Category: Photography

dPS Writer’s Favorite Lens: Why I Love My 35mm F1.4

I’ve used a multitude of different lenses over the years, but never one that I have loved using so much as my 35mm f1.4.

This lens fits with my style of photography. I like things fairly natural and unmanipulated. I love isolating my subject and enjoy being able to photograph in low light without a flash. Also, I prefer getting close to what I am photographing.

My 35mm lens gives me a slightly wider field of view than our typical visual attention. Our visual attention is around 55 °, not including peripheral vision, and the angle of view of a 35mm on a full frame camera body is 63 °.

At wide aperture settings, this lens charms me. In most lighting conditions I can achieve super sharp focus and beautiful bokeh in my backgrounds. I am not left shaking in my boots wondering if my shutter speed is too slow.

This is not a review. This is an article about why I love my 35mm f1.4 lens and how I make the most of it in everyday use.

Why I Bought a 35mm f1.4 Lens

My original Nikkomat FTN and 50mm f1.4 lens

My first camera, purchased second hand in 1983, was a Nikkormat FTN with a 50mm f1.4 lens. After using this lens for 28 years it was no longer consistently producing sharp photos. I think it was just worn out.

At the time I had the popular 24-70mm and 70-200mm f2.8 zooms but was not happy with either of them. They were big, heavy third party lenses that also did not always produce sharp images. For a number of reasons, I was gravitating back to using prime lenses. I’ve always had a collection of older primes and love them.

I became so familiar with my old 50mm. I loved the wide aperture but preferred a wider angle of view. After checking online for example photos produced by the 35mm f1.4 lens, I convinced myself it was worth the money. At US$ 1696 it is not cheap. But I figured that if I use it for 10 years it works out to less than 50 cents per day.

Versatility in Most Situations

Capturing a diverse range of images with a single lens is a common reason people often prefer zooms. But I find I can use my 35mm lens to photograph just about anything. It just suits my style. I am not a sports or bird photographer so much.

For travel, street, environmental portraits, and even more standard portraits, I am happy to use my 35mm. At times I’ll need a telephoto to get in closer so I switch to my 105mm or a longer lens.

During the photography workshops I teach, this is often the only lens I take with me now. I can use it to demonstrate and make examples of anything that I am teaching. For the subjects I like to photograph I most often use this lens.

The great photographer Robert Capa said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.”

I find the 35mm lens is the perfect focal length to get close enough.

Street and Travel Photography

Whether you’re shooting wide, medium or close-up street compositions, the 35mm f1.4 can capture them all well.

Taking in the feeling of a market or parade with a wide photo is essential to have in a series of images. Often using a 24mm or wider lens can squeeze too much into one frame. Choosing a location far enough back from the scene to include a good amount of it works best with a 35mm.

Medium range compositions, where you photograph some of the environment and one main subject, are perfect for a 35mm lens. You can get in close and still easily show enough of the surroundings to keep your subject in context with your photo story.

I do like controlling how much or how little of the background is in focus in a medium range composition. I don’t always choose the widest aperture setting as too much detail from the story could be lost. Having the widest aperture of f1.4 gives me more flexibility in how far back I can get from my subject and still control the bokeh.

Macro photos are not possible with this lens, but I can get pretty close. The lens can focus down to about 30cm (1 foot). For including some detail in a photo series, this is often good enough. If I need a macro image I swap lenses for my 105mm or 55mm micro.

Environmental Portraits

Portraiture which includes some of the surroundings, telling more of the story, is my favorite genre of photography. I love using my 35mm f1.4 lens for creating environmental portraits. Being able to get in close enough to my subject and still see sufficient background is vital.

Connecting with my subjects is also important to me. Often I will be chatting with them while I am photographing. Other times I will be silent, only communicating with a smile and some gesturing.

Photographing with my 35mm I can create more intimate portraits than when I am further back with my 105mm.

I’ve photographed this guy working on his pressed metal art many times. He’s at the Silver Temple in Chiang Mai that we visit during one of our photography workshops. I know he is comfortable being photographed.

When he’s busy we don’t talk much, if at all. I can be close enough to him to exclude a lot of the clutter in the background and show just what he is working on. Then I can come in closer and capture a little more detail.

Regular Portraits

Photographers often prefer a longer lens than a 35mm for making regular portraits. I do use my 105mm much of the time for photographing people in posed positions. However, I like to create a variety of styles during a portrait session and I find my 35mm lens provides pleasing alternatives.

With wider lenses, you start to see some distortion, which is not all that great for portraits. At 35mm there is no real noticeable distortion, but even still, I usually will not place my subject at the edge of the frame.

Working with a model and using a 35mm lens it is important to build a rapport with them first. You do not want them feeling uncomfortable with you being so close. Showing them a sample of the photos you are taking will often help them relax and build their confidence in what you are doing. This is especially so if the model is concerned that being so close to the camera may be distorting their features.

This young woman was very confident and experienced in being photographed. Still, she was a little wary of me being so close. I had started the session photographing with my 105mm lens. Once I changed to the 35mm I made sure to show her some of the pictures I was taking with it and she loved them.

Architecture and Landscape Photography

It’s not at all uncommon to use a 35mm lens for landscapes or photographing buildings. There’s no huge advantage of having such a wide aperture for these subjects as I will typically want more rather than less in focus. At times I will focus on an element in the foreground and intentionally blur out most of the landscape in the background.

Lack of distortion makes the 35mm a good choice for architectural photography. Having a similar field of view to what we see naturally also helps structural photos look more natural.

