Category: Photography

Learning to See, Read, and Interpret Light for Better Photography
The post Learning to See, Read, and Interpret Light for Better Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

In the game of photography, lighting conditions occasionally throw your camera a curveball. In the game of baseball, the pitcher and catcher must coordinate and communicate their actions precisely through a series of gestures or signs. By learning to read the signs that a scene tells you about the existing light, you will be able to capture the light exactly the way your eyes perceive it.

The catcher must know exactly what kind of pitch the pitcher is going to throw so he knows exactly where to position his mitt.

Interpret light for better photography

To learn to see, read, and interpret light, let’s first take a look at some typical lighting conditions that are best captured by certain photographic settings.

Golden lighting

When you take outdoor pictures (especially nature), try to schedule them during the golden hours, usually between 7-9 am and between 5-7 pm. This is when the lighting is at its richest intensity for photography. During morning and afternoon/evening hours, the light is warmer in color and more flattering to all colors of skin.

Even this faded wood fence took on a golden color during “golden hour.” f-4.5, 1/4000, ISO 1600, 35mm.

Conversely, try to avoid taking pictures of people when the Sun is directly overhead as the shadows it creates are very harsh and unflattering to facial features.

Mid-day sunlight

The light from direct sunlight is more intense than your camera’s image sensor can deal with.

Typically, your camera’s metering system caters to the brightest light in the scene. When this happens, the darkest parts of the image lose definition!

Despite the Sun providing ample light, the use of a fill flash illuminated the shadows caused by the noonday light. f-4.8, 1/500, ISO 200, 82mm.

Fill flash

Believe it or not, it is usually a good idea to use a flash during the brightest hours of the day. Simply interpret light and keep your subjects from displaying too much contrast.

Your flash won’t affect the lightest parts of the photograph, but it will shed some much-needed light in the darkest parts of the image. Unless you take preventative measures (using either a fill flash or a carefully positioned reflective surface), these “shadow” tones will print too dark!

Lighting and people

If you are outside, try to keep the Sun behind you and off to the side. This way, the light will illuminate their faces and create good definition and shading.

But watch out for your own shadow in the picture.

Outdoor pictures provide only a single light source. Be very careful about that big lights’ position. f-2.2, 1/1900, ISO 25, 29mm.

If you are inside during daylight hours and want to interpret light without a flash, set the camera’s white balance (WB) to Shade and brace yourself for a longer exposure.

If there is not enough available light for a good exposure, set the WB to Daylight and let the camera’s flash take care of the lighting.

Manual flash

If you must take a picture of people outside with the Sun in front of you instead of behind you, remember these two things:
1. Keep direct sunlight from entering the lens, and
2. Manually direct your camera to use the flash.
If you set your camera flash to fire “automatically,” it may misread the overall lighting and not fire the flash at all. Unless you are looking for a good silhouette, you won’t be pleased with the result.

The use of a flash inside requires you to pay close attention to distance. Standing too close to your subject (less than four feet) may put too much light on the subject’s face and wash out the skin color.

Alternatively, standing too far away (more than 25 feet), the flash could fail to light the skin tones correctly.

Skin is very picky about the light it likes. Light that is either too strong or too weak just doesn’t look natural.

Shooting indoors under mixed, existing light is best captured with the camera set to AWB (automatic white balance). This sets the camera to seek the most neutral color in the scene and to record balanced gray light. f.1.8, 1/35, ISO 320, 24mm

Light shaping

Your digital camera measures the brightest light, compares it with the darkest areas, and determines how to interpret the light and expose the picture based on an average of the two readings.

Always keep extremely bright light from entering the camera through the lens. And that includes camera flash lighting reflecting from shiny surfaces, like glass and mirrors.

Beware of specular light of any kind reflecting from any surface, as it influences these meter readings.

Cloudy and overcast lighting

Some of the very best lighting for color happens on cloudy and overcast days. Overcast days allow your camera to capture much more of the natural light and, therefore, provides a much more natural feel to your photos.

Softbox lighting softens harsh shadows even when used as a single light source in close proximity to the subject.

Softboxes

Professional photographers in the controlled setting of a photo studio use special lighting enclosures called “soft boxes” to limit the contrast created by their bright studio lights.

Direct lighting from studio flash units (called strobe lights) can be so strong and brilliant that it creates very harsh shadows.

To avoid these shadows, these lights are either enclosed in softbox tents or bounced off special photographic umbrellas to disperse the intense light.

Made from material similar to an umbrella, these enclosures are translucent and absolutely neutral white in color.

Nature’s softbox

An overcast day serves the same purpose outdoors as the tents and diffusers used in studios. The clouds soften and diffuse the direct Sun’s harsh light.

On an overcast day, the light is so evenly diffused that you can position your subject in almost any direction.

Since the clouds tend to make the scene color slightly bluish, your camera’s Overcast Mode setting interprets light with a slightly warm tone that neutralizes the bluish cast.

Cloud cover softens the harsh lighting of direct sunlight and allows the full tonality and saturation to show without either plugged shadows or blown-out highlights. f-4.5, 1/250, ISO 200, 105mm.

The three major outdoor lighting modes are:
1. Daylight,
2. Shade, and
3. Overcast (or Cloudy).
Daylight WB allows the natural coloring of the existing light to expose the shot.

Shade provides a slightly yellow cast to the scene.

Overcast WB applies an even more intense yellow cast.

All three WB settings attempt to record whites, grays, and blacks in the scene as completely neutral in color.

If you want to capture the natural lighting mood of any daylight color temperature, leave the WB setting on Daylight.

Low-key vs. high-key lighting

Photographs generally get divided into three groups: full range, high key, and low key.

