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6 Methods to Create Dynamic in Your Photography [video]

06 Apr

The post 6 Methods to Create Dynamic in Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video from our friends over at Cooph, you’ll learn 6 methods to create dynamic in your photography.

The video covers these 6 tips:

1. Power of Color

Scout a vibrant location, and find your angle.

Look for color blocking opportunities. Look for vivid backgrounds that are perfect for graphic needs.

2. Black and White

Look for things like parking ramps as they provide great contrast and depth. Shoot roofs that cast interesting shadows.

3. Motion Blur

Create dynamic by panning. Pan subjects passing on the street. Rig your tripod up in the back of your vehicle and photograph long exposures for light trails and movement. (Be sure you and your gear are safe and secure here.)

Or frame the cockpit instead!

4. Zoom Blur

Zoom out and expose long for interesting effects.

Define a focal point of interest, shoot and zoom!

Shoot at night using long exposures and zooming effects. Shooting buildings with all their lights can make for great effects!

5. Rectangles

Use places like stairways that have long vanishing points. Here straight lines become dynamic! Coupled with light and shadow, you can get some really interesting shots! Also, look for sharp corners and lines that draw the viewer’s eye throughout your frame.

6. Perspective

Seek high buildings, get down low and angle your camera from a low angle, pointing upward for epic perspective!

Crawl under a grid (if you really want to, and can find one!) and shoot your subject standing on the grid above for a cool urban look.

Find a low, infrequently used tunnel. Get low and create lines in your images.

You may also find the following article helpful:

Get Low and Aim High – How to Use Low-Angle Photography to Great Effect

9 Creative Architecture Photography Techniques for Amazing Photos!

How to do Light Painting Photography Art with Endless Possibilities

5 Photography Hacks to Improve Your Creative Photography

The dPS Top Street Photography Tips of 2018

The post 6 Methods to Create Dynamic in Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Nikon Z6 image quality and dynamic range impress, but not without caveats

07 Nov

Studio Scene

We shot the Z6 using Nikon’s new Z 50mm F1.8 S lens, since improved optics are one of the main promises the company has made for its mirrorless system. JPEGs were shot with lens corrections minimized as far as possible. Adobe Camera Raw has mandated lens distortion and chromatic aberration corrections, despite us disabling that option in the camera. Have a look below, then take a look at our dynamic range assessments further down.

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The results of the Z6 and 50mm S lens are impressive, with consistent performance across the frame$ (document).ready(function() { $ (“#icl-4298–901106245”).click(function() { ImageComparisonWidgetLink(4298); }); }). The anti-aliasing filter appears a bit stronger than the Sony a7 III, which means a bit less detail but less occurrence of false color$ (document).ready(function() { $ (“#icl-4301-714546339”).click(function() { ImageComparisonWidgetLink(4301); }); }).

While fine detail isn’t as well preserved at low ISO$ (document).ready(function() { $ (“#icl-4299-740733493”).click(function() { ImageComparisonWidgetLink(4299); }); }) or at high ISO$ (document).ready(function() { $ (“#icl-4300–152210045”).click(function() { ImageComparisonWidgetLink(4300); }); }) as the best of its peers, the Z6 generally strikes a nice balance between noise and detail. Low light Raw performance is competitive with the best of its peers$ (document).ready(function() { $ (“#icl-4302–698920912”).click(function() { ImageComparisonWidgetLink(4302); }); }), which is to say it’s essentially class leading.

Exposure Latitude

Our Dynamic Range tests presented no great surprises. The same banding in shadows the Z7 displayed is present in the very darkest tones of its images, at 12 row increments – the very rows dedicated to phase-detect AF (PDAF). This suggests the Z6 PDAF rows aren’t being perfectly corrected when they’re incorporated into the Raw files. This will impact the usability of darker tones in images relative to its peers like Nikon’s own D750 or Sony’s a7 III. We’ll also check for striping (bright white stripes across shadows) in back-lit shooting as we put together a sample gallery with the camera.

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ISO-Invariance

The camera isn’t entirely ISO Invariant but this is largely because the sensor features the Aptina-style Dual Gain design that Sony Semiconductor has been using for the past few years. This sees the camera use a second higher gain circuit in its pixels to reduce noise from ISO 800 upwards (at the cost of some capacity for dynamic range), where the camera is essentially entirely ISO-invariant.

This means that if you shoot Raw there’s no advantage to increasing ISO above 800, for the same shutter speed and aperture, vs. brightening the Raw file yourself while protecting highlights in post-processing. This method of working can afford you many stops of additional highlight detail at no cost to you other than a dark image preview.

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Our results are confirmed by Bill Claff, based on the test images we sent him. His graphs show a similar pattern to the a7 III’s results but with the performance lying a fraction behind the Sony and a little ahead of the Canon EOS R at most ISO settings. In real world shooting, though, banding in shadows may decrease the overall usable dynamic range.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Banding means Nikon Z7 can’t match D850 dynamic range

01 Oct

Testing and real-world shooting show slight banding and striping patterns in Nikon Z7 images, undermining its otherwise excellent dynamic range. We demonstrate when you’ll encounter the effect so you can assess its importance for your photography.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to Use Selective Color for More Dynamic Images

27 Aug

Semi black and white or selective color photos are quite effective. It’s an old trick by some photographers considered a cheap trick, nevertheless, it is a quite effective one. And just because it’s an old idea it should not hold you back from experimenting with it.

Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color - old ship in Denmark

A selective color photograph of the Viking ship “The Sea Stallion” in Roskilde, Denmark.

In this article, you will learn a couple of different ways to make selective color photos and you how to spot or photograph the candidates. It’s not a technique that is applicable to all photographs, but for some, it can make a big difference.

You most likely already know some famous selective color photos. A classic image is of a 7-year old boy kissing a 7-year old girl while holding a red rose, where the flower is the only thing in color. Or a photo of a red bicycle, and everything else but the bicycle is black and white.

These examples are probably part of the reason the technique is considered a cheap trick.

street in europe at night with orange lights - Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color

Background information

Before diving into the technique, you might want to know the theory. The pioneer landscape photographer Ansel Adams used a technique in his darkroom to change the exposure locally on various parts of a photo. This way he could make some areas brighter and others darker.

