Category: Photography

Canon to Produce an 80-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera
The post Canon to Produce an 80-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

If you’ve been hoping Canon will produce a high-resolution professional mirrorless camera, then you’re in luck.

Rumors that Canon has been working on a 70 or 80-megapixel mirrorless camera have been swirling for months, but several new pieces of information make it more likely than ever.

First, Canon has filed a patent for an 83-megapixel sensor, which may be at the heart of a new mirrorless camera body.

Second, someone claiming to have a prototype of the new camera has just revealed specs, including:
- An 80-megapixel full-frame sensor
- A larger viewfinder than the Canon EOS R
- Dual SD card slots
- A new joystick
- A larger size than the Canon EOS R
If these details are accurate, then the new camera (dubbed the Canon EOS RS by Canon Rumors) will likely be a mirrorless replacement to the Canon 5DS/5DS R duo. The two DSLR cameras debuted in February of 2015, and Canon has failed to update them in the years since. Most notable about the two cameras are their sensors: 50.6 megapixels – the largest full-frame sensors in existence at the time.

The dual card slots will be a particularly welcome addition to the Canon EOS RS. Many professional photographers passed over the EOS R based on its single card slot, and it seems Canon got the message. So for photographers who require redundancy in their work, the Canon EOS RS will be a good choice.

And if the Canon EOS RS is truly 80+ megapixels, commercial photographers will appreciate the opportunity to push resolution to its limits.

Such a high-resolution sensor has its drawbacks, however. The larger the files, the faster you’ll fill up space. Plus, a sensor with 80 megapixels will have high pixel density, leading to small pixels. This can be a problem with regard to noise production: the smaller pixels are more likely to produce noise at high ISOs.

Let’s just hope that Canon puts out a high-quality sensor to complement the megapixel count! If you’re a Canon fan looking to make the change to mirrorless, then keep an eye out for news on the Canon EOS RS, which will likely be announced at the start of 2020.

Would you purchase the Canon EOS RS for its 80+ megapixels? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

The post Canon to Produce an 80-Megapixel Mirrorless Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School
September 17, 2019
SLC-2L-09: Google Maps as a Visa | BTS 360

Today in Lighting Cookbook, using Google Maps as an entré to meet new subjects, and improvising with a skeleton pack of lighting equipment. Read more »
Strobist

September 17, 2019
9 Great Lensball Perspectives for Creative Photography!
The post 9 Great Lensball Perspectives for Creative Photography! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.

One of the most effective ways of getting more out of your photography is to change the perspective. It’s a great way to explore your camera without needing to get additional equipment. The same concept can be applied to lensball photography, where a change in your lensball perspectives can lead to a burst of creativity with your work. It’s easy to think of lensball photography as a one-trick pony, rather like, say, a fish-eye lens. As any fish-eye lens owner will tell you though, there are plenty of ways to add creativity with that lens, and the same is true of refraction photography with a lensball.

In this article, you’ll learn about nine different lensball perspectives, and how you can go about using them in your photography.

1. The standard lensball perspective

This shows a standard lensball perspective. It shows the tree as the main subject in the ball. There is also context provided by the area outside the ball.

The standard photo might vary from person to person. A lot of people choose the second item on this list, so this is of course subjective. In this type of photo, the lensball will be a significant part of the photo, it will absolutely be the main subject. Where you place the ball and the subject you choose to have within the ball are subjects covered in this article.

Typically the ball will be off-center within the frame, and will fill around forty percent of the photo. The remaining portion of the photo is likely to be the foreground the ball is sitting on, and the background that has been blurred out as part of this photo. This type of photo will be taken using a macro lens, or a lens with a long focal length.

2. The lens ball as part of the scene

The ball can also be used as part of the scene. Here, the interplay with the arch works well.

A popular alternative to the above photo involves bringing the background into play. This style of photo will need a wide-angle lens, so you can get reasonably close to the lensball, while taking a more standard landscape photo. In this photo, the lensball has become more of an accent in the photo, yet it’s still a focal point for the image. You’re looking at using repetition in your image, with the background of your photo appearing inside the ball as an upside-down image.

There are a number of strategies you can use to enhance this type of photo.
- The tunnel – A classic in photography, this works very well with the lensball as well. Use the infinity point of the tunnel and place the ball at this point in the photo. The tunnel will then frame the photo, and there’s a good chance the image in the ball won’t be noticeably upside down.
- Holding the ball – Holding the ball while photographing it is a popular form of lensball photography. Using a wide-angle lens will allow you to hold the ball, and include a lot of the background in your frame.
- Flipping the image – As the background is prominent in your frame, you might want to use post-processing to flip the image within the ball. You can learn how to do this here.
3. Getting closer

In this photo, the lensball fills the frame, and you can barely see the edge of the ball.

Alternatively, you can get much closer to the ball, and use a macro lens for your photo. You will need to scout a good location for this type of image.

In this photo, you’re using the ball much more like an external lens. Through the use of the macro lens, you can get close enough to the ball that you’re only photographing a portion of it. This allows you to use the curve of the ball as a line coming through your frame, with the main subject photographed within the ball. The outside of the ball will be blurred, even with a smaller aperture. With this in mind, keep the aperture to around f/8. This will give you a sharper image inside the ball.

4. Splitting the horizon line

Lines that can be bisected by the ball work especially well.

