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Photo “Stolen” From Art Gallery, Used on Magazine Cover Without Permission

12 Jul

The post Photo “Stolen” From Art Gallery, Used on Magazine Cover Without Permission appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Last week, The Big Issue published an interview with renowned filmmaker David Lynch.

And the magazine put a headshot of David Lynch on the cover.

All of this would have been fine…

…except that the headshot of David Lynch wasn’t actually a headshot at all.

Instead, it was a photo of a framed David Lynch photo. The original was taken by Nadav Kander and displayed as part of a gallery exhibition.

In other words, a photographer attended Kander’s exhibition, took a photo of the framed David Lynch portrait, and the photo ended up on The Big Issue’s front cover. Note that this thoroughly violates copyright law, as Kander has ownership over all of his gallery images.

Kander vented his frustrations via Instagram:

[A] ”photographer” goes to one of my exhibitions and photographs my framed print of David Lynch…Unbelievable blatant copyright infringement. Sad behaviour and more. I would never have wanted this photograph sold.

View this post on Instagram

READ THIS: a”photographer” goes to one of my exhibitions and photographs my framed print of David Lynch. He uploads this picture to a stock site called Alamy. Now this week The BiG Issue which is a magazine in the U.K. publishes a interview with David and buys this despicably shot picture of my photograph, crops in and uses it on the cover of the mag this week. Unbelievable blatant copyright infringement. Sad behaviour and more. I would never have wanted This photograph sold…So photographer who did this, kindly call my studio and we should talk. My alternative is to just go up an avenue that is less than pleasant for you. I wish now I had not got your name taken down off the BI site. Then all could have seen you and “your picture”. My god I work hard to make my work what it is… but this is doubly insulting because added to this your site states clearly that permission should be sought before using your work!!! Go figure. #copyright #copyrightingringement #impissedoff

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How it happened

But how did this happen? How did The Big Issue, a reputable magazine, end up with a stolen photo on its cover?

As it turns out, The Big Issue did not purchase the David Lynch image directly. Instead, the image came from the stock site Alamy, which sold the image to The Big Issue.

The Big Issue writes, in response to Kander’s anger:

Hi Nadav, we’re very sorry you feel aggrieved. This image was sourced by the art team. They discovered it on Alamy. It’s a great image that we felt would help move the magazine. We told Alamy what we were doing and neither tried to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes nor get away without paying.

The first we discovered about the issues with the image was when your agency got in touch at the start of the week. Clearly, Alamy have some explaining to do. We would never intentionally do this. As an organisation that serves the complex needs of thousands of our vendors each year, we understand the need to meet emotional distress with sensitivity. We hope this goes some way to explaining the situation. If you would like to discuss further, please DM us.

This apology would probably be fine, putting the blame squarely on Alamy and the photographer. Except that it turns out the stock image purchased by The Big Issue is different from the image that appears on the magazine cover.

Specifically, the David Lynch photo-of-a-photo acquired by The Big Issue showed a clear frame, as well as an information plaque. It also included shadows that fell across the glass:

But The Big Issue cropped out the frame and the information plaque, apparently oblivious to the photo’s illegal nature.

(Since then, the photo has been removed from The Big Issue’s website, as well as from Alamy.)

So…

Who do you think is to blame for this fiasco?

Is it the fault of the photographer, who took the picture and sold it to Alamy?

Is it the fault of the stock agency, Alamy, who put the photo up for sale on its site? Or is it the fault of The Big Issue for using a questionable photo in the first place?

Let me know right now in the comments!

 

Featured image photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

The post Photo “Stolen” From Art Gallery, Used on Magazine Cover Without Permission appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.


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Ariana Grande sued for $50K after she allegedly shared his photos without permission

17 May

The latest in a line of celebrities caught using pictures without permission, singer Ariana Grande is being sued over images she allegedly posted on Instagram without permission.

Two pictures she posted to promote her album ‘Sweetener’ at the end of last year were liked over three million times, and photographer Robert Barbera is claiming $ 25,000 for each of them in damages because Grande allegedly didn’t have the rights to use them. Below is an Instagram post from Barbera with one of the images Grande allegedly posted without permission.

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Sweetener is out!

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New York-based Barbera describes himself as a celebrity photographer, supplies paparazzi images to agencies such as Corbis and Splash News and goes under the name ‘Papculture’ on Instagram. He has an extensive collection of street-shot pictures of music, fashion and film stars on his page and has over 37,000 followers of his own.

