Category: Photography

Focus on Photographing a Different Color Each Day to Practice the Art of Seeing

Color is all around us. As beautiful as black and white can be, color gives us variety and sometimes, unpredictability. But funnily enough, it’s also easy to take it for granted.

Over time, I’ve come up with a few exercises to keep color at the forefront of my mind. One of these exercises is to focus on photographing a different color each day. It’s great for keeping your photography fresh and training your eyes to look out for new photographic opportunities.

Getting started

Color may make up the majority of our world, but photographing it might not be as easy as you think. Sometimes the abundance of color can be overwhelming, and sometimes it’s hard to find the color you’re looking for at all! Before taking up the challenge, grab a pen and paper. Write down a heading for each color and list as many different things you can think of under each. Sometimes it’s even worth Googling specific color schemes, just to give you some ideas of what to look for.

Next, designate a day for each color you would like to photograph. And it doesn’t have to be the generic gamut of colors either. Why not try looking out for a more pastel pallet? Soft pinks, greys, and blues make wonderful, atmospheric photographs. More earthy colors like oranges, browns and dark greens are great colors to keep a look out for in Autumn.

Look for bold colors…

Humans have evolved to seek out bold coloration. Deep, saturated colors catch the eye and pull the viewer in for a closer look. A bold color scheme emphasizes texture and shape, especially within a limited color pallete.

Deep, saturated colors catch the eye and pull the viewer in for a closer look.

And a softer color pallete…

Color photography doesn’t always have to be about a bold color scheme. Subtle or almost monochrome color schemes emphasize detail and lend a softer atmosphere to a photograph.

Pastel photographs are best taken during cloudy or low-light days to minimize shadows for a more even-toned image.

Softer pastels like pink and purple can add color without overpowering the image.

Why not both?

The foreground of this image is made up of bold, contrasting colors while the background is predominantly made up of a soft pink pallet. The bold and soft colors emphasize each other and create a more dynamic image. The negative space around the top half of the image is important too, it maintains balance, making sure the full extent of the color palette isn’t too overwhelming.

The opportunity to combine both soft and bold colors doesn’t happen frequently, but you’ll know when it does. Combining the two color schemes creates a dynamic image where bolder and softer colors reinforce each other and bring the image together.

Using movement

Color can accentuate camera movement, and movement can accentuate color. It’s a well-loved dichotomy that is great for abstracted imagery.

Try taking photographs out a moving car window or bus. A slow shutter speed in the late afternoon will allow enough light to create a softness of color.

This image was taken with a slow shutter speed while traveling through the outback. The afternoon light mingles with the light of traveling cars to make a soft, atmospheric abstracted photograph.

Detail

Colour has the power to illuminate detail, adding to the depth of a photograph overall. In a good image, color is the cherry on top – the final pop of color to resolve your photograph.

The subtle yellow road sign and red symbols add detail to an image and invite the viewer in for a closer look.

Look for color in unusual spots

Like I mentioned before, finding your selected color of the day may prove surprisingly tricky. Focusing on red one day will take you on a completely different journey than if you were looking for blue subjects.

Try looking in less frequented locations for unusual colors and patterns. Or take a drive and explore a new location altogether. Changing your perspective or focusing on compositional techniques like leading lines and texture can help get those creative juices flowing.

A red pallete for Monday. Trying to look for unusual perspectives often yields unexpected results, revealing your color of the day in new and interesting ways.

Wednesday’s color pallete, green and blue tiles adorn an urban walkway.

Conclusion

While color is all around us, it’s easy to take for granted. Simple exercises like focusing on photographing a particular color each day help keep your practice fresh and unique.

Keep your eyes peeled and don’t be afraid to explore, color often reveals itself in unexpected and fascinating ways!

The post Focus on Photographing a Different Color Each Day to Practice the Art of Seeing by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 22, 2018
How to Create Silky Split Toned Black and White Photos Using Luminosity Masks
Have you ever found it hard to choose between processing an image in color or black and white? It can be a tough decision. Enriching colors that instantly captivate your attention versus a timeless black and white photograph full of texture and complex shadows.

There’s every chance you’ll process both versions because you can’t have the best of both worlds, right? Well, with split toning, maybe you can – sort of.

Split Toning 101

At its core, split toning is a pretty simple editing technique. You can create a split tone effect by simply introducing color into the highlights and/or shadows of your photograph.

It’s often used by photographers (and extensively by film makers) to recreate a film look and to create a consistent style across a series of images. In recent years, it’s become renowned for creating the ever so popular “orange and teal” look.

These days, the mere thought of split toning your photograph is greeted with groans of “not another Insta-image”. But for all of its popularity on social media platforms, perhaps split toning is most effective when applied to black and white photographs. This is where its subtle tones combine with texture and luminance to create sumptuous results.

Black and White Versus Color

Colors are powerful. Not only do they add excitement and interest, but they also set the tone for your images. By default, colors come with a little extra baggage – they’re moody, symbolic and represent a preconceived tone.

Tones such as reds, yellows, and oranges are usually associated with warm, gooey feelings of love and comfort.

Whereas the cooler tones such as blue, cyan and magenta are typically associated with melancholic feelings of calmness and reflection.

You could almost think of color as a way of spoon-feeding the viewer with the tone, style, and mood of your images. Essentially, colors can make your job of storytelling a lot easier.

With this in mind, you’d be forgiven for wanting to enhance the emotion of your photographs by pumping up the saturation of your colors. But there’s a consequence. They’re too powerful.

Color Can be a Distraction

For all of their excitement and emotional qualities, colors have the potential to be overly dominant and cause major distractions. I’m not going to pretend I know the science behind why this is, but have you ever noticed that black and white photographs appear to offer a little more oomph? A particular grittiness.

It’s almost like they have a 3-dimensional quality that seduces your eyes and encourages them to roll around in the graduating tones. Okay, maybe it’s just me.

The theory goes that the presence of strong color can make it more difficult for your eyes to detect luminance, perceive depth, and absorb the finer detail in your images. A problem black and white photographs need not worry about.

You may notice that your primary focus flickers from color to color instead of exploring the shapes and textures of the building in this image.

Removing the color helps your eyes to journey through the maze-like building to explore the textures, lines, and shapes.

Enter Split Toning

Without color, your eyes turn into luminance seeking missiles as they journey deep into your image to revel in silky graduating tones, land on interesting shapes, and explore complex textures.

So how do you combine the moody nature of color with the textural qualities of a black and white image?

This is where split toning makes its grand entrance. Applying a subtle color to the highlights and shadows of your black and white photographs gives you a slice of the emotional qualities that color can offer, without disguising the depth and texture of your black and white photograph.
Who said you can’t have the best of both worlds?

Basic Color Theory 101

Before you dive in and start splashing color around as if you’re celebrating the Holi festival, it’s a good idea to have a basic understanding of color theory. Then you’ll know exactly what colors to combine when you split tone your black and white photographs.

The Adobe color wheel is a great tool that represents the relationship between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Photographers, designers, and artists often apply basic color theory to the color wheel to create visually appealing color palettes for their work.

Here are three common color schemes you can use to develop a subtle, harmonious, or contrasting color palette for your split toned black and white photographs.

Analogous Color Scheme

An easy way to understand the analogous color scheme, which also avoids you having to pronounce it, is to think of it as a really good set of next-door neighbors.

Analogous color schemes use colors that are directly next to one another on the color wheel. They are naturally harmonious and can often be found in nature.

