my new adjusted shutter speed setting at f/2.8 would be 1/4000th. Here is the resulting exposure:

Image: Blurred background and a normalized exposure based on the Sunny 16 Rule.

Blurred background and a normalized exposure based on the Sunny 16 Rule.

The same is true in the case of fast-moving subjects. If you’re experiencing unwanted subject motion at, say, 1/125th of a second at f/16, and you want to try a faster shutter speed of 1/500th of a second to help arrest the motion, you need to compensate for the faster shutter speed with a corresponding wider aperture setting to allow more light to come into the camera. In this case, 1/500th of a second – two full stops faster than 1/125th – so we would open our aperture by two stops from f/16 to f/8.

Some adjusted Sunny 16 baseline exposures

If you’re wondering about lighting situations other than bright sun, here’s a quick (but by no means definitive) list of baseline aperture adjustments derived from the Sunny 16 Rule. I’ve listed Sunny 16 at the top as a baseline exposure at ISO 100 and 1/125th of a second. To adjust your exposures for varying degrees of brightness, all you need to do is change your aperture.

  • Direct bright sunlight with harsh shadows: f/16 at 1/125th of a second and ISO 100
  • Indirect bright sun with soft shadows (shade/cloudy): f/11 at 1/125th and ISO 100
  • Overcast skies with little to no shadows: f/8 at 1/125th and ISO 100
  • Dusk/morning light: f/4 at 1/125 and ISO 100

I also want to point out the elephant in the room which is holding a big neon-yellow sign that reads, “Why not just bump up the ISO?”

In short, you can adjust your ISO settings to compensate for more or less light in the scene. Modern cameras are becoming better and better at reducing high ISO digital noise. The Sunny 16 Rule was based on the fact that most film cameras are limited to the ISO of the film used. In these cases, the ability to read and understand light becomes paramount.

The concept of Sunny 16 gives us digital shooters a way to nail exposures (or come close) every time in-camera without constantly checking our images after each shot.

Final thoughts on the Sunny 16 Rule

Of course, as with most things, the Sunny 16 Rule isn’t a true “rule” in the sense that you must follow it to the letter. Instead, it is a rule in the way that gives something to relate one thing to another; in our case it allows us to relate the luminance of available light to our camera settings to achieve predictable and reproducible results.

Sunny 16 is also a great learning tool to help us understand the nature and measurement of light. Going further, it is a guide that is extremely versatile once you understand just a few basic principles of exposure. I, for one, feel as if I don’t use Sunny 16 enough in my work. I think that is about to change.

Do you practice the Sunny 16 Rule? How has it affected your shooting? Let us know in the comments below!

 

sunny-16-rule-in-photography

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Basics of Landscape Photography

03 Jul

Successful landscape photography is made up of multiple elements, such as location, composition, proper depth of field, lighting, equipment used and other aspects. In the guide below on the basics of landscape photography, I will attempt to shed some light on what these elements are and how they work together to make landscape photos that stand out differ from ordinary Continue Reading

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Understanding the Basics of Color

26 Jun

The post Understanding the Basics of Color appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

You will never realize your full potential as a photographer…until you understand the basic elements of color and luminosity (tonality). I know this sounds scary, a bit geeky and just plain over-the-top – but hear me out.

Color photography is built on the structure of B/W photography.

How is it that some photographers seem to consistently produce great pictures?

Most likely because they understand how to control the primary element in photography – light! You can certainly take great pictures without knowing color theory, and you can get good results by learning to operate your camera, but if you wish to consistently produce powerful and visually-moving images, you’ll need to get a handle on the basic issues of color and light. Capturing light, like capturing anything else in the wild, requires an understanding of habits and behavior.

Pictures versus photographs

There is a difference between documenting an occurrence (shooting a picture) and capturing the emotion of a scene (taking a photograph). Shooting a picture requires little more than pushing a button on a camera, but taking a photograph involves a working knowledge of how light behaves and how illumination builds emotion.

Your camera doesn’t take pictures; it merely captures light. You, the photographer, take the pictures.

