Category: Photography

Weekly Photography Challenge – Seeing Red

Okay, this should be an easy one for you. All you need to do to participate in this week’s photography challenge is come up with something red!

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

That could mean finding a red subject, making your own (oil and water and dye) or using a selective color technique to remove all the other tints in the image except for red.

Weekly Photography Challenge – The Color Red

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 – Seeing Red appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

September 1, 2018
Real World Test: Using the Sony A7R III with Canon Lenses

Here’s a review from Julia Trotti who has been testing the Sony A7R III mirrorless camera alongside Canon lenses. With mirrorless technology coming to the forefront, but the number of native Sony lenses available being limited, using third-party lenses like this is not far from a necessity.

Trotti has spent her entire 10-year photography career shooting with Canon, but recently got the Sony A7R III and wanted to integrate that camera into her workflow with the Canon glass she already owns. This is a similar boat to that which many photographers moving from DSLR to mirrorless may find themselves in. By using an adaptor (and making sure you keep the firmware for it up to date) you are able to use your DSLR glass on mirrorless bodies.

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While adaptors are great, Trotti does point out their shortcomings. She found some issues with focusing while testing the combination, meaning that her workflow was slowed down by having to wait for the lens to catch up with her (thanks to the adaptor).

Trotti loves the Sony A7R III, as well as her Canon glass, but advises that you should be aware of the limitations of the adaptation when it comes to shooting situations where you might only have one chance to get it right, such as weddings.

Check out the full video above to see all of her thoughts and some example photos from the shoot.

The post Real World Test: Using the Sony A7R III with Canon Lenses appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 31, 2018
4 Tips for Photographing Fog to Create Mystical Images
There’s nothing that I’ve seen so far that compares to the ethereal and mystical beauty of capturing long exposure and photographing fog. There’s something so compelling about the soft silky texture that results from it. So much so, that photographers all over the world are constantly chasing it.

In fact, where I live in the Bay Area, we call these people “fog-chasers,” and they spend their days in popular local spots waiting for it to make an appearance just so that they capture this mystical geological phenomenon. The fog can create mystique and drama. It can add mood, be a soft blanket over a scene, a floor, or a wall. It can take many forms in shapes and create some very compelling photographs.

The main challenges in capturing these fog shots are:
- Focus issues for getting a sharp image.
- Preventing camera shake.
- Preparing for the shot.
Tip 1 – Finding the fog

This is the most challenging aspect of doing this type of shot since as a photographer you, unfortunately, have no control over the weather. So, what I do is scour the web for weather sites that can provide me with the information I need.

I also check out the weather on the local news religiously as well as follow weathermen on Twitter and Facebook. Once the word is out that fog is on its way, webcams are the best way to monitor it on the day you want to shoot. You can see what the fog looks like and if it’ll be cooperative for the type of shot you have in mind.

Tip 2 – Composition

Fog, in general, has a way of turning an ordinary scene into something spectacular. For fog waves, wide landscapes with forest treetops make an interesting subject. So do iconic structures or monuments.

Here in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge is a local favorite. At certain times during the year, the fog gets so low that it flows beneath the arches. It serves as the perfect opportunity to cream a soft blanket from these types of long exposures.

Another local favorite is Mount Tamalpais, which consists of long ranges of hills adorned with redwood trees. The way the fog flows over the treetops creates these spectacular waves as it flows through the peak’s ridges.

Tip 3 – Use an ND Filter

Neutral Density filters are an absolute necessity for smoothing out fog and making it appear almost silk-like. The time of day will dictate the density of the filter needed. If it’s bright daylight out you’ll need something quite dark while if you’re shooting at twilight you’ll need something lighter or you may not need a filter at all.

When using an ND filter, make sure to first set up your shot using autofocus, without the filter. Then set the camera to manual focus and add the filter. This way you’ll assure the proper focus for your shot. Alternatively, you can also use back button focus.

Most of the time if the filter is too dark the camera will not be able to focus on a specific focal point. Also, because fog is a moving entity and puts a veil on any element in your composition the camera’s autofocus will most likely fail. Fear not and simply find something in the frame that’s sharp enough to focus on, then lock focus on that spot.

Tip 4 – Experiment with shutter speed

There are two types of fog shots that be taken from the techniques above that will produce different results based on your shutter speed.

A shorter shutter speed will give the fog more texture while a longer exposure will make it look silkier and smoother. You’ll need to experiment to see what looks better to you. Sometimes keeping the shutter open too long will result in the fog looking too messy and it could lose its lines and consistency.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these tips are helpful and will inspire you to get out there and experiment photography fog. The most difficult aspect of this type of photography is first finding it, then capturing it in a way that’ll showcase it as well as the scene it should be complementing.

In order to achieve this ND filters will help you soften the fog flow and turn it into waves. After that experimenting with shutter speeds will create various results.

In the end, it’s your aesthetic as the photographer that will dictate what is most pleasing to you. I hope that the photos that I’ve captured from the years of shooting the fog will inspire and get you on your way to becoming a fog chaser too!

The post 4 Tips for Photographing Fog to Create Mystical Images appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
August 31, 2018
5 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Nature Photography
How do you, as a beginning nature photographer, go about improving? How do you ensure that you gain useful skills as rapidly as possible so that you can start shooting professional quality nature photography?

In reality, it’s often difficult for the beginner to recognize how they should learn nature photography.

But I myself am a nature photographer, and looking back the answers to these questions are clear. So I thought I’d make a tutorial that discusses several things I wish I had known at the beginning of my nature photography journey.

Read on. The sooner you know these things, the sooner you’ll begin to take consistently stunning images.

1. Photograph every day

The first thing I wish I had known when starting nature photography is extremely simple,

Photograph every day!

I cannot emphasize this enough.

If you’re truly serious about improving as a nature photographer, you should try to take at least one photograph of nature, every single day. It doesn’t matter if you take it with your DSLR or your iPhone. Just get out and shoot.

You’ve likely heard that practice makes perfect, and this is part of that. But there’s more to it. By photographing every day, you’ll ensure that your artistic eye remains strong.

What do I mean by that? If you photograph every day, thinking about light, color, and composition will become second nature. You’ll start to see photographic opportunities everywhere.

This is exactly where you want to be as a nature photographer.

2. View the type of photography you want to create

This is a huge one, as well. If you want to create great nature photography, you have to view great nature photography.

