Category: Photography

Lensbaby Omni Creative Filter System Review
The post Lensbaby Omni Creative Filter System Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anabel DFlux.

I don’t know about you…but I like getting creative with my photography. Anything that helps make my work stand out against the myriad of photographers in the world (let alone in my very saturated city) is a must-have. However, what I enjoy the least is having to let my imagination soar solely in the editing room. If there is a practical way to do something unique, I’ll take that method.

Luckily, there is a company called Lensbaby that understands this on a deeper level. Home to some of the most unique lenses in the world (fondly called “art” lenses), Lensbaby pride themselves on developing equipment that gives you a slew of unusual in-camera effects.

Their lenses range from distortions like the ‘Burnside’ that swirls your bokeh and darkens the edges, to the more subtle ‘Velvet’ lens that simply softens the edge of the frame. Unfortunately, this comes at the price of relinquishing autofocus in their built-in-effects lens product arsenal.

But now, instead of having to rely on purchasing new lenses, Lensbaby has launched a product to help you turn the glass that you currently own into an effects lens. Best part? No more dealing with manual focus! Say hello to the OMNI Creative Filter System.

So… What is the OMNI Creative Filter System really?

“Shoot through crystals and other objects specifically engineered by Lensbaby to create professional and compelling in-camera effects. Designed to work with your existing lenses, OMNI offers control and repeatability without having to change your gear. The system comes with unique Effect Wands that attach magnetically and distort the light as it enters the lens – creating a myriad of magical in-camera effects.” writes Lensbaby.

The Omni Creative Filter System is a ring that holds various effect wands in front of the glass to produce an effect. These effect wands come in the form of crystals, panels, and other doohickeys that open a world of possibility when used. The awesome thing about this product is that you can sort-of ‘make a Lensbaby’ out of any existing lens that you own.

The Pain Pack

The main filter system comes with the filter ring and various step up and step down rings, three Effect Wands, a long arm to hold the Effect Wand, a short arm to hold the Effect Wand, two magnetic mounts (each mount holds up to two Effect Wands), and a small carrying case to tie it all together. OMNI is available in Small and Large versions and includes step-up and step-down rings to fit a range of filter thread sizes.

The three effects wands are known as the “Crystal Seahorse,” “Stretch Glass,” and “Rainbow Film.”

Crystal Seahorse uses its edge scallops to aid in producing complex flares, light redirection, and radiant reflections.

The Stretch Glass can mimic a light flare by creating streaks and reflections.

The Rainbow Film, one of my personal favorites in the set, is a diffraction panel that creates beaming reflective rainbows offset from any bright light source.

The Expansion Pack

If those three wands aren’t already enough, Lensbaby has an expansion pack that adds three more crystals to the mix. The new additions are titled “Crystal Spear,” “Triangular Prism,” and the “Scalloped Window.”

The Crystal Spear reminds me of a kaleidoscope and can create dream-like flares similar to such. The Triangular Prism mimics what some creative photographers are currently doing when holding up prisms to their glass (except, in this case, you don’t have to sacrifice a hand to hold it up!). The Scalloped Window is similar to the Seahorse of the main pack, but with a larger surface area that allows you to shoot directly through the center.

How to use the OMNI System

Whether or not you care to look at the instruction manual, the filter system is pretty self-explanatory in terms of use. There is a large-ringed, donut-shaped disc that holds the magnetic arms that in turn hold the effects wands. This disc, depending on your lens filter thread, can either be screwed on directly or use a step-down/step-up ring to attach to your lenses’ glass element.

It is key to note that when using the 82mm step-down ring, vignetting will occur at focal lengths wider than 50mm. I personally like vignetting, but some do not.

I was actually able to attach the OMNI Creative Filter System on to both my variable ND filter from Tiffen (to see if I could) as well as any old regular glass filter you may have in place to protect the glass. So for the record, filter stacking is totally possible here (but as to whether or not it’s recommended…that’s at your discretion).

The OMNI Creative Filter System is designed to fit most prime and zoom lenses on the market. But in my usage experience, the wider view lenses bring about the most prominent effect. That said, my 85mm lens did some really cool stuff with a few of the wands.

Build quality?

Sturdy, sturdy, sturdy – and did I mention sturdy? Nothing about this system feels flimsy. For the price point, it definitely needs to feel solid and inspire confidence. All of which it definitely does.

How much weight and size does it add to the lens?

My immediate first worry was how much weight and size the system would add to my equipment. I hold my gear for very significant amounts of time. Many of the types of shoots I do run well into the 6-hour range without much pause. As well as this, some of my shooting conditions tend to be tumultuous and take place in tight spaces. As such, the amount of bulk or discomfort something may add to my current kit is a pretty big deal.

Lucky for me (and for us all, I’d say), the OMNI isn’t such a nuisance. The system is lightweight, and I very seldom noticed a difference with the filter on my lens than with it off. The only lens I felt a difference on was my $ 100 cheap 50mm much-around-lens whose weight is equivalent to that of a feather (metaphorically speaking, of course), but on all of my L glass and G-Master lenses, a difference in weight was difficult to notice.

The system does add minor bulk and thickness to the front lens element, as the disc does protrude a wee bit, but it wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t impede my workday or any of the photo sessions!

The effect wands do stick out. However, in situations where I needed a flatter system (such as a live concert setting), I simply pushed the wands down.

But is it comfortable?

Drumroll, please…

YES!

I found the system very comfortable to use. Depending on how dextrous your fingers are, I was actually able to consistently shift the effect wands and their magnetic arms into position without ever taking my hand off of the lens itself.

Once you get a grasp on the actual distance between the front of the lens and the filter, you can easily make necessary adjustments without needing to take your eyes off of the viewfinder.

Though the magnets are very sturdy and keep the wands from flying off, the metal balls are still easy to spin and maneuver around. So much so, that just the use of one finger was honestly fine for me.

Review in practical use

“That looks a bit like a steampunk contraption,” said one of my clients when I first attached the OMNI to my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. On the first impression, all those individuals that I began using the creative filter system on were very intrigued. Client intrigue can open fun and useful dialogue – an unintentional benefit.

Attaching the system is quick and simple, and takes very little time. I enjoyed the fact that it didn’t look like I was fumbling or struggling in front of a client. That’s always a good sign. If anything, the more wands I pulled out, the more interested I noticed my subjects were.

It did take me a few minutes of finagling and experimenting to get the most out of each wand. So I would suggest everyone who purchases the system take a day to become very familiar with each effect. Even then, I still find myself discovering new uses for each wand with every photoshoot I use them on! A very exciting thing, indeed.

There is a very significant difference between using the effect wands in a controlled indoor situation and using them outdoors. When paired with studio lighting inside, most of the wands brought out very bright and striking results. They often pulled colors I didn’t even know were present! When used outside in natural light, the effects became a bit more muted and more natural in nature.

This is a great difference depending on the look you are going for.

