Photography « 360Photography

RSS

Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

19 Jan

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

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

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

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

Soft transitions vs. hard transitions

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

1 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

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

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

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

Darkening the sky

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

2 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

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

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

Add a cold tone to foreground and sky

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

3 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

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

Sharpen & increase Clarity

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

4 - How to Use the Lightroom Graduated Filter

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

Last words

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

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

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

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Weekly Photography Challenge – Chaos

19 Jan

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

This week’s photography challenge topic is CHAOS!

Photo: Kimson Doan

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

Some Inst-piration from some Instagrammers:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BCPA (@thebcpa) on Jan 3, 2019 at 6:31pm PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Marieke (@mriek89) on Jan 3, 2019 at 7:14pm PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maria João Silva (@mjayish) on Jan 3, 2019 at 6:47pm PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christian Schoenig (@bigmetaltrout) on Jan 1, 2019 at 9:59am PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Geanne (@ge_an_ne) on May 15, 2018 at 12:02am PDT

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by buildingswow (@buildingswow) on Jan 3, 2019 at 7:21am PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by JT (@thomasjason101) on Jan 3, 2019 at 9:11pm PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Truc (@trucle157) on Dec 29, 2018 at 5:47am PST

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

Tips for Shooting CHAOS

Tips for Getting Started in Street Photography

4 Tips to Help People Photographers Shoot Interior Spaces

Tips for Doing City Photography from Above

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

A Guide to Photographing Birds and Wildlife in a Wetland Area

21 Images of Birds of Feather Flocking Together

Weekly Photography Challenge – CHAOS

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

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

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

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

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack [video]

18 Jan

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

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

What you will need:

Clear Acrylic Sheet
Wood
Woodscrews
Duct Tape
Multi-Purpose Sealant

You can make it to whatever size you want.

What to do:

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

Photographing your model using your new underwater hack

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

You may also find the following articles useful:

5 Tips for Underwater Photography Without Spending a Fortune

5 Tips for Underwater Photography with a GoPro

Surreal Underwater Shipwreck Photo Shoot

Introduction to Taking Great Underwater Photos

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

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

The Secret to Sharing Photos with Lightroom CC

18 Jan

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

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

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

Traditional Lightroom sharing

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

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

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

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

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

Sharing doesn’t use your Cloud Storage

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

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

Sharing with Lightroom Classic CC

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharing with Lightroom CC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

User control and privacy

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

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

Where sharing is beneficial

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Lessons from the Masters: Morley Baer

18 Jan

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

Portrait of Morley Baer

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

Morley Baer

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

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

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

Total proficiency with the tools you use

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

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

Portrait of Morley Baer and his Ansco by David Fullagar

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

Find what works best for you

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

By Morley Baer

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

Healthy competition can help you grow

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

By Adam Welch

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

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

Parting words on Morley Baer

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

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

You may also find the following articles interesting:

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

More Lessons from the Masters of Photography: Edward Weston

Lessons from the Masters: Robert Capa and Jerry Uelsmann

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

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

Masters of Photography: Bruce Davidson, Master of the Subway

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

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

3 Tips for Photographing Mixed Lighting in Interiors

17 Jan

The post 3 Tips for Photographing Mixed Lighting in Interiors appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Lily Sawyer.

For many photographers, photographing mixed lighting scenarios can be painful. At weddings, for example, several lighting sources provide constantly changing colors such as DJ lighting, candles, fairy lights and up-lighters in the venue. It’s not too dissimilar in your home. Say you have your indoor tungsten and incandescent lights on in your lounge while the bright natural daylight streams through the windows. You get two different light sources with different color temperatures, which is a mixed lighting scenario.

dps-tips-mixed-lighting

Mixed lighting scenarios

This scenario is the reason why, for interiors, the general advice is to turn all artificial lights off and stick to one light source – natural light. I am aware that some photographers use flash for interiors, and in most of those cases, they make sure they are using daylight color temperature for their bulbs to match the ambient light.

Natural light, even if there is very little of it, can still be perfectly fine for interiors. As long as you can mitigate the amount of available light by using a slow shutter speed with your camera mounted on a tripod because nothing in the picture moves. It is more difficult to achieve when you are photographing portraits because you have subjects – people – who are living, breathing and cannot hold still for an extended length of time.