When you view amazing photography, you develop an eye for light, color, and composition without even realizing it.

This is an essential skill for a budding nature photographer. Plus, there’s an added bonus – it’s really fun!

Start by looking up the type of photographs that you’d like to create. You can use a well-organized site like 500PX. Or you can just use Google. The important thing is that you find photography to look at for inspiration.

For instance, if you’re an up-and-coming macro photographer, try viewing the portfolios of photographers such as Mike Moats and Kristel Schneider.

If you’re a beginning landscape photographer, look at the work of Ian Plant and Thomas Heaton.

If you’re a budding wildlife photographer, look to photographers such as Marsel Van Oosten and Matthew Studebaker.

Then expand from there.

The purpose isn’t to memorize their images so that you can copy them in the field. Rather, the goal is to appreciate great imagery, while recognizing (if only subconsciously) what makes it great.

The goal is also to get inspired.

3. Light matters more than you think

I’ve emphasized the need to practice photography every day, and that truly is essential. However, when practicing, there’s something extremely important you need to consider. That is the light.

I’ll state it plainly. Photograph the two hours after sunrise, the two hours before sunset, and during midday only if it’s cloudy.

Otherwise, stay indoors.

This generally takes some retraining of the brain. It’s easy to think to yourself, “It’s such a nice sunny afternoon; I should get out and photograph!”

But you need to resist this thought. Because photographing during a sunny afternoon will result in harsh, contrasty images that are almost never desirable in nature photography.

Start spending time observing the quality of the light. Notice how nicely illuminated your subject is when the sun is low in the sky. Notice how lovely and soft the light is on a cloudy afternoon. Notice how harsh the light is under the midday sun.

As a beginning photographer, I often forgot about this rule. So my photographs paid the price. I have thousands upon thousands of photographs that are simply unusable because of the harsh sunlight.

Memorize the rule. You may not be able to see such a difference in your images at present. But in a few years, you’ll thank me!

4. Gear matters less than you think

While light is more important than you think, gear is also less important than you may imagine.

You might think that gear is essential. You may ask me, “Jaymes, if my gear really isn’t important, then why do you spend so much time reading gear reviews and upgrading your equipment?”

But my response is this: gear does matter. High-quality lenses will allow you to capture the detail on a singing bird or the movement of sparring polar bears.

High-quality cameras will allow you to photograph a wolf under the cover of twilight or a hawk flying directly above.

Yet gear is nothing without the photographers that wield it. A good photographer can get stunning images with any equipment. Whereas a bad photographer cannot create stunning images, regardless of their gear.

So focus less on making sure you have the right equipment. Instead, practice using the equipment you do have. Try to eke out as much as you can from it.

Eventually, if you work hard enough, you will get beautiful images, high-quality gear or not.

5. Most of the images you take will be terrible

Beginning nature photographers often have a dangerous misconception about nature photography. That is that the best photographers rarely take bad images.

This belief can lead to discouragement on the part of the budding photographer.

This type of abstract photograph comes amid a huge number of deleted images.

After looking through your memory card, to find that only you’ve managed to nail a single image (out of a hundred!), you may want to give up.

Don’t.

Why?

Because most of the early images you take will be terrible, and that’s okay. This is true for nature photographers of all levels. Of course, at the higher levels, the nature photographer’s standards are higher, but the tip still applies.

This is true for me, as well.

I go on dozens of photo shoots each month and take around 600 images per shoot. Yet I’m happy if I get a single image with which I’m really pleased.

Because uncertainty, guesswork, and reaction are part of the game. This is the nature of nature photography.

So let me reiterate. Don’t get discouraged. Most of your shots will be terrible, but it’s the good ones that count.

In Conclusion

Starting nature photography can be daunting for a lot of people. It can be difficult to know how to improve. You want to take stunning images as soon as possible, but you just can’t figure out how.

By understanding the lessons above, you’ll be well on your way to creating beautiful nature images.

Just remember:
- Shoot every day.
- View the type of photography you want to create.
- Light matters more.
- Gear matters less.
- Finally, don’t be discouraged if most of your images are terrible.
Someday soon, you’ll be a great nature photographer.

What are some things you wish you had known when first starting out as a nature photographer? Let me know in the comments area below.

The post 5 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Nature Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
August 30, 2018
Tips for Posing Large Families and Groups
Portrait sessions can vary in many ways, one being the size of the group you are photographing. Don’t be afraid, these tips for posing large families and groups will help you to create the perfect large group portrait no matter the location or the number of people.

What is considered a large group?

Large group portraits typically begin with six or more people. Large groups can include children or be made up of adults, it all depends on the type of session you are photographing.

It can also reach up to 20 people, especially if you are photographing a bridal party or a family with smaller family units all mixed together.

Posing rule for any type of grouping

The most useful posing rule for large groups is to use the triangle method.

This is where you pose people, either standing or sitting, or a mixture of both, and if you draw imaginary lines connecting their heads, they would create triangles. This method is the best so that you don’t pose people’s heads one on top of another (totem pole-like), creating an awkward photograph.

Use the triangle method to pose large groups.

This method works for any type of grouping with three or more people. However, for large groups of 10 or more, this posing rule is perfect so that everyone in the photo can be seen. It ensures nobody’s head is directly behind another person’s.

Large Families

Large families can range from nuclear families where there are more than five people or extended portraits where more than one nuclear family is going to be in the portrait.

The key is to pose the families in different combinations in the same spot so that you can offer your client more poses without having to move them too much.

Always pose the parents in the middle and then pose the rest of the family out from there. The parents are a great focal point in any portrait and from there, you can lead the eyes to the children or other families.

For example, for a portrait of a family of five, begin by placing the parents in the center of your photo first. Then, pose the taller children next to each parent. Smaller children can be put between the taller child and parent, creating the triangle.

Afterward, you can seat the family in the same order as when they were standing. If there are really small children, they can stand and hug another family member from behind. Be mindful of where their heads are positioned so that you create triangles and can see each family member in the portrait.

Pose the family sitting or standing.

In the same spot, you can then have the family stand up and separate a little. This gives them a little more space but still keeps them at arm’s length. Ask them to interact with each other in between posing for the camera.

Don’t forget the triangles in this pose as well! It can look a little off if you pose two family members who are the same height together. Try and move the family members from one side to the other to create more variety.

Give the family some space while posing them standing.

For larger families, walking is a good way to get more natural photos of everyone. Pose nuclear families together.

