Category: Photography

5 Camera Settings That All Macro Photographers Should Know

This article will detail five camera settings that are essential and which all macro photographers should know. It was inspired by Will Nichols’ excellent tips Five Camera Settings Every New Photographer Needs to Know. You will notice two main themes in this article – ensuring a perfect point of focus and ensuring maximum sharpness. Both of which are critical in macro photography.

Included in the list of settings are Manual Focus, Manual Mode, Live View, the self-timer, and burst mode. By familiarizing yourself with these settings, your macro photography will grow by leaps and bounds.

1. Manual Focus

Manual focus is one of the most important tools in a macro photographer’s toolkit. When working at high magnifications, you cannot rely on a lens’s autofocus capabilities for a couple of reasons.

First, Manual Focus is necessary for creative macro photography. In macro photography, particularly in more abstract macro photography, you have to make your point of focus count. Only by using Manual Focus, can you do so with the required pinpoint accuracy.

Secondly, macro lenses tend to have relatively bad autofocus capabilities, especially at high magnifications. It becomes frustrating to sit and wait while the lens pans back and forth (this is an even bigger problem in low light).

By using Manual Focus, I was able to render the tip of the flower sharp.

The solution? Learn to use Manual Focus. With a bit of practice, you’ll find that you can focus quickly and efficiently, and your keeper rate will immediately increase.

2. Aperture Priority or Manual Mode

There’s no way around this. A macro photographer must have maximum control over their depth of field.

At the high magnifications that are characteristic of macro photography, depth of field is often mere millimeters. And, as touched on above, it is essential that you use that in-focus area to your advantage.

One way to do this is by carefully selecting your depth of field. This may involve using a shallow depth of field for a more abstract look, or a large depth of field so as to ensure a completely sharp subject. Regardless, being able to modify your depth of field from subject to subject, from image to image, is crucial.

I knew that I needed a very shallow depth of field if I wanted to pull off this tulip photograph. I used Manual Mode to select an aperture of f/4.2.

There are two settings that offer this level of control: Aperture Priority and Manual Mode. Aperture Priority Mode (labeled A or Av on your camera mode dial) allows you to set the aperture (and hence adjust the depth of field). Then the camera sets the shutter speed based on its internal light meter. Manual Mode (labeled M on your camera mode dial) allows you to control the aperture but also gives you control over the shutter speed.

I generally use Manual Mode, because I like to make split-second decisions regarding the shutter speed. But there are good reasons to use aperture priority mode as well. Whichever mode you choose, make sure that you are consciously adjusting the depth of field to fit your creative vision.

3. Live View

Live View is useful in macro photography for a few reasons.

First, Live View allows for you to check your point of focus. As mentioned above, nailing your desired point of focus is essential in macro photography. With Live View, you can zoom in on the LCD screen to ensure that you are not front-focusing or back-focusing.

Live View allows for you to make an image such as this where you can carefully focus on the base of the flower.

Furthermore, on some camera bodies, Live View enables you to reduce camera shake and keep your images sharp.

How? For the relevant camera bodies (I recommend that you check to see if this is true for your camera because it is an excellent trick), when Live View is activated, the mirror in your camera immediately flips up. Normally, this mirror flip occurs when you press the shutter release, causing camera vibration, and thus reducing sharpness.

But with Live View, this pre-flip means that, when you ultimately press the shutter release, no extra vibration occurs.

I took this handheld image at dusk, and just barely managed a sharp image.

4. Burst Mode

If you always use a tripod when shooting macro, feel free to ignore this tip. But for those who don’t like the weight or reduced flexibility that a tripod brings, Burst Mode can be a great tool.

What is Burst Mode? This is the camera setting that allows rapid-fire photography when you hold down the shutter release button. It ranges from a few frames per second to upwards of 10 (depending on your camera model).

While primarily used by wildlife, sports, and bird photographers in order to capture split-second action in the field, Burst Mode can also be used by macro photographers in order to ensure maximum focusing accuracy.

I took this photograph while hand-holding at an extreme magnification. Without burst mode, I probably would have failed to get a usable image.

Macro photographers are often working at such high magnifications that it’s difficult to ensure perfect focusing even when using the above settings. This is where Burst Mode comes in. By taking a series of images, any slight camera motion is controlled. Even if a few photographs are out of focus, you are likely to be satisfied with some of the others.

5. Two-Second Self-Timer

A final setting that is useful for macro photographers is the two-second self-timer. When shooting (with or without a tripod) in low light with a large depth of field, you might struggle to get sharp images. Part of the problem may be camera shake, caused when you press the shutter release button. Your finger pushes the button but also rocks the camera at the same time.

The solution is to use the two-second self-timer. This is a setting offered by most DSLRs which allows you to obtain maximum sharpness and may be the difference between a usable image and a blurry one.

When shooting in the evening, the two-second timer can be extremely useful.

Conclusion

By familiarizing yourself with these five settings; Manual Focus, Manual Mode, Live View, Burst Mode and the two-second self timer – you will have the technical grounding that all macro photographers need.

Can you think of any others settings that all macro photographers should know? Please share them in the comments below.

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Digital Photography School

June 3, 2018
Weekly Photography Challenge – Open Wide
It’s time to open wide – your aperture that is – for this week’s photography challenge.

It’s that simple. Grab a lens with a big aperture like a 50mm f/1.8 or a zoom that has f/2.8, and choose the widest setting you’ve got available. Choose your subject and focus carefully to put emphasis and attention precisely where you want it.

If you need some tips for composing your narrow depth of field image, here are some ideas:
- Benefits of Using a Large Aperture and Tips for Shooting Wide Open
- Fast Glass: Tips for Working With Wide Aperture Lenses
- How to Make Fake Shallow Depth of Field Using Photoshop
- How to Use a Neutral Density Filter to Control Depth of Field
- Seeing in Depth of Field: A Simple Understanding of Aperture
- Why a 50mm Lens is your new Best Friend
- 3 Elements of Getting Shallow Depth of Field Images
Bokeh from a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Shallow depth of field brings focus to the glasses here. Make your subject stand out.

Weekly Photography Challenge – Open Wide

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.