Loving a Lens

I’ve gotten a huge amount of use out of my 35mm f1.4 lens. The experience of using it frequently and really enjoying it has helped me to get to know it well. Being so familiar with a lens means you can make more creative photos with it.

My 35mm f1.4 looking well loved.

I love this lens and I have a feeling for it. I know, often by instinct, how much my background will be blurred. With the 35mm, I can be close enough to my subject to comfortably communicate with them. Also, I am able to include or exclude as much or little background detail as I want.

Lens love is different than lens lust. You can lust after a new lens every day of the week. To build a loving relationship with a lens you must be committed to taking it out frequently and enjoying spending time with it.

Here’s a video with more about why I love my 35mm f1.4 lens. Do you have a favorite lens? Which one, and why?

The post dPS Writer’s Favorite Lens: Why I Love My 35mm F1.4 appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 10, 2018
4 Tips for Helping People Feel Comfortable During Their Portrait Session

Sooner or later, almost everyone has to sit alone in front of a camera for a grad portrait or professional headshot. It is almost always an uncomfortable experience for portrait clients. But it’s easy to forget this as photographers.

When I great people for their portraits they often confess things like, “I’m terrible with photos,” “I feel sick,” or “I hate my face.”

Perhaps because I’m so empathetic, I’ve developed a knack for making the most nervous and hopeless people shockingly excited about their photos.

In this article, I’ll show you how I do it so that you can make even your most uncomfortable portrait clients happy with their experience.

I am personally drawn to black and white portraits.

1. Simple Light Setup

Since everyday life already throws you a heavy load of distractions and difficulties, I always encourage photographers to keep their projects as simple (but meaningful) as possible.

No matter how you choose to light your portrait subject, I recommend you do it as simply as possible. The point is to put all your focus on the person you’re photographing, not on equipment.

I either use natural light (a window and a reflector), or a one light setup inspired by Zack Arias.

Window Light

The benefit to natural light is that there are no flashes of light or large umbrellas to make the person feel as though they are at a high-pressure professional photo session. Your subject’s imagination is filled with the photo shoots they’ve seen on TV and you should relieve that pressure for them.

This is my natural light setup.

This is a portrait taken with that window light studio setup.

Using natural light and a silent shutter with a mirrorless camera allows the photography part to be as invisible as possible.

One Speedlight

My one light setup includes a speedlight with a 60-inch umbrella and a reflector.

This is my one light setup. It’s one speedlight with a 60-inch umbrella.

This photo was taken with that one light setup.

Once set up, you should forget about your gear (the window, speedlight, and the camera) and focus 100% on your subject.

2. How to Focus

This isn’t about your camera, but focusing on your subject in order to make the best portraits possible.

If you are at all self-conscious as a photographer, it is absolutely critical that you do not focus on yourself.

Perhaps you’re nervous because of a lack of confidence, or because you’re worried they’ll hate their photos. Forget all that and just focus on your subject.

Small talk

“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” — Edward Steichen

You can use small talk to distract the subject from their own nervousness and self-consciousness in front of the camera. Talk about their business, their kids, or the last trip they went on. Anything that will distract them from being camera shy.

Warm up

Feel free to warm up with some “test shots,” even if you don’t really need them. Have your subject sit in front of the camera for a few shots where you’re doing nothing but “testing the light.”

Direct them a little bit, but nothing too serious. I sometimes transition into the real photos by saying something funny like, “Okay the light is perfect, now let me see a cheesy smile.” It can often lead to some laughter and the first candid photo.

Candid portraits are the most joyful part of a portrait session for me. You don’t have to be a comedian to make people laugh. Just connect over something in your life and laughter will eventually flow.

I’ll often try to match the expression with the clothes my subject is wearing. I think a softer expression is more suitable for formal wear. But I’ll try everything at the moment and decide what looks best later.

Candid portraits

“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.” — Robert Frank

Yes, even a professional headshot session should include some informal candid photos. Candids are real, and even if you’re after a posed photo, candids are the path to discovering who they are when their guard is down.

When people can laugh together there begins to be a comfortable connection.

We often laugh because of the tension created by a joke. But even real-life discomfort or tension can lead to the eventual release through laughter.

3. Finding Soul

“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” — Yousuf Karsh

I don’t care whether I’m photographing real estate agents, future lawyers, high school grads, or “mompreneurs.” I treat everybody like an executive, valedictorian, or royalty during their portrait session.

We’re all much deeper than our occupation, even though it may be a deep expression of who we are. Fill your sessions with lightheartedness and true human connection. When you look through your photos later, you should be able to see the moment that your subject finally became relaxed.

Once relaxed, you’ll find the “real” person that was trapped below the surface of fake smiles and self-consciousness.

It may take you 10 minutes or more to get there, but it is the point in the session that you can move through your creative vision with your subject. You can show them how to squinch (Peter Hurley’s famous technique with the eyes), strike more advanced poses, or move in for close-ups.

Once I know I have made the portrait that the subject needs, I move on and try other things. I love this very soft expression and the way that her hair creates a frame around her. This won’t likely appear on her business card, but I think it’s a wonderful portrait.

4. Completely Candid

“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” — Paul Caponigro

Being inspired by photojournalism and the idea of capturing truly raw, candid, spontaneous photos, I decided to try a portrait session with no posing. All there would be was conversation and pictures.

Here are some of the results, which I love.

This photo is all about the eyes, and whatever is going through her mind makes me want to laugh!

A completely candid photo portrait session means taking a lot of photos. Some of them looked posed, but it was a matter of quickly noticing something that looked right and capturing it before the moment passed.

I used a window as a natural light source. There were moments of silence during our conversation when she just looked out the window. Those were wonderful chances.

Leave room for surprises in your portrait sessions. You may find yourself thinking, “Did this client dare to bring their kids to a portrait session?” True, they’ll tear your studio to pieces and distract her from her professional portrait session. But along with a little chaos comes life and surprisingly human moments. In the middle of it all, her son came up to be nursed. Maybe this is what Robert Frank meant about the “humanity of the moment.”

The portrait session was supposed to have been for her. But who she is on her own isn’t who she is completely. We’re all much deeper than ourselves and are who we are partly because of the people around us.

Perhaps you know your subject has reached their maximum level of comfort when they can nurse their baby even while the camera is still clicking. I’m thrilled to photograph people one on one and make portraits that they’ll use as authors or business people. But I’m even more thrilled when those portraits become intensely human moments.

Get Comfy

The next time you greet a nervous portrait client, remember that the experience has been hyped up in their mind. Distract them from their discomfort with small talk, warm them up with “no pressure” test photos, and make laughter a part of your session.

Include the candid photos when you deliver their photos. Even if they don’t use them for business purposes, they may be the photos they (and you) love most.

I’d love to hear what else you do to help people get comfortable in front of your camera. Let me know in the comments below.

The post 4 Tips for Helping People Feel Comfortable During Their Portrait Session appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 10, 2018
Tips on “Shooting for the Crop”
It’s the year 2018 and I’ve just finished a quick search of the top 10 best selling digital cameras over at B&H Photo. Those 10 cameras sport an average megapixel count of 26.1MP. Six of those cameras were full-frame sensor models.

In 2004 I worked in a camera/photo processing lab and I remember the day we all stood in jaw-dropped awe as the Kodak DX4530 arrived at the store. The megapixel count of that glorious DX4530? A whopping 5MP. Bob Dylan was very much correct. The times are in fact a changin.

What all this means is that today, on average, our digital cameras pack in an enormous amount of resolution. This high resolving power affords us advanced possibilities for post-processing unlike never before and is especially true when it comes to enlarging and cropping our images. More specifically, these increases in resolution allow us to bend the limits of cameras and lenses by “shooting for the crop”.

What is Shooting for the Crop?

There’s no hidden meaning in “shooting for the crop”. It is a simple as it sounds.

When we say that we are shooting for the crop all it implies is that before our finger hits the shutter button we KNOW that we will be adjusting the entire composition of the photo later. This is entirely different from the usual organic cropping that sometimes happens during a spur of the moment flash of post-processing creativity.

Admittedly, shooting for the crop is not one of the most smiled upon photographic practices. Most agree that generally, the best way of making any photo is getting it consolidated, at least compositionally, before post-processing ever occurs.

The reason for this is because when we crop digital image files, no matter what, we are in fact making the individual pixel more apparent. The result is a loss of image sharpness and definition.

Low-resolution image.

Still, there will be times when the focal length of your lens may just not fit the situation. This is the usual scenario. There may be a distracting element within the frame that your lens is simply too wide to exclude or maybe that 50mm just doesn’t have the reach that you would prefer to frame your scene.

Whatever the case may be, effectively shooting for the crop means taking into account quite a few factors and variables to make sure the image you intend to end up with looks as clean as possible. Let’s talk about a few things you should take into account whenever you are intentionally shooting for the crop.

Find the “Sweet Spot”

All camera lenses, whether they cost $ 300 or $ 3,000, have an area in their field of view which carries the highest optical sharpness. Most times photographers refer to this area of maximum lens sharpness as “the optical sweet spot” because, well, it’s the sweet spot for sharpness.

While some lenses are of higher resolving quality than others, all of them will have some degree of optical distortion and softness as you move towards the edges of the frame. The very center of the frame is essentially always the sharpest area of the lens and sharpness is dampened radiating outward. So when you’re shooting for the crop, always place the main subject or point of interest right smack in the center of the frame.

It doesn’t matter if centering the subject makes a horrible composition for your photo because you are going to crop and recompose later in post-processing. All you should concern yourself with is obtaining the highest level of sharpness for your main point of interest.

This is because when you crop a digital image you are almost always enlarging it at the same time. The more you magnify it the more pixels you will see. It’s here when true sharpness becomes of paramount importance.

Shutter speed and aperture considerations

Getting the absolutely sharpest image for cropping later extends well beyond the quality of your lens. In order to ensure you have the best croppable photo you must take into account the shutter speed and aperture you’re using when making the exposure.

Use a fast shutter speed

The more motion you can arrest in a photo the more clear and sharp it will be. This is one of the rare facts of photographic technique. When shooting for the crop you should always use the fastest shutter speed obtainable.

Of course, this isn’t true when you’re looking for intentional motion blur. Using a fast shutter speed helps mediate not only subject movement but also unintentional camera shake.

A great method to help you figure out the slowest shutter speed you can use is “The Reciprocal Rule.” I am a long-standing evangelist of this rule because it truly is just so incredibly useful for helping you to achieve sharper photographs.

The Reciprocal Rule states that when shooting handheld your maximum shutter time is equal to “1” over the focal length of your lens.

So to help reduce camera shake when using a 50mm lens your slowest shutter speed would be 1/50th of a second. If using an 80mm it would be 1/80th. If you’re using a variable zoom then simply use whatever approximate focal length you happen to have dialed in on the lens.

