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Ways to Correct Perspective in Photography

29 Jan

The post Ways to Correct Perspective in Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

Back in pre-digital days, the only way to correct perspective in architectural pictures was with a tilt-shift lens. Using such a lens remedies the “keystoning” effect you get when pointing a lens upwards at a building, where all verticals in the picture converge.

A Nikon 19mm f/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens. Photo: Jeffrey M Dean at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA]

The main disadvantage of a tilt-shift lens has always been its price, especially if you stick to marque brands like Canon or Nikon. That hasn’t changed. With perspective correction now being widely available in editing software, why would you even think of buying such a lens today?

Tilt-shift lens vs digital perspective correction

Two benefits spring to mind when comparing a tilt-shift lens to digital perspective correction:

Image quality suffers when you digitally alter perspective in editing software. The degree to which this is noticeable varies and is likely to be trivial for most purposes. But, you’ll often notice mild degradation at 100%.
Most digital perspective tools crop the image, effectively reducing the resolution of the image sensor. And because the image is cropped, you lose WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) predictability when taking photos.

These factors are serious if you’re a pro photographer creating architectural photos for commercial clients. A tilt-shift lens maintains image quality and full resolution. You’d normally use a tripod with such a lens.

Using Adobe software to correct perspective

Correcting perspective has been possible in Photoshop for a long time, but it became easier from CS2 onwards. That edition introduced the Lens Correction tool.

Fixing perspective using the Lens Correction tool of 13-year-old Adobe Photoshop CS3.

In 2013, Adobe introduced automatic perspective correction, which saved considerable time compared to manual adjustments. Even today, many of Adobe’s competitors do not offer this luxury. You can fix the perspective in ACR or Lightroom within seconds.

If this feature is important to you but you don’t necessarily want to sign up for Adobe software, what else is out there?

Correct Perspective in Other Software

The idea for this article came about when I decided to break away from my Adobe subscription. I take a lot of building photos, so perspective-correction tools are useful to me. Programs vary a lot in what they offer in this regard. (In fact, a lot of the stuff you take for granted with Adobe goes AWOL if you go-a-wandering.)

DxO Viewpoint

I was using DxO Viewpoint a decade or more ago. It’s been around a while. At that time, it seemed quicker to use than Photoshop for perspective correction. Then, as now, ViewPoint worked as either a plugin or a standalone app.

I shot this from below, so there was keystoning in the original image. The auto controls in ViewPoint 3 have fixed it, making it look like I shot the Art Nouveau sign from directly in front.

DxO Viewpoint also blends seamlessly into DxO PhotoLab as a module. It’s a little controversial that DxO makes you pay extra for perspective correction, but maybe that modular system helps keep the entry price down.

A short time ago, I upgraded from ViewPoint 1 to ViewPoint 3. The latter offers automatic corrections, so I no longer have to place anchor points on each image. Sometimes it’s necessary to correct perspective manually, but the auto function saves a lot of time.

Paintshop Pro 2020

Paintshop Pro has a good perspective tool that is akin to perspective cropping in Photoshop. While it’s not a one-click solution, it’s still quick and easy to use. A grid inside the crop area lets you check all the lines as you work. This is like using ViewPoint manually, where you force parallelism by setting the position of vertical and/or horizontal lines.

If you’re only fixing verticals with the Paintshop Pro perspective tool, you must keep the horizontal lines in the grid level (or vice-versa).

By checking the “crop image” box before applying your adjustment, Paintshop Pro will automatically crop the image to its largest usable dimensions. One thing you can’t do is adjust the intensity of the effect after applying it. You’d have to go back and redo it if you weren’t happy with the result.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2020

I’m fond of ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate for its comprehensive dual-set of editing tools and its DAM capabilities. But how is it for perspective control? Like many photo editors, the tools are all manual whether you’re in Develop or Edit mode.

If you’re only looking to correct verticals, you can achieve that easily with the vertical slider in Develop mode. This mode is really meant for raw files, but you can run rendered files through it just like you can with ACR.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate - fixing keystoning

An adjustment of the vertical slider in ACDSee’s Develop mode has fixed some mild keystoning here.

In ACDSee’s Edit mode, you get perspective cropping like that of Photoshop, but it differs in one notable way. As you drag the corner points, the perspective changes in real-time, so you get to preview the result before saving it. A downside is the lack of auto-cropping. That means you need to crop separately if you drag points inside of the image frame.

Hugin

The main purpose of Hugin is to stitch photos together for panoramas, but it also corrects perspective. And, it’s free!

There are downsides.

You have to go through the motions of creating project files, the software doesn’t preserve aspect ratio, and it strips out EXIF data. You also lose a chunk of the image to cropping, but that’s normal. Hugin will give you the largest usable area after the correction.

Correcting converging verticals in Hugin.

I fix verticals in Hugin by creating a fake one-image panoramic.

If you’re familiar with Hugin and know ways around the problems mentioned above, please let me know. Since auto perspective correction is absent from many high-end photo editors, this program is worth knowing about. Although its chief role is creating panoramic photos, perspective correction is an inherent part of that process. Hugin is good at it.

Below is a quick summary of the Hugin process (or the one I use) to correct verticals:

Open the panorama editor, then open the simple interface
Click on “Load Images” and load the file you want to correct
Agree to add image to current project if a dialogue box pops up
Click on “Align”
Click on “Create panorama” even though you’re not creating one
Set output parameters
Save project
Hugin says it is stitching – it isn’t, but it is processing the file. You’ll see “batch successfully completed” in another window.

That’s it. Your corrected image awaits.

You can also perform vertical and horizontal perspective corrections as per this article. I tend not to make drastic corrections because they have a negative effect on image quality. If you shift the subject a lot, a large part of the image will look soft.

A final Hugin corrected image with original in the inset.

