Category: Photography

To Specialize or Not to Specialize with Your Photography – That is the Question

Photography is one of those careers where the industry is so broad that realistically you can select any field to focus on. Even if you define yourself as a particular type of photographer, you can further niche yourself into one of the many subcategories that are available in almost every genre.

For example, if you are a fashion photographer you can further categorize yourself as catalog, high fashion, fashion blogger and/or editorial. Portrait photographers can focus on maternity, family, newborn, high school seniors, etc.

There is such a multitude of options available that sometimes it does get a bit overwhelming. It is true that there is a market for almost any type of photography, but you have to understand that you cannot be a photographer for everyone. Not only would you get burned out, but your business messaging and branding could be confusing to potential customers.

So how do you choose what genre of photography to focus on or specialize in? Is it monetary or interest driven? Here are a few things to think about when deciding to specialize in a certain area of photography or be a jack of all trades

#1 – Interests and Skills

Be honest with yourself and figure out where your interests really lie.

Are you as passionate about nature and landscape photography as you are about newborn photography? What are your strengths? Do you have the magic touch to calm any sort of pet? Are you an animal whisperer? Or are you someone who can maintain their composure no matter what, so dealing with a crazy stressed out bride is a walk in the park?

Photography is as much about soft skills like communications and people interactions as it is about technical skills.

#2 – Market size and potential

This is probably not something that we creative people really want to think about but analyzing the market size for your ideal clientele is really crucial. It does not have to be specific numbers – even a quick ballpark is sufficient.

Look at housing data, high school enrollment, photography businesses in your area, and other factors to figure out the market size. Even if your market size is small, try to understand if there is enough potential to upsell.

For example, if you focus on weddings, are your clients more likely to hire you for anniversary, maternity and/or family portraits because they like, know and trust you and your work? If so, then maybe family portraiture and weddings are markets that you could potentially build.

#3 – Messaging or branding

This is an often overlooked part of a market analysis and if I am completely honest, one that even I ignore from time to time. I ignore it because I don’t have the bandwidth to manage multiple websites, multiple social media accounts, and multiple channels.

More often than not, one falls off the bandwagon. If you are working and playing in two genres that have a lot of overlap then you can get away with using branding and messaging that speaks to all the areas under one umbrella cohesively. However, if your markets don’t overlap then I strongly suggest you separate out the businesses so they can be their own entities.

For example, a good friend of mine is a wedding photographer and a business coach for creative entrepreneurs. She has two different websites, two social media accounts, and two different businesses. But she is talking about them across each channel because overall her brand aesthetics are the same and she can cross-pollinate content from one to the other. She has targeted her coaching clients as other photographers, artists, and creatives in the wedding industry.

Now, regardless of what I say and what you might think, this argument about specializing is not as easy as black and white. The reality is that sometimes we all go through dry spells, times where there are no paying clients, yet our bills have to be paid. It is easy enough to run a marathon weekend of family sessions and make as much or more than what you would make with one wedding.

Sometimes it feels like inquiries for all the things you don’t want to do come in the door and none of the work that you really want and love. At the end of the day, all I can say is that we each do what we must to earn money, pay the bills and have some semblance of enjoyment from our work.

Conclusion

So, what’s the final verdict? Should you specialize in your photography or not?

Yes, it makes good business sense to focus all your efforts and energies on your chosen genre. There are a lot of benefits to specializing, such as technical and creative expertise, name and brand recognition, etc. But when there isn’t a consistent flow of clients because of external factors like market changes, client needs and/or a recession, you do what you must to stay afloat and earn a living.

The post To Specialize or Not to Specialize with Your Photography – That is the Question by Karthika Gupta appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 10, 2018
Weekly Photography Challenge – Feet

Look down! All the way to your feet. This week it’s time to get low-down and shoot some images of feet. It can be your feet doing something interesting, or other people’s feet, or even animal feet (paws). Include faces if you want – but make sure the true subjects (the feet) really stand out.

Photo by Meg Kannan on Unsplash

Weekly Photography Challenge – Feet

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Feet by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 10, 2018
4 Young Photographers Who Will Inspire and Amaze You

Since I started teaching photography I’ve had the opportunity to teach a few kids as well as adults. Some special parents were able to see that their child had an interest in photography and a gift for doing it as well, and they encouraged them to pursue it. I gladly jumped on that bandwagon and supported them as well.

So I’ve rounded up not one, but four young photographers whose work will amaze you. You may think it slightly depressing that these youngsters can do such amazing work at a tender age (while you may be struggling to figure out how to shoot in Manual), but instead – allow them to inspire you!

Award-winning wildlife photographer age 13

Josiah Launstein started doing photography at age 5, using his dad’s old camera and got “serious” about it when he was only 7. Now he’s won awards for his photography and has been displayed in national galleries. Watch him in action photographing one of his favorite subjects, bighorn sheep. AND he’s Canadian like me!

See more of Josiah’s work on his website where you can buy prints, art cards, and calendars. I liked his work so much I bought a calendar myself!