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Digital Photography School
June 2, 2018
3 Elements of Getting Shallow Depth of Field Images
Depth of field is one of the things that beginners often struggle with understanding. So I found a couple of videos on YouTube to help you out.

Depth of Field Basics

In this first video from B&H Photo, Kelly Mena explains the three elements that affect depth of field and how they work. The three elements are:
1. The aperture
2. Focal length of your lens
3. The subject to camera distance
Okay, that explains things really well. Let’s look at another video example showing the same three elements.

Depth of Field the Easy Way

Next up, is this video by photographer Ray Scott. He gives some great image examples showing both ends of the spectrum from shallow to wide depth of field and how to combine the three elements to best control your background and foreground focus.

If you have had trouble understanding how to get a shallow depth of field, I hope this has helped you get a better handle on it.

The post 3 Elements of Getting Shallow Depth of Field Images appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 1, 2018
Working with Different Shutter Speeds for Landscape Photography
There are three fundamental settings in landscape photography: the ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed (known as the Exposure Triangle). While all of these are equally important to understand in order to create technically correct images, there’s one that’s extra important when it comes to an image’s visual impact. Adjusting the shutter speed makes a big difference and is often what can make your image stand out from the crowd.

Choosing the ideal shutter speed is not an easy process though. There rarely is a single correct shutter speed but there certainly are scenarios that benefit from a specific one. In this article, we’ll look at a few different scenes and how the shutter speed affects each of them.

Working with Fast Shutter Speeds

The easiest shutter speed to work with is a fast one. Working with fast shutter speeds doesn’t require a tripod and you can easily photograph subjects that quickly pass by. This is also the most common choice for most beginning photographers as it doesn’t require much effort (and most auto functions choose a relatively fast shutter speed).

Below you have a typical example of when you need to use a fast shutter speed. In order to freeze the motion of the deer, I had to increase the shutter speed to 1/320th of a second. Had the deer been moving at a higher tempo I would have to increase the shutter speed even more to avoid any motion blur.

Photographing animals is not the only time where you should use a fast shutter speed though. In the image below, I used a shutter speed of 1/1600th.

Why did I use such a quick shutter speed for that scene? By the looks of it, the water is quite still, there are no moving subjects and there’s still enough light to use a slightly slower shutter speed, right? Yes, however, this shot was taken from a boat and even though the waters were relatively still, I needed a very quick shutter speed in order to freeze the scene without any blur from camera movement.

Use the ideal settings not perfect ones

Had I been standing on land, I could have easily used a slower shutter speed and achieved a similar look. In fact, the overall quality could have been even better as I could have used a lower ISO and an ideal aperture. However, the purpose of photography isn’t to always have the perfect settings; it’s having the ideal settings that allows you to get the shot within the given conditions. The most important is to actually capture the image.

For too long I was too focused on always having the perfect settings. The truth is that this often leads to missing the shot as you focus too much on the technical aspect rather than working with the conditions you’re given.

For example, using a slower shutter speed when standing on a boat (such as in the image above) would have led to the icebergs being blurry due to the motion. What would you prefer? A blurry picture which is “technically” perfect, or a sharp picture that doesn’t have the technically perfect settings?

Before we move on to slower shutter speeds, let’s look at a few more scenarios where a fast shutter speed is recommended:
- When photographing handheld.
- Photographing quickly moving subjects.
- When aiming to freeze motion.
- When photographing from a vehicle.
Working with Slow Shutter Speeds

In landscape photography, the difference between slow shutter speeds is much bigger than between fast shutter speeds. While you won’t see a huge difference between 1/320th of a second and 1/640th of a second (in most cases) you may see a big difference between 10 seconds and 60 seconds. Because of this, I’ll split this section in two parts: less than 30 seconds, and more than 30 seconds (Bulb Mode).

The definition of a long exposure is somewhat vague but in my Ultimate Guide to Long Exposure Photography eBook, I describe is at the shutter speed where you no longer can capture a sharp handheld image. Typically, this is in the range of 1/50th of a second, depending on your camera and focal length (a longer focal length requires a quicker shutter speed to capture a sharp handheld image than a wide-angle).

Shutter speeds up to 30 seconds

While the difference between a 1 second and 30-second shutter speed is big, it’s more natural to put these together in one section to keep this easier to follow. Still, I’ll try to break it up a little to give you an idea of which shutter speeds you should experiment with in different situations. Again, there’s no correct choice and it often comes down to your preference and the tools you’ve got to work with.

When photographing beaches and seascapes where waves are crashing onto the shore or forming around rocks, I often work with a shutter speed of 0.5-1 second. I find that this creates a nice blur in the water while still keeping enough texture. A slower shutter speed such as 8 seconds blurs the water but not enough to give it the “silky” effect you often see with long exposure photography (we’ll come back to that in a bit).

This also applies when photographing waterfalls and rivers. I tend to use a semi-slow shutter speed rather than an ultra-slow shutter speed when working with these scenes, as I prefer to keep some textures in the water.

As you lengthen the shutter speed you’ll see that moving elements become more and more blurry. In the image below, I used a shutter speed of 20 seconds to blur the water and give some motion to the sky. If you look at the clouds, you can see that they have been moving and it’s starting to have the “dragged sky” effect.

Keep in mind that the speed of the clouds determine how slow the shutter speed needs to be in order to pick up this motion. When clouds are moving quickly you can pick up their motion even with a shutter speed of 5-10 seconds, but to really get the “dragged sky” effect you often need to use a shutter speed (or exposure time) longer than 30 seconds.

Shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds (Bulb Mode)

In order to achieve a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds you most likely need to activate Bulb Mode.

When I first got into long exposure photography and purchased my first 10-Stop ND filters, I immediately got hooked on these ultra-slow shutter speeds. I’ll admit that I don’t do as much of it anymore (as it rarely fits with the vision I have for most locations) but it’s certainly a lot of fun to play with.

The main reason to use a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds for landscape photography is to achieve the “dragged sky” effect and to completely blur out moving elements such as water. It can also be a good way to remove people from your images (if they walk around during your 2-3 minute exposure they most likely “disappear”).

For the image above I used a shutter speed of 180 seconds. As you can see, this has completely blurred the water and the sky is dragged across the frame.