The pictures Grande allegedly used without permission feature her holding a bag with ‘Sweetener’ written upside down on it, and she posted them on the day her album was released. She has since taken the pictures down but not before many of her 154 million followers had viewed and liked them.

According to the London Evening Standard, other recently sued by photographers for using pictures without permission include Jennifer Lopez, Gigi Hadid, 50 Cent, Jessica Simpson, and Khloe Kardashian.

Photo credits: Image by Melissa Rose, used under CC BY 2.0

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash

02 Apr

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

1 - High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

The making of one of my most successful shots started with a little photo play on a hot summer day, and a try at some high-speed splash photography.

The image above, “Red Bell Splashdown,” went on to win first place in the Corel International Food Photography Contest.

Let’s take a look at the “making of” methods used to create the shot so that you too can have fun with this quite simple technique.

Freezing motion

There are essentially two ways to freeze motion with a camera:

  1. Use a Fast Shutter Speed such that the “sliver of time” you are capturing is very short and the object being captured moves very little, if at all, during the extremely short duration the shutter is open, or
  2. Use the very Short Duration of a Flash so that the object you are photographing gets illuminated for a very small sliver of time. The duration time of an electronic flash can be extremely short. For example, a Speedlight like the Canon 580EXII at 1/128 power is less than 1/19,000th of a second!

I’ve used the flash method, and indeed it can produce some dramatic results. I will perhaps show that process and the results in a future article. For my splash photos, however, I wanted to keep it simple and do it outdoors where water splashes wouldn’t require any clean-up or endanger my photo gear. When I did these shots, I was using my Canon 50D which has a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second. I figured this should be enough to get the job done.

2- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Let the sun shine in

Obviously, getting a proper exposure with a very high shutter speed would involve several possibilities:

  1. Use a fast lens with a wide aperture – I was shooting with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, so a wide aperture was possible. However, I still needed a decent depth of field, so opening it up all the way wasn’t a good option.
  2. Use a high ISO – Cranking up the ISO can aid in getting a fast shutter speed but at the penalty of more image noise. I didn’t want that if I could avoid it.
  3. Shoot in very bright light. Normally, shooting under mid-day summer sun would not be something a photographer would do, but in this case, blazing sunlight (and lots of it) was the perfect solution.

3- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

The set-up

I wanted to use colorful subjects for the shoot. Bell peppers – easily found at the supermarket in red, yellow and green – seemed a good choice. I also picked up some other colorful fruits – strawberries and limes. To accommodate the size of the objects and also give me a flat glass “window” to shoot through, a 10-gallon aquarium was just right.

Wanting to get light not just from above but from below as well, I put a large 5-in-1 reflector on the table where I wanted to shoot, silver side up. I placed the aquarium on top of that out in the bright noon sun. I filled the tank with water about halfway and allowed the bubbles to settle out while I set up the rest of the equipment.

4- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

I put a pepper in the water and let it float while I took a look through the camera to frame the shot. I could see I would need a plain and preferably dark background, so I put a piece of black paper behind the tank. The paper was still too bright with the direct sun on it, so I used another reflector, black side down, at the back to the tank to shade the paper backdrop. I had my camera on a tripod and moved it to get as much of the front of the tank in the frame as I could, being sure I could focus that close.

5- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

To be able to drop my subjects into the tank and also trigger the shutter, I rigged up a Youngnuo RF-602C radio trigger so that I’d be able to fire the camera remotely. A wired remote with a long enough cord could have also worked.

Camera settings

I put the camera in Manual Mode. To get a good combination of the fast shutter speed needed, decent depth of field, and not too high an ISO, I found that shooting at ISO 400, F/6.3 and the key – fast shutter speeds between 1/2000 and 1/3200th of a second was about right. Letting a pepper float in the tank where I anticipated it to be when dropped, I set the focus and then locked it in manual. I also put the shutter in high-speed continuous mode so for each drop I’d get a burst of about 5 shots.

6- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Splash-down!