Teen featured in national publications

By age 16 Alex Currie’s work was being featured in National publications, even recognized by Vogue magazine. He’s also produced short films with some of his friends.

See some of Alex’s current work on his website here. He also was on the Flickr Top 20 Under 20 list.

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A day with a teenage pro photographer

Our next young sensation is Ryan Parrilla, a Manhattan-based teen photographer. He’s been doing photography since age 12 on the streets of NYC. His camera of choice is a Canon Powershot G7 Mark II. Follow along to see a day of shooting with Ryan in his city.

See more of Ryan’s images on 500px or his Instagram profile where he has more than 90,000 followers.

10-year-old’s photography business – helps his autism

In this final inspirational video story, learn about how Morgan Wolfers picked up a camera to help him “focus”. He and his parents realized that photography helped with his autism and that he was naturally good at it.

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See more of this amazing kid’s photography on his website here.

Inspired yet?

I hope these stories of kids doing photography have inspired you to get out there and do more shooting yourself. Look for the dPS weekly photography challenge if you need some ideas on what to shoot.

The post 4 Young Photographers Who Will Inspire and Amaze You by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 9, 2018
How to do Single Image HDR Effects with Aurora HDR 2018

When creating an HDR or High Dynamic Range photo, you typically need three or more images taken at different exposures (bracketed) to create one stunning image. But given the high dynamic range of today’s digital cameras, do you still need to shoot bracketed images to achieve the HDR look? In this article, I’ll show you how you can achieve HDR effects from a single image using Aurora HDR 2018.

Results will also be compared with an image made the “real” HDR way. Which is best? You be the judge.

What is HDR?

First off, let’s break down what HDR is exactly. As mentioned earlier, HDR combines a series of images, each taken with a different exposure. The result is a dramatic photo with brightened shadows and darkened highlights. Thus, shadows and highlights are the two main features that will play the biggest role in creating an HDR photo from a single image.

Using this insight, you could take a single shot and apply HDR effects by playing with just a few features that affect the overall dynamic range of your image. To start, here’s a single image of a landscape scene, shot in RAW.

Note: the images used in this article are courtesy of dPS editor Darlene Hildebrandt.

1. Shoot in RAW

The very first thing you want to do with your single-image HDR image is to make sure it was taken in RAW format, not JPG. RAW files are larger in size than JPGs because they store much more image information.

This means that you can push lots of post-processing effects and even salvage parts of an image that would otherwise be unrecoverable. You could feasibly apply HDR effects to a JPG image, but the results won’t be as dramatic as they will be with a RAW file.

2. Adjust the Highlights and Shadows sliders

Since highlights and shadows tend to affect the overall brightness of an image, you’ll want to play with these sliders first. Pulling down the highlights can restore bright areas that appear washed out in an image while pulling up the shadows brighten up dark spots.

For example, the sample image above was opened in Aurora HDR 2018 and the highlights and shadows were pulled to their extremes, just for demonstration purposes. Check out the dramatic change that happens just by altering the highlights and shadows.

The sky now looks overly dramatic, and the foreground is really bright and practically free of shadows. Since HDR is largely done to taste, some might like this style as-is, while others might deem it too extreme. If you want a slightly less dramatic and more realistic photo, move the highlights and shadows sliders around to taste.

3. Adjust the Blacks and Whites sliders

To sharpen up your image and make it less flat, play around with the image blacks and whites. In general, adjusting whites is preferable to bumping up the exposure since the latter will affect highlights more than shadows and mid-tones.

If needed, you can even brighten your shadows more by using the Dodge tool and darken highlights with the Burn tool (built-into Aurora HDR). While dialing in the blacks of the image, be sure not to clip (lose detail) your shadows too much by going too far with the Black slider.

HINT: you want them to clip a little, otherwise there will be no black in the image and it will be flat.

4. Finish off with HDR Enhance and Smart Tone

Finally, top it off by adjusting two of Aurora HDR’s most unique and impactful features: HDR Enhance and Smart Tone.

The first feature, HDR Enhance, adds details, clarity, and color adjustment to an image without creating typical HDR problems such as a halo effect. Meanwhile, Smart Tone is a mapping algorithm that automatically brightens your image while also reducing noise.

These two features can be tweaked individually to achieve your HDR style of choice.

The Result

At this point, it’s worth noting that although Aurora HDR 2018 has many filters that you can apply to images, I didn’t use them all for demonstration purposes. Instead, I stuck to the main editing window on the right-hand panel (HDR Basic).

After tinkering around in Aurora HDR, these are my two resulting images. The first is a single shot with balanced exposure and HDR editing effects applied. Next is a regular 3-bracket HDR image. Which image do you prefer?

Here is the original unedited RAW file for comparison.

Single-Image HDR Effects

Full HDR from 3 bracketed exposures. Notice how much more tonal range is in this image than the one above.

