Category: Photography

Top Tips for Editing Music Photography

So in my last article, we looked at how you can get to shoot live music. Hopefully, some of you will have used that article as the motivation to actually get out there and shoot. Great! If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?

This time, I want to write based on a comment I received about how to edit music photography, with some top tips to get your music editing to rock god standard. There is no right or wrong way to edit photos. You have your style of editing, and I have mine, so when looking at this if you think ‘I prefer more contrast’ then simply add more contrast.

I use Capture One Pro editing software. I know a huge percentage of you use Lightroom, but in reality, things are very similar. The buttons are in different places, but they do the same thing. What I want to do with this article is give you some pointers, rather than an exact step-by-step guide. Like all good recipes, you need to adjust for your oven and how spicy you like your food. With that said, let’s get cooking.

Speed

The thrill of a gig fades, for the fans, for the bands and for the publications that put the images out there. While speed is not super important when editing for small bands, I would always advise you to get your editing done as soon as possible. That way if you are delivering images to the band, they will still be hyped about the show and seeing your amazing photos will make them even more excited.

When I am editing for a publication, the idea is to get the images out as soon as possible. Therefore my editing technique is designed with speed as a factor. For portfolio images, or ones you love, by all means, go into Photoshop and remove things, touch up the skin, etc., But in general, this is not required.

This tight deadline means you have to sometimes decide against removing the distracting lights or fire exit sign. It is much quicker to do now that Capture One, Lightroom, et al. have these features built-in. However, be warned, you can still easily get caught up in this process.

Many of you may be starting out, so you can spend time finessing the details a little more. There are many great tutorials on DPS about Photoshop and more advanced editing techniques, so make sure you read up on them if this is something you want to do.

Editing Starts in Camera When Shooting

I can’t stress this enough. The tendency to overshoot is strong! In a digital age, we can shoot and delete so quickly that we get carried away. The thrill of being at an event shooting live music can add to this, as you want to get THE shot. However, try to restrain yourself a bit. Every image you shoot is something you have to go back to and edit, so bear this in mind. That said, I have been guilty and when a singer is bursting around the stage, shooting at the camera’s max FPS is something that can help you get that great shot.

Metadata (AKA the Boring Habit That is Good to Get Into Early)

Metadata is the information that is attached to your file. It includes camera settings etc., but when you shoot for organizations or stock agencies, you need to include metadata within your images. It is best to get into this habit early.

Make your contact information into a preset, so it can be added easily on import to save time. The first data you need to add is the content field, which contains the following sections:

Headline

Description

Category

The ‘Headline’ is simple. Put the name of the band performing live at XYZ Venue. If you have a shot of the lead singer, then add that information. For example, on this image, the Headline is ‘Diet Cig. Live at The Rescue Rooms Nottingham. Dot to Dot 2015.’

With the description following as ‘Alex Luciano of the New York band, Diet Cig play at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms as part of the Dot To Dot Festival.’

I saved the most important until last – ‘Keywords.’ You use Keywords for image searches within your catalog, or within a picture library or publication where you have submitted the image. For example, on this shot, the image includes keywords such as ‘Fender Guitars’ and ‘Vans.’ It’s amazing how many times people ask for a musician playing a specific guitar brand, or playing in a particular brand. So make it easy on yourself and use keywords to find them. I think the weirdest request I had was for artists performing in slippers. Unfortunately, I have none in my catalog. However, this goes to show how keywording in all the details, may come in handy.

Start this process early. Otherwise, before you know it, you’ve shot so many gigs without it that the thought of adding metadata to so many images means you don’t do it at all. Get into the habit, and it is painless. Leave it until later, and you won’t do it. Trust me! My first year of shooting live music has no metadata to this day!

Culling Images

You now need to narrow it down to a reasonable set of images to edit. I recommend around 10 to 15 max. You have to be ruthless in this selection process! When choosing shots, you may need to focus on minute details (and sometimes even perceived differences) to narrow it down. The key here is to be ruthless. Just like a holiday slideshow from your relatives – no matter how fantastic you think they are, nobody wants to see all 128 shots of a band that are in focus and well exposed. You want a small set of images that capture the intensity of being there. That way, they have much more impact. You will wow people rather than have them thinking ‘isn’t this shot just the same as the last one?’

This is what a typical image out-of-camera will look like. The color is out, there are some exposure issues, but this is a great starting point.

White Balance / Color Correction

White Balance and Color correction are the hardest part. You find so many variations of color at a concert that getting a realistic skin tone may be impossible. In this case, you can either embrace the colors or go to black and white. It comes down to your eye, and you may have to compromise.

As the screenshots show below, in mixed light, this can be quite extreme because your cameras’ white balance can miss by quite a way. Regarding camera setting, I leave the white balance on auto. Lighting changes so much in a concert situation, that even guessing what mode to set it to is not practical. Leave it in auto. Let the camera do its best, and then (and I hate to use this term) fix it in post.

This is where you choose if you want it in black and white. Sometimes you have a great shot, but the color is beyond fixing (red light is killer, and for some reason, lighting guys love red!). So the only option is black and white. Now as I said in my last article when doing this for media outlets, black and white is generally a no-go, but for personal work (and even portfolio) there is nothing wrong with black and white. I love the look.

The other option is to go with the color and let it be part of the atmosphere of the photo. I have a shot of Ian Brown from the Stone Roses (whom I idolized as a youngster) looking through his tambourine and straight down the lens. The lighting meant that I would never be able to get natural skin tones, so I embraced the color and edited it with that in mind.

Colour balance makes this image much better, but there is still work to do.

Exposure

Once you have your color set, you can begin to work on exposure. Similar to any other editing you do, but the main difference is how much you use the ‘recover highlights’ and ‘shadows sliders.’ Concert lighting is usually high contrast, especially if you have the background lights in the shot. Using the recovery sliders can help here. Background lights are generally the only time I do a bit of retouching. If I have a fantastic photo with a distracting background light, I quickly remove it. This is the beauty of only having ten images to edit rather than 75. You can spend a little more time with each image, even when you are on a tight turnaround. Another tip here is to lower the saturation to help take the edge of hard colors. You can also work with individual colors too, which helps.