Conclusion

Working with longer exposures can be a lot of fun but it’s not something that’s always beneficial. For example, when photographing a scene that doesn’t have any moving elements (and no clouds), there’s no need to use an ultra slow shutter speed, as it will most likely look exactly the same with a slower one.

So knowing how to select the best or most appropriate shutter speed takes practice, and comes down to what you want to achieve in your image.

For more information about this and other aspects of this type of photography, check out my Ultimate Guide to Long Exposure Photography eBook,

The post Working with Different Shutter Speeds for Landscape Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 1, 2018
5 Common Camera Setting Mistakes Made by Newbie Photographers

Photography is a process of constant learning, so it’s only natural to make mistakes along the way. But with a little bit of advice from those who have been there already, fledgling photographers can avoid a few common camera setting mistakes and focus on bigger and better things. Here are a few tips and tricks I learned early on that will help you get stuck into quality image making.

1 – Leaving image stabilization on when using a tripod

Image stabilization is a handy device that can reduce camera shake and improve image quality when it’s used properly. When activated, image stabilization counteracts slight movements of the camera to help reduce blur in your photos. It can be so effective that cameras and lenses equipped with the system allow you to use a shutter speed of between three and five stops slower than cameras without the feature.

This makes for sharper images in lower light conditions. Sounds great right? Well yes, but not all the time. In fact, when image stabilization is used with a tripod, it can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help.

If your camera is already set up on a tripod, it should be steady enough by itself. In this case, with the image stabilization left on, the system may try to compensate for minuscule vibrations that wouldn’t otherwise have an effect on the image, increasing blur rather than reducing it.

Check your camera or lens user manual to learn how to switch the system off while shooting with a tripod and you’ll get much sharper images. Just don’t forget to turn it on again when you are going to hand-hold the camera.

In this example, you can see the difference in sharpness between the photograph taken with Image Stabilization on and the photograph taken with IS off. Notice that the photograph with IS off is sharper, with greater contrast.

2 – Using the wrong autofocus mode

When I started out in photography, I remember struggling to properly focus on a subject in my frame, often leaving the camera to select a point at random and hoping for the best. At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of different autofocus modes.

Autofocus offers several different modes which you can select. These are One-Shot AF (Canon)/AF-S (Nikon), AI Servo AF (Canon)/AF-C (Nikon), and final AI Focus (Canon) and AF-A (Nikon).

Probably the most commonly used focus mode is the One-Shot/Single-Servo option. It is the best choice for stationary subjects and serves as the standard setting on your camera. For this setting, the autofocus system achieves focus and then locks that setting in until the shutter is actuated. Once locked, you are assured that your subject will be sharply focused.

AI Servo/AF-C, on the other hand, focuses the lens continuously, which makes it ideal for tracking a moving subject. In this focus mode, the camera will let you take a picture at any time, even if the subject isn’t in focus. This mode is the best choice when you have a moving subject like children, animals, shooting sports, birds, etc.

You can change your focus mode in the quick control panel (this shows the Canon options).

Many cameras also offer a third autofocus mode: AI Focus (Canon) or AF-A (Nikon). This mode attempts to automatically detect whether the subject is stationary or moving and sets the focus mode depending on the situation. However, AI Focus isn’t as reliable as the other two dedicated settings, so it’s best to deliberately select between One-Shot/AF-S or AI Servo/AF-C where possible.

AI Servo/AF-C focus mode is ideal for photographing moving subjects.

3 – Not shooting in RAW format

For much of my early photography, I shot in jpeg. It was a familiar file format, so I just went with it. Only later did I discovered what I was missing out on. JPEG files are processed by the camera. That means that while settings like color temperature and exposure are set based on your camera settings, the camera will process the image to adjust blacks, contrast, brightness, noise reduction and sharpening. The file will then be compressed into a JPEG.

But because the image has been edited, compressed and then saved as a JPEG, information in the original photograph gets discarded and cannot be recovered. This limits how much editing you can do with the image in post-production.

Advantages of RAW format

RAW files, on the other hand, are uncompressed and unprocessed. Although they come out looking flatter and darker than JPEG images, they retain all the information recorded in the original image. This allows for a lot more flexibility in post-production, allowing you to take full control over adjustments that you want to apply to a photograph.

Shooting in JPEG can be useful for happy-snaps or circumstances where output doesn’t need to be as higher quality. Otherwise, for professional-grade imagery, you want to shoot in camera RAW. And if you aren’t sure, it is possible to shoot both at the same time – just make sure you have an extra CF card or two on hand.

You can see that the unedited, uncompressed RAW image is a lot flatter than the JPEG because it retains all the information of the original shot. Only after processing will the RAW image match or surpass the look of the JPG.

4 – Always shooting in automatic mode

Automatic exposure mode means that the shutter speed, aperture and ISO are set automatically by the camera for a given situation, leaving you to depress the shutter button and move onto the next shot. But what if you want to take more control over your images?

The biggest advantage of shooting in manual mode (or shutter/aperture priority mode) over automatic is creative control. Plus, the camera doesn’t always get the algorithm for exposure right, so you can end up with underexposed or overexposed images.

Choose a semi-automatic mode instead

You don’t have to shoot fully manual to take better control of your images either. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes allow you to select and adjust either your aperture or shutter speed while the camera compensates to give you the right exposure.

Auto shooting mode.

By using Aperture Priority, you have much more control over the depth of field in your image, dictating how much of the image is in sharp focus. This is helpful for many genres from portraiture to landscape photography, changing the dynamic of your images depending on the situation and how deep you want your photographs to look.

As for using Shutter Priority, being able to take control of the motion in an image allows for a lot more creative leeway. Motion blur has long been used to make images more dynamic. Think waterfalls with smooth flowing water and time-lapse cityscapes, as well as intentional camera movement.

While Automatic exposure mode is useful and often effective, relying only on Auto is allowing your creative photographic potential go to waste. Experimenting with shooting in full Manual or Shutter or Aperture Priority Mode means that you can truly get to know your camera and exploit its artistic possibilities.

5 – Not backing up files

We have a saying in Australia; “She’ll be right”. The term asserts that whatever is wrong will right itself with time. It’s both an optimistic and an apathetic outlook, and when it comes to photography, it can be the start of a spiral into digital file oblivion. I’m talking about backing up files.