You should really experiment with this equipment to see what works best for you. However, I found that the trick to getting the most out of the system is to shoot at a wider millimeter lens and a wider aperture.

The wide frame allows the effect to really bleed into the image while the shallow depth of field produced by the wide aperture helps blend the effect.

I took my OMNI kit to both easy-peasy, no-fuss photoshoots and chaotic and intense situations. The simple sessions were flawless, as expected, but the spontaneous and more chaotic shoots were where the real test was.

When taking the system on tour with me working with a band, I did run into the issue of the system not being sturdy enough in a live concert setting. Granted, if the venue has a photo pit and the band does not encourage crowd-surfing, the system can work brilliantly. However, in my situation, I was shooting in dive bars with no photograph barricade, and the music definitely brought about more than one crowd surfer. Alas, this system was a no-go on that front.

However, this is a very specific and niche issue to have, so I don’t fault the system whatsoever on that front!

The Omni is very much a “what you see, is what you get” product. In practical use, this is simple and easy. Just the way we like it.

Pros:
- Turn any lens into a practical-effects system! Step-down rings are included.
- Well-built and lightweight.
- Very simple to customize.
- Easy to use, ready right out of the box.
- A good variety of effect wands to create all sorts of interesting looks.
- The ability to create repeatable and consistent effects.
- Comes with a carry case that helps keep everything very neatly organized.
Cons:
- You need to disassemble and reassemble for most camera cases and packing situations.
- There may be some vignetting with the step-down rings.
Conclusion

Yes, it is possible to achieve similar effects by simply holding up a prism or other such geometric crystal to your lens, but that can be a nuisance. Instead, why not have something that simply attaches and holds firm?

As such, the OMNI Creative Filter System is a worthwhile and lasting product. It helps give the equipment you currently have an extra edge (without any permanent modification).

Have you tried the OMNI Creative Filter System? Let me know your thoughts (or any questions) in the comments!

The post Lensbaby Omni Creative Filter System Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anabel DFlux.

Digital Photography School
August 13, 2019

How to Use Multi-flash to Capture Compelling Action Photos

The post How to Use Multi-flash to Capture Compelling Action Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Have you ever been to a disco, performance, or another place where they used a strobe light? If so, you saw the interesting effect the rapid flashing creates. Smooth movement gets broken into a series of frozen-stepped motion, not unlike the frames of an old-time movie. Now, what if you could do that with your still camera? Create a series of images all within one frame? If you have a portable flash or studio strobe capable of generating the stroboscopic effect, there’s a good chance you can do this. You can create images that are a great way of analyzing and showing motion. This article will show you how.

How many times did the flash fire during this sequence? Count the number of steps.

Different flash manufacturers may use different names for this capability.

Canon, GoDox, and Yongnuo call it the Multi-Mode, while Nikon calls it the Repeating Flash Function. Whatever you call it, it’s the capability to have multiple, rapid-fire flashes during one camera exposure.

The best way to see if your flash is capable of this effect is to read your flash manual. If it has the capability, a photo illustration will often accompany it, showing the kind of images possible.

If your flash unit supports it, there will be three constants you can control regardless of the make or model of your flash unit. They are:

1. Power output

This controls the intensity of the light output. Typically, output runs from 1/1 – (Full power), down in fractions of that, often like 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128. The smaller the fraction, the less intense the flash output.

There are two other things to remember about the flash output:

The higher the output, the more battery power used and the longer it will take to recycle the flash before its ready for another burst.
The duration of the flash is shorter as the output power gets lower. As a result, lower power/shorter durations have more “stopping power” when it comes to freezing motion.

The chart below shows approximate flash durations for various power settings on a Canon 580EX Speedlight.

Flash Output Setting	Flash Duration
1/1	1/250 of a second
1/2	1/919 of a second
1/4	1/2,066 of a second
1/8	1/3,759 of a second
1/16	1/6,024 of a second
1/32	1/9,470 of a second
1/64	1/14,000 of a second
1/128	1/20,000 of a second

2. Number of flashes

This one is easy and is exactly what it says – the number of times the flash will fire during the exposure.

Set it for however many times you want the flash to fire in your image. That’s how many “steps” of the moving object you will see.

3. Frequency

This one can sometimes throw the new user as it uses a term not always familiar to everyone – Hertz. In very simple terms, hertz refers to the number of cycles in one second. So, 1Hz = 1 flash per second, 10 Hz = 10 flashes per second, etc.

Image: The three settings you can control are – Power Output, Number of Flashes, Frequency (Fl...

The three settings you can control are – Power Output, Number of Flashes, Frequency (Flashes per second or Hertz). This is a Canon 550EX Flash.

The Formula

Here’s how you put it all together.

Figure out how much power output you need and set that. Your distance from the flash to the subject will help you determine that. So will how fast and how many flashes you expect to fire and how much “freezing action” you need.

Then think about the speed of the action you intend to capture and its duration. Finally, determine how many steps you want to see freezing the action.

The formula looks like this:

# Flashes/Hz = Shutter Speed

Let’s use an example. You want to take a strobed shot of a hammer swinging down and striking a nail. You can put the flash close to the action and so 1/32 power might be enough. If you use a slow swing, you can complete the action in one second. You’d like 6 steps of action in the shot.

Plug those numbers into the formula:

6 Flashes/6 Hz (6 flashes-per-second) = 1 Second

Now say you want to capture something faster like a club hitting a golf ball off a tee. You can still get the flash close enough to use 1/32 power. You want 15 steps in your sequence and guess the action will take just 1/30th of a second to complete.

Here’s how the formula looks for that:

15 Flashes/199Hz = ~1/15th Second

The formula is right, but perhaps the Speedlight you’re using, (in my case a Canon 550EX), is only capable of 199Hz maximum. Even at that, the shutter speed would have to be about 1/15th of a second, not the 1/30th you wanted. Could you live with just 8 steps in your shot?

8 Flashes/150Hz = ~1/20th Second.

Closer. If you slow down your swing, it just might work.

You will find that at the higher hertz rates the flash strobes so fast that it seems like just one burst. However, when you check your shot, a fast-moving subject done with a high flash-per-second (hertz) rate should show the individual steps.

A bright object on a dark background will help a lot when using this technique.

Adjusting Exposure

You’ve used the formula to determine what numbers you want to enter into the flash, and that’s determined your minimum shutter speed. Here, however, the flash is firing within the scope of the shutter duration, and shutter speed isn’t really a factor in setting exposure.

Here’s what is:

Ambient light

You want the flash doing the work here. Also, you will typically be shooting at longer shutter speeds to capture the duration of the action.

Ambient light is not your friend here as it will begin to force settings you may not want. You will also want to eliminate distractions in the shot as the steps of the object in motion will create a busy enough image already. Your best bet is to work in a darkened room and use a black or very dark background.

Do your setup with a work light on and then before making the shot, switch it off, so the flash is the only source of illumination.

