Many photographers own two cameras – a DSLR plus lenses for ‘serious’ photography and a compact camera of sorts to carry around for unexpected photo opportunities. Or else they may opt for a so-called ‘bridge’ camera with a built-in zoom lens. Some of these are almost the size of a DSLR which may then lead to the need for a Continue Reading
The post What are the Best Phones for Photographers? appeared first on Photodoto.
The post TOP 13 Landscape Photography Accessories Under $ 100 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
Following on from last week’s video share from Mark Denney “Which Landscape Photography Camera Should You Buy?“, I thought I’d also share his video on affordable landscape photography accessories.
These are, of course, Mark’s opinions and not mine. I’d be interested to know your thoughts and if you have any to add to this list.
In the video, Mark mentions these accessories in order of price, starting at number 13.
While the Samsung 500GB SSD doesn’t have massive storage, it is perfect for travel because of its size and portability. It’s lightweight and durable and fits in your pocket.
NRS Boundary Socks are water socks and keep your feet warm and dry when standing in water. They have a seal around the top so that water cannot enter the top. These are also handy for getting better shots because you can get into the water and shoot from better angles.
The Vallerret Photography Gloves are perfect for photographers because the thumb and forefinger tips flip back to allow you to adjust your camera controls while still keeping your hands warm and dry. They also have a non-slip surface on the palm so that you can grip your camera confidently.
This Hoya Circular Polarizer is a great option if you are on a budget. The quality is high and the results are great. You may not always use it, but they are great to have.
This Black Diamond Headlamp is great for when you are shooting sunrises and sunsets, blue hour, astrophotography and you have to hike in and out of places in the dark, and set up your camera in low light. Having it on your head leaves your hands free. The headlamp is also super-bright – with 3 levels of brightness.
Tripod Spikes are great for digging your tripod into the surface to give your tripod extra stability.
The Pelican SD Card Case is tough, durable, and waterproof. It fits several cards safely. It protects one of the most important parts of your gear because that is where your photos are stored.
The Shimoda small accessory case is ideal for storing your extra camera batteries, chargers cables, and anything related to power. It has a clear plastic side so that you can see exactly what is in the case too. The fact that it is bright blue means that you can find it easily in your suitcase or backpack.
The Small Moleskin Case can be used for keeping tools, such as Allen keys, flathead screwdrivers, or backup tripod plates.
Backpack Rain Covers are ideal for covering your backpack and also for covering your camera when it is set up ready to take shots near waterfalls or if it is rainy. Shower caps are also a good solution for covering your camera in the rain.
The Think Tank Red Whips are amazing cable ties for keeping your cables organized.
All photographers should have one of these. The Giottos Rocket Blower is perfect for blowing the dust off your lens and camera. It’s strong and
The Zeiss Microfibre Cloth is ideal for cleaning your lenses and filters.
Do you have anything to add to this list? If so, please share in the comments below.
The post TOP 13 Landscape Photography Accessories Under $ 100 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
The post Pros and Cons of Adobe Portfolio For Your Professional Gallery appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ian Johnson.
I am going to tell you one of the worst parts about running a photography-based website, and you can tell me if you agree with me: maintaining your image galleries. Galleries are one of the greatest ways to show off your content to the world and to show everyone what you are all about. As you grow as a photographer, you need to continually update your public face and what you want to tell your followers. However, curating the content is so time-consuming that I often wonder if it’s worth it! I, (and surely you) would rather be out making more images and bringing visions to life, not spending more time in front of the computer. I have great news – you can use Adobe Lightroom’s workflow, coupled with Adobe Portfolio, to create beautiful and dynamic galleries in record-breaking time!
This collection set in Adobe Lightroom syncs directly to my Adobe Portfolio. Any edits that I make to images in this collection sync automatically to the online gallery making it incredibly easy to keep up-to-date galleries on a website
Adobe Portfolio is Adobe’s online website-for-dummies platform to display your images in stunning galleries. It links directly to Adobe Lightroom using collection sets. Updating the gallery is as easy as adding or removing an image from the collection! If you are already paying for their annual Adobe Cloud membership, you have access to Adobe Portfolio without paying another dime. This is a great option if you run your own low-budget website and are doing your best to keep your costs at a minimum.
This is a look at my Adobe Portfolio website in design view. Adobe Portfolio offers easy website creation with dynamic, beautiful galleries connected directly to Lightroom.
To set up your Adobe Portfolio there’s really three main steps:
Presto! In his article, Andrew Gibbon claims you can set up a full Adobe Portfolio website in 15 minutes. His step-by-step tutorial makes it easy! Since making a tutorial as thorough as Andrew’s would be simply re-writing the wheel, I’d like to instead turn to the pros and cons of Adobe Portfolio so you can determine if this service is right for you.
I always like to get the bad news before the good. So here’s a couple of cons for your consideration.
If selling your imagery through a savvy e-commerce solution is what you most desire, then Adobe Portfolio is not for you. Technically you can hyperlink your image to a sales page, but the likelihood of losing the shopper is high. There are multiple other web platforms such as Fine Art America, Smug Mug, Square Space, Weebly, and so many others that allow you to sell your imagery directly.
If you run a website through another host, you will need to connect your websites. I outlink the galleries using a custom link in my WordPress site. If you feel you need to keep people on your primary website to sell them something or deliver a message, then you may choose to avoid Adobe Portfolio and look for integrated gallery options. I will say though; Adobe Portfolio gives you lots of options on their templates to re-direct people where you want them to go (such as sales) after they view your gallery.
I outlink to my Adobe Portfolio galleries which directs traffic away from my primary website. If you need to keep traffic on your primary website, then Adobe Portfolio may not be for you.
The templates within Adobe Portfolio do not give you access to CSS or other mechanisms to customize them. Although you can change the color of the theme, your options are very limited here.
The way I want to use Adobe Portfolio, the pros outweigh the cons. The pros below are listed in importance (most important to least) for my own workflow and website needs.
How many times do you re-edit an image? There are so many reasons why you continue to tweak an image. In most website galleries, a new image edit would require taking down the old edit and uploading the new. Not so with Adobe Portfolio. Any edits sync (color, crop, clarity, any of them!) to your Adobe Portfolio and can be updated on your website with just a few clicks. In my eyes, this is the #1 reason that Adobe Portfolio shines for my needs.
In each of these thumbnails, you can see a double arrow in the upper right-hand corner. That means all changes are automatically synced to my gallery online!
There’s a good chance that you do not want to pay for more services than you already do. Camera gear, website fees, and everything else add up! As long as you already pay the annual membership for Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Portfolio is included.