Single Image HDR Photo – Example #2

This second example shows the single image HDR effect in an urban environment. Below is the starting RAW image before any post-processing was applied.

Original raw image.

The above image was opened in Aurora HDR and the Highlight and Shadow sliders were pulled to their extremes. Again, you don’t (and shouldn’t) keep the highlights and shadows sliders at their extremes, but this is just a visual demonstration of how dramatic of an effect they can have. It’s also a good idea to see how far you can go, then scale it back a bit in each direction.

Notice how the image has brightened up considerably and you can now see lots of detail in the buildings, especially the “Meet the Producer” sign.

Notice in the image above that there is a halo effect around much of the building. To fix that, simply adjust those highlight and shadow sliders to your liking. Also play around with the HDR Enhance slider, which will preserve image contrast and clarity without exacerbating the halo effect.

Next, the Whites and Smart Tone sliders were adjusted brighten the image further.

Below is the resulting single image with light Aurora HDR effects applied. For comparison, a 4-image bracketed HDR is also included below.

Original again for comparison.

HDR from a single image.

HDR from 4 bracketed images. The biggest difference here is a more seamless continuation of tones. You will get less haloing and less noise from this method than using a single image.

In Conclusion

There you have it – a quick tutorial on how you can create an HDR effect from a single image in Aurora HDR.

Have you experimented with making a single image look like an HDR shot? Please share your techniques and sample images in the comments below.

The post How to do Single Image HDR Effects with Aurora HDR 2018 by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 8, 2018
Product Photography: The Ultimate Guide

Product photography is one of the more technical types of photography. Whether I decide to shoot natural light or create in my studio, I need to be aware of and control everything in the area. Lighting, product position, depth of field, image stabilization, and the brand itself all come together in a product shoot. So what are the first things Continue Reading

The post Product Photography: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

February 8, 2018
How to Capture a Winter Wonderland – Essential Tips for Photographing Snow

There’s nothing quite like waking up to the winter’s first snow covering the landscape. It’s an amazing transformation that affects everything from light and sound to mood. Whether you’re interested in nature photography, abstract photography, or portraits, winter is a fantastic time to do something different!

Snow offers a lot to the willing photographer. The unique light, the brilliance of the white, the refreshed feeling you get when a fresh blanket of snow covers the ground, the low temperatures — the opportunities (and challenges) are endless. In this article, I hope to help you prepare with some essential tops for photographing snow so you can get started on your wintery outdoor adventure. So let’s get to it!

Before you set out

Before you grab your camera and run outside to capture your wintery landscape, there are some very important things to remember. First of all, you need to get dressed, and you need to do it well. Wear several layers of clothing rather than just one very warm layer. Put on shoes that will keep you warm and dry and don’t forget gloves and a hat!

It’s important that you’re dressed warmly, but who said anything about your models?

When you’re certain you’ll stay warm for long enough to be able to enjoy the snow, make sure you grab some extra batteries. The cold weather will drain the camera’s batteries surprisingly quickly. Keep the extra batteries close to your body (preferably your torso), inside your clothing, to keep them from getting cold and discharging faster.

Now you’re ready to head out!

Practical things to keep in mind while you’re rolling in the snow

Once you’ve stepped out the door, there are some things you should keep in mind to make your photography excursion as comfortable as possible for you, and as safe as possible for your gear.

Be sure to stay warm. Taking photos often means you’ll be standing (or lying) still for a long time. So if you’re getting cold, get up and move around a bit. Also pay attention to your toes and fingers, as they can get really cold even if the rest of you is warm and cozy.

Use protection

It’s also important to protect your eyes. Especially if it’s cloudy it might seem like there isn’t actually that much light. But as snow reflects light very effectively your eyes can easily get damaged without you even noticing. This is called snow blindness and the best way to avoid it is to wear sunglasses.

Yes, sunglasses, in the winter, even when it’s cloudy! It sounds crazy, but ask anyone who spends a lot of the winter outdoors and they’ll agree. And, of course, you’ll also look cool.

To protect your gear, it’s important to keep snow off of it. Once the snow melts, it can damage your camera, your lenses, as well as other electronics. Keep the gear you’re not using in a bag, and remove any snow from your camera before you go indoors. Also, if it’s snowing while you’re out photographing, be careful so it doesn’t get on your lens and end up as big blurry blobs in your photos.

Technical aspects and tips

So let’s get to the bit that’s actually interesting, the photography itself. There are some basic technical aspects to keep in mind while you’re photographing snow, but I’ll also bring up some ideas for how to enjoy your snow white photography to its fullest.

1. Overexpose

If the world around you is more or less completely white, and you’re not going for a drab kind of image, you need to overexpose by at least one stop. This will give you a photograph that looks more like what you saw with your bare eyes, as well as one that captures the magical atmosphere of winter.

2. Pay attention to shutter speed

As always, you need to use your shutter speed intelligently to capture the scene the way you want to. In winter, it’s good to remember to use a very short exposure time if you want to freeze falling snow, and to play around with slower shutter speed if you’re trying to capture drifting snow moving across a landscape.

