Category: Photography

How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits
The post How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

I’ve grown to really love making portraits of people. My preferred way of working is on location with my natural light outdoor studio.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

For many years I had a dedicated studio set up in my home. During this time I hosted many travelers who passed through Chiang Mai. I made photographs of them all and we had a lot of fun making them. However, I was never so comfortable using studio strobes inside as I am working with my outdoor studio.

Indoor studio portraits. © Kevin Landwer-Johan

Inspired by Vogue photographer, Irving Penn

Early on in my photography experience, I became aware of American photographer Irving Penn (1917-2009). He’s celebrated as one of Vogue magazine’s top photographers. Penn produced more covers for them than any other photographer over the 60 years he worked with the magazine.

Fashion photography has never been much of an interest for me. What attracted me to Penn’s mastery was the portraits he made outside his magazine work. Often he would stay on in these exotic locations where his assignments took him, and he’d make portraits of the locals.

He outlines some of these experiences in his book ‘Worlds in a Small Room.’ In the book, he tells how he developed a portable daylight studio he could set up on location. This allowed him control of the background and lighting.

Living in northern Thailand, I have opportunities to visit mountain villages and photograph indigenous hill tribe peoples. So I decided to design and build my own portable daylight portrait studio.

Setting my studio up in villages allows me to make studio portraits of people as they remain in their own environments.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

How I designed and built my outdoor studio

This was a completely DIY project, so you could easily copy the idea and make your own.

My studio has metamorphosed over the years. It now comprises of:
- Three stainless steel tube uprights
- One black and one white background
- A shade cloth above the backgrounds
- Reflectors
- A bunch of clips, ropes, steel rods, and tent pegs
Everything for my outdoor studio.

Because I often work alone my studio needed to be easily portable, unlike Penn’s which was large, bulky and required several assistants to set it up. I had to sacrifice size to make it practical. You could design a larger, less-portable studio for use in your backyard.

Originally I made upright supports using fiberglass tent poles. These proved too flimsy, so I replaced them with more sturdy stainless steel. I have also enlarged the background area and included a white background. My initial design only had a short black background. Now I also use reflectors to enhance and balance the light.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Control natural light using an outdoor studio

I prefer to set the studio up in the morning or later in the afternoon. If the sun is too high overhead, the light is more difficult to work with.

Choosing a location where the sun will be behind the backdrop is important. This helps to provide a hair light. The piece of thin grey nylon fabric I set up above the backdrops softens this hair light.

If the ground where I’m setting up is bare earth, that is perfect. Light reflects off the light colored soil up into the faces of my subjects. This is good for Asian skin tones, but not so good for Caucasians as it has a slight yellow/orange tone.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

When I have to set up on a lawn, I lay down some white or light tan plastic sheeting to provide some uplighting. Without this, the grass would reflect an unpleasant green cast onto the people’s faces.

In the early days of using my studio, this was all I did to manipulate the light. Now I also use a large foldable reflector to bounce more light onto my subjects. This gives a little more control of the shadows.

The background fabric is a very stretchy polyester. It does not wrinkle and can be pulled tight between the uprights, so it’s flat. Behind the black background, I add a sheet of thick black polythene sheeting. This completely blocks out the sun which would otherwise partially shine through the fabric.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Balancing the light

Your exposure settings are critical. A lot of light shines through the white background, while none shines through the black. Including too much of either background in your exposure calculations will result in an underexposed or overexposed subject.

You need to take your exposure reading from your subject’s face only. Using manual mode, once you have it set correctly, you won’t need to change it unless the light changes. This will happen if the sun goes behind a cloud or you bounce more light onto your subject with the reflector.

You can use the same exposure settings for both backgrounds because the light on your subject’s face does not change.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

If you take a light reading from the white background, you will see it is far brighter than your subject. Taking a reading from the black background will show there’s much less light reflecting off it than your subject. These contrasts help you achieve a pure white and pure black background.

The thin fabric above the background reduces the light and prohibits full sunshine from affecting your subject. You need to make sure your subject is not too far from the background; otherwise, the sunlight might hit their head directly.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Make your own outdoor studio

Putting together your own outdoor studio is relatively easy and cheap. You can use it anywhere there’s sufficient space. You don’t need to buy expensive lighting equipment or have a large studio space. The materials are inexpensive, and it’s portable so that you can use it anywhere.

Working outside you are reliant on good weather. It’s best when the sun is shining, but you can still use it under an overcast sky.

Photographing with available light is so much fun, especially when you have a little control over how it affects your subjects.

We’s love to see photos of your outdoor studio in the comments below.

The post How To Use an Outdoor Studio for Natural Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Digital Photography School
May 9, 2019
DIY Food Photography Props on a Budget

The post DIY Food Photography Props on a Budget appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

With the rise of Instagram, every meal has become a potential subject for a photographer. We’re sharing our food through photographs like never before, and higher quality imagery gets more likes in the world of #instafood.

But how do you create that styled look to your food photographs when you’re on a budget? Not everyone has the cash to drop on a whole styling kit of tableware, linens, and backgrounds. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ as the proverb says, so let me tell you about a few creative ways I’ve made the money go a little further when it comes to food photography.

Take the suggestions in this article as a starting point and be creative with your own ideas. Bring in skills you’ve already got (or would love to learn) in your quest to DIY your food photography on a budget!

Shop your home

It seems so obvious, but you’d be amazed at what you can find at home (or in the homes of your friends and relatives). The best thing about shopping your home is that everything is free! Take a minute now to take a look around your house and see what you already own that might work for food photography.

The kitchen is the first place to start – but don’t just stop at crockery and flatware! Ancient old baking trays make fabulous backgrounds, and interesting glassware can make great detail in an out-of-focus background.

Don’t neglect the bathroom as you make your shopping trip. More than once I have put food on a (clean) soap dish that happened to be beautiful in color or texture. From the living room, vases can hold a freshly cut flower for a food photography scene. Bedrooms are a treasure trove of trinket dishes, baskets, boxes, and fabrics (more than one evening dress has found its way into my shots as a textile element). Finally, check outside – weathered old plant pots or interesting bits of wood can really bring life to your food stories (once they’ve been scrubbed, of course).

On a similar note to shopping your home, don’t forget to visit your local thrift shops regularly! The staff in my local shops know me so well that they put interesting flatware, linens and ceramics aside for me now. Moreover, each item costs very, very little compared to buying them new.

Creating backgrounds and surfaces with interest

When you’re setting your scene for a styled food photograph, the background can really make or break the shot. You can purchase pre-made background boards designed especially for photographers that replicate various textures. They’re very and good, and I use them often, but they’re also quite expensive! While homemade boards don’t replace textures such as wood or marble they can be very effective for the right shot.

Top: pink stripes created with a child’s foam painting roller.
Bottom: blue, black, and grey emulsion paints applied with a kitchen sponge.

Head along to your local DIY store that sells sheet materials. There you can buy sheets of plywood. If you are lucky, the store will also cut these sheets of plywood into manageable chunks either for free or at a minimal cost.

It works out to be extremely cost-effective to create backgrounds using these boards as a base. A sheet of plywood that is 2.4m by 1.2m costs about £25 here in the UK and that makes eight neat 60cm square boards. You can paint both sides too, so it works out to about £1.50 per background (plus whatever paint you use).

Usually, I use cheap emulsion paint samplers to create backgrounds. Don’t be restricted to brushes for applying the paint either – a sponge is my favorite tool followed closely by children’s painting toys! Go bold with your designs; once you’ve made the background out of focus with a shallow aperture, you won’t see small details. Experiment with color – dark backgrounds can be as interesting as light backgrounds.

Build the set

Once you’ve created some backdrops, put one on a table next to a window and prop the other up behind it vertically like a wall. You now have a table set for a fraction of what it would cost you to buy special backdrops marketed to photographers!

Floor tiles used as backgrounds for food photography.

While you’re at the DIY store buying your plywood, check out the flooring section too. Very often DIY shops will sell sample flooring tiles for people to try at home. For just £1.50 I bought all three of the flooring tiles in the pictures above. The boards are often quite small, but if you’re shooting close-ups, they can still work really well (they’re also good for jewelry photographs).

Customised table linens

Beautiful linens can help to make a food shot pop. They feel luxurious because they’re something you usually only use for special occasions. Plus if you keep your eye out, you can often find linens with unusual textures to the fabric or fancy trim around the edge, and these can help elevate your shots to be something quite special.