There are a variety of unique psychological emotions that can be triggered in the viewer’s mind by learning to master how to use light correctly. The issues of color, light intensity, angle of view, depth of field, internal contrast, highlight, shadow, and mid-tone placement all empower photographers to control emotions and portray stories with great impact. This is why one good picture can be more powerful than a thousand words.

The contrasting colors of green and magenta are opposed on the color wheel, which is why this image delivers subliminal psychological impact.

The color wheel is the most elementary form of color science and demonstrates the basis for all color correction. When a photograph displays a color cast, that cast can be removed by adding an additional amount of the color located directly across the color wheel. The additive primary colors that our eyes and cameras see are all based on red, green, and blue (RGB) light. The three colors directly opposite these RGB colors on the wheel are called subtractive primaries and form the basis for all printed pictures. These colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY).

In today’s world, we are so immersed in saturated colors that we sometimes forget the important part that light plays in the process. Dull color is not colorful at all. Color without the proper balance of light has no life…it just lays there on the page.

There are three basic components of color – hue, saturation, and brightness (HSB). The brightness element is the life and sparkle element of good color. In essence, good color is all about the quality of the light. Poorly lit subjects don’t hold the viewer’s interest. This doesn’t mean that all pictures must be bright and cheery, but all pictures must be purposely illuminated to deliver the desired reaction.

Moods are set by shaping light

It’s hard to convey good color in poor or insufficient light. Low-key lighting is ideal for creating somber moods just as high-key lighting tends to convey positive and uplifting thoughts. Learn to capture scenes that deliver a specific emotional message. Make it a point to walk around your subject and observe the light striking it from different angles, especially when shooting nature.

The warmth of the orange skies delivers the beauty, calm, and warm stillness of the ocean at the close of the day.

Make it your purpose to set the tenor (or meaning) with each photo, not to simply take a pretty picture. Look at each scene for a theme or message that will address or elicit a human response.

Colors appeal to each of us not only because they are pretty or because they blend, but because each color has a subtle psychological overtone that affects how we perceive the scene. Bright, cheery colors convey lighthearted and positive thoughts, while darker hues can evoke melancholy and even sad thoughts. “Shooting” is a process that involves aiming a weapon at a target while creating a photograph involves conveying a thought and expressing a purpose. Every time you pick up your camera, you have a choice; you can either document an event or convey an emotion.

Chrominance and Luminance

Color is an emotional impression that is comprised of both chrominance (hue and saturation) and luminance. It is luminance that provides the structure to a photograph. Together, chrominance and luminance deliver the full emotional message.

The two elemental building blocks of color photography involve the hue, or color value and the saturation, or purity of that color. These two aspects are the chrominance portion of an image. The third building block of a photographic image is luminance, or tonality, which is perhaps the most critical aspect of all. This is because it is the very structural framework on which the colors (chroma) are built. Hue and saturation offer no form whatsoever. Only luminance provides the framework or form to a photograph. Balancing these three aspects of HSL (hue, saturation, and luminance) is absolutely essential to achieving success in color photography.

The Visible Spectrum

All color is light energy and white is the combined result of all other colors in the visible spectrum.

The visible spectrum is the color portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that human eyes can see. It is visual energy. The light receivers in our eyes (rods and cones) can only observe a limited subset of this energy. These same lightwaves are captured by your digital camera’s image sensor. The colors of the visible spectrum cascade in a particular order, and for a logical reason. ROYGBIV is the acronym given to this order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. All visible colors of light are perceptible because they travel through space at unique frequencies. All colors are basically vibrations or wavelengths of energy; the only energy visible with human eyesight. The highest (or fastest) frequencies of these colors are “observed” as warm colors while the lowest (or slowest) wavelengths are cool colors. These colors are in this order because of the decreasing frequency of the light waves they represent.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum includes both ultraviolet and infrared frequencies, which are technically not colors simply because they are not visible to the human eye. Each individual color in the visible spectrum is energy that oscillates at a specific frequency. The eye receives these frequencies, and the visual cortex in the brain interprets each as a particular color.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum is the known span of energy that exists in the world as we know it. It includes all energy measurements on both sides of the visible spectrum. These same colors appear in every rainbow and refracted white light. Occasionally you’ll see a beveled glass edge in a window or table that catches a strong beam of white light, reflecting it onto another flat surface. That beveled glass acts as a prism that splits the white light into its component parts; always in the same order of ROYGBIV. When all these component colors are viewed at full strength, you see pure white light. As you must realize, all color is just individual expressions of white light. Without color, there is no light, and without light, there is no color. All colors have their origin in pure white light.

