Category: Photography

Senior Photo Tips for Better Senior Photography
The post Senior Photo Tips for Better Senior Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.

Photographing teens who are about to embark on a new phase of life is an honor as a photographer. However, it can be tricky to photograph teens who are both very self-aware and yet not a full adult yet. Read the following tips to get the most out of a senior photography session.

1. Pre-Consultation with both the teen and parent

It’s essential to schedule a pre-consultation with both the teen and the parent. This way, you can interview the teen and get a better idea of what they envision for their session. Senior portraits that include the input and ideas of the teen tend to go smoother as the teen is more excited to participate.

Having the parent at the pre-consultation can also help to get an idea of what he or she is looking for as far as wall prints, invitations, graduation announcements, etc. As they are the one paying, they can also choose which options best suit their needs and budget.

Include the teen in the process of choosing wardrobe and locations.

Sit down in a casual and comfortable setting so that you can develop a natural conversation with the teen. Bring samples to show them so that they can see and touch the products.

Giving them printed pricing sheets printed to take home. Doing so helps them to keep in mind the products they may want after they view the photos. In turn, helping you make a more significant sale after the session is complete.

Make and print out a small questionnaire for both the teen and parent to fill out. Ask questions like, ‘what background do you envision for your session: natural, urban, mixture?’ Or, ‘do you play any sports? If so, would you like to be photographed in your uniform?’

These questions help you to get a better understanding of what the senior photos represent for the family. Being able to see their likes, dislikes and hobbies narrows down the location, time of day, type of lighting, and even posing.

Some seniors may already have a clear idea as to what they are looking for as far as their photo session goes, making things easier. However, you may encounter many teens that don’t have a clue. This is where you can guide them. Show the teens previous senior sessions that you’ve photographed in different locations and styles. You’ll probably get an excellent idea as to what they don’t like, helping narrow down what they do want.

2. Play music during the session

Music can help the teen relax and feel less nervous during the session. Have them choose a playlist of music they like before or during the session.

Music can also fill in gaps while you are photographing them and can’t focus on a conversation.

Music can be a small detail that can easily get overlooked. However, music can be a game changer when you have a particularly shy teen who isn’t talkative. It can set the tone for the session and motivate the senior to pose a certain way and make particular expressions.

The client experience is what drives word of mouth and referrals from current clients. When you give the teen some control of their senior session, they feel heard and seen. A small decision in choosing which music to listen to can make the whole experience positive.

3. Props and accessories

Props can be a big help during sessions with a senior. There are many props you can use, however, the following are the most popular and specific to senior portraits:
- Musical instruments
- Sports props like balls, uniforms, backgrounds
- The teen’s car
- Their hobbies, like a camera for photography, art supplies or an easel for painting
- A prop that is descriptive of the teen’s personality
- The cap and gown for their school
- Ballons with the graduation year
- A sign
Adding props can add more variety and add a more personal touch to the photos.

Props also help the teen to be more relaxed posing with something that they like. It also gives the session a fun, playful feel while providing the senior with a better overall experience. For example, if the senior loves to ride horses, you can go where they keep their horse and take a few photos.

Or if a teen is really into djing, they can bring their favorite vinyl records to the shoot. Props help to give the session a little more personality.

4. Posing

Posing can be tricky with senior photography. You have to keep poses teenage appropriate while also being mindful that they are young adults on the verge of entering the real world.

Choose poses that offer variety. For girls, this can mean crossing their feet as they stand with their arms at their hips or interlocked hanging freely. For boys, have them stand against a column or wall and prop up a leg or keep it casual with both feet relaxed.

Sitting on steps also creates nice solid portraits. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different lenses to get different looks during the session.

For example, a lens at 35mm may be an interesting shot in an urban area, giving the portrait more space around the senior. A more compressed, longer lens can give beautiful bokeh and isolate the teen’s face for a beautiful mid-length portrait.

Playing with props and giving their hands an action to do can help calm nerves. Be mindful of idol hands because they can look out of place within the portrait if they are hanging at the sides.

Use their hands to hold jackets, give the elbow a bit of bend to create more shape, put them in pockets, play with hair or props, have them fix their shirt or dress. Giving their hands something to do can also help relax the teen while they are in front of the camera.

Stairs are a great place to sit seniors and take both full-length and close-up photos.

Check out some inspirational photos and save them to your phone. Sometimes a little inspiration can help you create something different when the session feels a bit stagnant.

The great thing about teen and senior photography is that they are perfect opportunities for you to experiment. After you’ve achieved the sure photographs that both they and their parents will love, offer to do something more experimental. Go for different lighting if that is something you’ve wanted to try. Doing this can help you offer a different feel to the session and final images.

5. Inviting more seniors to the session

Having the opportunity to photograph more than one senior at the same session can be a fun experience for all involved. If this is the case, ensure you are charging per person, or you have given the main client a group quote. Also, determine how many seniors you can photograph effectively in the amount of time you have for the session.

Photograph the group together in three to four setups. Then take turns taking 5 or more solid portraits of each senior. If they are all members of the same sports team or club, ask them to bring props. Props could include their uniform or other items that represent the activity in which they participate.

Give each teen time to change out of the group photo wardrobe so that they can also experience their own time with you. This makes them feel like they have their own mini-session within the big group photos. The more photos you include of each teen, the more opportunities you have to sell prints and products as well.

Try and take candid photos of the group too. Getting natural reactions while they are just hanging out and talking can also be as meaningful as the posed photos.

In conclusion

Senior photography is much more than the classic graduation portrait that parents used to look for. They are about inclusion and having the teen actively participate in order to capture their true personality before embarking on their next adventure in life.

Keeping it light and fun, as well as experimenting with different lighting and poses, can help make the senior session much more interactive and exciting.

The post Senior Photo Tips for Better Senior Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.

Digital Photography School
January 7, 2019
Gear: Leica C-Lux Camera Review

The post Gear: Leica C-Lux Camera Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kunal Malhotra.