This is why artificial lighting such as strobes and electronics flashes get used as primary lighting for portraits to provide a light source with a color temperature you can control.

dps-tips-mixed-lighting

However, sometimes, you want to break the rules and photograph for fun or to capture what the eye sees regardless of the types of lighting in the scene. Sometimes, it is appropriate to embrace it all, just like what I have done in the photo above! When you decide to do this, here are my tips for you!

1. Ensure there is even lighting

My easy tip is matching light with light such as this photo on the below-left, where these fairy-light-lit Christmas tree with other string lights are all placed in a very bright space. The same could work with dark as in the photo on the right. A lot of dim lighting to even out the room lighting.

dps-tips-mixed-lighting

If you have a room that has a very dark corner and a very light corner, you will inadvertently overexpose the light section to expose the dark area correctly. Also, vice versa.

Photographers get around this problem by doing a composite where they put two properly exposed photographs of each corner together in Photoshop to create a perfect scene. This method is commonplace in a backlighting scenario where you are facing a very bright window and not using flash.

dps-tips-mixed-lighting

However, if you don’t have or want to use Photoshop, instead of putting your artificial lighting, such as a neon light or a lampshade, in a dark corner, put it in a light corner. Doing so evens out the lighting in a space.

For example, when placing neon in a dark corner, to correctly expose the darkness surrounding it, the neon lights are overexposed. Conversely, underexposing the neon light means losing the details of the dark area such as in the shot above. However, if you have to, ensure there are other lights to illuminate the dark area as well. That way, the neon is not acting as the sole illuminator in the dark area. Balancing the amount of light makes it easier to photograph a space.

2. Shoot deep using a small aperture and slower shutter speed

Use an aperture upwards of f/5.6. My preference is f/8 and if need be f/11. These apertures help you get all the details in focus. However, if you are aiming for background bokeh as shown in the photo below if using standard lenses, you need to use either a wide aperture. Moreover, if you are using macro/micro lenses both wide and small apertures should be applied. Play it safe by shooting with at least an f/5.6 opening. These shots below were taken with a 24-70mm lens at f/2.8.

dps-tips-mixed-lighting

Shooting with a small aperture helps alleviate the problem of overexposing a bright source in a very dark corner especially if it’s the only light source. You can see an example of this in the below-left photo, with the living room corner illuminated by the incandescent bulb lampshade. Just to the right of the image, you can see the daylight seeping through from a different room. It looks so much colder and whiter compared to the warm yellow light in the left corner.

dps-tips-mixed-lighting

3. Ditch the rules and embrace all the fun

The above kitchen photo contains all sorts of lighting: natural daylight from the windows, warm lamp lights on the floating shelves (the darkest part of the entire space), red fairy lights on the foreground left and more warm tungsten on the top-left. This scenario is what one sees in real life so why change it to conform to the rules? Why not embrace it instead and aim to take an excellent realistic photo rather than change reality to fit the other people’s expectations!

I hope you found this little article helpful, albeit it’s not what’s expected and out of the ordinary! As always, comments and options welcome below. After all, we are all entitled to have our own!

The post 3 Tips for Photographing Mixed Lighting in Interiors appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Lily Sawyer.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

So You Want to Make a Website? Part 3: Creating Your Portfolio

16 Jan

The post So You Want to Make a Website? Part 3: Creating Your Portfolio appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

So you’ve read part one & part two of the So You Want To Make A Website Series. You’ve set up an awesome website. Now it’s time to create amazing content to go with it. Obviously, for you photographers, the most important part of that process is curating your portfolio.

It is as simple as picking your best images and putting them together. However, a good portfolio takes time, effort and sometimes a good butt-kicking from somebody else. With that in mind, here are my…

Seven steps for creating a great portfolio for your website

1. Know your audience

The starting point for your portfolio is who will be viewing it and what will they be looking for? Are you making a website to show how your photography develops over time? Perhaps you’re sharing your passion with friends and family? You might be a wedding photographer wanting to get more beautiful couples in front of your lens. Is your goal to be seen by art directors at ad agencies?

For best results, when you know the audience, your portfolio will need to match it. For example, if you are a family photographer, parents looking for someone to photograph their child will not want to see your latest glamour photography. Similarly, an art director will not want to see images from the amazing wedding you shot. If you have multiple specialties, it is best to consider multiple websites. Give the audience what they want.

However, you can showcase different specialties with different portfolios within the same website. The process from here is the same for every portfolio, whether that be on the same website or multiple. Just make sure the galleries are related.