A great technique to use with the lensball is splitting the horizon.

This works well because of the effect refraction produces. If you line the ball up with the horizon line, the inverted image in the ball will invert along this line. When aiming for this type of photo, it’s important to get the horizon line exactly lined up. Getting this wrong is as bad as not getting your horizon line straight on a regular landscape photo. The following are some ideas that will help you acheive this type of photo.
- Holding the ball – Holding the ball up to the horizon line with your hand can be effective. It’s tricky to get the exact horizon line. Take multiple photos until you’re happy the horizon line within and outside the ball is lined up.
- Minimal landscapes – In order to split the horizon line, you need to be able to see the horizon line. Look for coastal, desert or other locations that don’t have objects blocking this line.
- Use the tripod – With the ball steady on a wall, or perhaps a rock you could use a tripod. With the camera on a tripod, you can make sure the horizon line is lined up. Once you’re ready to take the photo you’ll know this won’t shift as you take the photo.
5. Bending the horizon line

This photo shows the fisheye-like effect of the ball. You can see the horizon line in the ball is bent and distorted.

The lensball’s fisheye-like lens properties can, of course, be used in exactly the same way as a fish-eye lens. You can bend the horizon line in the lensball by raising or lowering it away from the horizon line. This can be used to creative effect with your photo.

If there is a lot of interest in the foreground, you could include more of these within the ball. Equally, if the sky is really dramatic, and you want to include more of that, you can. Simply lower the ball away from the horizon line, and watch the line bend towards the top of the ball, and more sky fill the bottom portion of the ball.

6. Distorting your main subject

This abstract portrait is the result of lensball distortion.

In addition to bending the horizon line, you can use the lensball to produce other distortions as well. Once again, think of the distortions a fisheye lens can make, and apply that to the lensball. You can use the ball to distort elements of your main subject, providing you can get close to your subject. This works well when the subject is smaller, so this won’t be effective with large architecture.

You can use this distortion to great effect with portrait photography. Here the aim is to distort part of the body, for instance, the eyes, to get a more creative portrait.

7. Photographing down onto the ball

Shooting directly down onto the ball can give interesting results.

A simple trick involves photographing down onto the ball.

Place the ball on the ground, and stand over the ball to photograph it. No inverted image will appear in the ball, but you will see a magnified version of what the ball is sat on.

This can work well for surfaces that have a texture. For instance, gritty sand or a pebble beach works well. Those photographers looking to create a series of lensball photos that have variety could attempt this style of photo.

8. A worm’s eye view

The worm’s eye view can work well. Note the ball is placed at the infinity point of the image.

The worm’s eye view means photographing below the ball and looking up. The only realistic way to do this is holding the ball above yourself, or better still, ask someone to hold the ball for you. This will mean a person’s hand will be in the photo, so look to incorporate this into your composition as best you can. Finally, you’ll need to find an interesting subject to photograph.

The following are some subjects that work well for this angle.
- Tall buildings – When close together these can form a tunnel-like look when looking straight up. Place the ball at the infinity point of this, and take your photo.
- Repetition – When you’re standing under something like a roof of repeating umbrella’s or lanterns, you can use the lensball to capture this.
- Dramatic sky – Sky photos can work well if the sky is interesting enough. This type of photo will be more interesting with a strong subject.
9. Reflection

Reflection works very well in lensball photography.

Photos that involve reflection will give you a strong composition. Of course, you need to use the right angle to maximize this reflection. In this case, your perspective will be as low to the angle as you can get.

However, there are scenarios where you can get great reflection photos without the need to get on all fours. In both of these cases, use a circular polarizing filter to increase the strength of the reflection.
- Ball on reflection surface – In this case, you’ll need to get a low angle, so you’ll be on the floor. Marble surfaces or a puddle will work well here. Your aim is to reflect the ball itself in the puddle.
- Ball in front of reflection surface – In this case, you’ll see a reflection surface like a large pond. It’s obviously too large to place the ball into it, but you can still capture the reflection. The ball needs to be placed or held in a position near to the reflection surface. Now within the ball, you’ll see both the reflected and the actual image. These images will both be refracted, so the reflected image will be the one that appears the right way up.
Creativity is in your hands

A change of perspective is a great creative option for every photographer and can lead to some really compelling results. The lensball, when thought of as an external lens, is a great creative tool. When used properly, it is capable of creating a great series of photos under the one theme.

So if you have a lensball, you can go out and try some of these ideas. If you don’t have one, why not get hold of one?!

Finally, we love to see your photos at digital photography school, so why not share some in the comments section below?

The post 9 Great Lensball Perspectives for Creative Photography! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.

Digital Photography School
September 16, 2019
Useful Ways You Can Use the Olympus Live Composite Feature for Long Exposures

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

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

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

Live Time

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

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

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

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

Long Exposure images simply mean that light sources get brighter

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

Problems with long exposure photography

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

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

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

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

Enter Live Composite

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

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

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

The mechanics of Live Composite

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

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

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

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

How to use It

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is very cool to watch as your image develops.

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

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

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

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

What kind of image works well with Live Composite?

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

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

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

Star Trails

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

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

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

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

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

Lightning

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

Lightning strike captured using the Olympus Live Composite Feature.