For the image we are working with here, I reduced exposure by just under 1-stop and recovered the highlights. I also added a little clarity & contrast to the image for more punch.

Levels/Curves

For my final tweaks, I use ‘curves.’ You can also use ‘levels,’ but this is down your preference. Whichever you use, it is a case of working with each color channel to create a more balanced final color. Tweak the contrast until you are happy.

With the image we are using here, I tweaked the ‘mid-tones’ a little. I adjusted each of the red and green channels, making subtle changes (subtlety is key here) to get a better balance of color in the image.

Crop

If needed, you can crop the image. I’m not going to bore you with how to, but it is just something to keep in mind. Remember, a little crop can remove things like fire exit signs a lot quicker than Photoshopping them out.

Final Tweak

I always like to add a small vignette to my images. Usually very subtle, but I just like the way it draws attention to the subject. I think sometimes it is more a force of habit rather than necessary. Again, this is up to you.

Last Check

Walk away from your monitor for a couple of minutes. Grab a drink, or go to the bathroom. The key is to get away from the screen for a couple of minutes. You can easily push things like contrast too far without realizing. So take 2-minutes away then come back and check if you are happy.

The final image that went to the publication.

Copy, Paste, Tweak, Repeat.

When editing more images from the same show, the starting point is always copying and pasting the settings form the image you already edited. Generally, this gives you a great starting point. However, the lighting for the first song and the third song are not always the same, so you may have to start from scratch. As with anything, the more you do, the easier it becomes.

Black and White

The color version of this show just wasn’t working for me, but I loved the energy, so decided to go black and white.

Finally, let’s go through black and white. I always follow the same process as for color photos as above. It helps me to know if a photo works best in black and white or color. With this image, I couldn’t get the color right. To me, it lacked something, but I loved the energy. So, I decided to try black and white instead.

When converting to black and white, I always start with a preset because I find ‘Capture One’ has some great ones. The preset is used to get the image close to what I want and then I tweak to my taste. Using black and white is a savior for when the light is mostly red. Red can make for some amazing black and white photos. However, when you know you have to deliver in color, it’s great that the sound of the music drowns out your swearing at the lighting technicians!

Black & White made this image pop, and a quick crop removed the distracting photographer to create this final image.

I hope you found this article helpful. Unfortunately, there is no preset or magic bullet to offer, as all lighting situations are different. However, I hope you found this article helpful for editing music photography images of your own.

As always, pop any comments below and I will do my best to answer.

The post Top Tips for Editing Music Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 21, 2018
Essential Tools for Making Videos on Your Mirrorless Camera
The mirrorless camera wars are heating up with the announcements of the Nikon Z7, Canon EOS R, and Panasonic full-frame. If you’re entering the world of mirrorless with the idea of making videos, you’ll need to consider a host of accessories to add to your camera kit. Here are some essential videography tools to add to your kit to help you make stellar videos on your mirrorless camera.

The Fujifilm X-H1 (left) and Sony A7rIII.

Camera

This article won’t deep dive into recommended cameras and lenses for filmmaking, since there’s a wide range of options out there. These days, you can even use a smartphone to shoot quality video. Also, the exact video specs needed will vary from person to person. But generally speaking, you’ll want to consider cameras that have these features:
- Some form of in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) to help reduce shake
- The ability to shoot in at least 1080p, or ideally 4K resolution
- The option to shoot in log (the video equivalent of RAW files), which give you more color grading options
Currently, the most popular mirrorless cameras for video are the Panasonic GH-5, Fujifilm X-H1, Sony A7sII, and A7III. The new Nikon Z6 and Z7 also look like promising full-frame mirrorless video camera alternatives.

Lens

As for ideal filmmaking lenses, this is also a highly debatable topic. However, it’s best to use lenses that have some form of stabilization. The exact terminology depends on the lens brand, but examples include Sony’s Optical Steady Shot (OSS), Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR), and Canon’s Image Stabilization (IS). Also, size matters when it comes to filmmaking lenses, so smaller tends to be better, especially if you plan on doing a lot of run-and-gun shooting. Personally, I’m able to pull off a majority of my video shoots with the Sony 24-70mm f/4, a moderately fast mid-range zoom with OSS that doesn’t break the bank.

This Sony lens has OSS (Optical SteadyShot) which gives it optical image stabilization.

Camera and Lens Cleaning Kit

Compared to still photos, it is significantly harder to remove dirt and dust spots from videos in post-production. As a result, it’s essential to carry a camera and lens cleaning kit when shooting video. At the very least, have a lens cloth and rocket blower with you.

Extra Batteries

Recording video takes much more power from your camera, so you’ll want to carry multiple batteries with you. Or consider investing in a battery grip to enhance your camera’s video recording life. Some cameras such as the Fujifilm X-H1 even offer more features (an extra audio socket) when using the optional vertical battery grip. If your camera has the ability to charge via USB (ie. Sony cameras), carry an external battery pack such as the Anker PowerCore 10000.

Microphone

While mirrorless cameras have decent built-in microphones, it’s always best to bring your own sound equipment to capture the best audio. Shotgun microphones such as the Rode VideoMicro are the most straightforward option. This ultra-compact mic is powered by your camera battery, so all you need is the included microphone, windscreen, and connection cable. Simply plug them in, and you’re ready to go! If your camera has an audio jack, also consider using headphones to monitor the audio while you’re shooting.

As you advance in video making, you may also need to add the following sound equipment to your gear kit:
- a lavalier microphone
- sound recorder (your iPhone may also work)
- wireless lavalier mic system
Fujifilm X-T3 with the Rode VideoMicro microphone and windscreen.