A Striking image to kick off your portfolio is essential.

2. Break it down

How do you want to break down your galleries? Do you want one for people and one for lifestyle photography? One for birds and one for land animals? Once you decide what galleries you want, it is now time to go through your archive and pick out images you might want to use.

I always rate images I might want to use in my portfolio as five stars as I edit. That way, whenever I update my portfolio, I can open catalogs and simply pull up all five-star images and use these as a starting point. If you haven’t done something similar, start now. It saves a lot of time and gives you a great place to start.

3. Watch the numbers. AKA be ruthless

I love both of these images, but as I begin to update my portfolio I know only one will make the cut. Which one is still to be determined.

Now is where the hard work begins – getting the numbers down.

Have you ever been to a friends house and they show you their holiday photos? The photos that seem to go on and on and on… That is the feeling you want to avoid when people look at your portfolio. Like any good performance, they should be left wanting more.

A good first selection should end up at around forty to fifty images, with a final goal of around twenty. Finding the initial fifty is the hardest part. You just need to push yourself to find the best of the best. Are there two similar images? Choose just one. Is there an image that when looking through just doesn’t hold up to the rest. Remove it. Be harsh on your photos and try to look for the reasons why they should not be included rather than why they should. This approach isn’t always fun, but it works.

I suggest you make your initial selection of images to include, then walk away for a while. Grab a coffee, have a walk, just clear your head of the process. I tend to leave it until the next day to come back and look again. Fresh eyes always help.

Remember, a strong portfolio should contain around twenty images. If people want more than that, they can look to your blog.

4. Get some help

It is easy to listen to those around you tell you how great all your photos are, but sometimes you need some good old fashioned home truths. I will tell you in advance, sometimes it is hard to hear. However, you need to hear it. Critique of your work from peers or others in the field will not only help you get a better portfolio, but it will also help you become a better photographer.

When looking for critique, you should have your image numbers down to around thirty or so. From here you can get others to help you make the final step. By culling your images to a respectable number, it also shows those you are asking for their help that you have done the groundwork. If someone approached me with fifty plus images for me to help them get a portfolio from, I would not be hugely impressed.

Who should you ask? You can ask photographers in your local area whose opinion you value, or you can ask people you know through Facebook groups, etc. to critique your work.

In my experience, it is better in person if you can. Whilst family members are great, they will generally not want to hurt your feelings, or not be experienced to offer critique. You need experienced eyes on your work and let them do their worst. Someone with no emotional attachment to your images can give honest feedback and will help you get rid of the images you love, but know are not your best work. Just remember, they are talking about the images, not you. It is easy to get upset when people rip your work to shreds, but take it in the spirit it is intended.

5. Listen to your heart

A friend who worked at a music publication told me to remove this from my portfolio. I wrestled with the idea, but I love it, so I keep it in.

Having said that you should get opinions of others, always remember it is your work. Critique from others is just another point of view. If there is an image you love, but others say isn’t your best work, listen to your gut. Maybe they’re right, maybe you need to let go. However, if after the critique you still think it deserves a place in your portfolio, put it in there. It’s your site and you need to be happy with it.

6. Get them in order

Now you have the final images, you need to get them in order. Start with your best and finish with your second best image. This is known as the primacy and recency effect. Put simply, we remember the things we see first and last the most.

Getting the right order is key to really making your portfolio sing. Put the portfolio in order, then tweak it. Do you want to mix up portrait and landscape images? Do you want to mix in black and white images or have a part of the portfolio where they are grouped together? There is no specific answer as every portfolio is different, but try variations and then tweak until you’re happy. Unfortunately, there is no proven recipe. Instead, think of your portfolio like a great home cooked recipe, just keep tweaking things until it tastes just right.

7. Update regularly

A portfolio will always evolve. I look back at some images that were in my initial wedding portfolio and cringe. I also have some images from that first ever wedding that I still have in my portfolio. Take the time to revisit your website portfolio regularly. Update it at least once every six months or so. Doing this is also a great way to show yourself how you are progressing as a photographer.

If you go to a course or meet with local photographers, why not have a portfolio critique session? Things like this help keep your portfolio fresh and identify gaps in your work that you can plan to shoot in the future.

That’s it, you now have a portfolio.

In the next article of the series, we discuss the blogging and your written content.

Until then, have fun building your portfolio.