Darktable

Darktable is a raw processor of amazing depth. Its learning curve is steep, but it deserves a place in this article for its perspective correction module. You can correct perspective with one click, which is rare in free editing software. It might be unique. As well, there’s automatic cropping with “original aspect ratio” or “largest area” options.

A “get structure” button color codes lines in the image and tells you what the software has concluded about them. For example, a green line is a relevant vertical converging line, while a red line is vertical but not included as one of the converging verticals. You can adjust the status of these lines if you think the software has made a bad call.

Perspective correction in Darktable - get structure.

This is what appears if you hit “get structure” in Darktable. You can see the software is pretty good at telling true verticals (green) from false angled or curving verticals (red).

The only thing you can’t do in Darktable is back off the auto adjustment if you want a slightly converging result. You’d have to edit manually for that. But still, this feature is superb.

Honorable mentions

Naturally, other photo editors also include perspective correction. Capture One is one of the most evolved pieces of photo software I’ve seen. Its perspective control is like that of ViewPoint in manual mode, where you line up verticals or horizontals by hand to correct the image.

Programs like ON1 Photo Raw, Luminar and Exposure allow perspective control via a familiar system of sliders. You align the architectural lines of a photo with the lines of a grid. It works, but there’s no auto mode.

Am I obsessed with auto mode? Kind of, because it’s fast and does a good job. If you can tweak the result, so much the better.

The clean interface and “Canvas” toolset of Luminar 4, including perspective sliders.

Bottom Line

If you’re straying from Adobe and need perspective correction, I’ve gotta give top prize to DxO ViewPoint 3.

You can manually adjust perspective to your heart’s content or have the software swiftly do it for you. Importantly, you can back up a bit from auto results if the verticals look too forced.

The standalone ViewPoint 3 also includes an attractive browser, corrects for volume deformation and offers a tilt-shift “miniature effect”. What’s not to like?

The ViewPoint 3 browser.

For those that don’t want to pay extra for this functionality, look at Darktable. You might be scratching your head at its vast array of modules, but persistence pays off. Its perspective control is great at this price point!

All the software mentioned is eminently usable, so it’s a question of how valuable one-click corrections and versatility are to you. I hope I’ve helped in a few decisions.

Do you know any other software that helps correct perspective in photography? Share with us in the comments!

The post Ways to Correct Perspective in Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

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‘It should cost…’ The three main ways you’re wrong about camera prices

22 Jan

Every time a camera is launched, our comment section is flooded with comments saying ‘it’s too expensive,’ irrespective of what the price is set at. Are all the camera makers utterly out-of-touch with reality, or is there something else going on?

I’m going to explain the three main misunderstandings that I see prompting these comments. I’m not advocating for higher prices, nor trying to suggest that manufacturers never get it wrong, but just trying to highlight why cameras are priced the way they are.

A new model is always going to cost more than the outgoing one

Prices decline with time. No matter what your pricing strategy, an older product (particularly in a fairly fast-moving marking like electronics) cannot demand as high a price at the end of their lifecycle as they can at the beginning.

This may sound obvious, but the consequence is that a new model will always look expensive compared with the model it replaces.

The D780 was launched at the same price as the D750, so is cheaper in real terms. But heavy discounting of the D750 makes the new camera look very pricey.

This is the error we most often see: ‘How can they charge $ 2200, when I can buy the old model for $ 1400?’

To which the response is: ‘How can they not?’ If you offer your new model at the price of the outgoing one, then what does its price look like, at end-of-life? Do you then have to match that price with the next generation model? That approach would end up with you giving cameras away within a couple of product generations, which isn’t exactly a winning strategy in an already contracting industry.


Prices decline with time, so new cameras tend to be released at around the same cost that the old one was launched at.	The alternative (launching to match the current market prices) is a pell-mell race to the bottom.

So cameras tend to be released at around the same prices that the preceding model was launched at. After all, camera makers are companies: they exist to make as much profit as they can. Their job is to maximize the amount of money they generate from each product.

The main exception to matching the previous model’s launch price is if the new model has been stripped-down to hit a lower price point or re-positioned to attract a different audience.

Case study: The stripped-down mass-market special

Sony’s a6000 was launched for $ 799 with a kit zoom: around $ 200 lower than the existing NEX-6 model. It gained a couple of additional features and updates but also saw a drop in viewfinder resolution and had less substantial feeling construction: distinct hints that it wasn’t a like-for-like replacement model.

Sony’s insistence on assigning similar names to all its models doesn’t help, but the pricing alone makes it easier to recognize the a6300 as more of an NEX-6 replacement than an a6000 update. Sure enough, both the a6000 and a6300 continued alongside one another for the next few years: one targeting the ‘price conscious’ consumer, the other offering better build, an NEX-6 level viewfinder and 4K video, for people who were comfortable to spend a bit more.

Manufacturers will occasional try to re-position a particular model, making it cheaper or more expensive, perhaps trying to make room for a new model.

Case study: two models in the place of one

Panasonic’s GX8 had a significantly higher spec and was launched for $ 200 more than the preceding GX7. This created the space for a less expensive GX85 to sit underneath. Looking at the launch prices suggests that Panasonic thought there were two different types of customer buying the GX7: some that wanted a small, mid-priced model and some who wanted something more ambitious, and were willing to pay for it.

However, the next model refresh saw the GX9 launched back at the same price as the GX7 (and called the GX7 III in some markets). ‘This isn’t a GX8 replacement at all’ complained some would-be buyers. The pricing indicated that they were probably partly right.

The lesson in all of this is that you can better interpret a manufacturer’s intentions by comparing the price of a new model to the launch price of the outgoing model, not its depressed end-of-life price.