Adobe Portfolio’s galleries are very beautiful. Even though a RAW file is being synced to the Adobe Cloud, they automatically reduce the resolution of the image to optimize load time and viewing. This also makes it is less useful to a copyright thief. Having this built-in functionality removes any need to research optimal DPI, web color space, and pixel widths you would need to do if exporting your images for the web.
I mentioned in the cons that you have to outlink to your Adobe Portfolio. However, all of the Adobe Portfolio templates provide lots of links back to your other work.
This landing screen of my Adobe Portfolio has five links where viewers can click to redirect back to my website and two links to my social media websites. In my opinion, if you can hook them with your beautiful galleries it is likely they will follow your links.
In Adobe Portfolio, collections act as a page on your website. There are no limits to the number of pages you can create. This gives you a huge amount of flexibility because you can create very specific collections (say for an individual wedding or a species of animal) and have personalized galleries for each one.
There is absolutely zero coding needed to set up an Adobe Portfolio website. If you want to have heavy customization privileges over your website, this isn’t for you. However, I found most of the templates to have characteristics that I liked, and I’m not looking for a lot of control over this website. That’s in stark contrast to my WordPress site where I like to have CSS control for each element in a theme.
The bottom line is there are SO many ways to display your images on a website – many ways to “skin that cat” if you will – that finding the best solution for you can be challenging. I think many users will find the ease of creation and low cost of Adobe Portfolio to be very appealing, but it may not be desirable for high-level web users.
I’m all ears and happy to discuss Adobe Portfolio further, and my experience or yours. Please provide your constructive thoughts, and I’ll be sure to respond!
The post Pros and Cons of Adobe Portfolio For Your Professional Gallery appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ian Johnson.
The post 8 Creative Ways to Photograph Trees appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.
A favorite subject for many photographers is the tree. Tree’s can be found everywhere, so wherever you are in the world, you’ll have a chance to photograph them. In this article, you’ll see how adding a tree to your composition can add oxygen to your photography! So take a deep breath and learn how inspiring tree photography can be by using these seven different approaches to photograph trees.
A lone tree frames a typical landscape scene in southern England.
The lone tree alone in a field or on the brow of a hill really is a photo for the ages. It’s as strong a main subject as you’ll ever take in landscape photography. Whether you position this tree in the center of your frame or the left or right third, the photo is likely to work. The main thing is to ensure the tree is truly isolated and doesn’t have other rival trees in the frame competing for attention. The challenge, of course, is to find such a tree. In some cases, these tree’s are famous like the one at Wanaka lake in New Zealand. The chances are you’ll find a tree near where you live though.
The choice of lens you use may well help you isolate that tree once you’ve found it.
Another popular type of photo is the tunnel. These contain a strong leading line and an infinity point. They’ll also work very nicely with portrait photos, where the model acts as a foreground element in front of this tunnel. When it comes to trees, you’ll find they’re naturally good at creating tunnels. This happens when a mature tree has an arching main trunk, and branches that hand down to the side of the tree. Another place you can see a tree tunnel is a path or road that has trees on both sides, where those trees form a roof of interlocking branches. Photos of tree tunnels like this are usually more dramatic taken at longer focal lengths, where the comprehension that gives will enhance the effect of the trees creating the tunnel.
Tree lines work very well in photography.
As with all things in nature, they’ll change with the seasons. As long as you’re not in the tropics, you’ll be able to see the change in a tree throughout the year. The most powerful way to record this is to choose one composition and photograph it for each of the four seasons. Whether that composition is a single lone tree or a path with trees along it will be up to you.
You don’t necessarily need to make your seasonal set from the same location though. You could choose to show photos of trees in the country you’re from, with clear markers that you’re in a particular country from your photos. Each scene you show can show the different seasons, and show the trees of that country.
Autumn is one of the most popular times to take photos of trees, and with good reason.
There are many photography techniques out there which you can try. A lot of these techniques are adaptable to use with tree photography. Here is a selection you could try the next time you photograph a tree:
This is a slightly different take on the lone tree photo, and uses a lensball to achieve it.
Having taken plenty of photos of entire trees, it’s a good idea to balance this with some detail photos. You’re really spoiled for choice when it comes to the type of photos you take here. All areas of the tree offer potential.
The following ideas can guide you:
One of the best places to photograph trees is the jungle. This photo show the detail at the tree trunk.
The use of trees as backgrounds for portrait photos is a popular idea. There is a good reason for that; much of which is related to the points made earlier in this article. Tree’s have the potential to form natural frames, especially where branches arch back from the trunk towards the ground. A line of trees forms a leading line, one that can draw the eye towards your model.
In the summer months, you’ll find leaves are amazing for creating a natural bokeh background for your portrait. Your model will be able to interact with the tree, perhaps mimicking the shape of the branches. There are many ways trees can add to your portrait work. So using trees for portrait work is another way to use trees creatively.
In this photo the model stands under cherry blossom trees as the petals fall down.
Another way to photograph trees more creatively is to change the perspective. There are lots of angles you can use, though you’ll need to be close to the tree to utilize some of these. Take a look at the angles you could be using, and see how you can apply them to your work.
This photo uses the branch of one tree to frame another tree in the background.
It goes without saying that a tree is a living ecosystem. Many living things rely on trees for life, including humans. In terms of photography, you could start small by looking for beetles in the soil, or under the bark. Leaves will also be home to a lot of smaller life such as caterpillars. So you’ll be able to get your macro lens out and explore the world of insects.
Of course, larger creatures feed on these insects, and you’ll be able to photograph them as well. You’ll find lots of species of birds, squirrels, and other animals. Photographing these is trickier, and you’ll certainly need a longer focal length. The use of camouflage gear and bird-watching huts also enhance your chance of photographing life within a tree.
In some countries the wildlife in the trees is a little bigger than a squirrel.
A tree is an interesting subject for a photo and has been used by photographers many times to create photography projects. In this article, you’ll have seen several methods you could use to photograph a tree.
Are there any in this list that interest you? What other approaches to tree photography have you used that aren’t discussed here?
At Digital Photography School, we’d love to see examples of your tree photography, together with your thoughts about this article.
The post 8 Creative Ways to Photograph Trees appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.
The post What is Royalty-Free Editorial Stock Photography and Can You Earn Money From It? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.
Photographs of just about anything can be sold as royalty-free editorial stock photography. How they are licensed is defined as either editorial or commercial. An image sold with an editorial license can only be used in news or general interest publications like;
© Kevin Landwer-Johan
An editorial stock photo cannot be used to directly promote anything for profit.
Photos sold by a stock agency with an editorial license are more limited in how they can be published. Commercially licensed photos can be more broadly used, but there are more restrictions on what they contain.