That leaves a few things you can do to adjust exposure:

ISO

ISO adjustment can be helpful here as it allows you to have the aperture and shutter speed where you want them and adjust this third leg of the exposure triangle to get the exposure where you need it. As always, to limit noise try to keep ISO as low as possible, but also remember modern cameras have become far less noisy in recent times. Know what your camera can do and at what point you will get too much noise.

Aperture

You will want to adjust your aperture as much as anything by the depth of field you need for your particular shot. Also, keep in mind that most lens “sweet spots” where they perform best are between f/8 and f/16 so try to be in that range if you can. After that, adjust your aperture for exposure if you need to. However, use ISO first and this next setting next:

Flash Power

Remember, this is one of the settings you enter into the flash. The flash output will very much control your exposure. The best rule of thumb here is to only use as much as you need.

We spoke earlier about these, but to recap, these are the advantages of lower flash power settings:

Uses fewer battery resources – (If you have an external power source for your flash, use it. Stroboscopic flash work drains batteries fast.)
Flash will recycle faster
Lower power = shorter flash duration = more “motion-stopping capability”

Increase the flash output if you need to, but also consider an ISO increase.

You may also find the flash will limit what you can input, especially with higher power settings. To allow sufficient time to recycle between flashes, and also to prevent the flash from overheating, it may not allow many flashes or a higher hertz setting at higher power settings.

For example, my Canon 550EX can shoot 70 continuous flashes at 10Hz if the power is turned down to 1/128 power. However, it can only shoot 2 consecutive flashes at that same 10Hz rate if the flash power is turned up to 1/4 power.

The Multi-Mode on this Canon flash will not work at all if the flash power is set at anything higher than 1/4 power. Full or 1/2 power in Multi-Mode on the 500EX? No can do.

The flash manual has a chart showing how many sequential flashes are possible at various power and hertz settings. Also, the flash programming will not allow settings to be input that exceeds the flashes capabilities.

Canon also warns:

To prevent overheating and deterioration of the flash head, do not use stroboscopic flash for more than 10 frames in rapid succession. After 10 frames, allow the 550EX to cool for at least 10 minutes.

So, whether using a Canon Speedlight or another make/model, know that stroboscopic flash works your unit hard and be aware of its limitations.

One more thing

Here’s one more thing to think about when inputting the three parameters into the flash and calculating the shutter speed. When you click the shutter, the flash will immediately begin it’s strobed sequence.

If you input, say, 1/32 power, 6 flashes at 6hz, per the formula, it will take 1 second for the flash to complete the programmed cycle. However, there’s no reason that the shutter speed couldn’t be longer, especially since in low ambient light conditions little if any additional light will add to the exposure once the flash cycle completes.

So to amend the formula just slightly:

# Flashes/Hz = Minimum Shutter Speed

With no additional flashes after the sequence completes, further action is not likely to be seen in the shot. So, overestimating the shutter speed is usually not a problem. Underestimating the shutter speed, however, won’t allow the flash sequence to complete before the shutter closes.

Image: These are the settings for the golf club shots below. Count the steps in the photo and you...

These are the settings for the golf club shots below. Count the steps in the photo and you’ll see it corresponds to the setting here – 12 flashes. At 80hz, the flash was firing 80-times-per second or another way to put it, every 1/80th of a second.

Determining the exposure

We’ve covered how to determine shutter speed, but how about aperture, ISO and flash output power? There’s a couple of ways to approach this:

Use an external light meter. Fire the flash and take a reading as you normally would with an external meter. Use that to determine your camera setting at the predetermined shutter speed. Adjust ISO, aperture, and/or flash output power to get proper exposure. If you are familiar with using an external flash meter, you will know how to do this. But maybe you don’t have an external light meter. If not you could try…
Looking up the Guide Number of your flash, determine the distance to your subject and, using the formulas in your flash manual, calculate your settings. Uh, yeah, that can work. But if math is not your forte, you could always try Option Three…
The “Trial and Error Chimping Method.” Okay, that’s my name for it. But it simply involves starting at say an ISO of 100, an f/stop of about f/8, and flash output power of 1/32nd power. Set the number of flashes and Frequency (Hertz) where you think best. Shoot, “chimp” the shot, (that means take a look at the LCD playback), and if the image is too dark, increase the flash power or open the aperture. Test, chimp, and repeat as needed until you get it dialed in. Digital film is cheap, and once you figure out your settings, unless you change the flash-to-subject distance, you should be set for the session.

Other considerations

Colors/brightness of objects

You will very quickly find that because each step of the sequence in a shot only gets a portion of the total light during the entire exposure, darker objects in motion may not show up well during the exposure. Also, because static objects in the shot will get the full sum of the light, they will be brighter.

You can learn from your mistakes, but why not learn from mine instead?

Image: A patterned background too close to the subject and a golf club with a black shaft and head m...

A patterned background too close to the subject and a golf club with a black shaft and head made this less than it could have been.

In the shot above, I used a dark, patterned photographers popup background. I should have used a solid black background. Also, the background was too close to the subject. Finally, the golf club used had a dark head and shaft, and so while the white ball, golf tee, and reflective chrome parts of the club showed up reasonably well, other parts of the club disappeared. Finally, the patterned background got too much light such that the pattern interfered with the shot.

Here’s the lesson you can learn:

Use a black, plain background and place it as far from the subject as you can such that little if any light illuminates it.
Pick bright objects to use so that even while in motion, they reflect the light as much as possible so the steps in your sequence show up well.

Above, the bright orange color of the bell pepper and a dark black background worked much better.

A re-do of the golf shot incorporating those principals resulted in a much better shot.

Adding some reflective tape to the shaft of the golf club helped it show up better.

Remote trigger

Unless you have an assistant (or maybe three hands), trying to control the camera, perform whatever action you’re trying to capture, and then get the timing right is perhaps not impossible, but adds an additional degree of difficulty. A remote trigger allowing you to fire the camera as you start the action sequence can be a huge help. If you are mounting your flash off-camera, a means of triggering the flash will also be necessary. Use either a wired connection, wireless radio trigger, or infrared camera/flash system.

Another level of sophistication, if you want to add it, would be a flash trigger, perhaps activated by sound, breaking a laser beam or other activation method.

I have used the MIOPS Smart Trigger on other photo projects with success. A real advantage it adds is precision and repeatability of a shot – something that you will otherwise leave up to luck and timing.

In a dark environment, use bulb mode. Open the shutter, and when the action activates the flash trigger, (i.e., breaking the laser beam or creating a sound) the flash fires its strobe sequence.

Good flash triggers aren’t cheap. However, if you do a lot of this kind of work, they significantly speed up the work and the permit repeatability of a shot saving a lot of time and effort.

Practice makes perfect

Like any photography, practice will improve your results with stroboscopic flash work. You will better learn how the three flash settings; Flash Power, Number of Flashes, and Flashes-per-Second (Hertz) work together to craft a shot.