Two different colours of linen fabric used for food styling. Consider the mood of your final image when selecting colours.

Table linens are, at their most basic, just a square of interesting (or not-so-interesting) fabric. To create the simplest DIY napkin that really packs a punch, head to a fabric store that sells dressmaking fabrics. Have a look through their linen selection. You’re after something heavy with lots of texture, and you’ll want half a meter of the fabric. Use sharp scissors to cut it into a large square (you should get at least two out of half a meter of fabric) and you’ve created your first designer napkin!

You can either turn the raw edges over and sew them with some matching thread or start pulling the threads away to fray them. Both styles give a different look to your shots as you can see in the shots above. Think about color when you are purchasing fabric; it can really make a difference to the mood of your shots. I’d suggest purchasing neutral colors first and then venturing out into colors when you have some good basics.

Many shops sell a ‘fat quarter’ of fabric (it is a meter of fabric cut horizontally and then vertically to make a rectangle). These cuts are the perfect size for a single oversized napkin. Once you’ve built up a stash of beautiful plain napkins, you can try venturing out into something a little more complicated.

Embellish your DIY props

If you browse the designer homeware stores, you’ll find that table linens often have intricate detailing like trim or hand-stitching on the edges. Back to the fabric shop again, and this time shop for some coordinating trim that matches some fabric you’ve got.

You can sew the trim around the edges of your napkins, or you can take some fabric glue to it. Food styling props for photography don’t have to be perfectly functional; they just have to look good on camera! Make sure you arrange your props so that any mistakes are facing away from your camera!

In the photograph above is white linen. The linen was made with very cheap white cotton fabric with fancy pompom trim stitched around the edge. It cost me around £3 in total. Considerably less than buying the fancy version I’d had my eye on in a shop! Photography is all about illusion. If the trim is particularly expensive just buy enough to go around two edges. You can style it when you shoot so that the other side doesn’t show.

The proof is in the pudding

In any good food photograph, success is measured by how much your viewer wants to eat the subject. I followed my own advice: shopping at my house, creating backdrops, buying fabric and trim, and then I photographed the results.

For under £15, I put together two completely different food photography sets that I can reuse time and time again. Moreover, the bonus is that if I don’t like the backgrounds in the future, I can paint over them time and time again!

Now it’s your turn; have a go at building yourself some props and shooting some food photos. I’d love to see what backgrounds and props you create for your food photography shots. Perhaps you can apply a skill you already know and create something really special that you just can’t buy in the shops.

Please share with us in the comments below.

The post DIY Food Photography Props on a Budget appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

Digital Photography School

May 9, 2019
Four of the Latest Updates to Lightroom Classic CC

The post Four of the Latest Updates to Lightroom Classic CC appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

When it comes to the world of photography it seems as if change is an everyday occurrence. New cameras, new lenses and new ways to make your photographs better, give the feeling that we are never quite standing still. One of the biggest testaments to this fluidity comes from the recent changes made to Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. It seems as if Adobe has been extremely busy over the past year by introducing new features and settings to Lightroom.

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It’s impossible to list all of the changes here, so I’ve picked four of the biggest and freshest new features to be introduced into Lightroom Classic CC. These range from somewhat complex to some very simple tweaks that might leave you thinking “hey, why didn’t I think of that?!”

Here’s a short list of the new features which are currently available in Lightroom Classic CC v8.2 which was the most current build at the time this article was written.

Customize Develop Panels

To kick things off, we’ll take a look at a very simple yet interesting new feature introduced to Lightroom in December of 2018. Until now the only choice of customization for our Develop panels was to switch to “Solo” (highly recommended) mode. With the release of Lightroom Classic CC v8.1, we can now choose the order we want the Develop panels to appear and even decide which panels we want to have listed at all.

I know, right? Looks a little odd to see all the panels in a different order and a few missing! To customize your Develop panels all you need to do is right-click on the title bar of any panel.

This opens up the customizer dialog box.

From here it’s just a matter of checking or unchecking the panels and/or dragging and dropping them into the order you like.

Show/Hide Develop Presets

Moving over from the far right to the far left side of Lightroom Classic CC, we’ll find another new feature added to the v7.4 (seems so long ago) update which dropped in June of 2018. Beginning with this build, we can now control which Develop Preset groups appear in our Preset panel. This feature is called “Manage Presets,” and it is accessed by right clicking on any Develop Preset group or by clicking the dropdown icon at the top right of the panel.

We are then met with this preset management window.

This is where you can check or uncheck the preset groups you want to appear in the Develop presets panel. Remember, you can always select “Reset Hidden Presets” should you ever decide you want to restore everything to the default configuration.

Preset Compatibility

While we’re on the topic of Develop presets, it’s worth mentioning another brand new aspect to grace the halls of Lightroom Classic CC in 2018. Starting with the v8.1 update, we have the option to determine which presets appear in our Develop Preset folders even more judiciously than before with the ability to hide or show partially compatible presets.

Now, you might be wondering what a partially compatible preset is? Simply put, any Develop Preset that contains a setting not compatible with your current version of Lightroom will now be italicized or hidden depending on your preferences.

Here, let me show you.

First, let’s say this preset was made with a creative profile which you don’t have installed. You’ll notice that its name appears in italics. This means that the preset is still usable, however, it only offers limited functionality.

Alternatively, we can choose to not have that preset appear at all. To do this, we first select ‘Edit’ and then ‘Preferences’

Next, click on the ‘Presets’ tab and then set the preset visibility checkbox to your desired preference. If left unchecked ANY of your presets that feature settings not fully compatible with your version of Lightroom will no longer appear in your presets folder.

This of course can be undone at any time by simply checking the presets visibility box once again.

Single-step HDR Panorama Photo Merge

Don’t worry, just because the title is lengthy doesn’t mean this next feature is overly complicated. For years we’ve been able to tell Lightroom to stitch together our panoramic and HDR images for us. Now, the folks at Adobe have given us an incredibly easy way to combine the best of both worlds with the release of Lightroom Classic CC v8.0 back in October of 2018. We can now merger multiple bracketed photos into a high dynamic range (HDR) panorama in, you guessed it, just a single step. Well, maybe a little more than that – but it is still incredibly easy.

The majority of the work involved in making use of this new feature happens before you ever import your images into Lightroom.

Namely, your photos need to be correctly bracketed and meet a few other criteria. It will be helpful to read the full release notes from Adobe to learn more about how to make sure your images are compatible with Single-step HDR Pano Merge.

In any case, once you have selected the bracketed images for your HDR pano, the actual process is remarkably straightforward. So go ahead and select them first.

Then right-click on any image and select ‘Photo Merge,’ and then ‘HDR Panorama’.

From here, Lightroom will create a smart preview of your HDR Panorama.

You then have options to control the way the final photograph gets cropped as well as how the images combine. This new “single-step” approach to creating high dynamic range panoramas is light years ahead of previous methods. Instead of first needing to merge individually bracketed image sets into separate HDR photos, only then to require further stitching into the final panorama, we can now eliminate virtually half of the effort involved. If you’re an avid landscape photographer, you will absolutely fall in love with single-step HDR Panorama Photomerge.

And that’s not all…

Of course, this is just a taste of the new flavors Adobe has added to Lightroom in the last year or so. It’s nearly impossible to include all of the new features constantly added – and that’s a good thing. There are many more fresh features to be found in Lightroom Classic CC.

Do you have any favorites? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

The post Four of the Latest Updates to Lightroom Classic CC appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

Digital Photography School

May 8, 2019
Gear Review: The Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector
The post Gear Review: The Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sean McCormack.

The Halo Compact is a new reflector/diffuser design from Lastolite (a Manfrotto company). In January, at The Societies Convention in London, I got a glimpse of the first batch on the Manfrotto stand. It looked great on display, and in the demo, it packed down really small. It was also attached to standard light stand fitting on display. As the owner of a few Lastolite products, I’m quite aware of how innovative they are, and that they do make quality products. Some of these are used day in and day out in the studio (e.g. the Hilite and the Triflector).

The Halo Compact on the Lastolite/Manfrotto stand at The Societies Convention.

Now I own a lot of reflectors. From large 5-in-1 disc reflectors to the already mentioned triflectors, to 6’X3’ frame reflectors; I even have a California Sunbounce. I’m not exactly in need of a new one, least of all something that’s well on the way to being €100 with shipping.