Editorial stock photos do not require model or property releases.
You can submit photos of individuals or whole crowds for editorial licensing and no model release would be requested. If you submit any photos of people for commercial use, signed model releases are required. Whenever a person can identify themselves in a photo, a release is required if the photo is to be sold with a commercial license.
© Kevin Landwer-Johan
Commercial licensing prohibits the inclusion of any copyrighted elements in your photos. Any branding or products must be removed from the photos. This also goes for people and private property. These things must be accompanied by an appropriate release form. If they’re not stock agencies will not accept the images into their collections.
Editorial licensing allows visible branding, products, people and property. However, no manipulation of the content is permitted.
I would not be able to submit this for sale under an editorial license because I have removed a logo from the man’s shirt. © Kevin Landwer-Johan
If you have a photo of something containing a logo or company name, you can remove it and still license the photo with a commercial license. When uploading editorial photos, you will be asked to state that you have not manipulated the photo in any way. Editorial stock photos must depict things as they really were when you took the photo.
Most stock agencies have disclaimers attached to editorial licensing of photos. The buyer is in control of how the photos will be used and must be made aware of the restrictions and their responsibilities. Stock photo agencies make it clear they are not liable for how the purchaser uses editorial photos.
Most royalty-free stock agencies don’t have many restrictions. So long as you are uploading photos within the bounds of common decency, you won’t have any problems. Check with each stock agency where you wish to submit photos. They will be able to provide you with their company policy on what they want you to upload.
The law in most countries allows you to photograph anything you like from a public space. However, in doing so, you must not infringe on the rights of others or abuse their privacy. Photographing military facilities, power plants and other important infrastructure can sometimes get you into trouble. Check with local laws before you do.
Don’t just upload any old pictures. Make sure to only submit your best images. The market has become so saturated with photos that it’s increasingly difficult to make sales. Make sure your pictures stand out from the crowd.
I do have a signed model release for the woman in this photo, but because of the branding on the camera I could only sell it with an editorial license. © Kevin Landwer-Johan
You really don’t.
Predicting how well editorial stock may sell is very difficult.
If you have a good photo of a spectacular event or happening of international significance, it will likely sell well. If you were the only photographer to capture this amazing occurrence, then it will certainly sell better. However, these type of situations are extremely rare.
Carrying your camera with you wherever you go will increase your chances. It will also sharpen your awareness of what a good editorial image can be as you learn to focus your attention. If you leave your camera at home, it won’t happen.
Upload a variety of images and build up a large number of your photos in a stock agency website. Doing this gives you practical experience of what will and will not sell. There are many variable factors involved.
If you can build up a solid base of your own photos, you will be able to analyze which ones sell more consistently. You can then use this information to plan what you will photograph.
Annual events can make good subjects for editorial because the can be used year after year. © Kevin Landwer-Johan
Once you have this information to work with you can decide on a niche or two to concentrate on. Look at which of your editorial stock photos sell the best and which of them you enjoyed making the most. This is what you will be best to focus your efforts on.
Royalty-free stock agencies boast collections of millions of photos. They contain photos already of pretty much every subject you can think of. You need to take better images than the ones they are already selling.
Browse these collections for ideas. See what others have done and come up with a new angle. If you see that there is a number of similar images that sell well, and you can produce photos of the same subject, do so. Don’t just copy. Improve on what’s already been done.
Update images you find that might be out of date. Has your city’s skyline changed recently? There may not be many new photos of it online yet.
Has there been some big news recently that you can illustrate with a stock photo? This will have to be ongoing news, or you’ll need to produce and upload your photos quickly so as not to miss the moment.
© Kevin Landwer-Johan
You can choose to upload exclusively to just one agency or to as many as you have time to service.
Signing an exclusive contract to supply just one agency has certain benefits. However, you are restricted to only their customers buying your photos.
Supplying to many agencies takes time. Each stock library has its own requirements and contracts, and you must understand these and follow their terms closely. If you don’t, you may find you’ll have many of your photos rejected for one reason or another.
© Kevin Landwer-Johan
Do your research and understand what’s required before you start uploading photos to sell as editorial stock. You will probably find you have a huge number of images on your hard drive you can upload.
If they’re only stuck on your computer, you’ll never make any money from them. Uploaded to a stock agency, you won’t get rich overnight, but you will earn something over time.
Taking a business-like approach to stock photography is best if you are serious about it. Treating it too casually, not paying attention to what’s working and what’s not, will not bring you success. You’ll need to stick with it and consistently upload to make a really good go of it.
The post What is Royalty-Free Editorial Stock Photography and Can You Earn Money From It? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.
The post Simple Methods for Creating Better Still Life Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.
Many find shooting still life images a real challenge when they’re just starting out because it can be hard to know where to start. But taking the time to shoot a great still life can be a rewarding and somewhat meditative pastime for photographers.
Still life photography can help you hone your photographic skills at your own pace while still creating work that can go in a portfolio or be printed for your wall. But styling tabletop images doesn’t come naturally to all photographers, so here are some simple things to think about when you’re next shooting still life.
Now might be a good time to go and brush up on your color knowledge, because you’re really going to need it when it comes to creating still life images! Everything, including the colors, in your still life scene, will be there because you put it there. Nothing has to make it onto your tabletop studio if you don’t want to include it in your shot.
Colors can be a way of introducing either harmony or contrast. If you were photographing something blue, for example, and you used blue and green backgrounds you’d have a very harmonious and potentially calm image. On the other hand, if you added yellows or oranges into the scene, it would create tension and result in a more dynamic overall feeling to the shot.
You can bring color to your still life images in different ways. Backgrounds, fabrics, plates, bowls, vases – all these items are props that you can start collecting to build up a color library of props. Don’t forget natural objects like flowers and foliage too; they can often really bring a shot to life.
Your backdrops will often be the most dominant colors in your scene, so pick wisely (it’s also hard to change it once you’ve started arranging your props). Pick your backdrops according to the feel you’d like to create in your final image.
Backdrops can be anything that works with the scene you’re creating. It might be a marble countertop, a beautiful old farmhouse table, or a complementary piece of fabric. Whatever helps to set the mood for your images.
As well as the color of your backdrop, think about the texture as well. A scuffed up, blackened old baking tray creates a very different feel to draped silk. Think about the way that different backdrops make you feel as you select them for your scenes and decide if that’s correct for the kind of story you’re trying to tell in your photograph.
Over time you will build up a library of different backdrops to use in your shots. Then you can create a whole variety of different styles of images just by switching out the backdrop. Keep your eye open when you’re out and about for potential backdrops to add to your library!
I love including texture in my still life photographs, and it has become a part of my style now. Scouring both high street and artists shops for interestingly textured table linens, bowls, and backgrounds for my still life images are favorite pastimes.
