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12 Tips For Gorgeous Indoor Natural Light Photography

29 Jun

The post 12 Tips For Gorgeous Indoor Natural Light Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Dena Haines.

12 tips for indoor natural light photography

Feeling frustrated with indoor photography? Want to know how you can capture beautiful indoor photos with only natural light?

Working with natural light indoors can be tricky. So in this article, I’m going to share plenty of tips and tricks I use in my own photography. And I’ll also share plenty of examples along the way – so that you can see my advice in action!

Let’s dive right in.

1. It’s all about the windows

Indoor photography comes with a significant problem:

A lack of light. And without light, you can’t get beautiful, well-exposed photos.

So what do you do? Some photographers turn to artificial lighting, such as studio strobes and flashes. But I prefer to keep things natural, which is why I look for light coming through windows, and I use it to illuminate my subject.

In fact, as soon as you’ve chosen a subject, walk around your indoor space. Think about the quality of light that the different windows provide; does it flood the room softly? Does it beam in, bouncing off the walls and floors? How would it look when illuminating your subject?

Soft light will add a soft glow, and harsh light will give a dramatic or moody look.

Also recognize that the color of light changes throughout the day. Light looks warm at sunrise, cool at midday, and warm at sunset.

Once you know indoor lighting well, you’ll be able to use it to achieve the perfect effects.

2. Turn off the lights

Natural light doesn’t like competition.

Specifically, natural light doesn’t like electric lights, which cause two problems:

Electric lights cast unexpected shadows and will interfere with the directionality of your main window light.
Electric lights produce warmer or cooler illumination, which contrasts with the color of the natural light.

In particular, skin tones can look odd when artificial and natural light start to mix.

The easiest way to fix this?

Just turn off all electric lights! That way, you can keep your colors looking natural while focusing on a single light source.

3. Shoot in Aperture Priority mode

In Aperture Priority mode, you choose the aperture while your camera chooses the shutter speed. This gives you flexibility over your exposure without stepping over into the Wild West of Manual mode.

Aperture Priority is generally marked with an AV or an A, as shown below:

aperture priority for indoor natural light photos

So what settings should you dial in for the best indoor natural light photography?

I’d recommend starting with a wide-open aperture to let in lots of light. Choose a low f-number such as f/2.8 or f/1.8 to keep your exposure nice and bright.

Plus, when you use a wide aperture, your depth of field will be shallow. So your subject will stay in focus while your background is left soft and blurry. This adds a beautiful effect to portrait, nature, and product shots.

Note that, for portraits, an aperture of around f/5.6 or f/6.3 will keep the entire face in focus (though this will depend on your focal length and your distance from the subject). Focus on your subject’s eyes for best results.

Also, shoot in RAW. A RAW file will give you a lot more to work with when editing – so you can enhance your indoor photos for stunning results.

4. Choose your white balance in advance

Some photographers like to select their white balance during post-processing (so they’ll leave their camera set to Auto White Balance when shooting).

But while this can work, it’s often easier to get the white balance right before taking a photo (plus, it’ll save you lots of time during editing).

So take your camera off Auto White Balance. Observe the light and consider which white balance preset works best for your situation.

For instance, I generally use Daylight for indoor portrait photography, though you might also pick Cloudy for a warmer look. And the other white balance presets can work, too, depending on the effect you’re after.

Honestly, I’d recommend you try several different white balance settings when first starting out – that way, you can determine which looks you like and which looks you’d prefer to avoid.

(Always bear in mind, however, that the white balance results will change depending on the quality of the light. Applying a Cloudy white balance to a shot lit by cloudy light will give a neutral look, while applying a Cloudy white balance to a shot lit by warm evening light will actually enhance the warm effect.)

And remember:

If all else fails, you can always adjust your white balance while editing.

5. Use a light-catching backdrop

Remember how I said that indoor settings tend to lack light?

That’s why you’ll need to maximize existing light. And a simple way to do this is with a reflective backdrop.

Specifically, a white backdrop will help catch the light and bounce it back onto your subject. Here’s the type of setup I’m talking about:

light catching backdrop for natural light photography

The white material helps cradle the light around the flowers:

And creating a simple light-catching backdrop isn’t hard, either. The one featured in the above photo was made with a freestanding collapsible clothes rack and a long piece of white material.

(It’s very easy to set up and very easy to move around!)

6. Use a light box

A light box will create a similar effect as a reflective backdrop, but it will help control the light even more.

In fact, you can construct a light box with lots of cloth – but instead of putting it behind your subject, wrap it all around. Here’s a makeshift light box I used for this food still life:

use a natural light light box for indoor photos

And here’s the final image:

7. Use a reflector

A reflector bounces light back toward your subject.

And it’s a great way to keep your entire subject nicely lit.

For the shots below, I set up a backdrop and positioned my daughter so that her left side faced the window. She held a reflector in her right hand, which helped lighten the shadows:

tips for indoor natural light photography

And here’s a behind-the-scenes photo:

use a reflector for natural light photography

8. Use a mirror

A mirror is another great way to control natural light. Simply hang a mirror in the window; I used a large suction cup with a hook to hang the mirror pictured below:

Then have your model look in the mirror. As you take your shot, make sure your reflection doesn’t appear. (It can take some patience to get the angles and reflections under control, but it’s worth it.)

I used a small handheld mirror for this shot. A larger mirror would require less cropping:

9. Tidy up

There are often things lying around the house, especially if you have kids. And this clutter can be distracting in a photograph. It’s worth taking a couple minutes to tidy up before you start shooting.

In fact, a backdrop can serve a double purpose here: it can control light, while also covering up all the background clutter! It can help make a small space more workable.

For most of the photos in this article, I pushed our sofa and table into the middle of the living room, then I set up in front of our largest window. Without the backdrop, this location would look far too busy.

10. Place your subject close to the window

Earlier in this article, I talked about the importance of windows when doing indoor photography.

But it’s not enough to just use windows. You also need to carefully position your subject.

Specifically, place your subject a foot or two away from the light source. That way, you’ll make use of the natural light, and you’ll also avoid the harsh contrast that comes from being too close to the window.

One more tip:

Experiment with lighting effects. Try backlighting, sidelighting, and frontlighting (just have your model face in different directions and follow them with your camera!).

11. Use the curtains

If the light is harsh, you’ll get unpleasant shadows and contrasty subjects – unless you can diffuse it!