Full range photos are the most common since they display a full range of tones from dark to light.

High-key photos contain more light tones than dark tones, while low-key photographs display a near absence of light tones.

High-key images contain more highlights than mid-tones and shadows, while low-key images contain more shadow tones than mid-tones and highlights. The most important challenge with either type of image is to maintain the distinction of detail in each.

Generally speaking, to properly interpret the light and record low-key pictures, set the camera’s Exposure Value (or EV) compensation to a minus setting.

Alternatively, to compensate for the lighting of high-key pictures, set this EV compensation to a plus setting. These adjustments will override the camera meter’s intent to expose all subjects as middle tones.

With shooting either high or low-key lighting, great care must be taken to preserve the minor presence of highlight tones in low-key scenes and the minimal shadow detail in high-key situations.

But as a general rule, the absolute extremes of pure black and pure white should be avoided unless the drama of the scene requires that level of contrast.

The post Learning to See, Read, and Interpret Light for Better Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

Digital Photography School
February 26, 2020
Laowa and Yongnuo to Support Micro Four Thirds Standard

The post Laowa and Yongnuo to Support Micro Four Thirds Standard appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

The Micro Four Thirds standard will see official support from three additional companies.

Last Thursday, Panasonic and Olympus declared that several manufacturers would be joining them in the production of Micro Four Thirds equipment, including Yongnuo and Venus Optics.

You may be familiar with Yongnuo already; in addition to products such as their popular budget flashes (e.g., the YN560 IV) Yongnuo is working on a mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera, one that sports Android software and features a Canon EF compatible lens mount.

Venus Optics is another company that already produces Micro Four Thirds products, though under the brand name Laowa. You can grab several Laowa MFT lenses, including a budget 17mm f/1.8 prime.

But the announcement from Olympus and Panasonic suggests that we should see a number of additional Micro Four Thirds products coming from both Yongnuo and Venus Optics, potentially bolstering both the MFT lens and camera lineup.

The Micro Four Thirds standard was first unveiled in 2008 when Olympus and Panasonic jointly declared their interest in working “toward commercial production of significantly lighter and more compact interchangeable lens type digital camera systems.”

Since then, we’ve seen the steady production of Micro Four Thirds bodies and lenses from Olympus and Panasonic, including the well-regarded Olympus OM-D series, as well as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G line. Various other manufacturers have also engaged in MFT production, though in recent years the Micro Four Thirds system has been overshadowed by the rise of ultra-portable smartphone cameras, as well as compact APS-C and full-frame mirrorless bodies.

That said, smartphone manufacturers still have a lot of work to do if they’re ever going to match the quality of an MFT camera. And while mirrorless producers do offer MFT-sized cameras, their lenses struggle to compete with the small sizes and weights of MFT offerings. That’s where the Micro Four Thirds system shines; it includes high-quality camera-lens setups that are more compact than anything offered by the competition.

And given this announcement from Olympus and Panasonic, it’s clear that the Micro Four Thirds standard is alive and well, at least for now.

How do you feel about the expansion of the Micro Four Thirds lineup? Would you consider using a Yongnuo or Laowa camera/lens? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Laowa and Yongnuo to Support Micro Four Thirds Standard appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School

February 25, 2020
Top Ten Tools for Quality Commercial Beverage Photography

The post Top Ten Tools for Quality Commercial Beverage Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

Beverage photography is a challenging and exciting niche in photography, often shot by photographers that specialize in food photography. The reflective nature of glassware makes it difficult to shoot. Moreover, photographing cocktails to look cold and icy, means having a few tricks up your sleeve.

Having the right tools in your toolbox can go a long way in helping you get the look that you want. Items like a cocktail shaker, stir stick, and brushes are some basic items that you need. Read on for suggestions on the items that commercial food shooters have in their beverage photography arsenal.

The top ten tools for commercial beverage photography

1. Razor blades

Commercial beverage photography involves shooting a lot of liquor bottles. This means you have to take off the back label. When you light bottles, you light them from behind. The back label will cast a big black shadow that will ruin the image. To remove the labels you need a good razor blade.

Gently scrape the label off using the razor blade in a downward motion to remove it. If this doesn’t work, you’ll need to soak the label by lying the bottle in a pan of warm water, shallow enough to not get the front label wet. The label should come off a lot more easily after five or ten minutes of soaking.

Keep a couple of razor blades in your kit and keep them clean.

2. Goof off

Goof Off is a solvent that is able to dissolve tough adhesives quickly.

Once you have removed your label, most likely there will be some glue left behind on the bottle. You need to get every last trace of it off and make sure the bottle is as pristine as possible. Any marks will show on the image and can be a nightmare to retouch.

The heavy-duty remover in the spray bottle should do the trick. Good Off is safe for a variety of surfaces and is an important item in your beverage photography kit.

3. Glassware

The single most important item you can have in your beverage photography toolkit is good quality glassware. If you’re going to be doing a lot of beverage photography, this is a worthy area to invest in.

The quality of glassware easily becomes apparent when it’s shot, particularly with stemmed glassware. If you gently rotate the glass, you’ll find that the cheap stuff will not sit perfectly even. This will show in the way the liquid sits in the glass.

Remember that in beverage photography, your cocktail or drink is the “hero,” the focus of your shot, so it has to look heroic.

Get a variety of good glasses for different types of drinks. As long as you don’t break them, they will last you many, many years.

4. Fake ice cubes and shards

Another essential item for commercial beverage photography is fake ice cubes and shards. Real ice looks more organic and works well for editorial photography. However, in high-level commercial photography, where consistency is often required, fake ice is necessary.

As with glassware, any old plastic ice cubes won’t do. Fake ice used in high-end commercial photography needs to be high quality and is very expensive.