Along with all the other elements of a still life image, texture can really help set the mood. Are you shooting something rustic that would have its story helped by the introduction of some beautiful coarse fabric? Or maybe you’re photographing a more modern scene that would benefit from glossy backdrops and slick, shiny props?
It also adds interest and depth to your final image. If you look around the room you’re in I’m sure you’ll see a whole variety of different textures. Perhaps you have a smooth leather chair with a velvet cushion on it, placed next to a distressed wood coffee table. Our lives are a riot of different textures, and these affect our senses both visually and through touch.
Since you can’t touch the objects in a photograph, you need to tell the viewer what they’re like. Texture is the main way to visually convey what something would feel like if you reached into the photograph and touched it. With that in mind, pay attention to what the textures in your shot are telling your viewer.
Just like a good story, a photograph needs a beginning, middle, and end. Except we usually refer to these things as foreground, middle ground, and background when it comes to visual storytelling. Creating a layered effect in your photographs helps to create depth in what is a two-dimensional object.
Try building your still life scenes intentionally. First of all, place your main object roughly where you think you’d like it to be. It helps if you put your camera on a tripod for this because you can keep the framing and focus consistent.
After you’ve placed your main object try creating some foreground interest. This could be some petals if you were photographing flowers, or perhaps the curled corner of table linen if you were shooting food. Anything that leads the eye into the shot without distracting too much from the main focal point is good. You want something that adds to the story.
Lastly, place a background element in your scene. In the shots above, I’ve added a yellow napkin which both creates interests and adds a contrasting color, but you could be more subtle. Your background itself could also be your background element if it were sufficiently interesting! It should be like a “full stop” to your composition; ending the viewer’s attention the same way that a full stop ends a sentence.
You might find it easier to play with compositional colors and shapes for the foreground and background if you use a shallow depth of field. Rendering these elements as out of focus in your scene helps to keep the viewer’s attention on the main focus of your image.
There’s no rule in creative still life photography that says the colors have to be true to life. Using different colors – or even turning your digital files black and white – can result in a change of mood and story.
Processing your still life images in Adobe Lightroom allows you to create duplicates of images and try out different color treatments while comparing them side by side. It’s great for black and white conversions too. The best thing about Adobe Lightroom is that the editing is completely non-destructive to the original file. This means you can try out everything from wild color treatments to something more conservative and always go back to the original file.
I touched on color grading your still life photographs in a previous article. It can help evoke different moods, bringing different colors to the fore. It can also help to make items really pop off the page if you use color grading in a way that emphasizes your main subject.
Color grading your shots can also help to contribute to a more coherent style in your work. You don’t always have to treat the color in your images the same way, but over time you might notice that you seem to pick up a style the more you shoot. This can help to make your work recognizable which you might find desirable.
Now that you know the simple ways that you can improve your still life images it’s time for you to have a go. Get some inspiration, shoot some images, and then come back and let us see them in the comments!
Don’t be afraid to work slowly and try new things when you’re shooting still life. The objects in your scene are not going anywhere, and they won’t run out of patience as a portrait subject will! Also remember, you don’t have to show anyone the images if you’re not completely happy with them.
The post Simple Methods for Creating Better Still Life Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.
The post Try this DIY Neutral Density Filter for Long Exposure Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
You could buy an expensive ND filter to make a long exposure image like this. Or, you could do it “on the cheap” with the trick you’ll learn in this article. 162 seconds f/8, ISO 100
You’ve seen those landscape photos where the water has been rendered silky smooth, ocean waves look more like fog, or the clouds have streaked motion effects? How are they done? They are long exposure photos. The shutter speed often measured in full seconds rather than fractions of a second. Some even measured in minutes of exposure. In low light, you can sometimes slow your shutter speed by decreasing the aperture size and setting the ISO as low as it can go.
Of course, if you’re working in bright light, you may find that even with the smallest aperture and lowest ISO you still can’t get the shutter speed slow enough to produce the effect you want while still maintaining proper exposure. What can you do then? It’s time for a Neutral Density Filter.
So what are they, how do they work, and how can you achieve a similar effect without immediately laying down about $ 100 U.S dollars for one? Read on my friend.
This one was done with a variable ND filter. With a 30-second exposure, whatever moves will blur. Note the water and clouds.
On a bright sunny day, you may reach for a pair of sunglasses to reduce the amount of light coming into our eyes. A Neutral Density (ND) Filter is much the same for your camera. The “density” part of that term refers to how dense or dark the filter might be. The “neutral” portion of the term refers to the coloration the filter might add to the image.
If we’re making color images, we’d like a filter that would help reduce the amount of light while remaining neutral in color and not putting a color cast on our images. So we want a neutral filter that can cut the light in situations where the ambient light is too bright to get a slow shutter speed beyond that obtainable with a combination of the lowest ISO and smallest aperture.
A 6-stop ND filter was used here. 30 seconds, f/20 ISO 100
The DIY approach to long exposure photography to be discussed here uses a method never initially designed for photography but will allow you to give this technique a try “on the cheap.” Rather than spend around $ 100, it’ll cost you a tenth of that. Before I reveal the “secret,” let’s first talk about the commercial photographic ND filters you might buy.
Screw mount – Those that screw into the filter threads on the front of your lens
Square filters – Those that are mounted to the lens with a filter holder.
Both are available in varying degrees of density. How dark the filter is, is typically described in how many “stops” of light it reduces compared to an exposure without the filter.
For example, if you made a proper exposure at ISO 100, f/5.6, 125 seconds, and then after the filter was mounted, you needed to slow the shutter speed to 1/2 second to get the same exposure, (assuming you left the ISO at 100 and f-stop at 5.6), that filter would be a 6-stop ND filter. (1/125 – > 1/60 -> 1/30 – 1/15 -> 1/8 -> 1/4 -> 1/2 second ). The density of the filter would have reduced the amount of light by 6-stops.
You can purchase both screw mount and square filters in various “strengths” or number of stops they reduce the light.
For example, this 77mm screw-mount 6-stop ND filter made by B&W runs about US$ 71, while this popular 10-stop square mount ND filter, the Lee “Big Stopper” is at this writing US$ 129.00.
A variable ND might work, but take it too far…
…and you’ll get weird artifacts.
Variable ND Filters – Another type of ND filter uses two polarized filters mounted together so they can be rotated in a way that produces variable density. One might think this is a better solution than a fixed ND filter, allowing the photographer the means of adjusting the desired stops of reduction.
That would be ideal, and it works – to a point.
The problem with variable ND filters is sometimes they can produce nasty “artifacts” that spoil the image, especially on wide-angle lenses at higher density settings with less expensive variable ND filters.