So here’s what I recommend:

Use curtains or blinds!

If you have translucent curtains, let them cover the window completely. If your curtains are opaque, consider closing them partway, then let the light feather onto your subject.

Alternatively, if your curtains aren’t suitable for diffusing the light, you could hang a piece of diffusive material over your curtain rods.

12. Shoot reflective objects

Natural light can turn the most common thing (like the moisture on the window pictured below) into something beautiful.

Personally, I think reflective objects look gorgeous when hit by sunlight. Here are just a few examples:

So have fun playing around with reflective objects and natural light. The light will create all sorts of interesting reflections, and it’ll even glisten off shiny objects:

natural light through water on the window

Indoor natural light photography: You’ve got to love it!

It’s easy to love indoor natural light photography.

The setup is inexpensive, portable, and easy to use, plus you can create beautiful photos no matter the weather or time of day.

Don’t forget to have fun and let that inner beauty shine through!

Now over to you:

Have you tried indoor natural light photography? Let me know how your natural light shoots go by commenting below!

The post 12 Tips For Gorgeous Indoor Natural Light Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Dena Haines.

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Blue Paddling in Arapaho Bend Natural Area

05 Jul

Paddling in blue: blue sky, blue paddleboard, blue paddler, blue leash … Happy accident or conscious color selection? I am not sure. This picture in from my morning paddling in May on Beaver Pond in Arapaho Bend Natural Area, one […]
paddling with a camera

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DPReview TV: Take better indoor portraits with natural light

30 Apr

Want to shoot some portraits with great lighting while stuck at home? We show you how – and you probably won’t need any new gear to do it! If Chris and Jordan can light a scene with a Rubbermaid container lid, so can you.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

Introduction
Window light
Reflecting fill light
Negative fill
Overexposing windows
Controlling background light
Three easy poses
For more info…

Sample gallery from this episode

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to Use Natural Light in Travel Photography

01 Oct

The post How to Use Natural Light in Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Karthika Gupta.

We all enjoy traveling and taking countless travel photos on our trips, don’t we? Why else are you reading this article! Travel photography is one of the most popular genres of photography today – especially with the advent of social media and the ‘share everything’ culture. People want to capture and post stunning photos of their travels to influence others, motivate others and in some cases also sell travel-related things.

Natural-Light-in-Travel-Photography

But travel photography is so much more than that. Travel photos have the potential to connect us to our beautiful world. Images of places, cultures, art, and even food take us away from our mundane everyday existence. They can transport us to magical places we can only dream of visiting someday. Perhaps they remind us of a time when we too took that trip and had similar experiences? It can become a walk down memory lane.

So how can we improve our travel photos?

Many elements go into creating an amazing travel photo, but for the purposes of this article, we will focus on light – specifically natural light in travel photography. This is my preferred way of using light in photos. In fact, I very rarely travel with an external flash because of the extra weight and because I don’t like the look of flash in my photos. I know many people who use flash with amazing results – and more power to them!

There are several reasons why I use natural light in travel photography:

It is readily available and free
It provides a range of light variations so I can get creative with my travel images
It is a super-large light source, a.k.a the sun
It constantly changes from day to day and season to season

In order to use effectively use natural light in travel photography, you have to become an expert at reading and understanding the light that is around you as you travel. Light is affected by many things and light affects many things too.

1. Location and light

For the most part, travel photography involves a lot of outdoor photography in natural light and primarily in the harsh mid-day sun. Of course, there are exceptions where you are indoors in places like museums and restaurants.

In such cases, you will likely be dealing with indoor lighting and may even use a flash. So before you take a single photo, look around and analyze your location. This will help you understand how you can harness the natural light around.

Consider whether you are out in the elements with only the sun as your light source. Are you in a city where the light is reflecting off highrise buildings? Perhaps you are in a museum where there is a lot of tungsten lighting, and flash photography is not allowed?

Use creative framing and make the best of harsh midday sun during your travels.

How you handle you camera settings will depend on the location and light at that location. Harsh mid-day sun outdoors means lower ISO and high shutter speeds.

Cityscapes may mean mixed lighting with shade and harsh shadows, so you need to adjust your ISO and shutter speed accordingly.

Museum lighting may mean higher than normal ISOs along with really slow shutter speeds. You will have to pay attention to camera shake while hand-holding at slow shutter speeds.

2. Time of day and light

The fascinating thing about natural light is that it changes constantly. Depending on the time of day, season, or even the direction your window faces – light fluctuates minute to minute. Light first thing in the morning on a mountain top will be very different compared to the light mid-morning. Come sundown; the light changes again.

Knowing what time of day you are photographing will help you plan your gear as well as the kind of shots you will take.

I have seen the apostles photographed many different ways, but this lighting just takes the cake! I did nothing except show up just after sunset!

Most travel photographers photograph at multiple times in the day and night. So take gear that is flexible and that you can use for all these different situations.

I travel with my Canon 5D MKIII, a 24-70mm f2.8 lens, and a small travel tripod at all times. Also, I have a few standard filters like a neutral density filter and a polarizer filter that fits in my camera bag. I have to admit, I don’t use it that often, but once in a while that waterfall during a hike calls my name.

Traveling light can help you be prepared for any situation – day or night – for amazing scenes that capture your eye.

3. Subjects and light

Believe it or not, light does impact the subject. Depending on where you are, placement of your subject, and where your light source is, the results can differ wildly. So, the first thing to do after working out the light is to understand it in relation to your subject.

In travel, I find that in most cases, my subjects are not mobile. They are buildings, monuments, and people going about their day.

So what is adjustable in these scenarios is me and my relative position to the subject and light. Don’t be afraid to move around to get the best angle and framing that will work for your situation.

Image: This minx gave me no time to adjust myself, so I just waited for the hop and took the shot...

This minx gave me no time to adjust myself, so I just waited for the hop and took the shot…I love the fact that I got him and the shadow in the same frame.

If you are indoors, try to use natural light from a window to light up the subject as far as possible. If you are outdoors, perhaps using the lens hood to block out the sun can help in reducing the harshness of light, especially if it is directly behind the subject.

Image: This is one of my favorite photos of my son during our travels. I saw the light and him almos...

This is one of my favorite photos of my son during our travels. I saw the light and him almost at the same time, and had a few seconds to take this shot….a perfect way to capture the majestic castles in Portugal!

