The second season of the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian premiered today and there is fascinating photography associated with the production of the Star Wars spinoff show. For starters, some scenes in the show were shot using the Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera.
As Digital Camera World points out, not only were scenes shot using the Canon 5D Mark III, but an adapted Nikon 28mm lens was used and the camera operator was John Knoll, co-creator of Photoshop and current effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).
If you watched the first season of The Mandalorian and felt like scenes were reminiscent in overall appearance to the original trilogy of Star Wars movies, there’s a good reason for that. While modern technology and computer-generated imagery plays a large role in the production of The Mandalorian, showrunner and series creator Jon Favreau wanted to retain the look and feel of classic Star Wars films. As fans of the franchise are likely aware, the original Star Wars trilogy relied heavily upon physical models to film many of its iconic scenes.
Here you can see the Canon 5D Mark III camera mounted on a rail toward the right edge of the frame. The model of the Razor Crest ship is surrounded by foam board and desert imagery is being projected onto the board.
To recapture the spirit of the older Star Wars movies with The Mandalorian, Industrial Light and Magic created the titular character’s spacecraft, the Razor Crest, in its studio. John Goodson, a longtime ILM model maker created the ship using a 3D printer and tinfoil and Knoll built a 50-foot motion control rig.
In the video above, you can follow along with the team at ILM as they created the Razor Crest ship. This includes its beginnings as concept art to it being physically built and filmed as a practical miniature. We also see Knoll at work filming the first motion control shots at ILM in 15 years. It’s a fascinating look at how iconic objects, such as a protagonist’s ship in a Star Wars series, are created and brought to life.
Of creating the Razor Crest model for filming as a practical miniature, Knoll says that it’s important to strike a balance with the size of the model. You want it large enough that its details hold up when close to the camera, but not so large that it’s difficult to create a dynamic motion shot when running it along a rigged track. Ultimately, the team settled on a model around 24″ long.
The team used a Nikon 28mm lens on the Canon camera. And the man behind the controls? The creator of Photoshop. The production is a blend of photographic history.
Goodson remarked that one of the biggest differences between scenes shot using computer generated graphics versus a scene shot using miniatures is that when using a physical model, you are limited by the availability of mounting points for objects. There are certain angles and shots you simply can’t achieve when using models. However, that look and certain types of motion are also ingrained in people’s memories of older Star Wars movies. The team at ILM worked very hard to make sure that shots of the Razor Crest model evoked that same look as old shots. From the perspective of this Star Wars fan, they nailed it.
The post Photographing Stars Using a Kit Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adeel Gondal.
Nikon D5100 | 18mm | 20 sec | f/3.5 | ISO 1600
Have you seen those amazing starry sky and Milky Way photographs from professional photographers and wondered how to create similar results? Have you never tried because you thought you didn’t have the proper equipment?
Let me tell you, “You are wrong!”
If you own a normal DSLR or mirrorless camera, you can create stunning star photos with only a kit lens.
In this article, I will explain the whole process of photographing stars with your kit lens. I’ll give you step-by-step instructions in the easiest possible way – so that, even if you don’t have much technical knowledge, you can start capturing star photos like a pro.
Let’s dive right in.
The star photography basics
To get started, you need to have following points in mind:
You must shoot in a place away from the city lights. The less light pollution you have, the more chance you’ll have of getting clear stars.
You’ll want a moonless night. Stars can also be shot on a full-moon night, but the brighter the moon is, the more light pollution it creates, and the stars will not be as prominent.
You’ll need a normal DSLR or mirrorless camera with a standard 18-55mm kit lens (such as this Canon lens or this Nikon lens).
You’ll also want a tripod.
You can Google your surroundings to find locations that are far away from the city (check out Dark Sky for a helpful interactive map).
You should know beforehand in what direction, and at what time, the moon is going to rise. That will help you a lot with the composition of your images.
However, a moonless night is always best to shoot stars – so I recommend checking the current moon phase before heading out.
Additionally, you can use a compass app on your smartphone to locate the North Star for star trails. To get an idea of the stars above your location, you can download an app called Star Chart (for iOS or for Android) or Google Sky. Both of these apps also show you the direction of the Milky Way, so you can shoot it directly and get amazing results.
I also recommend checking out PhotoPills; this app offers an incredible suite of features for the beginner (or more advanced!) night sky photographer.
Anyway, these apps are pretty accurate. With their help, you can see Mars, even with your naked eye (I’m sure you’ve seen Mars before, but were likely unable to differentiate it from the surrounding stars).