So, good to go, I dropped the peppers, strawberries, and limes, trying to fire the bursts in synchronization with my drops. My wife Kathy came out to join in the fun and did some of the drops. We quickly found it was necessary to squeegee and wipe the front of the glass between shots to clean the drops off the front of the glass from the previous shot. So it went: drop, shoot, squeegee and repeat. For each drop, one frame of the 5-shot burst might be good, but often not. Timing is crucial. With practice, while we gained some skill, luck was still a huge element. There was lots of shooting to get the keepers. We tried it with the peppers and fruits in different combinations too. I easily made over 200 shots that afternoon.

7- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Cleaning up your act!

Straight out of the camera, the raw shots were less than impressive. Of course, Raw files look flat, and so I knew they’d improve greatly with a basic Raw edit. There were also more drops, splashes, bubbles and other particles in the water than I wanted. However, the important thing – the action – was properly frozen and sharp!

My Red Bell Splashdown image used settings of ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/3200th sec. The rest was using editing tools to adjust the exposure, get good rich color and deep blacks, and eliminate distractions. My editing tool of choice is usually Adobe Lightroom. With the Adjustment Brush and the Spot Removal Tool, I was able to clean up the image to create the impact I was after.

8- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Other considerations and possibilities

With any photo shoot, it’s always a good idea to critique your work and consider, “What might I have done better? Differently? What variations might I want to try?”

Seeing I had used a shutter speed of 1/3200th for my splash shots, I was curious how much difference there might be at the maximum shutter speed of my Canon 50D which is 1/8000th. I didn’t want to set up the fish tank and all of that for this second experiment, so I tried something simpler.

This time, I poured liquid into glasses in the bright summer sun. This process was simple enough. I clamped the glasses in a stand, put up a black backdrop behind them, set up the camera in a similar fashion to the previous splash shots, and did the pours. This time my settings were ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/8000th of a second.

When checking the shots afterward, it was apparent that the freezing effect was even more pronounced. However, at such a wide aperture, my depth of field was much more shallow.

9- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

What might I try next time?

I’d like to give different color backgrounds a try. Using black made editing much easier, and when cleaning up the shots, it was simple to “black out” any distracting elements. I’m not so sure that would be as easily achieved with a color background. Trying it with a white background for a high-key look might also look interesting.

10- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Of course, using different objects for the splash photos is also fun. In fact, we did do that when during the splash photo session my Mini-Schnauzer, Schatzi, wanted to play and decided to bring us her favorite ball. Looking at the “face” on the ball, I thought it might be fun to try it in a splash drop as we’d done with the peppers. When seeing the result – which looked like the “creature” was exhaling bubbles during a dive – it made me laugh.

11- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

So, give this high-speed shutter technique a try. Take it outside in the bright sun, crank up the shutter speed as high as you can and have some fun. It’s a great way to improve your camera skills, learn the relationships between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed, and then test your editing skills when tuning up your shots. I’m confident you’ll get some images of which you’ll be proud.

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.


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

07 Nov

Studio Scene

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

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

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

Exposure Latitude

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

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ISO-Invariance

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

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

$ (document).ready(function() { ImageComparisonWidget({“containerId”:”reviewImageComparisonWidget-55446958″,”widgetId”:642,”initialStateId”:null}) })

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

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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5 Tips for Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod

27 Sep

Are you frustrated by the inconvenience of a tripod and you prefer shooting handheld? Do you want to take sharp images, but without having to lug around such a large piece of equipment?

Fortunately, it is possible to get stunning images, even images in low light, without using a tripod. In fact, tripods often limit your flexibility.

5 Tips for Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - dunlin

I rarely use a tripod, myself. While I do appreciate the added stability a tripod provides, I find myself struggling to compose images. I prefer the ability to quickly flow from composition to composition. I also like to shoot from angles that tripods struggle to cover. Hence, I have a lot of experience in photographing handheld.

In this article, I discuss various ways you can shoot without a tripod while still getting sharp images. I will show you how, with very little work, you can take your handheld photography to the next level.

5 Tips for Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - golden retriever and woman

1. Stabilize Your Body Against an Object

I’ll start with the least technical tip for shooting handheld, that is to become a human tripod!

By this, I mean that you should seek to stabilize your body and arms against an object. I find that the ground is an excellent choice (after all, it’s reliably present).

So, when shooting handheld, I often get down on the ground. I’ll lie on my stomach and press my elbows firmly against the soil. Then I can feel fairly confident when taking my image that things will remain sharp.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - aster

I stabilized my elbows against the ground in order to photograph this aster.