The most popular supplier of high-quality, fake ice cubes and shards in the U.S. is Trengrove Studios in New York. But regardless of where you live, fake ice can also be bought online by various suppliers.

Be sure to get acrylic or plexiglass fake ice and stay away from plastic. Cheap fake ice can be useful as filler ice, perhaps blurred out in the background or in another glass that isn’t the main subject.

Fake ice and ice shards can cost $ 60 to $ 300 apiece, so start with one or two cubes and slowly add to your collection over time.

5. Ice powder and crystals

Ice powder and crystals are most commonly used on the outside of beer bottles and glasses to give a cool and frosty look.

They are used less for cocktails but are great to make slushy drinks like margaritas. Real ice slush is a nightmare to work with because it melts so fast, but crystal ice and powder allows you to shoot all day.

6. Glycerine

Glycerine is an inexpensive item that you can find in most drug stores in the beauty section. It is used extensively in food and beverage photography. Mixed with water, you can spray it on produce items to create a misted look with evaporating.

Similarly, in beverage photography, it’s used to add condensation to a glass that stays put.

7. Atomizers

Buy a few atomizer bottles in different sizes. This will be for your glycerine and water mixtures.

Different bottles will offer a different amount of water droplets, so it’s good to have a variety on hand to choose from, depending on what kind of drink you’re shooting.

You can often buy these at the drug store as well. For example, you can buy empty atomizers meant for travel use. You can also choose from a wide variety on Amazon.

8. Cotton gloves

You can purchase cotton gloves at the drug store and they should be worn whenever you are handling any glassware that will appear in the shot. The smallest fingerprint will show up and it will be impossible to retouch well in Photoshop.

Clean the glass with a good glass cleaner and then handle it with gloves

9. Tweezers

Tweezers are an indispensable item in beverage photography. You can use them for moving very small pieces of garnish like herbs or small ice shards.

When you shoot beverage photography, every small detail is very important, so having tweezers on hand can help you make small adjustments. If you can find some with a long handle, that would be extra helpful.

10. Canned air

Canned air or air duster is an item that can be found in hardware stores and may seem like a strange item to have in your beverage photography toolkit. It’s used to blow any dust off your surfaces and set.

Remember, with commercial beverage photography, a pristine, polished image is super important so you don’t want any dust or blemishes on your subject or set. Of course, you can retouch these out to a certain extent, by why spend the time if you don’t need to. Canned air will help you with that.

Conclusion

Commercial beverage photography can be a very challenging genre to shoot. However, having the right tools on hand can make your job much easier and go a long way in helping you get that hero shot.

These are my top ten suggestions for your toolkit, but there are other items that can be useful. Chime in in the comments below if you have any suggestions.

The post Top Ten Tools for Quality Commercial Beverage Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

Digital Photography School

February 24, 2020
Luminar vs Lightroom: Three Reasons Luminar is Better (and Two Reasons It’s Not)

The post Luminar vs Lightroom: Three Reasons Luminar is Better (and Two Reasons It’s Not) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Are you struggling to decide whether you should be working in Luminar vs Lightroom? Do you want to know how these two post-processing powerhouses match up?

You’ve come to the right place.

Because this article will give you three ways Luminar excels over Lightroom, followed by two areas where Lightroom dominates.

And it’ll help you decide which option is best for your needs.

Let’s dive right in, starting with the biggest reason to choose Luminar:

1. Luminar offers one-click features for quick edits

When dealing with the question of Luminar vs Lightroom, I always recommend you take a look at the biggest feature Luminar offers:

One-click editing.

You see, Luminar offers a modern approach to editing, where you tap a few buttons and the software does most of the editing for you. This is ideal for photographers who don’t feel comfortable doing advanced edits in a program like Lightroom, or who simply don’t have time to carefully edit every photo.

These one-click options include the Orton Effect (which gives your photos a soft glow), to the Sunrays tool (which adds surprisingly realistic sun rays to your photos), to the Fog tool (which adds, well, fog).

Even more impressive, some of Luminar’s best editing features are powered by artificial intelligence.

For instance, Luminar’s AI Enhance tool offers an AI Accent slider that often looks quite good; it makes your photo pop with some carefully applied color and tonal adjustments, among others.

And the Luminar AI Sky Replacement is nothing short of amazing. With a couple of clicks, you can take a boring sky and turn it into something eye-catching (an edit that could previously only be pulled off by a Photoshop expert).

So if quick editing is your thing, then Luminar is a great choice.

2. Luminar offers useful layer-based editing

If you’ve ever used Photoshop, then you’ll know that one of its most powerful features is layer-based edits.

Because with layers, you can stack edits on top of one another, selectively delete edits, mask out certain edits, and more.

And while Lightroom doesn’t offer layer-based editing…

…Luminar does.

In Luminar, you can make adjustments on different layers. Then you can selectively apply these adjustments by masking out different areas of the layer, ensuring that only part of the photo is enhanced by a slider or corrected by a tool.

You can also use Luminar’s Luminosity Mask tool to selectively adjust areas of your photos based on their underlying brightness.

Now, Lightroom does offer some similar features, though they don’t technically use layers. Features such as the Adjustment Brush.

But these aren’t quite as useful as true layer-based editing, not least because you can only apply some edits via the Adjustment Brush, whereas Luminar allows for almost every slider to be separated into a different layer and masked out (if you so choose).

Personally, I’m a huge fan of layer-based editing, and I love that Skylum included it in their software.

On the other hand, layer-based editing can be a bit complex for newcomers. Fortunately, as discussed in the section above, Luminar also has a handle on basic editing tools.

So you have a choice:

Do more complex, layer-based editing.

