The post How to Take Good Pictures in Bright Sunlight: 11 Easy Tips appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.
How can you take good pictures in bright sunlight? As you may be aware, harsh lighting can lead to unwanted contrast, blown-out highlights, lens flare, and colors that look overly saturated. (If you’re shooting portraits, direct sunlight can also lead to the “squint factor.”)
So what’s a photographer to do?
It turns out there are simple methods of capturing stunning shots in bright light. You just have to choose your compositions and camera settings carefully – and at times, get a bit creative.
So to discover 11 quick and simple tips for combating problems caused by bright sunlight, read on:
1. Move into the shade
The simplest way to take beautiful images in direct sunlight?
Just move into the shade.
Obviously, this isn’t always feasible – you certainly can’t move an entire seascape! – but with some subjects, heading into the shade is quick and easy. It’s a good solution when shooting portraits, assuming you’re not tied to a particular location.
After all, sometimes the simplest solutions are best!
2. Make your own shade
For small subjects that aren’t movable – for instance, a small flower in a field – create your own shade!
You have a few different options, some more convenient than others:
Block the light with your body
Ask an assistant to stand between the flower and the light
Hold a piece of cardboard or an umbrella above the flower
Use a pop-up diffuser
Note that some of these options will be more effective depending on the direction of the light (e.g., if the bright sun is directly overhead, it’ll be tough to block it with your own body).
And a diffuser, because it softens the light rather than blocks it, will give you the most balanced, flattering results.
3. Use fill flash
One of the biggest problems with shooting in direct sunlight is the harsh shadows. For instance, portrait subjects will get unwanted shadows under the chin, flowers will get heavy shadows underneath the petals, and pets will get dark shadows under their head and body.
In general, these harsh shadows look bad, but there’s an easy solution:
Fill flash.
Simply point a flash toward the dark shadows and fire away! Make sure the flash is on a low power setting – after all, you don’t want to make the underside of your subject brighter than its top! – and experiment with different flash angles for the best results.
You also might try putting the sun behind your subject, then using the fill flash to brighten up your subject’s front. It can look really good, though watch out for lens flare.
4. Use a reflector
Want to fill in harsh shadows but don’t like using flash?
You have another easy option:
A reflector.
Reflectors are white or metallic items that bounce light back into darker areas, and they’re really easy to use. Simply point the reflector at the area you want to brighten up, then adjust it until you get some nice fill (by angling the reflector back and forth, you’ll see the reflected light change position, and you can use this “preview” to fine-tune the effect).
Note that you can also try the same tactic I mentioned in the previous section, where you position your subject in front of the sun and bounce light back onto their front. A reflector isn’t as powerful as a fill flash, so you’ll need to carefully angle it for maximum effect – but if you get it right, the results will be amazing.
5. Change your perspective
Sometimes, moving your subject into the shade isn’t possible – but moving around your subject can give the same effect.
For instance, if you’re shooting an interesting tree in the forest, you might move to the tree’s other side, you might find an interesting part of the tree that’s shrouded in shadow, or you might get low and shoot up.
The idea is to observe your subject carefully, looking for ways to maximize shade and minimize bright highlights and annoying contrast.
6. Use a lens hood
Suffering from lens flare?
While flare can be artistic, it can also be very annoying, especially if you’re after a clean, straightforward image.
Fortunately, many lenses come with hoods, which block flare-causing light and keep your photos flare-free.
If you don’t have a lens hood, don’t fret; it’s not that difficult to construct a hood out of cardboard or to use your hand to shield your lens from the sun.
(Just make sure you keep your makeshift lens hood and your hand out of the shot – otherwise, you’ll be doing a lot of cropping in post-production!)
7. Consider using a filter
Unfortunately, filters don’t offer a magical solution for bright sunlight – there’s no “avoid direct sunlight” filter, at least not currently – but filters can be handy for direct sunlight photography.
For instance, a polarizing filter will help cut down on reflections, plus it’ll help you achieve vibrant colors (including a beautiful blue sky).
And a neutral density filter will reduce the light hitting your camera sensor, allowing for slower shutter speeds and smaller apertures at midday.
(Why might that be useful? Sometimes, you’ll want to shoot with a wide aperture for the shallow depth of field effect, or you’ll want a slow shutter speed to convey motion blur.)
8. Play with your white balance settings
These days, pretty much every digital camera lets you choose between different white balance settings (for instance, you can dial in a white balance preset, such as Cloudy or Daylight, or you can set a custom white balance based on your scene).
Now, you can adjust the white balance later on in post-processing, assuming you’re shooting in RAW. But if you shoot in JPEG, or you simply prefer to get things right in-camera, you’ll want to carefully set your white balance from the start.
How is this helpful for taking good pictures in bright sunlight?
Well, white balances can offer artistic effects that enhance the look of highlights and shadows. A cooler white balance, for instance, can give a neat effect to more monochrome images – while a warm white balance will make bright sunlight appear softer and more inviting.
9. Use spot metering for the best results
Harsh sunlight makes correct metering tricky. So here’s my advice:
Use spot metering. This will force your camera to expose based on a targeted portion of your scene; you can aim at your main subject, then dial in the recommended exposure settings.
Alternatively, you can spot meter off a midtone in your shot – this will ensure the entire scene is exposed relatively well (as opposed to the former technique, which will ensure you expose for your subject).
After taking an image, check the back of your camera for a preview; you may need to adjust your technique depending on the result. Here, your histogram can be very handy, especially because it’s tough to accurately evaluate an LCD preview in bright sunlight.
