360Photography

Category: Photography

  • Go With The Flow – Using Slow Shutter Speed to Create Motion Blur

    The post Go With The Flow – Using Slow Shutter Speed to Create Motion Blur appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

    Starting out as a photography assistant in a daily newspaper, I had one thing drummed into me. Make sure it’s sharp. This was the cardinal rule. It was appropriate for the situation.

    Any kind of unintentional fuzziness, especially when it renders the subject indistinct, looks awful when printed on newsprint.

    Adding motion blur, or any other form of blur, in a photograph can work extremely well when circumstances are right.

    Merlion Park, Singapore Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 8 seconds

    Two main techniques for creating motion blur in a photo are subject movement and camera movement.

    Times when adding motion blur is the right choice

    Deciding to add motion blur is best when:

    • Some parts of the composition remain sharp
    • The light is favorable
    • You find the shutter speed sweet spot
    • You have a means of stabilizing your camera
    Poi Sang Long Festival Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1/20th of a second.

    Adding some flash can at times truly enhance a photo made with a slow shutter speed. I find this works best when you sync your flash with the rear shutter closing.

    Keeping some of it sharp

    Using a slow shutter speed to create motion blur, I find it’s best to ensure that some parts of your composition remain sharp. Whether you are moving your camera or your subject is in motion, your results will be stronger when not all the composition is blurred.

    Using a slow shutter speed and moving your camera in relation to a moving subject, is known as panning. This will keep your subject sharp and the background will blur. Getting a perfectly sharp subject while panning is challenging because it requires the camera to be moving in sync with how fast the subject is.

    Tuktuk Panning Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1/25th of a second.

    Having your camera locked down while your subject or the background move you will have a better chance to render your subject sharp.

    Getting the exposure when the light is right

    Bright sunny days make it challenging to capture motion blur in a photograph. You need to use a slow shutter speed for the effect to happen. Setting your aperture to the smallest opening and your ISO as low is it can go will not always allow you to use a slow enough shutter speed.

    Using a neutral density filter in bright sunshine will make a slower shutter speed possible. At times I have coupled a neutral density filter with a polarizing filter to cut the light entering the lens even more.

    Market Scene Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1/4th of a second.

    In this photo I had my friend stand very still to achieve motion blur in the people walking behind her. Being such a bright sunny day meant that even with my aperture set to the minimum opening of f/11. My ISO was set at one hundred and still did not allow me to use a slow enough shutter speed. I attached a four-stop neutral density filter and a polarizing filter so I could set my shutter speed to 1/4th of a second to capture the motion blur.

    At night and in other low light situations achieving a slow enough shutter speed is simple.

    Finding the sweet spot for optimal blur

    Choosing a shutter speed setting appropriate to the pace of movement in your composition is important. Having too much or not enough motion blur will give you a poor result. This varies greatly depending on your subject and the style of photograph you are creating.

    Photographing waterfalls, people walking or traffic at night, all require different shutter speeds for best results. Generally, slower moving elements in your composition need slower shutter speeds. Things moving more quickly need faster shutter speed or there will be too much motion blur. It also depends on how much definition you want to retain in whatever is moving.

    Twently Second Waterfall Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 20 seconds.

    Flowing water, like in this waterfall, can be completely blurred. In fact, waterfall photos usually look best when a shutter speed of more than two seconds is used. I used a twenty-second exposure for this photo and there’s absolutely no definition in the water. It is still obvious what it is though.

    On The Sidewalk Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1/10th of a second.

    Keeping the motion blur balanced is more important with some subjects. For this photo of people on a sidewalk in Bangkok, I chose a shutter speed of 1/10th of a second. A slower shutter speed would mean more blur and less definition. A fast speed would show less blur and may just look like it was a mistake. I was happy to capture an image where the people walking are blurred yet their feet are reasonably sharp. The young woman modeling for me was very patient as it took quite a while to make a composition with the right number of pedestrians in my frame.

    Experimentation is key to finding the sweet spot with your shutter speed. You need to decide how clear or how blurred you want your subject and other elements in your composition.

    Camera stability is important

    You can use a slow shutter speed even if you do not have a tripod. Learn to hold your camera well and be in control of it. I do not often carry a tripod so am forced to use alternative means of preventing unwanted camera movement. Unintentional camera movement creates ghosting which introduces extra fuzziness to photos.

    Flames Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1/20th of a second.

    Hand holding a camera while panning can be preferable for some more than using a tripod. Keeping a steady movement along with your subject is what’s most important. If you are panning with a passing vehicle you do not want to be jiggling your camera up and down as you track your subject.

    Finding a firm surface to place your camera can be a good substitute when you don’t have a tripod. You may need to place something under the lens so your angle of view is level. I find my mobile phone or wallet often come in handy for this.

    Using a tripod does make things more straightforward when using a slow shutter speed. With a tripod, you have more stability and often more control of your angle of view.

    Coffee Roasting Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1/4th of a second.

    Introducing rear curtain synchronized flash

    Many cameras give you an option to synchronize the flash so it fires just before the shutter closes. Doing this combined with a slow shutter speed and movement produces interesting effects.

    As the flash is triggered near the end of the exposure it looks like the movement is partially frozen. Using a very slow shutter speed when there’s fast movement your subject may appear semi-transparent.

    Tricycle Taxi Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 4 seconds.

    I used a four-second exposure for this photo of a tricycle taxi in Chiang Mai. You can see the ghosted image of two people just above the handlebars of the cycle. They were riding past on a motorbike just at the end of the exposure as my flash fired.

    Conclusion

    Photographing movement using long exposures it pays to give yourself plenty of time to experiment and take lots of photos. Varying your shutter speed. Choose a faster or slower speed with the same subject. This can create vastly different looking photos.

    Iron Bridge Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

    © Kevin Landwer-Johan. Shutter speed: 1.6 seconds.

    If you’ve never often used a slow shutter speed, begin to explore the possibilities. If you’ve had some experience, try some new angle or subject. Please share your photos and comments below.

    The post Go With The Flow – Using Slow Shutter Speed to Create Motion Blur appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.


    Digital Photography School

  • How Failure Can Improve Your Photography

    The post How Failure Can Improve Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

    Failure is an indication that you’re not good at something, but it’s not a sign that you should give up.

    Many people let failure stop them from moving forward. But you should use it as a guide to growth. If the taste of failure has convinced you to give up in the past, let me show you how to use it for your benefit.

    Failure in photography can be defined in a number of ways, so let’s look at how failure can help you improve your photography.

    You tried photography but you totally sucked at it

    Maybe you wish you were a ‘natural’ and capable of taking amazing photos without lots of practice and disappointment. But I think it’s better that you have to struggle to get good.

    Yes, some people seem to have a knack for picking up a camera for the first time and taking gorgeous photos without even knowing what they’re doing. But because people who are naturals don’t really know what they’re doing, they’re going to hit their limits pretty quick. Their photos may all look the same and they won’t know how to improve. But because you had to struggle to get good, learning tough new things will be comfortable and normal for you.

    I started out as a kid with a film camera and almost all of my photos were terrible. I made very little progress over the years until I found people to teach me.

    If you’re terrible at photography then you need a teacher. You can find teachers online or in person. Usually, a combination of online and in person learning works well.

    Failure should lead you to learn more.

    This was my first attempt at a formal portrait of my son. I had no idea how to work my camera or how light effects a photo.

    With the help of Lightroom, I was able to salvage the photo to some degree. It’s not quite the emotion I was going for, but that’s what he and I were feeling in the moment. At that point, I never wanted to take another formal portrait again. Little did I know, I just needed to learn.

    You fail to accomplish something simple

    It can be so humiliating to fail at something simple! You might feel dumb or completely incompetent, but don’t give up.

    When you fail at something you thought would be simple, you probably just underestimated how difficult it would be. You found out it would be tougher than you thought and you have a little more to learn.