However, I was still interested in one major selling point – how compact it is when it is packed down. Seeing as I’d flown to the convention, I knew it would be a perfect travel reflector. I went to buy one. No luck. The small amount of stock that was in the shop at the convention was gone, so I left empty handed.

My next look at the Halo Compact in person was at The Photography Show in March. I happened to chat with one of the folks at the stand, and it turned out to be Matt Bailey. Matt had taken over from Gary Astil as a product designer, so we got chatting about the Halo, and how it solved quite a few problems.

Needless to say, I bought the diffuser version with the frame and a silver/white reflector cloth as well, to give me the best variety for shooting situations. I could have gotten the reflector with frame and the diffuser cloth if I preferred.

The Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector setup

The blue containing pouch

The Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector comes in a small, dark blue, zipped pouch. It has a carabiner to attach to a clips, belts or even belt loops. The material and finish are far better than the old royal blue material Lastolite formerly used, which tended to fray behind the zip, rendering the zip useless.

When you open the zip, it reveals what looks like a tent pole rods (but pre curled), and a fabric. You’ll also a find ¼” 20 screw back to back in the pouch so it can screw to a magic arm.

The rods are similar to tent pole, but curved.

You’ll find assembly is straightforward. Attach all the rods together. Finish the frame by pushing the two sides of the handle together in a kind of dove tail joint fashion.

The handle pushes together to make the frame rigid. It also houses a tripod fitting.

A quick glance at the handle and you’ll see the inbuilt ¼” 20 hole for a light stand in the handle. This is one of the great features of the Halo.

That’s it. It’s sturdy and firm.

To get either fabric on, you click a clip in place on either side of the handle and then clip them all on at even spacing around the frame.

The grip on the handle is great and I found it reasonably easy to hold outdoors, despite holding it in my left hand on my right side in the wind.

I’m not saying it’s not a kite, but it was far better than the floppy eBay reflector I’d used earlier that day.

Why do you need this?

So why would you bother with having this at all?

The answer is simple.

You want to have control of the light.

Here’s what undiffused evening sun looks like.

While it’s not as harsh as midday sun, it still has hard shadows and causing squinting.

By using the diffuser, the light is spread, making is softer.

Obviously it’s also lower in intensity, so you have to open your shutter to compensate.

Another typical way of shooting with evening sun is to use backlighting.

Here you can lose the direction of the light, but adding a silver reflector can bring back contrast and shape.

You could also opt for a more subtle white reflector.

Pros and Cons

Pros
- Sturdy
- Good modifier options with reflection and diffusion
- Compact, perfect for travel
- Reliable brand with known quality
- Built in stand adaptor
Cons
- Longer setup time than a popup
- More expensive, but still not the most expensive
Conclusion

While a little on the expensive side compared to the eBay popups, the Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector is still an affordable product. Despite the longer setup time, I feel the compact pack means this product will live in or on my camera (via the carabiner) permanently, vs the pops that are left behind when I’m travelling more compactly.

I’ve included the downside of the price and longer setup time in my rating, but in truth, I’m delighted with this product.

Now to sell some of my other reflectors!

Have you used the Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector? What are your thoughts? Share with us and our readers in the comments below.

The post Gear Review: The Lastolite Halo Compact Reflector appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sean McCormack.

Digital Photography School
May 8, 2019
5 Attributes of a Great Product Photo for Your Online Store

As an online store owner, you are constantly striving to design your shop in the most appealing way to your customers. And the first step to success is to make your product photos shine bright like a diamond. Why Exactly You DO Need Great Product Photos for Your Online Store People don’t buy before they see. Some of them even Continue Reading

The post 5 Attributes of a Great Product Photo for Your Online Store appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

May 7, 2019
How to Make Interesting Abstract Smoke Photos
The post How to Make Interesting Abstract Smoke Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

How would you like to learn a little “photo magic?” A magician not wanting to reveal his secrets might tell you his trick was all done with “smoke and mirrors.” The expression speaks of a kind of deception used to fool the viewer. No fooling here though, as you’ll learn the technique. You really will photograph smoke and later, mirror your image to add even more interest. So it really is smoke and mirrors. Shall we begin?

Can you see the Firebird? How was this done? Read on for the tricks to this abstract magic.

Tools for the trick

Here’s what you will need to create your photo:

Camera

Most cameras will work for this kind of photography. Being able to use manual control and manual focus will make things easier. You will also need to be able to fire a flash mounted off-camera using either a wired or wireless method. A lens which will allow you to focus on an object a few feet away will be best. The shots shown here were done with the Canon “nifty fifty”, a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens mounted on a Canon 50D camera. For a relatively inexpensive lens, it is very sharp.

A package of 40 incense sticks from the dollar store is probably enough for a lifetime of smoke photography.

Flash

You will want an external flash you can mount off-camera. The pop-up flash on the camera won’t work for this. You will be mounting the flash off to the side of your shot so it illuminates the column of smoke pointing perpendicular to the direction you’re pointing the camera. Having a light stand on which you can mount it will be helpful. You also don’t want any of the light to hit the background or flare into the camera, so a snoot which will direct the beam of the flash at the smoke column works well. You may also be able to fashion a “barn-door” arrangement with cardboard (or even tape). Whatever works to keep the light only on what you want – the smoke column.

Tripod

The flash will provide plenty of light and also freeze the action, so you really aren’t concerned about motion blur. The advantage of a tripod is simply to help you compose and frame the shot and provide some consistency. If you don’t have a tripod or simply prefer to handhold your camera, that’s okay too.

To better see the smoke and also give you more flexibility later in editing, a black or very dark background will work best. Black posterboard, black cloth, the black side of a reflector, or whatever you have should work. Because the column of smoke you’ll be photographing will be relatively small, you won’t need anything very large.

Smoke-producing object

Incense, the kind that comes in stick form, works very well for this kind of smoke photography. It’s cheap, burns for a long time, and produces just the kind of smoke needed.

Location

Unless you have an absolutely calm day with no wind, shooting outdoors probably isn’t going to work. Even the slightest air currents will affect your smoke pattern. Shooting indoors, particularly in a modern home, might be a good way to test your smoke detectors but having the alarm go off just as you’re getting started with your work is rather disruptive. I found shooting in the garage to be a good option. It was dark, the air was still, and after the session, it was easy to open the door and clear the smoke. Just be aware of the requirements needed; still air, no smoke detectors, (or at least temporarily disarmed ones), the ability to make the room dark, and a door or window you can open afterward to clear the smoke afterward, and you’ll be set.

Setting up

The diagram above shows a basic setup. Put your camera on a tripod a couple of feet from where you will place the incense stick. Taping the stick to light stand may allow you more flexibility in positioning it in the frame, but whatever you use, you will want to frame the shot so you put just the tip of the stick at the bottom of the frame, leaving a couple of feet above for the column of smoke. Whether you use a portrait or landscape orientation with your camera is up to you, just remember the smoke will drift around. Being a little loose with the framing isn’t a bad idea, you can always crop later.

The background should be a couple of feet behind the incense stick. If you light properly, it won’t show anyway so this isn’t crucial.

Position the flash on a light stand so it’s to the side of the camera and points perpendicularly to the camera angle. You will be side-lighting the smoke. Some photographers also put a reflector on the opposite side to bounce a little light on the other side of the smoke. You can experiment and see if you like that. The shots here use only the one flash. As mentioned above, what is crucial is that no light fall on the background nor flare into the camera lens. A snoot is the easiest means of achieving this.

The smoke patterns are constantly changing and no two will be alike.

Camera and flash settings

In the darkened room where you’re working, use a flashlight or other dim lighting so you can still see the incense stick and do your framing. Focus on the tip of the stick, then turn off the autofocus so the focus stays locked. Leaving on autofocus will almost guarantee frustration, as while shooting, the camera lens may hunt, trying to find and focus on the drifting smoke.

Shoot in Raw mode, (which you usually do, yes?) Doing so will allow greater editing flexibility later.

Set your camera around ISO 200, f/8 and about 1/60th of a second for starters.

Leave the flash off.

Make a shot before lighting the incense in the darkened room.

You should get a totally black frame and that’s what you want with no flash.

Now put the flash in manual mode and set it to about half power. You should have already connected it to the camera with a cord or perhaps set up a radio trigger so it will fire when the shutter is tripped.