3. Look for contrast

In a completely white world, you might have to look quite hard to find something to contrast with the snow. Contrast is interesting, though, so keep your eyes and mind open.

To add colour contrast, look for something colourful or wait for sunset when the blue of the shadows and the warm colours of the sun mingle. If you find moving water, contrasting the stillness of the snow with the rushing water can add a lot to your image.

4. Try something different

Like any season, winter offers a diversity of photo opportunities. Snow can be a great way to create negative space in your image. It is a great way to really bring out your subject or to create a calm atmosphere.

You can also try to go beyond the obvious to find the treasures that are hiding in your winter wonderland. Go from landscape photos to close-ups, from strong color contrast to black and white, from a classical winter landscape to a surprising take on the season…

Don’t let the weather stop you, and remember to have fun and tell an interesting story with your photos.

Conclusion

What do you think is the best thing about photographing snow? Do you have any fun or informative experiences to share? I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your snowy creations in the comments below/

The post How to Capture a Winter Wonderland – Essential Tips for Photographing Snow by Hannele Luhtasela-el Showk appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 8, 2018
3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photos

Do you find it difficult to make photographs which stand out and truly resonate with the people who view them? Let me share with you three key ways you can practice that will change your photographic experience and will assist you in making more dynamic photos.

Two Kayan friends share a joke in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Asia.

1. Know your subject – don’t just know about them

Research, understand and relate to your subject. Communicate with your subject – whether that be a person, pet or place, (or anything else,) you need to relate to and have rapport your subject.

The more knowledge and understanding you have of your subject the easier it will be for you to make compelling photographs of it or them. Sometimes, as is common with travel photography, having a fresh perspective on a subject will allow you to capture it in a way an expert may not see. But generally having some education about your subject will aid you in producing better, more dynamic photos.

Kayan girl having fun playing with soap bubbles.

Develop an intuitive sense

Knowing your subject well will give you more opportunity to get an intuitive sense of when it’s the right time to make a picture. Knowing and being passionate about your subject will help you develop your intuition.

Being comfortable with your subject, even if you do not know it so well, will also help you to create more interesting and unique photographs of that subject. Having the ability to really focus in on your subject, observing them carefully, the surroundings, the lighting and any activity associated with them, will help you to develop a meaningful connection.

This is something that can sometimes happen quite quickly and at other times will need to be developed over a longer duration.

Kayan girl with a front tooth missing.

2. Don’t Focus on your equipment

“The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don’t know what to do with it.” – Edward Weston

There’s a lot to be said for knowing your camera equipment well and being confident using it like you’ve mastered it. Being in control of your gear and being competent using it so that your focus can be immersed on your subject allows you to connect in a more meaningful way because you are not distracted. Achieving this ability takes nothing more than a little study and a whole lot of practice.

Porter at a fresh market in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Use camera settings you’re comfortable with

Using camera settings you are comfortable with releases you to give more attention to your subject. When you work with camera equipment you are not familiar with or maybe when you first start trying to understand and use manual mode, your focus will be on your camera, not on your subject.

Becoming familiar with a camera and how to work with it confidently takes concentrated practice. Just as a musician will not take the stage and play a brand new song they’ve written without practicing it well first. Neither should you expect stunning results from a camera or technique you are not familiar with and well practiced at doing. Sure, sometimes you can get lucky, but to be consistently good you need to practice a lot.

Buddhist nun standing at the temple window.

Balance the technical and creative aspects

Balancing the technical and creative aspects of photography is challenging for most people. You are generally either more technically oriented and love learning how to use your new equipment or you are more creatively oriented without much interest in learning to understand all the bells and whistles on your camera.

Be mindful that photography is a creative process which requires a complicated tool. Even if you are using the most basic of cameras you must command a certain amount of technical skill to produce pleasing results regularly. To grow as a photographer and develop your own style, you will need to find a happy balance of the technical and creative aspects of this art form.

Tricycle taxi abstract

Aim to capture mood and feeling

Aim to capture mood and feeling in your photographs by giving as much of your attention to the technical settings as to the feeling you have and how you want to portray your subject. If you set your camera so your exposure is good and you have as much depth of field as you want, you will be free to connect with your subject. This will give you more freedom to get a real feeling for what you are doing which will resonate in your photographs.

Reaching beyond the technical and concentrating your creative energy on the subject you will produce photographs which draw in your audience. They will be able to experience and feel the relationship you have with your subject.

3. Follow your passion

“Your connection with the world is unique” – Martin Parr

This is why people who photograph subjects they are passionate about will typically produce more creative, interesting pictures than someone who photographs a subject they have no real interest in or connection with.

My wife takes far better photos of flowers than I do. She is passionate about flowers, she loves growing them. She has a lot of knowledge about flowers and flowering trees. Taking care of them and making sure they have the best conditions in which to flourish is important to her. She consistently makes far more beautiful and creative photographs of flowers than I do because she is passionate about them. They may not always be technically correct, but they are made with feeling and convey that feeling.