If you don’t want to get down on your stomach, that’s okay. You can also try out several other positions.

For instance, you can crouch down and put your elbows on your knees. Or you can tuck your elbows into your body.

You can also find some other object to stabilize yourself against. I sometimes use large rocks or fallen trees when shooting flowers. It pays to be creative.

2. Use Your Camera or Lens’s Built-In Image Stabilization

Does your camera or lens possess image stabilization technology? If so, switch it on!

You see, image stabilization technology is built in by clever camera manufacturers. It reduces (or eliminates) camera shake using image stabilization.

Image stabilization technology generally works in one of two ways. If it’s built into the camera, the sensor physically moves to counteract any camera shake that the camera has experienced. If it’s built into the lens, an optical element inside the lens is what moves.

Regardless, here’s the key takeaway: Image stabilization technology help to minimize or eliminate camera shake.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - urban abstract

Without image stabilization, getting this urban abstract would have been very difficult.

The downside of image stabilization technology is that it’s expensive. Only some cameras and some lenses possess it, and they tend to be on the pricier side of things.

For those of us who dislike shooting with a tripod, however, image stabilization is a worthwhile investment.

3. Shoot with Shorter Lenses

An oft-cited rule in photography circles is this: you can handhold your lens at a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the focal length (that is, 1/focal length).

This may sound complex, but it’s really not. To find an acceptably fast shutter speed, take the focal length and make it into a fraction with a one on top.

For instance, if you’re shooting with a 100mm lens, you can handhold at a shutter speed of 1/100th of a second or faster. When you’re shooting with a 400mm lens, you can handhold at a shutter speed of 1/400th of a second or faster. Finally, if you’re shooting with a 25mm lens, you can handhold at a shutter speed of 1/25th of a second.

Do you see the pattern? The longer the lens, the faster your shutter speed must be. Conversely, you can use a longer shutter speed when using a short lens.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - golden retriever

I used a wide angle lens to capture this golden retriever in low light.

This is for a couple of reasons. First, long lenses tend to be bigger and heavier, causing more camera shake. Second, longer lenses magnify camera shake, resulting in blurrier pictures.

Therefore, if you don’t have a tripod to cut down on camera shake, you should use a lens that is more forgiving of the rule (based on the 1/focal length rule).

So if you’re shooting handheld, use shorter focal lengths for more success.

4. Shoot in Burst Mode

Another tip for photographing without a tripod is to shoot in burst mode (high-speed drive mode).

To activate burst mode, you simply have to set the camera to high-speed drive mode and hold down the shutter button. If you have a camera with this capability, you’ll hear the rapid-fire sound of images being taken.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - white-morph reddish egret

Burst mode was essential for getting this early-morning shot of a White-Morph Reddish Egret.

This mode helps with handheld photography for two reasons.

First, when you jab the shutter button with your finger, it generates camera shake. When you use burst mode, however, you only press the shutter button at the beginning of your image sequence. This means that later photographs are taken with very little camera shake because the shutter button is not actually pressed just before the image is captured.

Second, when you shoot in burst mode, the mirror doesn’t cause extra vibrations. You see, many cameras (DSLRs) have mirrors in front of the sensor. When the shutter button is pressed, the mirror flips up, briefly exposing the sensor to light (to capture the image).

When the mirror flips up, this causes small vibrations throughout the camera, another form of camera shake. Yet when you activate burst mode, the mirror only flips up only at the beginning of the burst. The later shots aren’t affected by the vibrations caused by the mirror and as a consequence, they are sharper.

NOTE: This last point doesn’t apply to mirrorless cameras as they do not have a mirror, hence the name!

5. Use the self-timer

My final tip for photographing without a tripod is to use your camera’s self-timer.

The self-timer allows you to press the shutter button, and then it waits a specified number of seconds before the image is taken.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - cosmos

I love using the self-timer when photographing flowers.

This useful for the same reason cited above in favor of burst mode. It prevents the camera shake generated when you press the shutter button.

So, next time you’re out in the field and you’re struggling to get sharp images without a tripod, try using the self-timer to reduce your camera shake.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - purple abstract

Conclusion

Many photographers think that tripods are a necessity, but this isn’t necessarily the case. There are methods that you can use to shoot without a tripod while still capturing stellar images.