Make a shot with the flash on and you should be able to just see the tip incense stick. If so, you’re now ready to get smokin’.

This image is straight out of the camera. Note the tip of the incense stick at the bottom right.

Making your photos

Light the incense stick, blow out the flame and a thin column of smoke will rise from the tip.

Make a shot and check it. Is it focused?

Be sure, as you don’t want to make a whole series only to later find out they aren’t sharp. If you need to adjust your focus or perhaps go to a smaller f/stop for more depth of field, do so now.

Also, check the exposure. If things are too bright, drop the flash power or reduce the ISO. If the smoke is too dim, do the opposite. You want to clearly see the smoke, but nothing else.

If all looks good, keep making shots. Occasionally wave your hand near the smoke column or gently blow on it to vary the smoke pattern. You will want some variety so you can later choose your favorite shots.

This is the same image as the one before it, but horizontally mirrored and colored with a gradient.

Basic editing

What program you want to edit with is up to you. You will want to adjust the blacks so as to leave only the white smoke details. Then adjust the whites, highlights, shadows, exposure, and contrast by eye, tuning the shot to your liking.

If there are elements you wish to eliminate, paint them out with a black adjustment brush or use layers and masks in Photoshop if that is your preferred technique.

The Gordian Knot – This image was mirrored both horizontally and vertically and then colored with a gradient.

Mirrors and colors and abstracts, oh my!

You got the smoke, now what about the mirrors? Yes, the white smoke patterns on a black background are interesting but you can take this much further. I used Corel Paintshop Pro, but Photoshop would work too. Or for that matter, any photo editor that supports layers will work. (Keep in mind Lightroom does not support layers so while you can edit, colorize, and do other things with it, the mirroring part is beyond its capabilities).

Here are the basic steps:
- Open in your basic edited smoke image. Select the entire image and copy it.
- Paste the copied image on top of itself as a new layer.
- Mirror (flip) the upper layer horizontally or vertically. (In Photoshop, Edit, Transform, and Flip Horizontally or Vertically).
- Change the blending mode on the upper layer to Lighten. You will now see the upper layer mirrored and superimposed over the lower layer and some interesting patterns will be created.
Alien Gas – A straight smoke shot later colored green.

Purple Haze – Now, take the image above, reverse it so it’s a negative, (the black becomes white and the green becomes purple), then mirror it both horizontally and vertically.

You can move the layers so they overlap each other in various ways and change the pattern. You might want to make the canvas larger and put the mirrored image next to itself or even have multiple layers with the image flipped both horizontally and vertically.

You’ve now entered the realm of abstract art and anything goes.

Maybe you’d like to add some color?

Create another layer at the top of the stack and fill it with a gradient. Now use the Overlay or Soft Light blending mode and watch your smoke take on the colors of the gradient.

If you’d like to hand-paint the smoke, create a blank layer at the top. Turn the blending mode to Overlay, and using the Brush tool (and a color of your choice) to paint the smoke, watching the white smoke take on that color while the black is left untouched.

Try putting a photo on the upper layer and switching the blending mode on that layer to Overlay.

Like Rorschach inkblots, what you see is very individual. I call this one – The Witch Doctor

Something I find fascinating with these abstract smoke compositions is that they resemble Rorschach InkBlots. Everyone interprets them differently and can see different images in what are, after all, just random patterns of drifting smoke. The titles on these shots are what I interpret.

What do you see?

Smoke in other photos

You may have reasons to want to include smoke in your photos that is not an abstract interpretation. The same basic technique can work with side lighting.

The “Smokin’ Hot Peppers” was lit with two flashes, one on either side of the vase and an incense stick placed in and behind the peppers in the vase.

A flash on either side of the subject was the only difference here, otherwise, this image uses the same technique.

Pseudo-Smoke

Here’s one last trick that could work for you when you want something that looks like smoke but you’re in a no-smoking workspace.

Get some dental floss, fray it a bit, and tie it to a penlight or small flashlight letting the light shine down the length of the floss and onto your subject.

Now make a long exposure during which you keep the floss constantly moving. Smokeless smoke, just another option to have in your bag of photo tricks.

Looks like smoke, but it isn’t.

Conclusion

You’ll find that photographing smoke is all about the lighting. Side or backlighting will work best and a dark background helps the smoke show up better. Beyond that, it’s simply a matter of experimenting.

Give it a try and make a little photo magic. And share with us in the comments below!

The post How to Make Interesting Abstract Smoke Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Digital Photography School
May 7, 2019
Easy Beginners Tips for Long Exposure Photography
The post Easy Beginners Tips for Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Christian Hoiberg.

Learning about Neutral Density Filters and how you can use them to slow down the shutter speed was a big turning point in my landscape photography. I instantly fell in love with the soft and dream-like feeling I was able to achieve – it was like giving life to my not-so-interesting images.

I’ve learned a lot since that day, and while I don’t only do Long Exposure Photography anymore, it’s still an important part of my work and it’s something my students often like learning about. After all, it has the power to instantly transform an otherwise standard image into something more fascinating.

As with anything else, it takes a lot of practice to master a subject but I want to help you on the way by sharing some crucial tips that will make life just a little easier.

1. Prefocus when using Neutral Density Filters

There weren’t a whole lot of articles and tutorials to study when I started exploring with Neutral Density filters. This meant that it took a bit of struggle to find a solution to some of the mistakes I made. One of the things I simply couldn’t figure out was why all my images with a 10-stop filter were blurry…

After some back and forth I understood that it was because I used autofocus.

Remember that a 10-Stop ND Filter is essentially a piece of black glass. Try looking through it with your eyes when the sun is low on the sky and I’ll bet you can barely see anything. This is the case for the camera as well. Most cameras aren’t able to properly set the focus when dark ND Filters are used – just as they aren’t able to automatically focus at night.

The solution is to switch over to manual focus. I know this sounds tedious to some of you but here’s an easy workaround if you prefer autofocus:
1. Mount the camera on a tripod and find your desired composition
2. Focus roughly one third into the image (depends on the scene and desired look)
3. Change to Manual Focus (read your owners manual to figure out how it’s done with your camera/lens)
4. Place the Neutral Density filter in front of the lens
5. Calculate the shutter speed and take the picture!
Since you switched to manual focus, the camera isn’t going to try to focus after you attach the ND filter; instead, it’s keeping the focus you set.

Note: Remember to repeat the process when you’re changing compositions and to switch back to autofocus when you’re done using the filters.

2. Avoid light leaks by covering the viewfinder

The biggest frustration I’ve ever had when working with long exposures was the mysterious purple glow that appeared in the center of my images.

It turned out that this is caused by light leaking through the viewfinder and the solution is quite simple: cover it up!

Some professional DSLR cameras have a built-in ‘curtain’ that you can close by flipping a small switch next to the viewfinder. If your camera doesn’t have this, I recommend using a piece of cardboard to place in front of the viewfinder.

It’s also possible to purchase covers custom made for your camera.

Now it should be said that these light leaks don’t always occur. It’s most common when:
- You’ve got a light source directly behind you (such as the sun or a streetlamp)
- You’re using a shutter speed of 1 minute or longer
I’d still make it a habit to cover the viewfinder whenever you’re using a shutter speed of 20 seconds or more.

3. Remote Shutter + Bulb Mode = Sharp Images

One of the biggest challenges you’re going to experience when experimenting with Neutral Density filters and slow shutter speeds are getting razor sharp images. There are many factors that can result in the images being unsharp; one of the most common is camera shake.

The maximum shutter speed of most DSLR cameras is 30 seconds. In order to use a shutter speed longer than this, you need to use a function called ‘Bulb’. In Bulb mode, the image is being captured for as long as the shutter button is pressed.

You can imagine (and try if you don’t believe me!) that manually pressing the shutter button for one or two minutes is going to cause a significant amount of vibration to the camera. What does that lead to? Blurry images.

A remote shutter is absolutely essential in this case. You can find a cheap version but I recommend a remote shutter that has:
- the possibility to ‘lockup’ the button
- an LCD display that shows time
Conclusion

Long Exposure Photography is a lot of fun and it’s a great way to improve your understanding of how the camera fundamentals (ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed) work together. Since we’re working with shutter speeds of up to several minutes there are many factors that might result in failure but the results can be mesmerizing.