Also, if you have the luxury of time, try metering off different parts of the scene while taking multiple shots – that way, you can choose the best option later on.
10. Carefully choose the time of day you shoot
Most of us don’t have the luxury of sitting around all day waiting for the perfect light.
But heading out an hour or two earlier or waiting until an hour or two later might be feasible – and if that’s manageable, I highly recommend you consider it.
You see, the time of day can dramatically impact your shot. Midday offers unpleasant, harsh light, but if you go out in the early morning or late afternoon, even direct sunlight starts to look good. You’ll lose the unwanted contrast, you’ll lose the ugly shadows, and you’ll get soft, golden light that’ll flatter your subjects.
Make sense?
11. Shoot silhouettes
As the saying goes:
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
And that applies when photographing subjects in bright sunlight. If the sun is causing you problems, just use it to your advantage; make your subject stand in front of the bright light, then capture stunning silhouettes all day long.
I recommend getting down low (so that you’re shooting against the bright sky). And compose so your subject is clearly defined against the background.
How to take good pictures in bright sunlight: conclusion
Well, there you have it:
Eleven easy tips for shooting in bright sunlight.
Capturing beautiful photos in harsh light might seem difficult – but remember these tips, and your photos will turn out great!
Now over to you:
Do you struggle to shoot in bright sunlight? Do you have any tips or tricks for dealing with these issues? Share your thoughts (and images) in the comments below.
The post How to Take Good Pictures in Bright Sunlight: 11 Easy Tips appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.
The post Nikon NX Studio Review: How Good Is This Free Photo Editor? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.
In order to write a good Nikon NX Studio review, it’s important to step back to see who this program is for and how it fits into the image editing landscape.
In 2006, Nikon released a software tool called Capture NX, which was designed for its fledgling line of digital cameras. Over the years, Nikon slowly added new features, but Capture NX was never a serious competitor to Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, or other popular image editing and management software. That all changed in early 2021; Nikon retired Capture NX (and its companion, ViewNX) and replaced them with Nikon NX Studio.
But is Nikon’s software ready for prime time, and can it hold its own against a growing list of competitors? What exactly does NX Studio do and who is it for? The answers might surprise you.
RAW file processed with Nikon NX Studio. Nikon D7100 | Nikon 50mm f/1.8G | f/2.8 | 1/3000s | ISO 100
Nikon NX Studio overview
In a very basic sense, Nikon NX Studio is like Lightroom – but designed specifically for Nikon shooters. It’s not really a fair comparison, though, because Nikon NX Studio isn’t supposed to be a replacement for Lightroom. The two have a lot of overlap, but when doing a one-to-one feature comparison, Nikon NX Studio comes up woefully short. However, NX Studio does have a workflow that appeals to a lot of photographers, as well as some advanced tools absent from Lightroom.
Nikon NX Studio is great for photographers who want to do more with their photos than what basic programs like Apple Photos can offer. It has tools for common edits such as white balance, brightness, color, noise reduction, cropping, and sharpness. Nikon NX Studio also goes one step beyond Lightroom by letting you perform basic edits on videos, such as trimming and stitching.
It also has one very important advantage over Lightroom and most other programs: It’s free, so you lose nothing by trying it out.
Nikon NX Studio goes way beyond basic image editing, and it has some powerful tools that appeal to amateurs and professionals alike.
For enthusiasts and even professionals, there’s a lot to like about Nikon NX Studio as long as you keep your expectations in check and don’t mind some frustrating bugs and shortcomings. It’s not a full-featured digital asset management tool like Lightroom, though it does offer some basic file management and storage.
But where Nikon NX Studio really shines is in the sheer depth of its tools. The Lightness, Chroma, and Hue adjustments give you incredible control over editing colors, and the Color Point tool gives you fine-grained control that takes several steps to replicate in Lightroom.
Finally, Nikon NX Studio has a trick up its sleeve that no other image editor can match: it works with Nikon RAW files without needing to reverse-engineer the RAW algorithm or convert everything to DNG.
Nikon NX Studio pros
The price is great. It’s a free program and should be updated by Nikon regularly for years to come.
Lots of features that appeal to amateurs, hobbyists, and professionals
Basic movie editing tools are simple and practical
Everything takes place in a single interface without the need to switch between Library and Develop modules like in Lightroom
Nikon NX Studio cons
Very basic import process compared to Lightroom: no keyword management, applying presets, or metadata adjustments
Lacks Brush and Graduated adjustment tools, along with other editing options offered by competing programs
Lack of a simple Undo feature
Lots of bugs and glitches. Some would say this is expected with Version 1 of a program, but these issues happen more frequently than I would like
Nikon NX Studio utilizes a separate program called Nikon Transfer 2 to import images from a memory card or other source. It works fine, but it’s fairly simplistic in terms of functionality.
If you’re a Nikon shooter, you can’t go wrong with just downloading Nikon NX Studio to check it out. It’s free, and it won’t alter your current photos even if you use Lightroom, Luminar, or another program. You really have nothing to lose by trying it, and you might find that the results you get from your Nikon RAW files are much better than what you get in Lightroom. (Note that Nikon NX Studio only works with Nikon NEF RAW files. It will not load DNG files or RAW files from Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, and other manufacturers.)
While I do think Nikon NX Studio is worth trying out, let’s take a closer look at some of its characteristics to help determine whether it’s the right program for you.
Layout and ease of use
If you’ve ever used a program like Lightroom, Luminar, or Capture One, you’ll feel right at home in Nikon NX Studio.
The interface is pretty simple: the left side is where you access your photos in folders or albums. The middle is where you scroll through your photos or look at them more closely. Your tools are located on the right and clicking the title of a tool expands and collapses its options just like Lightroom.