    As long as you understand what made you fail at something simple, you can learn how to improve.

    Thinking that a quick head and shoulder portrait of my son would be easy to accomplish, this was the best shot I could get! I tried for half an hour but failed to get that simple photo. What I learned was that toddlers have no intention of sitting still for a photo. So I learned to work with toddlers and to embrace unexpected candid moments like the one in this photo.

    You fail to achieve your vision

    Maybe you have good photography skills, but you always seem to fall short of your vision.

    That is perfectly normal. Nobody who aims high achieves their goals or vision easily. Most of your journey will be learning failure, but it will be so sweet when you do achieve it.

    Having learned about light and the nature of toddlers, I decided to create a portrait that I envisioned based on a Charlie Brown Christmas movie. Working with a toddler, I knew that I would only have a minute or two to capture the image.

    Even though I failed to work well with toddlers at first, learning how to do it helped me to hone my vision under pressure.

    Follow failure until it leads you to success.

    You lose competitions

    Perhaps you pour your heart and soul into your photography only to lose competition after competition.

    I actually recommend that at first, don’t enter competitions to win, but enter for the valuable feedback from the judges. Put your photos up against photographers who are better than you and listen to the feedback you receive. Learn to express your unique vision in a way that pleases viewers with high standards. In this way failure will be your guide, telling you exactly how to improve.

    I had a “second runner up” photo that might have won first place, but one of the judges brought my score down a lot. He said the light was bad in my photo. At first, I was hurt by his comments. But to be honest, I hadn’t even thought about light when I took the photo. Light was the very next thing I learned about.

    Invite failure to be part of your journey and you won’t mind it so much.

    There are technical imperfections in your photos

    If you find it difficult to live with technical imperfections then there are two things you should do.

    The first is to relax your attitude toward standards a bit. At the very least don’t expect every photo to be perfect. Most photographers are thrilled if 10% of their photos turn out. But perhaps only 1% will be worth keeping. If you keep having the same technical problem then you should learn how to fix it.

    The second is to occasionally embrace imperfections as part of your photo. Perhaps extreme conditions (light, weather, etc.) will inevitably lead to imperfect photos. Is that so bad?

    Change your attitude toward technical failure.

    I love walking into a chaotic scene and making a portrait from it. This picture has some technical errors though. It is quite grainy and a little misfocused. To me, that expresses the chaos of the moment all the more.

    “Don’t like the high-ISO noise? Make a photograph that’s so good, so captivating, that no one notices it! If noise is what people notice, noise is not your biggest problem.” – David DuChemin

    Your photos fail to move you

    I’ve gone through long periods of boredom with photography and my photos. At times it has become a mechanical process. In those times I’ve plunged deeper into why I even take photos to begin with. I’ve come to realize that for me photography is an exploration of human nature – explaining man to man and each to himself, as Edward Steichen puts it.

    Wrestling with why your photography fails to move you may actually take you deeper into your pursuit of photography. It may help you to understand what excites you about photography and get you back on track.

    Inspired by a friend’s struggle with anxiety, I envisioned a candid portrait session on the theme “A Glorious Mess.” I didn’t allow any posing. I could only capture candid moments that happened naturally. This is one of the photos that I felt best expressed the theme.

    Your photos fail to move others

    My wife paid a lot of money to surprise me with a mentoring session with a famous Canadian photographer. He told me that my photos are technically fine but they don’t move him. He referred to them as saccharine (super sweet fake sugar).

    Imagine putting it all there and paying big money to have a person tell you how terrible they think your photos are! He didn’t say it to be mean, he was just being honest.

    This is a good example of photos I take that fail to move other photographers. It’s the same old golden light and cute toddler smile that they see everywhere. Though this photo may fail to move fellow photographers, It does move the families that hire me. That’s worth it for me.

    If other photographers aren’t interested in your photos or editors reject them for publication, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a photographer. Your photos just didn’t interest them or weren’t useful to them. But listening to their critique or advice might help you to take photos that are more universally pleasing.

    When others think you have failed, try to learn something from their perspective.

    Failure should lead to refinement.

    If you never grow – this is true failure

    Perhaps you’re stuck because you need a teacher, or you’re stuck because you’re afraid to fail, or haven’t bounced back from failure.

    Each type of failure has the potential to make you throw up your hands and quit. You’re more likely to quit when you believe that failure is a sign that you lack natural talent.

    But failure also has the potential to help you grow, perhaps in ways you wouldn’t have grown without the failure.

    Failure isn’t a reason to give up but a reason to go deeper.

     

    Feature image: pixabay

    The post How Failure Can Improve Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.


    Digital Photography School

  • So You Want to Build a Website? Part 4: Adding Website Content

    The post So You Want to Build a Website? Part 4: Adding Website Content appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

    vintage typewriter

    Patrick Fore

    If you’ve been following along with this series (part one, part two, part three), you should now have a great portfolio to proudly display on your website. Next comes to what many think is the hardest part – writing about yourself and your photography. Whilst it may seem hard, there are some tips and tricks for adding website content.

    Write for your audience

    I cannot stress this enough. You need to know who you are talking to with your website. Are you talking to newly engaged couples looking for a wedding photographer? Are you talking to art directors who are looking for a photographer to shoot their next advertising campaign? Or, are you talking to family & friends, showing them your photography? You will speak to all of the people in these examples differently, therefore your website text must do the same. When you know who you are talking to, you know how to talk to them. Therefore, make sure you have an audience in mind before you start to write.

    The fab five

    The main pages on almost all websites are; the Home page, your Portfolio, an About page, a Contact page and a Blog. We’ve already covered the portfolio in a previous post, therefore if you’ve not read that, do it first. The Contact page is super easy, simply let people know how to get in touch with you, that’s all there is to it. However, the Home, About and Blog pages are a little more complicated. Let’s have a look at these in a little more detail.

    The home page

    DPS home page

    A website you all know well. Straight away you see a relevant image and a call to action.

    The home page is the introduction to you and your work and it is the first thing people see. For those of you who are art/commercial photographers, it is standard to lead with your portfolio. Therefore, if this is the field you are aiming for, it is best to stick with this format. Also, if your website is currently aimed at showcasing your work to family and friends, a portfolio is also a good option for your home page.

    However, if you are setting up a website for selling photography services, things are slightly different. The main aim of your home page is to answer the three basic questions any potential customer will have within five seconds. Who are you? What do you do? Where are you based? If these questions can’t be answered in their first few seconds on a website, people will generally click back and look somewhere else. We live in a world where attention spans are shrinking all the time. You need to make sure that your website is geared toward this.

    Your home page still needs to feature images to draw attention, therefore starting with a hero shot is the best idea. This is the main image for the page and can usually take up all/most of the screen when first viewed, therefore it is essential that this image should be your best work and relevant to your audience. This image will make the right people explore your site further and the wrong ones exit. Remember, you are not looking to please everyone. You need to attract your tribe. 

    Adding a good headline can grab your readers attention and get them to further explore your site. Write it for your audience. Photography is a service industry. People come to you with a problem (they need photos) and you provide the service to help them fix their problem (you take their photos). Explain how can you help them. What can you do to make their life better? Make it short, snappy and always tell them the benefits of using you.

    166 Photography Website Homepageomepage

    This homepage passes the test. It shows the name, what they do & where they are based quickly. Also note the call to action.

    The main text should be light in tone and friendly. It should tell the viewer about you, your site and services. Keep it focussed on your audience and include a Call to Action. A call to action tells visitors what you want them to do (for example, a click to contact button). You should try to have multiple calls to action on your page and preferably one that the user can do without scrolling down the page. Making it easy for the visitor to know what to do next is key. 