Hue is the Color of Color. It is what differs red from green or blue.

Red is the bookend on one end of the visible spectrum just inside the infrared frequency. Violet is the other, located just inside the ultraviolet frequency. Both infrared and ultraviolet are frequencies just beyond and outside the visible portion of the energy spectrum. Both of these wavelengths can be read by instruments but are beyond the scope of the human eye.

Saturation is the strength of color expressed as a range between pure color and no color. The opposite of saturated is colorless or gray.

The warmer side of the spectrum (reds, oranges, and yellows) contains the longest wavelengths in the spectrum and present a particular challenge to photography when the balance between saturation and luminance is not carefully monitored.

Warm colors are easy to oversaturate, and when oversaturated, the luminance values are seriously challenged.

This is a critical issue because it is the luminance aspect that delivers the detail in a photo. The cooler colors (blue, indigo {purplish}, and violet {toward magenta}), are much easier to control in both saturation and tonality. These shorter wavelength “denser” colors can handle the rigors of color editing more robustly than the warmer colors.

Luminance is expressed as brightness, ranging from dark to light.

Color balance

When you think of color balance, you must get beyond the elementary issue of white/gray balance; the neutralizing of colors to eliminate any tints or color shifts.

Color balance embraces a much wider issue that is largely governed by tonality or luminance. Balancing color is as easy as using the eyedropper tool in editing software to identify neutral gray. Tonality shapes the entire framework of the photo and clarifies detail throughout the entire range between highlights and shadows. It is quite possible to produce a technically-correct, temperature-balanced picture that loses detail in the shadow areas and softens the snap in the highlights. Tonality and chroma are equally critical in the accurate reproduction of color photos.

Color pictures are a combination of form, color, and luminance. Digital color images rely on all three of these elements to deliver the illusion of what we call photography.

Conclusion

A clear understanding of the basics of color will open up a world of expression for you. Yeah, color science is a little geeky, but it certainly delivers results.

If you want to show your uniqueness as a photographer, invest a little time with color science. Anybody with a camera can publish their pictures across the planet in an instant, but if you want your pictures (and your reputation) to outlast your friends and likes on Facebook…grow your knowledge of color as much as you grow your camera and editing skills!

The post Understanding the Basics of Color appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.


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Aerial Time Lapse Basics with DJI Mavic Pro 2 Drone Specific Examples

17 Apr

The post Aerial Time Lapse Basics with DJI Mavic Pro 2 Drone Specific Examples appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter West Carey.

Drones can capture images and footage you might have only dreamed of in the past. Now that ability is easily extended to time lapse photography.

I prefer to refer to my drone as a flying camera. While there is certainly some fun to be had in the simple joy of flying around and looking at stuff from high up, I use my drone primarily to create images and footage with an eye toward cinematic appeal. Time lapse imagery can convey a sense of place that still images and videos lack.

The Basics

This post is written based on experience with the latest model DJI Mavic 2 Pro. While manufacturers differ how they handle time-lapse creation, the tips below are meant to introduce you to what’s available. Some tips will be specific for this model but I will also offer more tips for aerial time-lapse creation in general.

Some drone manufacturers will compile the time lapse video for you while others simply record each individual photo, allowing you to compile the video yourself.

It’s important to note that all experimentation and practice should be done in an open space, away from people, buildings, pets and in accordance with all laws and regulations for your location. I practiced over land many, many times before I felt confident using the automatic modes for time lapses over water.