One of the latest offerings by Leica is the C-Lux compact camera which features 20-Megapixel, 1-inch CMOS sensor. With the focal length range of 8.8-132mm (24-320mm as per 35mm format), this is a multi-purpose camera. You can shoot photos of multiple genres like street, portraits, landscape, wildlife, and events using the 15x zoom range on this camera by Leica.

Talking about a few key highlighting features, the Leica C-Lux allows you to shoot 4K video, shoot images at 10fps burst rate and has a sensitivity range up to ISO 25600.

Build quality and ergonomics

The moment you hold the Leica C-Lux in your hand, you get mesmerized by its looks and ergonomics. This camera looks and feels premium from the very first second you use it.

The grip on this camera allows you to use it for hours without sweat or pain in your fingers. The thumb support at the back of the camera allowed me to make a strong grip while clicking both photos and videos.

I like how Leica has made this compact camera ‘compact’ – making sure it is fully-loaded with the latest features. While the built quality feels sturdy, the camera weight is not very heavy.

Physical features

My favorite physical feature on this camera has to be the customizable ring on the lens. By default, the role of the ring is to adjust the focal length of the lens. However, you can customize it to control either the manual focus or aperture value. So if you frequently focus manually or shoot in aperture priority, you are going to love this feature. I shoot in aperture priority in most situations, and the ring helped me save time and effort switching between aperture values.

On the back side of the C-Lux camera sits the 3.0“ TFT LCD touchscreen and 0.21“ LCD viewfinder with diopter adjustment from -4 to +3 diopters. The touchscreen is responsive and you can touch-and-focus while shooting photos and videos. However, the viewfinder is something that did not impress me. It felt like there was light leakage from the sides which distracted my view.

There is a pop-up flash hidden on the top center of the camera, which can be used by merely sliding a physical key. The back panel also features three custom function buttons which can be used as per the user convenience.

Image quality

While this camera has a focal length range from 24mm to 360mm, you may want to know its performance at both ends. I found the images to be sharp and crisp between 24mm and 200mm, and it gets a bit soft beyond 200mm focal length. Nevertheless, while shooting in daylight, it gives incredible results even at 360mm. However, as the light reduces, the crispness becomes a bit average.

If you are someone who shoots more in daylight and you want a longer focal length range in your compact camera, this could be a great choice for you. The optics in this camera lens enables you to capture images with good color reproduction.

Low-light performance

The real test of a camera is when it gets used in low light conditions. I took this camera for a run at night and clicked some street photos. The ISO performance up to 1600 ISO is excellent considering it features a 1-inch sensor. But beyond 1600 ISO you will start noticing grain in your images.

I was shocked to see this camera perform brilliantly in low light conditions while shooting video. I expected high grain at ISO 800, but this camera worked like a charm even at ISO 1600. This camera is equipped to shoot 4K video at 30fps and 1080p video at 60 fps.

Monochrome mode

Leica is known to have one of the best sensors for monochrome photography. But is it any good in this, one of the most affordable cameras? I fell in love with monochrome photography the day I started using this camera. The monochrome images felt entirely different coming out of this camera; perhaps because it is my first Leica camera. This camera captures amazing contrast and dynamic range, as you can see in the image below.

Autofocus performance

Most of the time I used the touch-to-focus feature, and there is a reason behind that. Ideally, I use manual focus point selection, but after a few shots I could trust the C-Lux touch focus accuracy. The focus speed also feels quite fast without much focus hunting, even in low-light conditions. But when you are beyond 200-250mm in low light conditions, the focusing becomes slower, and the focus hunting begins.

Features

There are some useful features in this camera including Focus Stacking and Exposure Stacking modes. One of the benefits of using a small sensor camera is that you get to use some fantastic features. These two modes allow you to capture multiple photos and give you a final image using either the focus point of your choice to focus stack or combine multiple exposures to achieve a high dynamic range (HDR) image.

Moreover, if you are social media enthusiast, the C-Lux camera allows you to instantly transfer images and videos via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with the help of the ‘Leica C-Lux’ app.

Final thoughts

Amidst so many options, why would you choose the US$ 1050, 20 Megapixel, 1-inch sensor Leica C-Lux compact camera? If you are a frequent traveler and wish to carry a camera that does most of the job for you, this may be an ideal choice. Also, if you want the ‘Leica’ branding and love clicking in monochrome, you may fall for this little camera. With features including 4k photos at 30fps, focus and exposure stacking, 4k video and that smooth custom ring, I would recommend this Leica camera.

What are your views about this compact camera from Leica? Would you go for it?

The post Gear: Leica C-Lux Camera Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kunal Malhotra.

Digital Photography School

January 7, 2019
20 Ways to Improve Your Photography by Improving Yourself
The post 20 Ways to Improve Your Photography by Improving Yourself appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Photo: Guillermo Sánchez

Sometimes what holds us back in photography is not a lack of “know how” or new gear, but not growing anymore as people. Before you try to improve your photography with a new camera or lens, try working on some weak part of your personality. Once you’ve improved yourself as a person, you’ll make much better use of that new camera or lens!

Whether you’re an amateur or professional, here are 20 personality problems to tackle that can help you grow as a photographer.

Imagine if adults kept growing at the rate toddlers do. One day they’re watching the big kids play, and then suddenly they’ve figured it out for themselves.

1. Stop being lazy – accomplish something big

If you always have a nagging feeling that you should be accomplishing more, then now is the time to do it. Instead of letting half-baked ideas and almost-finished projects pile up, get something completed.

It’s so easy to be lazy. That’s the danger. Accomplishing great things takes work, but being lazy doesn’t.

You can spend hours scrolling through photos that other photographers have taken, always lusting over their projects. Or, you can get off the couch to finish one of your own projects.

Before long, you’ll look back and see a trail of finished work.