4. Weather and light

A common misconception that photographers have, especially those starting out, is that they cannot go out and photograph in bad weather. Bad weather can include rain or overcast skies.

But in reality, overcast skies are great for taking travel photos. The clouds act as a natural diffuser, blocking out the harshness of the sun and making the light more even without harsh shadows.

Sometimes all you need to do is show up and mother nature does the rest for you – fog, rain, clouds – they all add to the effect.

Always check the weather forecast before you go out shooting. Periods of rain, followed by clear skies, might be the best time to photograph landscapes where everything is uniformly lit.

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you in understanding the power of natural light in travel photography. Travel photography is often tiring because you are out and about all day; looking, feeling, and experiencing new things and trying to capture as much of it as you can.

By understanding how to use natural light in your photos, you can focus more on the creative side of photography to create stunning drool-worthy travel photos – much to the envy of your family and friends.

Do you have any other tips for using natural light in travel photography? Share with us in the comments below!

The post How to Use Natural Light in Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Karthika Gupta.

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Video: Taking natural light portraits in a backyard shed

11 Aug

Photographer Irene Rudnyk has published a new video demonstrating how she captured portraits in her backyard using a garden shed and natural light. The process was fairly simple, involving a backdrop, large circular reflector, and two-step ladder, the total cost of which was minimal, camera gear aside.

The portraits were captured using a Mamiya 645 camera with a Mamiya 80mm F1.9 lens and Porta 400 film, as well as on digital using a Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon 85mm F1.2 lens. Two of the portraits captured during the photoshoot are available on Rudnyk’s Instagram account. Rudnyk’s other work can be found on 500px.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Steps For Better Product Photography in Natural Light

18 Jul

The post Steps For Better Product Photography in Natural Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Taking photos of products can seem like a daunting task. If you look at a lot of advertising, you will find yourself inundated with a lot of high-end product photography that can seem (and probably is) out of reach for a novice. The thing is, not all product photography is equal. In many cases, a much simpler approach will do the job just fine.

This article will guide you through a process that can get you started taking product photos with minimal equipment. In these examples, you don’t even need a studio, just a backyard, and decent weather. You will also see that you can replace some dedicated kit (reflectors and diffusers in this case) with some basic and cheap substitutes.

What you need

With one optional exception, you will only need some basic kit to go through the process outlined here.

Camera – There’s not much to say about this one. You will need a camera.

Lenses – To get the best results you will want to choose a lens with a close focusing distance (if your products are relatively small) and a focal length that will give you the option to fill the frame.

If the products that you are photographing are quite small, you may want to opt for a macro lens. Fast lenses aren’t much of a concern here as you will want to choose an aperture that ensures complete focus on all parts of your subject.

Tripod – Because this is still-life photography, you absolutely should use a tripod. The reason should become clear as this tutorial progresses, but it will make your life so much easier.

An outdoor space – As for the where, all you need to get started with this tutorial is an open outdoor space. Even a small backyard will do. Anywhere that will lend you a decent, clean background will do.

Tissue paper – In lieu of a dedicated diffuser, you can use tissue paper. For ease of use, you can mount this in a frame of some description with clips or a bit of tape. This allows you to control and manipulate the natural light in your photos. I did use a dedicated diffuser in this tutorial, but tissue paper will work just as well.

White and black card (foamcore works well) – Use these as reflectors and flags respectively to give you further control over the manipulation of the light.

Backgrounds (optional) – Using the environment as a background will be fine a lot of the time, but sometimes you may need something different.

Don’t want to rely on what’s there? Bring your own backgrounds, such as these purpose-made boards or use plain colored paper. The choices are endless.

Color Management – Depending on what you are photographing and whom you are creating product photography for, color management may be optional, or it may be a legal requirement.

Tools like the ColorChecker Passport are indispensable for getting accurate colors in your images.

Even if it’s not necessary for your situation, it’s still a good idea. The word ‘product’ implies that you are selling something. Even if you’re only creating an eBay or Facebook Marketplace listing, ensure an accurate representation of what you are selling. It is a means of treating the people you are selling to with respect. If you’re providing commercial services to a paying client, then that accurate representation of the product may be a legal requirement. Do your research and find that out before you get started.

Note: While you can use tissue paper and foamcore to great effect, I still believe you should buy a 5-in-1 reflector or two. These give you access to white and silver reflectors, diffusers and flags. Godox sells one for $ 15, so there’s no excuse. You can also use 5-in-1 reflectors as a background in a pinch.

Getting started

With your gear collected, this process is relatively straightforward.

Step 1: Find a space

Finding a space that gives you plenty of room to work and gives you a decent background may be the most important step in all of this.

As long as you are photographing small(ish) objects, where you choose to set up isn’t very important. Since the focus of your image is solely the product, other elements like the background won’t be taking up very much space in your frame in most cases. As long as you can find a space that gives you a clean background (or somewhere to place your own) and gives you plenty of room to work, you will be fine.

If you are working with small objects at a close distance to the camera, work with small apertures like f/16. If you want an out of focus background, you will want to ensure there is a good distance between your subject and the background.

Without going into the math, the closer your camera is to the subject, the shallower the depth of field becomes. When you are really close (especially with macro lenses), the focal plane reduces to a tiny sliver. To combat this, use small apertures.

In terms of lighting, as long as there is light, you will be fine. If you have all of the equipment listed at the top of this article, you will be able to manipulate the light in most situations.

Broad daylight? No problem. Shade? No problem. Any time of day will work except for the night where you would probably need to add an external light source of some description.

Step 2: Set up

As this spot was lit by direct sunlight, I put the diffuser up before doing anything else.

Now that you are in your space, pick where you want to set up and decide where you are going to photograph your product. Place your camera on a tripod and ensure that you have a good idea of how you are going to frame your product.

You can now evaluate your lighting. If you’re in open daylight, setup the tissue paper as a diffuser over where your product is going to be. You can fine-tune this later, but any diffusion you may be using should be in place before you start anything else. Diffusion material is going to affect the color of your images. Having it in place allows you to see the light as it’s going to appear in your photos while you are working on your composition.

Step 3 – Color Management

With the light diffused, take your steps towards color management. You want to do this before placing your subject to avoid moving it.