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

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

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

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

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

Fireworks

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

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

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

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

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

Night photography with bright lights and light painting

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

Digital Photography School

September 16, 2019
ACDSee Video Studio 4 Review – An Intuitive, Easy-to-Use Video Editing Software
The post ACDSee Video Studio 4 Review – An Intuitive, Easy-to-Use Video Editing Software appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

In this review, we take a look at the new video-editing software – ACDSee Video Studio 4.

Video is something that, as photographers, we seem to be delving into more and more. Whether that be capturing behind the scenes of photoshoots to create marketing material or simply a video of your photo adventures with friends, video is something many of us are either doing or may want to do. However, it’s not always as easy as that.

Video Studio 4 is great for editing short clips for social media or uploading to YouTube. It will not, however, enhance your skills in front of the camera, as you will see later in this review!

The main problem with video content isn’t necessarily shooting the video, but the editing process. I am sure some of you have lots of video footage that you always intend to make into a video (as I have), but it never gets made. You start with good intentions, but the editing always seems to be the sticking point. For those who don’t edit very often or are new to video, editing can be hard and so much software lacks user-friendliness.

Video software usually comes with a steep learning curve too. Those that many consider the standard, Premiere and Final Cut, aren’t particularly user-friendly to the novice user. You will end up spending hours of your time watching YouTube videos to simply understand the basics of how to create a simple edit for either of those pieces of software.

ACDSee has set out to change that. With their latest software, Video Studio 4, you get powerful video editing built into a software that is intuitive and simple to use.

Opening it up

When you launch the software, the layout you see may resemble others. However, with ACDSee Video Studio 4, this layout is streamlined, and the most useful stuff is there, ready and waiting.

On the left side, there are 10 different options for you to work with. They are laid out in a way that guides you through the process of editing from start to finish.

Let’s go through them to see how you can use each one.

The left panel

Media

Video Studio 4 accepts a wide variety of formats for audio, video, and images. These are:
- Image formats: JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, HEIC
- Audio formats: WMA, MP3, AAC, WAV, AC3, OGG, M4A
- Video formats: AVI, MP4, WMV, FLV, MOV, TS, MTS, M2TS, ASF, M4V, MPG, MPEG
As you can see, the software can handle pretty much any format you want to use. It is great to see such a wide range of options available. It means you don’t need to worry about converting files before editing.

Here is a variety of a png, JPEGs and HEVC iPhone footage. ACDSee Video Studio 4 handled them flawlessly.

Captions

Adding in titles and captions is simple and easy. A wide variety of fonts and placement options means you can create a title for your videos quickly.

There are several different styles to work with when it comes to adding titles and captions.

Audio Recorder

If you make videos, sooner or later you will find yourself in a situation where you need to record a voiceover. With ACDSee Video Studio 4, you can record audio directly into the software, thus, keeping everything together. This means you don’t have to move between programs to record extra audio. A really fantastic little tool that you may not think is useful – until you need it.

Transitions

With 30 different transitions to choose from, you can easily apply transitions between video clips. Tweaking these to your desired length is simply a matter of dragging them onto the timeline. Some are cheesy, some are incredibly cheesy, but you have options. I am a simple “fade” guy, but if you want something different, you will definitely find it here.

Whilst there are several to choose from, I rarely tend to look past a “fade” or “fade to black” transition. If you do, there are several options.

Audio Effects

Adding fade in and outs to your audio tracks is simple and easy too. You can do it manually, but by using the presets and then tweaking to get the desired effect, you can really save some time. You’ll also get your content created much quicker and easier than ever.

It is easy to add fade in and outs with audio in the program.

Animations

New in this version of ACDSee Video Studio 4 is the ability to use keyframes to make custom animations. This allows you to create bespoke animations for your clips, which is great when using a still image in your video.

There are also some great presets to use as starting points, which you can fine-tune to get your clips just how you want them.

You can start with one of the inbuilt animations or start from scratch.

Behavior

Behaviors are customizable entrance and exit effects. You can use these on a clip to really emphasize the clips’ start and end. Simply tweak each effect to customize it to your taste.

I really didn’t see where I would use this, and it feels a little gimmicky. This is a feature most people will not use too often, but in the right hands, I am sure you can do something cool with it.

Filters

ACDSee Video Studio 4 gives you many filter options to tweak the look of your clip. When applied, these filters tweak things like the clips color, and exposure. There are also several creative effects for quick and easy effects for your footage.

There are several options to explore here. Which ones you choose depends on your taste and preference, but there is something to please most people here. You will no doubt find your favorites when you have used the software a few times, and these will become your go-to filters.

You can add multiple filters should you need or want to. They stack on top of each other in the clip, and you can edit them individually.

This shows the exposure filter in action. It worked well on a clip that was underexposed. There are many others – some good, some that you probably won’t use.

Overlays

Overlays are effects that sit on top of your clips. Some of these, such as the animated hearts and bubbles, are an acquired taste and most of you probably won’t touch them (but will no doubt serve a great purpose for the young generation). However, light leaks and film scratches can give a great effect, depending on the look you are going for with your project.

You can add filters to give your footage a certain look. Some are a little cheesy IMHO, but there are some really nice ones, such as old film, which I used here.

Advanced Effects

This is where the software gets seriously impressive. Here you will find some features most commonly found in high-end editing software, yet they come with the ease and simplicity of use that makes Video Studio 4 so user-friendly.