2. Don’t work so hard

Maybe you’re the opposite of lazy. Maybe you can’t stop working. Suppose you run a photography business and feel a lot of guilt about missing so much family time. You must stop working a bit and pay attention to the other important things in your life.

When you make more time for friends and family and a little bit of downtime, you’ll grow in your creativity and do greater things when you get back to work.

Expand your relationships and life experiences and you’ll bring a much deeper version of yourself to your work.

Cut back on the hours you work by eliminating tasks that are not essential to your projects or business.

Workaholics could schedule some time into their week to relax with a book. Expand yourself with a thrilling novel or good “how to” book.

3. Get organized

Begin to de-clutter and simplify your life. For example, do you just dump all your photos onto a hard drive or leave them floating around the cloud? You need to get those photos organized.

Get all your photos into one place and get them sorted out.

If you’re a project photographer, them sort them by year and by the project.

If you take a lot of photos every day or every week, I highly recommend sorting them by date.

The system I use is simple.
- All photos go into a monthly folder
- The monthly folders go into a yearly folder
- All yearly folders go into one main folder labeled Photos
When your photos are organized you can begin to sift through them, print them, and enjoy them.

When your photos are in one place it is easy to back them up and know they’re safe.

4. Embrace a little chaos

Perhaps you are so orderly in life that you can’t stand any chaos.

Maybe you’re a photographer who can’t stand dealing with toddlers or people with strong personalities. You need to get out of your comfort zone and embrace a little chaos. Let the toddlers run wild a bit, maybe you’ll notice some great candid moments when you’re not asserting so much control.

Instead of meticulously planning every detail of your life, leave some things to chance. Allow for surprising spontaneity and see where it takes you.

Those white pants were so clean when we left the house! Toddlers are agents of chaos. But they’re exploring their world and learning so much.

5. Be more kind

Does your mouth lack a filter? Do you boast that you don’t care about people’s feelings? Are you always annoyed with your clients and don’t mind telling them so?

I recommend you work on being more polite. It’s going to be difficult, but try biting your tongue once in a while.

Don’t be a troll, leaving nasty comments on photography websites. When you say things kindly, your words might help somebody to improve themselves.

Practice saying one thing to every client or photographer in your life that would build them up. When you learn to help others grow, you grow deeply too.

6. Don’t let people walk all over you

Don’t misunderstand the nature of kindness by letting people take advantage of you.

If you’re a photographer in business, you must make people respect your talent, time and prices. Your work is worth something (perhaps more than you think).

Sure, you’ve got a heart of gold. But wake up and see that letting people take advantage of you does nothing to help them.

When the kids get sick it always throws a wrench into our plans. But sometimes those sick days are gateways to something new. We discover something more of their personality or spend the day reading books or listening to stories together. Sometimes, when something ruins our plans it leads to something better.

7. Volunteer

If you know that compassion is a weak point for you, then you should volunteer your photography skills. Go out and work for free, blessing a family or charity who would be thrilled by your offer to help. You might even enjoy the experience!

8. Compassion has some limits

Many photographers suffer burnout in their photography business. One of the main reasons is that they charge too little for their services. When you charge too little, you have to work too much to make a decent living. You will burn out.

Charge a price that is fair to you and your client, not just fair for them. Don’t feel like you have to give everyone discounts. And don’t listen to those few people who will tell you your prices are too high.

Balance good business and your own photography pursuits with some compassion for those who are truly in need.

Toddlers always put their shoes on the wrong feet!

9. Learn to accept stress without snapping

Do you find yourself constantly snapping in anger or wanting to cry about stress?

You need to learn to accept difficult things more gracefully. It might not be easy. When everything in you wants to snap, restraint takes strength.

Begin by understanding that not everything is worth freaking out over, even though you may feel like it. Often, your initial feelings tell you how to act, and snapping has become a habit.

When you feel volatile feelings rising up, stop and think about them. Is this the best response?

Walk away from dramatic situations and wait to respond when you are at peace.

You’ll find it much easier to deal with criticism of your photography, difficult clients and unruly subjects.

10. Recognize that sometimes your emotions deceive you

Do you feel like crying or throwing up when you think a client has ripped you off or somebody says they hate their photos?

It’s tough to get bad news. But what if you could receive that news without the flood of overwhelming negative emotions? You can make peace with those clients more easily when your emotions are not raging. Sometimes the situation isn’t even half as bad as your emotions are telling you.

Make yourself calm down before you talk with clients or people who upset you. You can overcome overwhelming emotions.

Drawn to the camera in a game of peekaboo.

11. Go out and meet people

Being introverted is not a bad thing, but being very withdrawn is. Spending time on your own is fine, but hating to be around people isn’t a good thing.

You can’t make the most of life on your own. You’ll grow as a photographer when you spend more time with people.

If you’re awkward around people, try acting like an extrovert. Just pretend you love people. Strike up conversations and take an interest in those around you. Before you know it, you’ll be more confident and less withdrawn.

Even if you’re a landscape or wildlife photographer, you’ll benefit from friendships and relationships with other photographers. You can even expand your photography by including people in your landscape and wildlife photos.

12. Most people are not thinking bad things about you

If you’re always worried about what people think about you, you should know this; they’re not thinking about you!

Most people don’t think bad things about you and most people don’t spend much time thinking of you at all.

Resist whatever thoughts you have that scare you about people.

If street photography is your thing, don’t be afraid to actually approach people on the street for a portrait. You’ll be nervous, but your imagination is probably playing tricks on you.

13. Be more assertive

If you’re too afraid to take control of your portrait sessions then you need to grow in your assertiveness. Perhaps you love waiting for candid moments, but maybe you’re more afraid to step in and tell people what to do.

People like a certain amount of assertiveness. Most people prefer that you take some control.

14. Don’t be a control freak

Being assertive is a great quality unless you overdo it! You can be so assertive that you don’t let other people be themselves. Your portrait clients like knowing that you’re confident and in control, but they don’t like it when you won’t listen to them and work with their ideas.