The tips I’ve shared in this article gives the solution to some of the most common obstacles and I hope they will remove some frustration for you. If you’d like to learn everything you need to know in order to capture beautiful images using slow shutter speed, be sure to take a look at my eBook ‘The Ultimate Guide to Long Exposure Photography‘.

The post Easy Beginners Tips for Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Christian Hoiberg.

Digital Photography School
May 7, 2019
Field Test: Could the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 be the Most Versatile Wildlife Lens?
The post Field Test: Could the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 be the Most Versatile Wildlife Lens? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Shreyas Yadav.

Wildlife photography is exciting as well as challenging. Imagine you are photographing a Tiger at a distance and suddenly the Tiger attacks a deer! Alternatively, imagine you are in an African savanna where you are photographing a grazing herd of Elephants at a distance, and right after that, you see a beautiful Eagle on the nearby tree. To photograph these type of objects, you need to have a wide range of zoom lenses. You may have experienced this while on a Jungle Safari. Changing a lens while in the field can be difficult.

Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 lens mounted on a camera, zoomed to 500mm

It looks like Nikon has considered the needs of Wildlife photographers and produced a versatile, fixed-aperture telephoto lens at a quite reasonable price; the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6.

The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 lens, priced at around US$ 1400, weighs about 2300g (81.02oz). The best part is the lens has a fixed maximum aperture of f/5.6. In addition to a fixed aperture, there are three extra-low dispersion glass elements (ED), powerful vibration reduction (VR) – making this lens optically superb – and it also comes with a tripod collar. The lens is stable when mounted on a tripod, and it comes with HB-71 lens hood. The lens also works great with both full-frame (FX) and crop-sensor (DX) Nikon cameras. The telephoto zoom range and beautiful optics make this lens perfect for birds, nature and wildlife photography.

This field review of the Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 lens, looks at how the lens performs from the perspective of a nature and wildlife photographer. It examines how this lens performs in the wild, as well as looking at the lens controls and ergonomics. This is important, especially if the lens has to be used from dawn to dusk in the wilderness.

This lens is versatile for photographing wildlife, mainly because of it’s:
- Capability to photograph small and large objects
- Convenience to capture both nearest and farthest objects, thanks to the zoom range!
- Excellent compatibility with full-frame (FX) and crop-sensor (D) cameras, which means you can use the same lens on either of your camera bodies
- Compatibility with the latest Mirrorless cameras (requires an FTZ lens adapter)
- Travel-friendly size
- Excellent vibration reduction
- Convenient grip when you hold the lens collar
Specifications

Focal Length

The focal length of the lens is from 200mm to 500mm. Being FX lens, effective focal length on FX bodies is 200mm to 500mm. On DX Nikon bodies, the effective focal length is approximately 300mm to 750mm.

The lens is capable of photographing small objects such as this Ground orchid (at focal length of 310mm)

Image of large-sized Elephant approaching from a distance of around 300ft (110 yards) at a focal length of 200mm.

Image of large Elephant approached closer at a focal length of 500mm.

Small sized Oriental white-eye bird photographed at a close distance of 8ft at a focal length of 500mm.

Aperture

The maximum aperture is f/5.6, and the minimum aperture is f/32. The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 is an E-type lens (Electromagnetic diaphragm mechanism). It provides better control on the aperture blade as compared to mechanical linkages. This feature is compatible with newer cameras; however, with older DSLR cameras, an aperture is fixed to f/5.6.

Extra-low dispersion glass elements

The lens has 3 ED glass elements. ED glass element helps in reducing chromatic aberrations and offers overall better image quality.

Minimum focusing distance

This is the minimum distance between the lens and an object at which the lens focuses. The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 has a minimum focusing distance of 2.2m (7.2ft). For wildlife and bird photography, this is a perfect minimum distance. With a minimum focusing distance of 7.2ft, the lens acquires perfect focus in most cases.

Autofocus

Thanks to Silent Wave Motors (SWM), the lens focuses quietly and with accuracy. The lens indicates this feature as AF-S. While you autofocus, you can instantly override autofocus by manual focus and vice versa (M/A). The lens can be focussed manually (M) as well.

Teleconverter support

The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 is compatible with TC-14E III (1.4X) series teleconverters when used with DSLR cameras which can autofocus up to f/8. During low-light conditions, autofocus performance of the lens along with TC-14E III is satisfactory and usable. With the TC-17E (1.7X) and TC-20E (2X), aperture goes beyond f/8, hence autofocus is not possible. For this reason, it is not recommended you use the Nikon 200-500 lens with TC-17E and TC-20E teleconverters.

Camera compatibility

Full-frame (FX) cameras, crop-sensor ( DX ) DSLR cameras and Nikon mirrorless cameras (Optional FTZ mount adapter required) are compatible with the lens. This E-type lens (Electronic diaphragm) will work with the following cameras (you can change the lens aperture on these camera bodies): D5,D500, D4,D4S, D3, D3s , Df, D850, D810, D810A, D800, D750, D700, D610, D600, D300, D7500, D7200, D7100, D7000, D5600, D5500, D5300, D5200, D5100, D5000, D3400, D3300, D3200, D3100.

On older versions of cameras, such as Nikon D200, you cannot change the aperture. The aperture will be fixed to f/5.6.

Filters (Optional)

The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 accepts 95mm screw-on filters. When carrying this lens into the wilderness, I recommend you have a filter. It protects the front glass element from dust, mild drizzle and minor scratches. I use the filter while photographing and do not see any significant loss in image quality. However, make sure you use a high-quality lens filter to ensure minimal loss in quality.

Vibration reduction

This lens has excellent vibration reduction performance. I have achieved sharp images at 1/30th during low light conditions. Nikon claims to have the benefit of 4½ stops. I always keep the VR “ON.”

There are two VR Modes – Normal and Sports. Normal mode works fine for me while hand-holding the lens on the ground, and also in the safari vehicle. I tend to keep it set to Normal mode.

Image of Warbler bird with Vibration Reduction OFF. Feathers are not clearly visible Exif: 500mm f/5.6 1/400s ISO 2000, VR OFF

Image as it is from a camera with Vibration Reduction ON. Feathers are sharp. The lens is a handheld. Exif: 500mm f/5.6 1/400th ISO 2000, VR ON

Weight

Weighing in at approximately 2300g (81.2 oz), the lens initially feels somewhat heavy. However, as you start hand-holding this lens regularly, you get used to the weight. I am now able to handhold this lens for two to three hours without any issue.

Lens Hood (included)

The HB-71 Lens hood is a plastic hood. It is a decent hood but slightly big to fit in the bag. However, I do use a hood on the lens mainly to protect the front glass element of the lens from minor bumps, tree twigs, and rain.

Lens Size

The lens Diameter is 4.2inches (108 mm), and the length is 10.5 inches (267.5 mm) at 200 mm zoom. The lens fits perfectly in mid-sized camera bags such as Lowepro Flipside 400 with the body attached. You can invert and fit the lens hood as well.

Controls and ergonomics

Controls

Lens controls

The Nikon 200-500mm f/4.5 has five controls:

M/A – M

M/A means while autofocusing you can override it with manual focus if required.

M is a full-manual focus.

Full/Infinity – 6m

Full allows the lens to focus on the entire focusing range. I use Full all the time and have never missed the focus.

Infinity – 6m option limits the focusing range of the lens. The lens will focus from 6m to infinity. Any object which is closer than 6m won’t be in focus. I recommend using the Full option.

VR ON – OFF

Vibration reduction(VR) ON-OFF. Set this to ON. I set it to ON even when mounted on a tripod.

NORMAL-SPORTS

Set the VR type to NORMAL. For wildlife and birds, NORMAL mode works great. NORMAL mode works great while I am hand holding the lens and even in the safari jeep.

LOCK 200

The Lock 200 button locks the lens to 200mm. You cannot zoom the lens if it is locked. The lock switch is perfect for when you are traveling, and your lens is packed. It avoids unintended zooming during travel.

Ergonomics

The lens is a bit heavy, but as you continue to use it, you will be able to easily handhold it. I found when hand holding the lens, removing the lens collar or rotating it upwards made it easier to hand hold. However, hiking with this lens can be hard due to its weight, especially carrying it up the mountains.

The zoom ring is smooth with an excellent rubber grip. The zooming feels smooth and is precise. However, the manual focus ring feels slightly loose. But, I do find the quality of manual focus to be excellent.

The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 fits in a mid-sized camera bag. However, to accommodate the lens and camera, a larger bag is required. The only awkward part is the lens hood. Either you can invert the lens hood and keep in the bag or use a slightly bigger bag. I use this lens with Lowepro Flipside 300 (only lens), and the Lowepro Flipside 400 when the camera is attached.

Weather sealing

The weather sealing of this lens is quite decent, and I have used this lens in a moderately dusty forest and some drizzle. The lens offered good weather sealing. Make sure you clean the lens after using in dust and drizzle. I clean the front element, outer lens barrel, and mount. I use a Nikon Lenspen Pro kit for cleaning which is easy to use and travel-friendly.

The overall construction of the lens is good. It can handle minor bumps. However, some parts are made up of plastic, making the lens construction not as rock-solid as pro-grade lenses.

Qualities of the lens from the perspective of nature and wildlife photographer

Focusing speed

Wildlife actions happen in a few seconds. Focusing speed is most critical for wildlife photography. The speed of focus with Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 is good. When the light conditions are good – such as morning and early evening – this lens focuses fast and accurately. I use back button autofocus. I have used this lens in forest, safari, grasslands, and drizzle. Here is how this lens exactly performs in the field –

The lens focuses superbly in the following light conditions and scenarios:
- Bright light such as morning and evening light
- Drizzle and normal dusty environment
- Birds in flight (moving at a pace of slow to medium and not fast)
- Animals and birds behind a tree or grass (behind clutter)
- Animals in action (moving at a pace of slow, medium and fast)
- Smaller birds and wildlife such as sunbirds, frogs, and grasshoppers (when they are slow moving or stationary)
Hawk cuckoo bird in the rain. Low light image and photographed from a safari vehicle.

Flight of fast-diving paradise flycatcher. Lens focussed on this fast-moving bird in good light conditions.

This bird was behind the grass. There was significant clutter in front of it and the lens focussed accurately on the bird.

Focus performance of the lens is average in following light conditions and scenarios:
- Early morning or late evening light – this is the time when action happens for leopards, tigers, owls and nocturnal creatures. You may need an external light such as flashlights or headlights (not camera flash)
- When the weather is rainy or dusty the lens focus performance is satisfactory
- If the wildlife action is very fast, such as a Kingfisher bird diving for fish or a swallow bird flying over water
- If wildlife is very small in sizes such as sunbird, crab or bees and moving
Average focus performance when photographing small objects such as a flying kingfisher at a distance.

A Peacock photographed when it was raining. The lens managed to autofocus decently during low light and rainy conditions.

Focus performance of the lens is poor in following light conditions and scenarios:
- When the light conditions are poor such as night and heavy rain.
- When birds in flight are at a very long distance against the plain and cluttered background – Lens struggles to focus in this case. This type of focus hunt I have experienced while photographing birds in flight against blue sky at longer distances.
Crested Hawk Eagle chasing Heron. The birds were at a longer distance and photographed during very low light conditions. Lens focus performance is a bit on the poor side.

The River Tern was flying at a long distance against a plain blue background. In this type of scenario, the lens struggles to focus on the main object.

Low light performance

This is a tricky one! As it depends also on how your camera performs in low light and how you photograph. Many of the latest cameras by Nikon are good enough to shoot in low light. Hence there are only two things which have an impact on the final image: lens low light performance and your shooting style.

All-in-all, lens performance is somewhere between good to average in low light. But if you follow the below techniques, you will be stunned with your images. It is so good! I have followed these techniques and achieved awesome images in low light :
- Use a bean bag or tripod
- Use aperture f/5.6
- Since there is no external light source (such as flash) use shutter speeds from 1/30th to 1/60th of a second
- If the lens is struggling to autofocus quickly, focus manually
- Shoot in raw so that you can recover and process images effectively
- Shoot at a reasonably high ISO (depends on your camera) but generally ISO 2000 to 4000 can provide a great balance between image quality and noise.
Here is an image I shot in almost darkness during a late winter evening. I used a bean bag, the aperture was set to f/5.6 and shutter speed 1/30s. The ISO was around 2500.

A Leopard during a late winter evening. Focus performance was decent during low light. Exif: 480mm f/5.6 1/30th ISO 2500

This type of performance I was able to repeat multiple times.

In short, in very low light scenarios the lens performance is average. But if you master it using the above-mentioned techniques, you can achieve stunning images.

A range of focal lengths

The Nikon 200-500mm captured the market aggressively in a short time. Its focal length is one of the prime reasons. This range is optimum for wildlife photography and is also a great focal length range on both full-frame and crop-sensor cameras. 500mm is a great range for birds, while the 200 to 400 focal length is great for large and smaller size wildlife.

If you are using a full-frame camera, you will get a focal length of 200mm to 500mm. If you are DX shooter, the effective focal length you will be getting is around 300mm to 750mm. 750mm is superb for bird photography. 300mm is great for animals and other wildlife. I use Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 on crop-sensor ( DX format ) body. When I am on a safari with the effective focal length of 300mm to 750mm, I can easily photograph eagles, woodpeckers, small forest birds, tigers, elephants, and snakes.

A Rat snake appeared in the bushes which were very close to me. I zoomed out the lens to capture this beautiful snake. Focal length: 200mm.

Flamingos are very sensitive to a boat. Hence, I have to keep a good amount of distance from them. I captured this image from a long distance while I was in a boat. The long zoom range helped to photograph this distant yet beautiful scene. Focal length: 480mm

The one caveat is you can’t capture wildlife when they approach close to your safari gypsy or boat. I needed to switch to the smaller telephoto lens such as Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 in this scenario.

Tigress in the dusty grassland. Lens managed to focus in a dusty environment. This image is captured with Nikon 200-500 f/5.6

As the Tigress approached very close, I switched to the 80-200 f/2.8 lens, as it was a close encounter.

Best aperture, image sharpness, and colors

When the lens is wide open, the aperture is f/5.6 from 200mm to 500mm. At 200mm, the f/5.6 aperture is a bit slow, but at 500mm f/5.6 is excellent. This is where you are going to use it the most.

I use the lens wide open 70% of the time. I use the lens wide open for slow-moving birds and wildlife. If the objects are relatively close, I get sharp images using f/5.6.

In some of the instances, such as birds in flight, fast-moving wildlife, and wildlife at distance, I stop down the lens to f/7.1 or f/8. This is mainly to extend the depth of field.

Shoveler in flight photographed at f/8 – sharp flight.

Shoveler bird captured at f/5.6, sharpness at this aperture is great

If the objects are at a shorter distance and not moving very fast, aperture f/5.6 produces nice colors and sharpness. If the objects are moving fast, use f/8 to achieve sharp images. While you adjust your aperture for image sharpness also ensure you have enough shutter speed to freeze the action.

Here are the techniques to get sharp images with this lens every time. I have used these techniques in the wild and repeatedly produced a sharp image:
- Set lens aperture to f/5.6 or f/8 depending on the subject
- Set the shutter speed to at least 2x times the focal length (for example, if you are at 500mm, use a shutter speed at least as a 1/1000s )
- In case you are not able to use a high shutter speed because of low light, either use Vibration Reduction along with stable support such as a tripod or bean bag (shutter speeds can be as low as 1/30th)
- Use continuous autofocus with focus areas as a d9 (AF-C + d9) or Single autofocus with focus area as S (center point) ( AF-S )
- In case required to increase the ISO values. ISO values ranging from ISO 2000 to ISO 4000 (This depends on how well your camera can handle the noise). But for most of the latest Nikon cameras, this is a sweet spot
These are the main aperture values useful in wildlife and nature photography. I have found f/5.6 to f/11 the most versatile. But don’t limit yourself to these numbers. Try different aperture values based on the creative signature you want to make with your image.

Manual focus override

Manual focus override (M/A button) is useful when the lens struggles to autofocus. Usually, this happens if there is clutter in front of the main object. Examples are grass or leaves in front of birds and animals. In this case, use the manual focus ring to focus. The manual focus ring feels a bit loose, but the quality and precision of manual focus are good.

Manual focus override is also useful in low light conditions. In fact, I highly recommend when there is low light or if wildlife is in clutter, use manual focus override. You will end up getting perfectly focussed images every time.

Place Image 26: Image of a jackal. Initially, I tried using autofocus. Since there was much clutter in front of Jackal, I used the manual focus override. The transition was smooth, and the precision of the manual focus worked well.

Vibration reduction

The Vibration Reduction on the Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 is great. I achieved great results when handholding this lens at a shutter speed of 1/30th in low light. When you are in a safari or hiking, this type of great VR is good to have so you can make sharp images while hand holding the lens.

Place Image 27: Barking deer photographed at 1/30 s shutter speed from the safari vehicle. (Exif: at 360 mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 1600 )

Recommendations

Pros:
- Maximum aperture of f/5.6 for entire zoom range
- Excellent Vibration reduction performance
- Focal length is perfect for wildlife and nature photography
- Good focusing speed and image quality
- Most affordable price for a super telephoto lens
Cons:
- Hood size is big to fit in the small bag
- Some people may find this lens a bit heavy
- Bigger filter (95mm) – it adds some price. If you don’t want to use a filter, then you can skip it.
Conclusion

The Nikon 200-500 f/5.6E VR is a beautiful all-around lens. It is perfect for animals and birds. If you are looking for the most versatile lens for wildlife and nature, the Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 E VR is for you! Especially with the price of $ 1400, no other lens comes close.

It is compatible with all current Nikon DSLR and mirrorless cameras. Nikon 200-500 f/5.6E VR is your best friend in the wilderness. You will purely enjoy photographing the wildlife with Nikon 200-500 f/5.6E VR. Good luck!

Which telephoto lens do you use? What do you think about Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 lens? Please do let us know in the comments below.

The post Field Test: Could the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 be the Most Versatile Wildlife Lens? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Shreyas Yadav.

Digital Photography School
May 6, 2019
Should You Do Photography Work For Free?
The post Should You Do Photography Work For Free? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Sharon McCutcheon

There are normally two points of view that come up when you bring up this topic:
- Version 1: Never, Oh my god, you are ruining the industry, NOOB! Exposure doesn’t pay the bills. You wouldn’t expect a doctor to work for free. You are the reason photographers can’t earn a decent living.
- Version 2: Yes. You need to gain experience and you can’t expect people to pay for it. You are not the reason that people can’t make money at photography. If you don’t need the money, then why should you charge people? Do what you want to do and ignore everybody else.
Well, as with all things, it is a bit more nuanced than the arguments you hear on internet forums. Free is happening at all levels of photography all the time. From those of you just starting out, taking photos of your friends kids, all the way through to superstar photographers doing a favour for a friend at an advertising agency. Sometimes it pays to shoot for free. Sometimes you just want to shoot for free, and no matter what some might say, there is not always an issue with this.

Chase Jarvis wrote a great blog post about this years ago that always stuck with me. If it doesn’t give you two out of the following three things, then it is probably not worth shooting:
- MONEY
- PORTFOLIO
- RELATIONSHIPS
It is a simple approach that really makes it simple to help you figure out whether you should shoot for free. Now, as much as I wish I were at a Chase Jarvis point in my career, I am not. Therefore I changed it; does it pay me, build me contacts or build my portfolio? It has done me pretty well so far. So with this fresh in your mind, let’s look at how you can use free to your advantage.

Pay to play

I will be honest here; if somebody is willing to pay me my rates to photograph paint drying, I will do it.

As much as social media floods our feeds with photographers “living their best life” (god I hate that phrase) and choosing only jobs that feed their soul, most of them will at one point or another (and many still have to) take whatever job pays them. They just conveniently forget to add it to their Insta story. Sure, you only put work in your portfolio that you want to shoot, but if they pay and you need the money, you take the job.

I have been paid to photograph things that will never make my portfolio, but they meant I get to pay my mortgage. The old saying goes that money can’t buy you happiness, but it can give you freedom. If by doing boring jobs it means you can travel to shoot the project you always wanted to, then you get your creativity out of the job, just in other ways. However, this article is about when you should shoot for free, so let’s move on to the most obvious reason to work for free – to build your portfolio.

Headshots are something I always charge for now. I have a solid portfolio and there is no reason for me to do them for free any more.

Building your portfolio

You need to build a portfolio to get clients to pay you for your work, yet you need clients to get a portfolio. It is the classic chicken and egg scenario. When you are starting out and thinking that you might want to have people pay you for your services, you need to be able to show you can do the work you want to do. The simple solution is to offer photography in return for portfolio material.

This option also means you may be able to get into situations with specific people and locations that you may not have ever been able to get to on your own or paid to shoot with your current portfolio. In the music world, I shot for free a lot. I kept all rights to the images and sent them to a picture agency to make money that way. Whilst the website I shot for did not pay; they got me access.

Shooting for an agency is unlikely to get you stage-side access at a music festival. Shooting for the right publication, for free, can. The ability to get five minutes with a person that would look great in your portfolio is priceless. Unless there is similar work in your portfolio, you will struggle to get paid for this. This is the kind of free work that leads to more paid work and builds you a kick-ass portfolio.

Shooting for an agency would never have got me here. Shooting for free for a “cool” blog though, did.

The thrill

Let’s not forget, that being published is a major buzz, especially when you start out. Unfortunately, many photographers used to being paid for assignments can forget this. You should never underestimate this type of boost to your self-confidence.

My photography started in Skateboarding. It was the reason I picked up a camera. I shot everyone who came into my area and sent photos to magazines all the time. Then, something amazing happened – the magazine published one!

Very little replaces the thrill of being published for the first time. A photo I shot was in the magazine I had loved since childhood. That was the best feeling ever! Who cares if I got paid? I was young, and I had done the one thing I always wanted to do – get featured in a magazine. This one thing was a signal I could actually do something with my camera. I was good enough to get featured alongside photographers I looked up to. I still have that magazine in a box somewhere, and I will never, ever get rid of it.

However, this type of free shoot treads a very fine line. When you shoot for free, you are always the right price. Try not to get into making this a habit, especially for the same publication.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Even more established photographers sometimes need free shoots. It could be as simple as testing a new camera or trying a new technique. I am planning on hiring a couple of cameras soon and I will time it for when I have a couple of jobs on a weekend. However, I will also offer a free shoot for someone during my time with the camera.

When someone has paid for your services, asking them to bare with you whilst you scratch your head and try to figure out which menu setting you need is not a way to build their confidence or your profile. That means I can only really experiment with the camera later in the shoot when I know I have some great images for the client.

By organizing a free shoot, however, I can spend all of the shoot experimenting with the camera, testing it how I want. The person who receives the free shoot will not mind (or will simply have to grin and bare) the time I spend working out which menu setting I need.

After a quick play, this little guy captured my attention. Next step is to hire one and arrange a free shot so I can put it through its paces.

Time for print/gym membership/whatever

Bartering has been around since the dawn of time. The exchange of modeling in exchange for the final images has been around almost as long. You get great images for your portfolio, and the model also gets the same great images for theirs.

However, there are more creative ways in which you can trade your photography for services. As in the portfolio building, this can again be a way to build a portfolio but also get something for your time, albeit not money.

I really need to get back in shape and haven’t been to a gym in years. I am getting older and feel I need to get a level of fitness back. Now, I could simply go out and pay for a gym membership. Instead, I am going to approach gyms in my local area and attempt to trade a photoshoot in exchange for a yearly gym membership.

Why do this? Well, I’ll save money by not paying for a membership for starters. I have my camera gear, and if I book them in for a time when I have no other work on, all I am losing is the time for the shoot (plus processing). It also helps me build a portfolio in this area of photography, which like my fitness, is lacking.

The gym may be interested as they will get some shiny new photos for their website/social media and it costs them nothing apart from letting someone use the already open gym (plus a 30-minute induction session).

Now, yes, I could get paid more for a promotional shoot. However, how many companies respond to a cold call from someone with no portfolio in this area, asking them if they want to pay hundreds of pounds for a photo shoot? In my experience, very few. Then, if other gyms see my great work and the response it gets, then they will be in touch. This is when I can use that shoot to leverage getting paid.

Networking

Depending on what photography you do, there will be people you need to impress. This could be business owners, record companies, or chairpersons. By doing work for these people, it can be a way to get where you want to be faster.

As an example, you could shoot family portraits. One family you shoot are wearing clothes from the local children’s clothing boutique. The shop asks if you would mind them using one of your images on their social media accounts. How should you go forward?

The most important thing is that you must get written permission from the family to use the images in this way. But, assuming you have done this, why would you give them the image for free?