Starting with one of the new features in Video Studio 4 is Remove Color. This is most commonly used for green screen work. This allows you to shoot against a green screen (or other color backgrounds) and remove it from the clip. You can then add in a background of your choice. This is great for YouTube videos, where you can buy a cheap green screen (or even use a green sheet) and then add in a background you created in Photoshop or similar. It can give you a host of creative options, is incredibly simple to use, and really powerful.

A new cool feature is Color LUTS. These allow you to add a variety of different color grade options to your footage to enhance their look.

Another new addition allows you to adjust the speed of your footage. You can create time effects such as slow-motion, or speed up the timing of your clip.

The last new addition is Mosaic, which is great to blur out items in clips, such as car number plates. This can then be sized and tweaked to match your clip. Again this is one of those tools that you probably won’t use very often, but when you do need it, you will be glad the software includes this handy tool.

You can add LUTS to color your footage. Start with a preset or upload your own. For the short video I created, I used Tinsel.

Using ACDSEE Video Studio 4

It’s one thing to list all the features of a software, but it is another thing entirely to put it in practice. With this in mind, I put a few things together in ACDSee Video Studio 4.

The first project involved taking a couple of clips from a photoshoot on my iPhone and making them into a quick clip for Instagram. I also wanted to try out the screen recording software that comes with Video Studio 4 so I used this to make a quick tutorial on creating custom animations in the software.

Lastly, I wanted to test one of the key new features, Remove Color.

Green screen test

As this was one of the new features of the software, I was keen to test it out. However, rather than test this with a perfectly lit green screen, I tested it in a more common situation. At first, I tried against a blue block wall, not expecting it to work at all.

Then I used a green screen I borrowed from a friend. Now, this is by no means a high-end green screen. In fact, one of the stands fell to pieces when we were putting it up and had to be held together with tape! I also didn’t iron the green material (as you can see in the clip). It was a very cheap eBay purchase, but it is the type of setup the most people will use when starting with a green screen, so I wanted to see the results.

I used no specialist lighting in the setup either. Again, with the right type of equipment, this is super easy, both for the editor and the software. But, I wanted to push it a little…

Here are the results:

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As you can see, the software worked pretty well on the green screen (just a slight issue with the reflection in my glasses) and surprisingly well on the blue wall, even if it didn’t manage to get it quite perfect. I think that a simple, smooth painted wall, with decent natural light, would work perfectly well for this type of work. Moreover, with an ideal studio lighting setup, it would work great.

The tutorial video

ACDSee Video Studio 4 also comes with software that allows you to record your screen, which I wanted to test to create a simple instructional video. As I am reviewing the software, I decided to make a quick tutorial on creating a logo animation. I simply selected the inbuilt Mic and Webcam and hit the record button.

When you have finished recording your footage, it drops it directly into Video Studio 4 ready to edit. Editing is then simple.

Here is the result:

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If you are looking to get into creating tutorial videos for your photography, or tutorials for any software, Video Studio 4 is great.

The Insta edit

What I see as the biggest possible use of this software is for quick, simple edits for Instagram. This software is perfect for that purpose –one of those situations where you just want to put a few clips together and make an edit as quickly as possible.

In this example, I had three phone clips I wanted to use. I also had my logo and background I created in Photoshop. With all I needed ready to go, I jumped into Video Studio 4 for the first time.

It is super simple to use, and within minutes I had a completed video.

The first thing I wanted to do was to create a quick intro using my logo. I saved my logo as a .png file so that I could keep the background transparent so it would work with layers. Then I placed both the background and the logo into the software. To add some animation, I used the custom animation feature in Video Studio 4. By dragging and dropping this onto the logo, I was able to quickly add two 360-degree motions to the logo to add interest.

It was easier than I imagined. Within 20 seconds, I had my animated logo.

Then I added transitions to the start and end of the clip as well as adding an old film overlay. That was it. One minute and I had a finished animated logo. If I wanted to, I could export this clip and use it in all future videos as an intro. That saves even more time when creating clips like this.

Next, I needed to insert my clips. Again, it was simply a matter of drag and dropping them to get them onto the timeline. To trim the clips to the required length, you have two options:
- drag the ends of the clip to where you want them, or
- split the clip where you want the edit and delete the part that you want to trim.
I found this splitting quicker, and this is what I did for the rest of the clip.

With my clips trimmed, I also needed to remove the audio. There are two ways you can do this: Method one is to adjust the sound level of the clip by right-clicking on it and selecting Edit Audio. This is great when you want to adjust the sound levels of a clip. In this case, however, I didn’t need the audio at all, so split the clip into separate audio and video tracks. This way, I was able to delete the audio from the clip quite simply.

You can either edit the audio level of clips or split the audio, which is what I did here. As I didn’t need sound, I simply deleted the audio from the clips.

I then added transitions between clips. While there are loads to choose from, you will probably find yourself going back to a select few. In my case, I have always tended to use Fade to Black or Cross Fade (called Fade in Video Studio 4).

For the last stage, I easily added a LUT to the footage. There are several LUTs in Video Studio 4, or you can upload them into the software. I decided to use the Tinsel LUT, which adds a color grade to the footage.