Caveats on aperture

Just as every lens has an optical sweet spot so too does every lens have an optimal aperture range when it comes to sharpness. Various lenses have wildly variable aperture sweet spots.

Some are tack sharp at wide apertures and soften as you move into smaller apertures. With others, the exact opposite could be true. Even two samples of the same model lens could have different results at the same aperture.

When shooting for the crop it’s always a good idea to shoot at your ideal aperture whenever possible. Just like using the optical sweet spot, using your lens’s ideal aperture will stack the odds in your favor when it comes time to crop.

To find out what apertures produce the best results for your particular lens will take some testing. Simply shoot an image at each aperture and compare them. Generally speaking, most lenses are sharper at the relative “middle of the road” apertures as sharpness tends to degrade as you approach the very smallest or the very largest apertures of your lens.

A brief word on megapixels

There’s no beating around the bush when it comes to megapixels and shooting for the crop. Without attempting to give too technical of a talk (you’re welcome) on image sensors, it’s best to remember that the more megapixels you have packed into your camera’s sensor the better off you will be when shooting for the crop.

We talked about how cropping a digital photo is essentially zooming in on the image. Since that image is made of little picture elements (pixels) the more you zoom the better you can see the individual pixels. Pixel depth and size aside, the more pixels you have held within a sensor the more flexibility you will have to crop more liberally.

Final thoughts on shooting for the crop

Let’s face it, shooting for the crop is not high on the list of best photography practices. But, unfortunately, we live in a real world of unexpected circumstances. We either won’t have the ideal lens available or the environment will limit us to resorting to some judicious cropping later in post-production.

Luckily if you already know you’ll be cropping an image later you can work to stack the odds in your favor to have better success. Here are a few key tips to remember whenever you find the cruel reality of a scene requires you to shoot for the crop.
- Center the point of interest in the lens. Make use of that optical sweet spot!
- Use the fastest shutter speed possible when shooting hand-held. Remember the Reciprocal Rule.
- Know which aperture yields the highest degree of sharpness from ALL of your lenses and employ if possible.
- Cropping exaggerates the size of the pixels that make up a digital image. An image from a 16MP camera probably won’t crop as cleanly as one from a 34MP camera.
As with most things to do with post-processing, don’t overdo your cropping. If you know you’ll need to crop down extremely tight just to come close to your ideal picture, allow me to ask a small favor; take a breath and put the camera down. Remember that there will be other photographs and more opportunities. A butchered photo of an incredible scene is less desirable than not having the image at all! Most of the time….

Do you have a cool before and after example of shooting for the crop? Share them with us in the comments!

The post Tips on “Shooting for the Crop” appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
September 9, 2018
How to Create Custom Brushes in Photoshop

The Brush Tool in Photoshop is one of the most versatile and it can be used for many applications. It already comes with many useful brushes preloaded into the program and you can find even more online. But sometimes you just need to be more creative and have full control. Don’t you think?

Not to worry, another great thing about Photoshop is that you can create your own custom brushes. Let me show you how.

What is a Brush?

First things first, what exactly is a brush? It’s a tool used to draw strokes. You can find it in the toolbox or you can activate it by using its hotkey: B.

This tool is very flexible because you can adjust its shape, size, opacity and lots of other specs from the Presets panel. That multiplies the options far beyond the first array of choices that you see on the first menu.

None the less, there are times that you need something you just can’t find pre-installed. For example, you can turn your signature or your logo into a brush, it doesn’t get more personal than that right? In just a few steps you can achieve this.

Make a Signature Brush

Open the image that contains your signature or logo, this can come from a scanned paper, for example, or the JPG version of a logo designed in a different program. Now that you have that opened, activate the Marquee tool to select the image. Just click and drag the selection around it and make sure you’re not grabbing anything else from the image.

Then go to Menu > Edit > Define Brush Preset and a new window will pop up where you can name your brush. Type any name you want, preferably something that will help you identify it later, and click OK.

Note: In the Brush Name window you’ll see a thumbnail with the preview of your brush, you’ll notice that the color (if it had any) is lost, that’s because brushes are grayscale, so it won’t register the colors of the original. You can, of course, apply any color when you use it though.

Now you have your new signature brush. Whenever you want to use it, just select the brush tool then open the drop-down menu from the options bar. You can also pick it from the Brush Presets panel which you can reach from the Window menu in case it’s not already opened.

Using the Custom Brush

You may be wondering why you need to turn it into a brush instead of just placing it as an image. This is because it gives you access to all the settings and controls of the brush tool. Just open the Brush panel and you’ll be able to change from color to size to spacing – anything you need for you to create patterns, watermarks and more!

That’s just how easy you can turn any image into a custom brush. But how about creating one from scratch?

Create a New Custom Brush

First, open a white canvas and draw the shape you want to turn into a brush. To do this you can use any of the Shape tools or even other Brushes. For example, I’ll make a simple sparkle. For that, I just need four lines using the Line tool and a round brush with very soft edges in the center so that it has a glow effect.

Remember that color is not registered so it doesn’t matter which colors are you using to draw your shape. Just know that anything in white won’t be part of the brush as it will translate as transparent. Now to turn it into a brush just follow the steps that you did before. Menu> Edit > Define Brush Preset. Click name it.

Now your custom brush is done, grab it from the menu like any other brush. It’s very easy to create but its use can be as elaborate as you need since it has a lot of possibilities. Let me give you some tips to make the most of it.