You will also learn what kinds of action sequences make good shots and how to tune your composition, camera settings, and finally edit your photo for the best results. You will also find that making lots of shots, checking your work, fine-tuning and repeating is key to getting that one really great keeper.

I hope you will take the time to try and learn this new flash trick and then share your results in the comments. If you have questions or other comments, please share those too.

I’m excited to hear how it went and see some of your images. Best wishes!

You may also find the following helpful:

Special Effect – How to Create Multiple Flash Exposures in a Single Frame
How to do Multiple Exposures In-Camera
How to do Creative Water Splash Photography with Off-Camera Flash
Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash

The post How to Use Multi-flash to Capture Compelling Action Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Digital Photography School

August 13, 2019

5 Nature Photography Editing Tips to Create Stunning Images in Seconds

The post 5 Nature Photography Editing Tips to Create Stunning Images in Seconds appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Do you ever feel like your nature photos are just a bit…bleh? Like they could use something more?

It’s a common problem. Because while you can be a master of light, composition, and camera settings, there’s still one thing you need for amazing nature photography:

Editing.

You see, editing is how you make your nature photos shine. It’s how you add a final touch to your images. It’s how you take a slightly bland image, and make it into something truly stunning.

In this article, I’m going to share with you nature photography editing tips so you know exactly how you can create amazing nature photography edits.

And you’ll come away with the ability to enhance every single one of your nature photos.

Sound good?

Let’s get started.

1. Straighten and crop to emphasize your main subject

First things first:

If your nature photo is crooked…

…then it just won’t work. No matter how amazing the content.

(This is especially a problem for landscape photos, where crooked horizons are extremely obvious.)

You see, a crooked photo is just disorienting. It causes the viewer to get caught up in being imbalanced and makes them forget all about the subject.

So the first thing you should do to enhance your nature photos:

Check to make sure your photo is straight. And if it isn’t, straighten it! Pretty much every photo editing program offers straightening tools, so make use of them.

I handheld this swan photo, and so it required a bit of straightening:

Once you’ve straightened your photo, it’s time to think about cropping.

Now, if you’ve composed carefully in-camera, you won’t necessarily need to crop. But it’s easy to miss something small while looking through the viewfinder. Maybe there are some leaves dangling in the corner of the frame!

In which case:

Crop!

By removing distractions, you’ll make your photo stronger overall. You should also crop to improve your composition. For instance, you might crop slightly to place your main subject on a rule of thirds gridline.

Or you might crop to place a symmetrical subject smack-dab in the middle of the frame, like this:

Basically, just think of cropping as a second, more measured chance at composing.

Use it to nail the perfect final composition. But don’t think that you need to crop each time a photo comes up. And try to get the composition right in-camera.

After all, crops automatically reduce resolution!

2. Drop the blacks and up the whites to add interest

If you think that your nature photos are looking a little flat, then you might be suffering from a common problem:

Low contrast.

Low-contrast photos generally lack interest. There’s not a clear difference between the subject and the background, so the whole shot just seems to blend together.

Fortunately, this can be fixed pretty easily with a bit of post-processing!

First, basically, every photo editing program offers a contrast slider. For a quick-and-dirty edit, go ahead and boost up this slider.

However, I’d go for something a bit more controlled.

In Lightroom, for instance, I like to use the adjustment sliders to drop the blacks and increase the whites, like I did for this photo:

You can also use the tone curve function to create a nice s-shape, which will give you the same effect.

If my image is fairly low contrast to start with, I’ll add a touch of contrast and then leave things be.

But if my image already has a lot of light and dark tones, I like to push the contrast further. This is especially the case if I’m taking photos in black and white.

Therefore, I’ll add to the blacks until the deepest shadows are close to losing detail. And I’ll increase the whites until the brightest parts of the photo are almost clipped.

3. Clean up your subject with a bit of Healing or Cloning

Now it’s time for some careful adjustments.

You see, many subjects in nature photography could use a bit of cleaning up. Because they tend to have dirt or blemishes that interfere with the overall look of the photo.

For instance, I often clean up my flower photos. Insects chew holes in the petals, or the tips of the flowers start to wither. And if I were to leave these elements in, they would simply distract from the overall shot.

If you’re a bird photographer, think about cleaning up the bird’s surroundings. There are often stray branches in photos of woodland birds. There is often dirty sand and distracting shells in photos of shorebirds.

On the other hand, I would not advocate making extensive modifications to your subject. I like to portray nature as close to reality as possible. And that means holding myself back from altering my subject in any deep way.

I generally use Lightroom’s excellent healing tool to remove these blemishes. But any clone tool will do the job. It’ll just require a bit more work.

4. Simplify the palette with Color Adjustments

In nature photography, I advocate simplicity:

Simpler shots are generally best.

But that doesn’t just go for composition. It’s also true for color.

In other words, for a stunning photo, you should try to limit the number of colors you include. One color works just fine. Two is nice. Three is good. Four is reaching the upper edge.

After that, the colors contribute a sense of chaos to the scene, which is exactly what you don’t want.

Fortunately, you can work on simplifying your color palette after you’ve taken your shots.

All you have to do is use the color adjustment sliders. In Lightroom, these are the hue, saturation, and luminance (HSL) adjustments.

Here’s a couple of ways you can simplify your colors:

First, you can desaturate any colors that you want to deemphasize, and saturate any colors you’d like to bring out.

Second, you can change the hues of several colors to look more similar. For instance, you might make greens slightly bluer and blues slightly greener, so that everything leans toward a balanced middle color.

Third, you can darken any problematic spots of color. If you have a splash of orange in the background that you just don’t like, you can dial it back by simply darkening the oranges.

Unfortunately, there’s no set formula for working with color adjustments. But I always recommend you keep a final goal for the photo in mind: simplicity.

And I should note: It’s easy to overdo color adjustments so that you end up with a garish, oversaturated scene. I suggest that you always check your color edits the day after you’ve finished, and make sure that the edits still seem to make sense.

That way, you can be sure that you haven’t taken things overboard.

5. Use a subtle Split Tone to give a polished look

Here’s your final piece of advice for nature photography post-processing:

Use (subtle) split toning!

Now, split toning is a bit complex:

It allows you to choose a color to add to the shadows of the image, and a color to add to the highlights of your image.

For instance, you can add a yellow to the highlights, and make the whites of the image look very warm:

Then you can add a blue to the shadows, and make the dark parts of the image look very cold:

In fact, yellow/blue split toning is extremely common in cinema, because the warm/cold contrast makes the visuals more compelling.

Now, in nature photography, you don’t want to split tone to the extent they do in cinema. The point of a nature photography split-tone is to subtly enhance the colors.

So here’s what you should do:

Once you’ve finished your main editing, head over to the split-toning options in your editing software. This isn’t an edit offered by every post-processing package, so check to see if it’s something you can do.

Then simply play around with the split toning options. Be careful to keep things pretty minimal. You don’t want to grossly alter the colors of the photo. You want something subtle.