More expensive variable ND filters will be better, but of course, cost even more.
You’ve seen that “one weird trick” phrase used on the web before, right? Usually, it’s for a gimmick that is less than a quality product. I confess, what I’m going to suggest here is a bit of a gimmick and no, won’t deliver the results of the pricier dedicated photography ND filters. You have to perform a few workarounds to get it to produce decent results and mounting it to your camera will be a little… “funky,” shall we say? The upside is, it will probably cost about 1/10th of what a true photographic ND filter.
So, it could be a nice introduction to long exposure photography, while allowing you to explore this technique on a budget to see if it’s for you.
So here’s the big reveal…
What you are going to use is a piece of welder’s helmet glass.
You’ve seen welders wearing helmets while they work and perhaps noted a glass “window” they look through to observe their work? The intensity of arc welding is so great that without a way to darken the welding spark the welder would be blinded. So, a piece of very dark glass, a “density filter,” is what they have in their helmets. The common denominator is the welder wants to darken the welding arc and you, as a photographer, want to darken the light coming into your lens.
These aren’t spacemen. They are welders and that piece of glass you see in their helmets is what you need for this “weird trick.”
What you are looking for is a piece of welding glass used in a helmet. Pieces can be purchased alone, (as replacements for the helmets) and in various sizes and “grades.” You might have a local welding supply shop where you can get these or purchase them online. Here is a link to an example. The glass measures 4.5″ x 5.25′ (114.3 mm x 133.35 mm) which is large enough to cover most camera lenses. It comes in grades 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 14 with the higher numbers being darker/denser.
This chart may help you in determining the conversion from “grade” to the amount of f-stop reduction:
To keep it simple, most often you will use a 6-stop or a 10-stop ND filter. One popular brand of ND filters is Lee. Their “Little Stopper” is a 6-stop filter, and their “Big Stopper” is a 10-stop filter. So consulting the chart, if you wanted a 6-stop welding glass filter, get a Grade 6, and for a 10-stop reduction, get a Grade 8.
The left half of this shot shows how the uncorrected image looks due to the heavy green color of the welder’s glass. The right has been white-balanced using the custom white balance method discussed.
This is probably the biggest drawback to using a piece of welding glass as an ND filter. You can get very dark pieces of welding glass, so density isn’t a problem. The problem is that most welding filters have a very pronounced green, or in some cases, gold color cast.
Dedicated photography ND filters may have a little coloration, but try to come as close to neutral as possible. You will pay more for more neutral filters as you’d prefer to get darkening without coloration. So what to do when using a welding glass filter?
There are three things you can do to help reduce the distinct coloration a welding glass filter causes:
Let’s discuss these options.
The first is simple enough. Yes, when you review your images after shooting on the camera LCD they will look very green. (I’ve only used the green welder’s glass, not the gold). Just know you will be adding lots of magenta, (the opposite of green), to your white balance when you edit. Even then, good color may be a struggle.
Rather than fight the color cast, maybe monochrome is the ticket when using the welder’s glass ND trick.
The second option, setting a custom white balance, is a good idea. To do so, mount your welding glass filter, (more on that in a minute) and make an exposure of the sun or bright sky. Then, using the custom white balance function of your camera, (consult your manual on how to do this), store that image and white balance on it, creating a custom white balance you can use to shoot with when using your welding glass filter.
The advantage of this is image playback on your LCD will be closer to a normal color.
Additional tweaking will likely be needed in post-processing, but this may help you a bit when shooting.
The third option, (and to me maybe the best) is not to fight the color cast and plan to make your welding glass filter shots monochrome. Long exposure images have an “ethereal” look often enhanced in a monochrome image. So, rather than fight trying to restore good color from that alien green image, embrace monochrome.
If you decide you love long exposure photography, you will then likely buy a photographic ND filter which will make much better color shots.
Before mounting your welding glass on your lens, you will want to compose your shot as usual. You will also want to obtain good focus. Do this first, because you won’t be able to see much of anything with the welding glass mounted.
Once focus has been obtained, switch the focus to manual. Consider putting a piece of tape on the focus ring so it won’t move later.
Now make a shot with good exposure without the filter. You will be changing your shutter speed once the filter is mounted, so choose an aperture and ISO. What setting you choose will depend on the depth of field you require and also how long you’d like your exposure to be. The slower the shutter speed you set here (while still getting a proper exposure), the longer your exposure can be with the filter.
Your subject will largely dictate your desired exposure length and the look you are trying to achieve. A silky waterfall might only require a 2-second exposure while smoothing ocean waves could take 30 seconds and streaking clouds in the sky a couple of minutes. There is no formula here – trial and error will help you learn what works right.
The monochrome version of this shot above was done with the welders’ glass and an exposure time of 1.6 sec. This shot was taken later when the last rays of sun lit the turbines and also used 1.6 seconds. Too short a shutter speed and the blades were frozen. Too long and they disappeared. 1.6 seconds was the “sweet spot.”
Your meter will likely be useless once you mount the welding glass ND filter so you will need to calculate shutter speed yourself using the previous exposure information as a starting point. There are numerous smartphone apps available to help you. I like the one made by Lee Filters (Android / iOS ). Made for use with their Little (6-stop)/Big (10-stop)/Super (15-Stop) filters, you will need to tweak a bit when using it with your welding glass. However, it will get you in the ballpark, and you can adjust from there.
Let’s use an example: You’ve made a shot without the filter and with the ISO set at 100 and the aperture at f/22 you can get the shutter speed down to 1/15th of a second and make a proper exposure. You bought both a Grade 6 (6.67-stops) and Grade 8 (10-stops) pieces of welding glass. What will your new shutter speed need to be with each filter installed? Using the Lee app, we can see the 6-stop reduction would put us at between 4 and 8 seconds and the 10-stop reduction at 1 minute.
Again, plan on using these adjusted settings as starting points. Try them and adjust your shutter speed (or possibly other settings) as needed. Definitely plan on taking multiple shots as you get things dialed in. Long exposure photography is not something you do in a hurry.
It’s funky, but it works. Reverse the lens hood and use rubber bands to attach the welder’s glass filter.
You’ve set up the camera, composed, focused, locked everything in, calculated your new shutter speed and are ready to mount the welding glass ND filter. I think I used the word “funky” earlier in the article to describe how you will attach your DIY ND filter to your lens. The photo here, showing how reversing the lens hood on your lens and then using rubber bands pretty much depicts the technique.