If you are opting to replicate accurate colors, do it now. Place your grey card (or whatever tool you’ve chosen) where your product will be under the exact lighting conditions that your final images will be created with. Take a photo of the card. If you’re setting the white balance in-camera, do it now. If you’re using a tool like the ColorChecker Passport shown in the example images, you can save it for the software later.

Step 4: Place your subject

Place your subject where you want it for your desired composition. Once that’s done, you can begin modifying the lighting. (This image is with the diffusion panel removed)

The next step is to place your product in situ for the composition that you want. Adjust the subject and the positioning of the camera until you have your desired effect. I find it is important to get this right at this stage. With this done, you are free to adjust everything else (such as the lighting) while being able to compare any test shots. It also allows you to blend multiple exposures later (providing it would be permissible to do so).

Step 5: Choose your aperture

Details are essential when you are selling something. The image on the left is shot at f/4 and you will see many of the details are concealed by depth of field. In the right-hand image, all details are present, but the background is less obscured.

With products, most of the time, you will want to choose an aperture that provides maximum focus on the whole of the subject. Since the depth of field is most affected by the distance of the camera from the subject, small objects close to the camera (particularly with a macro lens) will lead you to use much smaller apertures than you might typically use in other situations. If you need to, take a few test shots at various aperture settings. Review the results until you have the desired effect. Depending on your camera, you may find the depth of field preview button useful here as well.

Shooting tethered is also a great way to be able to see if there is enough depth of field in your images.

Step 6: Evaluate the lighting

Here, the subject is lit with unmodified light. You can see that the contrast is high and there is missing detail in both the shadows and highlights.

With everything in place, you’re just about ready to go. Here is where you can fine-tune your lighting to your heart’s content.

Adding the diffuser above the subject helped to even out the exposure between the background and the subject. All details are now present.

Reflective

Use your white card(s) to fill in any shadows that may be providing too much contrast in your images. The beauty of using a card is you can cut it into any size and shape to match any need you have so that you are only reflecting where the extra light needs to be. For the most part, you are going to want to avoid heavy contrast in product photos, so feel free to use reflectors generously.

A bit of white mount board at camera left has filled in that side of the subject just a tiny amount. It makes the exposure evener.

Subtractive

In the event that there’s light falling on your subject where you don’t want it, use your black card as flags. For example, if the main source of light is coming from behind your subject, you can use a flag to shape that light so that it is only falling on your product where you want it. You can also use flags to darken areas around your subjects, such as the surface it is resting on, to put more emphasis on the product itself.

Introducing a flag to camera right has darkened that side of the subject. It has increased contrast just a bit and reduced the impact of the specular highlight on the droid’s head.

This step may seem optional, and to be fair, it pretty much is, but if you want your images to stand out, this is by far the most important step. The more attention to detail and effort you place into getting the lighting right, the better your photos are going to be.

It pains me to suggest that you could to move your camera at this point. However, as a last resort, if you’re having problems controlling the contrast in your images, you can set your camera to spot metering mode and evaluate where your reflectors need to be from there.

That said, if your light is suitably diffused, you shouldn’t have to resort to that. Alternatively, you could use a second body or a light meter if your subject is big enough.

Step 7: Final shot

The final image with minimal post-processing.

With all of the prep work done, you can now take your final shot. If all has gone well, you should have a well-lit, well-exposed image in the composition of your choice. Going through all of these steps should also mean there is very little to do in terms of post-processing.

That’s it

Is this the only way to take photos of products? Absolutely not. It’s not even close to the only way to do things outdoors. This is just one easy method to help you get results with minimal gear.

Hopefully, you’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t need a fully decked out studio and a myriad of specialist and obscure equipment to achieve better product photography results. Basic equipment, basic camera craft and attention to detail can take you a long way and get you results that will help you to sell whatever it is you are trying to sell.

The post Steps For Better Product Photography in Natural Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

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Food Photography – When to Use Natural Light (and When Not To)

09 Jun

The post Food Photography – When to Use Natural Light (and When Not To) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

Food photographers, professionals and amateurs alike, know that natural lighting is among the best tools to take drool-worthy photos. However, there’s a time and a place to use natural lighting, and times when you won’t want to. In this article, we’ll discuss what natural lighting is and how it affects your photos – for better or for worse.

What is natural lighting?

Simply put, natural lighting is light produced by the sun. Another related term is ambient light, which refers to the available light in an environment. Ambient light could also be considered natural light if the photographer’s equipment is not producing it. In most parts of the world, natural light is abundant and can be used at no charge. This is one of many reasons why it is preferred by many photographers.

Two types of natural lighting

Generally speaking, there are two different kinds of natural lighting that you might want to utilize for photography. If you plan to utilize natural light for photography, it’s wise to learn about the different patterns of sunlight. Depending on where you live, you might have more of one than the other. You may have to adjust your style accordingly.

Direct light

Direct sunlight that results in a look with harsher shadows.

A cloudless environment with full sunlight in the middle of the day produces direct light. This light is very intense, resulting in high contrast and very sharp shadows. The color of the light will vary depending on the time of day. In midday, it will be a neutral white color and a warmer tone of gold in the late afternoon. Depending on your photography style, you may prefer direct light if you wish to emphasize dramatic shadows and high contrast.

Diffused light

In a cloudy or overcast environment, natural light will appear diffused. This results in a soft, low contrast look with little to no shadows. Most photographers tend to prefer this lighting as you can make just about anything look good with it. If you have lots of direct light, you can also turn it into diffused light by using something like a shoot-through reflector.

Natural sunlight that has been softened with a diffuser.

What about artificial lighting?

The opposite of natural lighting, artificial lighting is produced by gear such as speed lights or strobes. If the idea of flash photography intimidates you, consider this. Most forms of artificial lighting strive to recreate natural lighting. For example, a bare flash with no diffuser is akin to direct light, while a flash with a softbox results in diffused light. Even if you plan to use artificial light, it helps to understand natural light and how it affects your creative style.

Natural light or artificial light? This is natural…

…this is artificial light. It adds some dimension to the background but isn’t drastically different than the naturally lit image.

When to use natural light for food photography

Before determining what kind of lighting to use, consider your intended creative output. Do you want food photos with punchy colors and clearly defined shadows? If so, you want direct light and a cloudless, full-sun day is what you want. But if you want soft, diffused light for an evenly lit photo, a cloudy day will suit you best (or a sunny day with a reflector).