Okay, so it isn’t technically an in-camera setting mistake, but photography has an enormous output of content that needs to be maintained so that it is as fresh as the day it was created.

From day one, “she’ll be right” just doesn’t cut it. If you only have one copy of your images stored on a hard drive, and that hard drive fails, (as they often do) then you’ll completely lose all your work. Forever! The easy solution is to have a second or even third copy of your images stored somewhere else, either on an external hard drive or cloud storage service.

Make the investment now and you’ll thank yourself later.

An old favorite, this image is backed up on two separate hard drives!

Conclusion

Starting out in photography can sometimes seem like a daunting task – there’s so much to learn! But photographers, for the most part, are a friendly bunch. We’re happy to pass on the tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way.

By doing your research, there are plenty of ways to dig into photography, avoiding common mistakes, and delve into the world of photography with confidence!

The post 5 Common Camera Setting Mistakes Made by Newbie Photographers appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 1, 2018
You Should See what You’re Missing – Disadvantages of Shooting JPGs

In this article, learn about some of the disadvantages of shooting JPGs. It’s easy to see issues when they are in plain sight, but it’s much more difficult to see things when they are hidden. This situation applies to photographic images containing deep shadows and bright highlights.

When the tonal balance of a scene is unbalanced, some of the critical detail and even emotion of the photo can get lost in the process. The balance and distinction of all five tone-zones (highlight, quarter, middle, three-quarter, and shadow) are critical to image clarity.

Detail

The above shot was captured in Dresden Germany while my camera was in Manual Mode (all the settings must be manually balanced). Obviously, my choice of exposure settings was horribly wrong. For that, I offer no excuses.

When something like this happens and you don’t have the chance to retake the image, you can still salvage most of the colors and tones if your camera was set to capture RAW images. Then you can judiciously adjust the tonal settings in RAW interpreter software (you can see my adjustments for that image below).

My normal mode of shooting is to capture both JPEG and RAW images for this very reason. Had I only captured the JPEG file, recovery attempts would have been ugly. RAW files capture a latitude of tones well beyond the limited range of JPEGs.

Clarity

Imagine trying to either shave or put on makeup in front of a fogged mirror. This would be a recipe for disaster. As long as water droplets remain on the mirror, the light waves are disrupted and the clarity is diffused. Mirrors, like good photos, rely on clarity. And in photography, clarity is always a product of contrast.

When clear distinctions are not present in the tonal range, detail gets lost. In this case, both the highlight and shadow are indistinct. There is no clear distinction between the highlights (the very lightest zone in the picture) and the shadows (the very darkest zone in the picture).

High Contrast Scenes

This reenactment of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Atlanta’s Renaissance Festival took place at high noon on a very bright and sunny day (images below.

Original image

While the camera correctly recorded both the strong highlight and the deep shadow, the contrast was so intense that detail was lost in both the highlight and shadow areas of the image. High contrast scenes often occur during daylight hours under cloudless or even partly cloudy skies.

The sun’s light was so intense that entire areas of the image are brightly illuminated while others are quite dimly lit. While our eyes can adjust to a wide gamut of light, the digital camera sensor cannot adjust to both extremes at the same time.

After editing

While detail is the product of contrast; I’m not talking about overall contrast, but internal tone-zone contrast. For a full range picture to display detail, there must be a clear separation of these five zones.

“Tone-zones” is a term I use to describe the five easily identified tones in a digital photograph. Almost all photos contain all five zones. The only exceptions are extreme high-key and extreme low-key photos.

The same lack of detail can be observed in very high contrast scenes; ones whose lighting range covers everything from black to white. The photo below shows a scene typically found in strong sunlight situations. The drama of contrast certainly makes the picture attractive, but significant detail is missing, and it’s missing in broad daylight.

Lost in the Shadows

In the image below left, the camera’s exposure setting averaged the exposure between the darkest and lightest values in the scene. Unfortunately, the strong sunlight cast dark shadows beneath the walkways and the image sensor had no way to distinguish these tones. The image on the right is after processing.

The most common challenge that we all face is when an image is bathed in light and perfectly exposed, but areas of deep shade conceal detail. The camera averaged all the light in the scene but could not compensate for the strong shadows. The image sensor captures the full range of light between highlights and shadows. But it cannot alter the internal contrast of the overall range, as it cannot discern what human eyesight perceives as “balanced” lighting.

The bridge pictured above is a prime example of the camera encountering too much light or dynamic range.

Notice that both the highlights (top left) are completely blown out and the darkest shadows (inside the tunnel beneath the bridge) are also plugged up. This situation requires human intervention. Careful adjustments to the shadows and highlights via Photoshop’s Highlights/Shadows dialog restored the detail. I converted the grayscale image to RGB and added the sepia look via the Hue/Saturation dialog.

Your camera and your eyes see differently

The tonality problem stems from the fact that your eyes can see and your mind can process much more dynamic lighting than your camera is capable of doing. The very scene that your mind pictured before you took the shot appeared a whole lot more detailed than the one that showed up on your monitor. So what happened, and why?

Every time you focus your eyes on a subject, your eye adjusts to the lighting in the portion of the scene that you want to see. Your eye’s pupil opens up to see detail in darker areas and closes (like the aperture in your lens) down to filter out the extremely bright light. Your eye has a distinct advantage over a digital camera though because it adapts to the lighting in each portion of the scene almost instantly.

When your attention shifts slightly, your eye adjusts to render the lighting perfectly. Well, almost perfectly. You still have limitations such as you can’t stare directly into the sun and see detail and you can’t distinguish serious detail under moonlight, but you get the idea.

This visual acclimation happens constantly and quite automatically because your eyes see real life pretty much the same way that a video captures motion; scores of individual “still” shots projected onto your mind every second. They appear and are adjusted by your mind so quickly that you don’t even notice that it happens.

Your camera is at a disadvantage

Your camera, on the other hand, captures one frozen moment of time for each picture. And since the camera cannot adjust to different areas of the scene individually, the current exposure setting only captures as much light range as it can within a single shot. Your camera’s limitations are determined largely by the ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings that you dialed in at the time the shot was captured.