Tips and Tricks

You can quickly access some of your brush’s most used properties like size, hardness and opacity from the Options Bar or get a lot more control if you open the brush panel. Regardless of whether you created the brush or it came with Photoshop, you can adjust its presets in the brush panel.

A quick overview of the presets I find more useful:

Brush tip: Apart from the size and hardness that you can also find in the Options Bar, here you can also adjust the roundness and angle of the brush.

Scattering: this is as straightforward as the name suggests. With this option, you can place the brush more randomly, thus, scattering it.

You can also change the blending mode of the brush in the drop-down menu. This changes the way the brush stroke interacts with the object directly below, which could be an image or a previous brush stroke. However, I prefer to leave it as Normal and put the new brush strokes on their own layer and then alter the layer’s blending mode, that way I can always come back and change it later if need be.

Opacity and Flow: Both of these refer to the amount of paint that you are applying. However, with opacity, it won’t add more paint if you pass over the same area many times unless you release the click and start again. While flow will keep adding paint regardless.

Over to You

I hope you found the tutorial useful and give your creativity a go with some custom brushes of your own!

The post How to Create Custom Brushes in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 8, 2018
7 Landscape Photography Tips You’ll Wish You Knew Earlier
Landscape photographer Nigel Danson has been reflecting on his time as a professional landscape photographer and has come up with 7 things that he wishes he knew when he first started out on his photographic journey.

Unfortunately for Danson, he’s not able to go back in time and tutor himself. But luckily for us, we’re able to learn from these key moments in his career without spending many years getting to those milestones!

“Recently, looking back at some photos I took over 10 years ago, it made me realize how far I’ve come as a photographer.” says Danson. “It made me think about the things I’ve learned over the last 10 or 15 years.”

Landscape photography can be a tricky art to master, and experience in the field is definitely your friend. But hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you to improve your shots in an instant and give you that boost you need to keep your photography developing.

Summary of the 7 Simple Tips to Improve Your Landscapes
1. Use Aperture Priority Mode
2. Master the Histogram
3. Learn to Focus Properly
4. Simplify Your Images
5. Use Different Lenses and Stick with Your Camera
6. Think About Where You’re Standing
7. Learn and Use Lighting to Your Advantage
Have you got any landscape images you’ve shot recently? Share them with us in the comments below!

The post 7 Landscape Photography Tips You’ll Wish You Knew Earlier appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
September 8, 2018
Weekly Photography Challenge – Out of the Blue

Here is another easy one for you.

Get out there and find some blue things to photograph this week for the photography challenge!

You can look for blue things, shoot during Blue Hour, or use some split-toning on a black and white image to make your something blue for this challenge.

Blueberry image by dPS writer Stacey Hill.

In post-processing, removed most of the color tones in the image except for blues, and a little bit of green/teal.

Oil and water and a bit of color make for a fun afternoon photography project.

Weekly Photography Challenge – The Color Blue

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. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

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.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Out of the Blue appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 8, 2018
How to Photograph a Wedding – A Guide to Equipment, Shooting, Editing and More
Have you ever entertained the thought of being a wedding photographer?

Or have you ever been asked by a friend to photograph their wedding?

Or have you already taken the leap into wedding photography and it’s not quite going the way you hoped?

If you you answer yes to any of these questions – our brand new Wedding Photography ebook is for you!

Best of all – if you grab it this week it’s 50% off the normal retail price – so it’s your for just $ 9USD!

This beautifully designed eBook was written by Lily Sawyer who many of you will know as a regular writer for dPS.

Lily is also a professional photographer and draws on her experience of photographing more than 500 weddings, events and portrait sessions to share some practical advice for anyone hoping to embark on a similar journey into wedding photography.

7 Chapters of Practical Wedding Photography Advice

Included in this eBook are 7 chapters covering:

How to be a good wedding photographer

Equipment for wedding photography

A step-by-step guide to photographing a wedding day

Editing and batch processing

Products you can offer your clients

Pricing and how to find your happy place

Marketing your business

Click through for more details and to preview sample pages and to grab your copy of the eBook.

We think this is one of the best risk-free instantly downloadable resource you can buy to help you on your journey as a wedding photographer – no hype, no over-promising or relentless hustle speak – just realistic advice and practical tips.
Download it Now $ 9USD

P.S. As with all our books and courses, we offer a 60-day money back guarantee, so you can buy it confidently today, risk-free.

The post How to Photograph a Wedding – A Guide to Equipment, Shooting, Editing and More appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
September 7, 2018
How to Use Backlight to Create Incredible Images

With hundreds of thousands of photographers out shooting, how do you distinguish yourself from the pack? How do you repeatedly come home with images that make audiences everywhere gasp? One way is to use a more unique, dramatic style – backlight.

But how do you do this? In fact, it’s rather simple.

In this tutorial, you’ll find a sequence of steps for working with backlight. When you’re finished reading, you’ll have the know-how necessary to take incredible backlit photographs that everyone will love.

Step 1: Shoot early or late in the day

Backlight refers to a lighting situation when the light comes from directly behind the subject.

A backlit Black-Eyed Susan.

Because backlit photography requires such a specific lighting angle, it can only be done when the sun is low in the sky. This means photographing early or late in the day.

Too early in the afternoon and the sun won’t offer much directional light. For dramatic backlighting, the sun needs to point across (and into the eyes of the photographer). But during midday, the sun points down.

Also, the golden quality of the light during morning and evening makes for a much more pleasing backlit images.

I photographed this backlit snow late in the evening.

