Category: Photography

How to Make a Manual Lens Correction in Lightroom
The post How to Make a Manual Lens Correction in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

The job of a camera lens is straightforward: it bends and focuses light, and it does so through the use of several curved pieces of glass that move back and forth. It sounds simple but is actually a lot more difficult than it might seem. Byproducts of all that glass are anomalies such as chromatic aberration and barrel distortion which can mar an otherwise beautiful image. Lightroom can fix these on its own to a degree, but to really take control of your pictures you can use the Manual Lens Correction panel to fine-tune your image until it’s pixel-perfect.

Understanding Chromatic Aberration

Before wading too deep into manual lens corrections, it’s important to understand what causes issues such as chromatic aberration in the first place. Different colors of light travel at different wavelengths. As a result, when the glass elements of a lens bend the incoming light, it can be quite tricky to make everything line up properly on the camera’s image sensor. This is especially prominent when shooting at the widest possible aperture since it gets really difficult to get the light to behave properly when you let so much in at once.

The result is purple and green fringes when you see hard edges in a picture. It can also produce distorted images that look either squished or puffed out in the middle. Cheaper lenses, or lenses with very wide apertures, don’t have as many glass elements to correct for these issues. It’s also why lenses like the Nikon 105 f/1.4 or Canon 85mm f/1.4 cost (and weigh) so much! They have a lot of special glass inside to correct for the problems that often happens with their less expensive counterparts.

If you don’t have a few thousand dollars to spend on ultra-sharp lenses, you can fix these image issues in Lightroom.

When you shoot in RAW, you can use the Automatic option. This does a fine job of removing purple and green fringes and fixing barrel distortion based on what it knows about the characteristics of your lens.

Click these boxes to have Lightroom automatically attempt to fix lens-related picture problems.

Nine times out of ten it does the job quite well. However, sometimes you will want to tweak things for yourself or just do the entire operation on your own. This is where the Manual option really comes in handy.

Manual Lens Correction

The Manual Lens Correction panel contains three options, each of which you can control separately.
- Distortion lets you re-shape your picture so it’s less puffed-out in the middle.
- Defringe deals with purple and green fringes at areas of high contrast, particularly with a lot of backlighting.
- Vignetting is for lightening or darkening the corners of a picture.
The Manual Lens Correction option gives you full control over lens corrections.

Distortion

This is a common issue with many lenses that isn’t always very obvious. However, once you notice it, you’ll start seeing this phenomenon all the time. Fortunately, the fix is simple. It’s usually just a matter of dragging the Distortion slider to the left or right.

Something’s not quite right here. The composition is fine but the middle is bulging out like a balloon.

As you drag the slider, you will see a grid appear over the picture which can help you get just the right value. Look for straight horizontal or vertical lines in your picture, and drag the slider until they line up with the grid.

The roof of the building gives a nice guide when correcting for distortion. It’s not quite lined up with the grid yet, but pushing the distortion slider a bit more will fix the problem.

The Constrain Crop option makes sure the final image stays within a square or rectangular boundary. If you adjust the slider too far to the right, the image can get a little too warped. However, checking this option will fix this by essentially zooming in on the picture as it’s being adjusted to avoid an extreme pincushion effect.

Final image:

Defringe

This is where you can easily correct purple and green fringes that can show up on your pictures. You can adjust the sliders manually, but my preferred way is to use the eyedropper tool to select specific areas of purple and green fringing that you want to remove.

The picture below is straight out of the camera with no lens correction applied. Notice how the edges of the bench have what appears to be slight purple and green outlines. These are caused by the light being bent and shaped by the camera lens. Once you know to look for these sorts of issues, you start seeing them all over the place!

Here’s a close-up view of the same picture. Notice the purple curve at the base of the seat and the green edges at the knurled edge that goes horizontally across the frame.

To manually correct these instances of chromatic aberration, Lightroom needs to know what range of colors you want to remove. Use the eyedropper tool to select either a purple fringe, a green fringe, or both, and then fine-tune by adjusting the sliders for Amount and Hue.

After selecting your purple and greens with the eyedropper tool, Lightroom will do its best to remove those specific colors around any high-contrast edges. You can fine-tune the defringing by adjusting the Amount and Hue sliders, but I usually find that Lightroom does a fine job just with a few clicks of the eyedropper.

When viewing the full image, you can see these instances of chromatic aberration are now gone, and the picture is much more pleasing as a result.

This operation can be extremely useful with portraits, which are often shot using larger apertures. Even if you don’t shoot close-ups for a living it’s nice to know that this simple, fast fix is available to you.

Vignetting

This option works much like the regular Vignette tool in Lightroom. You can use it to make the corners of your picture lighter or darker, depending on whether you drag the slider to the right or left.

Nearly all lenses exhibit some degree of vignetting, especially when using their widest aperture, but you can easily correct them using this tool.

Original image, straight out of the camera.

Sliding the Amount all the way to the left darkens the corners of the picture. It’s subtle but effective at drawing the viewer’s attention to the subject in the middle.

Vignette amount -100

Conversely, sliding the Amount all the way to the right makes the corners lighter. This is often useful to correct for the vignette that is inherent in many lenses at wider apertures.

Vignette amount +100

Conclusion

While you can use Lightroom’s automatic lens corrections, it’s nice to know how to correct for things like chromatic aberration, distortion, and vignetting on your own using manual lens correction. The best part is that none of these edits are permanent and you can undo your changes any time due to the non-destructive nature of Lightroom. So if you just want to try these out and see what happens, go right ahead!