Camera Stabilizer

It used to be essential to use a stabilizer of some sort when shooting videos with older camera models. Thankfully, most mirrorless cameras are shipping with some form of in-camera stability. Some cameras (Fujifilm X-H1, Sony a7III) have in-body stabilization (IBIS), and many camera brands offer stabilized lenses. When using a camera with IBIS and/or stabilized lenses, you may be able to get away with shooting video without any extra stabilization. However, if your camera doesn’t have IBIS or you need absolutely smooth footage, you may want to invest in a couple of stabilization accessories.

The cheapest and most straightforward option is to use a tripod or monopod with a video head. This is great if you plan on remaining relatively still while shooting video. However, if you plan on walking or moving while capturing footage, a gimbal is an essential tool. The Zhiyun Crane V2 is a great option, as is the DJI Ronin S. Gimbals can be fussy and difficult to set up. If you’re on the market for a gimbal, be sure to do your research to understand how gimbals work and make sure it’s a good choice for you.

Fujifilm X-T3 mounted on the Zhiyun Crane V2 gimbal.

High Capacity Memory Cards

Modern mirrorless cameras are currently letting you record up to 4K video resolution. This is fantastic for getting crisp, details footage, but it can put a strain on your wallet. If you choose to shoot video in 4K, you’ll need memory cards with a fast enough write speed to ensure smooth video recording without dropped frames.

Additionally, it’s best to invest in large capacity memory cards since video takes up a lot of space. Personally, I never shoot with an SD card with less than 64GB, ultimately preferring 125 GB when possible.

External Hard Drives

Speaking of storage, fast hard drives are also essential to edit and store your video footage. You’ll run out of external hard drive space quickly as you shoot video (especially in 4K resolution). Thus, it’s a good idea to stock up on the largest capacity hard drives you can find. Per the 3-2-1 backup strategy, it’s best to have 2 but ideally 3 copies of your data, so multiple hard drives are always a good idea.

Thankfully, hard drives have dropped in price and are relatively inexpensive. I use these Samsung SSD hard drives for editing on the go. I also carry a couple of Lacie Rugged hard drives as secondary and tertiary backups. When editing at home, I back everything up on Western Digital MyBook desktop external hard drives.

High-megapixel cameras come at a price as they eat up storage on your memory cards and hard drives.

Video Editing Software

The professionals’ choices for video editing are Adobe Premiere, Final Cut X or Avid Media Composer. However, another option worth investigating is DaVinci Resolve. There’s a free version of Resolve that offers enough tools to pull off a majority of the video editing techniques you’ll need, and the paid version unlocks even more features. Like Final Cut, Resolve is a one-time fee, unlike Adobe’s monthly or annual subscription model. Video editing software can be expensive, but it’s absolutely worth the investment for serious filmmaking.

In Conclusion

If this sounds like a lot of gear to invest in for making videos, don’t be overwhelmed! The good news is that modern mirrorless cameras make it easy to start making videos without too many extra gadgets. All of these accessories can definitely be acquired over time as your interest in video grows.

Do you have any other tools to add to this list? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Essential Tools for Making Videos on Your Mirrorless Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
November 21, 2018
How To Easily Improve Your Street Photography Portraits

Planning and being intentional about your street photography portraits will affect the quality of your pictures. Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Think about what you need to do and where you need to be. Consider the time of day and how the light is. When will you most likely see a lot of people out and about?

The more purposeful you are about your street photography and what you want to achieve, the more you will build your own style.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Snapping or Anticipating

Grabbing the action as it happens requires a tight combination of skill and good luck. Anticipating potential action before it happens can often mean you get more consistently good photographs. Either approach is a matter of personal taste and style.

I prefer to find a location where I’m comfortable, not in anyone’s way and not in the hot sun. Somewhere that gives me a good angle to capture the action as it happens.

Having a good knowledge of the location helps a lot. Being aware of the flow of life in any particular place will help you anticipate when you might get the best photos.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Traveling often brings you to different and unfamiliar places. Learning to stop and observe before you photograph will give you a useful sense of the place.

In your own neighborhood, you should be more familiar with the pace of life and the feel of the streets. But it still doesn’t hurt to pause and pay attention. Look at what’s happening and see the patterns and repetitions.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Find a balance between planning and spontaneity. Be ready. Over-planning can kill the natural feel. You don’t want to be creating overly contrived street photos. We’ve all seen too many of them.

Set Your Camera Subconsciously

Knowing your camera, especially its basic operations, is vital to capturing the decisive moments. It takes frequent and focused practice. If you rarely use your camera it’s harder to work with it fluidly.

Choose settings you’re comfortable with. Aperture priority is often popular because with street portraits there’s likely to be some movement. In aperture priority mode you can set your shutter speed so it’s fast enough to avoid motion blur.

When making portraits in the streets you generally have no control over the lighting. You need to choose appropriate locations where the light is good when you can. If you see someone you want to photograph and the light isn’t good, you’ll need to make some creative choices.

Aperture priority or any of the auto modes may allow you to make pictures more quickly. The downside is you’re restricted to whatever exposure the camera chooses unless you use exposure compensation. But this can slow you down as you may not have compensation applied when you most need it.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Learning manual mode allows you to have tighter control of your exposures, and to know at a glance exactly what settings you’re working with. Yes, it takes more practice. But unless you practice you’ll never know the advantages you have when you’re in control. If you’re happy using an auto mode, stick with it and enjoy yourself.

Whatever mode you use, be confident with it. Being able to use your camera without having to focus on it allows you to participate more in your environment, which is particularly important when you’re making portraits.

To Connect or Not To Connect

I often like to connect and engage with the people I photograph in the streets. Whether you connect or not is a personal choice. But it can make a meaningful difference in the style of portraits you create.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

This couple sells eggs at their stall at a local rural market not far from our house. I hadn’t been to this market before and found it fascinating. Out of the thousands of people there, I seemed to be the only Caucasian. It wasn’t a tourist spot, and the locals obviously didn’t encounter foreigners often.

My intention was to photograph them. I started by photographing their trays and bags of eggs. While doing so I paid attention to their comfort level. If they seemed awkward with my presence I wouldn’t have talked with them. But they were happy and relaxed, so I asked if I could make their portrait. They gave me a positive response.