The post So You Want to Make a Website? Part 3: Creating Your Portfolio appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Moment Smartphone Lens Review for Photography and Videography

16 Jan

The post Moment Smartphone Lens Review for Photography and Videography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

It’s no secret that smartphone cameras are getting increasingly better with every new release. But did you know that you can enhance your smartphone photography even further with lenses? There are several smartphone lens manufacturers out there, but one of the most popular and premium choices out there comes from Moment. This Seattle-based company offers four lenses that can take your smartphone photography to the next level. I’ve long been curious about these lenses and was delighted to finally have a chance to try them out.

best moment lens for smartphone review

Specs

Currently, Moment has four smartphone lenses on hand: the Superfish (fisheye), Wide, Macro, and Tele Portrait. Each lens ranges in price from US$ 89.99 to US$ 99.99. The lenses are attached via a custom Moment smartphone Photo Case, so you’ll need one of them too. Presently, there are Photo Cases for Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, and iPhone. Each case varies in design and price depending on your smartphone brand, but they’re in the US$ 30 or less range. This test and all resulting images were done with a Samsung Galaxy S8.

Build quality

Physically, each lens varies in presentation, which helps tell them apart at a quick glance. All lenses are made of metal and glass and have some nice heft to them. They also come with rubber lens caps that protect the front element. While there are no end caps to protect the back elements, at least they are small and relatively easy to keep clean and protected if using the included velvet lens drawstring bags.

best moment lens for smartphone review

Attaching the lens to your Smartphone

Lenses attach to your phone via the bayonet-style mount on Moment’s custom phone cases. You simply match up the lens mount to the phone case and twist the lens to lock it into place. It’s relatively easy to do with no added tools required. However, the lens mount is so small that it can take some trial and error to get it mounted. Once locked in place, these lenses are solidly attached to your phone case and it would take significant force for them to accidentally fall off.

Wide lens

Moment’s wide lens is equivalent to 18mm, which is significantly wider than my Samsung Galaxy S8’s 26mm (35mm equivalent) focal length. It’s a rather large lens with a curved, fisheye-like lens. However, there are zero fisheye effects in the resulting images. In fact, there’s no distortion, vignetting, or blurring around the edges.

best moment lens for smartphone review

Superfish lens

This 170-degree Superfish lens offers the widest field of view out of all Moment lenses. It’s rather compact with a flat front-facing lens. However, the resulting image generally takes on a fisheye appearance.

Macro lens

Moment’s macro lens is arguably the best-designed lens of the bunch. It’s also the flattest and most compact lens. Offering 10x magnification, the Moment macro lens comes with a plastic diffuser hood. This hood is very important for helping you determine how close the lens needs to be to a subject (hint: it’s VERY close), but the hood can also be removed. Design-wise, I love how detailed this lens is, particularly on the front element of the lens.

best moment lens for smartphone review

Telephoto lens

While I didn’t get to test the Moment telephoto lens, here’s a brief overview. This 60mm equivalent lens offers roughly double the focal length of most smartphones. Best of all, this lens gives you a telephoto effect without having to use your smartphone camera’s digital zoom, which often degrades the quality of your images.

If you can only buy one lens…

These lenses aren’t cheap, so it makes sense to invest in one or two initially, and then build up your collection from there. Personally, I found the Macro lens to be the most fun. It offers a unique perspective on just about anything and can be great entertainment for all ages. I’d pick the Superfish lens as my next favorite as it also offers a fun and different way to capture your surroundings.

Moment lens accessories

Straight out of the box, each Moment lens comes with a velvet drawstring bag. It’s a thin lens case that is better than having no protection at all, but it doesn’t offer the best padding. As a result, I highly recommend investing in the Moment Lens Pouch. This pocket-sized zippered pouch is nicely padded and has enough room to store two Moment lenses. If you need a bigger carrying case, the Moment Travel Case is a larger version of the Lens Pouch with room for 4 Moment lenses and extra accessories.

best moment lens for smartphone review

Bottom line

If you’re on the hunt for premium lenses to extend the capability of your smartphone camera, Moment offers the very best. Not only do their lenses look and feel professional, but the resulting images are noticeably sharper. Sure, there are much cheaper smartphone lenses out there, but they often compromise on physical quality. You won’t find any compromises if you go with Moment. The only catch is that you have to use one of the high-end smartphones that Moment makes a phone case for.