After you figure out your preferred creative style, take a look a the weather. You may have to plan your photo shoot around weather patterns if you want a particular quality of natural light. Alternatively, you’ll have to bring extra gear with you to compensate for it.

Food photographed in natural light during the daytime, when the light is neutral in color.

When you may not want to use natural light

There are two times of the day when natural lighting may not be your best friend. Those are the blue hour and golden hours of the day. These times of day are cherished by landscape photographers as they provide the most dramatic lighting in the sky. However, this may not be ideal for food photography. That’s because both blue and golden hours emit different colored light. A dish shot at blue hour may have more blue tinges to it, while the golden hour will cast it in a warmer tone. Some of this can be fixed in post-production, but most food photographers prefer shooting with neutral daylight so that the food retains its natural color.

Food photographed in natural light during blue hour, just after sunset. Natural light at this time of day distorts colors all around. Great for landscapes, not for food.

In Conclusion

Generally speaking, using natural light is the simplest solution for photographers. It’s rather straightforward to use natural lighting, although adding tools to your kit such as reflectors and diffusers will help you take it to the next level. Also helpful is a general knowledge of lighting patterns throughout the day so that you don’t end up planning a natural light shoot during golden or blue hours (unless you want that colored light!).

What do you think? Are you a natural light photographer, or do you prefer artificial light? Let me know in the comments below!

The post Food Photography – When to Use Natural Light (and When Not To) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

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How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits

09 May

The post How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

I’ve grown to really love making portraits of people. My preferred way of working is on location with my natural light outdoor studio.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Two Karen Men

For many years I had a dedicated studio set up in my home. During this time I hosted many travelers who passed through Chiang Mai. I made photographs of them all and we had a lot of fun making them. However, I was never so comfortable using studio strobes inside as I am working with my outdoor studio.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Indoor Studio Portraits

Indoor studio portraits. © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Inspired by Vogue photographer, Irving Penn

Early on in my photography experience, I became aware of American photographer Irving Penn (1917-2009). He’s celebrated as one of Vogue magazine’s top photographers. Penn produced more covers for them than any other photographer over the 60 years he worked with the magazine.

Fashion photography has never been much of an interest for me. What attracted me to Penn’s mastery was the portraits he made outside his magazine work. Often he would stay on in these exotic locations where his assignments took him, and he’d make portraits of the locals.

He outlines some of these experiences in his book ‘Worlds in a Small Room.’ In the book, he tells how he developed a portable daylight studio he could set up on location. This allowed him control of the background and lighting.

Living in northern Thailand, I have opportunities to visit mountain villages and photograph indigenous hill tribe peoples. So I decided to design and build my own portable daylight portrait studio.

Setting my studio up in villages allows me to make studio portraits of people as they remain in their own environments.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Three Karen Men

How I designed and built my outdoor studio

This was a completely DIY project, so you could easily copy the idea and make your own.

My studio has metamorphosed over the years. It now comprises of:

Three stainless steel tube uprights
One black and one white background
A shade cloth above the backgrounds
Reflectors
A bunch of clips, ropes, steel rods, and tent pegs

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Outdoor Studio Materials

Everything for my outdoor studio.

Because I often work alone my studio needed to be easily portable, unlike Penn’s which was large, bulky and required several assistants to set it up. I had to sacrifice size to make it practical. You could design a larger, less-portable studio for use in your backyard.

Originally I made upright supports using fiberglass tent poles. These proved too flimsy, so I replaced them with more sturdy stainless steel. I have also enlarged the background area and included a white background. My initial design only had a short black background. Now I also use reflectors to enhance and balance the light.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits

Control natural light using an outdoor studio

I prefer to set the studio up in the morning or later in the afternoon. If the sun is too high overhead, the light is more difficult to work with.

Choosing a location where the sun will be behind the backdrop is important. This helps to provide a hair light. The piece of thin grey nylon fabric I set up above the backdrops softens this hair light.

If the ground where I’m setting up is bare earth, that is perfect. Light reflects off the light colored soil up into the faces of my subjects. This is good for Asian skin tones, but not so good for Caucasians as it has a slight yellow/orange tone.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Lahu Man Smoking

When I have to set up on a lawn, I lay down some white or light tan plastic sheeting to provide some uplighting. Without this, the grass would reflect an unpleasant green cast onto the people’s faces.

In the early days of using my studio, this was all I did to manipulate the light. Now I also use a large foldable reflector to bounce more light onto my subjects. This gives a little more control of the shadows.

The background fabric is a very stretchy polyester. It does not wrinkle and can be pulled tight between the uprights, so it’s flat. Behind the black background, I add a sheet of thick black polythene sheeting. This completely blocks out the sun which would otherwise partially shine through the fabric.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Using the Outdoor Studio

Balancing the light

Your exposure settings are critical. A lot of light shines through the white background, while none shines through the black. Including too much of either background in your exposure calculations will result in an underexposed or overexposed subject.

You need to take your exposure reading from your subject’s face only. Using manual mode, once you have it set correctly, you won’t need to change it unless the light changes. This will happen if the sun goes behind a cloud or you bounce more light onto your subject with the reflector.

You can use the same exposure settings for both backgrounds because the light on your subject’s face does not change.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Kayan Long Neck Woman on a White Background

If you take a light reading from the white background, you will see it is far brighter than your subject. Taking a reading from the black background will show there’s much less light reflecting off it than your subject. These contrasts help you achieve a pure white and pure black background.

The thin fabric above the background reduces the light and prohibits full sunshine from affecting your subject. You need to make sure your subject is not too far from the background; otherwise, the sunlight might hit their head directly.

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits Two Kayan Long Neck Girls

Make your own outdoor studio

Putting together your own outdoor studio is relatively easy and cheap. You can use it anywhere there’s sufficient space. You don’t need to buy expensive lighting equipment or have a large studio space. The materials are inexpensive, and it’s portable so that you can use it anywhere.

Working outside you are reliant on good weather. It’s best when the sun is shining, but you can still use it under an overcast sky.

Photographing with available light is so much fun, especially when you have a little control over how it affects your subjects.

We’s love to see photos of your outdoor studio in the comments below.

The post How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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Real Estate Photography: Artificial Light versus Natural Light

05 Apr

The post Real Estate Photography: Artificial Light versus Natural Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

This article is written by Nisha Ramroop and Ron Pepper.