The yellow-highlights, blue-shadows split-tone is one that works pretty consistently, so it’s something that I suggest you try.

But feel free to experiment with many split-tone options.

And pick the one you like best for a wonderful finishing touch!

5 nature photography editing tips to create stunning images in seconds: next steps

Nature photography editing is just the thing you need to add a bit of punch to your photos.

So I suggest you have a consistent post-processing workflow, one which allows you to take your pictures to their full potential.

That’s how you’ll really create a polished nature photography portfolio.

Which nature photography editing step do you think is most useful? Let me know in the comments right now!

The post 5 Nature Photography Editing Tips to Create Stunning Images in Seconds appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School

August 12, 2019
6 Scenarios to Try for More Interesting Beach Photography

The post 6 Scenarios to Try for More Interesting Beach Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

Coastal adventures are a spectacular way to explore with your camera and to soak in the sea views and fresh sea air. There are so many amazing beaches and miles upon miles of coastline around the world or closer to home to entice photographers to the sea. Beautiful seascapes can vary from wide open clifftop vistas to picturesque harbors, tranquil ocean views, secluded coves, and even fishing villages. Here are 6 scenarios to try for more interesting beach photography:

1. Monumental views

Sailing boat at sea

Firstly, take in the bigger picture when capturing your seascapes.

Seek out and find those great sweeping ocean views that cover a wide expanse of sea. Be sure to use a wide-angle lens to photograph the scene too. By photographing the sea and sky, you can add another element to the scene to improve your photos.

An interesting sky also adds texture and atmosphere to the sea view and creates interesting beach photography.

2. Interesting patterns

Cornwall, England

During your adventures at the coast, look for interesting patterns and textures to photograph. You will find many details such as shells, patterns in the sand, and interesting rocks. Rockpools can be great subjects to focus your camera on to make dramatic beach photos.

Consider how your image may be affected by the tide and decide what you most want to achieve with the look of your photos. Shooting at high tide or low tide can alter the appearance of your image. At high tide, for example, some attractive rocks may look even better with the swell of the ocean circling them as opposed to when the tide is out, and the rocks separate from the sea. Try to time your visit to coincide with your photo objective. Alternatively, visit a location and plan a return visit when the tide levels are suitable.

3. Secluded coves

Cornwall, England

Finding and photographing a secluded cove is a great way to spend your adventures capturing coastal scenes.

When photographing these wonderful locations, find a suitable vantage point from higher up, such as on a ledge or from beach level. Take care when photographing the sea and be careful when standing near cliff edges or moving over slippery rocks – they can be treacherous.

Another thing to be aware of is the tide times, which are very important for your own safety. If you can coincide your visit when the tides are receding this is usually a favorable time to prevent being trapped by the incoming seas or being caught out by a rogue wave.

4. Find hidden gems

Cornwall, England

Think beyond the familiar landmarks when photographing the coast. There are endless opportunities and locations for you to discover.

One of the best ways to find new places is to explore the coast on foot. Instead of heading for the nearest beach, venture out for a long walk along the coastal paths. You never know what you might see. Behind every turn and headland, there are often hidden gems to discover. These may include secret beaches that have seen few visitors. Perhaps you will find sea caves lying beneath the clifftops which have been formed by the sea eroding the land over time.

5. Coastal shores

Cornwall, England

Coastal shores can offer some of the most dramatic and best photo opportunities for seascapes. Crashing waves and moody skies after a storm can be great for your coastal photos.

How you capture your coastal adventures depends on the type of image and mood you want to evoke.

The coast can look very different throughout the day. You could either go there in the late afternoon to capture the suns rays striking the cliffs or visit during the day when the beach is busier and more active with people.

Visiting at different times of the day will give you the chance to capture a wide variety of shots to include in your collection.

6. Sunsets

Land’s End, Cornwall, England

Photographing Sunsets by the sea are one of the most popular things to capture – and for a good reason. The coastline often looks its best at this time of day when the colorful glow is spectacular. Views of the sea get transformed into wonderful vistas with great light. Sand dunes and rock ledges can look great with the sunset light shining on them.

Shooting into the sun is another great way to capture the sunset during your coastal adventures.

Conclusion

Use these tips to capture more interesting beach photography and seascape images. Next time you are visiting the coast remember to look out for great ocean views, interesting details, secluded coves, hidden beaches, coastal vistas, and dramatic sunsets and share your images with us below.

What do you enjoy about beach photography?

The post 6 Scenarios to Try for More Interesting Beach Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

Digital Photography School

August 12, 2019
The Easiest Way to Achieve Rich Skin Tones in Photoshop!
The post The Easiest Way to Achieve Rich Skin Tones in Photoshop! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video by PiXimperfect, you’ll learn the easiest way to achieve rich and beautiful skin tones in Photoshop.

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In this tutorial, advanced Photoshop masking tools are used to target only the skin tones in the image. After selecting the skin tones, adjustment layers are used to add color to it.

The easiest way to achieve rich skin tones in Photoshop:
1. Open your image in Photoshop.
2. To begin your selection of the skin, go to Menu->Select->Color Range.
3. To select the skin correctly, be sure to select “Sample Colors” (not “Skin Tones” because this feature doesn’t capture the skin tones with accuracy).
4. Firstly, decrease the Fuzziness value to around 15, and then select the first Eyedropper tool. Using the eyedropper tool, click on one part of the skin in your image. To see what your selection is, ensure that you mark Selection in the Color Range window.
5. Now select the second Eyedropper with the + symbol to extend the selection of the skin range. To do this, click and drag your Eyedropper tool across all skin tones until you have selected them all. Make sure no area is left out.
6. You don’t want to keep the selection harsh, so go to the Fuzziness Slider and change it to around 55, and then click OK.
7. Now that you have a selection of your skin tones, or colors similar to your skin tones, click on the Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers Palette. Choose “Solid Color.” This opens up the color palette window. In the RGB section, put in the following numbers – R: 255, G: 46, B: 1, and click OK.
8. Change the Blend Mode in your Layers Palette from “Normal” to “Linear Light.” Rather than lower the Layer opacity, you are going to lower the “Fill” to around 5-10%.
9. Take a look at your image and see if any areas have turned out too harsh with the blend. If so, choose your mask, then select the Paintbrush tool and paint those areas (with your brush color set to White) to soften the transition. You can decrease your brush flow if you want to.
That’s it!

Do you have any other tips you’d like to share with us? Do so in the comments section!

You may also find the following helpful:

Basic Skin Smoothing in Photoshop

Understanding Masking in Photoshop

How to Blend in Adjustments Using Layer Masking in Photoshop

How to Use the Clone Stamp Tool in Photoshop to Make Clear Skin

How to Correct Skin Blemishes Using the Patch Tool in Photoshop

How to Replace Colors in Your Images Using Photoshop

How to Enhance Colors Using Photoshop’s Color Range Tool

The post The Easiest Way to Achieve Rich Skin Tones in Photoshop! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School
August 10, 2019
SEO For Photographers – How to Bring More Business to Your Site

The post SEO For Photographers – How to Bring More Business to Your Site appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

In today’s digital world, there is so much to learn on the technology side. As a photographer, Search Engine Optimization may be far down on your list of what you give your time to.