The Nikon NX Studio layout is similar to other programs like Lightroom, Luminar, and Capture One. Photo storage on the left, editing tools on the right, and your image in the middle.
An Import button in the top-right corner will let you start loading images from a memory card. Additional icons at the top of the main window let you switch between views: thumbnail, map, 2 and 4 images at a time, before and after, and list, which users of Apple’s Aperture software will certainly appreciate. Along the bottom are more tools that let you show view overlays (such as a grid or a histogram), assign star ratings, and rotate photos.
All these buttons and options might seem overwhelming, but it’s very straightforward; you should be able to find your way around the interface after a few minutes of exploring.
One key difference between Nikon NX Studio and Lightroom is that the former stores your image edits in sidecar files, whereas the latter is based around a single massive database, called a catalog. Some prefer one type of storage over the other, but while there have been reports of corrupted Catalogs causing problems for some photographers, it’s not an issue I have experienced.
Still, if you want a powerful image editor but are wary of putting all your editing eggs in a single basket, Nikon NX Studio might be a good choice.
Performance
In terms of sheer speed and editing efficiency, Nikon NX Studio does leave something to be desired. On a 2020 27″ iMac with a 3.6 GHz, 10-core i9 processor, lots of RAM, and a large internal SSD, my edits were fairly smooth.
But running NX Studio on a machine just a few years old with a spinning hard drive felt positively sluggish by comparison. Adjusting any given slider, from White Balance to Highlights to Color Booster, resulted in a visible checkerboard pattern across the image while edits were applied. Each adjustment only took a second or two, but these little bits of time add up quickly when editing dozens or hundreds of images.
On slower computers, editing operations like changing the white balance can result in a tiny delay, during which time a checkerboard pattern is visible.
Other Nikon NX Studio features resulted in slow response times or outright crashes. Navigating through folders to locate images took much longer than I expected, and simple operations like cropping were slow and choppy. I generally zoom in to a photo to check for focus and sharpness and then zoom out for more editing, but even this relatively basic operation was slower and clunkier than I would have liked. After leaving NX Studio running for a few hours – not processing photos, but simply open in the background – it brought my Mac to its knees with a strange memory management error.
I left Nikon NX Studio running overnight; the next morning, I found that my computer had slowed to a crawl. It had some kind of memory leak that was using every spare scrap of RAM I had available.
I’m not saying that the program is unusable, just that users ought to approach it with a bit of caution. Programs such as Lightroom were just as buggy in their early incarnations and are much improved now, and I have no doubt the same will be true of Nikon NX Studio. It will get better over time, but right now you can expect to encounter some glitches.
However, it’s not all bad news in terms of performance. Loading Nikon NEF RAW files was snappy, navigating between editing panes was quick and easy, and import/export operations had no noticeable lag. When Nikon NX Studio works, which it usually does, it works quite well. But when it doesn’t work, it can be a bit frustrating.
Photo organization
It’s not uncommon for photographers to have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pictures to wade through. Nikon NX Studio isn’t going to win awards for groundbreaking AI-powered image management, but it does have some useful tools to help you organize your pictures.
Nikon NX Studio imports images to folders on your hard drive, not to a proprietary archive. To find your images, use the folders on the left-hand side.
In lieu of a Lightroom-style Catalog system, NX Studio shows you a hierarchical view of all the folders on your main drive and lets you navigate through them to locate your images. It’s not dissimilar from Luminar and others, and I prefer this method over the all-in-one archive system used by Apple Photos. When you import images from a memory card, you can create a new folder to store the pictures. You can create custom names for each import, as well.
When browsing through your pictures, you can assign star ratings, color labels, and keywords. There is a Filter bar that you can use to sort your photos according to these criteria as well as other information, but Nikon NX Studio does not have Smart Albums or other dynamic methods for automatically sorting your images. I use Lightroom’s Smart Collections to help me organize my images, but if you aren’t a fan of this method, then NX Studio will be fine.
The Filter bar lets you sort by many different criteria.
Longtime users of Apple’s now-defunct Aperture software will find the Thumbnail List View to be particularly useful when managing photos. This shows a list-style view similar to what you see when browsing through your Mac OS Finder or Windows Explorer, with columns that display various parameters such as exposure information, file size, date modified, and more.
List View is a very useful way of viewing and sorting your images. It is very similar to List View in the Mac OS Finder and in Microsoft Windows Explorer.
While Nikon NX Studio’s photo management tools are not as robust as I would like, they’re certainly a good start. If you prefer a straightforward approach that does not rely on a proprietary catalog or database system, then there’s a lot to appreciate.
Photo-editing capabilities
This is where the rubber meets the road, and fortunately, Nikon NX Studio can hold its own against the competition in virtually all the areas that matter. While some NX Studio features are not as refined as other programs and some tools are missing in action, what it gets right, it really gets right.
There’s a long list of editing options at your disposal, including:
White Balance
Exposure Compensation
Active D-Lighting, which is unique to Nikon cameras and is a nice way to automatically brighten shadows and create a more even exposure
Brightness and Color
Levels and Curves
Lightness, Chroma, and Hue
Adjust Details, which includes Noise Reduction and Sharpness
Touch-Up, to remove spots and blemishes
Adjust Composition, which includes cropping, straightening, and perspective control
Camera and Lens Corrections
Once again, it’s worth remembering that Nikon NX Studio is a free program, and that fact alone makes the inclusion of all these options kind of amazing. While tools like a graduated filter, a radial filter, and an adjustment brush are missing, the options you do have should suffice for most photo editing. You can even create multiple custom sets of adjustment options that include only the tools you use in specific scenarios. This is quite useful if you prefer different tools when editing landscapes compared to editing portraits.