If you want to plan a future shoot or look for an appropriate time to shoot the Milky Way in your location, you can download the desktop app Stellarium. Just pop in your coordinates, and it will show you the direction of the Milky Way at a specific date and time.
Thanks to Stellarium, you can know the exact time of year the brightest part of Milky Way will be above your location (so you can do some amazing star photography!).
Nikon D5100 | 18mm | 20 sec | f/3.5 | ISO 1600
Key camera settings for photographing stars
Now let’s get to the important part of photographing stars with a kit lens:
Camera settings.
You will need to take control of your camera, so you’ll want to keep it in Manual mode.
Change the shooting mode to Manual and adjust your setup to the following settings:
Focal length
Set your focal length to the widest possible option. In the case of a kit lens, this will often be 18mm.
While you can technically choose any focal length you want, the more you zoom in, the fewer stars you will be able to capture.
Plus, your optimum exposure time before star trails start to develop will decrease as you increase your focal length (see the 500 Rule, discussed in the shutter speed section below).
Aperture
Setting your aperture to the widest option is key here; for my kit lens, this is f/3.5.
By using the widest aperture your lens allows, more light will enter through your lens.
And this will result in brighter stars and a brighter Milky Way!
Shutter speed
If you are only shooting stars and the Milky Way, I recommend a shutter speed of 20 seconds.
Why 20 seconds?
Here’s the answer:
A shutter speed of under 20 seconds will result in less light reaching the camera sensor.
And a shutter speed of over 20 seconds will start to create star trails. In other words, the stars will move visibly across the sky.
In fact, there’s a handy equation for calculating your shutter speed, called the 500 Rule:
The optimum exposure before you start getting star trails is calculated by dividing 500 by your focal length (you’ll need to divide the answer once more, by around 1.5, if you are using a cropped sensor.)
So in the example of an 18mm lens on a cropped sensor, divide 500 by 18, for an answer of 27.78. Then divide this again, by 1.5, to get 18.52, which is roughly 20 seconds.
Make sense?
Nikon D5100 | 18mm | 20 sec | f/3.5 | ISO 1600
ISO
Start by keeping your ISO at 1600. You can then increase it later, depending on your results.
But keep in mind:
The greater the ISO, the more noise there will be in your image.
Now, this does depend on the signal-to-noise ratio of the camera body you are using; high-end cameras tend to offer the best high-ISO noise performance, and even modern consumer cameras feature decent results at high ISOs. But try to boost the ISO on an older camera, and you’ll end up with all sorts of unwanted noise.
Remote shutter release
You’ll want to have a remote shutter release to avoid camera shake from hitting the shutter button.
If you don’t have a shutter release, just use your camera’s 2-second or 10-second timer.
That will minimize any blur in the picture due to camera shake.
You should also switch off any “vibration reduction” or “image stabilization” technology included in your camera or lens, because this technology can actually increase blur during long-exposure images.
Focusing your lens to infinity
After dialing in all these settings, here’s the only important thing left to do:
Focus your lens to infinity.
Now, a kit lens doesn’t have an infinity marker on it, so you’ll need to use hyperfocal distance values to focus your lens.
Here’s what you do:
Mount your camera and lens on a tripod, and focus on any bright object at a distance of 20 feet or more.
(If you are in the dark and struggling to focus, you can point a flashlight toward your camera and use this as a point of focus.)
Once the lens is focused beyond 20 feet, its hyperfocal distance will project to infinity and your stars will be sharp. This will also help get everything in the foreground sharp, too.
Don’t forget to switch your lens to manual focus; otherwise, it will start to hunt for focus when the shutter is pressed.
You may be wondering:
Why is focusing to infinity so important?
If your lens is not focused to infinity, you will capture a Milky Way image. However, the stars will not be as sharp and they’ll appear bigger, like this:
My lens was not focused to infinity.
And this:
My lens was not focused to infinity.
And this:
My lens was not focused to infinity.
You’ll get a similar result if you use a too-long shutter speed and produce star trails.
So make sure you pay careful attention to both your settings and your point of focus.
A quick tip for photographing stars
Once you reach your location, it’s better to first sit in the dark for at least 15 minutes to let your eyes adjust to the surroundings. This will help you see a lot of stars (and even the Milky Way) with your naked eye. It will also help you compose your images better – because it’s easier to create beautiful compositions when you can see!
Plus, enjoying your surroundings for a while is better than simply shooting as soon as you reach the site.