The human eye naturally seeks the brighter parts of a photo and by using this knowledge, Ansel Adams could emphasize what he wanted and guide the viewer around in his photos. This technique is called dodging and burning.

selective color landscape scene - Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color

You can use a similar technique with colors. Just as the human eye is attracted to bright areas in an image, it is also attracted to more saturated areas. In this way, it is very similar to dodging and burning. You can use this as a tool to guide the viewer’s eye around a photo.

Just to be clear: It is the difference in saturation that the eye can spot not just high saturation. If you have even saturation all over your photo, you can’t control the eye through color. Increasing or decreasing the overall saturation will not change that situation and if everything gets too saturated it often becomes painful to look at.

If you only turn up the saturation on certain objects of interest in your photo, the eye will seek those out. This way you will be able to guide the viewer to the important objects in your photo.

Chicago the Bean - Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color

You can achieve the same effect by decreasing the saturation from everything else but the subject. If you go to the extreme end and completely remove all color, except a few elements, you will have a semi-black and white or selective color photo.

By using this technique you will create stronger photos.

The classic technique to create selective color photos

You can create the classic “boy kisses girl” or “red bike” photographs, but you can also go searching for something else. This example is from the famous Nyhavn in Copenhagen. These old houses are very colorful, which can look great, but also can be quite an eyeful of colors.

row of houses in Copenhagen - Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color

By removing colors from all houses except the two yellow ones, the attention is strong on those two houses. Any house or two houses picked to be saturated, would attract attention, but the two picked are good candidates, because:

They are both the same color, which creates balance.
They are approximately the same size, which also adds to creating balance.
Most importantly, they have symmetrical placement in the photo.

Composition

Notice that the houses are placed the same distance from the edge of the frame. That emphasizes the composition and makes it a stronger photo than most other available choices.

Notice also that the windows between the two yellow houses have some color. That is a spice that allows the viewer to discover more subtle details, making the image more interesting to look at.

Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color

You can use the selective color approach to create a different kind of composition within your photo. You can plan this when you are photographing. Or, as I did in this case, you can discover it when you post-process the photos. It is the final result that counts, not the path you chose to get there.

The next photo is a similar example from a metro station. Again you can see the clearly separated colored stairs. Just like before, you can also find a little spice in the blue color added to the stairs. You can do that kind of trick to make the image more intriguing.

red and blue stairs - Learn How to Use the Strength of Selective Color

If you want to create photographs like these, search for something that you can make stand out. Then frame it, like it was more or less the only object within the frame. You have to think of it as a very simple composition, even if it is a busy scene.

When you desaturate the rest of the image, the balance will change. The colored elements will be the primary focus points, regardless of everything else in the photo.

How to make a classic selective color photo

There are several ways to do this, in this example, you will learn an easy-to-learn approach in Adobe Lightroom. First, you have to find the photo that you want to work on and then follow these steps.

Step 1 – Go to the Development Module

Lightroom Develop - How to Use Selective Color for More Dynamic Images

Step 2 – Pick the Adjustment Brush tool

Step 3 – Set brush settings

At first, make sure you have edge detection (Auto Mask) disabled and the brush is at 100% flow and 100% density. Then reset all settings (double-click on the word Effect) except Saturation, which you will then set to -100.

Step 4 – Paint everything black and white

How to Use Selective Color for More Dynamic Images

Step 5 – Switch to the Erase brush

Step 6 – Paint in the objects you want to have color

Set the size of the brush to something that is fitting for your subject and paint roughly over it. The Erase Brush will remove the black and white, and you will get a colored object.

Step 7 – Zoom in and make sure you have the edges right

Next Zoom in (press Z) and switch between the Brush and the Erase Brush to make a perfect edge.

Depending on your photo, you may have to use either Feather at 0 or you may be able to use Auto Mask, which is the automatic edge detection. In this case, the Auto Mask cannot figure out the edge and I had to use a brush at 0 Feather (hard edge brush).

How to Use Selective Color for More Dynamic Images

Remove some colors

You can also use a different approach. Instead of limiting the colors to a specific object, you can remove certain colors. This approach works well on photos that have unwanted colors or a color cast.

In the example below of the Vikingship, the photograph was shot during the blue hour. Because the blue light reflects in the snow it becomes too much and it is not flattering. By removing the Blues and the Cyan/Aquas the photo changes and becomes a piece of fine art. Use the HSL panel to do this.

How to Use Selective Color for More Dynamic Images - before and after images

Just by removing blue and cyan/aqua a photo can become a piece of fine art.

This technique gives photos that have a much more complex separation between the black and white and the colored elements and the viewer can go searching for details. In the photo above, you can find a second Viking ship with Christmas lights on in the background.

Here’s another example from The Scoop in London. There was a light drizzle, which was enough for the blue light to shine and appear to glow into the air. By removing all other colors than blue and purple the photo is changed dramatically.

This third photograph below is from a train station in Geneva.

If you study the photos you can see the colored selections are much more complex and not something you can do by hand.

The photograph from London is about the shape of The Scoop. The original photograph had an orange sky, which did not work well with the blue light of The Scoop. By using the selective color black and white technique, the focus is on The Scoop.

How to remove individual colors

You can very easily remove specific colors in Adobe Lightroom. Find the photo you want to work with.

Step 1 – Go to the Develop Module

How to Use Selective Color for More Dynamic Images

Step 2 – Go to the HSL module

HSL panel
Play with pulling some of the sliders to zero and leaving some at 100. You may have to dial several of the sliders to zero to achieve the desired effect.

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How to Create a Dynamic Light Painting Portrait

27 Apr

Do you want a bit of action and dynamism in your portrait photography? Using your strobe to light your model in a portrait, while combining this with medium to long exposure can give you amazing results! A light painting portrait is a fun technique that you can play around with, and the equipment you need does not have to be too advanced. An entry-level DSLR camera will work well for this type of photography.

So in this article, I’ll break it down for you, explain what it is and how to do it.

How to Create a Dynamic Light Painting Portrait

Why not create your light painting portrait with some steel wool!? NOTE: Please take safety precautions when doing fire spinning!

What is light painting?

Light painting is the movement of light within your scene, captured using a long exposure. Broadly speaking, there are three types of light painting.

Light painting with light trails – This means the camera stays still, and you move the light around in front of the camera during a long exposure. Photographing traffic light trails is a form of light painting, but the traffic is moving for you.
Light painting an object – In this case, you’re not pointing your light source at the camera, rather you’re going to light up an object by shining a flashlight at it during a long exposure.
Kinetic light painting – This type of light painting uses a light source that doesn’t move, and you move your camera to create the light painting. Examples of this type of light painting are the zoom burst or camera rotation.

The zoom burst can make for a dramatic portrait when used in the right place.

Using your flash in conjunction with light painting

So if light painting involves moving the light source or moving the camera during a long exposure, how will you be able to get a sharp portrait? The answer is you’re going to be using a two-part exposure.

A flash will be used for the portrait, and the second part will be a long exposure involving some form of light painting. Your light painting portrait can be achieved in a single exposure or frame. There are times when using more than one exposure is better, and blending the images in post-processing. However, for this guide, we are looking at doing this in a single exposure.

Adjust your camera to full manual mode.
The ambient light in the room you are in must allow you to expose for half a second or longer (it should be dim).
The background should contain a light source, or you can’t light paint.
Adjust your shutter speed to the amount of time you will need for light painting. This will depend on the type of light painting you intend to do.
Now use your aperture to adjust the exposure value to be at around -1.
Have your flash set to manual mode as well. The strength of your flash unit will determine how much power you will need to use to get the correct light, so adjust depending on your unit. The proximity of your model to the flash will also be a factor in setting the strength. The aim is to freeze them, without blowing out (overexposing) their face.
Now that you’re ready with your settings you can take your photo. Check your results and vary the strength of the strobe, and the length of the exposure accordingly.

Make some magic with your light painting portrait! The desert in Mongolia was pitch black, this was ideal as there was no ambient light.

Different light painting techniques

As mentioned above, there are several different types of light painting. Now you’re going to see how those can be applied to a light painting portrait.

Camera rotation – This means rotating the camera after you have used flash to “freeze” the model. In order for you to get a good effect aim for around half a second exposure. Unless you have the equipment to mount your camera on a pivot this will be done handheld, so you will need a smooth motion.
Zoom burst – In order to make this effect, you will need a lens that is capable of changing focal length manually. The technique is similar in that you will expose for around half a second after the initial flash. Using a tripod isn’t necessary, but it will improve your results as the light lines will be straight. Typically you will want to zoom out during the exposure, though you can experiment with zooming in as well.
Camera shake – Once again an exposure of around half a second is best for this. After the flash has fired, move the camera around in a random way to make a more dynamic background. This technique can work well at a nightclub to give a sense of energy to the photo.
Light painting – In this type of photo, the camera must be mounted on a tripod, and you’ll likely expose for one second or even longer. Avoid area’s where there is a lot of ambient light, especially if that shines onto your model. Your model will need to stay completely motionless throughout the exposure, as you light paint through the scene. The longer the exposure the more difficult it will be to keep the model sharp, so avoid overly long exposure.

This light painting used a pixelstick to create the light.

Now go out and try a light painting portrait yourself!

So there you have it, this is how to make a dynamic light painting portrait! This is a fun technique to use while on a night out, or you can use it in a much more staged setting. Your friends will likely be impressed by the results, as it shows them in a vibrant energetic photo.

Have you ever tried to take light painting portraits like this? What was your experience? Please share your photos and experience both past and present in the comments section below. As always it’s great to get community engagement.

This was a stage portrait, using apartment building lights in the background for the zoomed light.

This can be a great technique to use in a night club, as it will add energy.

This photo used some camera rotation to achieve the result.

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Sony a7 III dynamic range and high ISO improve over its predecessor

17 Mar

Sony recently announced the a7 III, a comparatively affordable full frame mirrorless camera that incorporates a host of advanced features derived from the a9 and a7R III. The combination of price point and feature set makes it attractive to both enthusiasts and pros, particularly those looking to get into full frame or perhaps even make the switch to mirrorless. While we’ve already shot quite a bit with it and offered our thoughts on the camera as a whole, we hadn’t had a chance to take a deep dive into its image quality performance.

And we know many of you are wondering: what’s the dynamic range like? The high ISO performance?

Let’s take a look.

Low light (high ISO) performance


a7 IIIISO 25,600	a7R IIIISO 25,600	a7 IIISO 25,600

Low light performance has improved markedly over the a7 II, putting it more or less in-line with the a7R III (and therefore a9) when images are viewed at the same size (we’ve downsized the a7R III shot to 24MP). These are 100% crops here (if you’re viewing on a smartphone or Retina / 4K display, see this footnote* below). Roll over the captions, or click on any of the images to view our full studio scene images for each camera.

This is a great result, but also comes as no surprise: noise performance is broadly determined by a combination of sensor size and technology, and we’ve recently seen some significant improvements to sensor technology made by Sony. In particular, the backside-illuminated (BSI) and dual gain architecture of most recent Sony sensors helps squeeze every last bit of performance out of these already low noise imaging chips. Furthermore, the original a7 and a7 II lagged in high ISO performance, often failing to surpass the best APS-C sensors.

Dynamic range vs. the a7R III

The a7 III more or less matches the base ISO dynamic range of the a7R III, when both are viewed at common size (we’ve normalized all our graphs to 8MP). That means both cameras will give you similar ability to make use of (brighten) shadows in Raw files if you want to show a wider dynamic range than shown with the default tone curve.

In numbers, that’s 14.6 EV and 14.8 EV for the a7 III and a7R III, respectively, which falls within our margin of error. You might see a difference in extreme pushes or exposure adjustments, but it’s not likely to be photographically relevant.

a7 III (orange) vs. a7R III (blue). There’s a slight chance you might notice the 0.2 EV advantage of the a7R III at base ISO or the 0.3 EV advantage of the a7 III at higher ISOs, but we doubt it. As our test scene images show, the two cameras look very similar when viewed at the same output size.

Note the jump in dynamic range at ISO 640 for both cameras. That’s essentially the camera’s second ‘base’ ISO, where the second stage of the dual-gain architecture kicks in. At ISOs 640 and above, most recent Sony sensors use a higher gain mode that essentially amplifies the signal at the pixel-level to get it above the (already pretty low) noise floor.** In laymen’s terms, that just means ‘more picture, less noise’, particularly in shadows – hence the increase in dynamic range.

Our analysis shows the a7 III to just edge out the a7R III at these higher ISOs, albeit only by about 0.3 EV (which happens to be right around our margin of error). You might see this in the deepest shadows – in fact, if you look very closely at the darkest patch in our ISO 25,600 rollover above, you can kind of see a tad bit less noise in the a7 III, but is that photographically relevant? Up to you.

… but it shows a marked improvement over its predecessor

While base ISO dynamic range remains the same as its predecessor, the dual-gain design brings a marked improvement at high ISO. Shadows at high ISO will be notably cleaner on the a7 III, and that’s before you consider the better overall high ISO performance – even in brighter tones – likely due to either a more efficient sensor or lower upstream read noise.

Compared with the a7 II (green), the a7 III (orange) shows much better dynamic range (at least 1.6 EV) at higher ISOs. Also, whereas you can see noise reduction being applied to the a7 II’s Raw at 25,600, it doesn’t kick in until ISO 64,000 (beyond the graph) on the Mark III.

Compressed continuous drive performance

If you shoot compressed Raw, the camera drops to 12-bit sensor readout in continuous drive modes. This negatively impacts dynamic range, dropping 1.4 EV at base ISO and roughly 1 EV at ISO 640. Dynamic range catches up at higher ISOs, though never quite matches the performance of 14-bit readout. Even at ISO 6400, 12-bit files are roughly 0.4 EV behind – though this is unlikely to significantly impact your photography. The differences at lower ISOs and at ISO 640, on the other hand, you might notice in more extreme pushes.

a7 III Uncompressed (orange) vs. Compressed 12-bit (light orange) performance. We’re not sure about the jumps at ISO 160 and 800, but for the most part there’s a drop in dynamic range at lower ISOs that more or less evens out at the higher ISOs.

In Single drive mode, compressed Raw continues to use 14-bit sensor readout, so measured roughly the same dynamic range as Uncompressed (it dropped 0.1 EV, but that’s within our margin of error).

And if you’re confused about when the camera drops to 12-bit – which is the only time you’d see these drops in DR – the only combination that diverges from 14-bit is when you shoot compressed Raw in (any) continuous drive mode. All other combinations of Mechanical or Electronic shutter, drive mode or Raw type are 14-bit.

vs. a7R II

We threw this one in here because the a7 III and a7R II are currently being sold for roughly similar price (the latter is $ 400 more expensive), so we’re aware of some discussion about choosing between the two. You’re unlikely to notice our measured 0.2 EV higher base ISO dynamic range of the a7 III, but you might notice the 0.5 EV advantage at ISO 640. At higher ISOs the cameras even out.

Realistically though, there’s not much difference between these cameras.

a7 III (orange) vs a7R II (red) dynamic range. You might notice the 0.5 EV advantage of the a7 III at ISO 640, but for the most part performance is similar.

Summary

We’ve summarized our results in numbers in the table below.

	ISO 100 (24MP)	ISO 100 (8MP)	ISO 640 (24MP)	ISO 640 (8MP)
a7 III	13.8 EV	14.6 EV	13.4 EV	14.2 EV
a7 III (compressed 12-bit)	12.4 EV	13.2 EV	12.3 EV	13.2 EV
a7 II	13.9 EV	14.7 EV	11.8 EV	12.6 EV
a7R III	14 EV	14.8 EV	13.1 EV	13.9 EV
a7R II	13.6 EV	14.4 EV	12.9 EV	13.7 EV
a9	12.6 EV	13.4 EV	12.4 EV	13.2 EV

So what’s the take-away? The a7 III’s image quality more or less matches what we’ve come to expect from modern, well-performing full-frame sensors. There’s really not much difference between the a7 III, the a7R III, the a7R II, or the Nikon D850 for that matter.

The a7 III does show a marked improvement over its predecessor at high ISOs, both in dynamic range and general noise performance, thanks to a number of sensor improvements (efficiency, BSI, dual-gain, etc.). Interestingly, the a7 III, which we’d imagine shares a similar sensor to the a9 minus the stacked design, offers roughly 1 EV more dynamic range than that camera at ISOs 100 and 640 (though the cameras even out at the highest ISOs). General noise performance of the a9 – if you’re not pushing your files – is similar though.

The a7 III’s image quality more or less matches what we’ve come to expect from modern, well-performing full-frame sensors

The a7 III offers great image quality performance at an affordable price point. That said, it’s not image quality that sets this camera apart from its contemporaries but, rather, its significant other capabilities like autofocus, silent shooting, video and a number of other things we’ll be delving into in our full review.

* Retina & smartphone optimized 100% crops:


a7 IIIISO 25,600	a7R IIIISO 25,600	a7 IIISO 25,600

** Technically speaking, it’s not exactly more amplification. Rather, the sensor switches to a different circuit within the pixel that has different capacitance at the floating diffusion node. This essentially generates a larger voltage swing (signal) per photoelectron captured, which means the signal – your picture – is less affected by the noise floor of the sensor and electronics.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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DPRSplit will help pull more dynamic range from Canon 5D Mark IV Dual Pixel Raw files

14 Feb

RawDigger and FastRawViewer have released the beta version of an application called DPRSplit, designed for Canon 5D Mark IV owners. With DPRSplit, photographers can input a CR2 file from a Canon 5D Mark IV and then extract a second image from it, one with an exposure value that is about one stop lower than the original CR2 image.

This utility works only if the camera’s Dual Pixel Raw mode was enabled when the shots were taken.

Canon explains how this technology works on its website:

The Dual Pixel sensor’s pixels have a dual photodiode construction. This sensor design means the sensor can receive an A and B signals from the subject and to detect any phase differences between the two signals, allowing them to attain focus as part of the Dual Pixel AF system … During Dual Pixel RAW shooting, a single RAW file saves two images into the file. One image consists of the A+B combined image data and the other only the A image data.

Photographers benefit from this technology by using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software, which enables users to make “microadjustments” to focus, bokeh shift, and reduce ghosting. However, the software doesn’t enable users to extract both images from the CR2 file separately—that’s where DPRSplit comes in.

With this utility, photographers get access to that second frame, which has half the light of the composite image. This means that, in essence, the camera is automatically capturing two shots, bracketed by about 1EV.

Extracted images are saved as DNG files for editing with any software that supports the format, so you can blend the images back together and get about +1EV more usable dynamic range. And since the exposures are captured simultaneously, you don’t have to worry about motion blur in your image. The only potential “issue” is a minor parallax error between the two frames.

DPRSplit beta 0.8 is free to download for Windows 7 or higher and Mac OS X 10.6 through macOS 10.13. As with any beta software, it is possible users will encounter bugs, but if you’re a 5D Mark IV user and you already shoot in Dual Pixel Raw, this one might be worth a shot.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photos

07 Feb

Do you find it difficult to make photographs which stand out and truly resonate with the people who view them? Let me share with you three key ways you can practice that will change your photographic experience and will assist you in making more dynamic photos.

Two Kayan long neck women laughing - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Two Kayan friends share a joke in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Asia.

1. Know your subject – don’t just know about them

Research, understand and relate to your subject. Communicate with your subject – whether that be a person, pet or place, (or anything else,) you need to relate to and have rapport your subject.

The more knowledge and understanding you have of your subject the easier it will be for you to make compelling photographs of it or them. Sometimes, as is common with travel photography, having a fresh perspective on a subject will allow you to capture it in a way an expert may not see. But generally having some education about your subject will aid you in producing better, more dynamic photos.

Kayan girl having fun playing with soap bubbles.

Develop an intuitive sense

Knowing your subject well will give you more opportunity to get an intuitive sense of when it’s the right time to make a picture. Knowing and being passionate about your subject will help you develop your intuition.

Being comfortable with your subject, even if you do not know it so well, will also help you to create more interesting and unique photographs of that subject. Having the ability to really focus in on your subject, observing them carefully, the surroundings, the lighting and any activity associated with them, will help you to develop a meaningful connection.

This is something that can sometimes happen quite quickly and at other times will need to be developed over a longer duration.

Kayan girl with a front tooth missing.

2. Don’t Focus on your equipment

“The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don’t know what to do with it.” – Edward Weston

There’s a lot to be said for knowing your camera equipment well and being confident using it like you’ve mastered it. Being in control of your gear and being competent using it so that your focus can be immersed on your subject allows you to connect in a more meaningful way because you are not distracted. Achieving this ability takes nothing more than a little study and a whole lot of practice.

Porter at a fresh market in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Use camera settings you’re comfortable with

Using camera settings you are comfortable with releases you to give more attention to your subject. When you work with camera equipment you are not familiar with or maybe when you first start trying to understand and use manual mode, your focus will be on your camera, not on your subject.

Becoming familiar with a camera and how to work with it confidently takes concentrated practice. Just as a musician will not take the stage and play a brand new song they’ve written without practicing it well first. Neither should you expect stunning results from a camera or technique you are not familiar with and well practiced at doing. Sure, sometimes you can get lucky, but to be consistently good you need to practice a lot.

Buddhist nun standing at the temple window.

Balance the technical and creative aspects

Balancing the technical and creative aspects of photography is challenging for most people. You are generally either more technically oriented and love learning how to use your new equipment or you are more creatively oriented without much interest in learning to understand all the bells and whistles on your camera.

Be mindful that photography is a creative process which requires a complicated tool. Even if you are using the most basic of cameras you must command a certain amount of technical skill to produce pleasing results regularly. To grow as a photographer and develop your own style, you will need to find a happy balance of the technical and creative aspects of this art form.

close up of a man riding a tricycle taxi with a strong shadow in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Tricycle taxi abstract

Aim to capture mood and feeling

Aim to capture mood and feeling in your photographs by giving as much of your attention to the technical settings as to the feeling you have and how you want to portray your subject. If you set your camera so your exposure is good and you have as much depth of field as you want, you will be free to connect with your subject. This will give you more freedom to get a real feeling for what you are doing which will resonate in your photographs.

Reaching beyond the technical and concentrating your creative energy on the subject you will produce photographs which draw in your audience. They will be able to experience and feel the relationship you have with your subject.

portrait of a red head teenage boy - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

3. Follow your passion

“Your connection with the world is unique” – Martin Parr

This is why people who photograph subjects they are passionate about will typically produce more creative, interesting pictures than someone who photographs a subject they have no real interest in or connection with.

My wife takes far better photos of flowers than I do. She is passionate about flowers, she loves growing them. She has a lot of knowledge about flowers and flowering trees. Taking care of them and making sure they have the best conditions in which to flourish is important to her. She consistently makes far more beautiful and creative photographs of flowers than I do because she is passionate about them. They may not always be technically correct, but they are made with feeling and convey that feeling.

pink orchid flowers - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Photo by: Pansa Landwer-Johan

Have a deeper, more soulful relationship

When you have a deeper, more soulful relationship with your subject, you will naturally make more interesting, creative photographs as well. Your connection with the world is unique. No one else sees things and experiences life as you do. By applying your unique perspective and conveying this through your photographs they will resonate more strongly with people who view them.

You may even find you pay less attention to technical aspects as you genuinely begin to follow your feelings and become immersed in photographing your chosen subject. Enjoying photography in this manner can be deeply therapeutic. As you begin to concentrate totally and follow the flow of your feelings toward your subject everything else will become secondary, nothing else will matter.

At times like this, you must take extra care to be aware of your own safety. Many times I have stepped back onto a road, come close to stepping backward off a jetty and had wet shoes because I stepped in a puddle. I was so focused on what I was photographing and not paying much attention to anything else. So please take care!

Woman in the mist with a red scarf over her head an shoulders - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

A practical example

When I visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, I went looking for a quarter I’d read about where craftspeople still produce copper wares using traditional methods. I love photographing people engaged in creative activities and I had never photographed people making copper goods.