He thinks he’s so funny stealing my seat every time I get up!

15. Cheer up!

You will go through periods when you just don’t feel the love toward photography that you used to. That’s okay. But the best way to get out of that slump is to act like you love it. Go through the motions of loving it. Don’t act like your photography work is drudgery.

16. Don’t jump on every opportunity!

You can be way too enthusiastic about photography, jumping on every opportunity that comes along.

You can buy every piece of gear, accept every job, and take on every project. But committing to everything will be committing to too much.

Slow down and only commit to what you’re best at or what you want to learn about most.

Dropping fistfuls of sand on himself, he hasn’t got a care in the world.

17. Go explore

Do you feel so insecure about things that you avoid new situations? If you haven’t experienced anything new in a while, you need to go and explore.

Find new landscapes. Meet new people. Try a different art form.

18. Reflect on what you’ve explored

If you’re constantly exploring and discovering new things it might be time that you stop and do some reflecting. What are you discovering through all this exploration? What are you learning about yourself, other people and the world around you? How has your photography improved? How might you improve more?

19. Read a book about a photographer

Maybe you know everything about every photography technique out there, but nothing about the heart of photography. Maybe you know little about the deeply human part of photography.

Go to the library and grab a biography of some photographer to read. Learn about the life experiences that led to their work and techniques.

20. Flesh out your ideas in a photo

If you love ideas and are constantly reading, try bringing some of those ideas to life through photos.

Sometimes I’m not just capturing moments. I’m trying to capture moments that express something about my subject. What’s the nature of a toddler? What are the ideas about toddler-hood that could be captured in a photo?

Choose 2-3 ways to improve yourself as a photographer

You’ve just read 20 ways to improve yourself that will also help you grow as a photographer. Choose 1 of these things to work on over the next few weeks or 2-3 things that you can work on over the year. As you grow as a person, you’ll grow as a photographer too.

The post 20 Ways to Improve Your Photography by Improving Yourself appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Digital Photography School
January 7, 2019
So You Want to Make a Website? Part 2: How to Create a Website

The post So You Want to Make a Website? Part 2: How to Create a Website appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

In Part 1 of the So You Want to Make a Website? Series, we looked at which platform was best for your needs. In Part 2, we delve into the setup process. There may be small differences with WordPress (depending on who you choose for your hosting), however, things will be very similar whoever you choose.

1. Squarespace

Choose a template and off you go. Whilst not as expansive in choice as WordPress. Squarespace offer some very stylish templates.

With Squarespace, setting up your website is as easy as going to squarespace.com, choosing a design and clicking ‘start with this theme.’ Squarespace is a great platform that allows you to try before you buy. You get a 14-day free trial of the platform without the need for a credit card, allowing you to take the platform for a test drive.

When you go on the site, start with the template section and look for one you like. Squarespace has a search option to help you choose a theme that’s relevant to what you want your website to do. Once you find a theme you like the look of, you can preview it across multiple platforms at the click of a button. There are also links to real life websites that have been built using the theme you are previewing. That way you can test its functionality.

Once you have chosen your theme, click ‘start with this design’ and Squarespace creates your website. After a simple login and hello, you can get down to business.

Starting your build

In Squarespace, you work with seven tabs. Each is clearly labeled and easy enough to get your site design started intuitively. By default, all pages get set as demos. To create your unique pages, click on it and Squarespace creates a working page for your site.

From here, you can add text and photos. You can also style the page as you desire. It is an intuitive platform, but if you get stuck, there are some great tutorials to help you. Squarespace also has a dedicated support team you can contact.

The Styles Editor is the main menu where you can tweak several options of your site. These include options such as fonts, color, and text size. These options enable you to personalize your site and make it match your style or brand. Switching templates is easy if you find you aren’t happy with the one you started with. Again, this is a simple, hassle-free process.

Within the styles menu you can change your site styles, complete with realtime previews.

Domain names and Email

Finally, in the settings page, you can register your free domain and access a free year of Google’s G-Suite email. You can set up your domain name and personal email address (yourname@yoursite.com) quickly and with minimum hassle. As a paying customer, domain registration (your web address) is free and becomes automatically linked to your account. I recommend this option when you start because it keeps things simple from a setup point of view.

Extending your trial

Once your Squarespace trial is up, you can extend it for a further two weeks if you need to. However, if you like the platform, pay for your chosen plan, and your site can be live within minutes. If, after your trial, you think the platform is too restrictive (some do), you have lost nothing. You won’t even have the annoyance of canceling your credit card.

Finally, there are several vouchers out there for 10% off your first purchase. Make sure you take advantage of one when you purchase your site.

2. WordPress

This looks daunting, but it is simpler than you think.

While this may seem a like a more complicated option – it isn’t. WordPress installation is quite simple, as most hosting companies have a one-click install option.

In regards to hosting companies, there are many, and they vary in price, speed and customer support. Some are better than others, so do your research. A quick Google search will help you out immensely here. The main three things to look out for are security, support, and speed. Site loading time is a factor Google takes into account when ranking sites, so speedy hosting helps. Having security is essential so that your site doesn’t get hacked. Support comes in handy when you get stuck with any issues in regards to your site being offline. Similar to Squarespace, you can register your domain name with your hosting company (usually for a small fee). Doing this makes the setup process more straightforward.

Creating an Email address

Creating an email is incredibly easy using your hosting CPanel. Just click on the email button, choose your email address and password and click ‘OK’. It really is that simple.

Fill in this field and you will have a personalized email. It really is that simple.

Installing WordPress

With your hosting purchased, you now need to access your control panel (CPanel) to install WordPress. CPanel is daunting on first look, but you soon get used to it. This area is where good support from your hosting company can be useful. I can’t give specifics as this varies by company, but all good hosting companies will have guides to help you. Once you have WordPress installed. It is time to start creating your website.

Building your site

Once you are set up, you need to login to your admin area (AKA backend). In the Admin area, you’ll find the tools you need to create your site. Once you are logged in, you have access to all the tools to control your website.