The post How to Make a Manual Lens Correction in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
October 4, 2019
How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens
The post How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Taking a beautiful sunrise picture might seem simple: just point your camera or mobile at the sun as it creeps over the horizon and you’re good to go. While this can certainly result in an interesting image, you can take sunrise pictures to a whole new level with a zoom lens and a bit of camera knowledge. If you have a lens with a longer focal length that goes to 200 or 300mm, you can get some epic sunrise pictures with a zoom that showcase the majesty of nature in the morning.

200mm, f/11, 1/500 second, ISO 100

Seek the sun

Before you can take a good sunrise picture, you need to do a bit of planning, so you know when the sun is going to come up. It also helps to know where to look so you’re ready when the moment hits. A quick internet search with your location and the words “sunrise time” will help you know what time to take pictures. As far as where to look, that’s up to you.

Of course, the sun always rises in the east, but it’s necessary to know exactly where it will come up relative to your specific location and time of year. To get the best results, you want to snap your pictures right as the sun appears on the horizon. If buildings obstruct your view, you’re going to need to find a location that offers an unobstructed view in the right direction.

To show how precise this process is, look at the picture below. I shot it as the sun was coming up, but the result is boring, bland, and entirely unremarkable.

200mm, f/6.7, 1/500 second, ISO 800

This was shot precisely one minute and 48 seconds before the picture at the top of this article. Why is it so boring? The answer is a simple truth of the business world: location, location, location. While I looked east for the sun, I didn’t realize it had already crested the horizon behind a grove of trees. I was able to take a vastly improved picture just by repositioning myself 100 meters from this point.

When you go out to take sunrise photos, make sure you can actually find the sun!

Expose for the sun

Nailing the exposure on a sunrise picture is quite tricky. Imagine taking a picture of a flashlight in a dimly-lit room. You’ll end up with one of two results:
- The room will be properly exposed while the flashlight is super bright.
- The flashlight will be properly exposed while the rest of the room will be entirely dark.
It’s nearly impossible to get a properly-exposed flashlight and a properly-exposed room.

200mm, f/8, 1/30 second, ISO 280. Aside from being hidden behind the trees, this is also a poor shot because the sky and sun are just too bright. The foreground is fine, but all the color detail in the sky is mostly gone.

That is precisely what it’s like to take a picture of the sunrise, especially with a telephoto lens. What you want is a picture where the bright parts (i.e. the sun and sky) aren’t too bright, and the dark parts (i.e. the foreground) aren’t too dark. Basically you want an HDR image, but rather than shooting on a tripod and combining multiple exposures in post-production, you can do it with a single image by shooting in RAW.

Since RAW files capture much more picture data than JPEG files, you can fix many issues in Lightroom, Photoshop, Luminar, and other editing applications. The trick is to make sure you don’t lose any data to clipping, which happens when bright things are so bright that it doesn’t record data. The same can happen with dark areas too, but it’s usually not as much of a problem.

200mm, f/8, 1/1000 second, ISO 280. Exposing for the sun gave me a lot more wiggle room to fix the darker areas of the picture in Lightroom.

There are a couple of ways to expose for the sun so it’s not too bright. You can set your camera to Center-Weighted metering, which ensures the middle of your picture is not too bright or too dark. Another method (and the one which I prefer), is to have your camera evaluate the entire scene but use exposure compensation to under-expose by roughly two stops.

Regardless of how you meter the scene and set your exposure, the end result is the same. In your resulting image, you want the sun to be visible and not too bright. This means the foreground will be dark, but remember that you can recover everything you need when you process the RAW file.

Use a small aperture

If you have a high-end zoom lens like a 70-200 f/2.8 or a 300mm f/4, you might be tempted to shoot sunrise pictures with the largest possible aperture. Blurry foregrounds and backgrounds are great, right? So why wouldn’t you shoot wide open?

Contrary to what you might think, smaller apertures are better when taking sunrise photos. First, it helps make sure your entire picture is sharp. Bokeh is great on portraits but not so desirable on most landscapes. A blurry foreground (thanks to a wide aperture) can distract the viewer and leave the scene feeling kind of mushy as a result.

200mm, f/11, 1/250 second, ISO 100

Another reason to use smaller apertures, like f/8 or f/11, is that it gives you more control over your exposure. Remember, the sun is really bright, so you don’t need to worry about not getting enough light in your picture! On the contrary, you actually want to limit the amount of light, especially since you want the foreground to be underexposed. A small aperture helps with this.

Use a fast shutter speed

The sun moves fast – really fast. Or, rather, the earth spins fast. That’s what is actually happening when you see the sun come up. And just like any time you want to capture motion, you need to use a shutter speed that’s up to the task. Slower values like 1/30th and 1/60th will not only make exposure tricky, but result in a blurry sun as it speeds upwards on the horizon.

200mm, f/2.8, 1/4000th of a second, ISO 100. I broke my own rule about small apertures here, specifically because I wanted the vehicle in the foreground to be out of focus. The trade-off for such a wide aperture was a very fast shutter speed.

I recommend a minimum shutter speed of 1/250th, and even faster if possible. 1/500th is even better. If you are exposing for the sun, you might even use ultra-fast shutter speeds like 1/1000th or more. Of course, the foreground will be dim, but that’s fine since you can recover those shadows in post-production.