Triadic Color Scheme

Triadic color schemes use colors that are evenly distributed around the color wheel. This type of color scheme is typically more vibrant and interesting than an analogous one.

Complementary Color Scheme

Colors that are directly opposite one another on the color wheel are known as complementary colors.

If you have watched almost any movie in the last 10 years or scrolled through your Instagram feed in the last 10 minutes, it’s highly likely you would have noticed a strong presence of orange and teal colors. This is a perfect example of a complementary color scheme.

Brief Recap

So far I have briefly covered the advantages of color and black and white photographs and how, in theory, it’s somewhat possible to combine their qualities to get the best of both worlds using a split toning technique. I’ve also introduced a basic level of color theory, so you will know how to create visually attractive color combinations in your split toned images.

At this point, you might be wondering how to apply all this wonderful information and actually split tone your photographs. So, let’s dive in and bring it all together.

How to Create a Silky Split Tone Effect

A common and very easy way to split tone your images would be to use the Lightroom Split Toning tab in the Develop Module.

This allows you to select a specific hue for the highlights and shadows, adjust the saturation, and the balance of the effect.

While this method is extremely fast and produces acceptable results, it lacks the ability to infuse your images with a triadic or analogous color scheme. More importantly, it doesn’t allow you to control how the split toning effect is applied to the different tones in your image.

Using Luminosity Masks in Photoshop

Having more control can help you to create a silky split toned black and white photograph that makes you want to instantly hit print and proudly publish it for all to see. To gain this level of control you’ll need to take a deep breath and join me as we take a big brave step into Photoshop.

Step 1: Creating Luminosity Masks

To get started you’ll need to open up Photoshop and load a series of luminosity masks.

If you’ve just exhaled that deep breath with a, “Huh!? What is that!?” there’s no need to run a “What’s a luminosity mask?” Google search. All the basic information you need (and a free action that does all the work for you) is available right here.

Originally developed and thoroughly documented by Tony Kuyper, luminosity masking is regarded as one of the most effective techniques to control your images in Photoshop.

Despite its complex sounding name, luminosity masking is a relatively easy technique you can use to apply subtle adjustments to your images in a clean and effective way.

Several tonal adjustments were applied to this image using luminosity masks to gradually build contrast and depth in this image.

Luminosity masks are commonly used among landscape and architecture photographers to seamlessly blend bracketed exposures, gradually build contrast, and create silky black and white photographs. They work by creating a series of selections that isolate the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows on a granular level, which allows you to target specific tones based on their luminance (brightness) value.

Sadly, the process of creating luminosity masks is nowhere near as fun as using them. So, to save you (and me) from:
- Death by 100 confusing screenshots detailing how they are created
- Spending 15 minutes creating luminosity masks every time you want to split tone an image in Photoshop
Here’s a link to download a Photoshop Action that includes all the information you need to install and create luminosity masks in a just a few clicks.

Luminosity masks in Photoshop.

Essentially, having a selection of luminosity masks at your disposal gives you ultimate control over your photographs. It means you’re able to work with the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows independently of one another. Which, if you’re partial to the odd black and white photograph, provides you with the perfect system to create a beautiful split toning effect.

Step 2: Create a Color Palette

With your luminosity masks created, head over to the Adobe color wheel to create a visually attractive color palette. Note down the hex value of your desired colors, as you will need these in the next step. For this example, we’ll create a complementary color scheme.

Step 3: Apply your Shadow Color

Create a Solid Color Adjustment Layer and enter the hex code of the color you’d like to introduce into your shadows.

Step 4: Color Blending

Change the blend mode of the Solid Color Adjustment Layer to “Color”. As you do so, you’ll notice that your entire image will be colorized with the hue you selected. Now select the default white layer mask and delete it by dragging it to the trash can icon.

Step 5: Select a Luminosity Mask

Navigate to the Channels tab and locate the luminosity masks you created using the Photoshop action in step one. You’ll notice that seven luminosity masks with varying degrees of intensity have been created for your highlights, likewise for your shadows, and two luminosity masks will target the mid-tones of your image.

Luminosity masks are stored in the Channels tab.

The aim here is to apply one of these luminosity masks to the Solid Color Adjustment Layer you just created. This will restrict the effect of the adjustment layer to only appear in specific areas of your image.

Clicking on each of the luminosity masks allows you to preview the target areas of your image.

Luminosity masks work much in the same way as regular masks. The white areas of the mask will reveal the effect and the black areas of the mask will conceal it. The grey areas of a luminosity mask will partially reveal the effect which helps to create a subtle and clean finish.

Clicking on a luminosity mask allow you to preview what areas of your image it targets.

The general aim is to select a luminosity mask with just enough white (and gray) in the areas where you’d like the color to be visible. As a rule of thumb, when choosing a luminosity mask to add color into your highlights, selecting the “Lights 2” or “Lights 3” mask usually works well.

If you intend to introduce a color into the shadows of your image (like in this example), then you may find that using the “Darks 2”, “Darks 3” or “Darks 4” luminosity masks will provide you with a silky-smooth finish.

The white areas represent where the blue tone will be revealed.

Step 6: Load Luminosity Selection

With your chosen Luminosity Mask selected click on the “Load mask as selection” button at the bottom of the Channels panel. Upon doing so, you’ll notice that the marching ants appear to indicate the selection.

Step 7: Create a Layer Mask

Navigate back to your layers tab, select your solid color layer and click the “Add Layer Mask” button. This will create a layer mask using the luminosity selection which will restrict the Solid Color Adjustment Layer to only be visible in the white areas of the mask.

In the example, you can see that the blue color tone is now only visible in the darker areas of the image.

Loading the “Darks 4” luminosity mask helps to restrict the effect to the shadow areas only.

Step 8: Refine Your Color

At this stage, there’s every chance the effect will look a little too strong and not very subtle. This is where working with adjustment layers and masks gives you complete control.

To refine the effect, double-click on the Solid Color Adjustment Layer to reduce the saturation and brightness. If need be, you can also adjust the overall opacity of the Solid Color Adjustment Layer to soften the effect.

Reducing the saturation and brightness helps to create silky smooth shadows.

If your effect is still too strong then you may want to consider deleting the layer mask and repeating steps 5 and 6 to select a luminosity mask with a softer selection.

Step 9: Housekeeping

To help keep your layers neat and tidy, you can rename the Solid Color Adjustment Layer to “Shadows”.

Step 10: Mid-tones

Repeat steps 3-8 to apply your desired color to the mid-tones. Only this time, when you get to step 5, you’ll need to select the “Midtones 1” luminosity mask.

Note: When you load the “Midtones 1” luminosity mask as a selection, Photoshop will display a warning which states “No pixels are more than 50% selected. The selection edges will not be visible.”

You can safely ignore this warning. Your mid-tones will still be selected, this message is just Photoshop’s way of saying, “Woah there! You are making a selection so subtle that the marching ants can’t show you where it will apply.”

Step 11: Highlights

Finally, you can now introduce a color into your highlights.

To do this, you’ll need to repeat steps 3-8, modifying step 5 to select a “Light” luminosity mask. Often the “Lights 2” or “Lights 3” masks will create subtle results.

Here’s an example of the shadow, mid-tone, and highlight layers combining to split tone the image.

Before and After

Here is the image prior to applying the split toned effect.

Here is the image after applying a complementary split toned effect.