You can create custom sets of editing adjustments, then switch to your custom sets with a simple click.
The Color Control Point editing tool is particularly useful, and one that I’d like to see in other applications. It allows you to click anywhere on your image and immediately have access to eight common editing sliders. Drag any of them to the right or left to increase or decrease that particular parameter. The top slider adjusts the size of the area to which the edits will be applied. It’s a highly useful tool for precise color editing, and the ability to adjust sliders right on the image instead of in an editing pane is something I have grown to appreciate a great deal.
The Color Control Point tool lets you click on any part of an image and use sliders to adjust colors on the spot.
The Lightness, Chroma, and Hue Adjustment takes an innovative and highly effective approach to manipulating color. While similar to the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance option in Lightroom, the Nikon NX Studio implementation offers useful options that professional and amateur photographers will appreciate.
You can use the eyedropper tool to select a color in your image, then click and drag up or down in the rainbow panel to adjust that color’s parameters. You can also change the angle of the rainbow, which means that your edits can be implemented more dramatically or more subtly. Finally, Width lets you target your edits to either a very narrow or very wide band of colors. It’s a powerful tool for global color adjustments.
Nikon NX Studio has a very useful tool for making global color edits to an image. Click and drag up or down on the horizontal line to adjust the parameters of a color, and adjust the Width to control the range of colors affected by a given peak or valley.
There are some important drawbacks to NX Studio’s photo-editing capabilities, and any Nikon NX Studio review would be remiss in not pointing them out.
First, there is no Undo option. Yes, you read that right; instead of an Undo, you can create a saved state for your edits then revert to that saved state at any point, but an actual Undo feature is missing.
Also, there is no History tool that shows you every edit and lets you step through them one by one. While Nikon NX Studio is nondestructive and all your edits can be changed or removed at any time, a History feature would help when doing lots of in-depth changes.
Other strange feature implementations are present, as well. After you apply a crop, you can’t actually make changes to it; you can start over with a new crop, but you can’t edit the crop once it has been applied. You also can’t darken shadows or lighten highlights – at least, not with the Shadows and Highlights sliders. The Retouch brush has no customization options at all other than its size. Finally, there is no way to make export presets, which could be a dealbreaker for those who rely on this feature in Lightroom and other programs.
The Export dialog in Nikon NX Studio has plenty of options, but its use is limited by the lack of export presets.
There’s a couple of ways to look at these drawbacks.
Compared to a program like Lightroom, NX Studio might seem limited. But on the other hand, you could argue that Nikon NX Studio is free, so there’s not much to complain about. It’s also currently on Version 1 and will no doubt be refined and upgraded over time. Many of the drawbacks have workarounds or alternative methods of accomplishing the same task, even if it does involve some extra steps. And finally, there is always a learning curve with new programs.
So are these missing features drawbacks, or is it more a matter of learning a new workflow? One could make a strong case for the latter over the former.
Who should get Nikon NX Studio?
While I can’t recommend Nikon NX Studio across the board, it’s a great option for many shooters. Certainly, Nikon users will appreciate all the tools NX Studio has to offer, especially for editing RAW files. If you are a hobbyist or working professional who needs a suite of powerful editing tools and you don’t mind some interface quirks, Nikon NX Studio could be right up your alley. Beginners might be intimidated by the plethora of buttons, options, and tools, especially compared to more basic image editors that are available for free on mobile phones and some computers. But Nikon NX Studio could be a good way for those individuals to start using a more advanced image editor without spending any money at all.
People who should definitely not use Nikon NX Studio are those who have a mobile-first workflow. There is no version of the program that works on phones or tablets, and it’s unlikely to be created anytime soon. If you primarily shoot and edit with a smartphone, you’re better off sticking with the tools you already have.
Nikon NX Studio review: final words
Nikon NX Studio is an outstanding program in many ways, and the fact that it’s free is certainly one of its most important advantages.
If you shoot in JPEG, you can use everything Nikon NX Studio has to offer, no matter your camera brand, while Nikon users will greatly appreciate its RAW editing capabilities. While there are certainly some important caveats to consider, as well as some messy bugs that will get ironed out over time, I certainly recommend you download it and give it a try.
Hopefully, this Nikon NX Studio review gave you some information to help you understand a bit more about the program and whether it will work for you!
Now I’d like to hear your thoughts:
Are you interested in Nikon NX Studio? Do you think you’ll use it? What do you like and dislike about the software? Share your views in the comments below!
Do I need to have a Nikon camera to use Nikon NX Studio?
Nikon NX Studio will only work with Nikon RAW files. RAW formats from Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, and others will not work, and neither will universal RAW formats like DNG. However, the program works just fine with JPEG images. So if you don’t use a Nikon camera but shoot in JPEG, you can easily use Nikon NX Studio for your editing and photo management.
Will Nikon NX Studio work on my mobile phone?
Nikon NX Studio is designed for desktop-based workflows; there is no mobile version. You can take photos on a mobile phone, transfer them to your computer, and edit them in Nikon NX Studio, but that workflow adds many more steps and probably takes too much time for most people to consider.
Is Nikon NX Studio better than Lightroom, Capture One, or Luminar?
There are advantages and disadvantages to all of these programs, and it’s impossible to say which one is better. Nikon NX Studio is free, but most of the others have free trial periods for new users. If you’re unsure of which to use, I recommend downloading them, signing up for free trials (if available), and making use of dPS’s many articles to help you learn. That way, you can make an informed choice and find the program that suits your needs.