Adding music

When I watched the footage back, I decided I wanted to add some music. I used a track by A Himitsu, the details of which are as follows:

Adventures by A Himitsu, Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0

Music released by Argofox Music provided by Audio Library

Once I had the music in, I wanted to move my edits a little to match the music. Even though I had LUTs applied and fades in place, this was easy, and there was no lag when dragging clips around. The software felt speedy throughout using it, which was reassuring. With the music added, and clips altered, I just needed to add an audio transition to fade the music out, which I then tweaked until I was happy with it.

All complete, it was time to export my project. You can see the final edit below.

Export

Exporting is quick and easy and helped by Video Studio 4 holding your hand through the process. You can export and save to a file, or you can upload directly to YouTube or Vimeo. Just log in to YouTube and follow the instructions. In terms of time, the software exported quickly, and I didn’t notice a difference in export times compared to using other editing software.

You can also export to an animated gif, which is ideal for things like action sports clips.

As you can probably guess, the theme of simple and easy continues here. Video Studio 4 guides you through things in the beginning while allowing you the ability to be more creative as your confidence grows.

Video Studio 4 guides you through the export process. You can export to file or upload directly to YouTube, which is what I did. It was simple and worked perfectly.

Support

ACDSee has some great training videos for their software on their website. For those of you new to video editing, these are well worth a watch to get you started with Video Studio 4. I am sure that more will be added over time, but they have everything you need to get started. There is also great technical support should you have any other issues.

Below is an example of their training videos with Director of Photography, Alex Watson. Before anyone says it in the comments, I know his delivery is a little better than mine.

Who is this software for?

If you use Premiere or Final Cut, you will have more than likely not even made it this far. It is not as fully featured as these programs and is in no way a replacement, but that is not the purpose of this software.

ACDSee Video Studio 4 is for those who are new to video editing or who just want to create quality content without having to spend large amounts of time learning to use software.

While Video Studio 4 is incredibly user-friendly for the beginner, it also contains many features for those wanting to delve deeper and use more advanced features such as the green screen.

In a nutshell, the aim of Video Studio 4 is to create professional videos quickly and easily for those new to video. It does this impressively well.
It is really competitively priced, and for those who are new to video and use PC, I can’t think of a better alternative.

Final thoughts

ACDSee Video Studio 4 is a simple to use, yet surprisingly powerful video editor. It is not a replacement for Premiere, nor is it intended to be. There are some really powerful features in here, but it also contains some stuff that I would personally never use. For example, some of the fades and overlays feel cheesy and overdone. Then again, as a teen starting out with video editing, these will more than likely be fun, and I am sure they will get used in creative ways. Maybe it’s more me being an old stick in the mud for the classics?

If you have been thinking about adding video to what you do, I would recommend you try Video Studio 4. This is simple to do as ACDSee have a free trial, allowing you to try before you buy. When it comes to purchasing, you also have options. You can purchase the software outright, or you can get it as part of the ACDSee 365 plan, which also includes ACDSee’s Photo Studio software for a simple monthly payment.

ACDSee is known for offering alternative software that is feature-packed, simple to use, with a great price tag. With Video Studio 4, ACDSee has definitely cemented that reputation.

ACDSee is a paid partner of dPS.

The post ACDSee Video Studio 4 Review – An Intuitive, Easy-to-Use Video Editing Software appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School
September 16, 2019
7 Tips for Stunning Black and White Photography (Comprehensive Guide)

The post 7 Tips for Stunning Black and White Photography (Comprehensive Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

How do you achieve stunning black and white photography?

Black and white photography is one of the most intimidating genres out there, mostly because it’s associated with lots of established names, as well as the “fine art photography” label.

But here’s the thing:

Black and white photography isn’t actually difficult. In fact, it’s just like any other genre of photography: There are a few tips and tricks that, once you apply them to your shooting process, will instantly improve your black and white photos.

And that’s what this article is all about. I’m going to share with you seven tips for stunning black and white photography. And you’ll come away with the ability to take masterful black and white photos wherever you go.

Sound good?

Let’s dive right in:

1. Shoot in high-contrast light for the most impactful photos

Here is the number one thing you need to remember about black and white photography:

It’s all about the contrast.

In fact, if that’s all you take away from this article then you’ll have profited enormously, because contrast is the lifeblood of black and white photography.

Now, there are a number of ways to create contrast in your photos. And I’ll explore these different techniques below.

So let’s start at the very beginning:

With light.

If you can’t make the light work for you, your black and white photos are just going to look like a muddy mess. Instead, you need to recognize the type of light you’re working with, and you need to try to use that light to achieve as much contrast as possible.

The best light for black and white photography is (no surprise!) high-contrast light. More specifically, light on sunny days.

If you’ve explored other genres of photography, you’ll know that light on sunny days is harsh, it’s unpleasant, and it just doesn’t look good.

Unless you’re a black and white photographer.

Because bright, sunny light enhances dark tones and creates intense light tones. This looks amazing in black and white photos, and it’ll really take your black and white images to the next level.

If you want to do some shooting but end up with softer golden tones from later in the afternoon or early in the morning, you can try using heavy backlighting to create additional contrast.

2. Find contrast-heavy tones and put them together

You already know about the importance of contrast in black and white photography. And you know about the importance of using contrast-heavy light.

But even once you’ve got the best light, you still have to make sure that the tones of your photo lend themselves to the overall black and white look.

Now, the best black and white tones are very dark and very light. For instance, a great black and white might include a white sky and a dark house, or a bright character standing in front of a black building.