However, good SEO is vital to your success, as it can help your website rank higher in searches on major search engines such as Google.

It may come as no surprise that studies show up to 80% of click traffic goes to the top three search results. People are more likely to refine a search than go on to the second page if they don’t immediately find what they’re looking for.

Strong SEO translates into ranking high in organic searches, which means more potential clients for your photography business.

Here are some best practices of SEO for photographers to get you started.

A screenshot of a Google Analytics Dashboard. Analytics is great for monitoring visitor traffic and how different pages on your site are performing.

How search engines work

Search engines contain a huge database of all the content that they have discovered on the Internet called an “Index”. An estimated 35 trillion web pages across the Internet worldwide are indexed by Google alone. Google is the preferred search engine for about 90% of users.

Search engines scour the Internet for content, looking over the code and content for each URL found. It then stores and organizes the content found during this crawling process.

Once a page is in the index, it is available for display as a result. Finally, it “ranks” the pieces of content that will best answer a searcher’s query, and orders them from most relevant to least relevant. Different search engines use different algorithms, such as showing results in a different order.

Search engines also pay attention to a lot of other “signals,” such as how often a domain is updated. There are more than 200 signals that can influence where your webpage shows up in any given search. No particular signal is likely to significantly affect your SEO on its own. There are “on-page” factors to SEO like URL structure, and “off-page” factors, such as social media presence.

While you can improve on-page factors right away, off-page factors are less tangible and take time to build. This is why marketing needs to be a big part of your overall SEO strategy.

How to improve your photography site’s SEO

Make sure your website is mobile-optimized

The first thing you need to do to improve your SEO is to make sure that your site is mobile-friendly. Not only are a far greater number of searches now taking place on mobile devices, but Google also gives preferential results toward websites optimized for mobile viewing. This means that your site must be responsive – that your webpage design is based on the device used to view the content.

Your site may rank number one for a search term from a desktop computer, but it won’t necessarily be number one in the same search on a phone or iPad.

Use relevant Keywords

Like hashtags used in social media, keywords are an important way to boost your SEO and ensure that your website comes up in search results. However, also like hashtags, you can’t use them willy-nilly and expect great results. Keywords must be relevant to your audience and your content. In other words, they must be researched and chosen with care.

In order to do this, you have to have an understanding of who your clients are and what they’re looking for. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, is your potential client looking for a destination wedding? Where are they located? Are they looking for someone locally or internationally?

Ask yourself what terms and questions your potential client might be entering in their preferred search engine. How is your audience searching for the service you provide?

To help you, try using a keyword research tool like Moz or Wordstream. These applications can help you discover and export keywords and performance data for improved searches.

Have an understanding of what your potential client may search for when trying to find a photographer.

Update your content frequently

It’s very common for photographers to spend a lot of time developing their initial portfolio for their site and then neglect to update it. I’ve seen photography websites where even the copyright notation hasn’t been updated since 2015.

As a photographer, you want to appear working and busy. You may in fact be incredibly busy, but if you’re not updating your content you won’t seem to be. From an SEO perspective, you should know that Google will often factor in new content when ranking search results.

This is one more reason to make sure to regularly add content to your website to make sure you stay relevant in search results.

Use Social Media

Love it or hate it, social media is incredibly relevant to photographers, or anyone with an online presence. As mentioned earlier, social media is one of those on-page factors that act as a signal to drive SEO. Search engines look at social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram as a sign of what is influential on the Internet.

Social media is an important marketing tool and engaging in is will positively affect how you rank in search engine results.

Photography is a service-driven business. Relationships are the foundation. Customers are more likely to buy from you if they feel a rapport with you and feel like they can trust you. Social media is very helpful in putting your face to your business.

A social media presence is important to ranking well in search engines like Google.

Write a blog

Most photographers I know are very visual people and don’t consider themselves good at writing. However, you don’t need to be the next Ernest Hemingway to write a photography blog. In fact, using simple language and short posts of around 300 words or so (though longer can be better too) can really help you in your SEO-boosting efforts.

You can post a series of images on your blog from a portrait shoot, or post some behind-the-scenes snaps of a commercial product shoot you executed with a team of people.

A bit of a description or your thoughts on the shoot or the process will suffice. Give readers an idea of what it will be like to work with you.

This is great from a marketing perspective, but having a blog linked to your photography website allows you to build good textual content and backlinks. On the other hand, having links to only your homepage will have limited effect.

In particular, having a WordPress site attached to your portfolio site can be incredible in helping you rank higher in search results.

Just be aware that when you do blog, be sure you post high-quality content. Search engines can penalize your domain for duplicate content or broken external links too.

Get others to link to you

Having other sites or blogs to link to you is a great way to boost your SEO. When your work is featured on a popular site, it creates a cascade of links from other sites. Links from other websites to yours are called backlinks and they’re important for good SEO.

Apply to have your work featured on relevant industry websites or published in magazines. Also, consider writing guest posts on other blogs where you’re not a direct competitor of the blog owner.

Getting featured in popular feeds on Instagram can lead to new followers on your own feed and potential, interested visitors to your site.

Create a free Google Business Listing

Creating a free Google Business listing will help increase your chances to be found in search results. It allows your company information to be output with high visibility in a variety of ways by Google.

A large percentage of searches are geography-specific, like “Vancouver food photographer.”

When Google returns results that have a geographic component, Google Maps pack prioritizes them over standard results. This is a set of results plotted on a clickable map as per the example below.

When Google returns results that have a geographic component, Google Maps pack prioritizes them over standard results and they are plotted on a clickable map.

When you set up your business listing, you’ll also have access to Google My Business Insights. This provides you with detailed information on how and where consumers are searching for your business. Along with your website’s Google Analytics data, it creates an overview of how people find your website and business listing and the actions they take.

Note that to create a Google Business Listing, you need to be comfortable providing a physical address to your business, which may be your home address, if you don’t have a studio.

To sum up

As you may have gathered, success with SEO for photographers is a long-game. There are a variety of factors that are important in building good SEO for photographers, and they require consistency and analysis.

Be sure to sign up with Google Analytics to track your results. Information is power, and knowing how visitors are using your site will help you tweak your approach and get noticed in search results.

Do you have any other tips you’d like to share with us? Please do so in the comments section below.

The post SEO For Photographers – How to Bring More Business to Your Site appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

Digital Photography School

August 10, 2019
Texture and Clarity Sliders in Lightroom Classic CC: What’s the difference?
The post Texture and Clarity Sliders in Lightroom Classic CC: What’s the difference? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

Throughout the last couple of years, Adobe has released an absolute tsunami of updates for their photo editing platforms. Adobe Lightroom Classic went through a plethora of upgrades and changes, with new (and sometimes major) add-on’s seemingly incorporated with each new build. One of these sizable fresh additions to the Lightroom Classic toolkit came in May of 2019 with the release of v8.3. It’s called the Texture slider.