For example, if you have a family of 16 with grandparents, pose the grandparents in the center, then group the families on either side keeping the children with their parents.

Keep in mind that if it looks a little awkward, it probably will look that way in the photo as well. Taking more time and moving people around will ensure that you get the right posing even before taking the photograph.

Lastly, try posing some people away from the center to give the photo more depth. Facing everyone toward the center is a good starting point. However, with large groups, it’s best to try different poses so that you can offer your clients an assortment of different options.

Connect People

There is nothing more awkward than people standing together with their arms at their sides. With families, especially large groups, try and have your clients connect with each other.

You can do this by grouping the main people (the parents or grandparents) in the center facing each other hugging, and then group smaller families where each family member is touching another person. This shows connection within small family units in the large family photo and shows warmth.

Resting hands on shoulders, holding hands, hugging and tucking fingers behind, resting a hand on someone’s arm, or having someone lean on another’s shoulders are all good examples of connection.

Connecting people in a photo also gets rid of this most often heard question, “What do I do with my hands?”

For the people that you pose on the edges of the family portrait, be mindful that they look in toward the center so that they don’t seem out of place. If they are male and there are no children present, have them put one hand in their pocket. If they are female, make sure they aren’t standing too short or they will look out of place.

Chairs and Stools

If you are photographing at a venue, say a wedding reception, you may have the chance to use chairs or stools for posing.

In this case, try and place them throughout the photo so that they don’t line up perfectly. You’ll want to space them out according to the number of people in the portrait, always keeping in mind the triangle rule.

Chairs tend to work better than stools because the stool height can create really big valleys in your triangle posing if the person is too tall or too short in relation to those around them in the portrait.

Natural Posing

Once you have taken the best-posed portraits of the large group, have them loosen up a bit by asking them to do a group huddle or squeeze. This will get some laughs out of your clients and allow them to let their posed bodies rest for a bit.

Asking the family to take a break can offer some great natural posing. This man had his whole family together after many years and was overcome by joy.

Ask your group to walk around, talk to each other, and just be. Look out for the children in particular, as they’ll usually act the most natural.

This collection of natural posing will often make for the most emotive portraits because they will portray the family just as they are. Even better if they are in a location that is fun or open where they can enjoy a walk or play games.

Photograph Family Units Separately

When you photograph families with grandparents or more than one family unit, make sure to photograph each family separately and together. Pose each family together in the larger portrait first, then, if you have time, mix them up a bit and have some fun.

Ask them to play, run, walk, do a group hug, or anything that will create authentic smiles and expressions from the oldest to the youngest.

Take time to get portraits of the adults as well. Either in couples or individually.

This also helps to break up a session with little children because they can get bored quickly.

Photograph children individually.

Try different combinations with the families, for example:
- Grandparents with the grandchildren
- Grandchildren together
- All of the children of the parents together with and without the parents
- Each couple in the family alone
- Individuals portraits of each child
- All the men together
- All the women together
- Generational photos
- Cousins together
- Brothers and sisters with and without in-laws
- Each grandparent alone and together
Not all of those may apply to each large family portrait, but they can help you to add to the collection of poses that you’ll deliver to your clients.

Take photos of the whole family together and then take photos of just the children.

Make sure to get generational photographs like this one of the 4 generations of men in the family.

Wrapping up

Before you wrap up the session, ask your clients if there is any portrait or pose that they specifically want. Some large families may bring a prop for everyone to use like shirts. There may also be a combination that you missed or didn’t think of that they would like to get.

Asking, “Is there anything else you’d like me to photograph before we leave?” can also be a great way to end the session once you feel you have gotten all of the best photos.

Giving your clients the chance to make sure they get all of the portraits they want is key for you to do a complete job with their photographs.

In conclusion

Posing large families can seem like a big challenge, however, using the triangle posing method can help tremendously in getting different combinations and poses. This will give your clients an assortment of poses and keep the whole experience fun and light which will make them want to get more portraits taken in the future!

The post Tips for Posing Large Families and Groups appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
August 30, 2018
8 Tips to Help Find the Subject for Your Composition

Do you find it difficult to take photos which hold people’s attention? In our digital societies where image sharing is prolific, it is challenging to have people really take time to look at your prized photos. Image composition is key here.

So I want to give you eight tips on how to create pictures that will grab hold your viewer’s attention. People will want to stop and look rather than keep scrolling past your images.

A good composition should have a clear main subject. It might be as plain as a landscape or a person’s face, or it might be something very small in the frame. If the composition is good the main subject will stand out like a sore thumb.

We all have a unique view of the world. Each of us takes in the world around us in different ways. If you have ever been on a group photo walk and taken part in a shared image review afterward, you will know this. Each photographer will have walked the same street, and the number of photographers that participated, there will be that same variety of pictures.

1. Choose a subject you can relate to

What catches your eye? Why does it appeal to you? You should be asking yourself these things when you are taking pictures. If you choose subjects that you feel a connection with you will create more interesting photos. This is simply because you are interested in the subject yourself.

So your initial choice of subject should be something that you can connect with. My subject of the portrait below is a woman my wife and I chat with at the local market. We connect with her. I wrote about her and her late husband in a recent article.

Because I have this lovely friendship with her it is easier for me to make lovely pictures of her. I know she will happily pose for me. I also know I will get a more interesting photo of her when she is that bit more relaxed and not looking directly at me. In this photo, she was chatting with my wife who was standing beside me.

2. Isolate the subject

About the most obvious way to have your main subject stand out in your photos is to isolate it.

My favorite two ways to isolate my subject is to use a narrow depth of field or a dark background. By using either of these techniques your main subject will be unmistakable.

Choosing a wide enough aperture and having your subject far enough from the background will allow you to have your background blurred and your subject sharp. If you are using a camera with a small sensor or a smartphone with only one lens, this may not be possible.

When you have a dark background your subject will stand out, especially when there is more light on the subject than the background. To achieve this look find a spot where the background is in the shade and your subject has more light on it/them.

3. Choose your lens carefully

Your choice of lens can affect how you compose the image and how your main subject will be seen. Sometimes a wide-angle lens is better than a telephoto. Other times you will need a longer lens.

Getting close to your subject with a wide lens has a different effect than if you use a long lens and position yourself further away. If you are not sure about how this works the best way to learn is to experiment.

Try taking a series of photos of the same subject with various lenses or zoom settings and see in which photos your main subject looks the best.