Case study: getting the price wrong

Manufacturers don’t always get their pricing right, of course. Nikon entered the prime-lens APS-C compact market in 2013 with the Coolpix A, an attractive camera with a 28mm equivalent F2.8 lens. Perhaps emboldened by Fujifilm’s success selling its X100 models for $ 1299, Nikon priced its camera at $ 1099.

Around a month later, Ricoh launched an APS-C version of its much-loved GR, also with a 28mm equiv F2.8 lens, for $ 799. The Coolpix A was a pretty good camera (though we preferred the GR), but without the retro appeal, hybrid viewfinder and burgeoning reputation of the Fujifilm, or the establish fan-base of the GR, that $ 1099 price tag looked awkward.

Without access to sales data, we can’t know for certain how many units were sold at full price but by the second half of 2014, the price had collapsed to just $ 580. A lot of people got a bargain at that discounted price, but it’s noticeable that Nikon hasn’t shown any further interest in that niche.

Of course, sometimes manufacturers will keep old models on the market at a newly lowered price (the Sony a7 II and a7R II, for instance). This makes life a little more complex but should really just focus your attention on what really matters: ‘does the new model offer enough compelling improvements to overlook the older model?’

Your country probably isn’t being ripped-off, even if the US launch price seems cheaper

The RX100 VI was launched for $ 1298 in the US and the equivalent of $ 1450 in Europe. But that’s not the whole story.

The other complaint we regularly see is that the launch price in country ‘X’ is higher than a direct conversion of the US dollar price. There are two main reasons for this.

The first is that US prices tend to be quoted without sales tax, whereas most other countries tend to include sales tax/VAT/GST in consumer-facing communications. As a results, US prices tend to look less expensive simply because the price quoted isn’t the price most people are legally expected to pay. Your local tax level may be more expensive, but that’s more likely to do with your country’s history, style of government and degree of healthcare provision and social support: none of which can be blamed on camera makers.

The second factor is that price competition varies greatly between countries. US prices tend to stay at or near the Manufacturer’s Recommended Sales Price until the manufacturer chooses to adjust it. Countries with more competition between retailers tend to see prices quickly fall away from the initial asking price: early adopters end up paying full price, but anyone buying a few months (or sometimes weeks) later, will get a much better deal.

Case study: why are cameras more expensive in Europe?

Sony’s RX100 VI had an initial MSRP of $ 1298 in the US and €1299 in Europe. This looks bad: €1299 was worth $ 1450 in July 2019. Outrageous, right?

But, if I went to buy one today, I’d end up paying $ 1429 after tax in the US ($ 1298 plus my 10.1% local sales tax rate). If I lived in Germany and bought the same model from a large internet retailer, I’d have to pay €1180, including VAT, which is equivalent to $ 1315.

So, although the launch price in your country may look outrageous, compared with the US price, that doesn’t mean you’ll get ripped-off. The last two times I’ve looked at buying cameras in the US and UK, I found the year-old model I was shopping for to be less expensive in the UK, even with higher local taxes. I’ll concede that this was before the pound plummeted following the Brexit vote: but again, that’s not really the fault of camera makers.

Some things are supposed to look expensive

Marketers have all manner of theories about how to price their goods, and different strategies for maximizing the amount of profit they can make from a specific product. Very few of these have much to do with the costs involved in developing, manufacturing, distributing and supporting that product. Most strategies set the price high enough to make this money back, but there are exceptions even to that.

So there’s little point looking at a product and saying ‘they’ve removed ‘x,’ so it should be cheaper,’ or expecting the price to relate in any way to your estimation of the costs involved.

For instance, a premium pricing strategy holds that it’s sometimes beneficial to price your goods so highly that you end up selling fewer than you could, but at greater profit: the high price and resulting scarcity in itself contributes to the perceived value of the product.

A premium pricing strategy holds that the high price in itself contributes to the perceived value of the product

‘That’s silly,’ you might think: ‘that wouldn’t work on me.’ But it does. Like it or not, you respond to pricing. Read through the comment section of the launch of any Leica product: you’ll see an audience dramatically polarized between ‘it’s not worth that’ and ‘if you could afford it, you’d understand.’ The same goes for luxury items, whether they be Range Rovers or Rolex watches: if they weren’t expensive, they wouldn’t have the same cachet.

This discussion is almost entirely divorced from whether the products themselves are any good (to the degree that any assessment can be entirely rational and dispassionate), it’s primarily a reflection of differing personal responses to the price.

Perceived value is entirely personal and both responses are equally right and wrong: a premium product isn’t worth its exaggerated price to the person who doesn’t care about prestige, scarcity, brand history and reputation or the degree to which something is hand-built, but it is worth it for someone to whom those factors contribute to the item feeling special, or more meaningful.

Is it worth it?

Which ultimately brings us to the question that’s really at stake: not ‘is it too expensive?’ but ‘does it appear to represent good value to me?‘

Again, manufacturers are for-profit companies. They aren’t aiming to offer the product you want at a price you want to pay: they’re trying to price it at the maximum amount you’re willing to pay.

In other words: it’s always going to be a bit more expensive than you’d like.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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14 Ways to Make Your Images Pop and Boom!

16 Dec

The post 14 Ways to Make Your Images Pop and Boom! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

dPS Deal 5

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“Skittles”

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The post 14 Ways to Make Your Images Pop and Boom! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

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10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

11 Nov

The post 10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kav Dadfar.

It has never been harder to make a living from photography than it is in this day and age. But that doesn’t mean the game is over for you as a photographer. There are still plenty of ways to make money from photography if you are willing to make the effort and have a well-thought-out plan. So here are 10 ways to make a living from photography.

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

Portrait photography

Portraits can be a great little money earner for any photographer. There is even more opportunity for those photographers in smaller towns. Yes, there may not be as many potential customers but the competition will also be much smaller. From the initial shoot fee to prints (digital or analog) and frames, there is an opportunity to make additional sales on top of just the portrait shoot. So any portrait photographer has a few potential steady income revenues.