Post-processing your star photos
When it comes to post-processing your star images, there are two things you should know:
First, always shoot in RAW. This will give you a lot of room for post-processing (that won’t affect the image quality).
Second, some post-processing is always needed to get optimum results. You can find many tutorials on how to post-process Milky Way images, including some here on dPS!
Capture stunning star trails
If you are satisfied with your shots, the next step is to capture star trails.
Simply locate the North Star using the Star Chart app discussed above.
Then keep the North Star in your composition, because this is the star that all other stars rotate around.
For star trails, all camera settings will remain the same, except that you can increase the shutter speed to 30 seconds.
Alternatively, you can go with faster shutter speeds (i.e., 20 seconds or faster, especially if there are lights in the area and 30 seconds results in overexposed images).
Keep your camera on its continuous shooting mode, and let it capture as many exposures as possible. The more pictures you have, the more clear your star trails will be. Of course, continuous shooting will only create a series of short star trails; later, you can join all the exposures in Photoshop or use special software to create full trails (such as StarStaX).
For instance, this shot is a combination of 18 separate exposures:
Alternatively, you can capture one shot of the stars and make star trails with it using the HM Technique:
Star trail created in Photoshop using the HM Technique
And you’re also free to have fun with Photoshop:
Fun in Photoshop!
Once you’ve nailed photographing the Milky Way, try including foreground objects for better compositions:
Nikon D7000 | 18mm | 20 sec | f/3.5 | ISO 1600
Photographing stars using a kit lens: conclusion
You’re all set to shoot your own stars!
With the help of a kit lens, you can create some beautiful star photography – the kind that’ll make you happy and impress your friends, too.
You could even try creating panoramas to get more of the Milky Way in your composition, like this:
So happy shooting, and keep me updated with your results! And if you need any help, let me know down in the comments.
The post Photographing Stars Using a Kit Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adeel Gondal.
Pinhole photography is often associated with ‘intro to photography’ -type classes, because it simplifies the process of recording an image down to bare bones. But there is both an art and a science to creating a well-functioning pinhole camera. Specifications like hole diameter and the light-sensitive material’s distance and angle-of-view to the pinhole make a huge difference.
So, how does one elevate the pinhole camera from DIY beginner project to serious creative tool? With a little bit of technical know-how and a whole lot of trial-and-error. Join 35mmc’s Sroyon on their adventures in the world of cardboard cameras.
Read: Making and using a cardboard camera – adventures in pinhole photography
About Film Fridays: We recently launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we’ll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at KosmoFoto and 35mmc.
One of the most common questions we get from photographers that are just starting out is about photo editing software and which one they should use. Most people have heard of Adobe and its Photoshop and Lightroom software but are confused to what the differences between them are and exactly which one they should be using. Let’s take an in Continue Reading
The post Using Lightroom vs Photoshop: A Quick Reference Comparison appeared first on Photodoto.
The post Easily Create 2D Illustrations from Photographs Using GIMP appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
From advertising campaigns to cartooning your profile photo, 2D illustrations are used much more than you realize. Creating 2D illustrations can be a lot of fun, but they aren’t necessarily easy to do. Here’s an uncomplicated way to use photography as a template to get great 2D illustration results.
Create 2D illustrations in GIMP
There are tons of programs for visual artists and graphic designers that specialize in digital drawing and 2D illustrations, but have you ever tried to actually create an illustration from scratch?
Graphic design software can be amazing and, for some great professionals, this can be the way to go. But many of us need a starting point to get us going, especially if our talent is in photography and not design.
That’s why I’m going to show you how to use GIMP to create 2D illustrations out of a photograph.
1. Draw the subject
First, choose the photo you want to draw. There are no restrictions here; you can use a portrait, a landscape, still-life, or anything else you want. I do suggest you start with images that are simple and don’t have too many details.
Imagine you’re creating an illustration from a photo in real life. You would place some tracing paper on top of your image and then start tracing and coloring on it, right? Well, this is the same thing.
First, create a new transparent layer. You can do this by going to Layer (in the menu) and then choosing New Layer. Make sure you select Fill with Transparency and press OK.
Next, you need to select the outer part of your subject. You can use any selection tool that works best for you; GIMP has many solutions for this.
For example, you can use the Path tool because it gives the most control. Just click every time you want to create an anchor point around your subject. Then move the path handles to adjust the curvature.
Once you’re done outlining your subject, click Selection from Path on the left-side Options panel. This will turn your path into a selection, which is what you want. But note that this is only necessary if you used the Path tool; with any of the other selection tools, you can skip this step.
Now you can use the Bucket tool to color your entire subject. You can use the color picker to select a color that matches the original color from the photo.
Of course, you can also use a color different from the original object. Get as creative as you want.
Finally, click inside the selection to fill it with your chosen color.
2. Color the inside shapes
Now that you have your main shape, you can start adding some shapes on the inside of your subject using different colors.
To do this, disable the top layer by clicking on the eye icon next to it. That way, you can see the original image.
Select the area you want to color. Then come back to the top layer and use the Bucket tool with a new color to fill it.
Repeat this process for all the shapes you want. Keep in mind that 2D illustrations are not as detailed as a realistic 3D model. So keep going only to add enough information to your subject to make it recognizable.
You don’t have to be extremely precise with your selection when you’re working inside a shape. GIMP will automatically stop at the edge. Notice in the next image how my selection is over to the yellow part, but the new color doesn’t spill there; it stops at the edge of the dark brown shape.
3. Add some details
Working on the top layer, turn down the Opacity so that you can see the original image underneath to use as a template for drawing details. Keep in mind that only you will see both versions (the illustrated and the original), so you don’t have to copy everything exactly as it is.
If you want to add details with thin lines and you don’t have a steady hand, you can use the Path tool to trace them. Then choose Stroke Path from the Options Panel. This will draw a line using the current Brush or Pencil settings.
Of course, you can draw the details freehand using the Pencil or the Brush tool, as well.
To add some thicker decorations, you can use the selection tools again to make things faster. In this example, I used the Color Selection tool to select the blues on the original photo. I then painted the flower:
The specific tools and strategies that you use will depend on the illustration you are creating and your own drawing skills.
4. Fill the background
If you want to draw a background, then add a New Layer in between the original photograph and the first drawing layer.
Choose the color you want, then go to Edit>Fill with FG color. FG stands for “foreground.”
You can leave the background as a solid color or add some decoration by drawing lines and shapes the same way you did for the subject.
Final thoughts
As you can see, by using a photograph as a template it’s really easy to create 2D Illustrations.
When you’re saving your file, remember that GIMP has its own format that will be the default setting when you use the Save or Save As choices. To use a universal file format such as JPEG or TIFF, you need to select Export As.
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! The next time you want to create 2D Illustrations, let your photography skills help you out.
The post Easily Create 2D Illustrations from Photographs Using GIMP appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
Back in February 2019, Nikon announced it was working to develop a firmware update for its D5, D850 and D500 DSLR cameras that would bring support for using CFExpress Type B memory cards. Since then, we haven’t heard a word about these development from Nikon, but Nikon Rumors says it ‘can confirm’ the much-anticipated firmware update will arrive before the end of the year.
According to Nikon Rumors’ report, the firmware update will arrive ‘before the end of 2020.’ Nikon Rumors says Nikon ‘may say something about [these updates]’ this coming week when it launches its Z6 II and Z7 II mirrorless cameras.
Image credit: B&H Photo
Despite promising a firmware update, Nikon never confirmed the details of what kind of performance we can expect from CFExpress Type B cards when used with its D5, D850 and D500 DSLR cameras. While CFExpress Type B support will make it easier to use the open and more popular format — not to mentioned larger maximum capacities, since XQD cards top out at 240GB compared to the current 1TB maximum capacity of CFExpress cards — it doesn’t necessarily we’ll expect improved speeds over using XQD cards when using them inside the camera. However, you will see improved speeds over XQD cards when importing the cards to your computer if you’re using a CFExpress Type B memory card reader.
We contacted Nikon for a comment on the updates on Friday October 9, but haven’t received a response. We will update this article if we get any further information from Nikon.
NASA has used sonification, the process of turning data into audio in order to perceive it in a new way, to reveal the ‘sounds’ of our universe. A video containing the generated audio was recently published by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. The data, in this case, comes from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and other telescopes that imaged the Milky Way in optical and infrared light in addition to observing X-rays.
NASA creates composite images of space using the data gathered by its observatories, providing the public with a visual look at things that are otherwise beyond the means of human perception. Sight represents only one way that humans can perceive data, however, with NASA pointing out that sonification makes it possible to experience the same data through hearing.
The space agency explains:
The center of our Milky Way galaxy is too distant for us to visit in person, but we can still explore it. Telescopes gives us a chance to see what the Galactic Center looks like in different types of light. By translating the inherently digital data (in the form ones and zeroes) captured by telescopes in space into images, astronomers create visual representations that would otherwise be invisible to us.
But what about experiencing these data in other senses like hearing? Sonification is the process that translates data into sound, and a new project brings the center of the Milky Way to listeners for the first time.
This project represents the first time data from the center of the Milky Way has been processed as audio, something that involves playing the ‘sounds’ of space from left to right for each image. In this case, NASA set the intensity of the light in the images as the volume control, while stars and other ‘compact sources’ are translated as individual notes. The space dust and gases are played as a fluctuating drone, and the vertical position of light controls the pitch.
NASA has provided multiple different versions of its sonification project, including solo tracks that provide audio for observations made by each source individually (Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, etc.), plus there’s a version where all of the data is combined together to form an ensemble with each telescope source serving as a different instrument. Listeners can ultimately hear audio that translates data observed across a massive 400 light-years, according to the space agency.
‘Sound plays a valuable role in our understanding of the world and cosmos around us,’ NASA says, pointing out that the observations from each telescope represent different aspects of the galaxy around us. The image sourced from Hubble represents the energy in parts of the Milky Way where stars are forming, whereas the image from Spitzer provides data on the ‘complex structures’ within the galaxy’s dust clouds.
NASA has a website dedicated to sound produced from Chandra observation data called ‘A Universe of Sound.’ Additional audio tracks can be found on this website, including ones of various pulsars, star systems and notable celestial features like the ‘Pillars of Creation.’
Photographer Brendan Barry was commissioned by the Exeter Canal and Quay Trust to turn a room in the Custom House in Exeter, U.K. into a large camera obscura.
Barry had a residency at the Custom House in Exeter and during his time, he used a variety of analog cameras to capture images of Exeter Quay. Of his work, Barry says, ‘My work aims to challenge our understanding of what a camera is, what it can do and how one can be constructed, taking the whole notion of what a camera might be, unpicking these preconceptions and creating new ways of inviting an audience into having a transformative experience in a space.’
Image credit: Brendan Barry
Brendan continues, ‘During my residency at the Custom House I will be transforming a number of rooms in the building into giant cameras and using them to capture images of Exeter Quay using a range of analog photographic processes and techniques.’ Barry created a very informative video of the experience, which can be seen below. In his video, Brendan shows the entire process, from his approach to building a camera obscura and the equipment he uses to create large prints.
As you can see, Brendan required a lot of equipment for his project. After getting his equipment into the upstairs room, he must create a large frame with a backboard to hold the photographic paper. Next is setting up the lens holder in the room’s window, blacking out the rest of the window and setting up a holder for a graduated neutral density filter to ensure a balanced exposure.
Image credit: Brendan Barry
This is not Brendan Barry’s first foray with making a large analog camera. You can check out Barry’s previous projects in which Barry turned his shed into a camera, as well as an older project wherein he turned a skyscraper into a camera obscura.
If you’d like to see more videos from Brendan Barry, be sure to check out his YouTube channel. To see more of his work, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.
The post Tips for Using Photographic Minimalism to Great Effect appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.
In today’s article, you’ll learn a key tip for improving your photography. After all, when you understand that photography is the art of subtraction, it makes sense that minimalism works so well for photography.
This means that employing photographic minimalism in your work will immediately improve your results. Let’s take a look at what minimalism is, where you’ll find it, and how to use it in your own photos.
Shooting upward toward the fisherman helped produce a minimalist photo.
What is minimalism?
Minimalism, as the name suggests, is about keeping things simple. It means avoiding clutter, which in photography equates to removing unwanted elements from your photos.
You do want a main subject, though; this is needed for the minimalist parts of your photos to have something to contrast with.
Key elements of photographic minimalism
The great thing about minimalism is that it can be applied to almost every genre of photography, including portrait, landscape, and still life. The only area where minimalism doesn’t always work well is street photography, where you often want to show more of the scene.
Therefore, the key aspects of photographic minimalism are the following:
Negative space: This refers to an area of empty space in your photo. The negative space still needs to work compositionally, but that space is what will give your photo its minimalism.
Small main subject: The main subject should not fill the frame. It needs to be present, but have enough space around it for the photo to breathe.
Avoid clutter: When you compose a photo, do so in such a way that you include the main subject and the background with little else.
This photo uses a wall similar in color to the ice cream.
The best location for photographic minimalism
It’s possible to produce photographic minimalism in almost any location.
The important factors are the angle you photograph at and the focal length of your lens. Here are a few possible ideas you can use:
Minimal locations: Places like coastlines and deserts offer minimalism pretty much wherever you point the camera.