Will Nikon NX Studio run on my computer?
Most computers made in the past few years will work just fine with Nikon NX Studio. I personally found better results when I was working with an SSD instead of a spinning hard drive, but almost any modern desktop or laptop will run the program just fine.
Can I use Nikon NX Studio to edit video?
While Nikon NX Studio does have a built-in video editor, its capabilities are very limited. It works for basic trimming and combining clips but not much else.
The post Nikon NX Studio Review: How Good Is This Free Photo Editor? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.
The post How to Find Good Locations for Family Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Hunter McRae.
When you’re shooting a family portrait, about nine times out of ten the client will ask, “Do you have a place you typically like to photograph?”
We all do, of course, but if you take every portrait client to the same location, your portfolio will develop an undesirable, repetitive consistency.
That’s why it’s important to thoroughly scout the area where you live and work, to build a list of go-to spots for any scenario, circumstance, and style.
So think about your city, and build a list of these places where you can shoot:
A field or shoreline with broad vistas to capture the aura and glow of twilight
A similar outdoor venue with features like tall grass or trees to provide a backdrop
An outdoor area with full shade, appropriate for shooting at midday
A covered outdoor space like a gazebo or covered porch for shoots in inclement weather
An indoor space with high ceilings and lots of windows for natural light
Because most family portrait sessions will include a variety of backdrops and poses, the perfect shooting location contains all of these elements. But that’s pretty rare and hard to find.
Finally, make sure that you have the required permits, permissions, and licenses to shoot in your desired locations, whether they’re public or private (many municipalities require a business license to shoot in public places like parks and beaches).
Once you’ve built your list of go-to locations, you’re ready to schedule a session with a client.
Here are the two scenarios that could play out:
Scenario 1: The client has already chosen a location
It’s rare for a client to be dead set on a location, but sometimes there’s a family home or a special place with memories where they’d like to be photographed. Or maybe there’s an extended family gathered together already, and they’d like to keep the photoshoot as easy as possible by having you come to them. If you’re shooting for next year’s holiday portrait or another special event, your client may also choose a place that fits the theme, such as an evergreen forest or a snowy landscape.
If you’re not familiar with the location, ask questions about it when confirming the shoot. You may discover that you need to bring extra equipment, such as speedlights to fill in shadows (if, for instance, your client is hoping for a family portrait underneath a moss-strewn oak tree at two o’clock in the afternoon).
Likewise, indoor photoshoots – such as people gathered around the fireplace or around a Christmas tree, for example – may present difficulties with lighting that you’ll want to consider and be prepared for prior to the actual shoot. When feasible, visit the site of any session before arriving for the actual job.
Scenario 2: The client is open to your location suggestions
This is the more common scenario, and it allows you to pull out that list of locations you’ve already scouted.
Start by getting a sense of the feeling the family wants to capture in their photos. If you’re doing a holiday family portrait, the client may prefer a warm and rustic theme over something bright and urban, for example.
Timing should also affect your decision of where to shoot. When possible, schedule sessions for an hour to an hour and a half before sunset, giving you time to arrive and chat, time to get the family comfortable with your presence and style, and then time to be fully ready to capture beautiful, stunning portraits just when the changing light is at its peak.
Sunset (and sunrise) shoots
For golden hour sessions, just after sunrise and just before sunset, choose a location that ideally has both broad vistas and objects of interest.
For example, if you’re shooting on the beach, don’t just choose a spot with wide-open sand (plus houses and passersby). Instead, aim to find a section of beach with sand dunes, tall grass, driftwood, or even distant trees.
These objects help frame the image and make it more interesting, without distracting from the subjects of the photograph. The same rules apply in a desert, lake, or city park scenario.
Midday shoots on a sunny day
The challenge with shooting at midday is the shadows. You don’t want your subjects to squint in full sun, and you don’t want shadows from tree branches or from other obstructions blocking portions of their faces. The key to shooting at sunny midday is to put your subjects fully in the shade.
When a client wants to schedule a midday session, I often lean toward urban areas with architectural interest. If your city or town has a historic neighborhood, seek out alleyways, parks, cobblestone streets, or even sidewalks that are shaded at midday, but that still present a beautiful surrounding for your subjects.
Cloudy day shoots
It’s a huge misconception that overcast days are bad for family portraits. Clients may be discouraged by the threat of rain, but encourage them with the news that cloud coverage actually makes for beautiful outdoor shots – there’s no squinting, plus there’s nice, even light.
That said, if there’s no drama in the sky (i.e., no dark clouds swirling on the horizon), an overcast day may be less exciting when shooting in broad vistas and open spaces.
Instead, turn to your surrounding objects (trees, historic buildings, etc.) to provide the intrigue in the photograph. Or add a pop of color with balloons and other props.
On an overcast day, a local mural can actually make for a perfect backdrop – just make sure your subjects wear muted tones (black, white, gray, or beige) rather than colorful attire that might clash with the art.
Final tips and tricks for finding family portrait locations
Start by putting together your list of portrait locations. And make sure that where you decide to shoot won’t be crowded at the time you’re there; the last thing you want is a bunch of strangers in your backgrounds.
Finally, be flexible. Not every shoot will be perfect, but it’s your job as the photographer to ensure that your clients have an enjoyable experience. Have confidence in your skills, and work around obstacles as they arise. If you are engaged and the subjects are happy, it’s possible to create gorgeous family portraits that your clients can share on cards, calendars, and gifts throughout the year.