4. Frame your subject

Set up your subject how you want to see them. Move around your subject and study them from different angles. Watch closely how the background changes in relation to what’s behind them. Find an angle where your subject looks best.

Limit what you include in your frame. Fill your frame only with what is relevant to the photo you are making. If you can see anything in the frame which does not balance with or enhance your subject keep making changes until you can no longer see those things.

5. Exploit the foreground

Make use of something in the foreground of your composition to draw the viewer’s eye to your subject. This technique will add depth to your composition.

Use an object which is in front of your main subject, either in focus or out of focus. This can help bring the viewer’s eye to concentrate more on your subject.

6. Use leading lines and diagonals

Composing your photo so there are strong lines leading to your main subject will enhance it. The viewer’s eye will be lead along the lines to rest on your chosen subject. This is a very simple, very effective technique.

Diagonal lines used well in a composition can also be used to draw the viewer’s eye to the main subject.

7. Time it well

Choosing the right time to take your photo can help to bring attention to your main subject. When you are photographing in a busy location good timing is imperative. Having someone walk in front or behind your main subject just as you take your photo would detract from your main subject.

Watch carefully. When I am in a busy place I usually have both eyes open, rather than closing one. This way I can see more of what is happening around me and my subject and it helps me time my photos better.

8. Crop imaginatively

Don’t always stick to the rules of composition. Stepping outside the box can help highlight your main subject in unusual ways.

In this photo of the gold elephant statue against the gold wall of the chedi, everything tended to blend together. The harsh light was not helpful. Cropping tight to the elephant and only including half of it draws your attention there. The negative space balances the composition.

Conclusion

Try these tips sometimes. Be mindful of your main subject and whatever else is in your frame. If there are distractions, use one or more of these techniques to draw attention to your main subject and have it tell the story you want.

Having your primary subject stand out will make your photo easy for people to look at and relate to. But more than just having your subject stand out, you need to frame it so that it lets viewers see the subject and scene how you see it.

The post 8 Tips to Help Find the Subject for Your Composition appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 29, 2018
Review of the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO Lens

About six months ago, I made a heart-wrenching, painful, and difficult decision: I switched from Canon to Olympus.

Now, I’m not some crazy, brand-loyal photographer. I think the Canon versus Nikon argument is ridiculous. But I had invested thousands of dollars, tens of thousands really, in my Canon gear.

However, my photographic priorities have been changing. I’ve established something of a niche in Alaska wilderness photography and the size and weight of my Canon kit was becoming a hindrance.

I’ve been extremely impressed by the sharpness and clean bokeh of this lens. Swainson’s Thrush, Alaska. Lumix G9 with Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.

Size and weight were a factor

Access to many of the places I work on assignment or lead photo workshops and tours is via small plane or on foot. In other words, the weight of my gear is a major consideration.

More and more often, I was forced to pass over my beloved Canon 500mm f4L, because it was just too darn heavy and bulky. Rather, I’d pack something more compact, even if it wasn’t as good. Leaving that big lens behind was painful, but necessary, and I constantly wished for something comparable that wasn’t so darn big.

As a result of leaving the big glass behind, my wildlife work suffered. So I started experimenting with a variety of alternative lenses for the Canon system: Tamron’s and Sigma’s 150-600mm lenses, and Canon’s 100-400mm and the 70-200mm f/2.8 with a 2x teleconverter.

All were decent, but none matched the quality and dreamy bokeh of the 500mm f4.

Spruce Grouse, Denali National Park, Alaska. Lumix GX85 and Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.

Some smaller options

Unrelated to this search, I purchased a little Lumix GX85 as a backup camera for wilderness trips. Surprised by the quality of the micro 4/3rds system, I rented a couple of long lenses for it. First the Lumix/Leica 100-400, (which I’ve previously reviewed here on DPS), and then the Olympus 300mm f4 PRO.

While the Lumix/Leica 100-400mm combo gave me a staggering reach (200-800mm equivalent on the 4/3rds system), the sharpness at the long end was imperfect, and the bokeh was lacking. It’s a great lens, but just doesn’t quite compare to the 500mm f/4.

The Olympus 300mm F4 on the other hand… that one took me completely by surprise.

A tough, all-metal housing and full weather sealing mean the durability of the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO easily compares to the best lenses by Canon and Nikon.

Six months after first renting the Olympus, I sold all of my Canon gear and purchased a Lumix G9 body, a variety of Lumix/Leica lenses and the Olympus 300mm f4 PRO lens.

Here is what I think of it.

Price – Olympus 300mm F4 PRO

Bull moose. Denali National Park, Alaska. Made with the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO on a Lumix GX85 body.

A new Canon 600mm F4L currently sells for $ 11,500. The Olympus 300mm F4 PRO is about $ 2,500.

Yeah, no contest there. You could buy the Olympus and still have enough left over for a trip to Alaska to photograph brown bears AND a trip to Africa to see lions and elephants (travel is always money well spent).

Size and Weight

At 9 inches long (with the hood retracted) and 3.25lbs, the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO is a third the weight and half the length of the Canon 600mm F4L.

Thanks to the smaller sensor of the 4/3rds system, you can fit equivalent or greater magnification into a lens while retaining the same maximum aperture in a MUCH smaller package. Canon’s 600mm F4 lens weighs in at a whopping 8.6lbs (3.9kg) while the Olympus with the same equivalent magnification and maximum aperture is a comparably dainty 3.25 (1.47kg).

Physically, it is also much more compact. At about 9 inches (22.9 cm) long it is roughly half the length of the Canon lens. When it comes to size, the Olympus is a clear winner for a wilderness photographer like myself.

But how is the quality?

Sharpness

I made this image of a Smith’s Longspur in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with a Canon 5D Mark III and 500mm F4L. It’s sharp and crisp, as you would expect.

When I first considered replacing my Canon gear with Olympus I took both systems out in the field for a week-long photo workshop I was leading. On the trip, I was able to shoot both under similar conditions. Later, when I examined the images at 100%, I felt the sharpness was more or less equivalent even when they were shot wide open at F4.

Just as sharp as the Canon 500mm. Fox. Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Lumix G9 and Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.

With a sigh of relief, I moved on to . . .

Bokeh

Few lenses can compare to the dreamy bokeh of the Canon 500mm F4 L. (Canyon Wren, Joshua Tree National Park, CA.)

The bokeh of a lens is one of the most important aspects of image quality. In wildlife photography, the ability to separate your subject from the background is a huge asset, meaning you need a shallow depth of field. The big Canon can achieve this with aplomb. Its bokeh is smooth and creamy and creates a perfect background for your subject. This, I knew, would be the greatest challenge for the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.

And it is the one place the Olympus fell short… but only just (and I mean by the narrowest of margins). Since a 4/3rds sensor crops rather than physically magnifies an image, the depth of field is the same as you would achieve with 300mm f4 on the full-frame Canon camera if you cropped the image by 50%.

Which is to say, it still has a great, shallow depth of field, but the bokeh retains more form than it does with the 500mm or 600mm.

Though not quite the amazing bokeh of the Canon 500mm, the Olympus 300mm f4 PRO attains something VERY close and just look at that sharpness! (Common Raven. Juneau, Alaska. Lumix G9 and Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.)

When it comes to bokeh, the Canon had the edge, but not by much.

Performance

Autofocus

The Canon 500mm F4 has lightning-fast autofocus. That is not up for debate and is one of the reasons that so many pro wildlife and sports photographers select that lens.

So how does the Olympus compare?

This image made with the Canon 500mm F4L was easy to grab with the lightning fast autofocus system.

This was a harder comparison to make because autofocus ability is a combination of camera body and lens and how the two communicate. When I use the Olympus, my choice of a camera body is the Lumix G9. At first, I expected that this mixing of manufacturers would hinder the performance, but I’ve been relieved to find that is not the case. Lumix bodies are fully compatible with all features of Olympus lenses with no apparent loss in performance.

I’ve found the autofocus of the Lumix/Olympus combination to be precise and extremely fast, attaining focus as quickly as the Canon.

Birds in flight, particularly against a background like this are hard for any autofocus system to handle. But the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO was able to make it happen and fast.

Another nifty feature of the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO is you can switch between auto and manual focus simply by giving a little tug on the focus ring. It snaps down, and suddenly you are in manual focus, click it back, and autofocus returns. There is no fumbling around for switches.

Stabilization and Handhold-ability

Waterfall, Umnak Island, Alaska. Made at 1/15th of second handheld (!!!) with the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO on a Lumix G9 body.

Canon’s image stabilization is extremely good, but they’ve stubbornly refused to integrate stabilization into their camera bodies. Lumix, however, has stabilization built into the body which communicates with simultaneous stabilization in the lens!

Here, the Lumix/Olympus combo is a clear winner. I’ve found I can hand hold the Olympus 300mm f4 PRO on the Lumix G9 as low as 1/15th of a second and still get acceptably sharp images. The small, easily handled size certainly helps with this, but I would NEVER be able to hand hold the Canon 500mm at 1/15th.

The overall performance winner? The Olympus 300mm f4 PRO.

Conclusion

Bald Eagle, Unalaska Island, Alaska. Lumix G9 body with the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.

I’ll be honest here, from time to time I miss the big Canon 500mm f4L. But not for reasons of image quality or field performance. Rather, I miss the snob appeal of that big glass. It’s the stupidest of stupid reasons, but it’s a real one.

As a pro photographer, the big lens was a badge of honor. Fortunately, I’ve (mostly) outgrown the need to be seen as a pro when I’m in the field shooting. Now, I try to concentrate on making images good enough that they speak for themselves, and leave the lens size contests to others.

Caribou in Alaska’s Northwest Arctic. Lumix G9, Olympus 300mm F4 PRO.

When I put aside the size and snob appeal, I’m not at all sorry to have moved away from Canon. Now, my big lens is small enough that I carry it everywhere (even on my evening dog-walks). It’s light and unobtrusive and I can even carry it backpacking. The quality is so close to that of the bigger glass, that the differences are almost unimportant.

So yeah, I like the Olympus 300mm f4 PRO. A lot.

The post Review of the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 29, 2018
How to Make Image-Filled Shapes in Photoshop

Photoshop may not be primarily a graphics program but it still comes with very useful tools for that kind of work. For example, making image-filled shapes.

It doesn’t matter if you’re doing some professional job like web design for your business or something personal like a birthday card, you’ll often need to constrain your photo to fit within a specific shape. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to do that with just a few clicks.

Create a Shape

First, you need your shape. You can easily create one with the Shape tool from the toolbox. You can click and hold to display the menu with your choices. In this first menu, you’ll have some basic shapes like rectangle, ellipse, line, polygon and a customize shape tool.

If you choose the custom shape you’ll have a second menu with all your possibilities for that. You can access it in the options bar at the top. If you don’t see many choices, just click on the bracket on the right and click All from the menu that will open; this will load all the preset shapes. If you download any new shapes from the Internet you’ll also found them in this menu.

To draw the shape you chose on a blank canvas, just click and drag until it reaches the size you want, then let go. Whenever you draw a shape on your canvas you can choose to use Fill and Stroke from the options bar. In this case, the filling will be your photo, so set the Fill as black so that your image will be constrained to the shape that you chose.

Here’s how you can do it:

Add Your Image

Now that you have your shape you need to bring in the image to fill it. Go to Menu > File > Place. This will open a browser window so you can choose the file from your computer. Choose the one you want and click OK. This photo will be imported into your project as a new layer.

Clipping Mask

Now you just have to go to Menu > Layer > Create Clipping Mask. This can also be achieved by clicking Alt + Ctrl (PC) or Cmd (Mac) + G at the same time.

Note: If you were following my steps exactly then the image was placed as a layer at the top. However, if you are working with a complex project with many layers or if you followed the instructions in a different order this might not be the case.

If that happens, then you do need to take an extra step. Just drag and position the image layer on top of the shape layer in the Layers panel for the Clipping Mask to work as you want.

As a result, you’ll only see the photo through the shape and the best part is that the process is non-destructive. In other words, you did not cut out your photo, the rest of it is just hidden underneath which gives you two advantages.

First, you can reposition your photo to best fit the shape. If you click on the Move tool from the Toolbox you can just click and drag the image so that it gets placed in the best possible way. You can also use any of the transformation tools to resize or rotate it until you are happy with the result.

Second, you can work on the shape as well without worrying about damaging your photo or showing any empty canvas because the photo is complete and untouched underneath.

Extra tip

You can do as many image-filled shapes as you want in the same canvas, as they will just be stacked as additional layers. For example, you can add text to your project.