So when you’re out and about, look for tones that contrast. Try not to think in terms of colors, because the colors will just distract you. Instead, think about the relative brightness of tones.

And look for blacks and whites that go together.

Once you’ve found them, however, you’re going to need to follow a piece of compositional advice:

3. Simplify your black and white photos as much as possible

All photography, for the most part, benefits from a simple composition.

However, black and white images benefit from a simple composition the most. This is because black and white photography is meant to be simple. It has no complex colors. No chaotic color-contrasts.

Instead, it’s just…black and white.

So whenever you go to take your black and white shots, stop and think. Consider whether there are ways to simplify the shot.

Could you remove something distracting in the background? Could you use a wide aperture to make the background blur more? Could you change your angle so as to create a more non-distracting option!

Do anything you can to make your shot simple.

Simpler is better, all else being equal.

4. Try to capture raw emotion for compelling black and white photography

Here’s one of the great things about black and white photography:

It’s a genre that loves to capture emotion.

The smile of a person on the street. The laugh of a person crossing the road. The frown of a sad child.

These are all very photographable moments, moments that you shouldn’t miss out on. And black and white is the perfect way to record it.

In fact, I recommend you try to capture emotion with black and white photography. The somber look of a high-contrast black and white will take emotion and make it even more powerful in a photo. It might even give you a three-dimensional effect.

5. Use minimalism to make your compositions stand out

What is minimalism?

Minimalism is a compositional technique that emphasizes intense simplicity. And not the simplicity as I explained above, but a true, deep simplicity – one that’s built into the composition.

Let me explain:

Minimalism uses lots of white space to draw attention to your main subject. White space is just empty space in a photo. (It doesn’t have to be white – it can just easily be gray or black, as long as there’s nothing going on in that part of the image).

This is a minimalistic photo:

Minimalistic photography uses the weight of negative space to emphasize your subject. So you don’t have to be afraid of photos that are extremely minimalistic. And they’re pretty easy to pull off.

To create minimalist black and white photos, I recommend you find a background that’s smooth and pure, such as a white sky. Then place your main subject small in the frame, along one of the rule of thirds power points (or even just above or below the power point).

If all goes according to plan, then you should have a beautiful minimalistic photo! Don’t be afraid to play with the placement of your subject.

6. Shoot against the sky to achieve a silhouetted look

In the previous tip, I mentioned that a white sky makes for a nice minimalistic background.

And it’s true. A bright white sky can be used in a black and white photo to emphasize a darker subject, which is exactly what you want to do! When the sky’s especially bright, you might even produce a partial silhouette, where the main subject has no detail but stands out against a white background.

So here’s how it works:

Find the main subject. It can be any color, but darker tones work best.

Then get down low, so that the main subject is framed by the sky. If you’re shooting on a cloudy day, you’ll have plenty of bright light behind your subject (even if it doesn’t seem like it). If you’re shooting on a sunny day, a bright part of a blue sky should do the trick.

Experiment with different possible angles, while making sure that your main subject doesn’t overlap with anything around it or behind it.

Then experiment with different exposures. Take a few shots that are drastically underexposed, a few shots that are nicely exposed for the subject, and a few shots that are overexposed.

Eventually, you’ll find a technique you’ll like!

7. Shoot in color, then use post-processing to convert your photos

I’ve been talking all about capturing amazing black and white photos in-camera.

But a big part of the black and white photography process is the post-processing. After all, this is where you should be converting your color images to black and white shots!

When you first open your photos in an editing program, they may look bland. They might even look a little bad.

But don’t worry. Because here’s what you do:

First, you drop the saturation all the way down, until it’s completely gone. This should give you a photo that’s full of grays.

Then you lift the contrast so that contrast shines through, and makes the photo pop off the page.

I also recommend boosting the Whites and lowering the shadows. This will add further contrast to the photo. It also ensures a greater tonal range overall, which looks quite good!

Conclusion

If you’re looking to create stunning black and white photography, then you’ve come to the right place.

You hopefully now know all about black and white photography.

All that’s left…

…is to get out and start doing some shooting of your own. Amazing photos await!

The post 7 Tips for Stunning Black and White Photography (Comprehensive Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School

September 15, 2019
Photoshop vs Lightroom – the Power of Photoshop
The post Photoshop vs Lightroom – the Power of Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video from Nick Page, he Looks at Photoshop vs Lightroom and shows some things that Photoshop can do that Lightroom cannot.

In this tutorial, Nick covers the following using landscape photos as examples:
- How to use the Quick Selection Tool to select skies against difficult backgrounds so that you can change things like exposure, and contrast more selectively.
- How to use the Select and Mask tool to refine selections.
- Applying the selection as a new layer mask.
- How to fade your opacity levels of your selection.
- Using the Hue/Saturation adjustment.
- How to focus stack using layers, and Auto Align and Auto Blend Layers features.
- Using Exposure Blend and feathered brushes for realism in your photograph.
- A handy shortcut to create a white layer mask rather that a black one.
- How to use Levels Adjustment to alter your image contrast.
Do you use Lightroom, or Photoshop? Or both in conjunction with one another? Let us know in the comments.