Or work with the one-click edits.

(Or both!)

Very cool.

3. The Luminar editing interface is incredibly easy to work with

Here’s the third big area where Luminar dominates Lightroom in the Luminar vs Lightroom question:

The Luminar interface is streamlined, simple, and ridiculously easy to use.

Open up Luminar, and you can immediately tell that it’s great for beginners. There’s a toolbar at the top that lets you access basic options, no matter the module you’re in, and the tool panels on the right are simple and uncluttered.

To do some quick editing, all you have to do is tap the Looks icon at the top, and a handy image carousel pops up:

Lightroom, on the other hand, is far less sleek, and a little bit messy.

Take a look at the Lightroom interface:

Sure, it’s workable, but it’s not exactly simple, and it can feel overwhelming at times. There’s a huge number of editing panels, quite a few modules, and many sliders.

So while a professional probably wouldn’t balk at the Lightroom display, a beginner may feel far too out of their depth.

Which is why Luminar is worth a look.

4. Lightroom offers far superior image organization options

Now it’s time to look at areas where Lightroom excels over Luminar, starting with Lightroom’s digital asset management capabilities.

You see, Lightroom is carefully designed to catalog, group, and label your photos. It has ultra-useful collection options and a huge number of ways to filter your images (in case you’re after an elusive image buried somewhere deep in your catalog).

I love Lightroom’s organization features, and I still use my Lightroom catalogs to keep track of all my images, even when I’m doing editing in Luminar.

You see, Luminar’s photo organization options are far less powerful compared to Lightroom’s. Luminar does offer a Library feature, which gives you the option to group your photos into Albums.

But Albums don’t offer much in the way of functionality; for instance, you can’t group one album under another, nor can you sort them into a meaningful hierarchy.

Hence, when it comes to Luminar vs Lightroom in photo organization capabilities, Lightroom is the winner. Hands down.

Lightroom features a set of powerful, complex tools for precise editing

One other gripe that I have with Luminar compared to Lightroom:

It’s just not as precise.

Even though Lightroom has a complex interface, there’s a lot of options within that interface. Whereas Luminar’s editing tools are often a bit too simple.

For instance, look at Lightroom’s Split Toning panel:

You can drag around a point on the color display, and your photo will respond.

Then compare this to Luminar’s Split Toning tool, where you’re stuck dragging sliders in a far less helpful way:

The same is true of Lightroom’s HSL/Color editing panel. You have basic HSL options, which allow you to modify colors according to hue:

But then you also have a more targeted color adjustment tool, where you can click and drag to edit particular colors of your photos.

This is in contrast to Luminar’s Color tool, where you have the basic HSL options, and that’s all:

Now, for a beginner, this may not be a big deal. You may not be interested in more complex editing tools.

But more experienced editors want this sort of thing, and so you should be aware that you can’t find it in Luminar.

Luminar vs Lightroom: Conclusion

Lightroom and Luminar are both excellent for post-processing, just in different ways.

Luminar offers fantastic one-click editing, along with powerful AI options.

Whereas Lightroom features superior image organizational features and complex editing tools.

So which is better, Luminar vs Lightroom?

In the end, the choice is yours!

The post Luminar vs Lightroom: Three Reasons Luminar is Better (and Two Reasons It’s Not) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School

February 24, 2020
Moving to Manual Mode: Which Setting Should You Adjust First?

The post Moving to Manual Mode: Which Setting Should You Adjust First? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Moving to manual mode is often considered too difficult by many beginner photographers. In reality, learning manual mode is not so hard to do. Sure, it’s not for everyone. Many photographers are content to let their camera sort out the exposure settings.

One of the most common questions I get asked by people I am teaching to use manual mode is “which setting should I adjust first?” Unfortunately, there is no set answer to this question. It depends on what you are photographing.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Moving to manual mode

Shifting your mindset is the most important aspect of moving to manual mode. Are you comfortable using any of the auto or semi-auto exposure modes on your camera? Then you need to make some changes to the way you think.

First, it rarely matters if it takes you a little longer to set your camera. Very few memorable photos are taken as snaps on the spur of the moment. Slow down.

Understand the basics of how you can set the exposure manually, then practice. Once you commit to moving to manual mode, you will find it’s not difficult to manage.

There are only three settings you need to work with to manually control your exposure – shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. These regulate the exposure.

The exposure meter, also known as the light meter, guides your decision making. With many cameras, you can also use the rear monitor to gauge your exposure. With mirrorless cameras, you can typically see the effect of adjustments you make to exposure in the viewfinder.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Balancing these three settings will result in a well-exposed subject. Each setting can also affect your photos in different ways. These are important to understand to be in control of how you want your photos to look.

When you are first moving to manual mode, you may not know where to start in setting your exposure. There are many variations on how to set your camera.

Each photographer may use a different method. I base my choices on what I am photographing.

Here are the answers I give my workshop participants about which setting to change first.

When to adjust your shutter speed first

Photographing a moving subject means you need to consider your shutter speed first. If your shutter speed is too slow, your moving subject may appear blurred.

At times you will want this effect. Often you will want your subject to be sharp, without any motion blur or camera shake fuzziness.

Shutter speed was 1/2 a second. My model stood very still © Kevin Landwer-Johan

You need to consider how fast your subject is moving to know an appropriate shutter speed to use. The faster the movement, the faster the shutter speed you’ll need to use to freeze the action.

Making use of motion blur in your photos also requires you to think about how fast your subject is moving. If you set your shutter speed too slow, you’ll see too much blur, and your subject may not be recognizable.

Alternatively, if your shutter speed is a bit too fast, your subject may only blur a little. This often looks like a mistake has been made.