One nice thing about this is it means you don’t need to use a tripod. So that means one less thing for you to bring with you to your sunrise photo shoots. Handheld will work fine, even when zoomed all the way in. That’s because you should have a shutter speed that will compensate for any motion blur due to camera shake.

Be patient, but act fast

Once you have the technical aspects figured out, and you know where you want to position yourself to capture a sunrise, the final piece off the puzzle is patience. I recommend arriving early so you can make sure everything is situated properly. Bring some music or a podcast because you might be waiting a little while. However, it’s better to arrive early than scramble at the last minute.

190mm, f/2.8, 1/180th of a second, ISO 250. The sun wasn’t up yet, but I really liked the rich purple and blue colors of the sky – an added bonus of arriving early and waiting. Note the large aperture. It was required to let plenty of light in since there just wasn’t much light available.

As soon as you start to see the sun peek over the horizon, you only have a few minutes to get your shots. Remember to use a small aperture, expose for the sun, and shoot in RAW, and you should be fine. Go ahead and snap a few pictures with your mobile phone too. You’ll be amazed at how much more dramatic and impactful your pictures are with a zoom lens!

200mm, f/8, 1/1000th of a second, ISO 100. The sun isn’t in this picture but you can clearly see the morning light on the clouds. I liked the silhouette of the tower against the glowing morning sky too. You can’t get this shot with a mobile phone!

Do you have any other tips for sunrise photos with a zoom lens? Share with us in the comments. Also, I’d love to see your sunrise photos, and I’m sure the rest of the DPS community would also, so please share them in the comments too!

The post How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
October 4, 2019
Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography

The post Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Flowers have had a presence in art for millennia. In this article, we’ll have a look at the history of flowers and some photographic principals that can be drawn from the historical use of flowers in visual culture.

Floral colors

Over the course of visual arts, colors have become embedded with a rich symbolic history.

While red can denote love and passion, blue can imbue a sense of calm.

The pairing of colors and flowers in both nature and art has influenced the reading of floral imagery throughout history. For example, the Ancient Egyptians often painted artistic renderings of the blue and the white lotus. However, the blue lotus was used as symbol of rebirth whereas the while lotus represented innocence and modesty.

In Renaissance artworks, a red carnation was symbolic of love. A pink carnation, on the other hand, stood as a symbol of marriage or betrothal, while in Japan, yellow chrysanthemums have historically signified the Emperor and Imperial family whereas white chrysanthemums indicate purity, truth or grief.

Melding color psychology with floral symbolism touches on our perceptions of visual art history. This is especially relevant if you are presenting your images as a conceptual artwork or as a gift with a heartfelt message layered in meaning. If you are looking to convey peace or emotional depth, try photographing blue flowers.

Incorporating yellow flowers into a photograph stimulates an energetic reading and sympathy is conveyed with white floral blooms.

You can also alter the color of flowers completely in post production, or strip it of its colorful meaning by working in black and white. This draws greater attention to a flower’s form rather than its biological pigmentation.

The language of flowers

Over time, cultures have linked flowers with specific ideas as a means of communication. Flowers like the lily and rose are used as symbols in the Hebrew Bible. This is especially the case in the Song of Solomon.

An age-old art form in Japan, the practice of Hanakotoba involves the pairing of flowers with meaning in the hopes of conveying emotion without the use of words. And for the first half of the 19th century, floriography was hugely popular in France, Britain and in the United States. Although many floriography dictionaries differed in meaning, some consensus on particular floral associations has prevailed in Western popular culture today.

Red roses (and their thorns), for example, continue to symbolize the duality of pain and pleasure in romantic love. The red poppy has become a symbol of remembrance of the fallen in war and white lilies, often used at funerals, signify sympathy and purity.

By utilizing the popular associations of flowers in a given culture, you can communicate ideas to a viewer through the photography of floral blooms.

Physicality

Physicality defines the physical features that make up a floral bloom. For example, the textural qualities of a bloom influence our ability to visually feel the make-up of a flower. Aspects like the heaviness of a flower head can add visual weight to an image and the direction of a bloom can convey movement.

Varying dimensions of the flowers in Still Life With Flowers by Ambrosius Bosschaert cultivate energy and directionality, while the whimsical dimensions of the iris petals in Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises burst with movement and spontaneity. The repetition of Renoir’s Bouquet of Roses reinforces the soft quality of the rose heads, each vying for a place within the artist’s rendering, while Imogen Cunningham’s Magnolia Blossom features a single magnolia, emphasizing the delicate membrane of a lone flower.

Research into flower usage in art history will help you to achieve the right balance of physical characteristics within a floral photograph.

Abstraction

According to Tate.org “abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead use shapes, colors, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.”

Abstract flowers in art are exemplified by the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe. A leading figure in American Modernism, O’Keeffe pushed the boundaries of art by combining abstraction and representation. O’Keeffe’s close-up paintings of flowers allowed viewers to appreciate intimate forms from a fresh perspective.

In the same way, photographing abstracted flowers cultivates a sense of intimacy. Abstraction provides the opportunity for viewers to experience the properties of flowers through the eyes of the photographer.

You can achieve floral abstraction through the use of various photographic techniques. Camera movement, cropping or creative macro photography are some of the ways a photographer can create intriguing abstracted floral imagery.

Conclusion

With thousands of types of floral blooms spread around the globe, flowers have caught the eye of artists for millennia. Familiarizing yourself with the history of flowers in art can be beneficial in a number of ways. A knowledge of colors and their use in conjunction with flowers is a useful tool in conveying emotional depth.