Step 2: Find a distinct subject

The subject is the focal point of your image. It is what you want to stand out, what you want to emphasize in your photograph.

The best subjects have distinct outlines. That is, they don’t overlap with other elements in the photograph.

A mishmash of trees? Not the greatest subject for a backlight photograph. The trees will all blend together, creating a load of messy shadows.

A single tree against the sky? Now you’re off to a great start.

Step 3: Get low

Once you’ve found your subject, it’s time to begin actually composing your image.

As mentioned above, the best backlight compositions have a distinct subject. But even if you have a relatively distinct subject, it’s important to work to further isolate your subject so that you get the strongest backlit photograph possible.

One way to isolate your subject is by getting down low.

I took this photograph of a dandelion seedhead while lying on the ground. Getting down so low allowed me to isolate the individual seeds.

When you crouch, kneel or even lie on the ground, you change your perspective. Your subject seems to rise into the sky, framed against the bright sky.

This is exactly what you want. A darker subject against a brighter sky is a perfect start to a stunning backlight photograph that you can be proud of.

Step 4: Choose where to put the sun

I have a straightforward recommendation when it comes to backlit photography. That is not to include the sun in the frame.

If you do include the sun, nine times out of ten you’ll find yourself with a bright white blob in your image. That is not very photogenic at all.

Instead, try to place the sun just outside the frame. This way, you’ll still have a brilliant brightness in the sky—which I love to have in my backlight photography—without it being overpowering.

The sun is just outside the frame of this tree photograph.

You can also place the sun behind your main subject. This is another effective technique for hiding the sun while getting the full force of a brilliant sky.

Step 5: Expose with the main subject in mind

Exposure refers to the level of brightness in the image. In backlight photography, I recommend exposing the image in one of two ways.

First, you can create a silhouette.

I captured this near silhouette in the late evening.

In order to do this, start by exposing for the bright sky. That is, dial back the brightness of the image so that the sky itself has some nice detail in it. If there are clouds in the sky, you should be able to see them in your image.

Because the sky is naturally so bright, dialing back the exposure will make your main subject dark, which is exactly what you want. After this, it’s a matter of tweaking the exposure to get the exact effect you’re looking for.

Second, you can expose for the main subject.

Personally, I prefer this form of backlight photography. I like to keep some detail in the main subject, while also getting that beautiful backlit glow.

Here, I was careful to make sure this flower photograph was light enough.

For this type of photography, I start by making sure the exposure is light enough that I can see the main subject. I don’t let it get too bright, because then the sky becomes overpowering.

Of course, feel free to take a few images and experiment with the exposure. Slightly different levels of brightness will give your photographs subtly different moods, so make sure to shoot the scene in several different ways!

In Conclusion

Creating unique images can be difficult. But by using backlight in your photographs, you’ll be able to take incredible images that will impress even the best photographers. Just be sure to shoot when the sun is low in the sky. Make sure you find a distinct subject. Place the sun out of the frame. Finally, be sure to carefully choose the brightness of your image.

Have any other tips for shooting in backlight? Let me know in the comments below.

The post How to Use Backlight to Create Incredible Images appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 7, 2018
Tips for Ensuring You Get Sharp Photos Every Time

How many times have you captured an image that looks great as a thumbnail only to lose that sharpness when it is enlarged? If you’re like me, TOO MANY times. It happens to all of us all too often, but it doesn’t have to. You probably know the reasons why and how to avoid the problem, but let’s review them all in one setting to you can get sharp photos every time.

There are several known contributors to soft photos and specific ways to prevent them.

First and foremost – clean the lens

Fingerprints and dust on the lens are the most obvious hinderances to sharp pictures and are one of the most commonly overlooked causes. Carry a small clean microfiber cloth (or packets of lens cleaning wipes) in your camera bag at all times, and keep the lens cap on the lens when it’s not in use.

Become a clean freak with your lenses.

Aperture Settings

While shooting with the aperture wide open does allow you to use higher shutter speeds, it can also have an adverse effect on image sharpness because of an issue called a spherical aberration.

Simply put, light rays travel in straight lines. When they pass through a lens, the curve of the lens actually bends the light rays and diffuses their focus. The more the rays are curved, the softer the focus. When the entire rounded surface of the lens is utilized (as in when using a wide open aperture), the light-bending is increased and the sharpness on the outer edges of the picture is somewhat softened.

This aberration issue is most evident in less expensive lenses.

It is widely known that an aperture 2-3 stops down from wide open produces the sharpest results. If your shot doesn’t require an extremely shallow depth of field to blur the background, close the lens down a stop or two and compensate the exposure with a slower shutter speed or higher ISO.

But be aware that extremely small aperture openings (f/22 and higher) present their own problem called diffraction. When light is forced through a very small opening, the outer rays bend to get past the small opening, which can soften the image and require a longer exposure time.

Lessons learned: Either aperture extreme will cause a slight softening of the image. Except for special applications, so stay in the middle of the road!

Lens Quality

It’s always good advice to buy the best glass you can afford. It is a known factor that THE most critical equipment in your camera bag is not your fancy camera body, but the quality of the glass in front of your camera.

Save your money and invest in quality lenses (f/2.8 or faster). Most of us carry at least one zoom lens, but these lenses, because of the complex grouping of internal glass, are seldom faster than f/2.8, and many are as slow as f/4.5 – f/5.6. The lower the number, the more light that passes through the lens. An f/1.4 prime (fixed length) lens always produces sharper images, though it costs more money.