Moment lens sample photo gallery

Moment Lens Superfish Lens

Moment Lens Wide Angle Lens

Camera phone – before the next Macro lens shot.

Moment Lens Macro Lens – Seashell

Moment Lens Macro Lens – Coffee Beans

Moment Lens Macro Lens – Back of my hand.

Video

The post Moment Smartphone Lens Review for Photography and Videography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

How to Replace Colors in Your Images Using Photoshop

15 Jan

The post How to Replace Colors in Your Images Using Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Have you ever taken a photograph and wondered what it would look like in a different color? Or perhaps you find a particular color distracting and want to swap it for a more subtle tone? Maybe you want to ramp up the impact, using more vibrant colors to make your image pop?

With the help of Photoshop, swapping the colors of different elements in a photograph is quick and easy. Here are two ways to switch the colors in your image to make them more dynamic.

Method one – Using the Replace Color Panel

The Replace Color panel is a simple tool designed to tweak color selections. When you select a specific color in the image, the Replace Color function grabs similar colors, allowing you to change them within the same action.

Step 1 – Preparing your image

First, open your image in Photoshop. To edit non-destructively we need to duplicate the layer. That way, we can go back to the original image at any time. Select your image in the Layers Pallet, then go to Layer -> Duplicate Layer. Alternatively, you can right-click on your image in the layers panel and click Duplicate Layer or drag your layer onto the New Layer icon.

Step 2 – Selecting a Color to Replace

With your duplicate layer selected in the Layers Pallet go to Image -> Adjustments -> Replace Color and the Replace Color panel will pop up. Check the Localized Color Clusters and Preview options. The cursor will automatically be converted to an eyedropper icon, so click on the color in the image that you want to replace. This highlights the color in white in the preview thumbnail, so you can see how much of the color is selected.

Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Replace Color to open the Replace Color panel

Click on the color in the image that you want to replace. This highlights the selection in white in the preview thumbnail

Step 3 – Adjusting the range

The next step is to add further shades of your chosen color to the selection so it looks more natural. With the Replace Color panel still open, hold down the shift key and click on more shades of your selected color in the image. This adds new shades of your selected color to the preview thumbnail.

If you accidentally select an area, hold down the alt key and click the area again to deselect the selection. You can adjust the edges of the selection with the Fuzziness slider, this dictates the sharpness of the edges in the selection.

Step 4 – Swapping the color

In the Replace Color panel, use the Replacement Hue slider to adjust the color of your selection. Once you’re happy with the color, use the Saturation slider to increase or decrease the intensity of the replacement color. You can also adjust the Lightness slider which tweaks the shade of the replacement color.

Use the Replacement Hue slider to adjust the color of your selection

To make sure the edges of the selection have adequate coverage, you may need to readjust the Fuzziness slider.

Once you’re happy with your results, click OK. Your adjustments will be applied to your image and you’re good to go!

Method two – Using the Color Replacement Tool

The Color Replacement Tool is an alternative to using the Replace Color panel. With the Color Replacement Tool, you can apply a replacement color to a more targeted area in the image.

Step 1- Preparing Your Image

Just like in the first method, we need to duplicate the original layer so we can return to the original image if required. Select your image in the Layers Palette then go to Layer -> Duplicate Layer or right click on the layer in the Layers Pallet and click Duplicate Layer.

Step 2 – Selecting the Color Replacement Tool

Accessing the Color Replacement Tool is a little tricky. Click and hold the cursor over the Brush Tool on the left toolbar and several brush options will appear. Select the Color Replacement Tool.

Step 3 – Setting your foreground color

With the Color Replacement Tool selected, set your foreground color to the color you want to replace your current color with. So if you want to change a red subject to blue, select blue as your foreground color.

Set your foreground color to the color you want to replace your current color with

Step 4 – Applying color with the Color Replacement Tool

With the Color Replacement Tool selected, brush over the area of color you want to replace. You can adjust the settings of the brush (size, shape, tolerance) in the top menu bar.

With the Color Replacement Tool selected, brush over the area of color you want to replace

Conclusion

Color is a wonderful and versatile element of composition. But sometimes the right color scheme is elusive. That’s where the Color Replacement tools come in handy. Now you’ve read the guide, why not give it a go? Post your results in the comments below!

The post How to Replace Colors in Your Images Using Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Finding Your Strength in Isolation – 3 Methods to Make Your Subject Pop!