This is in addition to the disadvantages of shooting JPGs.

While your camera does have limitations, there are adjustments you can make to both the internal and overall contrast of each image. Making these adjustments will bring your photos much closer in appearance to what your mind perceived when you clicked the shutter.

Low Contrast and Bad Color Balance

No matter how advanced your camera or how experienced a photographer you are, occasionally you end up with an exposure dud like this one. If the subject is important enough, you’ve got to find a way to rescue and restore the image to its full tonal range, color balance, and detail. The interior lighting of this centuries-old castle chapel was mixed and dark.

Your major adjustments are Hue, Saturation, and Luminance. To make the most of these tools I strongly suggest that you capture your images in RAW format and adjust them in a RAW interpreter (Lightroom, Camera Raw, Exposure X-3, ON1 Photo Raw, etc.). The major controls are very similar in each of these packages.

Conclusion

So do not ever be satisfied with what first appears on your monitor. If you captured the image in RAW format, you’ve recorded all the color and light information possible. On the other hand, if you only saved a JPEG file, your adjustments will be quite limited. Learn to move colors and tones around in your RAW images to see what your missing.

Push pixels around and stay focused.

The post You Should See what You’re Missing – Disadvantages of Shooting JPGs appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 31, 2018
5 Landscape Photography Mistakes That Keep Your Images From Standing Out

Shooting landscapes is one of the most popular genres of photography. Photographs of landscapes typically capture the presence of nature and can inspire you. Outside towns and cities, you are surrounded by beautiful scenery. However, taking a good photo of those epic views is not as easy as you think. Are you making these landscape photography mistakes?

Here are some tips to help you uncover why your landscape photos are not working for you and how you can turn unsatisfying pictures into your best ever images.

1. Including too much detail in the frame

Have you ever been on an amazing trip, gazed at a glorious landscape and captured the incredible scenery on camera only to find out your picture doesn’t stand out? There are several reasons why this is happening.

Including too much in the frame is one of the reasons why your photograph is not appealing to you. Perhaps the trees you have included are overwhelming the scene and making the view too broad. If so, eliminate these objects from the frame. Crop inwards slightly and simplify the field of view.

2. Wonky horizons

One common mistake some photographers regularly make is to capture a scene with uneven horizon levels. You can become so engrossed in enjoying a breathtaking view that you can overlook this aspect.

Make sure you pay attention to ensuring the horizon line is straight when photographing your next landscape image. Don’t leave it until you get home to find out that your pictures are unbalanced or crooked.

3. Taking the picture without thinking

Another mistake people make when photographing landscapes is to start snapping away without giving any thought as to what they are capturing. It is easy to get carried away with an incredible view in front of you. But if you take the time to consider why your photographs are not working for you, your results will improve.

Take a view of the location with just your eyes, think what you would like to capture, and then take your photo. This approach of “seeing the scene” first can help you to take better pictures rather than just picking up your camera and taking a shot without thinking about what you are photographing.

4. Shooting flat, uninteresting scenes

Imagine your dream landscape scene is right in front of you. You’re standing at the top of a magical mountain, alongside a beautiful flowing river, or above some rolling hills in the countryside, for example, and you start photographing the beautiful view.

When you check your images you discover they look dull and uninteresting. So you ask yourself why they are not standing out?

A major factor that can make or break an image of that stunning panorama is light. Without directional sunlight in your shots, the images can look flat and lifeless with few textures and tones. Below is an image where the sun catching the hills adds warmth to the image to make it more interesting.

On your next landscape photography trip, I recommend paying attention to the light and trying to take pictures of more illuminated scenes. I suggest taking a photograph in no light and comparing it with one captured in some light.

Look at the differences and see how the images vary. Ask yourself how do they contrast? Is one better than the other? What makes it stand out?

5. Including distracting elements

Once you have found a visually compelling location and have some nice light, give some thought to the composition. Consider what subject matter looks interesting and only include that.

You will not be making the most of a scene if you include unsightly aspects of the surroundings such as telegraph poles or overhead electricity cables. If you have no choice but to capture these elements in your composition, you can always remove them in post-processing.

Below is an example where I have eliminated distracting elements after taking the picture, in the post-production phase.

Before

After editing.

Editing the photo to remove the unsightly wires enhances the image and helps to focus attention on the church, trees, and the mist.

Conclusion

With this article, I have identified five key landscape photography mistakes as to why your images might not standing out, and to help you take better pictures at your next photography outing. Now it’s time for you to put these tips to the test, so get out there and capture your greatest ever landscapes.

Do you have any tips you would like to share?

The post 5 Landscape Photography Mistakes That Keep Your Images From Standing Out appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 30, 2018
The Importance of Light While Shooting in a Studio

One of the most important things about professional photography is lighting. Light is the one element that can make or break a photo shoot. Having the correct lighting at the right time is of the utmost importance. Yet, many photographers, especially beginners, tend to overlook this fact. Every aspect of photography relies heavily on lighting. After all, light is the Continue Reading

The post The Importance of Light While Shooting in a Studio appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

May 30, 2018
Thoughts and Field Test of the Fujifilm X-H1 Camera
This spring, the Fujifilm X-H1 was released to the masses. It’s touted as the company’s camera with the most video features to date, even topping the popular X-T2. As long-time owners of the Fujifilm X-Pro2, my husband and I jumped on the X-H1 bandwagon early, sending in our preorder the day it was announced.

Our main intention was to use it to support our new venture into videography. In the short couple of months that we’ve been shooting with the Fujifilm X-H1, we’ve found it to be not only a superior camera for video but for still photography as well.

Here are our thoughts so far. This camera is most comparable to the Fujifilm X-T2, which is already a respectable video performer. We don’t have the X-T2 but will make some comparisons to the X-Pro2 that we do have.