As you can see, the subtle toning helps to add a little emotion to the cityscape without losing the sense of depth of the original black and white image. And because the toning has been applied with luminosity masks and layers, you’re able to tweak and control the precise tone until it has a silky quality that makes you want to jump inside the image and roll around in its graduating tones.

Examples

Here are a few examples of different color schemes applied to the cityscape using the exact same process.

Warm Analogous Color Scheme

Warm analogous color palette created with the Adobe color wheel.

A Cool Analogous color scheme

Cool analogous color palette created with the Adobe color wheel.

Triadic color scheme

A vibrant Triadic color palette created with the Adobe color wheel.

Conclusion

Whether you are looking for a way to add a little more emotion into your black and white photographs or simply trying to work out if you prefer an image in color or monochrome, you may find that split toning a black and white image can often give you the best of both worlds.

And besides, in a world full of heavy saturation, smartphone filters, and HDR, it can be refreshing to strip away excess color and produce a sumptuous split toned black and white photograph.

I hope this encourages you to play with the color wheel and experiment with split toning effects. If you decide to give it a try, I’d be delighted to see your photographs in the comments below.

The post How to Create Silky Split Toned Black and White Photos Using Luminosity Masks by William Palfrey appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 22, 2018
8 Benefits of Using a Wireless Remote for Your Photography
Shooting with a wireless remote adds a lot of extra flexibility and scope to your options. Touching your camera is sometimes not practical or possible. Something as simple as pressing the shutter button with your hand can cause vibration and shake which compromises the image quality.

Being able to engage your camera to shoot while physically distant from it has a lot of benefits. There are cabled options which may be more cost-effective, but you are still limited by the range of the cable, and there are safety concerns. No one wants to trip over a cable and pull your tripod and camera over to smash on the ground!

Wireless remotes are a more expensive option but it offers up much more freedom with your shooting choices.

Top view with the module mounted on the hotshoe and plugged into the camera port.

Benefits of using a Wireless Remote

1. Macro photography

When working with a very small depth of field as in macro photography, sometimes measured in millimeters or less, you have to get your focus point exactly right to get the image sharp. The absolute slightest vibration can interfere with the focus accuracy.

When I shoot I make sure I am sitting some distance away from my tripod and I am very stable and grounded. Sometimes I even hold my breath.

Live View engaged, and the wireless remote is on the surface where I am positioning the cupcake, ready to go.

Sharper images

Two changes that I made to my macro shooting workflow made a massive difference in improving the number of sharp shots I was able to obtain. First was getting a wireless remote. The second was shooting in Live View mode, with the view zoomed in.

This allowed me to focus very accurately, sometimes on auto, and sometimes with manual focus. Then by using the remote, it takes vibration out of the shot in two ways – not touching the camera shutter means no movement is introduced. Second, when shooting in Live View, when the lens initially engages, it moves the tiniest amount. By half pressing the remote button, it engages the lens and everything moves a tiny bit and then holds there until the remote button is fully depressed and the shot is taken.

This method has reduced the number of shots taken to capture a sharp image to around 3-5 with around a 50% sharpness rate. Previously over 20 images could be taken and none in focus.

Cupcake being staged, camera set up with Live View for accurate focus and the wireless remote is within reach to take the shot.

My Canon 100mm F2.8 IS L Macro lens gets used for macro, food, flower and still life photography this way. It allows me to shoot much quicker as fewer shots are taken, and I have a much better feel for how good the shots are when using Live View. It’s a real time saver.

2. Self-Portraits

My work in fine art self-portraiture got a whole lot easier once the ability to shoot at a distance from the camera appeared in my hand, literally, in the form of a wireless remote. It still allows you to shoot using a time delay. So you can click the remote to start the timer, and then drop the remote out of the frame but within easy reach to experiment with different poses and angles.

This is also potentially useful for any portrait shots of pets or children, where it might be necessary to use your hands to attract their attention and direct their eyes toward the camera. It also allows you to walk away from the camera to fix hair, adjust the fall of a dress or veil for a wedding, and other portrait style shots and still capture candids.

My first ever experiment shooting with myself as the model – this was extremely difficult to do before I had the remote.

3. Long Exposures

My Canon 7d Mark II has a built-in Bulb mode that shoots over 2 hours, so for me, a remote is not needed for long exposure photography. However many cameras only shoot up to 30 seconds on Bulb mode, and so require you to either hold the shutter down manually or use a remote (cabled or wireless).

Minimizing camera shake is ideal, so not touching the camera is preferred. A remote allows you to hold the shutter open manually for as long as needed. Or as long as you are prepared to hold onto the button (some remotes will time the shot for you, or have a locking button so you don’t have to hold it).

A long exposure that was taken under the light of the full moon. Mote the shadow of the photographer in the bottom left-hand corner – it was so dark I didn’t see it on the shots on the camera. Next time I will know to walk out of frame.

4. Wildlife

Perhaps you are setup in a hide or near a preferred perch, with the camera all prefocused, ready to get the shot, but the critters are staying away. By having the option to move away from the camera and minimise human presence near the scene, it may help you to get the shot you want. Perhaps it might not be safe for you to be in the position, so you could shoot from the safety of a vehicle instead.

5. Using an intervalometer

An intervalometer is a special kind of remote with extra functionality built-in which allows more advanced photography options including shooting time-lapse, light trails, astrophotography, and lightning. Wired and wireless options exist and they do the basic features described in this article as well as offer more control over other options.

Time-lapse requires a sequence of shots taken over a period of time. The intervalometer allows specific control of the interval between shots, and the time period over which the shots are taken.

Light trails and astrophotography are often taken using similar techniques with a longer exposure to allow for vehicle or star movement. Because they are usually done at night, with minimal light, the shutter needs to be open for a lot longer, hence the need for an intervalometer. Plus you can sit in the warmth of your car or the tent for several hours while the camera does its thing.

Having more control over how long the shutter is open and when it is open is a key factor for successful lightning photography if you are not using a lightning trigger and shooting manually.

Learning how to do light trails would have been a lot easier had I longer than 30 sec to play with at a time!

6. High-speed photography

For those seriously into high-speed photography, they will probably invest in a triggering device, that will operate by sound or breaking a laser beam. For those of us wanting to experiment at home, using a remote and timing it with the event is a more affordable option initially.

You may have to repeat the thing – like bursting a balloon or water droplets – many hundreds or thousands of times to get the perfect shot, and timing is the key. If you are working alone, then a wireless remote is a key tool to enable you to pull off this kind of experiment and get the shot you are after.

I haven’t yet played with high-speed work so instead, have some nice Christmas lights.

7. Landscape photography

Minimizing camera vibration is a key to getting sharp shots. My camera has a custom function to lock up the mirror and hold for two seconds before taking the shot. This allows me to press the shutter button, let go and walk away and the camera does its thing. Another option is to not touch the camera at all, and use a remote, although you may also like to have a mirror lockup and pause in your process as well.

It’s also useful for getting your shadow out of the bottom of the frame, something that occasionally gets picked up when shooting with an ultra wide-angle lens like the 10-22mm.

A light show in winter that required long exposure experimentation to get the right time to get the best color display.

8. Physical issues

It may be physically difficult for to you get into a particular pose that is necessary to get your eye up to the camera for a long time. Lying on cold wet ground may be unpleasant or even dangerous in winter environments.

Your safety may be at risk for a variety of reasons, so being able to be away from the camera but still shoot, is a key benefit to wireless remotes in these situations.

Pros of wireless remotes
- Shoot at the exact moment required.
- Enables you to shoot some distance from the camera.
- Reduces vibration.
- Safety.
- Allows for creative experimentation.
- Frees up your hands for other purposes.
My Wireless remote (right) and the module that plugs into the camera (left with cable).

Cons
- They’re expensive.
- Fiddly bits that require lots of batteries to function.
- Remote is easily lost.
Summary

Since getting a wireless remote it has completely changed the way I shoot and vastly improved the quality of my work while allowing many fewer shots to be taken. The freedom to shoot while away from the camera has allowed for a lot of very creative self-expression in the fine art space. Having my hands free while doing food photography makes it much quicker to tweak compositions by small amounts.

The next phase on my journey to shoot wireless will be going to a device like a Cam Ranger, which not only would allow me to shoot via my phone or iPad but to see what the camera is seeing. That’s especially useful for my self-portrait work and easier to view on a much bigger screen for eyes that don’t focus as well as they used to.

However such a device is quite expensive, and a wireless remote is a much more affordable option and allows you a lot of flexibility to try many new things.

So a wireless remote might be for you if you are frustrated with not getting sharp macro shots, or want better control over how you shoot, improve your keeper rate, or just try something new that you couldn’t do before. Maybe you just want to be warm when shooting in wet/cold weather? Get yourself a wireless remote and enjoy experimenting with some different shooting styles.

The post 8 Benefits of Using a Wireless Remote for Your Photography by Stacey Hill appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 22, 2018
How to do Gentle Posing: A Collection of Prompts to Get You Started
Let’s face it, getting in front of a camera feels uncomfortable to most people! As photographers, it’s our job to help guide the people in front of our cameras in ways that will allow them to feel more comfortable and also allow you to capture genuine emotion and interactions. In my experience, one really effective way to do this is through what I like to call “gentle posing”.

In other words, you give the people you’re photography some basic prompting that allows for emotions and interactions to unfold. This usually includes some posing instruction without being so specific that it starts to feel especially awkward and unnatural to them.

In this article, I’m going to share some of my go-to prompts and gentle posing instructions for different ages and groupings. Obviously, you’ll want to tailor these to the people you’re photographing, not every suggestion will work for every family or child.

That said, this collection of prompts will definitely get you started thinking about how you can begin to incorporate these techniques with the people that you find in front of your lens!

Babies & Toddlers

Here are a few ideas to use with your younger subjects:
- Ask the child, “Can you give mommy a snuggle?”
- “Can you kiss daddy’s cheek?”
- Have dad stand behind you and play peek-a-boo with their kiddo.
- Have mom stand next to you and mime that she’s going to come tickle the child.
- Start loudly singing a song from the child’s favorite movie or TV show (I usually ask parents about favorites in advance so I can look them up if needed).
- Bring a bubble machine and set it off nearby.
- Say, “Now everybody give Jane a kiss!” (using the child’s name)
Read more for other tips on photographing young kids here: 6 Simple Tips to Capture More Expressive Images of Your Children

Children (Ages 3-10 ish)

Here are some suggestions for slightly older kits:
- “Show me your best princess face! Great! Now show me your best monster face! Love it! Now show me your surprised face!”
- Tell a knock-knock joke, then ask them to tell you one.
- “Would you rather eat three worms, or a peanut butter and pickle sandwich?”
- Spin around twice and then sit down as fast as you can.
- Point to your camera lens, and ask them if they can see what color your eyes are through the lens.
- Ask them to show you their best trick or dance move.
- “Okay, whatever you do, DO NOT SMILE!”
- “Your turn to choose – what do you want me to take a picture of you doing?”
- For younger children, sometimes I’ll give them a “magic” rock or leaf and tell them that whenever they push it, the camera will take a picture. Invite them to try it out! (Make sure you have a hidden remote trigger to make this work.)
- “What’s your favorite part of school? Can you tell me about the funniest thing that happened at school recently?”
- “What’s the silliest song you know? Can you sing it for me?”
Also read: 5 Non-Posed Ideas For Photographing Kids

Teens and Tweens

This age group can get a bit tougher:
- “Give me your best Smize/Blue Steel!” If they don’t know what either is, spend a minute showing them YouTube clips and then demonstrate it for them. Trust me, this is priceless!
- “Who’s your favorite athlete/author/band? Great! Channel them for a minute and pose like they would for the cover of a magazine.”
- “What do you think you want to do after high school?”
- Ask them to give you their best Santa Claus laugh. Then demonstrate out loud with a hearty “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
- Tell a really lame joke.
- “Okay, start with your arms crossed in front of your body. Every time I say ‘Go!’, I want you to strike a different pose. Ready, go!”
- Compliment them! Tell them that they look fantastic, or that you think their accomplishments/ambitions are so amazing. Make sure your words are genuine – kids are perceptive and can tell when you’re just giving them lip service. That said, this generation continually gives me hope for the future of our world, so it should be easy to find something to commend them for.
- Joke around that when you’re photographing younger kids, this is usually when you break out into song, and start singing “Let it Go” or another popular children’s song.
- “Your mom is hysterical. Tell me about the last thing she did that was hilarious.”
- “What was the last book/TV show that made you laugh out loud? What was the last one that made you cry? What was the last one that you absolutely hated?”
- “If you could get on a plane RIGHT NOW and go anywhere you wanted, where would you go?”
- “What’s one thing you’re really proud of?”
Also read: Capturing Unenthusiastic Teens: Forget the Perfect Pose and Get Photos You Truly Love

Families
- “Group hug! Smush even closer! Closer! Get as close as you can! Now nobody fart, okay?”
- “Everybody tickle John!”
- “Okay, everybody look right here at me. Now, everybody look at the person that snores the loudest! Now everybody look at the person that burps the loudest!”
- If the family has younger children, I’ll often have them play a game like Ring Around the Rosy or use a quilt like a parachute for the kids to run under.
- Sometimes I’ll ask families to hold hands and run towards an object (this works best if they’re running in front of/behind one another rather than side-by-side)
Read more here: 8 Tips for Getting Great Expressions in Family Portraits

Siblings
- For siblings holding an infant, I often ask them to look at and/or touch a specific body part (i.e. “Do you see baby sister’s nose? Can you look at it?”
- “Give each other the biggest bear hug you can!”
- “Hold hands and look at each other. Now, look at me!”
- “Can you tell your sister a secret?”
Couples
- For couples, sometimes I’ll ask one person to use their nose to draw something on the second person’s cheek. The second person should close their eyes while the first person is drawing, and then has to guess what they drew.
- “When I say go, I want Joe (the guy’s name) to whisper his favorite vegetable in Jane’s (the girl’s name) ear in his most seductive voice. Ready? Go!”
- On occasion, I’ll have couples hold hands and walk towards me. If possible, I’ll secretly give one person instructions to use their hips to bump the other person as they walk.
- Everybody say “Coffee!” (This usually gets a laugh from couples at morning sessions, but it also results in a more natural smile than asking someone to say “cheese”).
- “What was your first dance song at your wedding? Hang on, let me find it on Spotify! We’re totally re-creating your first dance right now! Let’s see it!”
- “Wrap this blanket around yourselves. Now, touch noses. NO KISSING!”
Read more here: 5 Tips for Creating Romantic Portraits of Couples

Other Groups
- Some variation of “Sally, tell me the funniest story you know about Amy!” or “Joe, tell me about one time when Zack totally saved your butt!” are usually the best options for genuine reactions.
- For wedding parties, I sometimes ask the bridesmaids to give me their best groomsman pose and vice versa.
- I’ll often ask big groups to do a big group hug, and then tell them to get closer…and closer…and closer until they all can’t stop laughing.
- “On the count of three, give me your best model pose!”
Read more here: How to Pose People for Group Portraits

Conclusion

Whew, that was quite a list! Hopefully, it will give you some ideas of different ways to prompt the people you’re photographing that will elicit genuine emotions and expressions from them.

What about you? Do you have any go-t0 prompts for the people you’re photographing? If so, please chime in down below in the comments.

The post How to do Gentle Posing: A Collection of Prompts to Get You Started by Meredith Clark appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 22, 2018
6 Tips for Aiming Low and Going Unnoticed in Street Photography

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in street photography is inhibition. Taking candid photos of strangers is not for everyone. Your demeanor should be cool, calm, and confident, even if that’s not how you feel inside.

Looking sheepish or, worse, creepy, is the last thing you want. The way you dress might have an effect. Rightly or wrongly, people will assess you based on their first impression. Think about ways you can blend in.

If confidence eludes you when photographing strangers, there are other ways of approaching street photography—ways that are passive and non-confrontational.

#1 Pick a background

Before discussing the main topic, let’s look at backgrounds. One way of taking street photos is to find interesting backgrounds and wait for suitable subjects to move into view. This works especially well if you can establish a link between the person entering the shot and your chosen backdrop.

Perhaps you want someone dressed in a particular way or with a specific pattern or color of clothing. Often, style or elegance is enough. When you arrive at the scene before your subject, the feeling of invading his or her space reduces.

The problem you’re most likely to face with this method is people stopping to let you take the photo, not realizing that they are the vital element. It helps if you’re ready to take the shot in advance rather than lifting the camera abruptly as someone draws near.

Working distance also plays a part: the closer you are the more noticeable you become. Master the art of loitering, and look relaxed while you’re doing it.

#2 Aim low

Pointing your camera downwards is an easy way to take street photos. As in other areas of life, your presence will be better tolerated if you’re not in anyone’s face. People with a keen sense of personal space are less likely to care about a lens aimed at their feet.

Even if you’re a confident street photographer and have no qualms about taking photos of strangers, some great photos exist at ground level. This is not purely a technique for the shy or meek.

One famous exponent of low-level pictures is Elliott Erwitt, who is especially known for photos of dogs and their owners’ ankles. You can emphasize the character of a pet by getting down to its level when taking a photo. In effect, Erwitt was humanizing the animal and making the human subordinate.

#3 Pick a background and aim low at the same time

By combining both the techniques we’ve discussed, the process of taking street photos becomes simpler still. That’s not to say that good results are any easier, but you might feel more comfortable with what you’re doing. The only trait you’ll need is patience.

Choose an interesting low-level background and imagine the type of subject you want to walk across it. Then, wait.

In a city, you’ll become almost invisible by standing casually around and pretending to fiddle with your camera settings. In fact, the more baffled you look by your own camera, the more innocent you seem.

This is the opposite of the “confident photographer act”. When you look distracted, nobody cares what you’re doing and they’re unlikely to realize that they’re the prop you’ve been waiting for.

#4 Cameras and Camera Settings

You can use any camera for street photography, but some degree of discretion is an advantage. A bulky DSLR with a big lens is likely to get you seen. A smaller rangefinder or compact camera is ideal.

The extra depth of field you’ll get from a compact camera is also useful for this subject matter. You can also configure an SLR to be more of a point-and-shoot camera (high ISO, small aperture).

Taking good street photos is so hard that you need to sort out the technical settings beforehand. There’s usually little time for fine-tuning once you’ve seen the picture.

#5 Capturing movement

To capture movement in your subject, a camera or lens with image stabilization (IS) is useful. It will help keep the background sharp while enabling movement in your subject.

For this, you could shoot in twilight hours or even after dark. Or else, you’ll need to manually set a slow shutter speed of about 1/8th to 1/30th second and let the image stabilization take care of the background. Compact cameras typically allow low handheld speeds with good results, especially with a wide-angle focal length.

#6 Background ideas

Photographing people’s lower extremities is easier if you’re on a slightly different level. To that end, slopes, steps, and escalators are ideal. If you don’t want your motives and character being questioned, be wary of your camera position in relation to the subject and don’t take photos that look remotely voyeuristic.

Ground-level backgrounds might include cobbles, grating, wooden boards, road markings, or street art. Above the ground, you could be looking for anything to complement the subject. It might be a wall, shop window, or an advertising hoarding.

The background is as important as the subject – you’re trying to find an interesting juxtaposition.

Generally speaking, a “fussy” background (one with lots of small detail) is likely to clash with a fussy main subject. The main elements of the picture should not rival each other.

Finally

Aiming low with your photography doesn’t sound like encouragement, but good pictures await you at ground level. Perhaps above all else: learn how to loiter. Stay relaxed, move slowly, lean on stuff, and wait.

Until the moment you release the shutter, you’re only an observer. Try to anticipate, so you don’t have to lift your camera at the final moment. Keep an eye on who’s coming your way. Casually point your camera down and wait for the actor to enter the stage.

The post 6 Tips for Aiming Low and Going Unnoticed in Street Photography by Glenn Harper appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 21, 2018
Working with Overlays and Actions

Since my childhood, I’ve been dreaming about inventing two things. The first is a teleporter. Yes, you read it right, but please imagine teleporting from the ‘Star Trek’ movie not from the horror movie ‘The Fly’! With teleport, people could forget about long queues, tedious trips and expensive taxis. The second thing I have been dreaming about is a Continue Reading

The post Working with Overlays and Actions appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

March 21, 2018
Tips for Creative Plant Photography

In this article, we’ll discuss the whys and hows of photographing plants. Don’t worry if you’re not a nature nerd, if your fingers are distinctly non-green or if you find plants generally dull. Plants can offer great photographic opportunities to any photographer. Give plants a chance!

If you start thinking about plants and the role they play in our history and our lives, you might find it hard to stop. After all, they produce most of the oxygen we breathe, they provide us with nutrition, we make clothing and build shelter out of them, just to mention a few things; we even print our photos on them!

More relevant to this article, though, they also inspire us with their alien beauty and comforting stillness to create art.

Why photograph plants?

First of all, plants are really convenient subjects. They’re found more or less everywhere, and they don’t run or fly off when you approach them. That makes things so much easier!

But being common doesn’t make them boring – there are so many different varieties to choose from, they change their appearance with the seasons, and the longer you look, the more detail you will find. It would be hard to find a more patient (living) subject!

Plants have inspired artists for thousands of years: they’re in the art of the ancient Egyptians, and the Chinese. Plants are also a central part of a wide variety of more modern art, such as arabesque, still life paintings, Mapplethorpe’s photography – the list goes on and on.

Some of the most aesthetically pleasing shapes and forms in the world are found in plants.

Photographing plants is a rewarding activity for any photographer. If you’re a beginner, you can use plants to learn more about photography: check out some tips for beginners and use these really friendly subjects for your early experiments.

And if you’re a professional wedding photographer, you can always practice your bouquet and decoration photography!

How to do plant photography

Plant photography is perhaps the easiest kind of photography. All you need is a camera and a plant, and you can start your exploration. Yes, it really is that easy!

But sure, there are some tips that can make your experience more fun and your photographs more unique. The most important thing is for you to open your mind, explore the things you find interesting, and have fun.

Some ideas on what to look for in a plant

Flowers may seem like the obvious thing to photograph when it comes to plants, but these living beings offer so much more than just their reproductive structures. They sure are fine-looking, though!

To get the most out of plants, you should also remember to check out the other visible parts such as the leaves, fruit, and bark. Taking group photos also works with plants.

Play with light, focus, and composition – use all of the tricks in your photographic toolbox.

For me, the best plant photos arise when I move beyond just looking at specific parts, and start focusing instead on shapes, textures, and symmetries. Look for interesting patterns in light or texture, experiment with black and white, zoom in and zoom out, find the abstract.

And, as always, try to evoke a feeling and create a story.

Conclusion

Do you enjoy photographing plants? What are your best tips? Do you have any favorite photos to share? I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your art in the comments below.

The post Tips for Creative Plant Photography by Hannele Luhtasela-el Showk appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 20, 2018
How to Understand Your Camera’s Exposure Compensation Feature

In this article, learn about the Exposure Compensation feature on your camera to get the best exposures.

Whether you’re shooting sports, animals, portraits, toys, snowflakes, rocks, fish, weddings, or pretty much anything else you almost always have one goal in mind. You want your pictures to be properly exposed. Of course, you can fix an image in Photoshop if it’s too light or too dark, and shooting RAW definitely helps with that. But over the years I’ve found that the best solution is to just get your exposure right in camera.

This means finding the right combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to get your image to look the way you want. But there’s another option you have at your disposal as well – your camera’s Exposure Compensation feature. Understanding what this does and how it works can help you get your pictures looking pixel-perfect in camera without having to adjust anything afterward.

What is Exposure Compensation?

Buried deep in the computational brain of your camera is something called a light meter whose job it is to measure the amount of light entering the lens. This lets your camera adjust some of the exposure settings automatically or gives you enough information for you to make adjustments yourself.

The problem with metering and the camera choosing the exposure

Depending on how you have your metering mode set up it might look at all the light coming in through lens, just the part in the center, or sometimes only the light where you have your focus point set.

As your camera takes measurements of the incoming light and adjusts exposure settings it tries as hard as it can to get a picture that is properly exposed. It might make the aperture larger or smaller, adjust the shutter speed, change the ISO or use a combination of all three of those techniques just to make sure the photo comes out right.

The trouble is, your camera doesn’t always have a good sense of how you want your picture to look.

My camera tried to make this image much darker because of all the light behind this young man, so I used exposure compensation to make the background slightly overexposed which meant my subject was properly exposed.

Enter the solution

Sometimes you might want your picture to be slightly over (lighter) or underexposed (darker), and this is where the exposure compensation feature really starts to shine. If you notice that your images aren’t coming out quite as light or as dark as you want them, you can either change the aperture, shutter, or ISO yourself.

Or just tell your camera “Hey, brighten things up a bit will you?” and with a quick twist of the Exposure Compensation dial, voilà, your problems are solved.

Most people find Exposure Compensation to be particularly useful when shooting in a semi-manual mode such as Aperture or Shutter Priority, but you can use it in other modes as well like program auto or even full manual.

In order to dispel some of the mystery surrounding the exposure compensation feature, let’s take a look at what your camera is actually doing to the settings when you use it in any of those modes.

General Notes for Using Exposure Compensation

NOTE: Please make note that when you dial in any Exposure Compensation it does not get reset to zero automatically for your next shot. You need to change it yourself manually once you’re done using it.

PROBLEM: One of the biggest problems beginners have is not realizing their Exposure Compensation is active. If you have erratic exposures, or all your images are either too dark or too light – check to see if the Exposure Compensation dial has been moved and correct it to zero if necessary.

“How does exposure compensation work? Please, tell us more!”

Aperture Priority Mode

Most photographers I know shoot primarily in Aperture Priority mode because of the way aperture affects depth of field and other critical elements of the composition. I use this mode almost exclusively, usually combined with auto-ISO to make sure my shutter speed never gets too slow, and it works like a charm.

I like adjusting my aperture and letting my camera take care of everything else because nine times out of ten it’s just easier for the way I prefer to shoot. If I notice my pictures are too bright or too dark I just adjust the Exposure Compensation to take care of it.

When shooting in Aperture Priority, adjusting the Exposure Compensation doesn’t ever change your aperture–doing so would defeat the whole purpose of using this mode! Instead, it changes the shutter speed by either speeding it up or slowing it down in order to make your picture brighter or darker.

How it works

In the image below, shot in Aperture Priority, you can see that the subject is way too dark while the background is properly exposed. This is partially a result of my camera’s metering mode but also because the scene itself contains a high degree of dynamic range and is therefore tricky to get just right.

Aperture Priority, 200mm, 1/750th, f/4.0, ISO 100, no Exposure Compensation.

To fix the problem I could have changed my camera’s metering mode but instead, I chose to dial in an exposure compensation value of +2EV. The result left the background totally blown out while giving me a properly-exposed subject.

Aperture Priority, 200mm, 1/180th, f/4.0, ISO 100, +2EV Exposure Compensation.

The key takeaway is that while the focal length, aperture, and ISO values did not change the shutter speed most certainly did. My camera dropped it all the way down to 1/180 second which let in much more light and therefore resulted in a two-stop overexposure from the original.

When using exposure compensation in Aperture Priority your camera will adjust the shutter speed to be faster or slower, which can make a big difference if you are shooting a moving subject. You might want a fast shutter speed but if you’re dialing in a few stops of exposure compensation you might end up with one that is too slow to capture the image you are going for.

It’s not a problem per se, but it is something to note and it could dramatically affect your images if you aren’t aware of what is happening. If you need a faster shutter speed you can increase the ISO a bit also.

Shutter Priority

In a similar vein, using Exposure Compensation when shooting in Shutter Priority will not change your shutter speed but will instead alter the aperture in order to make your image lighter or darker.

When I shot the image below of a duck on a frozen pond I wanted a fast shutter speed in case my avian friend started moving quickly. So I used Shutter Priority with a speed of 1/250th of a second.

Shutter Priority, 200mm, 1/250th, f/8.0, ISO 100, no Exposure Compensation.

You can probably tell that something isn’t right with the photo. The duck is too dark! I had to lighten the composition quickly before it flew away, so I dialed in a value of +1.5EV on my Exposure Compensation.

Shutter Priority, 200mm, 1/250, f/4.8, ISO 100, +1.5EV Exposure Compensation.

This image is a bit different from the static wood carving in the aperture priority example because you can clearly see the effect that exposure compensation has had on the composition. My camera kept the shutter speed unchanged but used a much wider aperture which gave me an image with far less depth of field. Notice how both the foreground and the background are much blurrier – a direct result of shooting with a wider aperture.

What about ISO

You might have noticed that a third exposure parameter has thus far remained unchanged, that of the ISO. While it’s standard for most cameras to alter the aperture and shutter speed when using Exposure Compensation, ISO is usually the last parameter to get changed unless you are using Auto ISO.

In that case, your camera will most definitely change the ISO if it needs to, especially if shooting in Aperture Priority and your minimum shutter speed (as set up in your settings) has been reached.

I had to use a fast shutter speed on this image and didn’t care too much about aperture, so I shot in Shutter Priority and used Exposure Compensation to get the image to look how I wanted. I did not use Auto-ISO because I wanted a nice clean picture, so my camera adjusted only the aperture when I dialed in the Exposure Compensation.

Manual Mode

NOTE: This only applies to Nikon shooters! If you use Canon, Fuji or another brand Exposure Compensation does not have any effect in Manual Mode.

Exposure Compensation in Manual Mode works a bit differently because nothing changes at all when you dial in a value. Instead, it’s your camera’s light meter itself that changes so you can adjust the aperture, shutter, and ISO values manually in order to get your picture to look how you want.

It’s an interesting twist on things that might seem a little strange at first if you are used to having things automatically change when you adjust exposure compensation, but once you start using this method you may not ever want to go back.

It essentially gives you the best of all worlds by letting you adjust exposure settings to get the value you are looking for, you can then choose precisely the parameters you want to change.

In Manual Mode, adjusting Exposure Compensation only changes how your light meter displays exposure. Notice how the vertical line indicating the point of proper exposure has shifted to the left when dialing in an Exposure Compensation value of +2EV.

The magic of mirrorless

I know the subject of mirrorless cameras versus DSLRs can be a bit of a thorny one for some photographers, but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it here in an article about exposure compensation.

While the same logic applies regarding Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, the big difference is how you can actually see your exposure settings change in real-time as you look at your camera.

This rear screen of this mirrorless Fuji X100F shows me that the photo will be properly exposed.

This is one of the main strengths of shooting mirrorless, though it should be noted that DSLRs can also this in Live View–albeit usually with some tradeoffs such as slower autofocus that usually happens when utilizing Live View.

I can see the result of a -1EV Exposure Compensation on the digital readouts (i.e. light meter, histogram, etc.) but most notably the image itself has decreased in brightness as well. This helps me get a very good idea of what effect this Exposure Compensation will have on the final image.

Conclusion

I used to be somewhat scared of using Exposure Compensation because I didn’t really understand what was happening when I changed its value. With a much better idea of what my camera is changing, and why, I am now much more comfortable using it on a daily basis to get my shots to look how I want.

In fact, I often won’t even change my metering modes anymore and instead just rely on Exposure Compensation because I know what it’s doing to my photos and I’m not scared of using it. If you have never used it much either, you might want to go ahead and give a try. You just might like it.

The post How to Understand Your Camera’s Exposure Compensation Feature by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 20, 2018
Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

Packing for any trip abroad can be a chore. Then add in the task of making sure you have all of the photography bits and pieces you need, and it’s enough to send your head spinning. Thankfully there is a cure for this craziness: The Travel Photography Packing List.

The Packing List is my go-to resource for ensuring I have all the gear I need in order to bring back the best photos. No one wants to deal with dead batteries or a lack of memory cards while they are exploring the world at large. That’s why I use the list below to sooth my packing-frazzled mind and to get on with creating amazing photos.

Camera

I know it seems obvious but the camera is the first thing on my packing list. Why? Because I take time to check it and give it a good cleaning, inside and out, before packing it away. I often carry a spare camera these days, which doesn’t get a lot of action until it is desperately needed.

Packing time is a good opportunity to make sure all cameras are in working order. You might also want to adjust the clock (set it to the time zone you’ll be traveling to) on your camera(s) so you can hit the ground running.

Lenses

Lens choice is a dilemma for most of us. Bring them all and suffer the back strain of having to lug them around, or bring just a few and worry about missing the shot? As individual as this choice can be, I suggest thinking about what you will shoot the most if you want to limit the number of lenses you take along. Also, ask other photographers who have traveled where you are going or your tour operator for suggestions.

On my own tours, where our focus is on people, nature, and wildlife photography, I suggest a 24-105mm lens for walking around and city photos. These lenses are great for a variety of situations from close to medium distance.

Then for the landscape shots, a wide-angle or wide zoom, like a 16-35mm lens or 10-22mm on a crop sensor camera, can work wonders.

All-in-one lenses

My go-to lens for travel is the venerable Canon 28-300mm L-series Lens. It covers a huge range and with some panorama stitching, I can get mildly wide-angle shots without switching lenses. It’s a heavy lens indeed, but I’ve grown used to it. I will then bring a 10-22mm wide-angle for the monumental landscape shots I love to capture.

Optionally, a long lens may be needed in certain situations, but they can be cumbersome. For instance, I would not have gone to Panama and Costa Rica, lands rich in birds and wildlife, without a Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens. Yet, that same lens will not follow me to the Himalayas, where weight is certainly a factor and the chance for birds is lessened.

A Flash or Speedlight

For all my travels in the past decade, I have rarely found myself wanting to have a strobe along for the ride, especially due to the added weight involved. Yet I still tend to bring just one flash and I have been happy every time I did.

What I have found valuable when bringing a strobe is to make sure it is one that I can use off-camera. A flash that can be remotely triggered either with a tether or a smaller unit on the camera (either the built-in flash or a unit that attaches to the hotshoe). This has allowed me the greatest flexibility to add well-directed light to my travel photos.

Tripod

A good travel tripod is a thing of beauty. These units, built for packability and lightweight, have been following me on more and more trips abroad.

My main issue with packing a full-size tripod, even if it is carbon fiber, is the need to take larger luggage. The legs of a super sturdy tripod are often longer, even when broken down, than the luggage I wish to take.

It’s a balancing act and it matters what you intend to shoot. If you have space, bring the monster tripod, especially if you are accustomed to hauling it around with you near home. If you have limited space, but still want stability in your landscape or astrophotography shots, consider something along the lines of the MeFOTO Globetrotter. It packs small, can double as a monopod and has a fully functional ball head.

Power Strip

Power strips are great for travel and there are a variety of options. I prefer a brand where the cord is easy to store and the strip comes with two USB ports. The two outlets in the power strip are meant for a variety of international plugs so it’s easy to share when you find the outlet at the airport overloaded. I’ve done this more than once and was able to get a charge when I couldn’t have without a power strip.

WARNING: See the next section about converters because it’s important to make sure the power strip is set up for universal power. I once had a strip with USB ports go, “Pop!” and puff smoke arose when I didn’t realize it was only set for US power and I was using it in India. Know before you go!

Chargers, Adapters, and Converters

Almost any charger from a major manufacturer these days will work on what’s known as “Universal Power”. They have an input range that straddles 110V-240V and 50Mhz-60Mhz. This fits almost any AC power around the world. If your charger is not set up for Universal Power (check the charger itself for those phrases above printed somewhere on its label), then you need a converter.

A converter will change the power coming out of the wall in your hotel to the power your charger needs. This stops things from literally catching fire.

Different than a converter is an adapter. All it does is makes the plug on your charger fit the wall socket in your hotel. There is a handy guide on the Internet that lists the types of plugs in use around the world, by country, so you can see if your plug will fit.

If not, I’d suggest picking up either a small adapter specific to your host country or a universal adapter that will serve you for almost any country around the world for decades to come.

Memory cards

How many memory cards should you bring? Oh boy, that’s the big question. I’m sure if we ran a poll we’d have a huge range of answers. To help in planning, I take a per diem method and figure out what my average has been on previous trips, per day. I then multiply that by the number of days I’ll be gone to get a total number of photos I estimate that I’ll take over the duration of the trip.