The three main options you will use day to day are posts, pages, and media. When setting up your site, you may also need to use a couple of other options — appearance (where you choose your theme of the website) and Plugins, where you can add plugins for specific things such as SEO. There are a lot of different options with WordPress, but like everything, using it becomes more comfortable over time.

It may look a little daunting, but it isn’t as scary as you think.

Installing a theme

Once you have installed WordPress, it is time to choose your theme/template. There are thousands of fully-customizable WordPress themes that range from free to $ $ $ . Check out the free themes first, but these often have less functionality and features than the paid ones. Free themes can be prone to things such as poor coding (meaning your site will not load as fast) or may be outdated. Lastly, free templates generally will not offer great support. I am not saying there aren’t some great free ones available, but it takes more to find a good one. However, you do get what you pay for.

On the other hand, paid themes tend to be more feature-rich. They also tend to have better support, which can be invaluable if you run into a problem. Updates also tend to occur more frequently and are less prone to bugs and errors (this does not mean they do not suffer from these problems though). I can guarantee there is a WordPress theme you will love. The hardest part may be choosing.

Installing a theme is just as simple. Go to the Appearance tab and upload the theme you have purchased. Alternatively, choose directly from the themes offered. Depending on the template, things vary from here. Work with the support team on your particular theme to get the best from it.

Now that you have your theme installed, it is time to start to create your content. You’ll learn how in Part 3 of the series.

You may also find the articles helpful:

So You Want to Make a Website? Part 1: Squarespace versus WordPress

How to Find the Right Website Platform that Works For You

Free Versus Paid Photography Portfolio Websites – Which is Best for You?

The post So You Want to Make a Website? Part 2: How to Create a Website appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School

January 6, 2019
How to Edit Landscape and Nature Photos with the Lightroom Gradient Tool and Range Mask Features
The post How to Edit Landscape and Nature Photos with the Lightroom Gradient Tool and Range Mask Features appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Lightroom has always had a rich set of tools to allow photographers to get the most out of their images. However, until recently the ability to edit landscape and nature photos was a bit lacking.

While, global adjustments, like changing white balance and exposure have always worked great in Lightroom, fine-tuning edits can be problematic. Recent updates have seen incredible improvements to the Filter tools in Lightroom. An added tweak called Range Mask makes all the difference for photographers who need complete control over the precise implementation of their edits.

Lightroom Gradient Tool and Range Mask

The three most common ways to edit specific parts of an image in Lightroom are through the use of the Graduated Filter, Radial Filter, and Adjustment Brush. If you want to smooth the skin on your portraits, increase the saturation of your skies, or change the color cast of your clouds these tools can be just the ticket. But what if you have a tree that sticks up into the sky or an uneven horizon dotted with buildings and power lines?

The usefulness of the filter tools is somewhat restricting when you want to limit your edits to particular sub-parts of a picture. Until recently the Auto-Mask option was the best way to confine your edits to certain colors or locations within an image. Landscape and nature photos are especially tricky because of the uneven edges and jagged borders that exist between sections of the photo that need editing. However, the Range Mask option solves almost all of these issues with ease.

How it works

To illustrate this, I’m going to walk you through the editing process of the following image. My brother Andy took it while he was on a tour of the swamps in Louisiana, USA, with his family last summer. The initial image has a nice composition but feels dull and uninteresting, which is a far cry from the real experience.

Adjusting White Balance with a Graduated Filter

One change to punch things up is altering the white balance of the sky to bring out the bright blues and make the image more vibrant.

The first step is to click over to the Graduated Filter panel. Dial in a white balance that skews more towards the cooler end of the spectrum and reduce the exposure just a bit. Next, click and drag from top to bottom on the image to put the filter in place.

The sky is now a rich blue, however, a big problem becomes evident: the color cast of the trees has changed too. This result is not what I want. Clicking the Show Selected Mask Overlay button in the bottom left corner under your image reveals that the graduated filter has been applied to everything including the trees as well as the sky.

Fine-tuning the Graduated Filter using the Range Mask

Fine-tuning a tool such as the Graduated Filter, used to involve a series of steps. These steps included brushing out the mask in places you didn’t want it in combination with the auto-mask feature. It worked, but results were often a little sketchy. They also required a great deal of tweaking and fine-tuning. That’s not to say the brush option is useless-far from it! I have an example later in this article that shows how useful it can be.

However, all this has changed in recent versions of Lightroom. You can now use the Range Mask to apply any of the three filter tools to specific parts of an image based on lightness or color similarity.

The default value for Range Mask is Off, but with one of your Filter adjustments selected you can then choose to enable Range Mask for Color, Luminance or Depth.
- Color applies the filter to specific parts of the image based on how similar they are to color values that you select.
- Luminance applies the filter to specific parts of the image based on how light or dark those parts are.
- Depth works only with cameras that record depth information and applies the filter to specific parts of the image based on how close or how far away they are. Some mobile phones have this feature but most traditional cameras do not, so Depth will often be disabled unless you are editing images taken with certain mobile phones.
Range Mask – Color

For this image, I’m going to use the Color option, though Luminance works great in many nature and landscape photos as well.

With Color selected, you can either click and drag on your image to select a range of colors or can click multiple points by shift+clicking. This selection is where the mask gets applied. I find that shift+clicking generally works better, although your mileage may vary depending on your editing goals and the type of picture you are working with.

You can click up to five spots on the image to refine your color selection. Use the slider in the Range Mask panel to fine-tune things further. This slider hones the edges of your Range Mask. If you find that the border between the edited and unedited portions of your image is a bit stark, adjusting the Amount slider will help mitigate this issue.

The result of this one Gradient Filter, along with the Range Mask, is an image that is already much improved from the original.

Looking at a 100% crop of a portion of the image reveals just how precisely the Gradient Filter has been applied thanks to the Range Mask. Here is a portion from the top-right of the original unedited image.