In other circumstances, it’s best to just stand back and let life go on. Interrupting the flow can prevent you from getting natural images. I never hide my camera. I’m constantly looking to see whether the people I photograph are uncomfortable with my presence. Being in northern Thailand I find this approach is important. People here are generally very polite and I think it’s important to show respect.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Cultures and the nature of people vary from country to country. Even in the same country, the characteristics of people can be vastly different. For example, people in Bangkok tend to be less friendly and relaxed. Wherever you’re making street portraits, it’s important to have a feel for the location and the vibe of the people.

Sometimes it’s best to boldly get in people’s faces. In other locations with other people, this could land you in trouble. Read situations carefully and adjust the way you do things to suit.

If you choose to approach people and engage with them, be aware that your manner will influence them. Greeting someone with a smile and showing interest in them and what they’re doing usually brings a positive response. Even if they decline to have their portrait made, you can stills enjoy some conversation.

Being confident with your camera when you do engage with someone means you can give your attention to them and not so much to your camera.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Practice Your Method Consistently

Method is important. Find your groove and stick with it. If you try something only once, you’ll never master it. If you frequently change methods it will take a long time to build your skills and style.

Find the camera settings and lens you enjoy the most and use them. Pick locations you’re comfortable with and revisit them often. Get a feel for what happens there and how to photograph it. Go there when the light and activity are positive for you.

Connect or not. Try both ways, even if you’re uncomfortable to connect with strangers. I used to be petrified too. Working as a newspaper photographer I had to push myself beyond my comfort zone. And that made me a better photographer.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Repeating the same method of making street portraits will help you get a feel for your favorite way of working. Find your groove, but don’t get stuck in a rut. When you’re not enjoying it as much anymore it’s time to change before your creativity stagnates.

Try This

Choose your location and time of day you’re most likely to make some street portraits.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Visit this place five or ten times and make at least five portraits when you don’t engage with your subjects. Then do it again, only this time make at least five portraits when you do engage. You may be uncomfortable when you start. But if you persevere you may just find that you love the experience and make some great portraits.

The post How To Easily Improve Your Street Photography Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 20, 2018
A Behind-The-Scenes Look at a Family Photo Session

You’re probably used to seeing perfect family photos on Pinterest. After all, photographers love showing their best work. But you’ll learn a lot more from seeing an entire family photo session rather than just one perfect photo.

So today I’m giving you a glimpse into one of my traditional family photo sessions. I’ll tell you what gear I used, my thought processes during the shoot, how many photos it took to get a keeper, and how your mistakes can help you develop as a photographer.

I’ll show you the good, the bad, and the photos I didn’t even let the family see.

I love photos like this with golden back light in idyllic scenes. But the reality is for every ‘perfect’ photo like this there are dozens (if not hundreds) that don’t look so nice.

Gear

For this family photo session, I used a Nikon D7100. For most of the photos, my lens was an 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5, although a few were taken with a 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 lens. I decided to shoot in RAW and JPEG but only processed the RAW files using Lightroom.

Lightroom is my favorite post-processing program. I had 982 photos from this session. To narrow them down I flag the photos that stand out to me and then highlight the final keepers in yellow.

The Session

This session is from my earlier days as a family photographer. I chose it because there was a lot I hadn’t learned yet, and I’d rather show you a tough session because it will help you a lot more.

There was an infant and most of the kids were under five. Thankfully, I had a lot of experience photographing young kids after being a school photographer for a couple of years.

The aim was to get a variety of photos of the family, siblings and individual kids.

This photo is straight out of the camera (SOOC) and is typical of the photos I ended up with. It can be really challenging to get a family of six to all look at the camera and smile at the same time. One or two kids are always looking away or not smiling. Inevitably, the mom and dad end up looking at the kids instead of the camera. You’ll need to learn to capture their attention.

This is what the photos look like after editing with Lightroom. It took 70 photos to get this one. I was discouraged, but it taught me that I needed to get better at interacting with groups.

This photo is SOOC. It can be really tough to get four siblings (one of them an infant) to look at the camera and smile at the same time. It helps to have a parent or assistant standing directly behind you to get their attention. That person should be playful and silly to engage the kids. This is far better than having adults off to the side yelling at the kids to “look here!”

This is a nice photo after editing with Lightroom. It took 33 bad photos to get this good one.

Sometimes you’ve got to let little kids get the silliness out of them. Why shouldn’t a photo session be fun for them? But be careful. Sometimes letting them be silly unleashes too much craziness. Honestly, I think they were much happier by this point.

By now, you can see that most of my photos were underexposed. I had to brighten them a lot in Lightroom. Now I use a combination of aperture priority and exposure compensation. I aim for the brightest exposure I can without overexposing it. Them I can make final adjustments in Lightroom.

This final photo (edited in Lightroom) has a pretty relaxed feeling to it. I’m not always looking for stillness and perfect posture in a photo.

I found it much easier working with each child individually. I could connect with each of them and provoke nice expressions. As a group, it’s difficult to engage them all at once.

SOOC. Typically, infants don’t sit up very well on their own, especially while sitting on bales of hay. I always have a parent sitting nearby to steady them. They pull their arm away for a few seconds while I’m snapping photos.

When they’re in a good mood it’s so much fun to make an infant smile.

Infants and toddlers can be really tough to photograph when they’re in a bad mood. They need lots of snacks (but not bribes) and time to be themselves between photos.

This photo session should teach you the value of paying attention to your exposure in the moment. Watch your histogram and use exposure compensation to make adjustments.

Practice engaging kids and small groups of people so you can do it effortlessly at photo sessions.

Don’t worry that it might take you 10–20 photos to get one worth keeping. That’s pretty normal for many photographers.

One thing I hadn’t learned at this stage was the creative power of angles. Angles and candid moments are now the most important part of my approach to family photo sessions. The creative use of angles in combination with candid moments help make each photo more unique and personal.

Candid Moments

While I had a fair bit of photography experience at this point (yearbook, several weddings, school photos, and some families), I certainly hadn’t developed my own vision or style. But this session was part of that development.