The overheads to start with are also fairly minimal as you can offer location shoots or even set up a small studio in your home to keep you going until you can get a proper space to work.

10-ways-to-make-a-living-from-photography

Event photography

Event photography is another good genre of photography that offers great opportunities for earning money. Events can be anything from birthday parties to trade events or even company events like Christmas parties.

The advantage of this genre of photography is that there is always going to be a demand for it. So if you can get a good reputation, then word of mouth can spread and get you more and more work.

10-ways-to-make-a-living-from-photography

Photojournalism

Similar to other genres of photography, there is always a steady supply of work for a photojournalist. Being a photojournalist is hard work, both physically and, more importantly, emotionally. But it can also be one of the most rewarding genres of photography as it has the power to change the world.

If you are willing to make the sacrifices needed and are good at capturing photos that tell stories, then this genre of photography could be for you.

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

Wedding photography

A few years ago, weddings would have been one of the top earners in this list of 10 ways to make a living from photography. But like most genres of photography, things have changed.

Less than a decade ago, an average wedding photographer could command $ 2000 plus per wedding and easily shoot 30-40 weddings a year. Unfortunately, the influx of photographers who undercut each other in price has had a detrimental effect on wedding photography. There are photographers now offering to shoot weddings for a few hundred dollars.

Nevertheless, wedding photography is still a market that has lots of opportunities to make money.

10-ways-to-make-a-living-from-photography

Product and food photography

As long as people are making things to sell or eat, they will need images of their products to help sell them. Product and food photography is a great source of income and a steady stream of work for any photographer.

It can be a little mundane for some, but I actually enjoy the process. I really like that I can shoot at my own pace and control every aspect of the shoot. This is not something anyone who works as an outdoor photographer gets to experience. From local restaurants to design companies, there is an endless amount of work available if you can find it.

10-ways-to-make-a-living-from-photography

Commercial photography

Commercial photography can consist of things like:

Shooting lifestyle campaigns or adverts for tourist boards and companies.
Photographing hotel rooms and venues.
It can consist of both interior and exterior shots with or without people.

I find it works really well combined with my editorial work as I often find myself getting an audience with someone in a position of power in these areas through my various commissions.

10-ways-to-make-a-living-from-photography

Editorial photography

Editorial photography was a great source of revenue for photographers.

This changed with the introduction of digital photography all those years ago, which led to the slow demise of staff photographers. It is cheaper and easier to use stock images than it is to send a photographer out to photograph a feature. The other benefit of using stock photos for an editor is that they can see exactly what images they are purchasing.

There are still higher-end magazines like National Geographic and agencies that will commission a photographer for an editorial feature, but they are few and far between.

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

Stock photography

Gone are the good old days of being able to make a living solely from stock photography. But all is not lost.

Assuming you are getting work from one of the other aspects of photography on this list, you will be accumulating a body of images that you can more than likely put with a stock agency. Whilst this won’t make you rich, it could provide a nice additional income. Just make sure to get model release forms where possible, and find the right agency for your style of photography.

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

Prints

Selling prints is another good revenue stream, whatever your genre of photography is. Big names aside, most of us photographers are not going to be lucky enough to sell prints for thousands of dollars. But, again, like stock photography, if you have a body of work, you might as well try to earn an income from it.

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

Sports photography

Sports photographers will always be in demand as long as our love for the various sporting games continues. If you can get yourself in with a good agency or accreditation and get those awesome shots that are grace the pages of newspapers and websites worldwide the next morning you can make a very good and steady living. To get to that level will take time and a lot of hard work.

But there are also lots of opportunities at the local level of photographing such as school sports days or even local sporting events. These are much easier to get into and can provide a steady income to supplement your other photography work.

10-ways-to-make-a-living-from-photography

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography: Conclusion

Whilst many photographers specialize in one specific area of photography these days, most photographers have to be willing to offer a few of these services. I shoot a lot of editorial and food photography and some commercial projects. I then use stock and print sales to increase that revenue stream.

Whatever genre of photography you specialize in, it’s important to diversify your work. Not only because of the income but also because you might make contacts that will lead to other jobs within your chosen genre.

Remember to price yourself accordingly and try not to work for free. Always keep in mind that if you don’t respect your work enough to be paid for it, why should someone else?

Do you have any other ways to make a living from photography that you’d like to add to this list? Share with us in the comments!

10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography

The post 10 Ways to Make a Living from Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kav Dadfar.

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4 Ways to Use the Canon 11-24mm Lens

28 Oct

The post 4 Ways to Use the Canon 11-24mm Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

You finally got your hands on the esteemed Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM lens. It’s a heavy, sharp, ultra-wide thing of beauty with an awesome perspective. Now you’re wondering, other than capturing the entire scene in front of you, how does one maximize this lens? Here are a few ways to you can use the Canon 11-24MM lens:

4-ways-to-use-the-canon-11-24mm-lens

1. Compositional Impact

When you first look through the Canon 11-24mm lens, everything looks high impact and with a “wow” factor, as the view is quite unique. However, shooting at an ultra-wide focal length does not automatically translate to better pictures. No matter what lens you use, all the elements that make a great picture still apply.

4 Ways to Use the Canon 11-24mm Lens

Wide-angle lenses are used extensively in landscape photography for the “near-far” style of composition. This translates to the ability to include generous foreground elements, as well as a middle and background (e.g skies). Keep in mind that an ultra-wide amplifies your distances further. This all amounts to creating an image with great depth and compositional impact.

4 Ways to Use the Canon 11-24mm Lens

One of the reasons that an 11-24mm lens needs time to master is because, by default, ultra-wide lenses include everything in a scene. When you are creating a photograph, though, it’s still about composing to include (and exclude) all the elements you want.

2. Lines and space

The minimal distortion on the Canon 11-24mm lens allows you to keep your straight lines straight. When you need a large angle of view in your architectural photography, this feature is quite useful. This is also great if you are inside a space with a lot of detail to capture. Conversely, of course, it works against you when want to exclude the details.

4-ways-to-use-the-canon-11-24mm-lens

In enclosed spaces, it is often hard to capture an entire room unless you use an ultra-wide lens. The angle of view on the Canon 11-24mm lens (mounted on a full-frame) does the job sharp and with minimal distortion. It is not limited to building interiors though, think about that cave or canyon you want to capture.

Using an ultrawide (that is not a fisheye) will go a long way towards capturing such spaces.

Image 1: Horizon Centered Image 2: Lens tilted up slightly Image 3: Lens tilted down slightly

All lenses give the effect of converging lines when pointed above or below the horizon. However, it is more noticeable when you use a wide-angle lens, though, as you capture a greater expanse. Furthermore, with wides and ultra-wide lenses, you change the location of your “vanishing point” even with small variations in your composition. So, be mindful of your verticals.

Note: The vanishing point is that point where lines converge or meet and appear to vanish.

3. Perspective exaggeration

As mentioned previously, an ultra-wide lens exaggerates distances. This perspective exaggeration makes nearby objects look even bigger (nearer) and those further away look even smaller (farther). Great high-impact images occur when you master the art of perspective.

Head-on Shot

It helps to remember that shorter focal lengths, as well as having the camera nearer to the subject, both lend themselves to a stronger perspective/bigger perspective exaggeration effect. Also of note, angles play a huge role when you are showing perspectives. When you shoot at a 45-degree angle, for example, the image will have more depth than if you shoot at a more head-on (flat/plane aligned) angle.

The same Image as above, shot at an angle

So practically speaking, when using a wide-angle lens, there is often an innate need to move closer to the subject, which is what affects the perspective. While perspective exaggeration works well with landscapes, it does not work well for portraiture (no one wants their nose to look bigger, right?)

4. Artistic

Perspective exaggeration (above) is one of the ways you can get creative with your Canon 11-24mm lens. You can use it to emphasize detail in your foreground, while still capturing the background scene. If you shoot flowers, for example, getting closer will make them appear bigger than they really are.

If you want to prevent perspective exaggeration, place your subject in the center of the frame. For a more artistic approach though, you can emphasize the perspective exaggeration by placing your subject closer to the edges.

4-ways-to-use-the-canon-11-24mm-lens

Shooting from lower positions is another great way to get creative with this lens.

Conclusion

The Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM lens is a great lens to have in your arsenal.

After investing in such an amazing lens, though, you should maximize it. Experiment with architecture and interiors, getting closer to your subject and let your creative side out to play.

Remember, wider does not automatically mean better, and the rules of composition still apply (and can even be more challenging).

Share your perspectives with us below!

The post 4 Ways to Use the Canon 11-24mm Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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Five Powerful Ways to Get Your Photos Noticed

15 Oct

Managing to get your photos some attention is one of the biggest hurdles that you may face as a new photographer in the market. The situation becomes even tougher when there are well-known and well-established photographers available. Thousands of photographs are being clicked on a daily basis, so what will make your photographs stand out from them? How will you Continue Reading

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5 Awesome Ways to Improve Your Clothing Photography

30 Sep

Clothing photography… it’s chic, it’s in demand, and it can score you a pretty penny if you prove yourself. What’s even better is that clothing photography has weaved itself into numerous popular industries and niches, ranging from fashion and runways (duh), to Ecommerce stores, all the way to social media and its influencers – there is no shortage of gig Continue Reading

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9 Ways to use Reflections more Creatively for Stunning Photography

20 Sep

The post 9 Ways to use Reflections more Creatively for Stunning Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Mirrors or windows, ponds or lakes, it really doesn’t matter where you find them, reflections are eye-catching. In this tutorial, I’ll give you some ideas and inspiration on how to use reflections more creatively for stunning photography.

Creative use of reflections for stunning photography tutorial

We’re fascinated by reflections ever since we discover ourselves in a mirror, it’s no wonder we remain captivated by them. If you want to know about the technical aspect of reflections check out Rick Ohnsman’s article Understand Light and Color to Improve your Photography. Here, I’ll tell you nine ways to use them in your photographs.

1. Avoid a dull sky

The first tip to use reflections more creatively is to photograph them during bad weather. After the rain we usually find the sky to be grey and dull. Luckily the rain creates puddles, and water is a great reflector. Next time you find yourself shooting during a rainy day try looking down to the ground instead of up to the sky.

Look for water reflection for bad weather conditions

If you want to take this idea to the next level, you can add a flash to your photo-shoot. To learn how to do it check this article: Using Rain Puddles to Create Unique Reflection Photos.

2. Fill empty spaces

Similar to the dull sky problem, you can have an area that lacks detail or any visual interest. If it’s made of a reflective material the answer is easy, just find the right angle to capture it. What may have been a boring object, is suddenly filled with details that complement your composition.

Search for the right angle to add reflections

3. Create texture

Reflections don’t necessarily have to be mirrored images of reality. The texture of the material or surface will distort the image and you can use that to capture color and shapes. For example, the ripples of water reflecting buildings.

Reflections create textures

Remember that you can also zoom-in and photograph the reflection as a texture to use later in other images.

4. Abstract photography

Speaking of photographing a texture alone, this can give you some inspiration for doing abstract photography. There are many different angles to approach this subject and reflections are definitely a good one. Here’s an example, but if you feel interested in going deeper into it, check out some Abstract Photos to Inspire You.

Textures alone are great for abstract photography

5. Change perspective

Shooting common places or subjects that are not interesting enough is always a challenge. Photographing its reflection can be a great alternative to capture it creatively. This forces you to move, crouch, and generally change your point of view. Also, you’ll be looking at the subject backward, and sometimes just a little shift can make the difference.

Look for the reflection to change perspective

6. Creates symmetric shapes

Symmetry is beautiful and pleasing. On a subconscious level, it gives us a soothing feeling. I don’t mean just placing your subject in the center and make it identical on both sides. Of course, this is an option, but it’s not the only way. Reflections can create symmetric shapes that can help the overall image become more interesting.

Symmetry helps your composition

7. Frame your subject

You can also use reflections as a way to direct the viewer’s attention to your subject. For example, placing your subject as a reflection in a mirror or a window literally frames it. If you want to get more creative you can also use a pair of eyeglasses or a spoon.

Frame your subject

8. Overlapping planes

One of my favorite qualities of reflections is that they show you two, or more scenes on the same plane. When you look at a mirror you are also seeing what is behind you. With a window, you can even add a third plane when you also add the scene from inside the room, and so on. If you compose the subjects from each scene in a harmonic way you can create a surreal or dream-like image.

Compose different scenes in one

9. The reflection IS the subject

Last but not least, a reflection can be a subject in itself. You can make a project or a series just about reflections, it’s just a matter of finding a concept to build upon. If you need some inspiration, I highly advise you to read this Guide to Creating Unique Conceptual Photography.

Use reflections as the main subject

Come up with an idea and just run with it. I hope this article sparked some inspiration so you can use reflections more creatively! Share your reflection photos in the comments section below and, most of all, have fun!

The post 9 Ways to use Reflections more Creatively for Stunning Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

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5 Great Ways to Create Abstract Wave Photography

19 Sep

The post 5 Great Ways to Create Abstract Wave Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Erin Fitzgibbon.

In this article, you’ll learn how to use motion and long exposure photography to create abstract wave photography.

There’s something about water. It is mesmerizing. People flock to beaches and waterfalls to photograph water. We seem drawn to its fluid beauty.

5 Great Ways to Create Abstract Wave Photography

If you Google “waterfalls,” you’ll find millions of images. Beaches, sunsets and softly crashing waves also pepper Google searches. Given these two facts, why then do most of the images of water, waves, and waterfalls always look so similar? The same seems to be true of wave photography – all the photos seem to follow a particular recipe.

You find images either capture the violence and strength of water as the wave crashes or you see images of curling barrels of water, usually taken at sunset. Water has much versatility. Its fluidity makes it an intriguing subject matter.

Capturing the motion of water seems to be one of humanity’s favorite past times, but there’s more you can consider. How can playing with motion expand your efforts to capture waves and water? Perhaps by experimenting, you can find new angles and new ways to capture waves.

1. Using longer shutter speed to change the look and shape of waves

When photographing a waterfall there’s only one way that the water can flow, and that’s downward. Sure, the water may travel a little to the left or right over some rocks, but the reality is it’s headed in the direction gravity pulls it. So when we use a slow shutter speed, the look of the water is predictable. We know and love that white candy floss type of look.

When using a slow shutter speed with waves; however, the results are less predictable. The water may crash and spray against rocks and bubble. It may splash and break in endless patterns. Using a slow shutter speed to capture the breaking of a wave can yield some interesting effects and looks.

Let’s take a look at some of the following experiments.

Shot using 1/8s, f32, ISO 100.

In the above example, I used a longer shutter speed to capture these unusual looking wave shapes. The first wave was rolling back into the oncoming wave, and the collision created these upward sprays. With a longer shutter speed, you can capture the wave and some light trails. If you look closely, you’ll also notice that the longer shutter speed seems to create a ghost-like transparent look to parts of the splashing wave. You can see through some of the water.

Perhaps this look doesn’t appeal to you, but it does break the traditional view of a wave.

2. Study the way the waves break and look for patterns you can photograph

You can also play with motion and study the way the wave breaks. Despite their fluidity, waves do tend to break in the same places along a beach. Of course, they vary in intensity and size depending on the day, but you can watch a storm and know that waves will hit a rock and create a lot of splashing or spray. Watching the waves and then using these patterns along with a long shutter speed, can also create some different looking images. Let’s take a look at the following example.

1/8s, F32, ISO 100

While I used the exact same shutter speed in this image as the first image, the look of the image has changed. This is due to it being shot at a different location along the beach. In this spot, the waves were smaller, and they rolled in slowly with less turmoil. The light trails have stretched out more, and you can discern the rolling nature of the wave as it meets the beach. The sand below the surface is also visible. Also, the incoming waves behind are more abstracted in this photograph.

Some people have told me they look like they’ve been painted rather than photographed.

1/13s, F32, ISO 100

For this image, I used a slightly different shutter speed. I searched for patterns and used a longer focal length revealing a different look to the waves. In this image, the light trails are much more important to the composition of the photograph. Less defined by the white water, the shape of the wave is revealed by the smooth lines of the wave.

3. Move the camera horizontally as you capture the waves

Of course, waves are in motion, but we can change the look, feel, and our perceptions of waves by including the motion of the camera while capturing the movement of the wave. In the image below, I used intentional camera movement (ICM) – the waves were moving right to left, while I dragged the camera across the wave from left to right.

1/13s, F32, ISO 100

The light trails are still a part of the capture, but the wider angle and the motion of the camera turn the waves into something different. Here the shape is more abstracted and becomes a white oval against the water and the sand which now streaks of different shades of beige. The waves are no longer defined. Instead, the motion of the camera abstracts the water a little bit.

4. Move the camera in a bouncing motion

1/10s, F32, ISO 100

Pushing the experiment further, I moved the camera in a sort of bouncing motion. The look of the rocks on the beach becomes important in this photograph. Also, the light trails also take on a different shape. The effect of the motion on the water seems to have less of an effect too.