Real estate interior photography can seem simple, but that impression can change when trying to capture a space that has big bright window views, and many areas of light and shadow inside. Often, it’s important to achieve balance amongst the bright and dark areas, whilst also capturing the view outside the window.

In this article, we’ll discuss shooting interiors using various lighting methods. These methods include using single and multiple Speedlight flashes, larger strobe lights, and using bracketed exposures for HDR.

Artificial lighting

Speedlight flash

The term ‘Speedlight’ refers to the kind of flash that can be connected to the camera’s hot shoe. These battery-powered flash units are very versatile and relatively inexpensive (often available used) because they can also be used off-camera. Nikon uses this term for this kind of flash, Canon uses the very similar ‘Speedlite’ and others might say ‘on-camera flash’ or other terms.

Using only a single Speedlight flash with your camera to light a room can be a good way to capture interiors quickly with minimal equipment. This does require some practice and a powerful Speedlight.

Usually, you want to retain detail in the brightest part of your room (either the view through the window or in a light fixture) and build your flash lighting around that.

To achieve this, you need to establish a base shot which exposes for the window view. If the window is the brightest area in the room, the rest of the room gets underexposed. Thus you need to light the underexposed areas of your room with your flash. Experiment with your flash at different power levels to equalize the light in the room. You can also use a light meter to measure the light being thrown in a particular area. This helps you adjust the flash output deliberately.

Lighting equipment enables you to fill areas of shadow to capture details in those dark areas. A powerful technique is to “Bounce” your Speedlight flash off a wall or ceiling to fill your areas of shadow more evenly.

Note: While bouncing flash softens the light before it hits your subject and gives you non-directional light, you can use it to supplement any directional light, so that the shadows from your natural light source make sense.

Keep in mind the following technical details, when finding the perfect balance using flash:

Your shutter speed does not affect the flash settings – it only affects the ambient light in your room (ambient light refers to any continuous light sources in the room. For example, sun or lamps). If you slow your shutter speed, it raises all the ambient light levels, which means it also affects the view out of your window.
The aperture affects both the flash and ambient light because a smaller aperture reduces the amount of all light that passes through the lens.
ISO also affects both flash and ambient light. It does this by altering the camera’s sensitivity to light.

Pros

Image almost finished in-camera, very little post-processing
Enables you to have creative control over the final image
Allows you to choose your best angle/composition early in the process and light for that specifically
You don’t need a tripod
Less camera equipment needed

Cons

Depending on the room, you may need more than one flash/light
These smaller flashes produce more “hard” light when fired directly into the scene
Some expertise is required. If done incorrectly, you may end up with inconsistent shadows to your natural light source or appear unnatural/fake
Your exterior needs to be correctly metered to your camera’s flash sync speed
Cost and management of batteries

Note: Using only one speed light can be tricky to achieve balanced light when window sources are large with bright sunlight.

Using multiple Speedlights with a remote trigger

Using multiple Speedlights on stands with a remote trigger can be handy when shooting larger spaces with overbearing natural light sources coming through the window. In some cases, you may need between two and four Speedlights to allow for enough internal light to equalize strong external window light – especially if shooting with direct sun outside the window. Shooting with multiple flashes allows you to get the right shot with a single image, rather than having to use bracketed exposures.

Pros

Allows fine control over the interior lighting
It allows you to light more dark areas
You can set each individual flash unit’s exposure to your needs
No need for a tripod

Cons

Relatively complex set-up normally requiring an experienced photographer
Carrying needed equipment can be challenging
Multiple points of (battery) failure
Need to set flashes so they are not in the shot
While no tripod is needed, multiple light stands are needed

Strobe lights

Here a ‘strobe’ refers to larger, more powerful lights. Modern strobes are powered by batteries. In the past (and lower-end current strobes), strobes needed to be plugged into electrical power or large battery packs.

Strobe Lights can be great to use for interior real estate photography, particularly if there is a large window light source. The greater power brings flexibility. For instance, adding a light modifier makes the light softer, avoiding harsh shadows that happen with smaller flashes.

Set your strobe light/s for the darker areas of the room. Depending on your shooting angle, you could set the strobe behind your camera line and bounce flash off the wall or ceiling above or behind you to fill any shadows in front of you.

Pros

A larger light source means softer, more attractive light
Full control over lighting
Tripod optional
Light is white and clean
Can solve color cast

Cons

Equipment is heavy to carry
Expensive compared to Speedlights
Can be hard to set up in small spaces
May need to be plugged in if not a higher-end battery-powered strobe

Natural or available light

There is an alternative to using artificial lighting to capture a room with bright and dark areas. Perhaps using Speedlights or strobes isn’t possible because the photographer doesn’t have this equipment, doesn’t know how to use it, or simply prefers the technique below.

We face the same challenge that the camera can see either the bright area, or the dark area, but not both. This can be solved, not by adding light, but by adding more exposures from the camera.

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

When using natural light for real estate interiors, there is some level of post-processing involved. One of the most common processing techniques used is High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing. The HDR technique means that you’ll take bracketed exposures using the camera, then they are combined using HDR software.

1. Bracketing exposures

So where do you start to capture the dynamic range of your interior (what your eyes see)? Since you may be working with a scene of high contrast, start with a process called “Exposure Bracketing.”

Exposure Bracketing is where you take (a minimum) of three identically composed images at different exposures. The first image uses the settings recommended by the camera. Then one or more images are intentionally overexposed, and one or more get deliberately underexposed.

One of the challenges with getting that first image (where the camera recommends settings for as properly exposed) is that the camera can choose the shutter speed based on the bright window light. This selection can leave the rest of the image too underexposed. A good solution for this underexposure is to lock your exposure on an area that is neither too bright nor too dark and use that as your baseline shot. When taking bracketed images indoors, use a tripod. Keep your aperture constant, ISO low, and vary your shutter speeds to achieve your different exposures.

Most DSLR cameras now have built-in bracketing called “Automatic Exposure Bracketing” (AEB), making it an easy, one-click process. If you are unfamiliar with this term, your camera manual is an excellent source for learning about this cool feature, and videos showing how to set AEB on many popular cameras are here.