Weather

Believe it or not, the cleanliness or dirtiness of the air can have a significant impact on your photography, especially long-range shots like landscapes. Both heatwaves rising from the hot ground and floating particles of dust and pollutants (what we lovingly call atmosphere) bend the lightwaves, dull the saturation, and blur the focus of your pictures.

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Living on the “beach coast” of Florida, steady breezes come in off the ocean that are refreshing on a hot summer day but they contain serious amounts of salt. This air salt can be seen for miles in the distance while driving down the coastline. The saltwater mist hangs in the air and has an adverse effect on both metallic surfaces and photographic subjects.

The most ideal weather for shooting razor-sharp pictures is those delightful hours right after it rains. That happens in Florida like clockwork almost every afternoon and at least once every day, Florida gets a nature-shower that lasts for less than an hour and leaves the air sparkling clear for all kinds of outdoor activities. Thankfully, these daily showers scour the air and rinse the salt from both nature and automobiles.

Depth of Field

Choose an f-stop that will keep your entire subject in sharp focus. If you want to keep your subject in full focus while blurring the background, do the math to figure out the depth of field that will remain in full focus at a particular distance.

Each focal length lens has its own “pocket of precision” or focal zone for each subject-lens distance. Take the time to explore your lens’s capabilities so that you will be prepared.

The depth of field is particularly critical in macro photography. The very nature of the process limits the actual focus on subjects to a very shallow distance. Sometimes this works out well and sometimes it just doesn’t.

Learn the limits of each macro lens’s “pocket” before you make your shot. If your camera allows you to preview the depth of field, use it religiously. Very small changes in the lens-to-subject distance have a very big effect on the focal distance.

Use the One-Third, Two-Thirds Rule

All photographers know that higher number f-stops mean greater depth of field, but maybe some don’t realize that there is an important ratio involved in the field of focus. This ratio must be considered when choosing the f-stop for a particular shot.

While the length of the lens affects how much of the subject will be in total focus, where you set your focus point is also critically important.

This is true whether you are using Automatic, Spot or Manual focusing. Learn to divide the desired focus area into thirds and set the focus one-third into that distance. When you focus on a particular spot, two-thirds of the focal range behind that spot will remain in focus while only one-third of the area in front of that spot will remain sharp.

This is why portrait photographers set their focus on the subject’s eyes. This way the distance from the nose to the ears remain in focus.

Autofocus Versus Manual Focus

Unless your subject has a high level of contrasting edges and is located in the middle of your field of view, you might want to consider using manual focus. Autofocus is a life-saver most of the time, but any higher contrast item in the scene could very well steal the camera’s attention.

Camera autofocus is designed to zero-in on high contrast and those areas in the scene will always set the camera focus. If your subject is located in subdued lighting, try switching to manual focus instead.

Shutter Speed

Slow shutter speeds in hand-held conditions always present problems. No matter how still you hold, your body is always in motion.

The simple fact that your breathe and have a heartbeat means that slight motion will most likely become an issue with slow shutter speeds. Even the slight motion of pushing the shutter button is a contributing factor in this process. I personally make it a point to not go below 125/th of a second when shooting hand-held. Bracing yourself against a stable surface or using a tripod is always advisable.

Use a tripod and a remote trigger. The ultimate preparation for capturing detailed and sharp photos is to take human motion out of the equation altogether.

Once you mount your camera on a tripod, frame the scene, set the focus, set the appropriate f-stop for the depth of field, switch to the electronic shutter (if available on your camera). Set up a remote trigger using either a cable release or a smartphone app. Then sit back and be ready to pull the trigger when the scene is right.

Compensate ISO for Shutter Speed

If your shot requires a shallow depth of field or lower f-stops, try dialing up more light sensitivity (increased ISO). Most ideal lighting situations accommodate 200-400 ISO, but low lighting scenarios may require you to set the camera to significantly higher ISO.

But keep in mind that ISO determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light and darkness. Very high ISO will yield higher levels of electronic noise in your picture. Noise is the polar opposite of “signal.” Make your choice of ISO carefully if the image is to be enlarged at all.

About Image Sharpening

Nominal sharpening takes place (usually) at the time the photo is taken. However, sometimes additional sharpening may be necessary. Beware, image sharpening should always be the last step in image preparation.

Most photos are intended to be sharp and detailed. But refrain from sharpening your images in the editing process in a ditch effort to bring out more detail. Image sharpening artificially simulates image sharpness and can actually degrade the digital image. Unless you use a sharpen brush, every time you sharpen an image in post-production you also enhance the non-subject elements in the scene.

So make sharpening for detail a last resort.

Conclusion

Make it a habit to capture the highest level of detail in the original shot. Take the time to learn each of these precautions and then consider them briefly before you take your shot. If you discipline yourself to go through this checklist the next half-dozen times you shoot, this will become a mental-muscle memory that you check subconsciously.

Exercise your good habits and you’ll come home with more sharp photos and become a sharpshooter.

The post Tips for Ensuring You Get Sharp Photos Every Time appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 7, 2018
Tips for Better Bridal Portraits

If you think that bridal portraits are a thing of the past, you are greatly mistaken. Bridal portraits have taken on new life in the wedding photography industry and are every bit as important as they were before.

What are Bridal Portraits?

Bridal portraits were once taken in a studio, and subsequently when faster and lighter cameras were made available, on location. This is where the bride dresses up in her day-of wedding dress and poses alone. Sometimes the groom would join her.