To capture a person walking and have them look sharp, you’ll need to use a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second or faster. If you want them to blur a little and still be recognizable, you’ll need to set your shutter speed at around 1/10 of a second or a little slower.

Low light may mean your shutter speed needs to be slow. It’s important not to choose a speed that’s so slow you’ll get blurring from camera shake. This happens when you are hand-holding your camera and move it slightly during the exposure. I’ll address this more in the section about ISO setting.

Once you have adjusted your shutter speed, you will then need to set your aperture and ISO. This is what your exposure meter, monitor, or viewfinder can guide you to do.

I used a shutter speed of 1/1250th of a second to ‘freeze’ the flying water © Kevin Landwer-Johan

When to adjust your aperture setting first

Aperture, among other things, allows you to control the depth of field in your photographs. This is the amount of your photo that is sufficiently sharp. The wider aperture you choose (lower f/stop number), the less you’ll have in focus in your picture.

Choosing to adjust the aperture first is a decision based on how much of your composition you want in focus.

At times, you might want to render as much of your composition in focus as possible. This is a common choice when photographing landscapes.

Setting your aperture to a higher f/stop number (i.e., f/8-f/22) will give you more depth of field. Understanding hyperfocal distance will help you make better choices about getting a deep depth of field.

Isolating your subject by blurring the background requires you use a lower f/stop number (i.e., f/1.2 to f4). Doing so means more light will enter your lens. You’ll need to adjust your shutter speed and/or ISO to make sure your subject is well exposed.

Manipulating the aperture setting first is something I often do when I have a static subject. This is because the shutter speed I use is not so significant as it is when my subject is moving.

I used an aperture of f/2 on an 85mm lens to control the depth of field. © Kevin Landwer-Johan

When to adjust your ISO setting first

I treat my ISO setting as the foundation of my exposure. I only alter it when I need to. Unlike shutter speed and aperture settings, ISO has no creative influence. However, it does have an effect on the technical quality of your images.

Changing your ISO first is a good idea when you have moved from one location to another, and the light is significantly different. If you’re outside photographing in the bright sun and move inside, you will most likely need to adjust your ISO. Likewise, if you’re photographing in a dark place, and then want to take photos somewhere that’s well illuminated, you may need to change your ISO.

When you are having to set a slow shutter speed to get a good exposure, you need to consider changing your ISO setting. This is more vital when you are hand-holding your camera, because of the risk of camera shake. When your shutter speed is slow, and your aperture is wide open, increasing your ISO will allow you to also increase your shutter speed.

My rule of thumb is to keep the ISO setting as low as possible. This will ensure the best technical quality. As camera sensors have improved over the years, quality problems at high ISO settings have diminished. I still find keeping my ISO low is a good way of managing my settings.

I used an ISO setting of 3200 © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Manual mode balancing act

Obtaining a well-exposed subject using manual mode is not very difficult. It’s a matter of balancing your shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings. The key to managing to do this well is practice.

Moving to manual mode may seem like a big step, especially if you’ve been comfortable letting your camera control the exposure. Once you do make the decision to take control of your camera you will need to stick with it.

Switch back to an auto mode only when you need to. Otherwise, you will never learn how to take charge of your manual exposure settings properly.

The post Moving to Manual Mode: Which Setting Should You Adjust First? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Digital Photography School

February 23, 2020
Vital Tips to Capture Fast-Action Photos
The post Vital Tips to Capture Fast-Action Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Whether you’re photographing cars racing down the track, athletes running across a field, or your kids playing in the yard, it can seem impossible to get tack-sharp photos of fast action. If you have ever struggled to capture fast-action photos, you’re not alone. Lots of people deal with the same issue!

Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as it seems. With a few simple tweaks to your photography process, you can get great action photos in no time at all.

Nikon D750, 112mm, f/4, 1/350 second, ISO 500

A major element of action photography involves knowing where to position yourself and what to look for.

In addition to that, there are some critical camera functions you need to understand and know how to control if you want to get the kinds of shots you see in sports magazines. Mastering a few shooting techniques will help you get the kind of fast-action photos you’ve always wanted.

Taking a picture is pretty simple. You press the shutter button, your camera initiates autofocus, and then it takes the picture. A quick beep-beep might sound once focus is acquired, or you might see a dot or square light up in the viewfinder of your camera. That works great for still subjects, but if you want to capture fast-action photos, you’re going to need to adjust your settings.

Nikon D750, 140mm, f/2.8, 1/1500 second, ISO 100

Use the right autofocus mode

Understanding how to use autofocus to capture fast-action photos is one of the first and most important steps you can take.

Autofocus first came to prominence in 1985 on the Minolta Maxxum 7000 camera. Ever since then, it has continued to evolve. Now, modern cameras have a host of ways to configure and control this basic feature.

Every camera has a variety of autofocus modes. They go by different names depending on the manufacturer, but, in general, you can expect the following on any given camera.
- Focus-and-lock: Once focus is acquired, it will not change until you take a picture or re-focus.
- Continuous focus: Your camera will constantly adjust focus as your subject moves.
- Manual. Not recommended for most fast action. It can be good if you know exactly where your subject will be at a specific point in time, but in general, it’s best to use autofocus.
Your camera will also have a few settings for how it computes autofocus. Names will vary but they will be something like the following.
- Full auto: Your camera decides what to focus on without any input from you.
- Expanded AF or Group: You use multiple focus points to keep the subject in focus instead of just a single dot or square.
- Tracking: You set a focus point and your camera will maintain focus continuously until you take a picture. You will see the focus point move around as your camera adjusts to keep the subject in focus.
Nikon D7100, 200mm, f/3.3, 1/1500 second, ISO 100

To capture fast-action photos, you will need to use one of the final two modes and make sure you set your camera to continuous autofocus. There is so much unpredictability with action shots that you want to use all the smarts and capabilities of your camera to help you out.