To do that, instead of using the Shape Tool go to the Type tool and select a font type broad enough to make the effect noticeable. Then repeat the process of placing an image (it can be a different photo than the one you used for the shape) and creating a clipping mask.

And again, since the image is intact underneath, you can come back and edit the text anytime you want. Have fun!

The post How to Make Image-Filled Shapes in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 28, 2018
Tips for Doing Drone Photography and How it Improve All Your Images

In this article, I’ll share with you some of my experiences doing drone photography in my first month with my new flying camera. You’ll see how learning to use and fly a drone can help you improve all your photography as well.

Getting into drone photography

A filmmaker friend of mine brought his DJI Mavic Pro (a small drone with a built-in 12-megapixel camera) to our house several months ago. I told him that I’d been thinking about all the photos I could take if I had a drone. He insisted that I try his out, so I did.

Bad move. I probably raved about it far more than was wise. My family took my enthusiasm seriously. Thus, for a combined Father’s Day/Birthday/Christmas present (since these flying cameras don’t come cheap), they got me a DJI Mavic Pro. I then owned a drone. And had no idea what to do with it.

You may be in the same situation if you’ve recently purchased a drone or are considering doing so. If you’re still determining which one to get, check out this helpful overview. Or take a look at these tips and reasons why you might want a drone.

What we’ll focus on here are the issues no one tells you about when you do finally get a drone. Learn how to speed up the learning curve and some surprising discoveries about how using a drone can make you an overall better photographer.

Take time to learn the basics

How long it will take you to learn to fly your drone depends in part on the drone you get. With the DJI Mavic Pro, I spent time reading the manual (somewhat helpful), watching the DJI videos (more helpful) and then watching other people’s YouTube videos (super helpful).

Even if you’re a “forget the instructions, let’s get going” type of person, spend time watching some of these videos. It will be worth the effort since not everything about your drone, especially from a photography perspective, will be intuitive. Besides, you can do it while your batteries are charging.

On most drones, the controller connects to your smartphone. Your phone’s screen becomes your remote viewfinder. Let’s state what may seem obvious but isn’t if you’ve never owned a drone.

You need a smartphone to fly most drones for photography purposes.

It took me three days of trying to get the detested DJI app (just read the app reviews and you’ll see what I mean) to work only to find that it was incompatible with my older phone. I switched to my wife’s phone and voila, everything suddenly worked.

If your drone doesn’t connect immediately once you download the app, it’s likely the app/phone combo. My advice is to focus on solving the phone/app connection first.

Starting to fly

The first time I actually flew the drone, I freaked out seeing it go up so high. The second time, not so much. The third time, I stopped looking at the aircraft (which, DJI reminds you repeatedly, is the proper name for the device, not a drone. Drones shoot missiles and spy on terrorists. Aircraft are, well, aircraft, I guess, even if this one can fold up and fit in a purse).

Instead, I just watched the screen. That is much easier. In short, while you want to have your drone in visual range at all times so you’re aware of hazards (that’s actually the law in most areas), concentrate mostly on your screen and you’ll gain confidence in flying it faster.

Learning how to make photos

I posted my first drone shots on Instagram and found some nice folks out there who liked them and have inspired me with their own drone photos. After looking at their photos (I’m only concentrating on photos initially, videos will come later), it gave me additional ideas on how to use my aircraft as a photography tool.

Here are some of the lessons learned in my first month of flying:

Learn to fly before you learn to shoot

This means finding a really open space and learning the controls well so don’t have to consciously think about every lever and button and what it does. You’ll have plenty of time for making photos later. Get the feel of the aircraft now.

Visualize before you take off

On the Mavic Pro, you get about 26 minutes of flying time on each battery (so definitely consider buying extras). Because of that, try to visualize your shots before you take off so you’re not spending that precious 26 minutes of battery life just flying around aimlessly.

You must realize, however, that when you first start working with a drone, everything will look different from above. Don’t worry. As you get more experienced, you’ll learn how to “read” a scene better and you’ll spend less time searching and more time setting up the shots you want.

Shoot RAW

Consider photographing in RAW (the camera’s native format for images as opposed to JPEGs) if you know how to process them in a program light Lightroom. For me, it is too hard to see all the lighting nuances on my phone screen. RAW gives me more latitude than JPEGs for fixing later.

Consider bracketing your shots as well (if your drone has that feature) to allow for even greater flexibility with exposure.

Don’t let the initial images fool you

DJI’s RAW files look pretty bad right out of the camera. But pump up the Blacks (for contrast) and increase the Vibrancy and the images can be stunning. Overall, the camera and the Mavic Pro aircraft are surprisingly good.

Learn the focus and metering buttons

Switching between the focus and metering buttons is easy once you locate them on the controller. Both are very useful since you get strong contrasts from the air.

At first, I blew out a lot of highlights. Once I learned to meter on the right areas of the scene, my photos improved dramatically. Start by sticking with the auto functions of the camera but quickly learn and use the other focus and metering functions available.

Consider getting a polarizer

A polarizing filter reduces glare but you can’t just twist it like a circular polarizer on your DSLR (it’s a bit out of reach when the drone is 300 feet above you). You can only adjust it by changing the angle of the aircraft which isn’t always helpful when composing a particular shot.

But the polarizer does protect the lens and makes the sky pop in your images. My next purchase will be some ND (Neutral Density) filters to knock down even more of the light and glare. Because you’re shooting from above, you’ll experience new angles of light that you don’t usually get with traditional photography.

Pay attention to the weather

Wind and moisture are big limiters in some areas. I recently returned from a trip to England (yes, most airlines allow drones on board as long as your batteries are in your carry-on) and was only able to fly the aircraft three times in 10 days.

Mostly, it was either rainy (moisture will ruin your battery) or too windy. But I did learn that I can fly in more wind than I initially thought, up to about eight mph of wind. I have gotten the high wind warning on the controller (which warns you about wind, if you’re in a restricted area or are too close to an object), but otherwise, no problems. But use your own discretion as one bad gust could ruin your day and your aircraft.

Don’t fly too high

Overhead shots can become more intriguing when you limit your altitude. As the photo above of the couple reveals (shot at a height of about 12 feet/three meters), you can get great images with a drone that no one but you will even know were shot with a drone.

Play with the color

Because sunlight is hitting the subject from a different angle than you’re used to, that will affect the color of your photos in surprising ways. Some familiar objects such as trees will be more vibrant when shot from above than from the side.

Just be prepared to experiment a good deal in your editing software with color.