Photo by: Pansa Landwer-Johan

Have a deeper, more soulful relationship

When you have a deeper, more soulful relationship with your subject, you will naturally make more interesting, creative photographs as well. Your connection with the world is unique. No one else sees things and experiences life as you do. By applying your unique perspective and conveying this through your photographs they will resonate more strongly with people who view them.

You may even find you pay less attention to technical aspects as you genuinely begin to follow your feelings and become immersed in photographing your chosen subject. Enjoying photography in this manner can be deeply therapeutic. As you begin to concentrate totally and follow the flow of your feelings toward your subject everything else will become secondary, nothing else will matter.

At times like this, you must take extra care to be aware of your own safety. Many times I have stepped back onto a road, come close to stepping backward off a jetty and had wet shoes because I stepped in a puddle. I was so focused on what I was photographing and not paying much attention to anything else. So please take care!

A practical example

When I visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, I went looking for a quarter I’d read about where craftspeople still produce copper wares using traditional methods. I love photographing people engaged in creative activities and I had never photographed people making copper goods.

I eventually discovered the right location and found three men in a small workshop. Two of them were putting finishing touches to some beautifully crafted artworks.

I politely approached and using gestures and showing them my camera, as we had no common language, I was welcomed in and made to feel comfortable. I showed an interest in what these men were doing and they were comfortable with my presence. The older man even gave me a glass of Turkish tea. I quickly became engrossed making photographs of the creative process I was witnessing.

Despite having no prior experience with this subject I was still able to connect with the men and easily relate to what they were doing. Eventually, a fourth man entered the workshop and he spoke some English so I was able to ask how many generations this family had been working with copper. After a considerable amount of discussion all three men, who were cousins and father/uncle, looked at me and shrugged their shoulders. Their tradition had been in their family longer than they could tell me.

Sadly, the fourth man who had joined us was a buyer. He told me he wanted to push the price the craftsmen were asking for their artworks down and was threatening to steal their designs and mass produce them in his factory (which now mass produces lamps, coffee pots, urns and other goods which were traditionally made in small, family-owned workshops.) As he told me this story I continued to photograph with the aim of capturing the mood of the conversation.

In conclusion

Connecting with your subject in a meaningful manner will support and enhance your creative process. Knowing your subject in advance, or adapting quickly to relate to it in a short time, gives you a depth of connection that is not likely if you are distant and non-communicative.

Being technically competent enough to not spend most (or even some) of your attention on your equipment will release you to develop your connection with your subject.

Young Kayan girl without her neck rings on.

Being passionate about your chosen subject will favor you to go that much deeper and further without distractions to create more interesting and more creative photographs.

The most effective way to learn these things is to choose a subject that you can photograph many times, preferably one that you enjoy. If your chosen subject is a person, one who enjoys being photographed. Make time to photograph your subject as often as you find enjoyment in the creative process and develop a feeling for the technical settings of your camera. Doing this will help you to learn more about your subject and hopefully, you’ll become more passionate in the process as well.

Watch the video below to see this in action.

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The post 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photos by Kevin Landwer-Johan appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 7, 2018
Top 10 Luminar 2018 Features That I Discovered by Accident

Luminar’s powerful, customizable approach to image editing is wrapped in a cloak of simplicity which is great for photographers who tend to feel intimidated by the hundreds of buttons, menu options, and sliders available in other post-processing programs. The more you use it the more you will likely realize that there is far more to Luminar 2018 than a handful of presets and filters. You will probably stumble across some neat hidden features that can do a lot to improve your editing and workflow.

Here are 10 of my favorite features, in no particular order, that I found just by poking around and going about my usual business of editing photos with Luminar. Not all of these will change your life, but several might make you react like I did, by thinking “Hey now, that’s really useful!”

Luminar has a host of small but useful features up its sleeve to help novices and professionals alike.

#1 – Before/after preview slider

As a longtime user of Lightroom, the idea of having a before/after preview is nothing new. With one click you can see your image split in two, with one half as the original and the other half showing the edits. Luminar has this feature as well but it kicks things up one notch by allowing you to move the preview slider back and forth.

This lets you see your edits applied to any part of the image you want, and it updates instantaneously as you move the slider. It’s an incredibly useful feature that you might not notice at first, but once you do could seriously improve your editing.

#2 – Lasso tool for erasing

Sometimes you need the Spot Healing tool to remove unwanted blemishes and imperfections from an image, but sometimes that very same tool can drive you crazy due to its imprecise nature and circular application brush. When I first started using Luminar I was well aware of its healing tool that functioned much like similar tools in other applications, but I didn’t realize that it was also possible to use the same technology with a lasso-style implementation.

To erase oddly-shaped portions of an image select Tools>Erase, then select the lasso tool, and then click to outline the spot that you want to erase. When you are finished, click “done” and Luminar will eliminate it like it was never even there.

I liked this image but was not happy with the orange banner in the background.