Photographing Handheld Without a Tripod - architecture ann arbor

  • First, steady yourself by placing your elbows against the ground.
  • Second, switch on your camera or lens’s image stabilization software.
  • Third, shoot with shorter (e.g., wide-angle) lenses.
  • Fourth, photograph using burst mode.
  • Fifth, use your camera’s self-timer.

photography without tripod yellow flower

photography without tripod cosmos

If you follow these tips, your tripod will become far less important, and you’ll take fantastic handheld images.

Have any more tips for photographing without a tripod? Please share them in the comments below.

photography without tripod little blue heron

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How To Get Bitcoins Without Mining

25 May

Why am I talking about Bitcoin here? Because everyone is? Not exactly. For one, you can now exchange bitcoin into dollars and that can buy some nice photo gear. If only there was a way to get bitcoin without spending thousands of dollars building a rig that sounds like an airport runway in your basement and destroys your electric bill. Continue Reading

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Researchers use AI to brighten ultra-low light images without adding noise

15 May

Researchers with the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and Intel have developed a deep neural network that brightens ultra-low light images without adding noise and other artifacts. The network was trained using 5,094 raw short-exposure low-light and long-exposure image pairs—the end result is a system that automatically brightens images at a much higher quality than traditional processing options.

The deep learning system was detailed in a newly published study that points out the limitations of alternative “denoising, deblurring, and enhancement techniques” on what the team calls “extreme conditions,” such as low-light images that are too dark to discern without processing.

Using traditional methods to process these images often results in high levels of noise that isn’t present when using the machine learning technique:

The team used images captured with a Fujifilm X-T2 and Sony a7S II, and also demonstrated the system on photos taken with an iPhone X and Google Pixel 2 smartphone. High-resolution comparison images are available here, and a PDF of the full study can be found here.

This is the latest example of machine learning ‘AI’ being used to automatically enhance images—ideally speeding up post-processing tasks while reducing the user’s workload. Last year, for example, a system called Deep Image Prior was demonstrated using an image’s existing elements to intelligently repair damage, and Adobe and NVIDIA are both working on AI-powered Content Aware Fill.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How To Get Bitcoins Without Mining

16 Jan

Why am I talking about Bitcoin here? Because everyone is? Not exactly. For one, you can now exchange bitcoin into dollars and that can buy some nice photo gear. If only there was a way to get bitcoin without spending thousands of dollars building a rig that sounds like an airport runway in your basement and destroys your electric bill. Continue Reading

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Tether Tools reveals it used an image without permission, issues public statement and apology

23 Dec

Tether Tools CEO Josh Simons has preemptively apologized for the company’s use of an image without the permission of the photographer who took it. In a letter published on December 14, Simons explained that an image used as a placeholder in concept mockups for the company’s redesigned website accidentally went live on the final site.

Explaining the process that led to this image’s accidental use, Simmons wrote in his letter:

One concept used behind-the-scenes candid images of photographers using Tether Tools’ gear. Behind the Scene Instagram images, similar to what you would see here @tethertools were added For Placement Only (FPO) during the design phase, to show an example of the type of photos that could be rotating regularly on an embedded Instagram API feed. This API mock-up, which included a customer’s Instagram BTS photo, was placed near the footer of one page in the proposed layout.

Over the course of time, through various layouts and edits the design was approved but embedding the Instagram API on this page was overlooked by the web design team. At launch the new website had close to 1,400 pages and finalizing this element on this page was missed. The use of the image was accidental and simply an oversight. The photo was never used in any other way, not in advertising campaigns or print materials, nor to promote any specific product.

Simons says Tether Tools was alerted to the image’s presence by a third-party, and that the company has since removed the image and contacted the photographer. The photographer, who is said to be a Tether Tools customer, has been compensated for the image’s use and was given an apology for the mistake.

In a statement to Fstoppers, Tether Tools said, “Both parties are satisfied and most of all we are gratified by the nature in which everything was handled.”

Via: Fstoppers

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

31 Oct

Most photographers will tell you that a tripod is invaluable and is usually the favorite accessory that they carry with them. While a tripod remains an essential piece of equipment, especially for low light photography, it is also usually the one piece of camera equipment that draws the most amount of attention.

In some scenarios and places, you won’t be allowed to use a tripod so you have to find other ways of utilizing your camera to take the photo you want. Here are six tips to help you capture photos in low light without a tripod.