Key Specs
- First announced in February 2018
- 24-megapixel X-Trans APS-C sensor
- 5-axis in-body image stabilization (IBIS)
- Touchscreen rear LCD with 2-axis tilt
- 3.69M-dot OLED viewfinder
- DCI and UHD 4K video capture at up to 200 Mbps
- Slow motion 1080p (from 120 and 100 fps)
- Internal F-log capture
- New film simulation – Eterna
- 24-bit audio capture
- Timecode
- Dual UHS-II compatible SD card slots
- Anti-flicker shooting mode
- Built-in Wi-Fi with Bluetooth
- Currently priced at $ 1899 USD for body-only; $ 2199 when bundled with the VPB-XH1 vertical battery grip.
What’s New?

Physical Body

Compared to most other Fujifilm cameras, such as the X1ooF and X-Pro2, the X-H1 is much bulkier, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Much of the bulk comes from the camera’s larger hand grip and buttons, making it much easier to carry the camera.

The X-H1 also ads an AF-On button for those who prefer using back-button autofocus. It also has top-panel LCD similar to a DSLR. In practice, the top-panel LCD seems unnecessary, especially since it takes the place of the Exposure Compensation dial that is present on the X-Pro2 and X-T2.

New Quiet Shutter Mechanism

This is among our favorite features of the X-H1: its shutter is whisper-quiet, offering a soft yet audible click when a photo is taken.

Not only is the shutter quiet, it also allows the camera to offer an Electronic First Curtain (EFC) shutter mode. EFC allows you to reduce the risk of shutter shock without increasing the risk of rolling shutter.

5-Axis In-Body-Stabilization (IBIS)

For videomakers, in-camera stabilization is key for helping capture smooth footage. The X-H1 is Fujifilm’s first camera to include IBIS and right off the bat, we’re impressed with its performance.

When activated and used with an image-stabilized lens, capturing smooth hand-held video footage is easier than ever before. As an added bonus, IBIS also helps you shoot still photos at low shutter speeds.

Improved Video Performance

Although based on the same sensor and processor as the X-T2, the Fujifilm X-H1 boasts significantly improved video features. Shooting options have been extended to include DCI 4K and UHD 4K shooting. If you’re unfamiliar with the two terms, here’s a quick summary. DCI (short for Digital Cinema Initiatives) 4K is 4096 x 2160, while UHD (Ultra High Definition) 4K is 3840 x 2160. For videos winding up on YouTube or TV, UHD is fine. But for videos that will be projected in theaters, DCI 4K is a better choice.

The X-H1 also allows for recording F-log footage internally. In video-terms, shooting in log format is like shooting in RAW. Your log footage tends to be less saturated and less detailed so that you can color grade (post-process) the video footage to your liking later. F-log made its debut on the X-T2, but it could only be done via an external recorder. The X-H1 is Fujifilm’s first camera that allows for the recording of F-log directly to an SD card in 4K.

Another vital video feature making its Fujifilm debut on the X-H1 is 120 fps slow motion video. It can only be recorded at full HD, but the slow-motion video quality has been stellar, especially when paired with IBIS.

New Eterna Film Simulation

Fujifilm has long been known for their excellent color reproduction, even back in the days of film photography. Thankfully, that is passed down in Fujifilm digital cameras in the form of film simulation modes. They’re similar to the color profiles offered in digital cameras from Canon, Nikon, and Sony.

Until recently, Fujifilm had six unique film simulation modes on its cameras: Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, PRO-Neg STD, and PRO Neg HI. The X-H1 is the first camera to ship with Fujifilm’s seventh film simulation, Eterna.

Designed for videographers, Eterna is characterized by more muted, subdued colors and rich shadow tones. Our observations so far are that Eterna is designed for further color grading in post-production, and also to attract the video viewer’s eye to the action in the scene and away from the rest of the frame.

What could be improved

One of many things to love about Fujifilm is that they really listen to their customers. Kaizen firmware updates are frequent and they add useful features that build on the cameras. Here are a few things we’d like to see rolled out in firmware updates, or in the next version of the X-H1.

Physically, the chunky handgrips and the bigger buttons are appreciated for improved ergonomics. However, the missing exposure compensation dial is a big disappointment. Also, the rear LCD having only a two-axis tilt is limiting; it needs to be able to fully swivel to appeal to the vloggers and also make it easier to shoot from different angles.

Finally, battery life and video recording limits on this camera leave much to be desired. The X-H1 limits 4K video recording to 15-minute clips. This can be extended to about 29 minutes of shooting in 4K if you use the optional battery grip. However, the battery grip adds lots of bulk to the camera, making it less pleasant to shoot with.

Hopefully, Fujifilm will take a cue from Sony and their new NP-FZ100 battery, which arguably is the best-performing battery for mirrorless cameras at the moment.

In Conclusion

The Fujifilm X-H1 is the first of a new line of cameras that make the bold statement that Fujifilm is a viable alternative for videomakers. This camera builds on the already credible video features of the X-T2 by taking it a step further with the addition of features such as Eterna film simulation and 5-axis IBIS. If you’re a serious video maker, keep an eye on the X-H series. It will only improve more with each new release.

Overall Rating: 9/10

To hear more about our experience with the X-H1 and how it compares to the X-Pro2, check out the video below featuring the main Fujifilm shooter of the two of us: my husband Martin.

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The post Thoughts and Field Test of the Fujifilm X-H1 Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
May 30, 2018
ON1 Photo RAW 2018 – A Beginner’s Guide

When people start photography, or even after they have been doing it for a while, they find a time when they want to start learning how to do some processing on their computer. Then they are faced with a heap of options. There are so many choices and trying to work out which one to choose can be hard. One option that is becoming very popular is ON1 Photo Raw 2018.

You can buy the software outright, so you don’t need to worry about any monthly subscription costs like others are offering. It is easy to learn and you will find that ON1 can likely do everything you need to do. One of the best aspects is the community of photographers around the program as well.

Having fun with layers and the textures.

Here is a beginner’s guide to help you find your way through ON1 Photo RAW 2018 and give you the confidence to start working on your photos. You can download the program from their website.

There is a 30-day free trial available to see if you like it before buying, which of course you will. You can also just pay for it which isn’t very expensive either. Finally, if you do purchase it you will have the peace of mind knowing it is backed by a 30-day money back guarantee.

Browse Module

This is where you start when you open the program. Here you can find all your folders that contain your images. This is where you should start exploring what is possible inside ON1 Photo RAW. You can’t break anything and it is good to see what is available.