The Lasso Erase tool let me select just the banner and then remove it from the photo with one click.

The final image is much improved, and it took very little effort to do so.

#3 – Single View Mode

As you add filters to an image it can get a little cumbersome having to deal with an ever-expanding vertical list of image adjustments. Thankfully there is an easy way to tame your filters. Just click on the Filters label at the top of the list and choose Single View Mode.

This collapses all of your filters and allows you to work with just one at a time, dynamically collapsing it when you click on another one. This single tip has saved me countless headaches as I scroll up and down my filters workspace to find the one I need, and I don’t think I could ever go back to any other way of editing.

#4 – Edit multiple images at one time

This one requires a bit of legwork but it can really come in handy depending on your editing needs. If you want to work with multiple images at one time, each on its own layer and with its own set of filters, click the + button in the Layers panel and add a new Image Layer. This new layer is added on top of your existing layer and can be combined with another layer with tools like masking and by changing the opacity.

However, you can also work on both images side-by-side by using the Free Transform option in the Tools menu. First select one of the layers, then click Tools > Free Transform, and re-size the image so it’s on one side of your screen. Do the same for the other layer, and you now have a workspace that allows you to edit multiple images at the same time.

#5 – Crop to Facebook cover

If you have ever uploaded a picture to your Facebook page as a Cover Photo you may have been disappointed to see your painstakingly-edited picture re-cropped and re-sized so the final result is a shadow of what you intended.

Luminar’s crop tool has a way to mitigate this issue entirely by including a Crop to Facebook Cover option in the crop tool. This will ensure that your resulting image will be just the right dimensions to fit perfectly on top of your Facebook profile page without any annoying automated edits from Mark Zuckerberg and his company.

#6 – Click the histogram to show color channels

It’s no secret that Luminar has a histogram view, and in fact, it would be kind of surprising if any image editor worth its salt didn’t have this tool. But what’s a little different here is that you can click the histogram to show individual color channels one by one.

This might not be something you use every single day but can really come in handy if you want to see the exposure level of the reds, blues, and greens.

#7 – Apply user presets during batch processing

Luminar’s workflow generally revolves around the idea of applying filters. You can also instantly apply many filters at once using a preset. What I find more useful, though, is that you can combine different filters to make your own presets, such as one that I use quite often called “Clarignette” that applies a bit of clarity while also adding a vignette.

It’s a simple but effective preset that I tend to use on many images, and Luminar’s batch processing tool makes this even easier. When you load a series of images for batch processing you can apply any of Luminar’s existing presets in addition to any custom presets you create yourself. This can dramatically speed up your editing if you find yourself doing the same types of editing operations on many of your photos.

#8 – Drag-and-drop layer reordering

Luminar’s layer-based workflow functions much like Photoshop and other editing applications. While this particular tip might not be especially groundbreaking it is something I found to be very handy. You can, of course, rename layers by double-clicking on their name and use blend modes by right-clicking on them (or control-clicking on a Mac).

But one thing I didn’t realize at first was how easy it was to reorder the layers in Luminar 2018. A simple drag-and-drop can be used to adjust which layer comes first. Since your edits are applied in a top-down fashion this can have a big impact on your overall image.

#9 – Change editing background color with one click

As a longtime user of Lightroom I have developed a pretty consistent set of editing preferences, and I have found that a light gray background helps me focus on editing my images without straining my eyes too much. However, sometimes I want to change the background color.

Luminar handles this with one click, which makes it a lot easier and more practical. Simply right-click (or control-click on a Mac) anywhere in the background area of your editing workspace to change the color.

#10 – One-Click Preset Updates

It’s not uncommon for me to create a preset and then change it over time as my editing evolves, but for a while I used a cumbersome process to do this. It involved clicking on a preset, changing its parameters, saving it as a new preset. Then I’d navigate to the Preset folder on my computer to delete the original preset and finally change the name of the revised preset.

It was a chore and often resulted in a Preset folder littered with old versions that I didn’t use anymore, but thankfully there is a much easier way to do this. Simply click the name of one of your Custom Presets in the tray at the bottom of the screen and choose “Update with current settings” and your preset will be updated without any other work on your part.

More to discover

While some of these tips might not be new to you at all, each was something I stumbled across by accident while using Luminar 2018. They served as a reminder to me of how I appreciate this program’s ability to surprise and delight.

I enjoy finding useful tips and tools by accident, and Luminar is full of these sorts of hidden, helpful features. What sorts of things have you come across while using Luminar? Do you have a favorite tip or trick to share? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Macphun, soon to be Skylum, is a dPS advertising partner.

The post Top 10 Luminar 2018 Features That I Discovered by Accident by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

February 7, 2018
Review of the Venus Laowa 15mm F/4 Wide Angle Lens for Landscape Photographers
The choice of camera lens always represents a crucial moment for every photographer. But it is not always easy to find the lens that fits our actual needs, as too often we get seduced by features that we don’t really need, and are therefore just useful in raising the price.