6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

#1 – Raise the ISO

The first option that most people will turn to is to raise the ISO setting in the camera. Principally, the ISO is the sensitivity of the camera’s sensor to light. The higher the ISO the more “sensitive” the sensor becomes to light which in turn means you can capture more detail in low light conditions. In simple terms, the darker your scene is, the higher you need your ISO. But before you start whacking your ISO up to 25,600, beware that raising the ISO also has a detrimental effect on the image.

The higher your ISO setting, the more noise you’ll see in your photo. Too much noise and your photo will begin to start looking soft. The key to being able to use ISO effectively is to balance it with other elements such as shutter speed and depth of field to be able to capture the shot you want.

Always aim to have your ISO as low as possible. Also, make sure you test your camera at different ISO settings before you use it for an actual photograph you intend to take.

Taken at ISO 4000. It was the only way that I was able to capture a photo in this dark tunnel.

#2 – Use Mirror Lock-Up and Live View Mode

Have you ever taken a photo with a tripod, with good depth of field, at a slow shutter speed only to see the final photo on your computer is slightly blurred? This is one question that has often baffled novice photographers but there is a simple solution.

When you press the button to take a photo, the mirror inside the camera flips up out of the way. This mechanical process can mean that there is a slight movement in the camera, which in turn causes a small shake, hence the blurred photo. To get around this problem, you can set your camera to Live View mode (when you get a live picture on the display of your camera) which essentially flips the mirror up permanently (until you switch off Live View mode) and means that when you take the photo you don’t get the movement the camera. Some cameras also allow you to “lock the mirror” without using the live view mode (so using your viewfinder).

This issue would be the same when photographing without a tripod in low light conditions. So in this scenario, set your camera to Live View mode/mirror lock-up to avoid that small, unwanted camera shake.

6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

#3 – Use High-Speed Burst Mode

One of the great innovations of modern DSLR cameras is how much faster you can now take photos in burst mode. Using a high-speed burst mode is a really good trick to capturing decent photos in low light. But this only works when your shutter speed is just below the threshold of you shooting handheld.

For example, if you can hold your camera steady enough to take a sharp photo at 1/60th, you may be able to get away with using high-speed burst mode and using 1/45th or even 1/30th of a second. This is because with high-speed burst mode you have less time in between photos for the camera to move and often you’ll find one or two photos sharp enough for use in the middle of the burst.

Just remember to use high-speed burst as some cameras also offer low-speed burst option and aim for a good number of photos. You’ll also be well advised to try out this trick a few times to find out what your threshold is before you use it in a real-life situation.

6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

#4 – Find a Ledge or Wall

Often your best bet for capturing photos in low light is to find a ledge or wall that you can rest your camera on. Not only does this mean you can have your settings at pretty much exactly what you would with a tripod, but you can also often find interesting camera angles which are different to traditional photos you’d see taken with a tripod.

One thing to be aware of is that you may need to raise your lens up slightly. Otherwise, you may see the ledge/wall in the foreground of your photo. You can use anything you can find or have with you to slightly tilt the lens upward.

6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

I found a small ledge in this old church that I was able to rest the camera on to take this photo.

#5 – Use Your Bag

Over time you’ll begin to pick up tricks and techniques that you will use in your photography. One of the most useful that I have found has been to simply use my backpack. Put it on the floor and put your camera on top and you have a quick tripod without all the attention that a tripod brings.

This trick has been really useful in buildings and places where tripods are not allowed like museums or galleries. You can put your bag on benches and even rest it on a branch of a tree (as I did once).

6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

#6 – Train Yourself

Like anything else photography is something that you can improve your skills. This is also true of actually being able to hold the camera steady. So start by practicing your stance and make sure that you are holding the camera as securely and comfortably as you can.

Work on your composure and try to teach yourself to relax when you are going to take the photo. By practicing over and over again you may find that you actually can hold the camera at slightly slower speeds than you were able to before.

6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod

Conclusion

There’s no question that if you want to capture the best possible photos at the best quality in low light conditions, then a tripod will give you the best results. But in situations when that might not be possible, using the tips and tricks above might help you capture the shots you need.

Anything else? What tricks do you use to capture photos in low light conditions without a tripod?

The post 6 Tips To Help You Shoot In Low Light Without a Tripod by Kav Dadfar appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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