Knowing the history of flowers in art and culture can open more channels of communication between the photographer and the viewer. Training the eye to assess the physicality of different flowers allows for well-considered image-making.

And abstraction can introduce a unique perspective to your floral photography.

The post Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Digital Photography School

October 3, 2019
Lighting Workshop Interest List

Apologies for how the lighting workshops announcement went yesterday. They filled within a few hours, and before many of you even saw the email.

Given that I typically only do the small-class shooting workshops once a year, I sat down last night and figured out a fairer way to announce them. If you are interested in perhaps one day attending, click through to learn more. Read more »
Strobist

October 3, 2019
Loupedeck+ Review – the Perfect Editing Companion for Lightroom and Premiere?

The post Loupedeck+ Review – the Perfect Editing Companion for Lightroom and Premiere? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

There is something undeniably cool about Hollywood editing studios. I remember seeing one in a magazine as a child and wanting to play with it. Thinking how cool it would be to figure out what all the dials did and edit Hollywood Blockbusters. I never made it in Hollywood, but I can remember my first editing console. Purchased from the high street, it allowed me to link 2 VCR players and have a fade and wipe slider for video. It even had an audio fader that allowed me to (surprisingly) fade audio. At the time it was amazing! I made a lot of skateboard videos using that console.

Obviously we’ve moved to digital everything, but there is something about using knobs and dials to edit that I have always liked. So, when I was given the opportunity to try the Loupedeck+, I jumped at the chance to get hands-on with it.

What is it?

Simply put, Loupedeck+ is a keyboard-sized photo editing console. The main editing functions are controlled via a series of knobs and buttons.

Loupedeck started life on Indiegogo. The initial Loupedeck was marketed as a photo editing console just for Lightroom. With the Loupedeck+, however, it has become much more than that. The new version has support for several different software platforms too.

This device is still aimed primarily at Adobe users, with support for most of the Creative Suite. There is also support for Apple’s Final Cut and Aurora HDR and is also currently in Beta testing with Capture One Pro, which is my preferred choice of photo editor.

Out of the box

In terms of looks, it is beautifully packaged. However, that doesn’t mean anything if the product itself is not up to scratch. The Loupedeck however, definitely is. Although fully plastic, everything is solid and feels like it will survive long term usage. The only exception to this is the control dial, which does feel a little flimsy compared to the rest of the device.

In terms of the buttons, when making notes, I put down that they are squishy but solid. I still think that’s the best way to describe them. There is also a nice little detail for the cable to connect the Loupedeck. There are grooves that allow you to place it to work with how your computer is setup. It’s not a deal-breaker, but attention to detail like this tends to show the makers care about the end-user.

The Loupedeck+ is well built apart from the control dial. It just feels a little flimsy. However, in use, it has been flawless so far.

Getting set up

Once you have unpackaged your Loupedeck, the next stage is setting it up. To do this, you need to install the Loupedeck software. This is a simple download from the Loupedeck website, which then allows you to customize the Loupedeck to your specific editing preferences.

I have left it is standard for now, but I can definitely see me looking into this again to fine-tune it to how I edit.

Once you have the software installed, it is as simple as choosing which software you want to use the Loupedeck with and off you go. Loupedeck has a series of guides for each piece of software that it is compatible with. I recommend having these on hand, especially when using software other than Lightroom. Even with Lightroom though, it is worth having nearby to see what extras you may find yourself reaching for.

The fact that the user guide for Lightroom alone is 31 pages tells you what level of customization is possible.

To get started with Loupedeck+ you need to download the software from the Loupedeck website. Once installed, choose your software and away you go.

The learning curve

The learning curve is in two parts; getting used to the Loupedeck from your usual editing routine, and how Loupedeck reduces the learning curve of the software.

To test this, I got my wife to use Loupedeck to work on a wedding we had recently shot. She normally helps make picks, but she has very limited editing experience. She can just about manage to tweak exposure a little, but that’s it.

I put her at the Loupedeck and asked her to try and edit images she thought needed work. After about 2 minutes of me explaining the device, she started. Two more minutes passed before she explained how brilliant it was.

By removing the need to search through the menus (of Capture One in our case), she was able to edit photos easily and without needing constant reminders of the locations of buttons or sliders. It made her experiment more, and within an hour, she felt completely confident using the Loupedeck.

For beginners, this will make the process of learning to edit (especially in Lightroom) so much easier. Everything is at hand, and the layout makes it simpler for beginners to experiment. They can use more of the features of the program without the need to remember the locations in the menus.

For me, as a power user of Capture One, the learning curve was a little steeper. I’ve put this down to Capture One currently being in Beta testing. There are some quirks I needed to get used to when editing, such as using the color balance tool.

There is also the fact that when you use the software every day, you acquire muscle memory from the keyboard shortcuts you use most often. Moving to dials does take a while to get used to.

I do feel that even for Lightroom users (whom this deck was designed for), the change to Loupedeck will mean your editing is slower until you get up to speed. However, I am talking only hours here, not days.

Loupedeck+ and Lightroom

Obviously I wanted to start this test with Lightroom as this is really the program the device is designed for. Now I am not a Lightroom user, so having me use this is more like an inexperienced Lightroom editor versus someone who uses it every day.

I loaded up a selection of images into a catalog and began editing. Using the Loupedeck was completely intuitive. I simply started to edit images without the need to try and remember control locations. It was as easy as twisting the dials with the required name on them. In my experience, the Loupdeck+ and Lightroom work flawlessly together. There is no lag, and the degree of control with each twist feels perfect. Everything is at hand, and if you do find yourself needing something that is not here, you can customize the software until your heart’s content.

It made the process of editing in Lightroom a pleasure and, as a hardcore Capture One user, that is the highest praise I can give it.

It is easy to see that the Loupedeck+ is designed with Lightroom users in mind.

Loupedeck+ and Capture One Pro

Because I’m not a Lightroom user, I went down the road that is Beta testing to put the Loupedeck in my day-to-day editing software.

Now compared to Lightroom, I found editing in Capture One Pro to be a more clunky affair. The problem is that in its current Beta state, the Loupedeck doesn’t offer the same level of functionality. This is something that Loupedeck are working on and are currently looking for feedback from any Capture One users to help improve the experience.

The basic adjustments work perfectly well in Capture One. To adjust white balance and exposure is just as good as Lightroom. However, there are elements, such as resetting adjustments, that are not there.

The issue here is that the Loupedeck was designed with Lightroom in mind and Capture One works differently. The most obvious example of this is the P1-P8 buttons. In Lightroom, these assign to presets; however, in Capture One, they are simply not set up.

Shooting Fuji, I would love to map this to my film curves, where it would be great to choose the look of my image. However, at present, this is not possible. For more advanced editing, it can be frustrating, and I find myself reaching for the mouse and keyboard more often than I would like.

It’s not perfect by any means, and it does sound a little doom and gloom, but in terms of basic edits, it really did speed up my workflow. I have now edited two weddings with the Loupedeck, and it has definitely saved me some time. Also being super simple for basic adjustments, it really has allowed my wife to do basic edits for things such as exposure.
When editing a wedding, I reach for it straight away. It really is something that after using it, I wouldn’t be without.

The best thing about using Loupedeck+ with Capture One is that I know it can only get better from here. Once there are some more options added, and a few things ironed out from the beta testing, I feel this will be a powerful editing tool.

Loupedeck+ and Photoshop

This is where things start to feel like I was using the Loupedeck for the sake of it. When editing a RAW file, it was great, but after that, I really felt no benefit from using it. When editing in Photoshop, you tend to use your mouse or tablet much more.

You can use it for working with curves, but you need to work with the mouse too, and I found it just too clunky. Other things like zoom in and out, which are mapped to knobs, simply do not work as well as using the middle mouse button.

Unlike using it in Lightroom and Capture One, when working in Photoshop, I found myself using it for the sake of it, rather than reaping any real benefit. I do feel that the Loupedeck+ working with more software is good. However, I feel that, in some cases, it just feels like it is added for marketing over actual functionality.

Loupedeck+ and Premiere

The ability for Loupedeck to work with Premiere was something that I found myself excited to try. I am by no means a power user, but I know my way around Premiere and edit with it enough to consider myself proficient.

Using Loupedeck with Premiere, though, is where things go a little too far for me. When using it to edit a video, it was just too hard for me to remember what all the functions did. It could be due to my lack of time spent in Premiere, but I think it’s more than that. When photo editing, things like exposure, and contrast are the same no matter which program you use. Video editing, however, uses a completely different language.

It is not that you can’t learn how to use Loupedeck with Premiere. I think once you got used to what each button and dial was mapped to, it would really speed things up. However, as someone who uses the software occasionally, I would find it hard to remember the settings for Premiere.

I think the best way to sum it up is that if you are buying a Loupdeck+ solely for Premiere use, you may face a steep learning curve. For me, to have it as a bonus is nice, even though I can’t really see myself using it.

As you can see from the layout above, Loupedeck is not as intuitive in Premiere.

Conclusion

It’s hard to sum up the Loupedeck+.

Some may see this as a gimmick you will buy, only to put it in the cupboard after a few months to gather dust. But that really isn’t how it is. It’s a well-made, high-quality device that really is a time-saver, especially in basic edits.

I use the Loupedeck+ on every edit now. That must say something. It has sped up my editing (it needs to, I am currently behind on editing a wedding and am writing this article rather than doing that). However, I do still find myself reaching for the keyboard or mouse quite often. I think the best way is to give three different outcomes, depending on what software you use.

If you’re a Capture One user like me, you may find it frustrating. It is almost there, close to being great, but then there are silly little things that are really annoying! However, this is in beta testing, which means things are still ironing out. I am sure this is going to improve moving forward. It’s just a question of whether you are willing to pay for something that doesn’t quite work as you would like it to.

If you’re using this on Premiere or Final Cut, you will need to spend some serious time with the manual. It really is not intuitive in the same way it is for photo editing. If you are willing to put in the time, I am sure it will speed up your workflow. I do question how long it would take to get to this point though.

Lastly, Lightroom. This is still what they designed the Loupedeck for. If you are a Lightroom user, I would definitely suggest getting your hands on a Loupedeck+ – It really does make editing much faster. It worked incredibly well in use, and I enjoyed editing in Lightroom. This really is the highest praise I can give it.

However, where this console really shines is for new users. If you are new to editing, I cannot recommend this enough. I wish something like this had existed when I started editing. It makes the process of understanding how tools work so much more organic. Beginners will get a lot out of using a device like this – It just makes editing more intuitive. My wife managed to edit much better than ever before in minutes.

Moving forward, I will continue to use a Loupedeck+ to edit. Maybe it’s just my old ways. Maybe it means I get to pretend I am in a film studio editing suite. Or maybe, it’s something that I never really thought I would want, but now don’t want to stop using.

In all honesty, I think it’s all three.

The post Loupedeck+ Review – the Perfect Editing Companion for Lightroom and Premiere? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School

October 2, 2019
Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop: Rescue Your Damaged Adobe Photoshop Files
The post Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop: Rescue Your Damaged Adobe Photoshop Files appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Have you ever endured the stress of dealing with a corrupted Photoshop PSD file? It’s not such a common problem, but when it happens it can invoke serious mental and emotional hardship. Let me introduce you to a little software tool that can be of great help to photographers, designers, and anyone else who uses Adobe Photoshop – the Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop.

Fully recovered corrupted PSD file

How PSD files become corrupt

Imagine spending hours post-processing a photo you’ve captured or graphic you have created. It’s one of your best. You’ve worked through some tutorials, and been inspired to create a masterpiece of digital art.

You’ve put the final touches to it and hit Save, and then the power goes out. Your file has not saved correctly. Or you’ve saved it to a hard drive with bad sectors. Even when you revive the drive, the PSD file will not open. These are events that create nightmares.

There are other ways PSD files become corrupted and Photoshop won’t open them. At times, all you’ll see is an error message.

Other times the file will open but will be incomplete. Layers may be missing, or the file may have been flattened. Maybe all you’ll see is digital noise.

You may have encountered similar file retrieval problems with bad memory cards or hard drives. These situations require specialized software that can recover files and rebuild them.

Adobe Photoshop Repair Tool

Adobe Photoshop Repair Tool from Recovery Toolbox is specifically designed to reclaim and repair damaged Photoshop PSD files. It’s not a tool you will use every day (hopefully), but when you do need to, it can save you considerable stress and maybe hours of work.

This small piece of dedicated software opens and restores PSD files. Often it will manage to completely restore a file which Photoshop refuses to open. Other times it will work partially. You might get most of your layers back, but not all of them. At this stage, however, it is only available for users of Windows 98 and above.

How it works

Step 1:

Open Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop and select the file you are having issues with. Click ‘Next’.

Step 2:

The ‘View Data’ window will open. Here you have a breakdown of what the Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop can see in the corrupted file. If the file has multiple layers, click on the ‘Layers’ drop-down in the left-hand panel to view them.

In the right-hand panel, there are two tabs. Click on the ‘Picture’ tab for a preview of each layer.

Step 3:

Choose your target file and the layers you want to recover. In this step, you can also select or deselect certain layers you want to recover.

Step 4:

Click ‘Recover’ and the software will work its magic. Once the recovery process is completed, click the ‘Show Result’ button to open the recovered file in Photoshop. It’s as easy as that.

Salvaged

Whether you’re a keen amateur or a professional photographer, this software will help you out when Photoshop fails to open a file. This might mean the difference in saving time rebuilding an image, or it might save your skin and keep a valuable client.

This Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop works on any PSD file saved from Photoshop version three or later, and recovers files with .psd and .8bps extensions.

Working through the easy steps is fast and allows for some control in the layers you choose to repair. I found that when testing this software, it was not necessary to do this, but the feature allows for flexibility with more problematic files.

This software is specifically designed to read, analyze, and recover your PSD files.

When testing this software, I purposefully produced a series of damaged PSD files, corrupting them in different ways. While saving a multi-layered PSD file, I rebooted my computer while the file was in the process of writing to a hard drive. I also saved the file to a thumb drive which I removed before fully saving the image. I did this at various stages in the process of saving. In these instances, the Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop was not able to restore my files even when they’d been nearly through the saving process.
The software was sent to me with a number of test files. Each of these appeared to be corrupted in different ways. Some of them opened with Photoshop, but incompletely. Others failed to open and Photoshop displayed an error message.
Pros

Dedicated to repairing PSD files.

Easy to use.

Well laid out user interface.

Detailed information and controls.

Price.

Cons

Doesn’t repair all damaged PSD files.

Only available for Windows Users
If you don’t like the idea of installing software onto your computer, Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop also has an online repair service where you simply upload your damaged file. The benefits of using the online version include:

Helps to repair Photoshop files on all Operation Systems: macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and so on

Work on any devices: PC, tablet, phones

Affordable price: $ 10

No need to install any software

In this review, the online version was not tested.
Conclusion

Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop is a great tool and will help you out where Photoshop fails to. However, there is never any substitute for having a disciplined backup routine. Saving your work often and backing it up on a separate drive, device or in the cloud is the most sure-fire way to ensure your precious files are safe and usable.
Disclaimer: Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop is a paid dPS partner.

The post Recovery Toolbox for Photoshop: Rescue Your Damaged Adobe Photoshop Files appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Digital Photography School
October 2, 2019
Has Wescott Out-Godoxed Godox with the Westcott FJ400 Strobe?
The post Has Wescott Out-Godoxed Godox with the Westcott FJ400 Strobe? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Wait? How Much? Did Westcott just outdo Godox?

Westcott has just announced the FJ400 Strobe, which on first glance is not that exciting. Then you see the price, only $ 569! That is $ 80 cheaper than the ultra-popular Godox AD400. That’s before you get to the universal trigger system. Has Wescott done the impossible? Has Westcott out Godoxed Godox?

Specs

Let’s get this stuff out of the way. If you want the headline numbers, here they are:

FJ400 Strobe
- 400 watt-second AC/DC strobe
- 9 F-stop range in 0.1 and 1.0 increments
- Mains power adapter included
- 0.9 recycle time at full power
- 480+ full-power flashes per strobe
- 0.05 second recycle time at the lowest power setting
- 20 watt LED modeling lamp (Daylight balanced)
- High-Speed Sync up to 1/8000th second, TTL and rear curtain sync
- Bowens Mount
- Series of gels (full CTO, has CTO, window green and diffusion) included. These attach by magnets
- Color Screen
X2-M trigger
- Universal wireless radio trigger for FJ400 strobe
- Compatible with many Canon, Nikon, Sony (with adapter), Fuji, Panasonic Lumix and Olympus cameras (more are being tested by Westcott)
- Integrated long-lasting lithium-ion battery
- Up to 200,000 flashes per charge cycle
- Wireless communication range of up to 985 feet (300m)
- Bluetooth compatible with free mobile app
- USB Type-C to USB-A cord for quick charging and firmware updates
- 6 groups and 16 wireless channels
- Color LCD screen
This is a serious specification list that clearly shows that Westcott is after potential Godox users.

The Flash

The headline specs on this are huge. Not only is the flash cheaper than the Godox AD400, but it has a larger battery allowing for more flashes (480 for the Westcott vs. 390 for the Godox). This is at the expense of size, with the Westcott being slightly larger than the Godox. I would personally happily trade the size (and accompanying weight) difference for the extra flashes.

The other really impressive feature is that the Westcott includes a mains cable, allowing you to plug in the Westcott FJ400 Strobe and use it as a standard studio strobe. For the Godox this is an additional extra.

Lastly, the mount is Bowens (as is Godox), which allows you to use several different modifiers at all different price points. It also has an adapter for the Rapid Box system, meaning you can easily use the excellent Westcott modifiers

The Trigger

The universal trigger is something that is going to be incredibly useful to many people. I shoot both Canon and Fuji and currently have two triggers that I have to remember each time I shoot. The fact that this system has a universal system is really exciting for those of us who shoot different brands.

I also like the movement in the trigger. The fact that I can flick it up when setting my lights, then flick it back down to keep a more compact footprint is exciting. The LCD screen size is nice and big meaning it will be easy to change settings. The included Li-Ion battery is good for 200,000 flashes. This is great, but I do like using AA batteries on my triggers. It’s the peace of mind that I can get batteries no matter where I am.

For those of you who use Sony cameras, you will need to buy an adapter. However, this is only $ 20.

Isn’t this just a rebadged Jinbei?

It certainly looks like these strobes are based on the Jinbei. It is not totally surprising that the FJ400 Strobe has been based around an existing system. The price point Westcott has brought this unit out at would be incredibly difficult if they had to create the whole system from scratch.

I am not an expert on electronic engineering, so cannot comment on the exact differences, but I have a hunch that the Westcott FJ400 will be built to a slightly higher specification. How much, however, is to be determined. The filter system included with the Westcott is more practical than those I have seen included with the Jinbei system.

Also, Westcott has excellent customer service. You get to talk to a real person on the phone and things are US-based. For many photographers, and especially professionals, great customer service is worth its weight in gold.

When can I get it?

Westcott expects to be shipping the FJ400 Strobe for the end of October.

If you want to get yourself more excited, you can check out the announcement video below.

So, are you excited by the FJ400? Is it enough to persuade you to look at the switch from Godox? As always, let me know in the comments!

The post Has Wescott Out-Godoxed Godox with the Westcott FJ400 Strobe? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School
October 2, 2019
Announcing (2) Small-Class Lighting Workshops Baltimore / Washington, DC Area, Dec. 6 and 7

I’ll be teaching two, full-day lighting workshops in the suburban Baltimore/DC area on December 6 and 7.

They are two separate one-day events. These are small-group workshops, with a maximum class size of 12 people each day. These are shooting workshops, and you’ll be behind (and/or in front of!) a camera for most of the day.

Assuming you arrive at this class with a basic understanding of f/stops and shutter speeds, you will leave with a strong foundation in the fundamentals of off-camera lighting. You will be comfortable using single and multiple lights both alone and/or balanced with a mix of ambient lighting.

All lighting gear will be provided. We will also provide lunch.

You will need to bring a camera that is adjustable in manual mode and has a hot shoe connection for a flash, a lens that covers normal and/or portrait range, one or two fully charged batteries and an empty storage card. Maybe a notebook and pen if you like.

That’s it. Just show up ready to learn and to have fun. Leave the rest to me.

Details

Dates:
December 6 and 7, 2019

Time:
9:30am – 5:30pm

Price:
$ 259

Location:
Sandy Spring Friends Lyceum
17715 Meeting House Road
Sandy Spring, MD 20860

Note; These are the only small-class lighting workshops I’ll be teaching in the US this year. In the past, these have tended to fill very quickly. So if this is something you’d like to do, I’d suggest signing up sooner rather than later.

Sign-Up Links

Friday, December 6

Saturday, December 7

Strobist

October 1, 2019
How to Use Natural Light in Travel Photography
The post How to Use Natural Light in Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Karthika Gupta.

We all enjoy traveling and taking countless travel photos on our trips, don’t we? Why else are you reading this article! Travel photography is one of the most popular genres of photography today – especially with the advent of social media and the ‘share everything’ culture. People want to capture and post stunning photos of their travels to influence others, motivate others and in some cases also sell travel-related things.

But travel photography is so much more than that. Travel photos have the potential to connect us to our beautiful world. Images of places, cultures, art, and even food take us away from our mundane everyday existence. They can transport us to magical places we can only dream of visiting someday. Perhaps they remind us of a time when we too took that trip and had similar experiences? It can become a walk down memory lane.

So how can we improve our travel photos?

Many elements go into creating an amazing travel photo, but for the purposes of this article, we will focus on light – specifically natural light in travel photography. This is my preferred way of using light in photos. In fact, I very rarely travel with an external flash because of the extra weight and because I don’t like the look of flash in my photos. I know many people who use flash with amazing results – and more power to them!

There are several reasons why I use natural light in travel photography:
1. It is readily available and free
2. It provides a range of light variations so I can get creative with my travel images
3. It is a super-large light source, a.k.a the sun
4. It constantly changes from day to day and season to season
In order to use effectively use natural light in travel photography, you have to become an expert at reading and understanding the light that is around you as you travel. Light is affected by many things and light affects many things too.

1. Location and light

For the most part, travel photography involves a lot of outdoor photography in natural light and primarily in the harsh mid-day sun. Of course, there are exceptions where you are indoors in places like museums and restaurants.

In such cases, you will likely be dealing with indoor lighting and may even use a flash. So before you take a single photo, look around and analyze your location. This will help you understand how you can harness the natural light around.

Consider whether you are out in the elements with only the sun as your light source. Are you in a city where the light is reflecting off highrise buildings? Perhaps you are in a museum where there is a lot of tungsten lighting, and flash photography is not allowed?

Use creative framing and make the best of harsh midday sun during your travels.

How you handle you camera settings will depend on the location and light at that location. Harsh mid-day sun outdoors means lower ISO and high shutter speeds.

Cityscapes may mean mixed lighting with shade and harsh shadows, so you need to adjust your ISO and shutter speed accordingly.

Museum lighting may mean higher than normal ISOs along with really slow shutter speeds. You will have to pay attention to camera shake while hand-holding at slow shutter speeds.

2. Time of day and light

The fascinating thing about natural light is that it changes constantly. Depending on the time of day, season, or even the direction your window faces – light fluctuates minute to minute. Light first thing in the morning on a mountain top will be very different compared to the light mid-morning. Come sundown; the light changes again.

Knowing what time of day you are photographing will help you plan your gear as well as the kind of shots you will take.

I have seen the apostles photographed many different ways, but this lighting just takes the cake! I did nothing except show up just after sunset!

Most travel photographers photograph at multiple times in the day and night. So take gear that is flexible and that you can use for all these different situations.

I travel with my Canon 5D MKIII, a 24-70mm f2.8 lens, and a small travel tripod at all times. Also, I have a few standard filters like a neutral density filter and a polarizer filter that fits in my camera bag. I have to admit, I don’t use it that often, but once in a while that waterfall during a hike calls my name.

Traveling light can help you be prepared for any situation – day or night – for amazing scenes that capture your eye.

3. Subjects and light

Believe it or not, light does impact the subject. Depending on where you are, placement of your subject, and where your light source is, the results can differ wildly. So, the first thing to do after working out the light is to understand it in relation to your subject.

In travel, I find that in most cases, my subjects are not mobile. They are buildings, monuments, and people going about their day.

So what is adjustable in these scenarios is me and my relative position to the subject and light. Don’t be afraid to move around to get the best angle and framing that will work for your situation.

This minx gave me no time to adjust myself, so I just waited for the hop and took the shot…I love the fact that I got him and the shadow in the same frame.

If you are indoors, try to use natural light from a window to light up the subject as far as possible. If you are outdoors, perhaps using the lens hood to block out the sun can help in reducing the harshness of light, especially if it is directly behind the subject.

This is one of my favorite photos of my son during our travels. I saw the light and him almost at the same time, and had a few seconds to take this shot….a perfect way to capture the majestic castles in Portugal!

4. Weather and light

A common misconception that photographers have, especially those starting out, is that they cannot go out and photograph in bad weather. Bad weather can include rain or overcast skies.

But in reality, overcast skies are great for taking travel photos. The clouds act as a natural diffuser, blocking out the harshness of the sun and making the light more even without harsh shadows.

Sometimes all you need to do is show up and mother nature does the rest for you – fog, rain, clouds – they all add to the effect.

Always check the weather forecast before you go out shooting. Periods of rain, followed by clear skies, might be the best time to photograph landscapes where everything is uniformly lit.

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you in understanding the power of natural light in travel photography. Travel photography is often tiring because you are out and about all day; looking, feeling, and experiencing new things and trying to capture as much of it as you can.

By understanding how to use natural light in your photos, you can focus more on the creative side of photography to create stunning drool-worthy travel photos – much to the envy of your family and friends.

Do you have any other tips for using natural light in travel photography? Share with us in the comments below!

The post How to Use Natural Light in Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Karthika Gupta.

Digital Photography School
October 1, 2019
PhotoWorks: Photo Retouching Will Never Be Tedious Again

Retouching photos could be a nightmare. Wrinkles, acne, oily skin – sometimes the camera is cruelly precise. It is unpleasant to say the least if those are just your own private pictures. But what if photography is your business? No client wants to see their faces imperfect, especially on pictures taken during a special event (wedding, anniversary, etc.). If you Continue Reading

The post PhotoWorks: Photo Retouching Will Never Be Tedious Again appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

October 1, 2019