Urban settings: Look for a plain wall and use this as a background for a minimalist portrait.
A shard of light: Go for low-key minimalism by locating a shard of sunlight, or by putting a snoot on a flash and aiming it at a person. Then expose for the light on that person, while leaving the background underexposed and dark.
Product photos: Use a lightbox to produce high-key product photos that are surrounded by white (or by the background color that you choose).
The ocean is minimal by nature. The ripples on the water add interest to the negative space.
Which lens works best?
The lens that works best for minimalism will depend a lot on the location you’re photographing. It may be hard to produce minimalism with a wide-angle lens in an urban setting, but take the same lens to a desert and it’ll do a great job. The following is a guide to help you choose the correct lens:
Wide-angle: Use a wide-angle lens in a location where you can fill the frame with one particular background. That background will often be the sky, but could equally be rolling green hills. This works best in rural areas.
Telephoto: It’s easier to produce minimalism when you use a telephoto lens. This is because you can zoom in on a specific area to avoid elements that clutter the frame. When using a long focal length, ensure there is enough negative space around your main subject.
It’s possible to take minimal street photos, as well. Simply find a wall with a strong color to photograph against.
Change the angle
A simple change of angle can have a big impact on your photos and help you produce photographic minimalism. Stepping to the side or crouching down to the ground can be all it takes to remove a distracting element from your composition.
Here are some options that will turn a cluttered scene into a minimalist one:
A bird’s-eye view: This works best where you have fields or a coastline, so the location is already minimalist.
Crouching below a wall: Use a wall as the horizon line and aim up towards the sky. The wall blocks out the usually busy horizon, and you can add a person as a silhouette against the sky.
Compression: I already talked about this in the section about lenses and focal length, but zooming in to remove distracting elements from the edge of the frame works well.
Move to the side: A single step can be all it takes to change the background from cluttered to minimal.
This photo shows a monastery at Meteora in Greece. A long focal length is used and the rocks create a minimal, textured background.
Post processing can help
Now, it’s best to get your photo right from the start and simply change your position so that you can compose a minimalist photo.
That said, there are times that creating a minimalist composition in-camera isn’t possible, yet the photo is still very much there to be taken. There could be a lamppost or an electric pylon that comes into your frame.
Fortunately, it’s increasingly easy to clone out unwanted elements from your photo. And once you’ve done that, you’ll have created minimalism.
This farmworker in Laos works as a great main subject to add interest to the composition.
Maximize your photos with minimalism!
A lot of successful photos use minimalism to great effect. Are you a minimalist with your photography? If so, how do you go about taking photos in the minimalistic style? If you have ideas and photos you’d like to share, please do so in the comments section below.
Now it’s time to maximize your creativity with photographic minimalism!
The post Tips for Using Photographic Minimalism to Great Effect appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.
A Sony a6300 and an Edelkrone motorized slider: interesting marriage of technique and technology?
Like a lot of people, I’ve always had an interest in macro photography, which unfortunately never really developed into anything more than the odd shot of a flower or two. Then a couple of years ago I sold my seldom used 100mm F2.8 Sony macro lens when I moved from Sony A- to Sony E-mount. At the time I thought my macro shooting days were behind me.
But then I became interested in focus stacking, which is a technique used to blend several images focused at different points so that the depth of field can be increased beyond that of a single image. It can be used for multiple types of shots, but is typically used with close-ups or macro images.
This watch shot was comprised of 50 images taken with a Sony a6300 and 18-55mm lens at F7.1. The camera was a set to 1/25th at ISO 100. The images were blended in Helicon Focus.
About 18 months ago I bought a set of budget Neewer extension tubes to use with my Sony a7 III and Sony a6300. While not really specifically meant for 1:1 macro work, they come in handy when shooting product shots as they let you focus a lot closer to the product (as opposed to without them).
This pile of screws was shot 1:1 with the 7 Artisans 60mm Macro ( F8 at 1/60th and ISO 800). The 30 frames were then blended in Helicon focus.
The other part of this equation is that I’ve been using Edelkrone equipment for a couple of years now and I’ve always been intrigued by the fact their small motorized slider (SliderOne V2 $ 499) has a minimum travel distance of 0.222 ?m. Could this be used for focus stacking in combination with a time lapse sequence?
Using a slider for focus stacking does present some potential problems. For starters, moving the entire camera could introduce errors with perspective and isometric distortion. However, I’m never one for the easy way out, so I decided to investigate further.