If you are familiar with AEB, go ahead and set the exposure compensation values to plus and minus 2 EV (+/-2EV) or the maximum exposure increment (EV spacing) your camera allows. Your camera display should now show three exposure markers: one underexposed by 2-stops (-2EV), one correctly exposed (0), and one overexposed by 2-stops (+2EV). These represent the three shots that the camera takes.

Important note: The example above is for a three-shot HDR image. If your camera is capable of taking more pictures for HDR merging (some take 5 or 7), you can use the maximum number of shots available to you.

Put your camera into its Continuous Shooting Mode, compose your image and take your shots. Minimizing shake is highly recommended, so use a remote shutter release or timer where possible. Your bracketed images are now ready for the next step.

2. HDR software

As expressed previously, combining these bracketed images ensures you get a properly exposed image. This method is especially useful when you have challenging lighting situations and is a popular processing method for real estate photographers. Photomatix Pro is one of the top software used by professionals for the merging process.

One of the unspoken rules of real estate photography is that the vertical lines must, well, be vertical. Also, the horizon must be level. This is easy to achieve by leveling the camera. However, if you find that the image isn’t quite level, The Finishing Touch Panel in Photomatix Pro allows you to correct perspective issues with ease.

Benefits of using this method:

Easy to learn shooting technique
Fast shooting with a little practice
Minimal equipment needed (camera/lens and tripod,)
Natural shadows
No heavy equipment to lug around/set up
Some flexibility with composition
Great for shooting virtually any space
Compact gear — photographer can pick up tripod/camera and put it down for next shot

Challenges

Shooting angles may be limited, to avoid flare, etc.
Color cast happens more compared to using artificial light
Post-processing required
Memory needed to save the bracketed photos
A tripod is required

Conclusion

As noted, there are pros and cons to each lighting method when photographing real estate interiors. When deciding which method is best for you, consider the needs of the shoot you are undertaking.

If you are a beginner, it is also good practice to experiment first with natural light. Doing so helps you understand how light works before you move on to adding artificial light to your room.

If you are comfortable adding light, remember to keep it soft and be aware of your light direction at all times. If you are shooting with available light, master your processing techniques. Use HDR software such as Photomatix Pro to combine your Exposure Bracketed photos and achieve a nice exposure balance.

No matter what technique you use, some key things to remember are: show details, balance your well-lit areas against those in the shadows and show the space in the most flattering way – just as you see it as you walk in the room.

Disclaimer: HDR Soft is a paid partner of DPS.

The post Real Estate Photography: Artificial Light versus Natural Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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CP+ 2019 – Nikon interview: ‘The view through the viewfinder should be as natural as possible’

25 Mar

(L-R) Mr Naoki Kitaoka, Department Manager of the UX Planning Department in the Marketing Sector of Nikon’s Imaging Business Unit, pictured with Mr Takami Tsuchida, Sector Manager of the Marketing Sector inside Nikon’s Imaging Business Unit, at the CP+ 2019 show in Yokohama Japan.

We were in Japan earlier this month for the annual CP+ show in Yokohama, where we sat down with senior executives from several camera and lens manufacturers, among them Nikon.

We spoke with three Nikon executives from the Marketing Sector of Nikon’s Imaging Business Unit: Mr Naoki Kitaoka, Department Manager, of the UX Planning Department, Mr Takami Tsuchida, Sector Manager, and Mr Hiroyuki Ishigami, Section Manager of the Product Planning Section IL, UX Planning Department.

Please note that this interview was conducted with multiple interlocutors through an interpreter, and has been edited for clarity and flow. For the sake of readability, answers have been combined.

How do you think the market for full frame mirrorless will evolve?

In terms of hardware, it is likely that mirrorless will catch up with DSLR. But one thing that is a challenge is the time lag of electronic viewfinders. Even though we have a great mirrorless [solution], we cannot beat the optical viewfinder.

For really high-level professional photographers at sports events and so on, I believe that the DSLR will survive. I think there will be a synergy between DSLR and mirrorless, so we can expand the market moving forward.

I hesitate to talk about our competitors, but while Sony only offers mirrorless cameras, both Nikon and Canon offer DSLR and mirrorless, so there are more options for our customer bases. DSLR and mirrorless cameras have their own unique characteristics.

The Nikon Z6 and Z7 feature a high-resolution optical viewfinder which prioritizes clarity and sharpness over response speed. One of the secrets behind the large, sharp viewfinder image is the complex optical unit behind the display panel, which contains multiple lenses including an aspherical element.

The Z6 and Z7 offer very high resolution finders, at the expense of response speed, compared to some competitors. Why did you make this decision?

There are various factors, however we decided on three main pillars for the Z system. The first pillar is a new dimension of optical performance. The second is reliability, both in terms of the hardware and also the technology, and the third is future-proofing of that technology.

The view through the viewfinder should be as natural as possible

To touch on the first pillar, optical performance, we’re really trying to be the best and provide the ultimate performance of the viewfinder. The view through the viewfinder should be as natural as possible. To achieve that goal we did two things – we focused on the optics, and also on image processing.

With current technology there is always some time lag, it will take some time and if we want to shorten the response time and compromise in terms of resolution, the [experience] deteriorates. Of course, we’ll continue to try to make the response time shorter.

Is it more important for the viewfinder response to be faster in a camera more geared towards speed?

That depends. In the Z7, our first priority was not speed. Therefore, if we were going to launch a camera focused on speed, we’d need to review [viewfinder responsiveness].

What kind of feedback have you received from your Z6 and Z7 customers?

Very similar to [DPReview’s] feedback. For people who don’t prioritize high-speed shooting, they’re happy with the performance and the portability of the system. In many cases they’ve totally switched away from DSLR.

The Nikon Z6 is a lower-cost companion camera to the flagship Z7, which has already out-sold the more expensive model. According to Nikon, the Z6 has proven especially popular with filmmakers.

Is the Z6 attracting a different kind of customer to the Z7?

When we launched them, we expected that sales would be about 50:50, however the Z6 already has a larger customer base. It’s more price competitive. Video shooters are telling us [the Z6] is very user-friendly, and in the US market, the Film Makers’ Kit has become popular.

We’re going to create easier to use and friendlier equipment for photographers that need to do both stills and video

In the future, would you like Nikon to appeal to serious professional videographers and filmmakers?

If you mean Hollywood or television broadcast videographers, we’re not trying to address that segment. However we are targeting freelancers, one-person team kind of videographers – that kind of shooter. That’s the kind of direction we’re going in.