I share these candid photos with you because it was photos such as these that helped me develop as a photographer and made me who I am today.

This photo was taken right at the beginning on the way out to the sunflower field. You can take candid photos at the beginning of the session as a way to warm up and get everyone used to the camera.

This was a quiet moment before the session began. I love the soft light on the mom’s face.

This is a pretty good example of letting infants and toddlers explore during the session. They’re curious about the world around them. So let them explore and you’ll likely make some great candid photos.

The last place we took a family photo was outside a big barn. The girls played with the barn cats and I couldn’t resist a few photos (even though I felt like my job was to focus on posed photos). My camera misfocused, so this picture is blurry. But there’s something so priceless about the moment that I consider this photo worth keeping anyway. I actually find something nostalgic about the misfocus. It doesn’t look so bad as a small print or on a small screen. But I wouldn’t give this to the family or put it in my portfolio.

This photo of the family walking together was captured as we moved from one location to the other. These days I plan a circuit for sessions and capture candid photos between locations.

This candid moment came after a few posed photos with the mom and her little one.

Final Thoughts

If you’re in the early stages of being a family photographer, don’t feel bad if you haven’t settled in yet. Keep persevering through the tough moments and you’ll grow. Those rare photos that make your heart skip a beat are clues to who you will become as a photographer. Pursue more of those, but understand that you also need to pursue lots of other things because you never know what will make your heart skip a beat.

I saved this photo for last because it was one of the moments that changed me forever as a photographer. While I was photographing the mom and little sister I looked over and saw the big sister dancing on the path. To me, it was the essence of childhood. It didn’t take me 70 tries to get this shot. In fact, right after I took this photo she stopped dancing and posed. To this day, dancing is part of many photo sessions.

What else do you need to know?

I’m happy to share anything about this family photo session with you. Let me know in the comments what else would be helpful to you.

The post A Behind-The-Scenes Look at a Family Photo Session appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 19, 2018
Nine Ways to Boost Your Kit Lens Creativity
The first lens many photographers will own is the kit lens. This lens typically covers a focal range of 18-55mm and has a variable maximum aperture. So before you move onto other lenses, how can you get the most out of this particular lens? Well, there is an awful lot that can be achieved with this lens when you put your mind to it. There are limitations of course, but there is even more room to experiment with your kit lens creativity! So let’s look at some of the ways you can do just that.

This photo used the kit lenses ability to zoom to do some kinetic light painting.

1 – Kinetic Light Painting

Light painting is an exciting form of photography and one that you can experiment with using a humble kit lens. What the kit lens is well suited for is a niche form of light painting, called kinetic light painting. This form of light painting involves moving the camera, as opposed to moving the light source. Light painting uses a long exposure, and as with all long exposure shots, it’s a good idea to use a tripod. So what types of kinetic light painting will work well?
- Camera rotation – This is a type of light painting that involves moving the camera around while it is attached to a tripod. Use a wide focal length, and experiment with light sources that are above the camera. Tall structures like skyscrapers often work well for this technique.
- Zoom – The 18-55mm focal range is ideal for zoom light painting work, good for kit lens creativity. In fact, perhaps the only better lens would be a superzoom 18-300mm. This time you’ll change the focal length of the lens during the photo, causing light to be painted across the scene.
Panning is a great technique to practice, and it’s fun.

2 – Panning

While it’s true you can use more or less any lens for panning, you don’t need an upgrade from your kit lens to make this type of photo either. In fact, a focal length of around 55mm is often ideal for this particular technique. You simply require a shutter speed of around 1/20th second. There are some excellent guides on this subject, and the technique is simple and fun to master.
1. Find an area where you’re moving subject will move across the area you intend to photograph. You’ll want your moving object to run parallel to you, relative to where you’re positioned.
2. Use a shutter speed of around 1/20th. You can increase or decrease this if you wish. At slower shutter speeds the chance of camera shake increases, so you will need to be very steady when tracking the motion of the object you’re panning. It’s possible to use a faster shutter speed for panning, but then you’ll need a fast moving object to pan with.
3. As the object you’re panning approaches, begin to follow the motion with your camera. When you’re confident you’re following the motion steadily, press your shutter gently as you continue to move with the object.
Using your lens for long exposure photos can be creative.

3 – Zoom Burst

You’ll notice zoom is a kinetic light painting technique. It can also be used during the day, to create a dynamic feel to your photo. The shutter speed needed is similar to that of panning, so around 1/20th. You can also use a tripod for extra stabilization of your photo. It’s best to zoom into your subject when practicing this technique, which can work very nicely for portrait photos. Once again the kit lens is well suited to this since it allows a zoom range from 18mm to 55mm.

4 – Glass Ball Refraction Photography

Refraction photography is a niche that can use any kind of camera. You can certainly use a kit lens to get this type of photograph. The technique revolves around using a crystal ball, though other objects such as wine glasses filled with water will work. When you consider that a glass ball works like an external lens optic, in a sense, you’re getting your creativity from another lens. However, you still need a kit lens to take the photo! As these photos work best with a blurred background look to photograph at 55mm, and with the largest aperture you can.

$Refraction - Nine Ways to Boost Your Kit Lens Creativity$

In this photo, a wine glass was used to show refraction.

5 – Low-Key Light Portrait

You don’t need low light to create low-key portraits, and with that in mind, the kit lens can be a very useful lens. Using your lens at around 50mm will work nicely for your portrait, and you can use your camera body to expose at -2 or -3 exposure value. You’ll need to set your aperture and shutter speed to the appropriate settings to get this exposure value, depending on the environment you’re in. To make a low-key photo you’ll need a large difference in light from model to the background. This can be achieved through finding a place where a shard of sunlight comes through a gap in the roofing, perhaps at a market. You now need your model to be lit up by the sun, while the background will be underexposed, and therefore dark.

You can use any lens for low-key portraits, including the kit lens.