There are two ways of looking at this, and neither is wrong. You could let them know your commercial rates and let them decide whether they want to use it. Alternatively, you could allow them to use it for free, but make sure they tag you in the posts. You could even get them to include your photography flyer in the bags of their customers. This means you get great, targeted advertising for your photography. Also, when the company does want to arrange a photo shoot, you will be the first name that comes to mind.

Charity

Photograph things you believe in. If I can help out a charity I believe in, then I will do it for free. This is the karma side of photography. If your talent can help people, then you should do it. As much as it won’t pay the bills, working for a charity will give you a feeling that money can’t replace.

So that gives you some good reasons to shoot for free. Do you have any more? Or am I completely mad for ever suggesting people should shoot for free? Post a comment and lets see what people think.

The post Should You Do Photography Work For Free? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School
May 6, 2019
How to Use the New Enhance Details Feature in Lightroom

The post How to Use the New Enhance Details Feature in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

One benefit of subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud is that the software you use is updated regularly throughout the year. Some of these updates might not add much to your workflow, while others result in dramatic improvements to how you edit your images.

In February 2019, Adobe rolled out a powerful new option in Lightroom called Enhance Details. You may not have noticed since there’s nothing new in the interface that even indicates the feature is available.

However, this can dramatically increase the quality of your RAW files, particularly if you shoot with Fuji cameras, and it is certainly worth investigating to see if it could benefit you.

In order to understand what Enhance Details does, it’s important to know how RAW files work. When you shoot in RAW you aren’t storing images on your memory card or computer like when you shoot in JPEG. Instead you are storing a set of instructions for how your editing software should create an image when it’s exported from Lightroom, Capture One, or any other image-editing program.

What’s weird to wrap your head around, though, is the notion that when you browse through your image library in Lightroom you aren’t looking at the RAW files at all. You’re seeing previews that the software has generated which give you a good idea of what the RAW files will look when they are exported.

This is why RAW files look slightly different when you open them in different software. Capture One, Lightroom, Luminar…they all use different methods to interpret the data in a RAW file. This results in previews (what you see when you edit an image or browse your image library) that look different, as well as your final exported final images.

This isn’t a RAW file. It’s a JPG file generated from RAW data, as interpreted by Lightroom.

Understanding RAW Files

So what does all this have to do with Enhance Details? It all goes back to how your RAW files are interpreted in Lightroom. Digital cameras collect Red, Blue, and Green data on their image sensors using an array of pixels that correspond to each color. When Lightroom loads a RAW file, it looks at the color data for each pixel and guesses what the resulting image should look like. This is what you see when you look at your images before exporting them.

This also means that Lightroom has to essentially fill in the details throughout each image since you don’t see individual Red, Blue, and Green pixels when you zoom in on an image. You see pixels of all colors that Lightroom has created based on what it thinks they should look like based on the Red, Blue, and Green color data in the RAW file.

Unfortunately, this means that some elements of the scene that you photographed, particularly the very fine details, get lost in the transition from RAW file to Lightroom.

Different camera sensors contain different types of RGB patterns. When saving RAW images, all of the color information for each pixel is stored without the camera deciding how to interpret the data as an actual image.

Enhance Details is a way for you to recover some of the finer aspects of your images that get lost along the way when interpreting RAW files.

It works by using Adobe’s artificial intelligence technology, called Sensei, to fill in some of the missing gaps when pixels are rendered from RAW data.

The results can be quite impressive, depending on the type of image you are working with. It can also mitigate some of the issues that Fuji users have traditionally had when rendering RAW data from Fuji’s X-Trans sensors. Traditionally, these result in wavy, worm-like artifacts with an overall loss of sharpness.

Bringing out the details

To use Enhance Details, select an image in your Lightroom Library and choose Photo -> Enhance Details.

This brings up a Preview window which lets you see what will happen after the Enhance Details procedure finishes.

It shows a zoomed-in view of the photo you are working with, and you can click and drag around to see what different parts of the image will look like after the operation is complete.

When you click on the image preview it reverts to its un-enhanced state, allowing you to compare the original and Enhanced versions with a single click. There are no parameters to configure, sliders to adjust, or options to customize with the operation which I find refreshing. It’s a take-it-or-leave-it approach, at least in its current state, which makes it a little less of a hassle from an end-user perspective.

When you are satisfied that you want to undergo the Enhance operation, click Enhance and wait for Lightroom to finish the operation.

When it’s done you will still have the original RAW file, but in addition you will now have a new Adobe DNG file that contains the Enhanced image. This file is, as you might expect, the same image as the original but with several additional megabytes of new data where Adobe has attempted to improve things.

Original on the left, Enhanced on the right.

More details, larger files

One important point to note in this process relates to file size and storage space. When I converted several RAW files that were originally about 22 megabytes, the resulting Enhanced DNG files were about five times larger. Since each new file easily takes up well over 100 megabytes you might want to be somewhat selective in choosing the images you want to Enhance. Either that, or start looking into more storage solutions!

So what’s different about the enhanced RAW pictures other than massive file sizes? It varies depending on the scene you photographed, the camera and lens you used, and other parameters. If you shoot Nikon, Canon, or Sony, you might not see that much of an improvement since Adobe already does a pretty good job interpreting those RAW files. However, if you use Fuji you might notice significant improvements. The image below is the original RAW file, shot with an X100F, that I edited in Lightroom.

Original Fuji RAW image. It seems fine, until you zoom in for a closer look.

At first glance, and sized down for on-screen resolution, it looks fine. But upon closer inspection you can see some significant issues particularly among the leaves and ground.

Some of the issues are now apparent, and they can’t be corrected simply by adjusting sliders in Lightroom.

When I first saw this up close, I thought there was something wrong with my computer! Either that or I had a broken camera. The edges of the leaves, particularly where the sun is shining through in the top-right corner, have a wavy, worm-like appearance that’s rather strange and almost a little disconcerting. This is due to how Lightroom renders Fuji RAW files and can be corrected quite easily using Enhance Images.

Original on the left, Enhanced on the right.

Notice the way the edges of the leaves are much smoother in the right-hand image. The gold light coming through the dark leaves is also crisper.

This isn’t just an issue of adjusting the Sharpening slider in Lightroom. Instead, it’s an entirely new RAW file built from the ground-up using Adobe’s artificial intelligence algorithms.

The new image really is enhanced – as the name of the process implies. While it might not be entirely obvious when viewed on a computer screen, there is a clear difference when files are shown at full resolution or as large prints.

Enhanced image. You can’t see a noticeable difference on a small screen, but when viewed full-size the details are much improved.

Your results may vary

While the process works wonders for Fuji RAW files, it’s somewhat hit-or-miss for major names like Nikon and Canon. For instance, below is a RAW file from a Nikon 7100 as rendered by Lightroom.

Original image, shot from the Columbia Center skyscraper in downtown Seattle.

The Seattle skyline looks crisp and clear, with no noticeable issues in the finer details even when zoomed in to 100%. When processed through the Enhance Image feature the improvements are discernible, but you really have to look for them. It’s a marginal improvement, and nowhere approaching the fixes to Fuji RAW files.

Original image on the left. Enhanced on the right. If you look at the roofline of the building in the middle, you can see a more accurate rendering in the Enhanced image…barely. The Enhanced version doesn’t have oddly-colored pixels where Lightroom didn’t quite get the original RAW file rendered properly.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Enhance Images isn’t worth the file size tradeoff on Nikon and Canon cameras. Lightroom already does such a good job of rendering them already. However, I encourage you to try it out and see for yourself. The amount of improvement depends greatly on a variety of factors including your camera, lens, and the subject in the photograph.

You might find that you prefer the Enhanced Images as a general rule, or you might only use this feature now and then. Either way, it’s nice to know it’s there.

Enhanced image, without a lot of truly noticeable improvements even enlarged to full size.

I like to think of Enhance Images as a useful tool to have in your back pocket for those times when you really need it and not something I use on an everyday basis.

The really exciting part is where this technology might end up in the future. Right now the process is done for one photo at a time and takes several seconds even on newer computers. I can easily see a time when it’s applied as easily as a filter or adjustment slider, with dramatic improvements to every image.

Until that happens, it’s fun to see technologies like this take shape and mature. As photographers, we live in an incredible time with technology like this that were unthinkable only a few years ago.

It’s amazing to ponder what the future might hold, and think about the tools we will have at our disposal to let our creative freedom loose.

Have you use this feature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The post How to Use the New Enhance Details Feature in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School

May 5, 2019