The photographer would then take several poses of her with her bouquet and veil. So basically, it’s a chance for the photographer to take their time and photograph the bride in many different poses.

This bride was in her home next to a big sliding glass door that let in light even though it was raining.

Now, bridal portraits are taken during the wedding day, thanks to digital photography. Usually right after the bride is done getting ready or during the bride and groom portraits.

It’s a good idea to take portraits during both times to get a more diverse set of bridal portraits, especially if each location is different than the other.

Same bride as the one above, this time at the location we photographed the bride and groom photos. It provides a different feeling and look than the ones taken in her home.

Ask the bride to have a little more time during the getting ready and bride and groom portraits so that you can focus on her. She will appreciate the gesture, knowing that you are going to capture her as a beautiful bride on one of the happiest days of her life.

Why are they important?

Bridal portraits are such an important part of the photographic timeline because each bride takes a lot of time to find the right dress, the right look, and choose just the right bouquet for her wedding day. As the photographer, it’s your job to photograph these details with a lot of attention if they hold a particular meaning to the bride.

I used window light through sheer curtains in a hotel room to create a soft light on the bride’s face.

For example, her something blue might be a ring that her mother wore and gave to her on her wedding day. There might be something special on the bottom of her shoes or tied to her bouquet. All of these details are important during bridal portraits and you need to get detail photos of each.

Bridal portraits are also a great time to get the bride completely alone so that she can have some breathing room before the big day starts.

It’s a great way to quiet the nerves and focus on her and how happy she looks.

A special moment in between posed portraits. The bride reads a letter the groom wrote for her.

Bridal portraits aren’t just for the bride alone, though, sometimes the groom will join in as well. This gives you the opportunity to create really solid portraits of the couple together on their wedding day without anyone else present.

When you take bridal portraits on the day of the wedding, be sure to ask your clients for extra time so that you can make sure that you get enough of the bride alone, the bride and groom together, and all of the important details the bride and groom will be wearing.

Bridal portraits inside

Brides usually get ready inside a hotel or in their home. If this is the case, carve out some time before she has to leave to get the bride alone.

Take her to another room where there is sufficient window light. Window light is the best, in my opinion, because it gives you enough light but also casts off into the room allowing for shadows to define silhouettes.

Sit the bride down on the edge of a chair and have her face the window. Change it up and have her stand full frontal toward the window. The poses and variations are endless and you’ll have beautiful soft light to give her a glow.

Use window light and if need be, fill flash bounced off the ceiling to create a soft light on the bride’s face.

In some cases, especially in the home, you can take the bride to other rooms or locations within the home that offer more options. Like the photo above, where I took photos of the bride in her living room in her house. I did use flash to bounce light since it was raining that day, however, she is calm and relaxed.

Here we see a detail photo of her dress as well as the bride sitting below her grandparent’s wedding photo.

Don’t be afraid to move furniture if you have too. It’s best to move furniture than working around it and missing the opportunity for a great photo. Just make sure that you put it back as you found it.

On location

When you’re out photographing the couple’s portraits, don’t forget to get individual portraits of each, especially the bride. On location may offer better opportunities to get the full dress from both front and behind.

Take individual portraits of the bride and groom if they opt to have the bridal portrait session together.

If the bride has a long veil, you can play with lifting it into the air and dropping it to get some really interesting photos. Having her hold her bouquet and getting up close makes for a great photo. Capture her shoes in action as well, especially if she has put something special on the soles.

Being on location gives you more room as well to have the bride walk, turn, spin, and have fun. Photograph her in different types of lighting and backgrounds. Experiment with close up photos as well as full-length photos.

Try lifting and having the veil blowing in the wind. Letting the bride move around a bit can loosen nerves and get the bride comfortable in front of the camera.

Bridal portraits before or after the event

As important as bridal portraits are on the day of the wedding, sometimes you’ll have the opportunity to photograph the bride before or after the wedding. Many photographers call this a “day after session” or “trash the dress”.

These two photos were taken during the wedding day.

The same couple as the previous photo but the day after their wedding. The photos are more relaxed at a different location, and with different styling.

Bridal portraits are important on the day-of because of all that day’s details, however, portraits taken either before or after the day of the event can offer clients a chance to have a more relaxed look.

The bride may wear her hair differently and use perhaps a different dress altogether. Giving you more opportunities to pose her differently and add to the photos taken on the wedding day.

Photos were taken the day before the event.

Taking the bridal portraits before or after the wedding can also give you the opportunity to photograph in an entirely different setting than that of the wedding day. Giving you more creative freedom while the couple is more relaxed.

Two photos were taken the day after the event.

It’s not just about the bride

More often than not, the groom may join the session as it gives you more time to create more portraits of the couple as well as individually. Focus on taking details of both the groom and the bride.

When the couple poses together, you have more time to allow them to just be themselves, especially if you are doing a before or a day after session.

Try offering the couple something more of a stylized photo session so that you can use props to tell more of the story. This will give them an entirely contrasted look compared to the one that they are going to have on their actual wedding day.

In conclusion

Bridal portraits are growing in popularity both on the actual wedding day and before or after the event. Having this extra time to photograph the bride alone can add to the collection of photos that you will deliver to her allowing her to remember how she felt that day.

In addition, bridal portraits offer the opportunity to capture all of the important details that the bride took so much time to choose. Bridal portraits let you capture the bride in a more intimate way both individually or with her groom.

Take advantage of this time and allow your creativity to flow so that get some really amazing photos of the bride either before, on, or after her wedding day.

The post Tips for Better Bridal Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 6, 2018