Here is the same portion with the Gradient Filter applied, using the Range Mask to apply the Filter to only selected color ranges. In this case, the color of the sky.

Notice how precisely the edits were applied, and how intricate the edges around the tree leaves are. This illustrates why the Range Mask option is so useful for landscape and nature photos. There are many tricky edges and small parts of the image that can take a very long time to fix without it.

Range Mask – Luminance

Another way to use the Range Mask is with the Luminance option. This option only applies the mask to the brightest or the darkest portions of the Gradient, or other Filter, that’s applied.

The overall idea here is the same, but the implementation is a tad different. Instead of selecting colors where you want the Range Mask applied, you use the Range sliders to concentrate the mask on the lightest, darkest or mid-range parts. One of the most useful things here is the Show Luminance Mask box which gives you a real-time preview of where your mask application. This helps you as you are adjusting the sliders.

Here’s an image I shot while hiking in the mountains near Seattle. It’s not bad, but a few edits would help improve the picture. Edits may help it look a little closer to how it appeared when my wife and I were tromping around in the wilderness that day with my cousin.

I want to bring out the color in the foreground trees in this image. A Graduated Filter with Luminance Range Mask is perfect in this scenario because the edits can be applied just to the darker portions of the image. With the filter in place and the mask tweaked to be applied only to the darker parts, I can ensure my edits are going to show up just where I want them to by checking the Show Luminance Mask option.

Fine-tuning using Brush

As demonstrated above, the Range Mask is extremely useful for nature and landscape photographers. It applies the Graduated Filter to just the right portions of the image and not the entire picture evenly. If you want to customize your Graduated Filter further, click the Brush option (not the Brush Adjustment Tool) and proceed to add to, or erase, the Filter wherever you want.

In this case, I’d like to remove the Graduated Filter from the lake in the foreground. Even though I can tell from my Luminance Mask overlay that it’s not being applied too heavily to that area, removing all traces of it with the brush will help me get the exact picture I want.

The end result is a photo with much warmer green tones in the trees and a lake that reflects the blue sky above, which is just the look I was aiming for.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these examples give you an idea of how powerful the combination of Graduated Filters and Range Masks are for nature and landscape photographers. I’m always eager to hear from the DPS community. Have you found this particular tool useful? Are there any other tips you’d like to share about using the Lightroom Gradient Tool and Range Mask? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

The post How to Edit Landscape and Nature Photos with the Lightroom Gradient Tool and Range Mask Features appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
January 5, 2019
13 Creative Exercises for Photographers [video]
The post 13 Creative Exercises for Photographers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this great video by B&H Photo & Video, photographer David Flores, along with the help of B&H’s Todd Vorenkamp, discuss 13 ways you can get your creative photography juices flowing.

In the video, David outlines the following 13 creative exercises for photographers.

13 creative exercises for photographers

1. 2 Dozen

Find a spot and stand in it. Take 24 photos while in that spot.

2. Ten of One

Take 10 photos of one small object. You may need to use close-up or macro.

3. Four Corners

Choose one subject and place it in each for corners of your frame.

4. Set artificial restrictions

Set yourself restrictions of using one of only the following: Color, black and white, photographing while lying down, shadows, only one location, one lens, over-exposing, under-exposing, filling the frame, or negative space. You may think of others you can use too.

5. Use Film

Buy a roll of film so you have to limit your max shooting number to 24 or 36.

6. 12 abstracts

Pick one single common object, take 12 photos.

7. A portable subject

Find something to carry with you and work it into your subject.

8. The Unselfie-selfie

Put yourself into the frame. Use a tripod and set up some nicely framed compositions.

9. The Mixing Bowl

Lot’s of exercises in one. Write a bunch of different exercises down onto a piece of paper and cut them into strips. Place them into a bowl/hat and pick one out. That is the exercise you focus on.

10. The Change-Up

Try a different genre of photography.

11. 9 elements

Include the 9 elements of art. Light, Shadow, line, shape, form, texture, color, size, depth. Add focus, tonality, quality of light, negative space. Take only one image per element.

12. Steps

Go somewhere you have always wanted to photograph. Pick a number of steps to take before stopping to take a photograph. Use this number over a few blocks and see what you end up photographing.

13. Two Trips

Go to a space without your camera and then go back with your camera afterward and photograph the things you had noticed.

You may also find the following articles helpful in finding photographic inspiration.
- 25 Photography Projects Perfect for the New Year
- How to Make Creative Photos with Prism Photography
- 7 Ways To Take Your Photography To The Next Level
- How To Stimulate Your Photography by Learning From the Best
- 7 Steps to Find Inspiration so You Can Create Phenomenal Photographs
- 200 Photography Assignments that Inspire, Motivate and Teach
- 7 Tips for Finding Inspiration When You’re Stuck
- 7 Ideas to Inspire Your Creativity
The post 13 Creative Exercises for Photographers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School
January 5, 2019
Weekly Photography Challenge – Unusual Objects

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

This week’s Weekly Photography Challenge – Unusual Objects!

This challenge can cover a broad range of objects, big or small. They can be indoors or outdoors. You can shoot them using macro, zoom, or with prime lenses. They can be color, black and white or anything you like.

I can’t wait to see them!

Check out these images for insta inspiration.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pavel Andreievich Chekov (@where_chekov_boldly_goes) on Dec 27, 2018 at 2:56am PST

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A post shared by markus (@dehellmark) on Dec 25, 2018 at 11:10am PST

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A post shared by Petite Surface (@petite_surface) on Dec 27, 2018 at 12:09pm PST

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A post shared by Tracy Glover Studio (@tracygloverstudio) on Dec 27, 2018 at 10:07am PST

The following articles may be helpful for the challenge:

How to do Extreme Close-Up Photography with a Macro Bellows

Creative Macro Photography – A Guide to Freelensing

How to Make Funky Colorful Images of Ordinary Plastic Objects Using a Polarizing Filter

Making the Mundane Magnificent: Finding Inspiration in Everyday Objects

26 Imaginative Images of Inanimate Objects

Weekly Photography Challenge – Unusual Objects

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 #DPSUnusual_Objects 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 – Unusual Objects appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

January 5, 2019
These Inspiring Landscape Photographers will Make You Want to Take Better Photos

The post These Inspiring Landscape Photographers will Make You Want to Take Better Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Mark Harpur

These landscape photographers are taking some inspirational photos.