This stack of 30 images (55mm F8, 1/60th, ISO 800) was blended in Helicon Focus taken under constant LED lighting.
What type of equipment is used, typically?
Strictly speaking, focus stacking doesn’t require complicated equipment like a slider. Many digital cameras, including a variety of Olympus and Panasonic models, even offer the ability to do all the focus stacking internally by automatically re-focusing the lens and blending the images in-camera. But the slider and dedicated post-processing software allow for a far greater degree of control over the final image.
Additionally, if you’re not using those Olympus and Panasonic cameras, you don’t necessarily need to use a dedicated macro lens; a standard kit lens and some extension tubes can work very well to get you started. You do, however, need to manually refocus the image every time you take a shot so that at least part of the image is in focus each time. Your results can be a bit hit-or-miss if you do it this way, and the software to assemble the images can cost you some money.
Details of technique and equipment
I tried a few different setups for my images, but all of them included the slider and a Sony a6300. Initially I did try using the Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 with a set of Neewer extension tubes (NW-S-AF3A, 10 and 16mm $ 49.99) and some of the images can be seen here. I had to be a little more careful with the lighting when using these tubes as they don’t have internal felt flocking and can cause some lack of contrast and flare if not used carefully, due to internal reflections.
Inexpensive extension tubes can give you extra options for close up photography
While the subject image was relatively large compared to the sensor, it wasn’t quite at a 1:1 ratio, it ended up being ~1:1.1 using both tubes at the closest focus for this lens. In all cases the lens was set to manual focus as was the camera, a careful juggling act was performed to get the right balance of light level, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. After a bit of experimentation I found that I needed to use an aperture of F8; this gave enough sharp areas of focus for each exposure without the need to increase the number of shots.
After a bit of experimentation I found that I needed to use an aperture of F8; this gave enough sharp areas of focus for each exposure without the need to increase the number of shots
I then decided it was time so see how a different macro would work with my setup, so I picked up the low cost 7 Artisans 60mm F2.8 ($ 159.00) to experiment with. This is a true 1:1 ratio lens with a de-clicked iris and manual focus-only. It’s incredibly well constructed with a metal body and allows a close-focus distance of 26cm (about 10.25 inches). It has no communication with the camera body so EXIF iris data is not available. It allows a working distance of 14cm and you can unscrew the lens hood to allow more light in if required.
This set of 30 images was shot with 2 flashes, at (F8, 1/100th, ISO 200) at 52mm with extension tubes.
Of course setting up the shot is 90% of the work – aligning the camera and making sure the axis of movement is exactly perpendicular to the center of the object can take some time when you have a lot of axes of adjustment. Distortion can be mostly corrected for in post-production, but it also takes time.
Trying to eliminate dust, or at least as much of it as possible is also a major part of this sort of photography. I don’t mind the fix it in post attitude but I’d rather try and reduce the amount of work required.
This is about the maximum depth of field I could achieve as the tip of the key is close to exiting the frame. Blended in Photoshop, 60 images at F8, 1/60th, ISO 400.
Lighting is also a key component. I always like to keep things simple so some of my photos were only lit with a single light, and some with up to three. The shot of the key is an example of where more light sources were needed to give more interesting reflections. The lighting of course is crucial and this also took significant time to get right. In the end, I settled on using constant LED lighting rather than flashes as I found they gave me more control.
In the end I settled on using constant LED lighting rather than flashes
After a bit of trial and error I settled on 30-60 shots for each set of exposures. The number of shots was based around the amount of movement of the slider; if you are only traveling a few millimeters then you can get away with 30 shots, but for other scenes – like the watch – I needed 60. Initially I tried 15 shots per move but when the focal planes were blended in software I found too many out of focus areas.
This slightly odd shot of styling gel on a CD is another 60 image stack (F8, 1/60th, ISO 320) processed in Helicon Focus.
Processing the images
For post-processing I decided to try two different solutions: Photoshop, i.e. something that most people are familiar with, and Helicon Focus, a dedicated piece of software. I also chose to work with Raw files. My PC setup for this was by no means high end, I used a self-built Windows 10 PC with 32GB of RAM and a Ryzen 1700X CPU and stored the photos on a 500GB SATA SSD.