Yep, that little guy right there.

You’ll find the texture slider nestled comfortably in the Presence section of the basic panel alongside the now veteran Clarity and Dehaze adjustments. These Presence sliders are extremely interesting in their effects and how they each accomplish their separate actions. Clarity, Dehaze, and now Texture, all perform similar adjustments. They each tweak contrast within our photos to varying degrees with wholly different results.

Texture and Clarity are particularly interesting. Both perform quite similarly, while at the same, remaining their own animals…if that makes any sense? In this article, we’re going to have a closer look at the Clarity and Texture sliders.

I’ll explain how they work and show the different effects each of these powerful sliders can have on your photos.

Texture vs Clarity

All right, so what’s the difference between Clarity and Texture?

We’ve already surmised they are similar in that they function to bring out detail within a photo. However, you’ll notice some very obvious differences as soon as you view the effects of each slider side by side. Have a look at this. Here’s the original photo:

And now a side-by-side comparison of some Clarity and Texture Slider adjustments.

In the photo on the left, I’ve increased the Clarity slider to +100. I’ve applied +100 Texture to the photo on the right. The difference is apparent, but what exactly is happening here? First, let me remind you what our beloved Clarity slider actually does.

A refresher on Clarity

In short, Clarity interacts with our photos by increasing or decreasing the contrast between midtone luminance values. This essentially gives the illusion of our image becoming clearer. However, in reality, all that is happening is the application of more or less contrast to the light and dark areas which fall as midtones (between highlights and shadow).

You’ll also notice that the photo is perceptively brighter and that the color saturation diminishes slightly when increasing Clarity. On the other end of the spectrum, decreasing clarity adds in a soft-focus effect. This can sometimes work extremely well, depending on your subject. For a little more of a breakdown on Clarity check out my other article, How to Make Your Photos Shine Using Clarity, Sharpening, and Dehaze in Lightroom. You’ll also learn some great tips on using Clarity along with the Sharpening and Dehaze sliders.

What is Texture?

Now let’s talk about the new kid on the block, the Texture slider.

Ironically enough, the idea for the Texture slider was born not from the goal of increasing the textures (positive) within an image but rather decreasing them (negative) thereby essentially smoothing out a photo. The Texture slider was initially named the “Smoothing slider” in the early stages of its development.

The team at Adobe were aiming to migrate into Lightroom (at least to some extent) the skin retouching capabilities of Photoshop. Their goal was to offer a feature that packed a less drastic punch than the Clarity slider. All while still being able to increase (or decrease) the apparent contrasts in the photo to give the illusion of enhanced textures within the images.*

+69 texture added globally

The Texture slider lands somewhere between Clarity and Sharpening in Lightroom. A good way to think about Texture is that it is much less harsh than Clarity and offers more subtle results without affecting absolute brightness or color saturation.

Texture focuses it’s smoothing or clearing effects on areas of a photo which possess “mid-frequency” features. You can think of these as medium detail areas. For reference, a cloudless sky would be considered a low-frequency feature while a cluster of trees would be considered a high-frequency feature.

It is also worth mentioning that like many of the tools found in Lightroom Classic, you can apply the texture effect both globally (the entire photo) and locally to specific areas. Local negative texture adjustments work wonders for smoothing out skin wrinkles and blemishes in your portraits.

Before localized skin smoothing

After some retouching using a negative texture with Lightroom’s adjustment brush. Now I only look nominally haggard…

*Note: This is an extremely basic explanation of the Texture slider. If you’re feeling truly adventurous and want to learn more about the technical makeup of the Texture slider, I highly recommend this post over on the Adobe Blog.

Should I use Clarity or Texture Slider?

The looming question is, “When should I use Texture, and when should I use Clarity?” Unlike most commentary I offer on the absolutes of post-processing, which often borders on a Zen-like existentialist approach of “it all depends on the image,” there are some relatively straightforward things to look for when deciding which adjustment will work best for your particular photo.

Try the Clarity slider if:
- Your image consists of high-frequency features
- The effect is needed on a more global scale
- Your image is a landscape
- The image is black and white
Try the Texture slider if:
- Your image has large areas of mid to low-frequency features
- A more subtle enhancement is needed
- The image is a portrait
- Your image has extreme color contrasts/saturation
Of course, these are just guidelines, and I hope you experiment with both the Clarity and Texture sliders.

Also, nothing is stopping you from using a combination of the two – especially when you are applying them using local adjustment tools.

Closing thoughts on Texture and Clarity Sliders

You’ve heard me say time and time again that less is generally more when it comes to applying adjustments in post-processing. Just because a tool is available doesn’t always mean you have to use it to its full strength.

Perhaps this is no truer than when it comes to using the tools found in the Presence section of Lightroom, in this case, the Texture and Clarity sliders. These nifty little adjustments can yield amazing results for your photos.

In fact, I use both local and global Clarity and Texture slider adjustments in virtually all of my photos to one extent or another.

With that said, it’s a good practice not to over-process your images. Some judicious use of negative Texture can shave years off your clients face. However, go too far, and they might end up looking like a wax doll.

Adding positive Texture can bring out the subtle beauty of tree bark, however, use too much, and you’ll end up with…well, you get the idea.

What are your thoughts on the new Texture slider in Lightroom Classic CC? Is it a feature you will use regularly? Sound off in the comments below!

The post Texture and Clarity Sliders in Lightroom Classic CC: What’s the difference? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

Digital Photography School
August 10, 2019
Weekly Photography Challenge – Long Exposure

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

This week’s photography challenge topic is LONG EXPOSURE!

Image by Christian Hoiberg

Image by Simon Bond

Go out and capture absolutely anything that includes long exposure. You can photograph beach landscapes, waterfalls, cityscapes, lightning, Milkyway, light painting, etc. They can be color, black and white, moody or bright. Just so long as they are long exposure photography! You get the picture! Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Image by Simon Ringsmuth

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

Tips for Shooting LONG EXPOSURE

Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography

10 Common Mistakes in Long Exposure photography

5 Tips for Getting Sharper Images When Doing Long Exposures

Easy Beginners Tips for Long Exposure Photography

How to Shoot Long Exposure Seascape Photography

Essential Equipment for Long Exposure Photography

6 Tips for Shooting Long Exposure Night Photographs

How to Make the Most of Creative Shutter Speed in Photography

Weekly Photography Challenge – LONG EXPOSURE

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 #DPSlongexposure 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 – Long Exposure appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

August 10, 2019
How to Shoot Abstract Flower Photography using Close-Up Filters

The post How to Shoot Abstract Flower Photography using Close-Up Filters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

Shooting flowers is a passion for many photographers. Time spent out in the garden with your camera can become almost a form of meditative practice as you compose images surrounded by nature. It’s no wonder that so many photographers long to shoot beautiful flower images. But shooting close-up images of flowers can be an expensive business. Many tutorials will tell you that you need specialist macro lenses, proprietary macro extension tubes, or converters to reverse a lens that you already own. However, using close-up filters are a great alternative.