Something to improve it a bit – put some black gaffer tape on the edges of your piece of welders glass. This will give the rubber bands a surface with more friction to grab onto. (It also helps you in hanging onto the glass). I’m not sure if the edges of the glass would transmit light onto the image, but the tape will also prevent that should it occur. If your lens doesn’t have a hood to reverse, try larger bands which will allow you to stretch them back around the camera body.
Try not to disturb the focus ring as you mount the filter. You will not be able to check focus again once the filter is in place.
Set your focus BEFORE mounting the filter and turn the switch to Manual focus (MF)
With the welder’s glass filter mounted, you will pretty much be “flying blind.” You will not be able to see anything through the viewfinder, and maybe, if your filter isn’t too dark, you might be able to see just a little bit using live view if your camera supports that. You better have composed and focused before mounting the filter as you can’t see to do it now. Your meter will also not work with such low light.
While you could use the 2-second timer to trip the shot, I’d suggest a remote release. You will also definitely need one if you’ll be making exposures over 30-seconds (on most cameras) in which case you will be putting your camera in Bulb-Mode.
A release that allows you to lock the shutter open during the exposure will help a lot here. The Lee exposure calculator app also has a countdown timer. Activate it when you open the shutter and it will countdown and beep at the end of the calculated exposure time telling you when to close the shutter.
If your shutter speed will exceed 30-seconds, you will probably need to use bulb mode. A remote release is a good idea in such cases.
You may also want to consider using the noise reduction feature of your camera. Noise can be a problem with long exposures. The noise reduction feature will make a second black frame image the same length as your first shot and then subtract any random noise or hot pixels from your image using the black frame as a reference.
Keep in mind, however, that the black frame exposure will be as long as the original shot so if you are, for example, making a 2-minute exposure, your camera will be busy for four minutes. I told you, you don’t do long-exposure photography in a hurry.
No filter. A straight shot – 1/25 sec. f/8 ISO 100
You edit your long exposure images much as you do with any regular shot with the big exception of that crazy color cast. There are lots of web resources that tell you how to help correct for that cast so I won’t spend time on that here. Just know that with this welding glass technique you will never get the color as good as you would without the filter. I still believe that monochrome is the way to go here.
Using the welder’s glass ND. Custom white balanced in the camera, color corrected again in Lightroom and Photoshop. 162 seconds, f/8 ISO 100. The monochrome version is at the top of this article.
I’ve since bought a real ND filter, the 6-stop B+W I mentioned, so my welding glass hasn’t seen much use until I got it out to make this article. In making the wind turbine shots, I found what I think, (after some comparison testing), is a Grade 10 glass, very dark but still not dark enough to make even a short 1.6 second shot, (the shutter speed I determined was best to get the hint of motion I wanted on the turbine blades.) Longer exposures simply caused the blades to disappear entirely.
A side note here: long exposures can be a great way to make a crowd disappear when photographing a busy cityscape. The people move and so disappear during a long exposure while the static buildings and such stay put and show up in the photo.
Trying to darken the shot further, I put a polarizer on the lens, (dropping the exposure 2-stops), and then stacked the welder’s glass ND over that. It wasn’t a good combination. Too much, as the British say, “faffing about,” and I likely knocked my focus off slightly. Also, shooting through both the polarizer and the welding glass put too much “cheap glass” between the camera and the image, so the sharpness suffered.
A straight shot with no filter. 125/sec. f/22 ISO 100
A second trip to the Boise River provided an opportunity to see how a long exposure would depict the fast-moving spring runoff. I was able to use much longer exposures here, a few just over two minutes. I also made a 30-second exposure with the sun in the shot, something that wouldn’t have been possible with no filter even with the minimum ISO of 50 and the smallest aperture of f/22. Shooting long exposures in bright light is a big reason for using an ND filter.
A shot directly into the sun, and a shutter speed of 20 seconds, probably isn’t possible without a strong ND filter. I calculate the Grade 10 welder’s glass used here to give about 13-stops of light reduction. 20 seconds f/14 ISO 100
You may find the welder’s glass technique a fun way to dip your photographic toe in the waters of long exposure photography. If you find you enjoy it and like the kinds of images you can make, save up and buy a good ND filter. However, if the technique is interesting, but not really your bag, then you will have discovered that having only spent a few dollars on your welder’s glass DIY version.
Either way, you will learn much more about creatively using your camera controls to make exciting photos and that’s what it’s all about. Learn and enjoy!
The post Try this DIY Neutral Density Filter for Long Exposure Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
The post How to Achieve Cool Urban Cityscapes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.
Cool Urban Landscapes through post-processing
How you present your images can really affect one’s emotional response to them. Certain styles of image lend themselves to stylistic changes because they can create a specific emotional response when the viewer sees them. For example, film-based black and white images, when done well, present a sense of timelessness and can make things seem more serious. Similarly, high dynamic range images (HDR), when done well, can add “pop” to landscape photography. One particular style of image that lends itself to stylized treatments through post-processing is urban landscapes. Particularly if you are trying to make an already interesting image look more appealing based upon the lighting already present.
Crushed black and blown highlights on a street scene
Similar to black and white images, a high-contrast, selectively saturated look works well to create urban landscapes with a gritty and moody feel.
Nowadays, smartphone and some consumer cameras, have a great deal of pre-packaged stylistic treatments available that you can apply to photographs to try to evoke an emotional response. Someone, somewhere, has spent a great deal of time creating those filters to make your images feel as though they are from a different time or place.
For example, the classic 1970s snapshot look is full of color shifts and light leaks. They were common at that time because of the use of unstable film stocks and cheap cameras. Digital cameras don’t suffer the same issues that were present at that time. So, to simulate these conditions, adding light leaks and color shifts can make images feel vintage. There are many filters out there – each with their own effects.
Lit up Las Vegas
To put the idea of emotional response to images in context, think about a familiar treatment that you are probably already aware of: black and white images. These photographs are rarely just images with the color drained. Good black and white images are contrast-rich with deep blacks and bright whites. The grey middle ground of many images can lose their impact when drained of color. Many black and white films had specific response curves that created the contrast-rich images. So now, with digitally-captured images that are black and white, they can appear a little sterile and plain. Adding high-contrast effects and grain to simulate film black and white tends to create an emotional response and mood.
To improve as a photographer, most people start, at some point, to try to take a more artistic approach to their images. Many newer photographers may start with simple prepackaged filters and presets, and apply them to their images. Currently, there is no end to the filters available in pretty much any photo sharing application and many cameras. From terms like “cool,” “50s,” “vintage,” and “grunge,” all these filters are stylizing the image for an emotional effect. Instagram was built on filters. People are very used to stylized images.
Old Montreal
Becoming a better photographer involves the deliberate use of styles to create your desired effect. You may find there are particular filters you gravitate towards; styles that evoke an emotional response you like.