    Lastly, add a couple of testimonials for happy past clients. Not only past clients but awards and competitions you have won. This shows viewers you are able to deliver great photos and can be trusted. Think about it, how many people check a hotel on Trip Advisor before booking? Social proof shows you mean business!

    The About Page

    This is where you get to show the real you. A list of facts will not interest anyone, neither will a simple list of how wonderful you are. This is the chance to showcase who you really are and what you believe in. This isn’t the place to brag about what cameras you own, this is the place to explain why you love photography. 

    You can tell the story of your photography journey. How did you get into it? What do you love about your work? Again make it interesting and try to avoid listing facts. Show your passion. 

    The about page is also a great place to add social proof. List any publications you have featured in, and showcase more reviews from happy customers. Remember, people want to know you can be trusted and social proof is the best way to show this on your site.

    You should always write in the same way you speak on your about page. If your website speaks to people in a certain way, but when they meet you there is a disconnect it is never good. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Be you! Now, whether you write in first or third person is down to personal preference, but know your audience (and yourself) and write accordingly.

    Lastly, you need a photo of you. A well-shot photo where people can see and connect with you is always worthwhile.

    About page screenshot.

    An example of an about page aimed at Art Directors. Short sweet and shows who I have worked with

    The blog

    I’ve saved the most important (and most daunting) until last. No matter what type of photography you do, your blog will be the reason people come back to your site. Think of your blog as a magazine for your audience. It shows your latest work (and progress) as well as letting you explain your thoughts behind your photography. 

    I know some of you reading this now will be filled with dread. Not only do I have to write a load of stuff for my website, now you’re asking me to write all the time? However, like taking photos, writing becomes easier over time. 

    Some examples of good blog posts include “Why I like this image”. Talk about a photo you love and then explain why you love it and possibly the technical stuff behind it. A blog about each photo shoot you do. Again, explain your thought process and how you approached the shoot. Another post idea could be showing your personality. Talk about films or records you love. The choice is endless, but the important thing is to write them. One other thing to remember is to aim for at least 350 words as this works great with SEO (search engine optimization). 

    DPS posts

    There are few better examples of a blog than Digital Photography School. Constant content that keeps us all coming back.

    Get feedback

    As with creating your portfolio, get others to give their opinion. When you have written your content, it is particularly important to check it thoroughly and get a couple of people to proofread your work before you go live. It is so simple to misread your work (trust me I do it often) and nothing gives off the impression of an amateur like spelling mistakes. 

    For example, my wonderful wife proofs all my work. Just remember, if you do spot a spelling or grammar mistake in my articles, it is her not me! (dPS editor’s note: or me!)

    On that point (and whilst my wife shouts at me for that last comment), it is time for you to take these tips and begin to craft your own website copy. In the final installment of this series, you’ll learn top tips to help your site rank well in Google. Until then, get writing your copy and let’s see the fruits of your labor in the comment section. 

    The post So You Want to Build a Website? Part 4: Adding Website Content appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.


    Digital Photography School

  • How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    The post How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.

    So, you’ve picked up some strobes to help light your subjects and are in the process of setting up your studio. This is a very exciting time: so much to photograph, total control of the lighting, what an opportunity…. but how to choose the right photography backdrop? How you shoot and what you shoot will affect your decision, as will your budget.

    1 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Model with a black seamless paper backdrop

    Photography backdrops make your photographs pop

    If you haven’t figured it out already – you soon will – most photographers realize that one of the essential features of a good photograph is the thing that nobody notices: the background. When it works, people “oohh” and “aahh”. However, if it doesn’t work, people can’t figure out why they don’t like your image. One of the secrets of any successful photographer is paying attention to what’s behind your subject. This applies to any photograph, not just those taken in the studio. You might want to consider purchasing commercial backdrops that can significantly improve the quality of your shots.

    2 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Model with a white seamless paper backdrop

    Beyond lighting

    Assuming you already know what’s involved in lighting a studio (if not check this out), the next question is what to use as a backdrop. There are multiple types and sizes with pros and cons for each. Backdrop mounting and portability are also necessary.

    It is one thing to have a backdrop for use in your studio, but what if you are asked to set up somewhere else? How do you make your backdrop portable? What goes best with the subject? If you are shooting a white subject, you probably don’t want a white backdrop because the white may disappear into the background (same with black on black). The color doesn’t need to be complementary (although it helps if it is) but should provide contrast. Lighting tricks can alleviate some of this, but sometimes it’s just easier to use a contrasting backdrop.

    3 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Model with a white seamless paper backdrop

    Types

    There are multiple types of backdrops but they all function similarly. They all tend to be relatively thin and only intended as backgrounds (not designed for subjects to interact with). Then can be constructed of seamless paper, muslin, hand-painted canvas or vinyl. The most expensive, least flexible, and the fanciest backdrop is the cyclorama or cyc studio.

    Seamless paper

    Seamless paper is a versatile and inexpensive backdrop and is a staple for many studios. They are available in many colors, with the most common being black or white. You can produce gray from white backdrops by altering your lighting setup, so a dedicated gray backdrop isn’t necessary. You can also modify white backgrounds with gelled lighting to created colored backgrounds.

    4 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Product photo on a seamless white paper backdrop

    There are pros of using seamless paper: the look is clean, you can modify the background colors with lighting, and the images can be cut out for background replacement. The cons of using seamless paper are: the rolls can be awkward to transport if a wide size (even just from the store to the studio), the paper can be easily damaged, and the backgrounds have no texture. In addition, if you have colored paper, the background colors can seep into the edges of your subject.

    Seamless paper provides flooring as well as the backdrop without a visible interface between the floor and the background. This makes it ideal for product photography as well as studio shots. The lack of a seam makes the image appear to float with an infinite background.

    Muslin

    Muslin backdrops are constructed from a cotton fabric. They come in various weights and sizes and can be dyed in a single color, have color splotches, or be hand painted. Because muslin backdrops have been in use for a long time, some photographers don’t pay much attention to them. They are, however, very portable and generally look good. Another great feature is that you can easily wash them if soiled. However, you may need to clean larger sizes in a commercial machine. Muslin backdrops can look modern or retro, depending upon the style of lighting. They are a great addition to every photographer’s arsenal of backdrops.

    5 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Model in front of dyed muslin backdrop

    Similar to paper, you can use longer muslin as flooring for the subject. Solid colors function much like seamless paper, but you need to be cautious about folds in the muslin as they can be distracting from the subject. Muslin backdrops produce many of the same effects as a seamless paper but are much easier to transport.

    6 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Dog in front of muslin backdrop showing flooring

    There are a few downsides to muslin backdrops. Depending upon how you light them, you may see folds in the fabric behind your subject. As your subject moves, the backdrop may also move, disrupting your background. People may even trip over the material as they walk across the muslin. If you are not careful, solid colored muslins will wrinkle, detracting from the appearance of the background. Because muslins were popular for so many years, certain styles appear particularly old or dated. Photographers need to take care in choosing the style of the muslin backdrops.

    7 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Dog in front of muslin backdrop

    Hand-painted canvas

    If you have ever flipped through a copy of Vanity Fair or seen images from Annie Leibovitz, you know the look of a hand-painted canvas backdrop. They look amazing. These studio backdrops are hand painted onto large sheets of canvas. The paint is done in multiple layers to give the perception of depth and texture. The ones used in many of the fashion or movie-star photoshoots tend to be specialty canvases that are custom made. The effort to paint the backdrops, and the large space required to create them, tends to make these expensive.

    8 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Cat in front of hand-painted canvas backdrop

    Hand-painted canvas backdrops provide a vibrant appearance. A lighting change does not generate this richness, but purely because of the reflective surfaces on the backdrop. The paint adds texture, and the various layers of the paint add depth and tonality you cannot achieve with seamless paper. Because they are hand-painted, each canvas tends to be unique.

    9 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Hand-painted canvas backdrop

    The downsides of hand-painted canvas backdrops are cost and care in handling. You don’t want people stepping on your canvas backdrops because they are easily damaged and difficult to clean. That said, the visual effect of a hand-painted canvas backdrop can be stunning.

    Vinyl

    Vinyl backdrops consist of large images printed on pliable vinyl. Many images are suitable for a vinyl backdrop, but this form is limited to the vertical surface in the background. Flooring is separate. You can purchase separate vinyl sheets for flooring to simulate flooring (such as hardwood floors).

    10 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Unimpressed dog in front of a vinyl backdrop

    Vinyl backdrops can feature unusual or creative backgrounds. They are great for children, parties or events and are washable, so they work for different types of cake smash, food fight or spray images (be careful about the rest of your studio). Also, they are quite pliable so they can be moved about without much difficulty. Finally, they can feature images that appear three dimensional (like a bookcase).

    On the other hand, vinyl backdrops are a little reflective, so you need to be cautious about how your lights are set up. You also need to be aware that the backgrounds are two dimensional even though they can appear to be three dimensional.

    Cycloramas or Cyc Studios

    A cyclorama or cyc studio is a fixed (built in place) backdrop consisting of two intersecting wall sections that have been curved seamlessly into one another and the floor so that there are no visible corners. By curving the corners, the background flows from wall to wall to floor.  A cyclorama is a practical and durable backdrop. However, it is also the least flexible (it won’t move) and is only one color (usually white). It makes the subject appear to be floating with an infinite background and is a great way to create cut outs to modify your background.

    This type of backdrop takes a lot of space, time and effort, but makes for great photographs.

    Sizes and handling

    Seamless paper doesn’t usually have any texture. It comes in large rolls of varying widths, with 53 inches and 107 inches being the two most common sizes. Seamless paper also provides the flooring in front of the background without a corner edge. Because it is paper, you need to be aware of dirty or wet footwear because they leave marks and can damage the paper. When the paper is too damaged, you roll out more paper and discard the dirty or damaged section. The rolls generally have lots of paper, somewhere in the range of 9-12 yards (27-36 feet). White seamless paper is often ideal for a studio set up when you want to cut out the background and replace it with something else.

    11 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Santa in front of black muslin backdrop

    Muslin backdrops come in different styles: standard, washed, crumpled and hand-painted. Standard sizes are 10 feet wide by 12 or 24 feet long. They can be challenging to manage but cover a wide area. Ideally, they come sewn with a pocket at the top that allows you to run it on a rod. Folds in the backdrop can evoke an older photographic style, so most contemporary photographers try to flatten out the muslin. Wrinkle elimination sometimes requires a steamer.

    12 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Model with a large muslin backdrop

    Because canvas is a much heavier material, these backdrops typically come on rolls. If you don’t manage them as rolls, they can be difficult to handle. Standard sizes are about 6 feet wide by 8 feet tall. Most suppliers have a range of sizes. Canvas tends to hang in stretched out to avoid any folds. If you are doing full-length photographs, you will need to consider what you are using for the floor.

    Vinyl backdrops vary in size. Similar to canvas, you need to stretch them to eliminate folds. Some vinyl backdrops come with printed flooring (such as hardwood floors) and can be used together, provided you deal with the interface. Stretching the vinyl on the mounting allows for the image to present well. When shooting with vinyl, you need to ensure that the lighting does not reflect into the camera lens. If you’ve used a backdrop with a three-dimensional image, a reflection will make it clear that the background is not real.

    Mounting

    There are a few options for mounting backdrops. The determining factor tends to be the size and type of backdrop you are using, as well as the frequency with which you plan on changing them. In general, you want some ability to change and mix up the backgrounds.

    The basic options for mounting are fixed bars or portable stands. If you have a permanent studio and never plan on taking any of your backgrounds on the road, fixed bars or rollers are ideal. You mount them on the ceiling or wall so that they are suitably high, and allow the paper or fabric to roll off. Mounting on the ceiling means the backdrop will be high enough for your tallest subjects. Framing can be done merely with conduit and small size piping. There are also large electrically controlled rollers available. The costs can range from very cheap to very expensive.

    13 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Stands, allow for flexibility of the configuration. Some stands are intended for backdrops and often come as a set with clamps included. With portable backdrops, clamps play an integral role in making the background smooth and even. It is particularly the case with muslin or canvas backdrops, but seamless paper also benefits from strategic use of clamps to ensure that it does not keep unspooling as you hang the rolls.

    There are also pop-up stands that you can use for canvas or vinyl backgrounds. You simply clamp the background to the edges of a springy stand. There are multiple systems for this, and many come with their own backgrounds as a complete set.

    Using

    Regardless of your backdrop choice, keep the subject at least 3 feet away from it to avoid casting shadows onto the backdrop. This all ties to the strategic use of lighting setups. Your goal is to have the backdrop disappear behind the subject, making it the center of attention.

    Some backdrops, particularly white seamless paper, may need to be lit separately. If you don’t light the backdrop you may have uneven colors behind the subject that detract from the image or prevent the easy masking of the backdrop.

    14 - How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop

    Dog in front of muslin backdrop

    In general, keeping backdrops clean can be a challenge. Some are easier to clean than others. However, hand-painted canvas and paper backdrops can’t be cleaned without damaging the surfaces, while muslin and vinyl backdrops are easier to clean. You may need to wash large muslins commercially. It is also important that any washing gets done in such a way that the fabrics don’t become altered or damaged.

    Conclusion

    Choosing the right studio backdrop can affect the mood and overall feel of your images. My personal favorite is hand-painted canvas, but I have used them all (except a cyclorama) effectively. The use of backdrops work hand in glove with your chosen lighting setup, and you should consider both together. If used well, you can make your images pop by having the backdrops pull focus onto your subjects.

     

    The post How to Choose the Right Photography Backdrop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mark C Hughes.


    Digital Photography School

  • 7 Easy Ways to be More Creative Every Day

    The post 7 Easy Ways to be More Creative Every Day appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.

    I have been a photographer for as long as I can remember. As a visual person, I get excited when I see beautiful light and love to explore the world with my camera and create interesting images from this vast, magnificent world.

    I suspect you are the same.

    There is something about taking photos that is so enriching to our lives. Connecting us more closely to our surroundings, showing us how to observe the world in a deep and meaningful way.

    And yet, it is so easy to be pulled away from the things that we love to do, and which are most likely listed in our minds as ‘not essential.’

    Our explorations with our cameras aren’t our jobs, nor is looking after our children or cleaning our houses.

    As a father to two young kids and running a more than full-time photography business, it can feel almost decadent to spend an afternoon on my own just wandering around, exploring and taking photos. After all, there are always more important things to do, right?

    But I counter that, actually, taking photos is essential for our lives. It is what we are called to do.

    Making something, whatever it is that you are passionate about, is what we are alive for, surely?

    So with our busy lives, how do we become more creative?

    Here are 7 Easy Ways to be More Creative Every Day

    1. At any moment we can refine our ability to see the world around us

    Taking photos isn’t just about taking photos – it’s about taking all of the experiences we have on a daily basis and turning them into an expression of how we think and feel about the world.

    As photographers, we want to observe the world by looking at the moments of life. Even if it’s just for that one moment. After all, if we are not seeing the moments of our lives, you could say we are not seeing our lives at all.

    When we wake early in the morning and see the light eagerly streaming into our room, between all the little gaps between the curtains and the wall, we stop and we watch. We pay attention, we don’t always rush off.

    And when are driving home late from work. The night is so dark, so enveloping, as we meander through the city, with bursts of light and activity every now and again, around stop lights, or rows of shops or outside restaurants.

    Beyond that, it’s just meditative darkness, with tiny flares of soft light along the road. The darkness is closing us into our car.

    We don’t allow our minds to race off into thoughts of the day. We pay attention. Looking at the darkness, we feel it. We notice.

    These are all sensations in our daily life that we can pay attention to. This all helps with the art of seeing, or as it could also be called, the art of paying attention to our environment.

    It sounds very strange to say this, but unless you are consciously cultivating being present – or are naturally good at it – then it’s likely you spend most of your day totally lost in busyness.

    There is nothing wrong with that. However, in order to create something you need to carve out time and space.

    Don’t just wait until you have time. Because either it won’t come – there are always more things to do – or when you get time, the pressure to instantly create will be too great.

    Spend time every day developing a practice of being present, of looking around you, of seeing what is really there. Then, when you actually pick up your camera, it will be easier to cultivate the mood within you of a creative, relaxed, present flow state.

    2. Reject perfectionism

    “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” Anne Lamott

    One of the major barriers to being creative is the most insidious, painful and stressful emotion – perfectionism.

    I call it an emotion because it envelops and paralyzes us when getting started with a project. It’s very hard to get up, push past perfectionism and get out the door.

    For me, perfectionism can take many forms that seem logical, until I consciously pierce a hole in the flimsy argument. It used to be that I would become obsessed with having new gear. I couldn’t start a project until I had a new camera or lens, or the help of an assistant.

    Then I realized this was the ultimate in procrastination. Either I did the project with the kit I had, or if that didn’t work, I found another project. I don’t mind buying new kit, in fact, I love it. However, I never buy a new kit because I am in a fit of perfectionism anymore.

    Now perfectionism often comes to me in the form of: I have nothing unique to say about this place I want to photograph. It has been photographed so many times before by better photographers. What can I say that is new?

    When I get emails from my students they often say: I don’t know enough about my camera/composition/ technique to take any good photos!

    Even with very experienced amateurs, I see people who don’t believe in their skills and abilities with photography. They want just that little bit more advice or feedback. When really, they just need to keep taking photos.

    As humans, we seem to have an innate ability not to recognize what we are doing well, and instead focus attention on the negative aspects of our skills.

    Well, focusing on the negative is not going to get you very far. Like the writer, Anne Lamott says in the quote above, it will keep you oppressed your whole life.

    It’s time to throw off the shackles of all that you are not and instead try to live with the ideas of imperfection instead.

    If we are not trying to be perfect, we can just get started and not worry about being amazing.

    We can go out and have some fun with our photography. We won’t worry if our shots are great – we’ll just practice, shoot, and have a good time.

    The new mantra here is accepting imperfection. Celebrate it even. We are all on a journey, are all developing, and will never arrive at total perfection. It doesn’t exist.

    So unhook yourself from the idea of perfection and do what every major artist, entrepreneur and anyone who creates anything for a living says: just go create.

    3. Lower your expectations

    Think about nurturing your photography as it needs to be nurtured. Think about your creativity as a journey, one in which you will keep persevering, weaving it into your life for as long as it engages you.

    And if you’re like me, that’s probably your whole life.

    We take so many photos now with digital that I think our expectations of the number of fantastic photos we should be getting is way higher than if we were shooting film.

    When Ansel Adams said, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop” he was talking obviously in the time of film when we were so much more careful with our shots. Making sure that we didn’t waste them unnecessarily.

    The idea of expecting a small number of excellent shots is both realistic and freeing.

    I spend a lot of time editing down hundreds, and sometimes thousands of photos after a shoot. To make sure that I get the few that are my very, very best.

    When you lower your expectations about how many shots you should be getting, it means you can experiment and do things you might not normally do because the end result is unknown.

    You can chase that strange light and see what your camera does with it. You can try lots of different subjects and shoot people/things/places that totally fascinate you – without thinking just about results.

    It means you can practice perfecting your technique. Remember, when you are improving your technique – starting to shoot on manual for example – it is vitally important to constantly practice.

    Practice takes time. Practice is about making mistakes and missing shots. But the more you do it, the better your understanding of your camera will get.

    4. Use the power of silence

    We all know the spiel that technology is ruining our lives, right? Well, I don’t totally agree. Technology has brought incredible things to my life. It has allowed my wife and me to become digital nomads. It has made photography truly accessible – no longer do you need a $ 3000 camera to get you started in photography.

    Like everything fun and absorbing. However, moderation is key. When we check our emails 134 times per day (a statistic I read recently) instead of enjoying a beautiful sunrise, a great concert or a beautiful moment with our child, we rush to capture it instead of being in the moment. In that case, technology has become out of hand in our lives.

    The downside to so much tech activity is you start to get lost in the constant stimulation of the world. You are so busy thinking and responding to that world that you leave your brain no space to…create anything new.

    You will continue with the same habits, the same thoughts, and routines unless you consciously create space in your life.

    Focusing on bringing more silence into your life is a beautiful way to allow new ideas in. It also helps to ‘clear the clutter’ of excessive thoughts in your mind. It cleanses your thinking a little, so you can turn your attention away from doing to creating.

    What I like to ask my students sometimes is when they last listened to, and were totally absorbed, by silence.

    And when I say absorbed, I mean totally aware and present for the silence. They weren’t thinking about what they were making for dinner, or their annoying work colleague or how much money they spent last night.

    So it’s not just being surrounded by silence – it’s being actively absorbed by it. Listen to it and feel how the absence of noise affects your body.

    For me, taking photographs is a total sensory experience. It’s not just about what I see, because all of my senses are heightened. Entering into silence is a way to connect more with my senses.

    It’s feeling the different way that silence stimulates your senses, such as the feeling of melancholy on an empty high street on a grey winter’s day. Or the comforting nostalgia of a clear, cold autumn evening, with the smell of wood smoke wafting in the air.

    Or the heady beauty of a spring morning full of the opulent perfume of flowers and the feeling of scorching, rich sunshine on your skin.

    I know that it’s hard to pull your mind away from its busy thinking and doing. I get that being human means that thoughts endlessly appear in our mind, taking our attention and energy.

    When this happens and you become conscious of it happening, take your attention gently back to the moment. Wrestle control from the thoughts and bring your mind back to what’s here in front of you. I like to say to myself – I’ll think about that later.

    That way you can actually appreciate the life that you have in the moment, and you will develop seeing and awareness in your photography, regardless of where you are. Whether it be on your way to work, at the playground with your kids or even doing your shopping.

    This awareness is a powerful catalyst for your creativity and will find you reaching for your camera more and more often because you have learned to listen to the silence and connect to the world around you.

    5. Fear

    Fear is certainly in the category of things that inhibit creativity in our lives. But if you can learn to work with fear, then you’ll automatically feel more inspired and confident to create and take photos.

    There are two major fears I see in photographers at my workshops.

    Firstly, fear of photographing their subject. This applies to street photography a lot. You very much want to take a photo of that magnetic looking stranger, or that strange event unfolding before your eyes, but you are gripped by fear.

    You know you want to bring your camera up, you want to move closer to your subject but something stops you. You end up walking away without the shot and feel annoyed with yourself.

    The second type of fear response I see in my students is a deep self-consciousness about shooting for too long in front of strangers.

    Think about this scenario. You are walking along a busy city street on a rainy day when all of sudden a ray of golden sunshine bursts through the grey clouds, creating stunning reflections and patterns around you.

    It’s mesmerizing! You want to shoot everything that this beautiful light is reflecting off. You start to shoot, but after a few minutes, you are hit by a wave of self-consciousness.

    There are people everywhere. People shopping, coming home from work, tourists chatting, kids running. And here you are crouching down on the ground photographing puddles!

    I’ve noticed that when this wave of self-consciousness hits, most people stop shooting and move on because it feels weird to be doing something that no one else is.

    Now fear is normal in these situations. I think most photographers experience fear in certain situations. We know that our bodies produce a chemical response to new situations, which can make us want to run away.

    Instead, we need to examine how to deal with this situation so that fear doesn’t overpower us. So how can I dispel my fear and get those great shots?

    First, accept that like clouds, fear comes and goes. You will never live a life where fear disappears. You wouldn’t be human otherwise.

    Even if you are a super-experienced photographer, there will always be times when you will be dogged by fear.

    Secondly – allow it! This might seem counterintuitive, but I have found that if I try to run away from fear, or suppress or ignore it, it starts to get bigger and bigger until I am almost paralyzed by dread.

    So I allow the fear. I just say – Ok, here is some fear. Welcome. OK, I don’t say welcome. I’m not that zen. But you get what I mean? I don’t fight it.

    Carry on taking the photograph – and just let the fear be there. Eventually, like a cloud in the sky, it will leave. Fear always leaves! Maybe it will take a few seconds or a few minutes. Maybe longer.

    Yet, the more you allow fear to be there, the quicker it seems to evaporate.

    The good thing to understand is that the more you practice being in such situations as photographers, the more you will get used to these fear responses. They won’t overpower you and stop you from shooting.

    If you suffer greatly from fear, then I suggest you practice getting comfortable being with your camera, so you can focus on the actual photography!

    6. Stop consuming and start making

    I don’t know why, but a day spent creating is a day that feels much more satisfying to me than a day spent consuming.

    When I think about consuming, it’s not just buying things – it’s the endless stream of social media, checking Facebook, 24/7 news, and endless discussions about the politics of the day.

    When we are just consuming, we definitely aren’t making anything.

    To stop mindlessly consuming was an important realization for me to make in my life. Instead, I think to myself – what can I accomplish today?

    7. Get started

    With something as enjoyable and satisfying as taking photos, you should never be in a state of I should be doing my photography!

    You don’t want to create a situation where photography is one of many things you should be doing – like going to the gym or eating less of your kids’ candy.

    And yet, sometimes we need a push to get us out the door. We are all responsible humans beings and we are all keeping various plates spinning. And so taking time out can induce guilt.

    But think about it: every single day of our lives is a day we will never experience again. And in every single day of our lives, we are given a choice of how to spend our time. We do the things we have to do but then we weave in the time to do the things we are passionate about.

    If we don’t do it now, then when?

    Taking time to cultivate our photography practice pays dividends across our lives too. Great by-products of a strong photo practice are that we are more present when we are in other spheres of our lives, we are more engaged and excited in life because of our inspirational photo practices.

    I have to say I am a more interesting, inspired and happier person to be around when I have taken time out to do my personal photography. And in that, everyone in my life benefits!

    I really hope you enjoyed those ideas about how to be more creative every day. They are ideas I feel passionate about and hope that you will too. I would love to know if these ideas have helped you, so do let me know in the comment box below.

    The post 7 Easy Ways to be More Creative Every Day appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.


    Digital Photography School

  • How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

    The post How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Christian Hoiberg.

    Adobe Photoshop has always been my software of choice when it comes to landscape photography and post-processing. However, Adobe Lightroom is constantly getting better and I’m able to do a lot of the things I could only do in Photoshop several years ago.

    The Lightroom Graduated Filter isn’t a new feature but it’s one that I’ve begun to use more and more during the last years. It’s a tool that can make a huge difference to an image and it’s fairly easy to use. The big benefit is that you can add several graduated filters to one single image. You don’t have to only use one. This gives you more flexibility.

    Let me show you how to use the Lightroom Graduated Filter.

    Soft transitions vs. hard transitions

    The very first thing you need to know about how I use the Graduated Filter is that I never use a hard transition. That means that I don’t drag the filter down and include the top part of the transition. (If you’re not familiar with this tool, any adjustment you make is visible at a 100-50 percent opacity transitioning from the top to middle line and 50-0 percent from the middle to the bottom line)

    1 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

    You don’t want there to be a hard, visible transition that obviously shows the adjustment made to a particular area. Instead, you want a long and smooth transition.

    This is done by dragging the graduated filter from top to bottom, then moving it up so that the middle line is at the upper edge of the frame. You can then click and drag the lower line up or down depending on how much of the image you want to affect.

    Keep in mind that when you’re using an adjustment as smooth as this, you’ll need to increase the values of the adjustments you’re making. For example, instead of exposure -0.2 you might need an exposure of -1.0 to darken an area.

    Darkening the sky

    The main purpose of Graduated Neutral Density filters is to darken the sky in order to capture a well-balanced exposure. This is also the most common use of Lightroom’s Graduated Filter.

    2 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

    I tend to darken the sky a lot in my photography. This helps me guide the viewers’ eyes towards the important part of the image and strengthens the composition. This is quite easy to do and by using soft graduation such as explained above, it can be applied even when there are mountains or other subjects projecting the horizon, without looking strange.

    Click and drag the graduated filter such as explained above, and place the middle transition line at the top of the frame. Adjust the bottom line in such a way that the adjustment is added only to the parts you want. Then lower the exposure. Since the transition is so smooth, I often lower the exposure down to -4.0 without it being too dark. Of course, this depends on how dark the original file is; you don’t want it to be completely black afterward.

    Add a cold tone to foreground and sky

    Color is an important part of the composition and that’s something that many tend to forget. Our eyes are naturally drawn towards the warmer tones but, unfortunately, nature doesn’t always let us capture that in the file. So to further enhance the main subject, I often add a cold tone and desaturate certain areas of the image. These areas quite often include the lower and upper part of the frame.

    3 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

    Using the graduated filter the opposite way works quite similar. The only difference is that you drag from the bottom up instead of top down. Then, just as before, adjust the filter to your likings. I tend to only desaturate and add a cold tone to the very bottom of the frame.

    Sharpen & increase Clarity

    The fourth and final feature is sharpening and increasing the clarity by using the graduated tool. This could be done either to bring out details in a nice cloudy sky or to increase clarity in a vibrant foreground.

    4 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

    I’m generally not a big fan of the Clarity slider so even though I’m still using a soft transition I gently increase the slider; I don’t want to add +100 clarity regardless of how soft the transition is. Increase the clarity gradually by clicking on the number next to the slider and holding shift plus tapping the up arrow until you’re satisfied with the result.

    Last words

    There are many ways to use Lightroom’s Graduated Tool. The examples above are just a handful of ideas what you can use it for.

    Truth be told, I use several Graduated Tools at the same time. It’s not uncommon that I use one or two for the sky, another couple for the foreground and perhaps a few more to create a small vignette. In the end, it depends on what you want to do with the image!

    The post How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Christian Hoiberg.


    Digital Photography School

  • Weekly Photography Challenge – Chaos

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

    This week’s photography challenge topic is CHAOS!

    Photo: Kimson Doan

    Your photos can include anything that evokes a feeling of chaos. It can be busy, messy, crowded, or without order. Or alternatively, it can look chaotic but still have beauty and order in a weird way. Interiors, exteriors, people, wildlife, objects etc. Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

    Some Inst-piration from some Instagrammers:

     

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by BCPA (@thebcpa) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Marieke (@mriek89) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Maria João Silva (@mjayish) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Christian Schoenig (@bigmetaltrout) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Geanne (@ge_an_ne) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by buildingswow (@buildingswow) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by JT (@thomasjason101) on

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Truc (@trucle157) on

     

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

    Tips for Shooting CHAOS

    Tips for Getting Started in Street Photography

    4 Tips to Help People Photographers Shoot Interior Spaces

    Tips for Doing City Photography from Above

    10 Amazing Photography Tricks You Can do at Home with Everyday Objects

    A Guide to Photographing Birds and Wildlife in a Wetland Area

    21 Images of Birds of Feather Flocking Together

     

    Weekly Photography Challenge – CHAOS

    Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

     

    Share in the dPS Facebook Group

    You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

    If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSCHAOS to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

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


    Digital Photography School

  • Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack [video]

    The post Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

    In this handy tutorial by Raj K Photo, you’ll learn to take impressive underwater-style photos without the need to get underwater! And, even better, this DIY hack costs less than 50pounds.

    ?

    What you will need:

    • Clear Acrylic Sheet
    • Wood
    • Woodscrews
    • Duct Tape
    • Multi-Purpose Sealant

    You can make it to whatever size you want.

    What to do:

    1. Cut wood to size.
    2. Screw in the ends but be sure to drill some holes first to stop the wood splitting.
    3. Draw an outline of the frame onto the acrylic.
    4. Place the acrylic onto the top of the wood frame, lining the outline you just drew up with the frame. It acts as a guide so you know where to put the screws.
    5. Use a drill bit to make pilot holes in the acrylic along each side. Use around 6 screws, evenly placed apart. Screw the screws in but be sure not to screw too quickly or hard so as to not split your acrylic.
    6. Flip the frame over and peel off the protective film.
    7. Take your sealant and seal all the gaps between your wood and the acrylic surface.
    8. Leave to dry for 24hrs.
    9. As a further layer of protection, add duct tape around the sealed areas.
    10. Remove any remaining protective film and clean surface.

    Photographing your model using your new underwater hack

    1. Find a place to prop it up so that you can lay it face down with water inside. Ensure that it is secure.
    2. Lay your model underneath.
    3. Set an LED light above so that it is shining through the water onto your model. That way you can get an idea of how the shot will look.
    4. Place the flash units (one with a blue gel to look like water) in position above the model.
    5. use a reflector to bounce some light back to your model.
    6. Wet your model’s hair and have the model keep their head slightly off the background to make it look like it is floating.
    7. Take your photos!

    You may also find the following articles useful:

    5 Tips for Underwater Photography Without Spending a Fortune

    5 Tips for Underwater Photography with a GoPro

    Surreal Underwater Shipwreck Photo Shoot

    Introduction to Taking Great Underwater Photos

    The post Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


    Digital Photography School

  • The Secret to Sharing Photos with Lightroom CC

    The post The Secret to Sharing Photos with Lightroom CC appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

    After years of resisting the urge to sign up for one of Adobe’s Creative Cloud plans, I finally gave in. I purchased a subscription to the Photography bundle which includes Lightroom and Photoshop. While initially, I didn’t see a whole lot of benefits to this, I continue to discover all sorts of perks included in the Creative Cloud that I didn’t even think about before I jumped on the train.

    One of the best, and also one of the least-talked-about, features has been the ability to share photos publicly right from Lightroom. This feature has been a total game-changer for me and it could re-shape the way you go about getting your work seen by others.

    Traditional Lightroom sharing

    With all previous versions of Lightroom, sharing images involved a few steps and some hoops to jump through. Mostly, this involved exporting images to your computer and then uploading them to social media sites, online photo platforms, or even email them to friends, family, and clients. Unfortunately, this also meant some hassles. Such as having duplicate copies of your shared images (one in your Lightroom catalog and one that you exported for sharing) and having to re-export and share images after you made any changes. The process could also be time-consuming, especially if exporting a large batch of images.

    Some social sites like Flickr and Facebook created plugins for Lightroom, but in my experience, those have been somewhat unreliable, and I have used some that were ultimately abandoned by their developers. This meant that relying on these plugins was an exercise in frustration and, more often than not, futility.

    Psst…have you heard about Lightroom’s photo-sharing capabilities?

    Before I jumped to Creative Cloud, I had several presets that I created to export images for different groups of people. I had a hierarchy of folders in my cloud storage service that I used for sharing, and a headache if I needed to re-share images after further edits. After switching to the Creative Cloud Photography plan, that includes both Lightroom Classic CC and Lightroom CC, I have replaced all of that with a simple click of the mouse or tap of my iPad.

    Using the sharing features of Adobe Creative Cloud, you can instantly make individual photos or even entire albums public. Then you get a link to share with anyone you want. You can further customize these features. You can specify whether people with the link can download photos, access picture metadata, and see only pictures that have a particular Flag or Star Rating. The images you share can have comments and likes from viewers, and you can get information on this activity as well.

    Sharing doesn’t use your Cloud Storage

    My favorite part about this type of sharing is that none of your shared images count against your Creative Cloud storage quota. Even if you have the Photography plan with only 20GB of storage, you can share as many photos to the web as you want without using any of that 20GB allotment. This feature does not use your allocated space because Adobe doesn’t share full resolution images with this feature.

    You probably wouldn’t want to do this with clients who need high-resolution downloads for printing, but it’s great for getting your pictures seen by many people without any real effort on your part.

    Sharing with Lightroom Classic CC

    If your workflow is dependent on the more traditional Lightroom Classic CC as opposed to the cloud-focused Lightroom CC, you still have access to most of the cloud-based sharing features. You will, however, need to launch Lightroom CC at some point if you want to fine-tune your sharing options. The first step in sharing is to enable syncing. You achieve that by clicking on your name in the top-left corner of the application and choose “Start” under the option to Sync with Lightroom CC.

    No need to panic at this point – nothing is going to happen to your photos, and no images are going to be suddenly shared to the cloud or anywhere else. All this does is give you the option to sync photo albums with Lightroom CC so you can edit your images using that program on your desktop or mobile device. It’s not even sharing the actual pictures, just low-resolution preview files. After you make any edits, those changes get automatically synced back to Lightroom Classic CC.

    This feature also gives you the option of making your images available publicly on the internet for anyone to view. However, first, you must choose individual albums that you want to sync with Lightroom CC. Right-click on a collection in your Library and select Sync with Lightroom CC.

    Doing so doesn’t share the photos publicly, but makes them available to Lightroom CC while also giving you the option to share them with others if you wish. (Note that this feature is only available for traditional photo collections in Lightroom and will not work with Smart Collections.)

    After you have synced a Collection with Lightroom CC, you will see a small two-way arrow icon next to its name, and you will have access to additional features when you right-click on it with the Lightroom CC Links option. You can now make the album Public. Once you have completed that step, you can view the photos on the web or get a public link to send out to family and friends.

    It is as simple as that! With one click you can get a link to an entire photo Collection, and Lightroom does all the heavy lifting of uploading them and putting them in a clean gallery format. For more options, open up Lightroom CC on your desktop or mobile device.

    Sharing with Lightroom CC

    Because Lightroom CC is built from the ground up to live and breathe in the cloud, it has a more robust suite of tools available for sharing (even though the basics are relatively similar to its desktop counterpart). Whether you have your original images stored in Lightroom CC (or stored in your Adobe Creative Cloud account) or synced from Lightroom Classic CC, the process of sharing them is the same.

    To get started, navigate to one of your albums on the left side of the Lightroom CC interface. Right-click on the name of the one you want to share to the internet via a public link. Then choose the option that says Share to Web…

    As the saying goes, here’s where the fun begins. After choosing this option, you get presented with a dialog box giving you several options to customize how your photos get shared online. What I like about this is you can specify different parameters for each shared album. See the screenshot below.

    In this example, I opted to show only photos with a Pick status that are rated three stars or higher. I’m not allowing any location data to be visible either. The link can be copied and shared with anyone you want, or posted on social media sites. Any changes made to the album are automatically reflected in the shared link as well. So, if you add more images to the album, or change the Flag status or Star Rating, anyone with the link can automatically see the revised images.

    If at any point you want to stop sharing the album, you can right-click on the name of the album and choose the Stop Sharing option. If you re-share it in the future, a new link gets generated for you to re-send to friends, family, and clients.

    When visitors click on the link to your shared album, they will see a grid with all your images that they can scroll through and click. Icons in the top right corner can be used to play a slideshow or download a ZIP archive of the photos in the gallery if you have that option enabled.