You may also find the following helpful:
- How to Make a Cool Double Exposure Effect Using Photoshop
- How to Make an Awesome Pop-Up Card with your Photos
- How to Change a Background in Photoshop for Still Life or Food Photography
- How to Make an Animated GIF in Photoshop
- How to Create Custom Brushes in Photoshop
- Photo Editing: When Does it Get to be too Much?
The post Photoshop vs Lightroom – the Power of Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School
September 14, 2019
Weekly Photography Challenge – Landscapes

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

This week’s photography challenge topic is LANDSCAPES!

Photo by Simon Bond

Landscapes are one of my favorite things to photograph. Being out in nature with your camera is a wonderful experience. So for this week’s photography challenge, I’d love for you to get out in nature and take some lovely landscape photos. They can be color, black and white, moody or bright. Just so long as they are landscapes. You get the picture!

Have fun you awesome photographers, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Photo by © Jeremy Flint

Photo by Adam Welch

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

Tips for Shooting LANDSCAPES

11 Surefire Landscape Photography Tips

12 Tips to Help You Capture Stunning Landscape Photos

How to Photograph a Minimalist Landscape

The dPS Top Landscape Photography Tips of 2018

7 Landscape Photography Tips You’ll Wish You Knew Earlier

Easy Beginners Tips for Long Exposure Photography

How a Short Versus Long Exposure Will Affect Your Landscape Images

5 Framing Tricks to Help You Capture Better Landscape Photos

Weekly Photography Challenge – LANDSCAPES

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 #DPSlandscapes 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 – Landscapes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

September 14, 2019
The iPhone 11 Pro Features a New Triple Lens and Night Mode

The post The iPhone 11 Pro Features a New Triple Lens and Night Mode appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Apple has just announced three new iPhones: the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

And, as usual, these iPhones come with new cameras and new camera technology.

But will these new smartphones be enticing for photographers? And if you’re looking to purchase a new smartphone, should you grab an iPhone 11 Pro?

Read on to find out.

The iPhone 11 Pro Camera

First things first:

While Apple has announced three new iPhones, the iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 11 Max are basically identical, save for the screen size. Hence, both the 11 Pro and the 11 Pro Max have the same camera specs:

Three cameras.

An improved front-facing camera.

Deep Fusion technology.

Let’s take a closer look:

iPhone 11 Pro: a three-camera setup

The three-camera design is Apple’s first foray beyond their (now standard) 2-camera setup. The iPhone 11 Pro boasts a telephoto lens (52mm equivalent), a wide-angle lens (26mm equivalent), and an ultra-wide-angle lens (13mm equivalent). The new camera (the ultra-wide-angle) should make it possible to capture sweeping landscape shots, or simply to gain a wider field of view when doing group portraits and event photography.

While the wide and telephoto lenses incorporate optical image stabilization, the ultra-wide-angle lens does not. This shouldn’t be a huge problem, because camera shake is less apparent in wider lenses. But it’s nice to have a bit of image stabilization, especially for night shots.

And speaking of night photography:

Apple has finally added a Night Mode to the smartphone camera lineup. This will supposedly increase detail in night photos, making it possible to produce less noisy images in near darkness. Given the poor performance of iPhones at night, this is a feature that Apple phones have sorely needed.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait and see whether the iPhone 11 Pro’s regular shooting mode will have improved low light capabilities. I’m not holding my breath, however. The iPhone XS’s low light performance is dismal in low light compared to competitors such as the Google Pixel 3, and there are no indications of a significantly improved sensor on the iPhone 11 Pro.

While the iPhone 11 Pro rear cameras all sit at 12 megapixels, the front-facing camera will see an upgrade from 8 megapixels (in the XS) to 12 megapixels. The lens has also been widened. I don’t recommend using the front-facing camera for serious photography, but it’ll be nice to take some higher resolution selfies and wider selfie-group shots.

The iPhone 11

The iPhone 11 is the successor to Apple’s cheaper iPhone XR.

Fortunately, it offers a notable camera upgrade: from a single wide-angle lens, the iPhone 11 now features both a wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle lens setup.

It also includes Night Mode, which will make shooting in low light (hopefully) easier.

Deep Fusion technology

The most intriguing aspect of the new iPhone cameras is the promise of a Deep Fusion technology. This should work on all the new iPhones, including the iPhone 11.

While this feature won’t be rolled out until after the iPhones are released (in a software update), Apple claims that this new technology will allow your iPhone to capture nine images at once, process them, and create a final image that’s optimized for detail, noise, and dynamic range.

If the feature is as impressive as Apple claims, then we have a lot to look forward to.

The iPhone 11 Pro: Should you purchase it?

If you’re a serious smartphone photographer, you’re going to want the iPhone 11 Pro over the iPhone 11. No question. It offers the additional telephoto camera, which you’ll appreciate if you ever want to shoot portraits or street photos.

But how does the iPhone 11 Pro stack up against its competition?

Personally, I would wait to grab the iPhone 11 Pro until you see what Google comes out with this fall. The iPhone 11 Pro, with its triple cameras and promise of Deep Fusion technology, is appealing. But Apple is currently behind Google in terms of low-light capabilities. And you don’t want to buy a new smartphone, only to wish you had waited just a bit longer for the Pixel 4.

The iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max are available for preorder starting this Friday, September 13th.