Next, take the total (let’s say 4000 photos) and multiply it by the average size of a photo from your camera. Mine is about 24MB, so for 4000 images, I’d need 96,000MB or roughly 96GB. I then throw in an extra card, just in case. In this example, I will bring four 36GB cards and call it good. Especially if I am going to a country where I know it will be easy to buy more.

If you shoot a lot of videos, you should do the same calculations for video and add the two together.

Lens Cleaning Kit

You can’t get a clear shot with a dirty lens and a proper cleaning is vital. We cover the basics of a simple and portable kit in our article, How Should I Clean My DSLR’s Lens?, and I’d also include a sensor brush if you are comfortable with in-field sensor cleaning.

Filters

Most of us own and carry a circular polarizing filter and they certainly have earned a solid reputation. So throw one in your bag if you are familiar with them.

Next, include a graduated neutral density (GND) filter unless you are proficient at bracketing your shots and merging them artfully in your computer later. A GND helps in situations where there is a large difference between the lighting in a scene. They will slightly darken a sky so it won’t blow out when compared to a darker foreground.

Lastly, I’d suggest a quality neutral density filter, maybe a three or 6-stop.

Shot List

We’ve released shots lists on DPS before and they can be helpful to keep you on track when every single thing you see is new and photo-worthy. A shot list is by no means a dogmatic requirement, but I have found it helpful to bring back a nice variety of shots.

Otherwise, we all tend to slide back into what we like (landscape, food, astrophotography, etc.) and miss out on all the other subjects that make our trip so memorable.

Notebook

For me, a notebook is invaluable for remembering the little things that go with those photos. Maybe you have a mind like a steel trap, in which case you’re blessed, but for the rest of us, by the time day-three rolls around, we can’t really remember little things that happened on day one.

Sure, your photos will help you remember, but they don’t always capture the emotions and conversations you might have had. They are also great for sharing information with strangers, such as writing down the name of a restaurant or attraction you shouldn’t miss.

I fill a couple of pages before my trip with ideas of what I want to see or shoot. It’s then an easy reference later when I’m feeling rudderless and need some direction.

Your List

I hope this gives you a good start the next time you make a packing list for a trip. It’s not meant to be exhaustive so I would love to hear what else you have on your list. Leave a comment below so others can benefit from your experience with travel photography.

The post Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips by Peter West Carey appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 19, 2018
3 Lessons I Learned by Doing a Self-Portrait Project

As photographers, we often spend most of our time behind the camera rather than in front of it. I certainly was no exception! However, this past year, I made a conscious effort to put myself in front of my own camera more often including doing a self-portrait project. I was surprised by the ways in which those experiences have shaped the way that I now interact with my clients as a photographer.

Here are three of the lessons that I learned through my self-portrait project, as well as the ways that they’ve helped me become a better photographer.

1. Being photographed is really awkward!

As I began my self-portrait project, one of the first things I noticed was how absolutely awkward it was to be in front of the camera. I initially started out tethering my camera but decided that I really wanted to emulate the way that my clients feel in front of the camera as much as possible, so I ended up simply using a remote.

The remote method was much more challenging and much stranger! I knew what types of posing would be most flattering in theory, but I discovered that when I was in front of the camera, sometimes the posing instructions that I’d typically use left me with a lot of questions.

When I gently rest my hand on my neck, should my fingers be open or closed? Where exactly should my hand be on my neck so that I don’t look like I’m strangling myself? When I’m looking to the side of the camera, exactly how far to the side should I look?

Put yourself in the subject’s shoes

As photographers, we’re around cameras and photography equipment regularly – it’s just a part of our lives. It can be easy to forget that this is often not the case for our clients. Often times, clients have portraits done annually (if even that often) and may arrive for a session feeling just about as comfortable as they might at the dentist.

They know they want to end up with images that are both flattering and capture their personalities, but they aren’t quite sure how to make that happen.

Since I’ve been experimenting with self-portraits and experiencing that awkwardness first hand, I’ve started nearly every session with a brief conversation where I essentially say, “Hey, I know that having your photo taken can feel really awkward. I might ask you to stand or move your body in ways that feel strange and unnatural to you, but try to trust me – I’m on your team, and want to deliver photos that you will absolutely love!”

It’s so simple, but even just acknowledging that sometimes portrait sessions might feel a little strange and uncomfortable can go a long way towards making them much less strange and uncomfortable.

2. Posing and wardrobe are really important

My personal photography style typically tends more towards lifestyle/documentary than styled sessions. As such, I don’t often give a ton of complicated posing directions or wardrobe instructions for my sessions.

To model that, I tried taking self-portraits in a whole variety of clothing options. I captured myself wearing everything from a hoodie sweatshirt to a dressy sweater and scarf. I tried taking portraits with my hair up as well as down, and I experimented with heavy makeup as well as no makeup. Also, I tried posing in the ways that I usually sit or stand, followed by some of my “go-to” gentle posing techniques for women.

I knew that both posing and wardrobe/styling were important, but I’m not sure that I realized just how important they were until I was able to see some side-by-side images of myself in different poses and the same pose with different clothing choices.

The long sleeves here are important to put more emphasis on my face, as opposed to the arms like the image on the left.

Make specific wardrobe and posing suggestions

I now find myself being a bit more specific when clients ask for clothing suggestions. For example, prior to my self-portrait project, I probably would have told clients, “The most important factor is to wear something you feel comfortable in. As a general rule, most people look great in jewel tones.”

Now, I’d be more likely to say something like, “The most important factor is wearing something that you feel comfortable and confident in! When it comes to portraits, I recommend that you wear a jewel-toned jacket or cardigan with a solid black, grey, or white tank top or t-shirt underneath, which allows us so much versatility in your images.”

Similarly, I’ve found myself giving more detailed instructions when it comes to posing, often even using my own body to demonstrate exactly what I mean. Most clients were excited to receive more specific instructions to follow – it leaves less open to interpretation, which in turn makes them feel more confident that they’ll love the end result of our session.

3. Positive affirmation is absolutely crucial

Since I wasn’t working with my camera tethered to my laptop, I had absolutely no idea how things were looking as I was shooting, so hearing comments from people as they walked by was huge! When one of my daughters walked by and said,”Oops! I can’t see your head!”, I knew I had to stop and make adjustments right away.

Any sort of feedback like that was helpful, but when someone positively affirmed how the images were looking, it held a lot more importance than I would have thought!

For example, one afternoon a neighbor friend drove by and hollered something positive out her window as I was working on a self-portrait in the front yard. That simple comment gave me a huge confidence boost, and the next images in the set were significantly better than any of the ones I’d taken previously.

Conclusion

I’m an introvert by nature, and can sometimes have a tendency to go inside my head while I’m working. My brain is sometimes going a mile a minute, and I can forget to communicate what I’m thinking or seeing to those in front of my lens.

Since practicing self-portraits, I have really focused on positively affirming my family, friends, and clients as they’re in front of my lens. Telling them what an amazing job they’re doing with super awkward posing makes a difference. Commenting on how much you love the images so far is huge as well. Commenting on real attributes that make the person in front of your camera feel incredible makes a huge difference.

Give your friends, family, and clients the necessary feedback and positive affirmations that will allow their confidence in front of the camera to grow, and it will be a game changer for your sessions!

Have you ever done a self-portrait project? If so, what did you learn? Please share your experience and self-portraits in the comments section below.

The post 3 Lessons I Learned by Doing a Self-Portrait Project by Meredith Clark appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 18, 2018