Hover over all the menu items along the top of the main window. You will see File, Edit, Album, etc., each of those has different options. While you may not use many of them at first, it is always good to know what is there. It will help you understand what is available and if you watch the many ON1 videos you will understand what they are saying and how easy it is to learn.

In the Browse module. Hover along the top to see what is in each of the menus.

An image with only basic adjustments made to it using ON1 Photo RAW 2018.

The most important thing to do is to find where your photos are located. Then click on Browse and look below. You may have to go searching, but just use the same process that you would if you were looking for them on your computer.

Again, it’s simple. Just point Browse to where your photos are located for them to appear. You don’t have to import photos to start working. You can add folders, subfolders, albums and smart albums (collections) so that they are easier to find in the future as well.

In Browse, you can see all your folders and subfolders.

Now it is time to pick a photo. Once you have one selected, double-click on it, press Enter, or you can just go to the side panel on the right, go to Develop, and your image will open there. Watch the short video below on the Browse module.

Develop

In this module, you can start to make changes to your images. This is where you can begin the process of creating the image that you had in your head when you took it. This is also where the first steps in raw processing will occur if you are shooting raw files.

Overall Settings

In Develop you can make many of the most common adjustments. Most images need something, whether that is changing the exposure, or perhaps bringing out the shadows, and you can do it all in the Develop module. If you’re just starting out with editing, the Tone and Color Mode is a good place to begin. From there you can make many adjustments to your image that will help make it look a lot better.

Overall Settings is where you can make most of the adjustments you will need to do.

You should play with all the sliders to see what they each can do. Don’t worry about going too far, nothing is fixed, and you can undo everything. In the photography industry, we call that non-destructive editing. You aren’t doing anything to your image that is permanent.

When using the sliders you don’t have to click on the actual pointer, just click anywhere you want and the pointer will catch up to you. You can slide along underneath it as well.

You will make the changes by using the sliders in the appropriate panels.

Go to the Extremes

Another reason for going too far is that it can help you work out where you need to be with your image. Take the slider to the max, and then you bring it back to where you think it should be. As you do this, you will start to understand what each slider is for and how you can use it. Don’t forget to try it in both directions.

Take the sliders to the extreme, see how far you can go. Don’t forget to bring them back.

Resetting or Undoing

If you want to go back to where you were at the start simply go to the top of the section (where the heading is) for example, Tone and Color. On the right, you will see a half-circle with an arrow. Click on that and everything will be reset.

Press the icon in the top right of the adjustments window to reset everything you have done.

For individual sliders, if you would like to reset just one, double-click on the name of the slider.

You can see in this section you can also change the white balance, vibrancy, and saturation. You can add structure to the image, though this should always be applied with caution. Many people think it will help sharpen their image, but if the image is not sharp already structure will not do that. What it does do, is give your sharp lines more definition.

This is the section where you can change the color aspects of your images, like White Balance.

There are a couple of other settings used for portraits. If you are doing photos with people you should try them out and see how they work with your images.

Lens Corrections

Most lenses affect your images and it is in the Lens Correction area of ON1 Photo RAW that you can correct that. Most of the time the software can detect your lens is, but if you use an unusual lens then you may have to add its profile or tell the program which lens was used. You don’t have to do this, but if you are using a wide-angle lens then it can be good to apply this setting.

Lens Correction is where you can fix the distortion that your lens can cause.

Details

The Details section is where you can reduce noise in your photos and do some sharpening. Both need to be used with caution. Overdoing it can cause unwanted halos and give your images a weird harsh texture.

As with the other sections, you should play around with all the sliders to see what they each do. Some will seem to make a difference, while others will look like they’ve done nothing. To really see what they do try enlarging the image to 100 or 200 percent. Some of them only work on individual pixels.

Details is the area where you can sharpen your image and reduce the noise in it.

Along the top of Details, you can see a default, low, high, and other options. These are like presets that you can use, or you can set your own and save it.

Using Detail to help reduce noise and sharpen the image.

Show More

Under Overall Settings, you will see a button that says Show More, click it. More adjustments will then be shown. If you select one a new window will appear under the others. Scroll down so you can make the necessary changes. Like many of the other settings try them all to see what you can do.

Under Overall Settings, you will see Show More. You will be given more options for adjustments to your image.

Local Adjustments

If you would like to make adjustments to particular areas of your image only, then this is the place for you to do so. Local Adjustments allows you to target parts of your images as opposed to global edits that apply to the entire image.

Local Adjustments is next to the Overall Settings tab.

If you decide that you want to make a certain part of the image darker or lighter (or add vibrance or detail) then choose Add Layer and a brush will come up. The brush has feathering which you can change to suit your image. The solid circle in the middle is how big the solid part will be and the dotted line around the outside is how far the feathering will go. To change that you can do it along the top, click on Feather, and move left or right to change the size.

The brush comes with feathering and it is good to know how to adjust it.

Along the top is where you change the brush settings.

Choose a setting that will make a big a difference for your image, like lighten or darken. Brush it over the area you want to change, this is how to make your selection. This is a good way to figure out and select the area that you want to edit or adjust.

In Local Adjustments, you can make the selection of the part of the image you want to work on.

Once you have the area you want to adjust selected, you can change the settings however you want. Undo the lighten or darken, go to the adjustments in that window and make the changes you really want. You can add as many layers as you want to make lots of changes to different parts of your image.

Experiment with this. Have a go at all of them to see how they work. It is a good way to learn what is possible. When you are done testing, you can delete any unwanted layers. Click the cross in the top right corner of each one.

Tools in the Develop Module

On the left side of the program, there are some tools. Some of them you can use straight away, other tools you can only use within the Local Adjustments tab.

Straightening Your Image

One of the questions that I get asked the most is “Why are all my images crooked?” It is such a common problem and something everyone does. Part of my answer is that it is so common, that most editing software has very easy ways to correct it. ON1 Photo Raw is no different.

The first tool in the left-side panel is the Crop Tool. Click on it and then look at the top panel across the image where you will see a small level. Click on that.

To make your image level you need to click on the crop tool first, and then look for the level icon along the top.