Tips Before Getting Started

Check exposure and anticipate

Changing exposure during a timelapse shoot, be it on land or in the air, is often a tricky endeavor. I suggest, when getting started, to anticipate your lighting situation and not attempt to change exposure during a timelapse shoot if your drone allows it.

It can be difficult to make exposure adjustments depending on your brand of drone (and some don’t allow it at all) – it’s hard enough to safely fly a drone while shooting. Try not to add too much complexity on top of that.

Try different interval timings and drone speed, 2 seconds is a lot different than 10 seconds

The speed of your drone, distance to objects and the length of your interval will have a large impact on your time lapse. There’s a reason DJI limits the speed of the drone in certain modes (explained below) to 4.5MPH. Anything faster than that and the video shows way too much motion to be palatable.

But if you’re flying slow, a 10-second interval might be ideal for helping show the movement of slow-moving clouds or shadows.

Let me show you the difference between a 2-second interval (at 1.6MPH) and a 5-second interval (at 4.5MPH) while a drone circles me.

It’s going to take some experimenting to get it right.

Look at your total time to create 

DPS writer, Ryan Chylinski, explains the importance of shoot length in this helpful post. When flying a drone, it’s even more important to make sure you don’t run out of card space and that you judge the movement of your drone compared to the total time it will take to shoot your time lapse.

Will you cover too much ground? Will your drone still be in line-of-sight (which most countries require as part of drone flying regulations)? What obstacles might your drone encounter when flying that long?

Plan ahead to avoid simple mistakes.

Point one way, film another

Facing one direction while flying another can offer a dynamic look to your video, rather than simply flying straight ahead. You can use a backward facing drone to get a typical pull-back shot or point slightly off of perpendicular for a dolly shot, such as the sunrise below.

Leave yourself time to return home

Do you have enough battery to shoot and return?

This is one of the most important question to ask. Some drones will warn you, but some won’t.

I had a frightening experience when I misjudged distance and return time while shooting a time lapse over water and nearly lost my drone (and polluted the environment). Midway through the flight I aborted the shoot and returned with a safe margin of battery, but I lost the shot.

Work altitude shifts into your scene

Altitude shifts are a like using a typical slider, but on steroids. You’re not limited to the four or 10 feet of a ground-based slider so the changes can be over a much larger distance. You also don’t need to stay moving parallel to the ground the whole time.

Here’s a simple example of a pullback that covered about 1000ft over land/water while steadily climbing 140ft in altitude.

Fly smooth

Using a pre-built, computer-controlled mode, like the ones mentioned below, help ensure smooth flight and operation. If you are controlling your drone manually while shooting a time lapse, ensure that your movements are slow and steady, allowing for your camera to shoot enough photos for a smooth video.

Here’s an example of what happens when I panned down then up too fast while shooting.

Result: Ruined video. Also, to my liking, the pan left and right are too fast.

DJI’s different methods – What do they mean?

DJI fits all of their time lapse modes into a section it calls Hyperlapse. Hyperlapse is just a cool sounding phrase meaning a moving time lapse. The Hyperlapse modes will all shoot and compile the video for you, typically in 1080p and 25 frames per second. You can also choose to save the individual RAW files if you wish to use your own time lapse software.

Safety Note: While the drone uses its side, front, rear, top and bottom sensors to detect objects, it still requires your attention at all times. If it finds an object in its path, it will stop shooting. It is very important to remain in control of the drone and ready to intervene. In Course Lock and Waypoints modes, if you make any adjustment to the controls of the drone, it will exit those modes and stop shooting.

Course lock

Course lock is the mode I use most often and it’s the one I’m going to start with. It allows you to aim the drone in one direction for flight and then either point the camera any way you like, or choose a subject to be tracked.

You start by setting course and then the interval, video length and speed. Each item is set by first tapping it and then moving the slider accordingly.

Setting the course is as simple as pointing the drone in the direction you wish to go and tapping the lock icon next to interval, video length and speed. In this case, I pointed the drone directly at the sun. The little image of a lock means my course is locked.

Next, you’ll want to point the drone’s camera in the direction you want to film. Then adjust the shooting settings.

In this example, I left the interval at 2 seconds but then set the video length to 15 seconds.

With that change to video length and interval, the app shows me how many photos it will take and the length of shooting.

After that I set the speed to 3.4MPH.

All that is left is to hit GO and watch the scene unfold! (Notice the course lock section still shows the drone’s intended direction toward the sun.)

Free/Manual

Free Mode is straight forward and gives you the most control. After setting the shooting interval and video length as you would in Course Lock Mode, you are free to fly any which way you please. Up, down, backward, forward, left and right.

But be warned: fast course changes or high speeds will cause your video to be anything less than smooth.

At any time you can press the C1 button (on the underside of the controller) to lock course and speed.

As Free Mode can be used while the drone is on the ground, you can actually use it as a still camera for time lapse.

Circle

As you saw in the videos up top, choosing your speed and interval is important for Circle Mode.

Start by setting the distance from your subject for your drone. Ensure the circle your drone will subscribe in the sky does not encounter any obstacles. If need be, adjust your drone’s height or distance from your subject to achieve the framing you desire.

Next, select Circle Mode from the Hyperlapse options.

Now set your interval, video length and speed as described in the Course Lock Mode. Then select the direction your drone will fly; either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Above these settings, the program will tell you how long the shoot will take and how many frames will be shot. In the example, that will be 5 minutes and 48 seconds to take 175 frames.

Most importantly, choose your subject! You do this by drawing a box on the screen by pressing and dragging until it highlights your subject.

Press GO and your drone will start snapping and moving. When it is finished, you will see a screen as the drone creates (synthesizes in DJI speak) the video.

In the example above, you will notice the path the drone took, which is a very pretty circle (with my initial flight path to get the drone in place mixed in). All Hyperlapse modes require this video synthesizing and the length of time depends on the number of shots. Until video creation is complete, you cannot take any photos or video, but you can fly the drone as normal.

Waypoints

Waypoints Mode is a bit trickier to work than the others, but offers a lot of control and unique results.

After selecting Waypoints Mode you will set your interval and video length as the other modes. You will then set the waypoints your drone will fly. You can set up to five waypoints and a minimum of two.

To do this, fly to the first waypoint, orient your view as you like and press the + symbol in the Hyperlapse tray at the bottom of the screen to lock that waypoint. Continue this method, flying to each waypoint and pressing +.

In this example, I have set two of my five waypoints and will continue adding until all five are set. The map on the left side shows each waypoint with a number and the direction the camera will face.

When you are finished plotting each waypoint, you have the choice to fly the waypoints in order marked or in reverse. If you choose “In Order”, the drone will fly itself to the first waypoint and begin. Otherwise, the drone will begin at the last waypoint selected and fly backwards (but will pay attention to your selected camera orientation for each waypoint).

While the drone flies, you will see the waypoints on the map along with a timer showing how long the drone has been flying and the total time it will fly the route. Next to that is the number of images taken followed by the total images to be shot.

More Examples

Course Lock while facing perpendicular to flight path

Course Lock while flying backward

Course Lock while flying backward with an upward pan for clouds

?

Conclusion

Time Lapse videos from a drone offer a unique and sometimes challenging option. They take planning not only to consider the subject matter and lighting, but also for the safe operation of your drone while it is taking photos.

Each mode offers different options and it’s best to play with them in a safe environment to get the hang of what you can accomplish.

Have fun and post some examples as you try out this technique. I’d love to see them!

The post Aerial Time Lapse Basics with DJI Mavic Pro 2 Drone Specific Examples appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter West Carey.


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Basics of Landscape Photography

28 Mar

Successful landscape photography is made up of multiple elements, such as location, composition, proper depth of field, lighting, equipment used and other aspects. In the guide below on the basics of landscape photography, I will attempt to shed some light on what these elements are and how they work together to make landscape photos that stand out differ from ordinary Continue Reading

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