We’re going to create easier to use and friendlier equipment for those photographers that need to do both stills and video. For example, photojournalists, or wedding photographers.

On the optics side, in the S-series lenses we took great care over the video functionality as well, so for example when you zoom the focus stays there, there’s no defocusing, and there’s no change in the image angle when you focus, either.

Do you think that strategy might change in the future?

We’ll keep an eye on the market, and look at the demands of our customers.

Despite the entry of the Z7 into the market, the D850 continues to be a major seller for Nikon, and in some ways remains a more capable camera for professionals.

Do you plan to increase your production capacity, to make F mount and Z mount products in parallel? Or will you scale down production of one line to make room for expansion of the other?

Even though we’ve now launched Z mount into the market, we still have a very robust [F mount] customer base, and a good reputation thanks to our DSLRs, especially products like the D750 and D850. And sales are still very robust.

I want to grow the Z series and D series at the same time – we’re not weighing one against the other. For example, developing Z lenses alongside F-mount lenses will put a lot of pressure on us, so efficiency of production will be very important from now on, because we really want to maintain production and development of both lines in future. When we can, we’ll commonize parts and platforms, and of course we’ll monitor trends in the market, and where the growth is.

Take a look inside Nikon’s Sendai factory [August 2018]

Can you give me an example of a new, efficient production process in contrast to an older, less efficient process?

We are really interested in automation, and we’d like to automate so we don’t have to depend [entirely] on human labor. For example, we’d like to have a 24/7 operation in our factories.

Since we launched the Z series, our users have been asking us to apply mirrorless technology to the DX format

Do you think the Z mount will eventually be an APS-C platform, as well as full-frame?

I cannot disclose our plans but for today I can say that since we launched the Z series, our DX format DSLR users have been asking us to apply mirrorless technology to the DX format as well. If we employ APS-C sensors [in mirrorless] maybe the system can be made even smaller. So as we go along, we’ll listen to the voices of our customers.

One of the advantages of the narrow dimensions of the 60 year-old F-mount is that the APS-C cameras that use it – like the D3500, shown here – can be made remarkably small. That will be a harder trick to pull off with the larger Z-mount.

We understand some of the benefits of a short flange back and wide diameter mount, are there any disadvantages?

In comparison to F mount, [when designing lenses for Z] we can really guide the light, even right to the edges of the frame. This gives uniformly high image quality across the whole image area. The camera can also be thinner.

There’s no particular challenge or shortcoming in this kind of design, except that the mount diameter determines the camera’s size. You can’t make the camera any smaller [than the height defined by the diameter of the mount].

Does a shorter flange back distance make the mount and lens alignment tolerances more critical? Is it harder to correct for reflections and ghosting?

Generally speaking, when it comes to alignment, no. But there is more risk of sensor damage in [such a design, with a rear lens group very close to the imaging plane ] if the camera is dropped. So we needed to create a system to [absorb shock] in this instance. When it comes to ghosting, it is more critical, so we have to really reduce reflections. Only by doing this were we able to [make the design of the Z mount practical].

Is there a software component to that, or are you achieving the reduced reflections entirely optically and via coatings?

No software is involved.

Editor’s note: Barnaby Britton

Last year was a crucial year for Nikon, and the Z system was a hugely significant move for the company – one on which the future of the manufacturer may depend. Nikon has been careful not to talk about the Z mount replacing the 60 year-old F-mount so much as complementing it, and in our meeting at CP+, Nikon’s executives were again keen to emphasize that they see DSLRs and mirrorless cameras co-existing – at least for now.

Clearly though, as they admit, ‘mirrorless will catch up with DSLR’ eventually. And already, for Nikon, mirrorless has opened the door to a new customer base for the company: filmmakers. While Nikon isn’t targeting professional production companies or broadcast customers (not yet – although the forthcoming addition of Raw video is a strong indicator that they’d like to) I get the sense that the Z6 has been more of a hit with multimedia shooters than Nikon perhaps expected. It certainly seems as if sales figures for the 24MP model have come as a bit of a surprise. It’s unclear though whether the proportionally greater sales of the Z6 compared to the Z7 are a result of the cheaper model over-performing, or the flagship under-performing in the market.

A mirrorless D5 it ain’t, but the high-resolution Z7 is an excellent platform for Nikon’s new range of Z-series lenses

The Z7 was always going to be a relatively tough sell at its launch price, with the inevitable comparisons against the incredibly capable and still-popular D850, and the fact that the similarly-specced (and in some ways more versatile) Z6 was coming fast on its heels. Regardless, Nikon clearly sees the Z7 as living alongside its high-end DSLRs, rather than as a replacement model. As the executives said in our interview, ‘in the Z7, our first priority was not speed’. A mirrorless D5 it ain’t, but the high-resolution Z7 is an excellent platform for Nikon’s new range of Z-series lenses, which are at least a generation ahead of their F-mount forebears in terms of optical technology.

We’ve heard a lot about the benefits of wider, shallower mounts for optical design (and the benefits are real, by the way, especially when it comes to designing wide, fast lenses) but it was interesting to hear about some of the challenges that emerged. Principle among them are the need to reduce aberrant reflections, which can cause ghosting, and the requirement for a robust sensor assembly to avoid damage from impact.

Right now, the Z system is a full-frame system. But in this interview we got the clearest hint yet that this might not be a permanent condition

Judging by Roger Cicala’s tear-down of the Z7 last year, it’s obvious that Nikon really prioritized ruggedness and ‘accident-proofing’ in the Z6/7. It turns out that one of the reasons for this focus on build quality is the close proximity of the stabilized sensor not only to the outside world, but also to the rear elements of Z-series lenses.

Right now, the Z system is a full-frame system. But in this interview we got the clearest hint yet that this might not be a permanent condition. Reading between the lines, a statement like ‘since we launched the Z series, our users have been asking us to apply mirrorless technology to the DX format’ is as close to a confirmation that this is being actively worked on as we’d expect to get from a senior executive. As for how far away an APS-C Z-mount camera is, I wouldn’t want to guess.

There’s always a chance, of course, that Nikon could go the Canon route and use a totally separate mount for APS-C. I doubt it, but Mr Kitaoka did make the point that the width of the Z-mount defines the size of the camera. And the Z-mount, as we know well, is very wide indeed.

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