Tracking modes are particularly useful on newer cameras since the algorithms used to lock on subjects and track them are very advanced.

If your camera has a tracking option, I recommend using that, but Expanded or Group modes work well too. They give you a little more freedom and wiggle room compared to relying on one single autofocus point.

Back Button Focus

Back button focus is more of a technique than a camera setting. While it’s going to feel really weird at first, it will make your life a lot easier when capturing action photos.

Instead of using the shutter button to focus your camera, you use a button on the back of your camera.

Back button focus might seem counterintuitive since it feels like autofocus would go hand-in-hand with clicking the shutter button. There are some good reasons to use back button focus, though, especially when it comes to capturing fast-action photos.

When you set your camera to continuous autofocus and use the shutter button to engage autofocus, it can be difficult to keep the button half-pressed while following your subject around. Back button focus lets you track your subject continuously with a firm press of your thumb.

Then whenever the decisive moment hits, you press the shutter button to get the perfect shot. Or you can start snapping pictures well before the moment arrives and continuing to maintain focus with your thumb.

Nikon D7100, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/1500 second, ISO 100

Almost every camera can do back button focus, but you will need to change a few menu settings to enable it. Do an online search for your exact camera along with the words “back button focus,” and you should find the information you need.

It took me about a week to train my mind to use back button focus, but now I use it all the time, even on casual everyday photos.

It works so well once you get used to it!

Embrace Auto-ISO

When shooting action photos, the most important thing is to get images that are tack sharp. A well-composed shot won’t mean anything if your subject is blurry (unless, of course, you are trying to capture motion blur), so that means you need to use a fast shutter. And that often means embracing higher ISO values, especially when shooting indoors where there isn’t nearly as much light as outside.

Fortunately, Auto-ISO can take the guesswork out of your action shots.

You can set a minimum shutter speed and a maximum ISO value and let your camera take care of the rest. Most modern cameras look great up to ISO 6400, and many can go well beyond that while still maintaining enough color and detail to be usable.

Nikon D750, 80mm, f/4, 1/500 second, ISO 2000. A fast shutter speed might be overkill for people just walking, but I wanted to be absolutely sure they were tack sharp. Auto-ISO chose a value of 2000 which was perfectly acceptable.

My Auto-ISO settings for action are minimum shutter speed of 1/500 second (or 1/1000 second if my subjects are moving really fast) and maximum ISO value of 6400. You will need to experiment to find out what your comfort level is and what settings you prefer.

Shoot in Aperture Priority

This tip piggybacks on the last one, though just like back button focus, it might seem counterintuitive.

If you need a fast shutter speed to capture fast-action photos, why not shoot in Shutter Priority? Because Aperture Priority and Auto-ISO let you get the best of both worlds.

Using this technique, you can worry a lot less about getting a properly exposed shutter, free of motion blur. That way, you can concentrate on composing your shot while your camera does the rest.

Nikon D750, 35mm, f/4, 1/1000 second, ISO 100

When you shoot in Aperture Priority with Auto-ISO, you can set the aperture that gives you the right depth of field. That means you don’t have to think about other elements of exposure because your camera is going to stay within the shutter and ISO parameters you set.

If you know you are in a low-light situation, you can increase the aperture size or dial in a higher ISO value for Auto-ISO.

I shoot in Aperture Priority so I can control the depth of field while making sure I always get a tack-sharp photo. That’s because I know my shutter speed will never go below 1/500 second.

If you have never tried this when shooting action photos, you might be surprised at how well it works!

Nikon D750, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 second, ISO 100. I used a large aperture to make the kids in the background blurry and focus the viewer on the child in the middle. My camera figured out the ISO and shutter speed based on my Auto-ISO parameters.

Adjust your viewpoint

When shooting any style of photos, you need to make sure you compose the scene in your camera from the proper point of view. That might mean kneeling, sitting, or even lying on the ground.

Sometimes you might find yourself sitting on top of a ladder or in the bed of a truck to get a higher vantage point. The goal, especially with action shots, is to take your pictures in such a way that they are dynamic, interesting, and help put your viewers in the middle of the scene.

Nikon D7100, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/350 second, ISO 100. I shot this so it looks like the disc is coming right towards the viewer.

When shooting fast-action photos, you can’t always control your surroundings, and in that case, you might need to move around.

There might be physical barriers like guardrails, fences, or other people in your way. One solution is to sit there and settle for whatever happens. However, a good action shooter will move around until they find the vantage point that works best for the shot. (Within reason, of course. Be polite about it, and certainly don’t do anything illegal!)

Nikon D750, 105mm, f/4, 1/1000 second, ISO 200. I should have scooted over to get that table out of the foreground. A simple adjustment on my part would have made for a better image.

One factor you can’t control when taking fast-action photos outdoors is light and weather.

It might be cloudy or sunny, windy or calm, rainy or clear, and there’s nothing you can do to change it.

What you can do is adjust your viewpoint accordingly to get the best shots. Position yourself such that your subjects aren’t backlit, and make sure to have protective gear for your camera if the weather is bad.

Take a lot of photos!

What’s the best-kept secret for capturing fast-action photos? Take a ton of pictures!

When you see a perfectly-composed shot of your favorite athlete on the cover of a magazine, there are a thousand similar images sitting unused on a hard drive that weren’t good enough.

If you want one great photo, you need to be willing to take a lot of mediocre photos and sort through to find the keepers.

All cameras can shoot in high-speed bursts. This is critical for action photos since you never know which picture will be just the right one.

Often the only limitation is the size of your camera’s internal buffer or the rate at which your camera transfers images can to a memory card.

Nikon D500, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/1500 second, ISO 100. The 10fps burst rate on my camera made this image possible. I shot about 30 images but this was the best one.

You will need to check your camera manual or do some online searching to find out how to enable burst mode on your camera. Just don’t think you can take a few pictures and get the perfect shot.

Professional action photographers will take thousands of pictures of a single game or event, and only a handful will be published.

The same holds true for you: if you want to get great action photos, you need to take a lot of photos.

What are some of your tips and techniques to capture fast-action photos?

Are there things that have worked for you that you would like to share with others?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. And if you have some examples of action shots you would like to share, make sure to include them too!

The post Vital Tips to Capture Fast-Action Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
February 23, 2020
Weekly Photography Challenge – Orange

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Orange appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week’s photography challenge topic is the color ORANGE!

Photo by dPS writer, Jeremy Flint © Jeremy Flint

Photo by dPS writer, Megan Kennedy © Megan Kennedy

This is a fun challenge. You can capture the color orange in so many ways. You can use macro, flowers and autumn leaves, landscapes (think orange sunrises or sunsets, or wildflowers), cityscapes, minimalist photography, abstracts or people wearing orange clothing. The orange can be a major part of the composition or be more subtle. There are so many options!

So, check out these pics to give you some ideas, have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Photo by dPS writer, Jaymes Dempsey © Jaymes Dempsey

Photo by dPS guest writer, Joey J © Joey J

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.

Tips for Shooting the color ORANGE

Mastering Color Series – The Psychology and Evolution of the Color ORANGE and its Use in Photography

How to Capture the Colors of Autumn in Your Photography

How to Use Color in Your Photography to Give Your Photos the Wow Factor

How to Use Vibrant Colors in Photography with Great Success

How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens

Create Amazing Sunrise Photos with these Easy Lightroom Editing Tips

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSorange to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Orange appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

February 22, 2020
7 Tips for Using a Tripod in Landscape and Travel Photography
The post 7 Tips for Using a Tripod in Landscape and Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video from Julian Elliott Photography, he gives you 7 tips for using a tripod in landscape and travel photography.

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You may want to know why you need a tripod at all when you do landscape and travel photography? There are times when you will want to use slower shutter speeds. For example, when doing long exposures to get silky smooth waters, shooting in low light situations, or for bracketing exposures.

So watch Julian’s video and find out some invaluable tips on how to get the most out of your tripod, how to keep it in good condition, and how to use it.

You may also like:
- How to Choose the Right Tripod for Landscape Photography
- Review: 2 K&F Concept Carbon Tripods Put to the Test
- 6 Advantages of Using a Tripod in Your Photography
- 10 Dos and Don’ts for Mastering Your Tripod
- Peak Design Travel Tripod Review
- 7 Reasons Why a Tripod is Must for Outdoor Photographers
- K&F Concept TC2335 Carbon Fiber Tripod Review
The post 7 Tips for Using a Tripod in Landscape and Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School
February 22, 2020
DIY: How to Create a Coffee-Stained Texture for Aging Images in Photoshop
The post DIY: How to Create a Coffee-Stained Texture for Aging Images in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

As a kid, I remember coffee-staining scrap paper to create ancient maps that marked out treasure in the backyard. Nowadays, I’ve discovered that the same process can be great for photography projects too. With help from Photoshop, experimenting with textural layers is a great way to introduce an aged look to your images. But sometimes it can be hard to get a hold of quality textures on the internet. That’s where a bit of DIY comes in. By making your own coffee-stained texture, you can create seemingly aged canvases, which can then be applied to your images.

What you’ll need:
- 1/4 cup of instant coffee granules
- 1 teaspoon
- a damp cloth, sponge or paper towel
- a few pieces of white paper (I use plain old sheets of A4 copy paper. While copy paper does pucker when water is introduced to it, I think it adds to the overall aged effect. Plus, it’s less expensive than good art paper!)
How to coffee-stain paper
1. First, lay out your sheets of paper on a wipeable surface. I prefer to work on the kitchen bench.
2. Sprinkle some instant coffee on your sheets of paper – about a teaspoon per sheet.
3. With a damp cloth, sponge or paper towel, begin to press the instant coffee granules into the paper. As the coffee moistens, you can start to spread the granules around the paper with broader strokes. The more varied the strokes, the rougher the effect will be.
4. You can add more coffee and a little water if you need it. The more coffee you add, the darker the coffee-stained paper will turn out. You can even leave some partially-dissolved coffee granules on the page.
5. Once you coat the paper, place the sheets somewhere safe and leave them to dry for a few hours.
6. Sometimes the drying process can lighten the stained effect somewhat. If this happens, add more coffee and water to darken the paper further.
Here’s my result:

How to apply coffee-stained textures in Photoshop

Once your coffee-stained paper is dry, scan or photograph the page/s and save the files somewhere handy on your computer.

Next, open an image in Photoshop. This will be the image we’ll apply the coffee-stained texture to. I went with the image below:

1/100 of a second f/4.5 ISO 100

With your chosen image open, add a Black & White Adjustment Layer by clicking the Black & White icon in the Adjustments panel (the names of the icons appear when you rest your mouse on them).

If you can’t see the Adjustments panel, select Window from the top toolbar and then click on Adjustments. The Black & White Adjustment Layer will non-destructively convert your image to black and white.

Toggle the Black & White Adjustment Layer settings until you are satisfied with your image.

Next, with the Black & White Adjustment Layer selected in the Layers panel, click File from the top toolbar. Then select Place… and locate and select the coffee-stained image file.

The coffee-stained texture layer will be imported over your original image.

If needed, adjust the dimensions of the coffee-stained image by dragging its corners to completely cover the entirety of the canvas.

With the coffee-stained texture selected in the Layers panel, click on the Blending Modes drop-down menu located within the layers panel. Set the Blending Mode to either Overlay or Soft Light. Overlay is a bit harsher in contrast than Soft Light, so test out both options before settling on one.

Next, select the coffee-stained texture layer and click on the Curves icon in the Adjustment Layers panel. Adjust the Curves settings until you are happy with the overall contrast of your image.

At this point, you can refine the Black & White Adjustment Layer further or even add additional coffee-stained layers to increase the intensity of the aged effect.

This is my finished result…

Here are two more images I’ve attempted to age a little with the same method…

What do you think? Up for a cuppa? If you’ve given the coffee-stained texture method a try, be sure to share your results in the comments!

The post DIY: How to Create a Coffee-Stained Texture for Aging Images in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Digital Photography School
February 21, 2020
Our Two Tamron Contest Winners Announced

The post Our Two Tamron Contest Winners Announced appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

The Winners of the Tamron 100-400mm (model A035) in winner’s choice of Canon or Nikon mount, and a Tamron SP 35mm (model F012) in winner’s choice of Canon or Nikon mount are…

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who entered our recent contest from our friends at Tamron.

Yet again, the response was AMAZING with thousands of shares and over 500 entries! But now…onto the winners! Drum roll please, and the winners are:

Grand Prize

Tamron 100-400mm Di VC USD

The grand prize winner is:

Laurel H.

Tamron 100-400mm Di VC USD Ultra Telephoto Zoom Lens – Value $ 799.

Winner’s choice of Canon or Nikon mount.

Second Prize

Tamron SP 35mm F/1.8 Di VC USD

Second Prize Winner is:

Mitzi H.

Tamron SP 35mm F/1.8 Di VC USD SP Series 35mm lens produces stunning high-resolution quality across a wide range of focusing distances – Value $ 599. Winner’s choice of Canon or Nikon mount.

We were all thrilled with the entries! You tugged at our heartstrings, made us laugh, and made us smile. But most importantly, you made us keep wanting to do more of what we are doing – providing you quality information and guidance to become a better photographer.

We were so pleased to see that you came from every part of the world – young adults to grandparents, and everyone in between. Thank you all for your entries!

Winner’s entries

Here are the posts from the winners of the Tamron 100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD, and Tamron SP 35mm F/1.8 Di VC USD, respectively.

Laurel

Wow! What a great lens! I would love to win a new lens like this. Over the past ten years, as my skills have greatly improved, I have upgraded my DSLR three times. I need to replace my aging 50-500 telezoom with a faster, more responsive AF lens with vibration compensation. Sadly, at this time, I cannot afford it. My passion and dedicated hobby is bird photography in all seasons. I love sharing the bird photos with my homebound parent and with others.

Should I win the A035 lens, it would be a dedicated lens for bird and wildlife photography. The challenge of shooting birds, who are mostly never quite still to flight shots of raptors and hawks, requires a rapidly focusing lens to clearly focus on the bird’s rapid wing movements of the tiniest hummingbirds to the largest raptors. I have reviewed the specs of the A035, and these are the strong selling points that stand out to me: highly responsive AF, APSC format for Nikon, handheld ability, moisture resistance with leak-proof seals throughout the whole lens barrel, the eband for reducing glare and ghosting, minimum distance of 1.5m, smoother background blurring, the USB connection to update lens firmware (never had that before on a lens), f stop of 4.5-6.3, the fluorine coating on lens. I also like the detachable mount for tripod, as I do use one from time to time. I am extremely impressed by this lens’ capabilities, which far exceeds my current telezoom lens. Thank you for reading my entry.

Mitzi

After a hiatus of many years, I am re-engaging in digital photography. Going through two major life transitions has pulled me back to my camera: I got sober in early 2016 and entered long-term alcohol recovery, and my Dad, an avid photographer for his whole life, developed ALS/MND in late 2016 and died in mid-2017 after a terrifyingly fast progression.

Something about these events made me want to get behind the lens again. The combination of the technical and creative aspects of photography helps with recovery (substance, as well as trauma/grief) by giving my brain something new and demanding to do, and the process makes me feel closer to my Dad.

Having a fast 35mm prime for my full-frame DSLR is a dream of mine. Travel and street photography are highest on my list of interests, and the ability to give context even to close shots would be fantastic. In this new stage of shooting, I find that I want to get close to my subjects more often than not (a change from my earlier days, when I loved to zoom), and the close focus distance would be brilliant for that. As well, my family has started a new tradition of traveling together at Christmas, and it would be so rewarding to have this lens to capture our memories for Christmas 2020. Finally, this is a new focal length for me and one that would spark new development/learning — which, as noted, I’ve discovered to be excellent therapy.

Thank you for running this contest and letting me tell these parts of my story.

Special offer for dPS readers

Now, for those of you that didn’t win, Tamron has invited ALL dPS readers to take advantage of their Tips and More section. You can find them here.

The winners will be emailed with details of how to collect their prizes. Please make sure to look for our email.

Thank you again for all the wonderful submissions and to Tamron for sponsoring this competition.

Tamron Rebates

For all of you residing in the USA, when you do purchase your next Tamron Lens, make sure to take advantage of the rebates* up to $ 200 off through March 1, 2020. Find additional information HERE!

*Current rebate offers end March 1, 2020. US RESIDENTS ONLY.

About Tamron

Disclaimer: Tamron is a paid partner of dPS.

The post Our Two Tamron Contest Winners Announced appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

February 21, 2020