Have you chosen a stabilized lens and you always use the camera on a tripod? You exclusively take landscape photos in the daylight but have chosen to rely on a f/2.8 lens. Sound familiar?

Especially if you are at the beginning of your journey through the world of photography, your budget won’t likely be particularly high and you may want to maximize your investment by choosing something that can be really useful to you now.

This is why today I want to tell you about the Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 Lens (with macro), an entry-level lens that every landscape photographer should take into consideration.

Why? Let’s see it together.

Construction features

The Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 Macro is a lens that has been on the market since 2015. Although it certainly does not stand out for its cosmetic appearance, it comes with features that really make this a unique lens in the world. So much so that it can simultaneously seduce landscape photographers, lovers of macro photography, and architectural photographers.

Here are its main features, that I’m going to examine with you:
- Focal length: 15 mm
- Angle of view: 110.4°
- Maximum Magnification: 1:1
- Maximum Aperture: f/4
- Shift function: +/- 6 mm
- Minimum Focusing Distance: 12.2 cm
- Filter Thread: 77 mm
- Mounts: Canon, Nikon, Sony A, Pentax K, Sony E
Exactly, you’ve read it right. The Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 is a Macro 1:1 lens with an angle of view of 110° and a shift function that allows a translation equal to +/- 6mm.

The optical scheme is composed of 12 elements in 9 groups, including 3 high refractive index elements and one low dispersion element, and on paper that holds great promise for excellent performances in terms of sharpness.

And in case that wasn’t enough, add the fact that this lens is compatible with most of the mounts currently available on the market.

One last point, and it’s absolutely not a negative one, is the price. While I’m writing, the list price of the Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle 1:1 Macro is only $ 499.

Using this lens for landscape photography

When evaluating a lens, we’re always going to start from the analysis of its MTF charts, and then we carry out an almost infinite series of laboratory tests so as to bench-test it, from a perspective that is more theoretical than practical.

Of course, these tests are absolutely fundamental and I encourage you to look at them. But I also think that you are likely more interested in the real-world behavior of the lens. Knowing that certain optical limits of the lens will be then invisible in the real world, and what you are more concerned about is understanding whether the lens has the features that are really essential to you or not.

While there are many online reviews available regarding the use of this lens for macro and architectural photography, I haven’t found much regarding its use for landscape photography. So, my purpose here is to examine this lens from the point of view of the landscape photographer, omitting other features that are not fundamental for us hunters of sunrises and sunsets.

So let’s start to analyze the features seen in the previous chapter, now with a more critical eye.

Features

The fact that this is a prime lens and not a zoom gives us great hope with regard to quality, as the optical scheme will be optimized for a single focal length.

We are not afraid at all of the maximum aperture available, which is f/4. As good landscape photographers, we’ll be normally working around f/11, where sharpness will also be clearly higher.

The lens does not have stabilization or autofocus. While this may make you turn your nose up at first sight, surely you will soon realize that you really don’t care about those things. As you likely use the camera on a tripod you should turn off stabilization anyway, and you may choose to adjust the focus based on hyperfocal distance, making use of the hyperfocal marks available on the lens body.

So, those are two fewer functions that you don’t need, and their absence has certainly had a positive impact on the market price of the lens.

Using Filters with the Laowa 15mm Lens

With regard to the focal length, this clearly is not the first 15mm lens available on the market. But it is the only one with a feature that has convinced me to test this lens in action – the 77 mm filter thread.

The 77mm filter size is very handy!

Normally all wide-angle and ultra wide-angle lenses (usually 15mm is considered the boundary between those two worlds) have a front optical element that is particularly curved. They often come with a built-in lens hood that makes it impossible to mount filters, unless we resort to particular solutions. Ultra wide-angle lenses whose front lens is not so curved and without a built-in lens hood, usually come with a large diameter and it’s therefore impossible to find filter threads smaller than 95 mm.

Thanks to the absence of a built-in lens hood (it does have a bayonet one) and to the 77 mm filter thread, the Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 lens opens the door to using a tool that I deem absolutely essential for every landscape photographer – drop-in filters.

As I was saying above, with a lens that has a built-in lens hood or a 95 mm filter thread it is possible to use systems that can hold 150 mm filters. But with a 77 mm filter thread, you will be able to use the same system that you use on any other lens equipped with a filter thread up to 82 mm. In a word, it is priceless.

Shift Function

The last of the features coming with this multi-purpose lens is the shift function. Thanks to a lever mechanism positioned next to the lens mount, it is possible to shift the lens by +/- 6mm. Even if this function might not seem very interesting for landscape photography at first sight (after all a rock is always a rock), it turns out to be useful in case there are human artifacts, like buildings, within the frame.

Shift lever.

The lens in shifted position.

The lens in action

If this lens appears very promising on paper, despite a very moderate price, let’s see its actual real-world behavior.

I have tested the Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 lens with my trusty Nikon D810, a full-frame camera body.