    When viewers click on an individual image, they have the option to leave comments or click a Like button. This information automatically syncs with Lightroom Classic CC so you can see it on your desktop.

    When you view the link of one of your shared albums, you can also see any user comments and delete ones you don’t want. The one catch with this is that anyone who wants to leave a Like or Comment will need an Adobe ID. It’s a bit of extra effort but helps cut down on spam and other unwanted input from random internet users.

    When people leave comments on publicly-shared photos, you can see a yellow icon appear by the Collection name in Lightroom Classic CC. Click the Collection to review the comments.

    Finally, you can share any individual picture from an album on the web using its own unique link. Right-click on a single photo to get a unique link for that one image as well as the same sharing options that you have for full albums.

    Sharing is a great way to get feedback from clients and see what photos they really like.

    User control and privacy

    The advantages of Lightroom’s built-in photo sharing system are enormous. Not the least of which has to do with user control and privacy.

    When you share pictures on social media sites, your images and personal data get mined and used for advertising. However, no such activity takes place when using Lightroom shared albums. You control exactly what you share, and can remove images at any time. Deleting your images from the internet is as simple as clicking the Stop Sharing button.

    Where sharing is beneficial

    Here are a few scenarios to help you see where photo sharing may be beneficial:

    • After returning from a trip, create an album with your favorite images and share the link instantly with family and friends.
    • Create an album with pictures of your kids or other loved ones in your life and share the link. As you add more pictures to the album, anyone with the link can automatically see the new images.
    • Share a preview album with clients after a photo session, and ask them to click Like on their favorites. Then you can see the results and know which ones they appreciate. This can help you if you are assembling a physical album for them.

    I took a lot of photos at a Petting Zoo birthday party my kids were invited to. Instead of uploading them to social media, I just shared a link to the album with parents and enabled downloads.

    The more I use these sharing features, the more I have come to appreciate them. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to my old workflow again. Moreover, I hope this is useful for you and would love to hear any thoughts you may want to share in the comments below.

    The post The Secret to Sharing Photos with Lightroom CC appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.


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  • Lessons from the Masters: Morley Baer

    The post Lessons from the Masters: Morley Baer appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

    Portrait of Morley Baer

    Each time I find myself cruising down Highway 1 in California between Big Sur and San Francisco, the urge to make photographs instantly strikes me. It’s an easy feeling to encounter. The rocky beaches and rolling hills tend to beg for a lens. Accompanying this sense of photographic wanderlust is a recognition of walking in the footsteps of some of the greatest American photographers that the twentieth century ever produced. Names like Weston, Adams, and Cunningham all seem to linger in this area of the country. However, there’s another name connected to the deep photographic past of the west coast that you might not know quite so well but should: Morley Baer. In this installment of “Lessons from the Masters,” we’re going to take a closer look at the prolific work of Morley Baer and learn some valuable lessons about how he went about the business of photography that you can use to improve your images.

    Morley Baer

    Morley Baer came into this world on April 5th, 1916 in Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a BA in English and an MA in Theatre Arts, he briefly worked in advertising in Chicago until fate pressed him into his life’s work. After seeing an exhibition of Edward Weston’s work, Baer became captivated by the medium of photography. He left his position with the advertising firm he worked to educate himself in the art of photography. After working in commercial photography briefly, he soon made the journey to Carmel, California to track down Edward Weston.

    After serving in the Navy as war photographer from 1941 to 1946, Morley and his now wife Frances (also an artist and photographer) embarked on a decades-long exploration into photography in and around the Bay Area of California until finally settling in their home/studio near Garrapata Beach. Baer became one of the most desirable architectural photographers of his time. His landscape and seascape works are also still widely regarded as some of the finest photographic representations of the west coast of California ever to be recorded on film.

    Here are some, but certainly not all, of the lessons you can’t learn from Morley Baer.

    Total proficiency with the tools you use

    For the main body of his landscape and architectural studies, Baer used one camera and one camera only; the Ansco 8x10S view camera. In our modern day photography jungle, we are constantly harangued by the marketing mentality that if our cameras are not the newest, then they are somehow lacking. Of course, that’s just an opinion.

    In any case, Morley was an expert operator of his Ansco to the point when it became almost an appendage and an extension of his physicality. Similar in practice to Ed Weston, the fact that Baer became so monogamous with his singular 8×10 view camera speaks volumes to us today.

    Portrait of Morley Baer and his Ansco by David Fullagar

    Whatever your camera or tools, make yourself so familiar with their functions that you can control them without hesitation. The adage “the best camera is the one you have with you” is not enough. We must strive to become absolute masters of the tools we use to make our photographs. The tool is secondary to the ability of the user. No matter what gear you happen to be using it is essential that you understand how to use it and use it well.

    Find what works best for you

    Not only was Baer’s proficiency of his 8×10 camera finely tuned in, but he was also quite fixed in the way he presented his photographs. Morley was a darkroom master printer, and he virtually always printed his photographs using the contact method and seldom used an enlarger. This meant the negative was exposed directly in contact with the paper resulting in an image the same size as the negative. Contact printing remains one of the most simple and pure forms of printing even today. Regardless of its merits or limitations, this was the vehicle Baer found worked best for him and his creative expression.

    By Morley Baer

    While we should all continue to learn and grow with our photography, there must also be a conscious recognition of the methods and techniques that tend to produce the best results time and time again. Hone in on the processes that allow you to reach your fullest potential and pay no mind to whether or not they are popular or follow certain “rules.” When it comes to photography the so-called “rules” are there to guide us, not limit our flight.

    Healthy competition can help you grow

    Every so often I get an email or a Facebook message from someone asking whether or not they should enter a particular photography contest. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the idea of grading one photograph against another. This is because I feel it causes us to miss the purpose of photography altogether. At the same time, a photograph is a visual medium, and as photographers possess an inescapably inherent narcissism; we want our work seen by others.

    By Adam Welch

    I mentioned earlier that Baer’s wife, Frances, was also a camera jockey. Not only did she make photographs herself, but she was also remarkably accomplished in her own right to the point where Morley and Frances were essentially domestic competitors with their photography. There is a famous tale of them reaching an agreement for rights to photograph scenes when they were on road trips. The agreement they reached thereby declared that everything on the left side of the road belonged to the driver while everything on the right belonged to the passenger.

    It’s important for us to reach a certain level of catharsis with our photography so that we produce work that is representative of our vision. At the same time, healthy (and I do stress the “healthy” part) competition with other photographers not only keeps our creative juices flowing but also serves to engage us with our fellow shooters. We learn and better ourselves through interaction with the work we love and respect. With the correct perspective, competition with our peers promotes dynamic artistic growth.

    Parting words on Morley Baer

    As with all esteemed photographers, seeing the work in person brings about a level of appreciation that cannot be obtained by merely viewing a photograph on a computer screen. I’ve recently been fortunate enough to visit select galleries in and around the areas where Morley Baer lived and operated. As usual, it’s easy to look and see the beauty of Baer’s photographs, but as perpetual students of photography, we should always seek to find what we can learn from those whose work we admire.

    The lessons listed here are just a few to glean from Morley. Digest them and put them into practice with your own work. However, don’t stop there. Learn all you can, when you can and where you can. Never stop exploring the incredible world of photography.

     

    You may also find the following articles interesting:

    Lessons you can learn from master photographers – Minor White, Ansel Adams, and Syl Arena

    More Lessons from the Masters of Photography: Edward Weston

    Lessons from the Masters: Robert Capa and Jerry Uelsmann

    More Lessons from the Photography Masters: David Burnett and Vivian Maier

    Cartier-Bresson and Stieglitz – Study the Masters of Photography to Become a Better Photographer

    Masters of Photography: Bruce Davidson, Master of the Subway

    The post Lessons from the Masters: Morley Baer appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.


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