6 – Long Exposure Photography

Your kit lens will not restrict your ability to take long exposure photos. The limiting factor here will be a lack of a tripod, and perhaps a lack of the correct filter. That means you can take amazing long exposure photos with a kit lens, so long as you have the correct additional equipment.
- Car light trails – Find the right location above a road with plenty of traffic, and you can take photos of light trails produced by cars. Close down the aperture, and you’ll also create a starburst effect with any street lights nearby. You’ll need exposure times of 5 seconds or more for this type of photo.
- Moving water – Moving water can look attractive in your photo, and a kit lens can certainly capture this. Exposure times of around 1 second or more will give moving water a silky look when photographed.
- Light painting – The merits of the kit lens for kinetic light painting has already been discussed. It’s no surprise you can also up your kit lens creativity with light painting of any type.
Fireworks can be recorded using a kit lens, and it’s great for capturing the whole scene at wide focal lengths.

7 – Attaching a Filter

A great way to increase your kit lens creativity is to add a filter, and that’s not the digital kind. There are a good variety of filters you can add to your kit lens that will give you extra options as a photographer. These can be graduated sunset filters, that add warms tones to the sky. Alternatively, a strong ND filter will allow you to take long exposure photos during the day, using your kit lens and a tripod. This article will give you an idea of some of the available filters you can use. You’ll need to use the correct sized filter, with 52mm or 58mm being typical for a kit lens.

Filters can be attached to your kit lens. This photo was taken with an infra-red filter attached to a kit lens.

8 – Get Wide

At 18mm your kit lens is wide enough to capture a good amount of the scene in a landscape photo. This means as you travel with this lens you can take some photos of amazing viewpoints. Combine this with a technique such as long exposure or kinetic light painting and you will get your kit lens creativity! Note that if you’re using a crop sensor APS-C camera 18mm is effectively 28.8mm on a full-frame camera.

9 – Portrait Work

At the other end of the scale with your kit lens is 55mm. Once again when using an APS-C camera this will effectively be 88mm if this was used on a full-frame camera. These focal lengths are ideal for portrait photography though. Any compression of the face won’t be too extreme at the effective focal length of 88mm. So focal lengths from around 30mm through to 55mm will give you some good compression ratios to work with for portrait photography.

Whether your portraits are street photos, posed, or travel, the kit lens is going to give you nice results.

How Will You Get Your Kit Lens Creativity?

The drive for more creativity is always there with photography. There is a lot you can do using your kit lens if you choose to. The list above gives you some examples of how you might go about doing that. Have you tried any of these techniques with the kit lens? Are there any other ways you’ve taken interesting photos with this particular lens? Please share your thoughts, and photos in the comments section.

The post Nine Ways to Boost Your Kit Lens Creativity appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
November 19, 2018
One Light Set-Up For Food Photography

When it comes to food photography, the natural light look is highly sought after.

However, it’s difficult to create consistency with natural light because the sun is always moving.

Most pro food photographers use artificial light to really take control of their lighting.

Using artificial lighting doesn’t have to be complicated, though.

Unless you’re doing some types of advertising or food product photography, you can get away with using just one light.

One light is ideal for shooting food for blogs, restaurants, and the editorials you see in popular foodie magazines. You can easily mimic window light, with one set of shadows on your food.

Types of Artificial Light

You can choose from several types of artificial light sources.

The most common approach is to use a strobe like a mono head, which is a self-contained flash unit.

If you’re shooting advertising or product, you need to get to high number F-stops like F/22 to achieve the sharpness required without getting lens diffraction that usually goes along with it.

For these types of shoots, you will need a lot of watt power and most likely you will need to rent powerful battery packs.

However, for editorial type shoots, all you need is a 500-watt strobe. You can even use a speedlight with the right modifier.

Some food photographers like to use a constant light, like an LED light panel, so they can see where the shadows are falling before they press the shutter.

Before You Shoot

Before you shoot, you should think about what you want your final image to look like.

Do you want the light to look soft and airy, or are you looking for deep shadows and striking contrast?

Do you want your light to be soft or hard?

The more contrast you have between light and dark, the more dramatic your image will be.

Your subject will often dictate the style you choose. For example, ice cream has the connotation of summer and is usually brightly colored, thus soft light or a bright and bold look makes sense.

Whether you choose soft light or hard light, your light source should be diffused to give you a nice blur in the gradations where the light and dark meet.

Types of Lighting Styles

Side Lighting

Imagine the face of a clock.

If you picture your light placed at 9:00, this is side lighting.

It can also be placed at 3:00.

However, in the Western world, we read from left to right. Our eyes first gravitate to the brightest part of an image, so it makes sense for our light to be coming from our left-hand side.

This is not a hard-and-fast rule. Each side will affect how the light looks in your photograph, depending on your composition.

The next time you shoot, try taking a picture with your light positioned at 9:00, and then move your light to take a shot at 3:00. Notice the difference in your final result.

Side lighting is a good approach for a lot of food photography, as it works well for most set-ups.

Place a large softbox close to your table. The bigger your light source, the softer the light will be. Soft light is a desirable look in food photography.

Place a reflector or bounce card opposite to the light to bounce some of it back into your scene. Move it closer or farther away, depending on how much shadow you want. Even when shooting white or bright scenes, you still want some shadows to add dimension.

Side lighting

Backlighting

Backlighting is when you position your light behind your food, at 12:00.

This is a great choice for beverages and soups, as it adds a sheen and highlights texture and the liquid properties of food.

It can be very flattering to food, but it can also be challenging to work with because your image might be too bright and blown out at the back and too dark on the front. Or it can just look too washed out, which is what happens when you shoot with too much light.

You can also end up with too much reflection on the top of the food.

Backlighting also emphasizes drastic color contrasts that can be difficult to balance.

So be aware of these challenges when choosing to use backlighting.

Backlighting emphasizes texture

Side Backlighting

This is a combination of the two previously mentioned lighting styles, when your light is placed at 10:00 or 11:00.

With this style, you get the best of best worlds; the surface shine of backlighting without the risk of overexposure at the back of the photo. You also don’t have to reflect as much light onto the front of the food because the light is coming from an angle.