Once again, experiment to see what you can create and how you can take a typical subject matter and make it different. I rather like the bouncy, playful feel to the rocks on the beach.

5: Get very close

In the following images, I used a much faster shutter speed, and I moved closer and closer to the subject matter to take the images.

It was about capturing something as I moved to see what the camera grabbed. It’s a fairly impulsive way to use your camera. The autofocus is unpredictable in this scenario, but the results are surprising. It’s also fun to see what you can get. This is less about planning but more about enjoying the moment and options available to you as you move your camera.

1/800s, F2.4, ISO 400

In both of these photographs, I used a very shallow depth of field with a very low perspective. I chose to lie down on my belly and inch my way towards the waves while holding down the shutter speed. To me, the resulting images feel as if you are falling into the water. There’s very little to focus on, and the water seems to be all around. Some may find the view unsettling, but love it or hate it; this is another way of looking at and capturing waves.

In Conclusion

Playing with motion to create some new perspectives in wave photography can be a fun experiment. Some images will work very well, while others may be hard to look at. Either way, it’s about finding ways to get creative with your camera. It’s about studying a subject and showing the world how much variation there is in the world. Using motion to capture water is a fun experiment that’s easy to complete with almost any type of camera.

What’s my next experiment? Who knows? Maybe it’s using motion and underwater photography with waves. We’ll have to see.

If you’ve tried some interesting angles or techniques for photographing waves, share them with us. Let’s see what types of abstract wave photography you create!

The post 5 Great Ways to Create Abstract Wave Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Erin Fitzgibbon.

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Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures

16 Sep

The post Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.

Olympus has a number of unusual features for longer exposure photography. Aside from the classic bulb style photography, there are two other specific long exposure features available with Olympus cameras: Live Time and Live Composite. These two functions, although related, treat longer exposures quite differently and can produce quite interesting results. Both are really fascinating tools for photographers looking to experiment. Both use computational features of your camera to allow you to get an image in a different way. Although we will briefly discuss Live Time, this article primarily focuses on the Olympus Live Composite feature.

The Live Composite feature on Olympus Cameras lets you mix light sources for long exposure

Live Time

Live Time is like the bulb function on old film cameras that held the shutter open as long as the bulb was depressed but with a twist. With modern cameras, you open the shutter by pressing once and then close it by pressing it a second time. As with any bulb function, you end up holding the shutter open for as long as you want but without a set time on the camera.

In the film days, you would just guess how long you wanted (or use a light meter and a stopwatch). With most digital cameras, there is a function to allow you to hold the shutter open for an extended time. However, for many makes of cameras, you won’t see the image until the camera has closed the shutter, taken a noise reduction image, and then processed the image.

Live Time in Olympus cameras is a little different. It allows you to see the image on your display developing during the process while the shutter remains open. As the exposure lengthens, you see the image form as more and more light gets added to the entire image. The image gets brighter on the back panel, and it is really cool to see the image created live.

This process allows you to decide when you have held the shutter open long enough. Like the old bulb settings, you decide how long the image progresses. You press to start the exposure and press to stop.

Long Exposure images simply mean that light sources get brighter

Fundamentally, Live Time is just a manually extended exposure time that allows you to watch the image develop as you take it. It is still a pretty cool feature.

Problems with long exposure photography

The trouble with Live Time (and any long exposure image with any camera for that matter), is that bright things get brighter faster than the dark areas.

This means that dim, infrequent events in lower light environments with some point sources of light will be overwhelmed by the point sources. When you have enough light to expose the dark areas properly, this usually means that the lit areas have far too much accumulated light. Everything in the frame gets treated the same.

A still Image of a fire provides lots of detail and freezes the action of the flames.

Long Exposures tend to smear the light as the light sources persist.

Enter Live Composite

Live Composite is a particularly unique feature present in Olympus cameras that is not currently offered by other camera makers at this time.

Live Composite is similar to Live Time, in that you are taking a longer exposure image, but Live Composite is just light additive for new sources of light, not existing sources. What this means is that Live Composite takes a base image and then only adds new light to the image that was not present in the original base image. This means that light sources seen in the original reference image do not get brighter. Only new lighting or new light sources that move in the frame will appear in the final image.

Live Composite of a campfire shows that the entire image is not getting brighter

The mechanics of Live Composite

Using Live Composite is a two-step process; first, it requires you to take a base or reference image exposure. This image forms the base layer of the composite image. Then you take subsequent additional images at intervals with only new light in the field of view added.

This allows you to take a static image of a colorful background under low light conditions and add only new light sources.

Just like Live Time, you get to watch the image develop right before your eyes.

After the base image is taken, only new light sources (such as a lightning bolt) show up

How to use It

Turning on Live Composite on your Olympus camera is not the most prominent process. It is a bit hidden. Live Composite is a type of manual mode setting, so that is where you find it on the camera.

However, before you use Live Composite, you need to decide a few key parameters for your base composite image – specifically initial shutter duration, ISO and aperture.

You set the shutter time duration in the menu (out of the function itself) before setting the camera to shoot. However, you set the ISO and aperture as you go.

Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures

Turning on Live Composite varies a little between cameras (the EM1X does it slightly differently), but for most Olympus cameras, you simply set the mode selector dial to Manual (M) and adjust the time to beyond the 60-second shutter duration. At that point, you get a Bulb, LiveTime, and then LiveComp setting. LiveComp is the one you want for Live Composite. On the EM1X, you set the mode selector dial to B (bulb) and then turn to LiveComp. Everything else is the same.

At this point in time, you set your ISO and Aperture. This, combined with the shutter time duration you set in the menu system for cycling the images, will be used to set your base composite image. For instance, if you set the shutter timing to 4 seconds, plan on using an aperture of f/4 and ISO of 800. You will use those values for the base reference composite image.