Compensate for parallax

There’s a parallax phenomenon that takes time to understand. Compare the photos of two bridges above and below. In the first, I wasn’t directly over the bridge and the photo isn’t as good as the second one where I took the time to turn the drone sideways while rotating it at the same time to get the shot lined up perfectly.

It seems simple until you try it. But with practice, you’ll learn little tricks on how to maneuver your drone to get the shot you want. And the image stabilization, at least in my Mavic Pro, worked better than expected. Thus, if you can line up the shot, you’ll likely get a good image.

Start with photographs

As noted, I’ve held off on shooting more than quick snippets of video. Why? Because with still photography, the aircraft is essentially a floating platform that I can nudge into position. If my turns are awkward, it doesn’t matter.

But when you’re shooting video, flying is everything (or a whole lot). You want your aircraft’s movements to flow smoothly. In my first month of periodic flying, I just wasn’t experienced enough for video. But I did ask my friend Randy (who’s had a drone about as long as I have) about his experience with video.

He noted that a) videos are smoother when you lower the frame per second rate, and b) it’s far better to keep the focus on a single element rather than panning around to capture everything at once.

Learn how to avoid obstacles

In the early stages, you’ll likely be a bit freaked out by trees or other objects that seem to reach out toward your drone. Personally, I haven’t yet gotten close enough for the aircraft to employ its obstacle avoidance procedures.

Randy tested the sensors out by flying his aircraft directly at him. He figured that unlike flying into a tree, he could move out of the way if the sensors failed. As it turns out, they worked great. The aircraft stopped a few feet before him.

You still want to fly carefully, but it is nice to know you have the sensors working for you.

Recognize the limitations of where you can fly

There are restrictions where you can fly your drone (no national parks, no crowded areas, no flying near airports, etc.) but there are still vast regions you can explore by air that you can’t when tied to the ground. Also, scenes that look boring from the ground (a wheat field, for example), take on new possibilities when viewed from above. You just have to rethink what makes for a great image.

Try direct overhead photos

Shots taken directly overhead will likely be more intriguing to you when you first start. Remember when Instagram was first getting going? Everyone took photos of their feet because they were more enamored with the filters on Instagram than in taking great photos.

You’ll likely soon grow to improve and get better shots at angles, but as a beginner, the direct overhead shot is fun because it is a completely new way of seeing things. And don’t rule them out even as you get better. You’ll still find scenes where the direct overhead shot tells the best story.

Compare, for example, the two shots of the wrecked fishing boat above and below. Which is better? It’s all a matter of taste, but now you have options.

Learn to shoot at angles

Angled images are tougher to shoot at just the right height, distance and direction than direct overhead ones. But they don’t scream “DRONE SHOT” the way some higher-altitude-direct-overhead photos do.

Also, a benefit of angled shots is that you can isolate your subject from distracting foreground or background items. For example, in the shot of the ruined church above, using a drone allowed me to avoid several unwanted foreground elements.

Photograph like a designer

Back to direct overhead shots, another benefit is that they can help you think differently about photography. You may, in fact, start perceiving the world more from a design perspective, being more aware of line, texture, patterns, and colors.

You’ll see shapes, arrangements and interesting connections you wouldn’t otherwise just because you’re viewing scenes from different heights and angles. Check out these 11 drone tips for inspiring examples of using design principles in your photography.

The added benefits of photographing with a drone

For most photographers, a good quality drone is a luxury, not a necessity. But its greatest value isn’t just in allowing you to take photos you cannot without it. It’s helping you to make better photos even when you’re not using it simply because it will cause you to rethink how you see a scene and thus make a photo.

When I was in college, I played on the school’s tennis team. Part of the training included a class on how to teach others to play the game. For the month that the class lasted, each participant had to play using his or her non-dominant hand. Not easy.

Shooting with the drone/aircraft is similar. Because it is initially so unfamiliar, it will rewire how your brain thinks about the subject you’re photographing and how to compose the image the best way. Without a drone, your photography will likely be two-dimensional and you’ll probably continue shooting in the same way as you always have.

With a drone, you have to factor in height and different angle possibilities. That, in turn, will affect your more terrestrial shots as well since you’ll see more possibilities than you did before.

It may take time to master drone photography. But along the way, you’ll likely capture some surprising and astounding images. And best of all, you may become a better overall photographer as a result.

The post Tips for Doing Drone Photography and How it Improve All Your Images appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 28, 2018
The Illusion of Photography and the Miracle of Sight

The photographic process is a grand illusion from top to bottom. Think about it. Everything about the process is visual trickery. Photography provides a reasonable facsimile of real-life perception, and luckily, your brain’s visual cortex is very forgiving and willing to play along with this ruse.

Here’s what I mean.

Your brain is pretty smart; way smarter, adaptable and intelligent than we sometimes give it credit for. Human perception takes place on a completely different level than photography (or even videography). But photographic science and advanced camera functions do hold certain advantages over nature’s system. Here’s a look at a comparison of the two systems.

Motion / Still Life

Your camera is able to capture slices of time and literally freeze motion in its tracks. Camera shutter speeds slice and dice life into instances of time lasting just thousandths of a second each. Only when we fail to set the shutter speed and (ISO) sensitivity properly are objects in motion recorded as a blur.

Your eyes, on the other hand, have rarely seen anything absolutely still, unless it is a rock formation or building. Even then, our view is constantly changing simply because our body moves continually.

While your eyes capture thousands of frames each second, they process the images quite differently than your camera. They stream high-speed snapshots to your brain’s visual cortex – two at a time (right and left views) providing dimension and shape. And they do this all day, every day. No batteries or memory cards are required.

Your eyes shift and refresh their view thousands of times every second to paint complete three-dimensional moving scenes in your mind. This is perpetual “streaming” at the speed of light.

Video

The illusion of moving pictures (or movies) comes close to replicating what human eyes perceive as motion. The action portrayed in motion pictures is accomplished when single-frame images are flashed onto a screen sequentially at the same speed that they were recorded. The process works effectively to simulate what the human eye processes at much higher rates.

The major difference is the processing speed. Specific video codecs (computer word for the compression and decompression process) involve industry-standard capture/playback speeds (frames-per-second) designed to match the processing power of various playback systems. Videos are recorded and played back at speeds up to 60/fps to trick the eye into perceiving motion instead of seeing individual frames flickering by.