The reflector is opposite your light source.

The key is to play around with the height of the light relative to your scene, depending on how you want your shadows to fall.

Side Backlighting

Other Lighting Styles

At this point, it bears mentioning that there are a couple of lighting styles that don’t work for food photography.

Front lighting is often used in portraiture, but it looks terrible on food. It can cast unwanted shadows and your images will look flat and lack dimension.

Lighting from overhead also creates flat images.

Lighting Modifiers and Tools

The most commonly used modifier in food photography is the softbox. The larger, the better.

However, the most used modifier in my own arsenal is a dish reflector with a 20 or 30-degree honeycomb grid.

A honeycomb grid cuts off the light and narrows it, which creates stunning contrasts in food photography.

You also need a large diffuser when working with artificial light. If you’re using a strobe or a speedlight the explosion of light won’t fall off as quickly as it does with natural light, and will give you hard shadows if not diffused, which is usually not ideal.

Also, you’ll need something to bounce and absorb light.

You can buy a 5-in-1 reflector kit, which will have diffusion material as well as a silver reflector to brighten the food and a gold reflector to add warmth.

Alternatively, you can use black or white foam core. White will brighten your scene, while black will absorb the light. I use black in my dark and moody food photography to create deep shadows.

My Go-To Lighting Set-Up

I mentioned that I use a dish reflector with a honeycomb grid for my food photography.

You may be wondering what results you can get from shooting that way, but all of the images in this article were shots using this set-up.

The key to success in using this modifier is to have a large diffuser placed at the edge of your table and put the light one to two meters away, depending on how much light you need on your set.

This set-up will mimic window light beautifully because the diffuser actually becomes the light source, not the strobe. The bigger the diffuser the better, so as to keep unwanted light from spilling over the set. My diffuser is 150×200 cm/59x 79 inches!

In Conclusion

If you’re just starting to shoot with artificial light for food photography, focus on using side lighting until you feel more comfortable tackling backlighting.

With a bit of practice and some tweaks, you’ll finesse your set-ups to work best with your style of food photography.

Share with us in the comments below your food photography images and any other tips you may have.

The post One Light Set-Up For Food Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 19, 2018
How To Stimulate Your Photography by Learning From the Best

Henri Cartier-Bresson said that “Your first ten thousand photographs are your worst.” Every successful creative spends boundless time, thought, and concentrated effort pursuing their passion. You can accelerate your photography education by learning from accomplished artists. One way to stimulate your photography is by reading quotes from not only photographers but creative people who express themselves in any medium.

I find stimulus from musicians, painter, authors, sculptors, and others. By reading the words of outstanding visionary artists, you can draw from the depth of their experience.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Whether you are coming to grips with camera settings when you are just starting out or seeking deeper motivation, if you’re already confident with your camera, you will do well to learn from those with more experience than yourself or your peers.

Be Part of an Ongoing Conversation

“I’m in the middle of a long conversation with my audience, it’ll be a lifelong journey for both of us by the time we’re done.” Bruce Springsteen (rock musician, author)

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Photography is a communicative tool. Your style choice may be fine art or street photography. You may be interested in creating documentary photographs. Whatever your choice of style and subject, approach it as an ongoing conversation. Not just talking, but also listening.

Your best photographs express your feelings. They convey something of who you are. The best conversations are two-sided. Participate with your audience and listen to their feedback.

If you’ve never seen Springsteen perform live, find some of his concert clips on Youtube. He is a master in audience participation. He draws energy from his audience and is driven to return that energy in his performances.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

It’s easier for rock stars to do this than photographers. Find people to give you feedback. Become part of other photographers creative conversations by sharing your feelings about their photography. You will grow together.

Work With the Raw Materials

“What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.” John Berger (art critic, novelist, painter and poet)

Having a good grasp of the basics for anything you want to learn is the start of your journey towards success. Photography is all about light and time. Understanding the role that these two raw materials play in photography will make your journey more exciting and absorbing.

Throughout history, some of the greatest minds have devoted themselves to the understanding of time and light. As a photographer, you need to constantly consider these two raw materials of your craft. Not in such a deep way as to invent time travel, but at least in how they relate to the story you are telling with your photographs.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

“Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. However, above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.” George Eastman (founder of Kodak)

Practice Always

“Photography is the simplest thing in the world, but it is incredibly complicated to make it work.” Martin Parr (photographer)

Commitment over time makes a huge impact on your achievements. Photography is actually quite simple, but to make a truly great photograph in our lifetime will probably elude most of us. This should not stop you putting in the effort because there is always an element of luck. Unless you are practiced and prepared, when luck happens, you may miss it.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Whatever you like to photograph, work on it. Not once a month, or even once a week. Make a point of taking at least one photo a day and learning, or improving one technique. Focus on a few topics you love and make projects of them. You will see your progress more readily if you do.

On Portraiture

Be more than a person with a camera when you are making portraits. Engage in dialogue. This way your subject becomes an integral part of your photography conversation, and not just a ‘sitter’ for a head shot.

“Who sees the human face correctly: The photographer, the mirror, or the painter?” Pablo Picasso (painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet, and playwright)

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

You could argue that some of the faces Picasso painted are barely recognizable as people. He expressed himself like no other person before him. Study him and read his quotes. You can learn from a master who was one of the most influential creatives in history.

Portraiture is probably the most common photography subject (even if you exclude selfies.) There is nothing complicated about choosing to photograph a person, but the complexities in making an outstanding portrait are many.

“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” Edward Steichen (photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator)

On Street Photography

“It’s easy to penetrate someone’s privacy. People are glad you’re there to see them, cos no one’s paying attention.” Bruce Davidson (photographer)

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Our perceptions of street photography are as varied as the number of photographers who engage in it. Bringing yourself to step out into the world, record it as you see it, and then share the photographic conversations you have, is challenging for many people.