This is the beginning of finding your own style of image making. As you advance, you might explore manipulating images with Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Skylum Luminar or some similar program.
When you get to the point where you are working with and creating your own filters, you create your style. You can start by playing with filters or dissect other photographer’s images that you really like to see if you can recreate that style.
Surprisingly, creating set styles in many photo imaging software packages is quite easy. It allows you to recreate your style and apply it repeatedly to multiple images.
Notre Dame in Montreal
Let’s consider the urban, gritty look for urban landscapes.
Here are two treatments of the same image, split for comparison. On the right is the Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC) jpeg and on the right is the treatment with the blacks crushed, highlights blown, oranges highlighted and an almost selective color approach.
It is easy to create for yourself with whatever tweaks you like to create a style for yourself.
Comparison of straight out of the camera to the final product
A word of warning is necessary at this point. When you start stylizing your images with intentionally weird effects, you may generate some negative comments from people who don’t like the look you create. This does not mean you have failed to create something interesting. However, it means you have generated an emotional response to your image by someone who doesn’t care for that look.
Remember that some people find that they can only validate their work by diminishing others. Whereas, most find growth in encouraging others to take risks with their art. A true artist picks their vision and follows it. Sometimes it can be a bumpy road if you are only expecting validation from others.
It is important at some time for you to consider yourself an artist and not just a recorder of images.
All art is about creating an emotional response. Beyond capturing a moment, it is how that moment makes you feel. Emotional responses can be positive or negative.
Atwater Market in Montreal
It turns out this crushed-blacks, blown highlights, contrasty, desaturated, and the almost selective color look isn’t that tough to create for yourself. However, for this particular effect, you may do some damage to your photos by intentionally making some parts too black and other parts too bright.
So let’s look at the images I think work for this type of treatment. Shots typically taken at dusk/night, with artificial illumination present, add interesting artistic character for the urban landscapes shot.
I use Adobe Camera Raw to do most of the edits to these images, but you can use Lightroom or any image processing software to create a similar style. My suggestion is you modify and tweak it to your liking to get the desired effect. The tools are similar, but just in different places. Also, even though I process these images with a raw converter, you don’t have to use a RAW image (although that is always the best starting point) and can use a JPEG or DNG file. The treatment will look very similar.
To start, open your image with the raw converter.
Opening up the Raw Processor
With your raw converter, you have access to many parameters that act globally on your image.
Change the sliders as shown on the panel below.
Specifically, you want to make sure you have the desired white balance (it may be fine from what your camera selected, or you may want to resample). You want to up the Contrast hard, more than you probably have done previously to make those hard edges at the light and dark parts of your image. You then do two things that seem contrary – you are going to pull the details out of the shadows (increase the Shadow slider) and make the Blacks blacker (crushing the blacks).
Finally, boosting the Clarity increases the midtone contrasts, boosting the Vibrance boosts the midtone colors and toning down the Saturation prevents them from looking too candy-colored.
Here’s my panel for example:
Adjustments for the effect
Once you have made a look that you like the effect of, you can make this a repeatable look by creating a user preset.
Switch to the presets tab and then make a new preset.
You will be prompted to add a preset name. Pick something relevant to your style and save it. Next time you pull up an image (or multiple images) in your raw processor, you can simply highlight them all and apply the presets at once.
How to save the effect
A lot of these settings may cause parts of your image to clip. The crushed blacks mean that much of the detail in the blacks disappear. The boosted colors lead to clipped highlights. However, in the end, that’s okay because that is the desired effect.
Here’s a Pro-Tip: All those presets you can buy for Lightroom and Photoshop essentially do a version of this. You can create those presets if you have the time and the inclination to do it yourself. By doing it yourself, you create an image style that appeals to you.
Edmonton Skyline
Art is about evoking an emotion. Sometimes photographers try too hard to make an image that looks too lifelike and loses emotional impact. You can create urban landscape images that are moody and gritty by making them dark with blasted colors and blown highlights. It also opens doors to other types of manipulations used for images warranting other types of emotional reactions.
Old building in the Westmount area of Montreal
The post How to Achieve Cool Urban Cityscapes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.
The post How to Photograph a Minimalist Landscape appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.
Creating amazing photos can be much easier than you think. The simplest images can be the most striking. Keeping your image simple means minimalism. In this article, you’ll learn about creating minimalist landscape photos. The creation of these type of images requires the correct use of a lens, and often the correct selection of location. Read on and find out all you need to know to create minimalism in your landscape photos.
In this photo, the main subject is the mountain in the distance. The remainder of the frame is kept simple.
Where you take your photo will determine your success with minimalist landscape photography. You’ll have more success in remote locations, but urban environments can also be used for minimalism as well.
When photographing in a busier environment, you’ll need to use the correct lens and camera angle to maintain minimalism with your photo. More remote locations naturally have a minimalist feel, but the challenge in those locations is locating a strong main subject.
The following are locations you could use for minimalist landscape:
Deserts make excellent locations for minimalist landscapes.
The lens you choose is equally as important as the location for a minimalist landscape. There is no absolute rule over which lens to use; it depends on the location you find yourself in. If you have chosen a location in the wilderness, the chances are you can use either a wide angle or a long telephoto lens. However, if you’re photographing in the city, the lens becomes important.
This photo uses a wide-angle lens. This really captures the interest in the foreground from the shapes in the sand.
Photos that are taken at eye level work well for many situations. However, when you’re looking for minimalism, changing to a new angle works wonders.
The following are good choices when it comes to simplifying your image:
A lensball can be used to capture a scene that’s not normally minimalist, and capture it in a minimal way.
Every photo type is strengthened by having a main subject. In some cases, the inclusion of that main subject can be more of a challenge. Portrait photos, for instance, always have the main subject – the person you’re photographing. Landscape photos may not always have an obvious focal point – in some cases, it’s not needed – but for most photos, it will give you a stronger image.
In a minimalist landscape, that main subject will leap out of the photo strengthened by the minimalism across the rest of the frame. So what type of object could you use for this main subject?
The single yurt acts as the main subject in this photo.
Minimalist landscapes naturally dovetail with several other well-known photography techniques. You can apply one or more of these to your photo, for a better image. Take a look at some of these techniques, and look at why they’ll improve your photo:
In this photo, there are a number of elements in the frame. The minimalism is provided by the single tone of the image. The main subject is silhouetted against the background.
Landscapes and minimalist photography are two of the most popular photography genres there are, so it makes sense to combine them.
Have you experimented with this type of image? Did you use any of the approaches mentioned in this article? Having read this article, would it make you approach your landscape photography in a slightly different way? What approaches do you use for landscape photography?