We thought we’d share these with you to get you inspired to go out and take some fantastic landscape images. They are in no particular order.

1. Rach Stewart

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A post shared by Rach Stewart (@rachstewartnz) on May 24, 2018 at 12:44am PDT

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A post shared by Rach Stewart (@rachstewartnz) on Sep 30, 2018 at 12:47am PDT

2. Daniel Greenwood

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A post shared by Daniel Greenwood (@danielgreenwoodphotography) on May 14, 2018 at 12:15pm PDT

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A post shared by Daniel Greenwood (@danielgreenwoodphotography) on Dec 3, 2018 at 12:06pm PST

3. Jacob Moon

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A post shared by Jacob Moon (@moonmountainman) on Apr 15, 2018 at 7:51am PDT

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A post shared by Jacob Moon (@moonmountainman) on Dec 13, 2018 at 9:54pm PST

4. Daniel Tran

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A post shared by Daniel Tran (@_danieltran_) on Jul 15, 2018 at 1:24am PDT

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A post shared by Daniel Tran (@_danieltran_) on Jan 4, 2018 at 12:23am PST

5. Jay Vulture

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A post shared by Jay Vulture (@vulture_labs) on May 8, 2018 at 6:48am PDT

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A post shared by Jay Vulture (@vulture_labs) on Dec 4, 2018 at 2:14pm PST

6. Warren Keelan

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A post shared by Warren Keelan (@warrenkeelan) on Dec 19, 2018 at 11:37am PST

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A post shared by Warren Keelan (@warrenkeelan) on Dec 11, 2018 at 12:54pm PST

7. Gergo Rugli

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A post shared by Gergo Rugli (@rugligeri) on Dec 3, 2018 at 11:43pm PST

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A post shared by Gergo Rugli (@rugligeri) on Dec 6, 2018 at 12:38am PST

8. Mads Peter Iversen

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A post shared by Mads Peter Iversen Photography (@madspeteriversen_photography) on Oct 31, 2018 at 4:09am PDT

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A post shared by Mads Peter Iversen Photography (@madspeteriversen_photography) on Dec 17, 2018 at 7:57am PST

9. John Weatherby

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A post shared by John Weatherby (@whereisweatherby) on Dec 8, 2018 at 10:33am PST

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A post shared by John Weatherby (@whereisweatherby) on Nov 17, 2018 at 8:42am PST

10. Tony Hewitt

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A post shared by Tony Hewitt (@tony.hewitt) on Feb 6, 2018 at 7:39pm PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tony Hewitt (@tony.hewitt) on Oct 21, 2017 at 7:02am PDT

Who inspires you? Let us know in the comments below.

The post These Inspiring Landscape Photographers will Make You Want to Take Better Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

January 4, 2019
4 Tips to Get You Out of Your Comfort Zone for Photographic Inspiration

The post 4 Tips to Get You Out of Your Comfort Zone for Photographic Inspiration appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Are you feeling uninspired? Perhaps you’re stuck in your photography practice and feel like you’ve reached the best of your abilities? Don’t worry, we all feel like that sometimes. In most cases, all you need is to get out of your comfort zone to find new and exciting challenges. Here are some tips to get you out of your comfort zone for photographic inspiration.

1. Change your focal length.

All of us have a preferred focal length either because it’s the only lens we have, or because it’s the fittest for the kind of photography that we do. So the problem is not that you have it, it is that it impacts a lot of your photographic behaviors as well. You might think it’s not a big deal, but it’s vastly different working with a fixed focal length than a zoom lens, or shooting with a wide angle lens than a telephoto lens.

The focal length you use affects the physical distance you need between you and your subject. With a telephoto lens, you can be further away and still get close detail. A wide-angle lens allows you to fit in a bigger scene even if you are closer to your subject. Making this change means you walk around your subject to get the shot, which helps you find new perspectives and points of view. Sometimes you can’t get closer or further away as you may need, forcing you to reframe and rethink your entire image.

Another thing that changes when you modify the distance between your camera and subject is the Depth of Field. Depth of Field depends on the Aperture (f/stop). If you take two images with the same aperture but one of them is with a wide-angle lens, and the other is with a telephoto, the latter will have a shallower depth of field. If you’d like to understand this concept in more depth, I recommend you read my article How to Use Still-Life to Understand Focal Lengths. In any case, the results of your images may be different to what you are used to, and this inevitably pushes you out of your comfort zone.

2. Change the type of photography you do

One of the beauties about photography is how versatile it can be. You can photograph practically anything. I don’t mean that any photographer can do every kind of photography. Each one needs its own set of skills, and that’s why I recommend this exercise.

You can be a wedding photographer, a landscape photographer, or a food photographer – it doesn’t matter. There is always another type of photography you can try. For example, if you’re a portrait photographer, used to dealing with people, go and shoot some architecture photography or any subject you can’t move or control. If you usually do macro or abstract details, go wider and try to compose a scene from urban photography. You’ll be amazed at how changing what you see also changes the way you think. It opens your mind to new possibilities.

As a photographer, no matter what your specialty, you are working with light. However, it most certainly different working with studio lights doing a still life than natural light while shooting a landscape. One is not better than the other, nor is it easier. They are just different and as a result, require different skills. Studio lighting means learning to set everything from scratch. You create the amount and type of light you want.

However, natural light means learning what time of the day is best, dealing with weather conditions and so on. It also means having the right equipment. I’m not suggesting that you go and spend a lot of money on something you may not use much as there’s always a way to adapt and improvise. This is also part of going out of the comfort zone.