For post-processing I decided to try two different solutions: Photoshop, i.e. something that most people are familiar with and Helicon Focus, a dedicated piece of software
I started with Adobe Photoshop ($ 9.99 a month for a 12 month subscription). You can use Adobe Lightroom to apply adjustments to each Raw image globally and then import them as separate layers into Photoshop. I then aligned the images using the auto-align function and then I had to auto-blend all the layers into one. This was a few too many steps for my liking. It is possible to load Raw files directly as an image stack using the built-in script option, but then you still need to auto-blend the images and correct for any exposure changes you want to make.
It would take around 2-3 minutes to load 60 Raw images and align them it then took an additional 2-3 minutes to produce the final image. It was then possible to tweak layers that didn’t quite work by cloning data from layers above or below.
A set of 60 shots at F8, 1/160th at ISO 640 with the 7 Artisans 60mm 1:1 macro. The raw result from Photoshop, an uncropped image showing areas that couldn’t be blended without errors
The Raw Helicon focus result – auto cropped by the software, although this can be turned off.
I also wanted to see what Helicon Focus could offer. The basic Lite package costs $ 30 per month or $ 115 for a lifetime license. It works a little differently than Photoshop. Loading the images can be done directly from the Raw files with basic development settings set up within Helicon Focus itself. I found that the time taken to load 30 Raw images was significantly reduced compared to Photoshop, around 5-10 seconds to load and 3-4 minutes to blend the final picture. After the initial compilation of the image it would then take only about 20-30 seconds to render any subsequent adjustments to the algorithms.
I found that the time taken to load 30 raw images into Helicon Focus was significantly reduced compared to PS
Helicon focus offers three ways of blending the images (weighted average, depth map and pyramid) and also a couple of sliders (radius and smoothing) to help tweak the final result. Helicon exposes to the user what it is doing as it draws a depth map from your images, something that was fascinating to watch, a bit like seeing images from a scanning electron microscope. Like Photoshop you can also clone data between image layers but I found that most of the time Helicon produced a better image or at least one that could be improved by adjusting the algorithm and some of the parameters without the need for cloning.
The depth map that Helicon Focus produces can be adjusted with the radius and smoothing sliders
It’s also very easy to compare the results from the three different algorithms as Helicon gives you a timeline at the bottom of the main window which allows you to look at your session history. You can then easily choose to view any of the versions you have created and see which one works best.
By default Helicon will automatically crop the final image (although this can be changed in the settings). Photoshop makes geometric adjustments and either leaves transparent areas of the image or gives you the option to content aware fill these areas.
Which software should you use? It comes down to what sort of photographer you are
Over all, I found that Helicon’s interpolation is better, and useful if you have fewer images – although it can’t work miracles. Although its Raw development options are limited, you can load images directly from Lightroom.
So which software should you use? I think it comes down to what sort of photographer you are. If you want to make minute adjustments to your image, then Helicon Focus is probably the tool for you, otherwise, Photoshop works fine.
General tips for success
The parts of the petals closest to the camera are causing blending problems here, that’s because they were never in focus.
As a whole, I found that I needed more setup time than I had originally thought. Working at this scale can introduce errors that I was not able to see initially in the viewfinder or on the rear LCD. My advice is to shoot a few frames and then process, to see what adjustments you might have to make, rather than shooting hundreds of images only to find that they won’t work. Below are five other tips from my adventure in macro photography:
Set up your slider for the farthest shot first as this will be the limiting factor to your framing.
Make sure you have a solid tripod and base for your subject. As you may end up with an exposure set that takes minutes to capture, any movement can ruin the resulting image.
Run at least two seconds between exposures, this gives time for the slider movement to settle down. If you plan to use flashes to light your subject you may need to increase this to allow for them to recycle. Use the silent shutter or electronic curtain if possible, this also reduces shake.
Set everything to manual, including white balance. Sometimes small shifts in white balance can cause issues when blending images.
Take more images than you think you need even if you don’t end up blending all of them. It can be very difficult to see what is in focus on your camera’s LCD even when using peaking or expanded focus.
How it worked and what I learned
The most important takeaway: shooting macro with a slider does work. It wasn’t perfect and I could definitely improve things, but it was a successful proof-of-concept.
Like anything, it takes time to get good results and this is achievable by careful setup combined with some experimentation. If you are thinking that focus stacking might be an area of interest for you, don’t think you need go off and purchase a motorized slider; manually changing your focus also works. However, you may find that the optical construction of some lenses (like the 7 Artisans 60mm) don’t allow manually re-focusing without the image size changing quite drastically thanks to focus breathing. If that is the case, a normal lens and some extension tubes may prove a better option.
As for me? I’ve been bitten by the macro bug again.
Chris’ macro gallery
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