As always, we’d love you to share your opinions and photos with the community. Please share in the comments section of this article.
The post How to Photograph a Minimalist Landscape appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.
The post How to Use Scene Elements to Create Impactful Panoramas appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ian Johnson.
Close your eyes and let me take you to a scene that you have experienced before. You are standing in front of a wonderful vista. It is huge – a sunset, a mountain range, a canyon, a cityscape – and you are blown away by the grandeur of it. After admiring it for a bit you pull out your cell phone or camera to take an image. But alas, your phone cannot capture the image because it extends far out of your field of view. “Not to worry,” you think to yourself as you flip your device into panorama mode to create impactful panoramas.
A few seconds later and your newly stitched image captures the whole scene with one problem: all the things you loved about the scene have been reduced to tiny pixels making it hard to appreciate how beautiful it was out there. In my opinion, you’ve fallen victim to the “panorama trap.”
Paradoxically, wider is not always better for capturing a large vista!
This panoramic image illustrates the “Panorama Trap.” I wanted to photograph the mountains, but there is nothing compelling to draw me into the image or tell the story of that place (it happens to be the Denali Highway).
You can up your panorama photography game by carefully thinking about elements of the shot before making it. For instance, integrating close foreground elements using hyperfocal distance or switching to a longer lens can give you a more interesting shot. We’ll go through that and more in this article!
In order to capture a more interesting shot, it is useful to think about why you are using a particular technique. For instance, you might think of black and white photography for shadows and contrast, macro techniques for tiny things (although that’s a rule to be broken), and side-lighting for portrait photography. Each of these techniques or photography genres is meant to maximize the benefit and impact of the elements in the image.
So, why panoramic? Because you want to maximize and impress the viewer with grand-scale elements in the image which you cannot capture in one image alone. Using the mantra of “making a shot” and not “taking a shot” is good to keep in mind for panoramas. To make a more compelling panorama, envision what you want to accomplish and how you want the image to feel or influence your viewer before pressing the shutter button.
Some scenes are just too big for one image! This snow-covered landscape caught my attention during an afternoon of skiing. I like the framing of the trees on the left, but to my eye, this image still gets caught firmly in the panorama trap because it lacks compelling elements in the foreground.
Foreground elements are critical pieces to incorporate into your image to grab the viewer. Foreground elements help tell a story, give the image context, and make it more interesting to look at. Since many panoramas get taken with a mid-length (e.g., 50 mm) to ultra-wide lenses (e.g., 12mm), you must walk close enough to foreground elements to give them a presence in the image. You can maximize the impact of a foreground element by using a photography technique called hyperfocal distance.
This image was made during a recent trip to Hawaii and shot on a Nikon D810 with a 24mm Sigma Art f/1.4. The Mamane Tree in the foreground was a compelling silhouette. I am only about 10 feet from it, but HFD enabled me to keep the foreground and Milky Way sharp.
Hyperfocal distance (HFD) is not a “hyper-difficult” subject. By definition, it is the closest thing your lens can focus on while keeping the horizon at infinity. HFD is influenced by your lens focal length, by your camera’s sensor size, and by your aperture. As a rule of thumb, wider lenses have a shorter HFD than longer lenses, and the larger your sensor is, the shorter the HFD is. Creating a smaller aperture (e.g., f/16 instead of f/2.8) will also decrease the HFD.
Depending on your system and camera settings you may be able to have foreground elements 2.0 feet (0.6m) away and have all elements beyond that in focus! There are many resources to learn HFD from and to calculate it for your camera system. I recommend starting with this article to learn more. As you use HFD more, you will begin to have an intuitive sense of how far objects have to be from your camera to be in focus.
This image incorporates HFD to frame the image. The closest spruce is about 8 feet in front of me. I made the image with a Nikon D810 and a 12mm, ultra-wide lens
Hopefully, you have made the connection of why HFD will help you integrate interesting foreground elements into your panoramic image. Here’s how you can achieve intriguing panoramas in three generic steps:
I recommend stopping your lens down to f/8, so it is at its sharpest and shooting with a panning tripod head to keep your horizon straight and level. It will make the stitch and final image cleaner. However, don’t be overwhelmed – these techniques take time and patience.
This image was made on an Olympus OMD Em5 with a 12mm lens adapted with a Metabones speed booster. The foreground silhouette tree was about 8 feet away. I got as close as HFD would allow to make it impactful in the image.
This image is not utilizing HFD, but I had to consciously know how close to stand to these spruces to give them impact in the image. I intentionally balanced their silhouette against the glow of the Northern Lights.
Now that you have learned briefly about HFD, I’m going to tell you to keep in mind that rules are made to be broken! The foreground of your image may be far more important to the telling of that story than the horizon. Having an in-focus foreground element and out-of-focus background is okay too.
The image below has many compelling elements. However, my goal was to bring you into the winter scene by ensuring the hoar-frost-covered Black Spruce in the foreground was tack-sharp.
Rules are made to be broken! In this image, I knew my background and stars were going to be out of focus. That did not matter to me because they were only accents to the foreground trees and their beauty.
You may be thinking to yourself “I can’t always get closer to my subject, so what then?” Not to worry – you can make compelling panoramic images by using long lenses to bring the landscape closer to you. When using a long lens of 150mm or more, it is critical that you use a tripod with a panning head. Use a cable release to remove shake in the lens and shoot at a large aperture (e.g., f/20) to get sharp elements.
This image of Denali was made with an Olympus OMD Em5ii at 100mm. I isolated the mountain and its foothills to create a panorama full of layers, colors, and textures.
You can use a telephoto lens to isolate and photograph your favorite part of a scene. Above, I used one to isolate Denali, and below, I used it to isolate a cannery against the large mountains of the Juneau Range.
The steps for making a panoramic image with a telephoto lens are similar to using HFD. You need to:
I made this image from a boat and shot it at 330mm to isolate the cannery. The effect of “compression” from the telephoto lens made the mountains feel very close to the cannery. In reality, they are over 18 miles (350km) away!
Experimenting with HFD and long lenses is going to result in some images that you “could have done better on.” Expect to learn from your mistakes!
I’ll share an image that illustrates when my HFD distance estimating was off. I did not achieve a sharp foreground and background. However, I like how the sharp part of the image draws your eyes through the snow-covered trees. So, this image is not a total flop.
As I always say, “pixels are cheap.”
I hope you make tons of pixels while experimenting with panoramic images!
Even images that are not perfect can have qualities you like! The air glow on this night was spectacular and I like how the distant spruces are in focus drawing your eye through the tunnel of snow-covered trees.
The post How to Use Scene Elements to Create Impactful Panoramas appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ian Johnson.