3. A small change can go a long way

Expanding your creativity can be done by changing a small thing from your photographic routine. Change the time of the day that you go out to shoot, go back to a place you visited in a different season, or walk the opposite way when you go out the door. New conditions or new places spark new ideas.

4. Change equipment

I already mentioned focal length, but the lens is not the only thing you can change to challenge yourself. Try a different camera. I’m not suggesting that you go out and buy an extra camera. You can try renting for a day or exchange cameras with a friend. You can switch from your camera to your phone and vice-versa. The composition is different when shooting full-frame and crop-sensor. It’s challenging to photograph a maximum amount of photos with a film camera instead of the (almost) limitless and immediate result of digital. However, it doesn’t matter what you use (more or less professional than your regular equipment), what matters is that it’s different.

Conclusion

There are many ways to push your photography and creativity further. Try some of these tips or come up with some of your own. See where it takes you. One last piece of advice: don’t be afraid of doing bad photos. There is a reason why your comfort zone IS your comfort zone. You’ve mastered it, you like it, and you create great images. Expect that you won’t achieve the same results when you change photographic genres – that’s all the more reason to try it!

The post 4 Tips to Get You Out of Your Comfort Zone for Photographic Inspiration appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Digital Photography School

January 3, 2019
What to do When the Light’s Down Low

The post What to do When the Light’s Down Low appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Cameras create images using reflected light. When there’s not much light reflecting off your subject, the camera is challenged. You need to learn the methods of controlling your camera when you are photographing in low light situations.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Our cameras and our eyes ‘see’ in different ways. When the light is low, our eyes often do not see color so vividly. When we are photographing in low light we can make adjustments to our camera exposure settings. This enables them to make photos our eyes never see naturally.

Light streaks from passing vehicle lights or blurred movement of flames in a fire are never things our eyes see naturally. These are only the result of using a slow shutter speed on your camera.

Opening up your lens aperture will produce a shallow depth of field beyond what your eyes will see. Doing this allows more light to affect the sensor and can produce some surreal results in low light.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Setting your ISO very high, especially on newer cameras, makes it possible to take photographs in near darkness.

Visualize the look you want

Starting out with an idea in your mind about with the look and feel you want your photo to have makes it easier to achieve. This will lead to more creative development in your photography.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Starting out this may be a challenge for some, but it is a great thing to learn as it pushes you to learn how to use your camera more flexibly.

Consider if you want a sharp image, or if you want to embrace the blur of slow shutter speed if there’s movement in your subject. Think about how a wide aperture setting will affect how much of your photo is in focus. Is this the look you want?

How do I know which settings to adjust?

I can give you some guidelines but you will only truly know through experimenting with the settings yourself. I can’t tell you the precise settings to use because every situation you will photograph contains many variables.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

You could set your camera to Program Mode on Auto ISO and let the camera make choices for you. Alternatively, choose one of the night scene modes your camera may have.

Both these options are very helpful when you first begin to experiment with low light photography. Both, however, will produce rather generic looking results.

Automatic settings are best when you use them to get you started and then analyze the EXIF data they contain. Having in mind the way you want your photo to look means you can then study the aperture, shutter speed and ISO information contained in the EXIF.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Once you have done this, switch your camera to Manual Mode using the same three exposure settings. Now adjust the ones you think will begin to give your desired effect. Continue to make small adjustments, one at a time, tweaking them until you are happy with what you see.

As you practice this and become more familiar with your camera settings and lighting conditions you will no longer need to use an auto mode to help get you started.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

In this photo I was aiming to have my subjects relatively sharp. The lens I used on my Nikon D800 was the 35mm f1.4. The ISO was set to 4000, aperture to f/1.4 and the shutter speed was for 1/10th of a second. I did not use a flash.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

An 8 second exposure time was used in this photo to allow for some motion blur in the people and the fire. My ISO was set at 1600 and my aperture was f/7.1

The varying amount of light from the flames meant I had to carefully watch my exposure settings and adjust them as necessary.

Adding an external light

Flash and LED light added to a scene when the light is low will influence your photograph. You need to control these lights carefully to be able to obtain the most natural looking results.

Too much extra light will cause unsightly shadows and possibly harsh highlights. With not enough additional light, you may not be able to see the effect at all. Again, when you are first starting out, experimentation is the key.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Test the various flash settings to determine which one will give you the best look. Try TTL or auto settings first. Depending on your camera and flash these settings in any situation the results will be better or worse.

If you are not satisfied, switch your flash to Manual Mode. Start with the power set to half and take a photo. Adjust the setting higher or lower and gradually taking a series of photos until you are happy with the result you see on your monitor.

Create RAW files and post process them

Low light being challenging, you will obtain the best results only after some post-processing. Camera technology continues to improve, but is not yet ideal, especially when the light is low.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Making RAW images allows you greater flexibility to post process and retain a higher quality. Most commonly you will want to reduce the amount of digital noise which occurs at higher ISO settings.

Color and contrast can both become flat and dull at higher ISO settings. Boosting contrast and saturation will make your photo look crisper.

Keep focused

Many cameras will struggle to autofocus in low light conditions. The lens may search for some time before it finds a focus point. Even then, it may not choose the point you want it to focus on if your camera is set to multi-point focus. In more extreme circumstances it may not be able to focus at all.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Manually focusing may be the best option. But this is also more challenging in low light. Using an external light source, like a flashlight, aimed at the area of your composition you wish to focus on can help. Once your lens is focused turn your flashlight off if you do not want it to affect your exposure.

Conclusion

Practice and experimentation will lead to the best results. The more you photograph in low light the more familiar you will become with the variables different settings will produce.

Start with easy subjects when you have ample time. Learning to take great photos in low light is not something that will happen overnight.

The post What to do When the Light’s Down Low appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Digital Photography School

January 3, 2019