I eventually discovered the right location and found three men in a small workshop. Two of them were putting finishing touches to some beautifully crafted artworks.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

I politely approached and using gestures and showing them my camera, as we had no common language, I was welcomed in and made to feel comfortable. I showed an interest in what these men were doing and they were comfortable with my presence. The older man even gave me a glass of Turkish tea. I quickly became engrossed making photographs of the creative process I was witnessing.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Despite having no prior experience with this subject I was still able to connect with the men and easily relate to what they were doing. Eventually, a fourth man entered the workshop and he spoke some English so I was able to ask how many generations this family had been working with copper. After a considerable amount of discussion all three men, who were cousins and father/uncle, looked at me and shrugged their shoulders. Their tradition had been in their family longer than they could tell me.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Sadly, the fourth man who had joined us was a buyer. He told me he wanted to push the price the craftsmen were asking for their artworks down and was threatening to steal their designs and mass produce them in his factory (which now mass produces lamps, coffee pots, urns and other goods which were traditionally made in small, family-owned workshops.) As he told me this story I continued to photograph with the aim of capturing the mood of the conversation.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

In conclusion

Connecting with your subject in a meaningful manner will support and enhance your creative process. Knowing your subject in advance, or adapting quickly to relate to it in a short time, gives you a depth of connection that is not likely if you are distant and non-communicative.

Being technically competent enough to not spend most (or even some) of your attention on your equipment will release you to develop your connection with your subject.

portrait of a young Kayan girl in Chiang Mai, Thailand. - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Young Kayan girl without her neck rings on.

Being passionate about your chosen subject will favor you to go that much deeper and further without distractions to create more interesting and more creative photographs.

The most effective way to learn these things is to choose a subject that you can photograph many times, preferably one that you enjoy. If your chosen subject is a person, one who enjoys being photographed. Make time to photograph your subject as often as you find enjoyment in the creative process and develop a feeling for the technical settings of your camera. Doing this will help you to learn more about your subject and hopefully, you’ll become more passionate in the process as well.

Watch the video below to see this in action.

The post 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photos by Kevin Landwer-Johan appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Create Dynamic Photos of Car Light Trails

09 Jan

Nothing says futuristic, dynamic, and dramatic like a well-done traffic light trail photo. This is a genre of photography that almost all landscape photographers will have dipped into, it’s like a right of passage. The kind of images you can create make others want to go out and buy their first tripod.

Indeed getting a good photo of light trails will justify carrying around that heavy tripod perhaps all day long. There are lots of things to consider when taking this type of photo, and in this article, you’ll learn straight away what it takes.

How to Create Dynamic Car Light Trail Photos

This photo was taken from a residential building overlooking this amazing traffic intersection in Shanghai.

Choosing the right location

The most important thing to creating light trail photos is to go to a place where there will be lots of moving lights! This should be obvious, but some places are better than others. In all cases, the light trails will be part of the frame and either the main subject or the leading lines that direct the viewer to your main subject. In most cases your location is going to be urban, so let’s look at the options.

This light trail photo of the Colosseum in Rome uses light from a passing bus.

1 – Down on the street

A busy main road can be a good place to take light trail photos. The chances are you’ll be photographing a famous landmark from your locale, and using light trails will give the photo a more dynamic feel.

Position yourself so the light trails either lead up to your landmark or disappear off into the distance beside it.
When a safe traffic island is available, experiment with photographing from the middle of the street. This will give you both white headlights, and red rear lights.
It’s easier to control the intensity of the light from rear lights. So it’s often best to position yourself to photograph light trails as the traffic is moving away from the camera.
Photograph during blue hour as much as possible, this should be the case for all cityscape photos.
The best light trails are produced when buses drive past. They have lights that will fill your frame, as these vehicles are taller and lit up more.
The height at which you have your tripod set can dramatically affect your results when photographing at street level. The lower the tripod, the “higher” the lights will appear in your frame.
If you don’t want the lights to paint across the entire photo, experiment with an external shutter release, and the bulb function on your camera. Bulb allows you to open and close the shutter when you choose, so you can close it and end the exposure before the moving vehicle completely moves through your photo.

In this case, the Bulb function was used so that the light didn’t paint over the building on the right.

2 – Get up high, and photograph from above

Taking photos from a high vantage point is often a sure fire way of getting good results. This is especially true when it comes to taking light trail photos. There are two choices when it comes to this, you can go to the public area, or try for the trickier private access.

Public area – The easiest and safest option, though this likely means 1000’s of other people will also visit the same spot. This will commonly be a pedestrian footbridge over a road, a viewpoint from a mountain, or perhaps a viewing gallery in a tall building.
Private property – The best policy here is to ask permission. The other approach is riskier, more clandestine, and more in keeping with a genre of photography called urbex. At this time access to private rooftops is becoming increasingly difficult, in no small part because some people enjoy filming daredevil stunts from such locations. So do your research on a location you would like to photograph, and be respectful if you are lucky enough to get access. In some cities, rooftop bars can offer great views, but if you wish to bring a tripod in then emailing the business ahead of time is advised.

This high vantage point was achieved by contacting a rooftop bar in advance and getting permission to photograph from their location.

3 – Embrace the great outdoors

Of course, anywhere there’s a road can be a good location for light trail photography. Roads that wind their way up a mountainside will look great in a photo, you just need a good vantage point. Even photos from a lower position can look nice with a single stream of light, which can create a nice minimalist feel to your photo.

Photos taken in these locations may require very long exposures to allow the vehicle to drive through the frame. The best solution here is to take a series of 30-second exposures, and then stack the results later in Photoshop (or use an ND filter to cut the light and get longer exposure times).

This location is in Taiwan. To reach the viewpoint there were several bits of rope I had to climb up, as the side of the mountain was steep.

How to take long exposures of car light trails

Once you have settled on your location it’s time for the fun to begin! Taking these photos well does require some technical knowledge, let’s break this down here.

Compose your photo, and ensure the light trails complement the frame you wish to produce.
Arrive around 30-minutes prior to sunset. This will give you time to plan your photo and to take additional photos for digital blending if needed.
Ensure the camera is steady, this is challenging in strong winds. To achieve this use a heavy tripod, and where possible hook your camera bag under the center column. The heavier the tripod, the less likely it will be moved by the wind. Avoid putting up the middle extension tube on the tripod, as this introduces more instability and movement.

You can focus the camera using Live View. In Live View, zoom (using the magnify view button + not zooming your lens) into an area of the frame such as a sign. Now set your lens to manual focus. Choose an object to focus on that is towards the back of the mid-ground in your photo. Keep the camera in manual focus, so that the camera doesn’t change focus when you press the shutter button.
An additional option is to use digital blending to balance the light throughout the scene. Digital blending is a post-processing technique that requires a set of bracketed photos at -1, 0 and +1 exposure (or -2, 0, and +2).
Using an aperture of f/11 or smaller will create a starburst effect on any street lights that are in your frame. But the larger the aperture the brighter the light trails will be, so a balance is needed.
Now everything is set for you to take your photo. The light trail photo needs to show continuous light moving along the road. Make sure your exposure is long enough for this to happen, usually this is at least 15 seconds. To avoid camera shake use an external shutter release, or the camera’s self timer. If the camera isn’t in Live View, use the mirror lockup, this prevents shake on dSLR cameras when they expose.

This frame required several stacked images to enhance the amount of traffic in the photo.

Enhancing your light trail photo in post-processing

As with all photography, you can enhance your image in post-processing to get an even better result. There are two principal techniques that can be used to achieve this.

Digital blending – In order to use this technique you will need a set of bracketed images to work with. This technique will allow you to balance the level of light throughout the scene.
Photo stacking – The next option, usually done in conjunction with digital blending, is photo stacking. You can use this to intensify the light trails within your photo. The concept is to take photos of multiple traffic light streams and overlay the images on top of each other.

There aren’t many better places to photograph light streams on boats than Venice!

Other types of light trail photos

There are lots of other ways to use light trails in your photography. Here are a few other ideas you can try, that will complement your other light trail photos.

Boat lights – Boats on the water produce beautiful light trails, with the added bonus of reflections. The speed of boats is much slower though. This means an exposure of around two minutes or stacking several photos together to complete the light trail.
Create your own – You don’t need cars to create light trails, in fact, you can just use a light source and make your own. To have the most fun with this purchasing a Pixelstick is a great idea.
Kinetic light painting – Static lights can be turned into light trails, you just have to move your camera! Try out zoom bursts, or camera rotation to see some amazing results.

The u-bein bridge in Myanmar is a classic photograph. You won’t see light trails here unless you make your own!

Time to hit the road, and get some light trails

Now it’s time to get out there and try this amazing style of photography. I’m sure many of you have taken car light trail photos, so share your best work with the community in the comments below.

What style of photo do you like best? Are there any further tips that you use for your photos that you’d like to share? As always share your thoughts, ideas, and work below and let’s talk about car light trail photography.

Time to get on your bike, and out there taking light trail photos!

The post How to Create Dynamic Photos of Car Light Trails by Simon Bond appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Sony a7R III dynamic range improved, nearly matches chart-topping Nikon D850

01 Nov

Sony has claimed 15 EV dynamic range from its newest ILC iteration: the a7R III. Is it true, or is it like Sony’s odd claim that the a7S had 15 EV dynamic range? Turns out: Sony has some strong grounds for its claim here.

The Sony a7R III retains its dynamic range even in bursts. That’s a big deal for a Sony ILC

At the launch event in NYC, we were able to gather enough data to measure the ‘engineering dynamic range’ of the a7R III.* And boy is it impressive. Possibly even more important: for the first time the a7R III retains this dynamic range even in continuous drive. That’s a big deal for sports and action photographers. But how true is Sony’s claim?

The Sony a7R II already had impressive Raw dynamic range, with the ability to expose short enough to keep highlights from blowing, but with low enough sensor noise to lift shadows without too much noise. The a7R III improves on this.

Oh and think this image is too dark? Wait till you view it on a HDR display, which is another can of worms altogether the stills industry should be discussing.

Photo: Rishi Sanyal

Sony has found a way to reduce shadow (or ‘read’) noise in its files such that the final output has higher dynamic range, and cleaner shadows if you need them, than files from its predecessor. To summarize it in a number at base ISO: 13.6 EV at the pixel, or for a 42.4MP file. Or 14.8 EV if you like to compare to DXO numbers (and only generate 8MP images from your 42.4MP camera). Either way, that’s a nearly half-stop improvement over its predecessor. See our table below, which also compares the a7R III to the full-frame chart-topping Nikon D850, ranking based on highest performer:

	Pixel Dynamic Range	8MP ‘Print’ Dynamic Range
Nikon D850 (ISO 64)	13.78	15.03
Sony a7R III	13.63	14.84
Nikon D850 (ISO 100)	13.27	14.53
Sony a7R II	13.21	14.41

While the Nikon D850 is the top performer here, its important to note that this is only the case if you can give the D850 the extra ~2/3 EV light it needs at ISO 64 (which you often can if you’re shooting bright light or a landscape photographer on a tripod). At ISO 100, the a7R III dynamic range actually exceeds that of the D850, thanks to incredibly low read noise. That’s impressive for a camera constantly running its sensor in live view.

At ISO 100, the a7R III dynamic range actually exceeds that of the D850… impressive for a camera constantly running in live view

Keep in mind, though, that if you can give the D850 the extra exposure to take advantage of its ISO 64 dynamic range, all tones in your image benefit from the higher signal:noise ratio—even midtones and brighter tones will be more amenable to post-processing and sharpening thanks to being more ‘clean’ and less noisy to begin with. The D850 is able to tolerate as much total light as the medium format Fujifilm GFX 50S, as we showed here. That’s what allows one to get unbelievably crisp, ‘medium format-like’ like files from a Nikon D810 (just zoom in to 100% on that shot and tell me you’re not impressed).

But the Sony a7R III gets you nearly there. While in some circumstances the Nikon D810/D850, or medium format, may afford you slightly cleaner more malleable files, the a7R III takes a significant step at closing the gap. And that’s nothing short of impressive for a mirrorless ILC constantly running its sensor for a live feed (and all its benefits).

As for Sony’s marketing, it sounds like the claim of 15 EV is believable, but only technically if you consider how your images look when shrunk to 8MP files. To be fair, there’s some benefit to comparing dynamic range figures after resizing camera outputs to 8MP, since it’s a common basis for comparison that doesn’t penalize cameras for having higher resolution (and therefore smaller pixels).

In depth vs. a7R II

Let’s take a deeper dive. Here are our ‘engineering’ dynamic range measurements of the a7R III vs. the a7R II. ‘Engineering’ dynamic range means we are measuring the range of tones recorded between clipping and when the shadows reach an unacceptable noise threshold where signal is indistinguishable from noise (or when signal:noise ratio = 1). Have a look (blue: a7R III | red: a7R II):

The a7R III shows a 0.42 EV, or nearly a half a stop, improvement in base ISO dynamic range over the a7R II. That’s not insignificant: it will be visible in the deepest shadows of base ISO shots of high contrast scenes. How did Sony do this given the already low levels of read noise its known for? Possibly by going to better or higher native bit-depth ADCs, something Bill Claff had suggested based on our largely 12-bit findings of the Sony a9’s output. But let’s save that for the PST forums.

Suffice it to say the a7R III improves on low ISO dynamic range, without sacrificing anything on the high end

It’s worth noting our a7R II figures are higher than DXO’s published 12.69 EV (13.9 EV ‘Print’) figures, possibly because they tested an older unit prior to uncompressed Raw and improvements to Sony’s compression curve. We retested it literally today with the latest firmware, and get figures of 13.2 EV or 14.4 EV normalized for ‘Print’ (Bill measures 13.3 EV, which you can see by clicking the camera name in the legend). See our 8MP, or ‘Print’ normalized, dynamic range figures below. These are more comparable to what DXO might report, for the benefit of your own comparative efforts (blue: a7R III | red: a7R II):

You can see the Sony a7R III encroaching on the ~15 EV rating of the Nikon D850 at ISO 64, but achieved at ISO 100 on the Sony, thanks to lower read noise. Impressive, though keep in mind again that the overall image quality improvement of an ISO 64 file from a D850 is due to total captured light (and it’s all about total captured light, which you can read about here).

Independently, our friend Bill Claff has tested the a7R III and also shows a similar 0.3 EV improvement over the Mark II (you can see the dynamic range numbers by clicking on the relevant camera in the legend at the upper right). He also shows the slight advantage of the Nikon D850 over the a7R III, which comes in at 13.7 EV vs. the a7R III’s 13.6 EV at the pixel level.**

Sony: a job well done. And all this at no cost to high ISO performance (we have comparisons coming showing parity between high ISO a7R III and a9 performance). Now please offer us visually lossless compressed Raw so we don’t have to deal with >80MB files for no reason. 🙂

ISO-Invariance

A camera with such great dynamic range performance suggests it’s probably fairly ISO-invariant, but is it?

Well, yes and no. It’s ISO-invariant in exactly the way it should be, but not so in the ways it shouldn’t be. Confused? Read on.

The a7R III, like many Sony predecessors, has a second gain step at the pixel level that amplifies signal, at the cost of higher tones, to preserve higher signal, and less noise, in dark tones. But it does so at a higher ISO—640 to be exact. At this point, the camera has amplified its signal in the analog domain so much that any remaining noise barely affects it.

That’s why the camera shows no difference between amplifying that ISO 640-amplified signal digitally (in-post) or in the analog domain in-camera. While we’ll have a more rigorous and controlled ISO-invariance test coming soon, you can see even in our cursory test at the launch event below that comparing ISO 6400 vs ISO 640 shot at the same exposure but raised 3.3 EV in-post to maintain the same brightness as ISO 6400 shows no difference at all in noise performance.

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What’s the advantage to the latter? 3.3 EV of highlights you otherwise lose by amplifying to ISO 6400 levels in-camera, but that you don’t lose if you ask ACR to digitally brighten 3.3 EV in post (anything that gets blown from that 3.3 EV push can easily be recovered in ACR since it’s there in the Raw file).

Below ISO 640 there’s some extra noise to, say, shooting ISO 100 and boosting 6 EV in post as opposed to shooting ISO 640 and boosting 3.3 EV. But there’s simply no excuse to the camera’s traditional ISO 6400 method of shooting ISO 6400-appropriate exposure and then amplifying the analog signal 6 EV in post to get ISO 6400 levels of brightness; instead, 2.7 EV of that push could be done in the analog domain by switching dual gain to ISO 640 levels, but the remaining 3.3 EV push should be saved for Raw conversion in order to retain 3.3 EV (or more) of highlight detail. Indeed, this is easily seen in Bill Claff’s ‘Shadow Improvement’ graphs that show little to no benefit to analog amplification above ISO 640 on even the Sony a7R II (or ISO 400 on the Nikon D850). And only a highlight cost of stops, upon stops, upon stops, since tones get amplified above the clipping point of the ADC at higher ISOs.

I’m going to use this as an opportunity to ask manufacturers like Sony, Nikon and the like: please accept the digital revolution that even your video departments have accepted (in their ‘E.I.’ modes). Please stop throwing away highlight data for almost no shadow benefit to ostensibly stick to poor antiquated ‘film’ analogies, or to work around CCD/CMOS read noise limitations that no longer exist. We’ve been singing this tune since 2014 when we designed our ISO-invariance test, and it’s even more relevant today with dual-gain architectures. ACR understands digital ‘push’ tags and you can brighten the image preview (and JPEG) as necessary. This is not to single out Sony: Nikon, Olympus and Panasonic are just as easy to blame, if not Canon of late after having modernized its sensor architecture to catch up with the rest.

Footnotes:

* Sony’s claim that the a7S had 15 EV dynamic range was patently false, as even the a7R II which has been measured to have less than 15 EV dynamic range performs better. But since there’s no standard for dynamic range measurement, it’s hard to say whether or not anyone’s claim is right or wrong – manufacturers can claim whatever they wish.

** But again, that’s not the whole story until you consider the higher signal:noise ratio of all tones at ISO 64 on a D850 compared to ISO 100 on any other full-frame at ISO 100.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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