Jumping into the shoes of experience will ease this pain. Guys like Bruce Davidson have been approaching strangers ‘cold’ for decades. Use the voice of this experience to guide you and motivate you.

Street photography is popular. There are a lot of new photographers producing some wonderful work. These pictures can do a certain amount to inspire, but there is no depth of experience to really lean on.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

On Documentary Photography

“I’m not an artist. An artist makes an object. Me, it’s not an object, I work in history, I’m a storyteller.” Sebastiao Salgado (photographer)

Our photographs can change the world. Photographs can change us. As a young guy with a camera, seeing photos and reading articles with quotes from the greats like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastiao Salgado, Dorothea Lange, and other accomplished documentary photographers inspired me. These are the things that drove me.

© Kevin Landwer-Johan

Before the internet, we shared photos differently, being mostly restricted to printed pictures. Inspiration happened in the pages of books and magazines and sometimes on art gallery walls. Carefully curated bodies of work published in Time, Life, and National Geographic, accompanied by well-written, carefully edited articles, provided a richness difficult to find on Instagram or other social media platforms.

If you feel strongly about something, photograph it. Make it an ongoing project. Let it span months or even years. But do not rely on only yourself. Look to those who have gone before you. Listen to their music, read their books, and study their photographs. Bring them into your creative conversation so that you stimulate your photography.

“Photography takes an instant of our time, altering life by holding it still.” Dorothea Lange (photographer)

The post How To Stimulate Your Photography by Learning From the Best appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 18, 2018
How to Batch Resize Your Images Quickly Using Photoshop

While it’s relatively easy to write an Action to resize a series of images in Photoshop, it’s easier still to get Photoshop to do all the work for you. Photoshop comes with an image processor script that will open, resize, and save a series of images for you – very quickly. Here are the steps to make the batch resize process work for your images.

Batch resizing images in PS CC 2019 is fast and easy – no need to run an action. You can just run a script in the Image Processor menu option.

Step 1 – Image Processor

The Image Processor option lives under the Scripts tab in the main File menu of Photoshop.

Choose File -> Scripts -> Image Processor. The image processor dialog shows a simple four-step process for resizing the images.

Step 2 – Choose images

In Section 1 of the Image Processor dialog, select to either resize the images already open in Photoshop (if you have them open) or click ‘Select Folder’ and choose a folder of images to resize. Select ‘Include all Subfolders’ if you wish to also include them.

I prefer to open my images prior to resizing in Photoshop. That way I am not hunting for the folder I need. But if you have all your images organized in a folder you can choose the ‘Select Folder’ option in Step 1 of the Image Processor window.

Step 3 – Save images location

In Section 2 of the Image Processor dialog box, you can select where to save the images. When selecting ‘Save in Same Location,’ Photoshop creates a subfolder to save the images in so you don’t have to worry about overwriting them. When a subfolder of the same name already exists with images of the same names in it, Photoshop saves to that folder but adds a sequential number to the file. That way, you won’t lose your other files. Alternatively, you can select a different folder for the resized images.

Indicate where you want Photoshop to save the resized images.

Step 4 – File Type and Size

In Section 3 of the Image Processor dialog box, select the file type you want Photoshop to save your image as. For the web ‘Save as JPEG’ is the obvious choice. You can set a Quality value in the range 0 to 12 where 12 is the highest quality and 0 the lowest.

For better color on the web, you can also select ‘Convert profile to sRGB.’ Ensure that ‘Include ICC Profile’ at the foot of the dialog is checked so the profile will be saved with the image.

Option 3 in the Image Processor dialog box is where you can select the type of file you want to save the resized image. You can choose the size in terms of W (width) and H (height) in pixels.

To batch resize the images, select the ‘Resize to Fit’ checkbox. Set the desired maximum width and height for the final image. For example, if you type ‘300’ for the width and ‘300’ for the height, the image will be resized so that the longest side of the image (whether it be in portrait or landscape orientation) will be 300 pixels.

The images are scaled in proportion so they aren’t skewed out of shape. If desired, you can save in another format as well. Just select its checkbox so you can save the same image in different formats and at different sizes in the one process.

The Width and Height measurements do not have to be the same. So you could, for example, specify a Width of 500 and a Height of 700 and no image will have a width greater than 500 or a height greater than 700.

Step 5 – Run Action

In Section 4 of the Image Processor panel, you can also select ‘Run an Action’ on the images if desired.

Step 6 – Run

Once you’re ready, click ‘Run’ and the images are automatically opened (if they are not already), resized, saved, and closed.

To see your resized images, choose File -> Open and navigate to the folder that you specified the images to be saved to. If you chose to save as a JPEG, the images will be in a subfolder called JPEG. PSDs are in a folder called PSD and so on.

In conclusion, whenever you need to resize a large number of images for uploading to the web, for example, the batch resize in the Photoshop Image Processor script makes the job fast, efficient, and painless.

The post How to Batch Resize Your Images Quickly Using Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 17, 2018
Weekly Photography Challenge – Doorways

This week’s photography topic for our weekly challenge is DOORWAYS!

Doorways – Beechworth Mayday Hills Asylum Victoria by Caz Nowaczyk

I’m a big fan of photographing doorways. There is so much mystery behind them. They are an opening to other possibilities and secret worlds…

Post a picture of a doorway, or peering through one.

Beechworth Mayday Hills Asylum Victoria by Caz Nowaczyk

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on finding and shooting doorway pictures.

Architecture: Photographing Exterior Details

Photographing Buildings [Composition Tips]

You may like to try adding some black and white or split-tone effects to your image:

How to Create Silky Split Toned Black and White Photos Using Luminosity Masks

Photography Weekly Challenge – Doorways

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll be 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 #DPSDOORWAYS 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 – Doorways appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

November 17, 2018
SLC-2L-04: Thank You [BTS/360]

Today on Lighting Cookbook, something different: A BTS/360 look at a single photo.

Normally, we concentrate on the "how" part. But today we'll also be looking at the broader ecosystem— the why—and how a simple photo can serve as a catalyst to create value.

Read more »
Strobist

November 16, 2018