Now over to you:
How do you choose family portrait locations? Do you have a favorite type of location? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
The post How to Find Good Locations for Family Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Hunter McRae.
Who doesn’t love Amazon? Come on, where else can you buy live ladybugs, a ready-made shipping container home or tiny house kit, and a bacon-scented mustache all in one place? Amazon’s Prime membership is pretty sweet too. It allows you to take advantage of free delivery, as fast as same-day delivery for some products. You can also take advantage of Continue Reading Photodoto
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The post Good Crop Bad Crop – How to Crop Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Gina Milicia.
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” Pablo Picasso
When it comes to knowing what is right for me, there are a few things I know for sure:
First, garlic and ice cream are never meant to be mixed together.
Second, even if I color my hair blonde I’m never going to look like Madonna.
Finally, when my mechanic warns me that the timing chain in my car should be fixed as soon as possible, I need to listen up and act.
If you have read my other articles or eBooks, you will know that I’ve also learned many lessons in my photography career from stupid mistakes or lapses in judgment. It’s through learning from failure, and from trial and error, that I’ve managed to discover what works best for me.
When it comes to how I crop my portraits, there are a few cropping styles I try to avoid because, just like eating garlic ice cream, I have learned what works best for me.
How I crop my portraits is just as important for defining my style as the lens I use, the way I light my subjects, and the way I process my files. I believe the way an image is cropped can change the look from “meh” to “amazing.”
I always crop a shot below the knee, mid-thigh, at the waist, across the forearm, or through the top of the head. If I’m going to crop through my model’s waist, I will usually ask my model to bring their arms up so I don’t have to crop through their arms.
I avoid cropping at any of the joints of the body. This includes fingers, toes, elbows, knees, and wrists. I also think cropping through the model’s chin looks odd.
It took me many years of trial and error, and studying the work of my favorite photographers, to learn that there are actually a few golden rules of cropping worth following. Rules that make a huge difference on the visual impact of my portraits, and on how flattering these portraits can be for the subject.
Like all rules, there are always exceptions, and the art world would implode if these rules were not constantly tested and broken. Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollack are examples of artists whose styles broke every rule in the “how to paint book,” and in their time they were mocked and ridiculed by other artists and critics alike, yet today their paintings are priceless. Having said that, they all studied conventional painting rules of their time, then went on to break those rules and create their own signature styles. I wonder if they ever considered changing their hair color to look like Madonna.
My shooting, lighting, posing, and post-production style has developed and evolved over the years, but the way I crop my images has remained the same.
Here are my top five tips for how to crop portraits:
#1 Crop in-camera
Cropping in-camera basically means that you compose your image exactly how you want your final crop to look, rather than shooting loosely and cropping the shot in post-production. There are two reasons for this:
First, images cropped in-camera look totally different from images that are cropped in post-production. Filling the frame and cropping tight means that you will create great background blur (bokeh), which removes any background distractions and focuses more attention on your model, which is always a good thing.
The other advantage of cropping in-camera is that your file size is not affected. A cropped image may only leave you with 10-15% of your file size, so a file that was originally 30 MB as a full-size image is reduced to 3 MB with a tight crop. Lower-resolution images have less detail and won’t be as sharp as a full-size image.
#2 If it bends, don’t crop it
Bad crop
Good crop
I think cropping mid-thigh looks visually more pleasing than doing so at the knee. Seeing just part of the knee where the dress ends also looks untidy.
There are also certain ways to pose models that are more flattering to the body. I’m always looking for ways to pose my models that elongate, rather than shorten, their body parts. I try and emphasize their best features, and hide or diminish the features that are not as strong.
As a general rule, I crop in a way that will elongate and flatter the body. Cropping at the knees, waist, elbows, toes, fingers, ankles, or wrists can make your model look stumpy. Cropping off the arms or legs can make your model look square, or larger than they really are.
#3 Avoid cropping into the chin and keep the eyes in the top third of the frame
Bad crop
Good crop
Keeping the eyes in the top third of the frame is visually better than cropping into someone’s chin, which to my eye looks like I wasn’t paying attention when I took the shot, and visually this crop (above left) looks awkward.
I find my portraits look much stronger visually when the eyes are positioned in the top third of the frame. Cropping into the chin is visually jarring in the same way that garlic ice cream was jarring to my tastebuds.
This is the original framing of a shot I took for the cover of my dPS book, Portraits – Striking the Pose. I wasn’t sure how much of the shot we would be using, so I deliberately shot wider, and left space on the left of my frame to allow for text and other images.
The final shot for the cover was cropped very tightly because I felt including the hands looked a bit messy. I cropped this image with the eyes in the top third of the frame because this was visually the strongest option.
#4 Give yourself options
The explosion of social media has radically changed how I shoot my portraits. When a client booked me for a session a few years ago, I would shoot the majority of their portraits as vertical images. Now I make allowances for websites and social media platforms that run vertical, square, and horizontal images.
I will usually start with portraits framed as vertical images and then rotate my camera to shoot some horizontal frames.
I generally position my model to fill the left or right-hand third of the frame. This adds interest to the portrait and makes it visually more dynamic. Having said that, there are times when I will frame my portrait in the center of the shot because I personally love the way it looks.
I also love cropping into people’s heads, but this is not everyone’s cup of tea, so I always shoot a few frames with space above the head just in case.
You never know where the final image may end up in a few weeks or a few years, so I think it’s a good idea to plan ahead. It only takes a couple of minutes to shoot slightly wider, vertical, and horizontal at the end of each setup.
#5 Crop like you mean it!