Close-up filters are an option for macro photography that rarely makes it into the tutorial list. Many will tell you that they degrade the final image too much; they cause distortion and focus issues. However, in this article, I’m going to make the case that these filters can enable you to think in a more abstract way as you embrace their unique and imperfect properties!

What are close-up filters?

Close-up filters can also be called close-up lenses or macro filters. They are essentially a magnifying glass that screws into the filter thread on the front of your lens.

When you buy a set of close-up filters, you need to know what lens you’re going to use them on. This is because you buy them according to the filter size of that lens. I suggest picking either a standard zoom or a prime lens in the 50mm to 100mm range and purchasing your filters for the thread size of that particular lens.

Close-up filters differ to budget extension tubes in one key way – you don’t lose electronic control of your lens. That means the autofocus will (just about) still work, and the aperture control in your camera settings will still work. Because budget extension tubes do not carry an electronic signal between your camera and your lens, you have to use it manually. For that reason I prefer close up filters – it makes changing your settings on the fly much easier!

The image on the left was shot with just the Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 lens. The image on the right had a +10 close-up filter screwed onto the front of the lens.

The last thing to know about close up filters is that they have different magnification strengths – just like buying a magnifying glass. The higher the number, the more you will magnify your subject and the closer you can get. All of the images in this article have been shot using a +10 close-up filter on a Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 lens (roughly equivalent to a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera).

Why shoot abstract photos?

Abstract photos can really help to free you up from the common “rules” of photography. You can start to think outside of the box without wondering if an image is sharp enough all over, or if the colors are perfectly rendered.

That’s not to say that abstract photography is a way to “save” a bad photograph. As much thought and consideration should go into an abstract as it would a more traditional image.

Once you’ve learned to let go of the rules you might find that expressing yourself through color, shape, and texture can be relaxing. Experimenting with abstract photography can bring a whole new dimension to your work. It can even make you think about other kinds of photography differently. You’ll be much more careful when placing colors and lines in images in the future if you spend some time creating abstract compositions.

Tips for photographing flowers

Once you’ve got your close-up filter screwed to the front of your lens, head outside for a play. You won’t need a tripod at first – bump up your ISO and try handholding some close-up shots on a day with bright but overcast light (or shoot in the shade, of course).

Get the shot in focus

I recommend turning your autofocus off. We’re going to be working with some really shallow depth of field and that means your camera will often lock the focus on to something you don’t want it to.

Instead, you can use your body to move the subject in and out of focus. Carefully lean a fraction closer or further away, and you’ll see different parts of the images go in and out of focus. It takes some practice to get the hang of, but after a while, it’ll feel really natural.

If you’re a little unsteady and struggle to get the right part of the image in focus, try shooting a burst of three or five images and select the best one later. You can also use a tripod if you want to (if it is a very still day with no wind). However, I find that a tripod can often hinder creativity when you’re trying to think fast and look for new and fascinating angles and compositions.

Select an aperture

The aperture setting that you choose can change the whole feeling of an image. When you’re working this close to a subject, the depth of field can be as thin as a few millimeters.

By using a very shallow depth of field, you can draw attention to just one part of a scene and throw the background and foreground completely out of focus. However, when shooting close up, it does mean that the whole flower or object might not be all in focus. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing – just picking a small part of the flower to be in focus can be a stylistic choice.

What can be interesting though is the way that the close-up filters interact with a wide-open lens. You begin to get these hazy, dreamy images that are somewhat unpredictable. It’s almost like a Lensbaby Velvet in some respects – or possibly a bit like smearing vaseline on your lens!

Composition is key

Since abstract photography often takes a subject and then makes it unrecognizable, all you have left is the composition and colors. That means you need to start thinking about how to mix shape, lines, form, textures, and colors to express emotions or tell stories. You cannot rely on recognizable and familiar objects anymore.

There are many compositional rules out there to study and put into practice. I have always found it helpful to spend as much time as possible looking at other peoples art (both in galleries and online) and trying to understand what makes a composition pleasing. You don’t have to know all of the rules of composition by name. But having a sense of how the position of elements in the frame and the color wheel work together to create interesting compositions can be a huge help when shooting abstracts.

If you are shooting digital, don’t be afraid to shoot multiple images of the same scene and resist subjects. Try placing the main focus on different parts of the image, (including blurry foreground elements), and seeing how different aperture settings look.

You can also think about editing your photographs afterward to change the colors in the image. A slight shift in color, some noise added, or a touch of contrast on the focal point can really change the mood of the shot.

So for a very small investment (certainly compared to the rest of your camera gear), you can open up a new world of artistic abstract photography by using close-up filters. Also, better than that, it can happen entirely in your front garden!

Let us know if you shoot any images inspired by this article – post the results in the comments below!

The post How to Shoot Abstract Flower Photography using Close-Up Filters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

Digital Photography School

August 8, 2019
Trump’s New Tariffs Could Drive Up the Prices of Cameras and Lenses

The post Trump’s New Tariffs Could Drive Up the Prices of Cameras and Lenses appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

President Donald Trump made waves last week when he announced new tariffs on Chinese goods via Twitter.

Trump writes:

“Our representatives have just returned from China where they had constructive talks having to do with a future Trade Deal…Trade talks are continuing.”

Trump goes on to explain that “the US will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country.”

…during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country. This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1 August 2019

In other words, certain goods will be taxed before arriving in the US.

For photographers, this is an especially painful blow.

Up to this point, photography equipment had largely managed to avoid any import taxes. But the new 10% tariff will be largely levied on electronics, including computers, phones, and camera gear. And it may cause serious consequences for American consumers of photo equipment.

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You see, prices of camera products exist in a delicate balance. When the cost to import the gear goes up, prices go up with it, in order to offset the cost paid by resellers. This cost is often felt by consumers.

While companies like Canon, Nikon, and Sony are based in Japan, a significant number of their imaging products are made in China. It’s these products that will be hit by the tariffs, and it’s these products consumers should be worried about.

Trump does promise that his administration will work toward a trade deal with China. However, you should note that these new tariffs follow on the heels of previous tariffs, which left camera gear largely untouched. If the trend continues, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

Of course, this news is only relevant to American readers. Prices in countries other than the US will remain unaffected. But for photography-lovers in America, you may want to purchase any China-made camera gear now, while you can still get it for cheap.

President Trump’s tweet indicates that the new tariffs will come into effect on September 1st.

So pretty soon, prices will be on the rise.

What do you think about the tariffs? Will they stop you buying new camera gear? Let me know in the comments!

The post Trump’s New Tariffs Could Drive Up the Prices of Cameras and Lenses appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School

August 8, 2019