Testing the filter mount

Since this is fundamentally the reason why I decided to try this lens, again thanks to the existing 77 mm filter thread, I quickly mounted my loyal Nisi V5 Filter Holder, which holds 100mm filters. Even if it is possible to mount the holder, the fear of vignetting is too high, considering that we’re talking about a 15mm lens after all.

Although the Nisi filter holder is guaranteed to be vignette-free up to a 16mm focal length, once mounted on the Venus Laowa 15mm the result was doubtlessly amazing. Vignetting was practically invisible, as you’re going to see below, and it’s possible to quickly remove it in post-production by activating the lens correction profile.

A little dream of mine was substantially coming true. The dream of using an ultra wide-angle lens, and adding up to three 100mm filters and a polarizer without vignetting!

The lens barrel

On the lens body (which is sturdy metal, not plastic) you find the focus and aperture rings, whose operations are smooth and precise.

On the aperture ring, I would have preferred a locking system or a snap selection so as to make sure that I never lose the desired aperture. But actually, I haven’t encountered any problems during real-world use of the lens.

The focusing ring is really precise, as well as the existing focusing marks, which allow you to focus using the hyperfocal distance in no time. Just for the sake of being fussy, I would have placed the metric indications of distance upside down, or a vertical line next to each distance, just to be really precise. But you simply have to check the photo you’ve just taken, so as to make sure you have got the desired focus.

Although the manufacturer does not formally advertise this lens as weather sealed, most of my tests have been carried out in the rain (just for a change!). I protected the lens using only an umbrella or makeshift means, and no problems were detected.

Results

When I examine the images, the results were really comforting.

Sharpness

Shooting at both f/8 and f/11, the image definition is really excellent in the center of the frame. Obviously, the image becomes softer the closer you get to the edges, but doubtlessly the result is much more than acceptable. If you try to use higher apertures, you can naturally start to see that optical phenomenon called diffraction. But, as good landscape photographers, we know that we can go past f/16 only for situations of extreme necessity.

Centre image sharpness.

Lower center of the image sharpness.

Corner of the image sharpness.

Aberration and vignetting

There are no particular problems with regards to chromatic aberration with this lens. I mean, some chromatic aberration is there, but nothing that can’t easily be solved using the automatic chromatic aberration removal included in any post-production software.

Chromatic aberration showing before correction.

After the chromatic aberration has been corrected in post-production.

As for vignetting, as I said above, the problem is almost non-existent when using the 100mm Nisi filter holder. For me personally, this fact alone is worth the purchase price of this lens.

Distortion

It is worthwhile to talk a little about distortion. It is predictable that a 15 mm lens will have barrel distortion. To landscape photographers, this is not a great concern. As I said before, a little distortion on a rock will not invalidate your image, as an irregular rock will always remain an irregular rock. Unfortunately, though, barrel distortion will invalidate the only real line included in your landscape – the horizon.

The distortion caused by this lens to the horizon is of the “mustache” type, which doubtlessly is the most annoying kind. If when we take a first look at the live view this problem may give us some concern,

If this problem gives you some concern when you first notice it in Live View, as soon as you import the image into any post-production software the correction becomes really easy and immediate.

Unfortunately, at the present time, there is no automatic correction profile for this lens included in Adobe software (Lightroom and Photoshop). But the Venus Laowa technical support is very efficient and within a few hours, they emailed the correction profile that I needed. Once installed, one click was enough to do the job and the image automatically recovered from both distortion (completely removing the mustache horizon) and peripheral shading.

Original

Corrected

Conclusion

The Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 lens has really turned out to be a surprise, exceeding my expectations. Although it comes with a very moderate price, this lens really provides remarkable results in terms of image quality.

Once the lens distortion is corrected, the only thing that still needs attention is edge softness which is absolutely within acceptable values for an entry-level lens.

Construction quality is really remarkable and you can notice that as soon as you take the lens into your hands. Lastly, the possibility of using a 100mm filter holder makes this lens really priceless.

If you are a landscape photographer who is looking for an ultra wide-angle lens with a very advantageous quality to price ratio, then the Venus Laowa 15mm f/4 lens is undoubtedly what you are seeking.

PROS
- Price
- Ability to use a 100mm filter holder
- Excellent sharpness in the center of the frame
- Low chromatic aberration when not used at macro distances
- Lens shift function
- Lightweight and small
CONS
- Manual focusing
- Slight edge softness
- Barrel distortion (but it can be solved in post-production without any problems)
- Cosmetic appearance
The post Review of the Venus Laowa 15mm F/4 Wide Angle Lens for Landscape Photographers by Francesco Gola appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
February 7, 2018
SLC-1L-02: One light, Inside the Frame

Long-time readers will recognize this shot, of the Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel in Maryland, as the photo from the very first post on Strobist in 2006. I was happy with it when I shot it. And to some degree, I still am.

But looking at it today, there are definitely some things I would approach differently. So let's walk through it, bearing in mind what we've learned since way back then.Read more »
Strobist

February 6, 2018