Autofocus and Blurred Backgrounds

The camera focuses on a single plane or depth of field and blurs the rest of the picture. You have the option to automatically focus on all subjects in the scene or select specific pinpoint areas.

If you set the camera to autofocus, you must remember that the camera always seeks and focuses on the objects with the highest contrast ratio in the scene. To control this you may select between face detection, autofocus tracking, multiple focus points (zone focus) or overall scene settings to tell the camera your preference.

Camera focus is all about managing the blur; making the eye concentrate on a particular part of the scene.

Your eyes don’t really see blurs at all. They automatically focus on the single subject of your attention and gradually defocus and separate the view of the non-subject areas. This is quite different than camera “bokeh.” Close one eye and view a scene in the room, then switch eyes and notice how the background shifts.

The human eye displaces subjects in the background while the camera attempts to blur them. We’ve been conditioned to accept photo blurs as if they are a part of real life, even though they aren’t!

Two Versus Three-Dimensionality

Single lens cameras capture only two-dimensional images; with height and width. Items in focus are limited to a single defined “plane,” or distance from the camera. The dimension of depth is simulated by blurring objects which are not in perfect focus.

Your eyes never observe scenes in only two dimensions; they see every scene in three dimensions, through two converged horizontal viewpoints, your left, and right eyes. Your eyes adjust and shift focal length almost instantaneously. Only recently has Hollywood caught onto the 3-D trick.

Dimension, like depth, is perceived visually by slightly defocusing and horizontally shifting the two scenes behind the object in focus. This differs significantly from the camera’s method of simply blurring and softening the background. While depth can be simulated, dimension cannot be. Dimension requires a process called parallax, a word derived from the French “parallaxe” meaning “fact of seeing wrongly.”

Depth of Field

The camera uses its single lens to capture subjects from a direct frontal view. With the camera, you can also determine how much of the scene you want in focus by a managing the depth of field (DOF); blurring both the foreground and background for emphasis.

You can’t do this with your eyes. If you concentrate on an object close to you, pretty much everything behind the subject will automatically be defocussed.

Each of your two eyes sees that same subject from a slightly horizontally-offset angle, which is a very good thing! This overlapping, crisscross view allows you to see enough of the sides of each subject to sense dimension, judge distances, and safely navigate your way around obstacles. When the eye’s two views are combined, they provide a unique depth and dimension to your perception.

Try walking around when viewing the scene ONLY through your camera’s viewfinder and you’ll notice the difference.

Sphere of Focus

Camera lenses all have one thing in common. When they focus on an object a measured distance from the lens, everything else in the scene (the same distance from the lens) is also in focus. The optical nature of the spherical shape of the lens makes this happen. When you employ a wide angle lens, you can see everything in the scene in near-perfect focus.

The human eye is quite different. Our focus on a subject is actually limited to a very small radius of view, between 7-10° wide. Everything outside that window appears defocused; not blurred, but just out of sharp focus.

While our peripheral vision spans nearly 180°, only a very tight circle of view appears totally focused. The way we perceive entire scenes by our eyes is constantly shifting and sending patches of focus to the cerebral cortex, which paints a momentary scene in our mind.

Try staring at one word on this screen. You’ll notice that unless your attention shifts slightly, the words on either side of that word aren’t really “in focus.” The real magic is that both of your eyes have this agility and they both work in perfect unison, viewing the same exact spot and shifting together at precisely the same moment.

Monochrome

All digital cameras are able to record images using only the luminosity channel producing “black-and-white” images. Monochrome photographic images remove all chrominance (color) information and rely only on single color contrast (luminance) to portray the scene.

Photography’s earliest roots are in black and white photography as the development of film emulsions were able to capture only luminance (monochrome) values with the light-sensitive silver halide particles. Even color films used this same monochromatic process but added color filters to capture individual RGB light waves.

Your eyes have never experienced this phenomenon except in photographic reproduction. The eye’s rods and cones that make up the image receptors interpret every scene in full color. Red, green, and blue receptors in your eyes perform this same service for your vision.

This characteristic of photography is perhaps the most bazar example of visual forgiveness, though the eye’s rods (more receptive to the green frequency of light) are most able to perceive forms and shapes under very low lighting conditions. This is why identifying colors in low light is so difficult. Not coincidentally, the green channel of color digital photography captures the most realistic monochromatic information.

Zoom, Wide Angle, and Telephoto

You probably own either a zoom lens, a fixed-focus telephoto, or a wide-angle lens for your camera. These variable distance lenses allow you to capture scenes either closer or farther away than your eyes typically see. Your human eyes are “fixed” on a 1:1 or “real-time” vantage point.

If you want to see a subject at a different distance, you have to adjust your personal distance to the subject or view the world through magnifying lenses like binoculars.

Resolution

Here’s another area where photographic systems hold an advantage over human vision. When ultra-sharp lenses are coupled with high megapixel image sensors, the number of pixels available to publish a photo far exceeds the size and magnification capabilities of human vision. When pixels are displayed small enough to escape detection (roughly 100 per inch), image projection and reproduction sizes are nearly limitless.

Autofocus

Your camera can capture a scene in which everything is in near-perfect focus. From an object just feet away to a mountain five miles away, everything is sharp and clear. It is impossible for your eyes to view entire scenes in perfect focus, though photographic prints depend on the brain’s forgiving acceptance of this abnormal interpretation.

Y0ur eyes very rarely maintain the same focus for any period of time. Your brain stays hungry for visual information and your eyes know how to satisfy that appetite. Your eyes shift their attention rapidly to maintain their focus on moving objects.

Try staring at this page for more than 15 seconds and you’ll probably notice your eyes shifting briefly before returning to the word you were reading. Your eyes and brain have an insatiable visual appetite and a boundless curiosity.

Pixels, Dots, and Spots

And then there’s the whole pixel/halftone illusion itself. Your eyes register nature’s colors as continuous tones, colors that have no stages or gradations. A feat we graphic illusionists have never been able to reproduce. Every image we reproduce has to be broken down into minuscule particles of color so small that human vision cannot readily identify them individually (I’ve exaggerated the pixels and halftone dot sizes for those who don’t know the trick).

Something to think about

For all the similarities between the camera and the human eye, there are just as many (if not more) differences.

But in spite of those differences, we would be much the poorer without the precision of the human eye and the features of the digital camera. Appreciate both systems for what they add to your perception of life.

The post The Illusion of Photography and the Miracle of Sight appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

August 27, 2018