What do you think of Apple’s new smartphone cameras? Will you be purchasing an iPhone 11 or an iPhone 11 Pro, or will you wait to see the Google Pixel 4? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post The iPhone 11 Pro Features a New Triple Lens and Night Mode appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School

September 13, 2019
Tips for Creating Awesome Double Exposures In-Camera

The post Tips for Creating Awesome Double Exposures In-Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Techniques for creating double exposures have been around since the beginning of film photography. While the days of being able to expose the same frame of film multiple times are mostly gone, a great many digital cameras do offer that functionality. While the technique can be unpredictable and hard to get right, that’s part of the charm of it (in my opinion) and what makes it so fun. This article provides you with a few tips to help you create double exposures in-camera.

What about Photoshop?

Photoshop (and alternatives) offer an infinite number of ways to blend exposures, but doing it in-camera can lead to spontaneous and unpredictable results.

Of course, you don’t need to do it in-camera. The almighty powers of Photoshop absolutely give you a great deal of control over blending images. You didn’t need to do it in-camera in the film days either as you could sandwich negatives together in the darkroom before putting them in the enlarger. So yes, by all means, use Photoshop to your heart’s content, but if you want to inject a bit of unpredictability and spontaneity to the process, do think about trying to create a few in the camera.

Understand the functionality in your camera

This first step may seem obvious, but every camera that I’ve run across handles the settings for double exposures in different ways. Taking the time to learn and understand how to set up your camera for multiple exposures ensures that when you get out to start creating the images, you know exactly what’s going on. For example, unless I turn on the right setting, my camera will take a single sequence of images and then revert back to normal settings. This can be (and has been) frustrating when I’m lining up a second exposure of a moving subject and find that I’m back to taking a single image.

This is probably just a matter of reading your manual and then putting it into practice a few times in your backyard or somewhere where the results don’t matter.

Start simple

While getting to grips with the technique, you can start simple with just a few moving elements to help you understand the process better.

When getting started with a technique like multiple exposures, it is easy to start snapping away without putting too much thought into it. The results can be less than inspiring and may even make you second guess the technique.

Try to keep it simple in the beginning. Instead of many exposures layered together, try to keep it to a simple double exposure until you figure out how the exposures work with one another. Of course, the results are almost always going to be unpredictable, but once you start to take a lot, you will quickly learn how to judge what two frames might look like on top of one another.

Look for bold shapes and textures

Mixing silhouettes and textures is an effective way of creating bold double exposure images.

One of the easiest ways to get results with double exposures is to overlay a texture onto a recognizable shape. Silhouettes of people work great for this. If you start your sequence with a silhouette, you can then take a photo of something with a lot of texture and the shadows of the silhouette will reveal that texture in the final image.

Another simple one for you to try is to layer your main image on a background of clouds. The whole concept is simple and done a lot, but it is still effective. If you start with these simple processes, you will quickly start to see how you can use the technique for more complicated images.

Think in terms of design

Finding things that match up together to make a cohesive image can be tricky, but when it happens, the results speak for themselves.

Because you are layering your images, it can help if they work together with a theme or if the final image helps to convey a message. Keeping the various elements in your images (whether that be the subjects, colors, lighting, etc) in line with your intended end result can help for better images. It also helps to start with your final composition in mind. How will the various elements line up? How will they react and line up with one another? Is there a particular sort of framing that would help tie the whole thing together? Asking yourself these questions before your camera is even out of the bag can help your final images be the best they possibly can.

Go abstract

The double-exposure effect can be weird and sometimes it’s best to embrace that weirdness.

Now, your images don’t have to be of anything at all. Don’t be afraid to go for the abstract (or non-objective if you prefer). You can layer a bunch of modern buildings (or the same building) together for some interesting effects where there is no real focal point.

You can do the same with multiple textures. Just roll with it and see what happens. You might find you have a bunch of images that don’t work, but you might also find that one that really, really does. Try looking for things with lines or shapes, without too much texture, that can overlap one another.

Block your lens

To manage your backgrounds while creating a double exposure in the studio, cover a portion of your lens with a black card to avoid the background being exposed twice. In the top middle of the frame, you can see where that has happened.

Block your lens if you want to photograph the same subject, human or inanimate, multiple times in one frame. You can use this trick for photographing fireworks to help control your exposure. When you’re lining up your first exposure, cover your lens with a piece of black card so that you are blocking the part of the frame that will contain the subject of your second exposure. In a double exposure, this will stop the background being exposed twice. Your backgrounds will be darker, but your subject will also be clearer where it appears in the frame.

Use grids

Turning on guides and grids in your camera can help you line up subjects between the multiple frames.

If your camera has the option for a grid overlay (rule of thirds) in the viewfinder, turning it on can help you to line up various elements throughout the multiple exposures.

It’s okay to post-process

Not everything is going to go right all the time. If something doesn’t line up, like Tower Bridge in this image, don’t be afraid to use Photoshop to help you get the results you were after.

Although this article is about creating double exposures in-camera, there is nothing wrong with taking your results and fine-tuning them afterward.

Did you overlay a silhouette with a texture but you don’t want the texture elsewhere in the frame? Photoshop can help. If it helps you to create what you had in your head, by all means, go for it.

That’s it

Creating double exposures in-camera is a finicky technique, but sometimes the results can be incredible. More important, it’s a technique that’s a lot of fun. I encourage you to go out and give it a try for yourself, and hopefully, some of these tips will make your results a bit more predictable.

Please share your results with us in the comments section – we’d love to see them!

The post Tips for Creating Awesome Double Exposures In-Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Digital Photography School

September 13, 2019