Pick a straight line to use in your image, like the horizon, or a tall building. Click on one end of your straight line, then hold and drag down to the other end. Keep the line along the straight edge and then click at the other end. You will see the image straighten, then just press enter to apply and crop it. The image should now be level.

Click along a straight line to make the image level.

Sometimes it can take a few times to do this, so if it doesn’t look level then just undo and repeat.

The image is now level or straightened.

Making an image straight and level.

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Removing things from your image

It is in the section, that you will find the tools you need to remove unwanted items from your images. The Healing Brush, the Eraser, and the Clone Stamp are all here. Again, you should play around with them to see how they each work and the effect they will have.

The tools you will use to remove unwanted things in your images.

Use Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo what you have done.

The first two options, Erase and Heal are like brushes so you can apply them to the items you want to remove.

The third one is called Fix, but you need to take a sample of the image to copy over the unwanted thing. You can do this by looking for an area that can be copied and then apply Fix to that area. Once you have selected the area press Alt or Option and a circle with a cross will appear, click on that area. Now you can release the Alt or Option key and then click on what you want to get rid of.

Using those tools to remove a duck from this image.

It might take a few attempts, so don’t be discouraged. Just make sure that what you are replacing the area with something that will match.

Presets

There are a number of presets that you can apply to your image. These are great when you first start as they can really show you what is possible with the program. You can add a preset, but each time you add a new one it will cancel out the previous one. If you want to stack presets on top of each other, simply right-click on the preset thumbnail preview, and choose Insert Preset.

On the right-side, you will see a number of new windows appear with all the adjustments that were made to help get that effect. If you study them you will start to understand how ON1 Photo RAW works and what you can apply to your own images.

ON1 Photo RAW comes with a series of presets.

As all the adjustments are there from the preset, you can also make your own changes to fine-tune the preset to your liking You might find parts of it are not exactly how you would like them.

The preset Firenza was added to this image.

When you go to Develop you can see all the presets on the left. Click on the different folders and quite a few of them will come up. You can see them applied to your image in small preview versions.

There are many different presets that you can use. You can see a small version (thumbnail) of each as a preview of how it will look applied to your image.

However, if you would like to see them a lot bigger then all you need to do is click the square in the top right corner of the window with the presets. It has four small squares inside a larger one.

Click on the four dots in the upper left corner to get bigger previews of the presets.

This will give a grid view and you can see how each one will look applied to your image. This is a much easier way to plan and choose which one to use.

The larger previews.

If you would like to see even bigger versions then simply click Ctrl or Cmd and the plus key. You can really see how the preset will look on your image. To exit, press Escape or the arrow in the top left corner.

Applying the preset to your image.

Moving on to Effects

One of the first things you will notice in the Effects Module is that there are more tools available. There are brushes and gradients that have masks attached to them. The mask will make it easier to make changes and corrections later on if you decide you don’t like them. Masks are good to use, but you do need to get used to them. It takes a bit of practice.

When you go to the Effects Mode you get a lot more tools to start using. Many come with masks.

Presets and Filters

Over where the presets were in the Develop mode, you will now find a series of Filters that can be applied to your image. As you did with the previous module, you can click on one, then the four preview thumbnails of the filters for that set on your image.

In Effects, you also get to use special filters to apply to your images.

You can also select the filters on the right under Overall Settings. If you know which one you want to choose then you can just select it there. When you do make the selection you will see that a new window will open up. In there you can adjust the filter as you want it. You can change the opacity, along with other settings that are used to make the filter. You don’t have to accept everything the filter gives you, feel free to tweak the options to your liking.

Click on the four dots again to get larger previews.

Over on the right under Overall Settings and Local Adjustments, there is a button called Add Filter, click it to see a list of the ones available.

Once again, you should try them all and see how they work. Try adding several filters to the same image. If you don’t like it you can press Ctrl/Cmd+Z to remove it. Otherwise, click the cross in the top right corner.

For each filter there are windows where you can make adjustments to the filters you have applied.

Working with Layers

Layers can be scary, but once you know what they are and how to use them you will see a lot more opportunities open up for your image.

The Layers Module has a lot more tools and adjustments you can use. Plus it also gives you the added bonus of being able to apply other images and work with layers.

You can change the sky if you aren’t happy with what is there in your shot. ON1 makes this very easy with the masking brush. You can make it so that you only mask particular colors, for example, so you can remove just that one and show the image that is below.

To replace your sky or to add textures you have to be able to work with layers and learn about blending them. It can be very hard to grasp at the beginning, but if you keep experimenting you will figure it out.

Here you can see the effect of several textures added and blended to completely change the look of the image.

Resizing Images

This is where you can resize your images depending on what you are going to do with them. For most of us, that is probably going to mean doing images for Social Media. However, there are a lot of other options available so you can prepare your images for printing or whatever you need.

If you want big prints, Resize uses Genuine Fractals® technology to enlarge your images.

Resize is where you can get your image ready for social media or printing.

The ON1 RAW Community

If you really want to go to this level then consider watching the many videos available on their YouTube channel or on their website under product training. ON1 also has a great community (called ON1 Plus Pro, which is $ 149 annually, regular price) and always includes the latest edition of ON1 Photo RAW as a perpetual license. Or you can buy the lower priced standard membership, ON1 Plus, for just $ 49.99 per year without the upgrade to the next version of ON1 Photo RAW. ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is available for $ 119.99 for new customers and an upgrade price of $ 99.99 for previous owners.

The entire community is always happy to help you learn. The membership also includes different coaches, themes, and topics each month to teach to the Plus community. Some of the names coming to ON1 Plus this year include Matt Kloskowski, Tamara Lackey, Don Komarechka, Colin Smith, Hudson Henry, Colby Brown, James Brandon, Jim Welninski, and Dan Harlacher the Product Director.

You will find many videos that take you through the more complicated parts of the program step by step. Dan has a great voice and is a great instructor. They are all really good.

Editing Your Photos

Whether you are a beginner or more advanced user, ON1 Photo RAW will have what you need. It isn’t a hard program to learn, especially with all the added support that ON1 offers. If you are a very beginner then it is the perfect place to start and grow into.

Disclaimer: ON1 is a dPS advertising partner.

The post ON1 Photo RAW 2018 – A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 29, 2018