Use these suggestions as a starting point and find a style that works for you. Start with a full-length portrait and first try cropping using traditional rules, then try breaking the rules and see which way you prefer.
Each person, location, and pose you shoot will always be different, so don’t be afraid to mix it up a bit and create your own signature style. The one question I always ask myself when I’m cropping my images is, “Does this crop look deliberate, or does it look like a mistake?”
Sometimes following cropping rules to the letter will still leave my portraits looking visually jarring. An example of this is if I photograph a model wearing 3/4 sleeves and crop at a point that is technically correct, leaving a tiny amount of arm showing just below the sleeve. This looks like a mistake and would look better if I cropped a little higher to remove the skin.
The more you shoot, the more you will start to get a feeling for what looks right to you. If you’re still not sure, do two versions and compare them.
You might like to deliberately create a series of portraits that are visually jarring because they will evoke an emotional reaction.
Like this article? Check out more of Gina’s work
This article was written by Gina Milicia, who has authored many articles here on dPS as well as the following best-selling eBooks:
Making the Shot: Say Goodbye to Dull and Lifeless Pictures of People
Lighting the Shot: Discover the Secrets of Beautiful Portrait Lighting
The post Good Crop Bad Crop – How to Crop Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Gina Milicia.
The post Review of PhotoDiva by AMS Software: Can a Free Portrait Editor Be Any Good? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.
When I was asked if I wanted to review PhotoDiva, a completely free portrait editor, I was intrigued. I wanted to see if something that you can get for free would actually be worth using as part of your editing routine.
Having now used the software, I can confidently say that (spoiler alert!) Photodiva is an excellent editing tool for those who value their time and other resources.
What can it do?
So what is the PhotoDiva portrait editor capable of? Well, whether you are looking to retouch a beauty shot or want to improve photos of your friends and family, this software will certainly do the job.
Using AI technology combined with the ease of one-click retouching, this free portrait editor is perfect for those who are new to portrait photography. And PhotoDiva can certainly take a large burden off those who are constantly showered with tons of pictures to retouch; thanks to PhotoDiva’s technology, many of the editing processes are now a one-click thing.
Getting started
The first thing to note is that PhotoDiva is currently Windows only. To download this portrait photo editor, you need to visit PhotoDiva’s website. One quick install later, and you will be ready to go.
When you open the software for the first time, you are met with a tutorial video which guides you through all the features and functions of the software. This is a great introduction and shows you how powerful this software can be.
For those of you who like a good feature list (who doesn’t?), the key features of PhotoDiva are as follows:
Edit portraits automatically
Smooth the skin, remove oily glare
Erase unwanted objects
Change facial features
Apply digital makeup (Pro & Ultimate editions only)
Change or blur the background (Pro & Ultimate editions only)
Contour face & add dimension (Pro & Ultimate editions only)
100+ photo filter effects (Ultimate edition only)
Importing your first image to the software is simple: just a click of the button in the middle of the screen. Once I’d done this, I began to work my way through the software, starting with the most common edit people do in portrait editing software: retouching the skin.
This skin tone picker lets you experiment with the model’s complexion.
Automatic skin retouching
When it comes to retouching skin, you have several one-click options. I love the fact that these are quite restrained when compared to other skin smoothing presets I have used. The AI finds facial features effectively and the “Overall Enhancement” preset did a great job of smoothing out the skin without going over the top.
For those who want a more natural approach, there is another preset called “Slight Enhancement” that is great for a lighter retouch that still enhances the skin. Going the other way: For those who prefer a glamour look, there is a “Glamour Portrait” preset that could be just what you are looking for.
When getting started, it is this type of simplicity that people look for in their portrait editing software. However, if you want to get more advanced, you can turn to custom skin retouching.
One click instantly improves the skin and gives you a great starting point.
Custom skin retouching
If you expect that custom retouching will be difficult, then PhotoDiva will subvert your expectations. Most of the custom editing is done with the use of intuitive sliders.
The way I found easiest when starting with the software was to turn each slider up to find out what portion of the image was being affected. I then reset the slider to zero and pushed it until I got my desired effect. Overall, it was simple and let me get exactly what I wanted from the retouch.
The ability to compare the before and after edit is great, as it allows you to easily check if you have pushed things a little far.
Applying a filter and adding a custom skin retouch gives you a great result incredibly quickly.
Other portrait beautifying features
PhotoDiva doesn’t limit you to skin retouching, as it comes with a boatload of other prettifying tools. First off, there is the teeth whitening feature that works both as a preset and as a manually controlled instrument. There is also an eye-circle remover, as well as other tools to highlight the model’s eyes, brows, and lips.
Removing larger objects using the clone tool
In the free version of PhotoDiva, you have the ability to use a clone stamp tool to remove larger objects such as a facial piercing. Using this reminded me of more expensive editing software. When testing, I used it to get rid of a nose stud, and it worked perfectly.
The Clone tool worked well for removing this model’s nose stud.
Face sculpting
The ability to reshape the face is a powerful tool in PhotoDiva. However, with great power comes great responsibility.
The AI is great at finding facial features. You can sculpt not only the width of the face, but also the eyes, nose, lips, and chin. All worked really well in my testing, although I will say that you really need to keep these sliders low. Pushing them to the extremes leaves a really unnatural look and makes the images look fake pretty quickly. That said, you really can get a powerful result when working with restraint.
A subtle use of the sculpting tool can give a great result.
General editing
PhotoDiva calls this “common editing.” Basic correction works well and is simple to use. For those new to editing, the addition of these tools allows you to do the whole edit in one piece of software. The ability to tweak individual colors is great. The color tools are something that is more associated with high-end software, so it is nice to see them included.
The ability to create black and white images using these advanced color controls is another great feature. There is also the option to create a negative which, while nice to see, is something that you may struggle to find a use for in day-to-day editing.
Adding vignettes is also easy. I know vignettes are a love-it-or-hate-it thing, but they are great for techniques such as bringing focus to the face. PhotoDiva has a variety of options for you to explore.
There is a good range of general editing tools included in PhotoDiva. This allows you to edit from start to finish in the software.
Effects
There are over a hundred photo filters within the software. As with all filters, some you will like, some you won’t. There are a good variety to choose from, though, including vintage looks, film based looks, and some more creative ones.
When using the photo filters, most feel heavy-handed when applied at 100%. However, it is really easy to tone down the effect to get a great result. My personal favorite effect was a film simulation called “Fuji FP 100C.” With the variety of styles available, there is sure to be something for everyone.
There are tons of filters included. You are bound to find one you like.
Export options
The exporting process is streamlined and effective. You click the “Save” button and set the picture parameters according to your needs. You can choose the file format, file quality, and even the output type for printing, further processing, social media, or viewing on an HD screen. The ease of this (as with many things in this software) makes PhotoDiva perfect for beginners. You are consistently given just what you need, with none of the options that confuse those new to photo editing.
Pro version perks
While the free version of PhotoDiva is great to get you started, there are also two paid versions of the software that offer you more options: Pro and Ultimate.
Virtual makeup is among those paid features. This is the Achilles’ heel of some portrait editors, since this effect comes out quite gaudy, but PhotoDiva shows remarkable restraint with the makeup tools. These makeup tools include lipstick, eyeshadows, blusher, highlighter, and bronzer. Once again, they are applied with a single slider drag, eliminating any need for manual selection.
The makeup effects are subtle but still fairly impressive.
If you’ve ever shot with poor lighting, then you might be familiar with the flat face effect. There is a way to get rid of it using the Add Dimension tool. Despite the cryptic name, this instrument is just a highlight and shadow adjuster that gives the model’s face the much-needed depth and contrast.
To go above and beyond simple portrait retouching, PhotoDiva also comes with a semi-automatic background-changing feature. It only took me a few brush strokes to completely remove the picture background and add my own. If that is too drastic of an approach for you, then the background-blurring tool might catch your interest instead.
Lastly, when it comes to photo editing, the upgrade gives you the ability to edit RAW images from over 450 different cameras, as well as remove noise and add haze.
These additions make PhotoDiva an even more powerful piece of software for portrait editing.
Upgrading to the Pro version of PhotoDiva gives you even more control over what this software can do.
Is it worth it?
Obviously. It’s completely free! What I will say, though, is that this software is more for those entering into portrait editing. There will be some of you out there who will have scoffed at this software from the moment you started reading this review. That’s fine; it’s not made for you.
PhotoDiva is made for those who want a less time- and effort-consuming way to retouch portraits, and those new to photography who have spent their hard-earned savings buying a camera and want to push their editing without the immediate expense of having to buy some high-end software. It is a great tool that allows you to get professional-level results with a few clicks. For those people, I cannot recommend PhotoDiva highly enough. In fact, if you own a Windows computer and edit photos, I would suggest you try this software.
The fact that PhotoDiva gives away such a powerful set of tools for free is amazing! For those who love it and want to do even more, the upgrade is available to you at a very reasonable price (under $ 30 USD at the time of writing). If the software gets you hooked then you are in luck, since the vendor is offering the upgrade at 55% off for Digital Photography School readers.
Rather than tell you how good PhotoDiva is, I will leave you with this: Try it for yourself. It is free, and if you edit portraits, you have no reason not to try it out. I am pretty sure you will be surprised by how good it is.
Where do I get it?
To download PhotoDiva, simply head over to https://photodiva.net and hit the Download Free button. Enjoy!
AMS Software is a paid partner of dPS.
The post Review of PhotoDiva by AMS Software: Can a Free Portrait Editor Be Any Good? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.
Before we all had cameras in our pockets and even before affordable digital, point and shoot cameras, there was the humble disposable camera. A common addition to any holidaymaker’s suitcase and often found scattered around the tables at wedding receptions disposable cameras were the everyday persons go-to camera of choice. Despite the dominance of the camera phone and digital photography Continue Reading
The post Are Disposable Cameras Any Good? appeared first on Photodoto.
Action cameras have become more common in the past few years, and for a good reason. Originally created by GoPro, many big brands have also jumped in the action camera space. As the action camera space grew, there came along a lot of cheap copycats. With multiple brands and tens of models to choose from, it has become difficult to Continue Reading
The post Best Action Cameras for Every Budget: Are Cheap Action Cameras Any Good? appeared first on Photodoto.
Do you want to learn how to use light in photography? Photograph a flower. A flower in and of itself is an interesting subject. Flowers have different textures, bright colors, and won’t get bored of sitting still while you adjust your settings. But a quick snap of a flower, while beautiful, can be boring. If you really want to bring Continue Reading
The post How To Take Good Pictures of Flowers- An Easy Step by Step Guide appeared first on Photodoto.
Lots of people are suddenly working from home. For many, that means creating online videos for others to watch or logging time on video calls. We review some simple techniques to make your videos look and sound great, so you’ll look more professional.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.
Introduction
Better audio
Coverage
Coverage example
Better video calls
Better live audio
Camera angle
Lighting
Conclusion
For more tips, watch Chris and Jordan’s earlier video about coverage on The Camera Store TV.
Bad crop
Good crop
Bad crop
Good crop
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