To activate Live Composite, set up your composition, focus your lens, and then press the shutter for the reference image. The composite is now ready to start.

Next, when you press your shutter button again, the image creating process begins! The camera will open the shutter and add to the image as each time period compares to the base image. Any new light gets added to the composite at the end of each cycle. The image changes and grows on your display as Live Composite progresses.

It is very cool to watch as your image develops.

Does Live Composite mean you can take images that you couldn’t before?

Image: Lightning storms work incredibly well with Live Composite, especially if there is a lot of ne...

Lightning storms work incredibly well with Live Composite, especially if there is a lot of nearby light sources (such as streetlights)

Yes and no. You could take the images separately and combine them as a composite, but as a single image, you would not have been able to do it. Also, there are certain types of images that are way easier to take with the Live Composite function than would be possible to achieve in a single image.

Live Composite also forces you to change your approach to certain images. As part of that change, it may actually take longer to take some images (because you need to create a base/reference every time), but you get the benefit of seeing if it is doing what you want.

What kind of image works well with Live Composite?

Several specific types of images can get the full benefit of Live Composite. These include star trails, lightning flashes, fireworks, night photography with bright lights present, and light painting.

You can take all of these in other ways, but using live composite allows you to see if the image is turning out how you want.

Most of these images all require manual focus and manual settings for your exposures. All require some trial and error and pretty much all benefit from the use of a tripod. In theory, you might be able to take these images without one, but in reality, the requirement to be steady really limits those cases.

Star Trails

In astrophotography, taking an image of stars can be particularly daunting. This is because the earth is rotating and the stars are relatively dim. What this means is that you need a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the star but also need to leave the shutter open long enough for the start to appear on your image. If you leave the shutter open too long, you will see a streak or smear instead of a star. If you leave the shutter open even longer, the stars leave even longer trails that are circular. In the northern hemisphere, these star trails appear to rotate around the North Star.

Star trails occur when you take astrophotography shots and leave the shutter open for an extended period of time. The stars create a trail. This image was taken with the shutter open for 27 minutes

With conventional digital cameras (or film cameras for that matter), working at night can be a challenge. The shutter duration required to create star trails are long, and you can’t see what your image is like until you’ve completed the entire exposure duration. In addition, if you have made an error in focus or composition, you won’t see it until the entire process is complete. There are ways to combine star trails together in post-processing, but the Live Composite allows you to do it in a single exposure.

With Live Composite, you can see the image develop. Particularly with star trails, this allows you to quickly figure out if you want to have your image in a different setup or use a different point of interest so that the star trails work with your composition.

You also have the ability to have star trails show up when there is an illuminated object in the foreground.

Lightning

Another significant challenge for photography is capturing images of lightning, particularly in areas where there are light sources. As anyone who has attempted to take lightning images knows all too well, this is a difficult type of photography.

Lightning strike captured using the Olympus Live Composite Feature.

The main difficulties of capturing lightning images are fourfold. Lightning is difficult to schedule, so you have to wait to find a storm to photograph. Depending upon your position relative to the storm, you need to find a vantage point to capture images that are reasonably clear (you need to be able to see the lightning from a distance) and have a perspective that forms a reasonable composition. More common vantage points are across a field, across a valley or from highrise building.

Next, you need to hope the lightning is not blocked or shrouded by rain (a common companion to lightning). This will interfere with your sightlines. Lighting is often at leading and trailing edges of storms, but if you are at the wrong end, the lightning will simply light up the sky.

Finally, taking images at night always presents a problem for trying to achieve focus. Focusing in the dark means that you can’t see what you are focusing on and the light from the lightning hasn’t lit up your subject yet.

If you have the right conditions, you can take the base image and wait for the lightning strike and the image to develop. You just wait until lightning strikes in the field of view.

For a detailed guide on photographing lightning, see this Ultimate Guide to Photographing Lightning.

Fireworks

Fireworks is an interesting subject for live composite. It actually isn’t faster to take images, but I think it takes better images. Fireworks requires you to manually focus where you think the images are, set the time, aperture, and ISO for a darker setting than your camera will want, then wait.

Fireworks also work well, although it is a two-step process for every image.

Without Live Composite, you simply open the shutter and wait. The image gets brighter, and the duration is based upon a little trial and error.

With Live Composite, you take the reference image and then wait. When the fireworks start, you hold the shutter and watch the screen. You press the shutter when you have the image you want.

Unfortunately, you need to take a new reference image each time, so you end up with additional steps. However, the results are at least as good (and often better) as simply guessing an exposure time.

Night photography with bright lights and light painting

Capturing car tail lights and headlights will appear but the street lights don’t get overly bright

Night photography featuring bright lights, such as carnivals or street performers using fire at night, can turn out really well with Live Composite. So can images where lights are moving, but you don’t want the background to get brighter.

You can also use Live Composite for light painting. This is particularly useful if you have someone helping you when you are taking a light painting image.

Light painting is a technique for taking an image under low light conditions with a long exposure and lighting up the object with controlled use of flashes or light sources. The neat thing about using Live Composite for light painting is that you can have light in the image when you are taking the image with the light painting because only new light gets added. It also means that dark objects won’t show up, and the bright surfaces behind them will remain illuminated.

Image: Live composite allows you to do light painting with light sources present in the image (not t...

Live composite allows you to do light painting with light sources present in the image (not the greatest light painting image!)

Conclusion

Live Composite is a unique feature in Olympus cameras that allow you to make composite images in-camera that previously would only be able to be created with two separate images and a bunch of post-processing. It is another useful tool for your photography kit.

The Olympus Live Composite feature is a unique tool to allow you to be creative with low light images.

Have you used Olympus Live Composite Feature before? What are your thoughts? Share with us in the comments!

The post Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.

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