15 Jan

The post Finding Your Strength in Isolation – 3 Methods to Make Your Subject Pop! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Including extraneous details in your photographs dilutes attention. Or they distract the viewer’s attention away from your main subject.

Fill the frame! This was the only composition rule I had drummed into me when I started work in the newspaper photography department. Do not include anything that does not help tell the story better. If it’s irrelevant, remove it.

In this article, I share three of my favorite methods for isolating subjects.

Masu Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

The balance of light

Finding a dark background is always pleasing. When your subject has more light on them than the background, you can often expose carefully so the background is very dark or even black. This was a great technique for newspaper photos when we were publishing in black and white. It often works particularly well for portraits.

Train your eye to look for the right situations where you can use this technique. Once you are aware of what to look for you will do it instinctively.

Fish Lady Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

Look for large areas of shade where no light is turned on, and no sunlight affects the area directly. In this portrait of the fish vendor at the market, her open storefront is perfect. The room behind her has no windows and only one or two low-powered lights. The light on her is sunshine reflecting off the building opposite her shop. It is diffused and soft and does not affect the interior of her room.

Setting my camera to expose her face correctly means the interior of the room behind her is underexposed. Use a spot meter setting to only read the light from your main subject and not the darker background. If your camera’s meter is set to take a reading from the whole frame and average it, you won’t get a satisfactory result.

The key to this method is the balance of light and shade. If you take your exposure reading from the whole scene, the camera includes all the dark area and wants that to be exposed well too. The resulting image will have an overexposed subject and visible detail in the shadows.

Pretty Chinese Woman Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

You can also use this same method with a background brighter than your subject. Doing this is often more complicated if the light is too strong or coming directly into your lens. The same principle applies when you have more light in the background than you do on your main subject. Make your exposure reading from your subject only, excluding light from the background. Your subject will be well exposed, and your background will be overexposed.

Black Background Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

I have developed an outdoor daylight portrait studio which incorporates this technique. In this studio, I have good control of the light and the background. Here, I use black and white fabric backdrops which mean I have an even exposure on the background creating a great contrast to my subject.

White Background Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

The control of Focus and Depth-of-Field

The most popular methods used to isolate subjects is carefully controlled focus and a shallow depth-of-field. My very first lens was a 50mm f/1.4. So, naturally, I grew to love using the wide aperture capability to help me knock my backgrounds out of focus.

Using a wide aperture setting is central to this method. However, there is more to it than choosing your lowest f-stop number.

Relative distances have a significant impact on how much your background blurs. The closer you are to your subject, with any lens, the more the background will blur. Likewise, the further your subject is from the background, the softer the background appears.

Lens choice influences depth-of-field too. Using a telephoto lens, you can blur a background more with any aperture setting than if you use a wide-angle-lens.

Tricycle Taxi in Chiang Mai Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

Learn to control what you focus on, as well as the other settings that affect depth-of-field. Doing this well means you can include sufficient detail without compromising attention on your main subject. In this portrait of the tricycle taxi rider, I focused on him. I chose to have enough detail in the background, without it being sharp, because the background is relevant to this photo.

Compositional choices to isolate your subject

Point-of-view (the angle you choose to take your photo from), affects what you include and exclude from your frame. Often even just a small change in your camera position can have a significant impact on what’s in your frame and what’s left out.

Move around your subject and watch what happens with the background. Having a tree looking like it’s growing out of someone’s head is going to be distracting. Changing your angle of view a little your left or right eliminates this distraction. Selecting a higher or lower position helps if there’s a strong horizontal line in the background which dissects your subject.

Buddhist Nun Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

Take your time. Pay attention to the background, not just your subject, when you are making your composition. After taking your initial photo, review it on your monitor. Study what’s in the background. Often this reveals distractions. Move around a little. One side or the other, up and down. Concentrate on the relationship between your subject and elements in the background.

Conclusion

Other methods of isolating your subject are many and varied. You can use contrasting colors, interrupted patterns, selective cropping and other techniques to help your chosen subject stand out.

Pink and Blue Finding Your Strength In Isolation - 3 Methods To Make Your Subject Pop!

Photographs are often stronger when your subject is clearly defined over everything else in the frame.

Experimenting with the methods I have outlined helps you build stronger compositions. Try them out. Try others. Find a few you like and this will help build up your individual photographic style as you begin to use them consistently.

The post Finding Your Strength in Isolation – 3 Methods to Make Your Subject Pop! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography