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How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

02 Apr

A little creativity at home can be a lot of fun in photography. In this article, you’ll see how you can make some miniature worlds with some water droplets and a piece of glass!

The process is straightforward enough, you just need some magic sauce. We’ll get to the magic sauce, and why that works in a moment. So let’s take a look at this how-to guide for photographing water droplets.

How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

Who can resist photographing the club badge of their favorite sports team?

The equipment you’ll need

With the exception of the camera equipment, all the items you’ll need for this can be found around the home. The following is a guide to that equipment, but you may have other alternatives as well:

  • The glass – You’ll need to find a piece of glass to put the water on. This must be cleaned, so there are no marks. Glass from a picture frame is the obvious source.
  • The stand – A pile of books with a gap in the middle will work here, once again use what you have at hand. You will need to have two piles of books, with the glass bridging the gap. Each pile needs to be around 20cm (8″) high.
  • A background – This is the picture or patterned paper that you wish to appear in the water droplets when you photograph them.
  • A camera – Ideally this will be a DSLR, though any camera that allows for macro photography will work. A camera that allows you to use off-camera flash is better still.
  • The lighting – You have two options here, to use strobes or to use a spotlight. Your result will be better with a strobe that it triggered by a remote attached to the camera hot-shoe. If this is unavailable you could use spotlights to light up the background, the brighter the better.
  • A tripod – A tripod to put your camera on, is the key to ensuring the sharp focus of the water droplets. You can use the camera handheld, but the results will be less sure.
  • The water – A water dropper will be needed to place the water droplets on the glass.
  • The magic sauce -You’ll need some car windscreen water repellent. Using this will make the water form droplets on the glass.
How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

Here is some of the equipment needed for photographing water droplets on glass. The most important product to get is Rain X.

The setup

The above equipment now needs to be set up ready to photograph water droplets. This is an easy process, so just follow these steps:

  1. Create two piles of books. These should be around 20cm (8″) in height, and with a large enough gap to fit your background between them.
  2. Clean the glass, ensuring that there are no marks on it.
  3. Place the piece of glass on top of the two piles of books, arranging it so that it bridges the gap between the piles. Be careful with the glass, try to avoid breaking it!
  4. Spray the glass with the rain repellent. Wipe away the excess liquid, and then allow it to dry. This should happen fairly quickly.

    ***The repellent is flammable, so again, please take care handling this liquid.***

  5. Now place some water drops onto the glass using the dropper. The pattern of drops and proximity of each of them to one another is up to you.
  6. Place your background between the two piles of books.
  7. Place your light source over the background. Make sure it’s not going to shine on the glass first, the aim is to bounce the light off the background and back up through the glass.
  8. Position your tripod next to the plate of glass.
  9. Put your camera on the tripod so it is aiming down through the glass. Ensure the tripod is steady and doesn’t tilt or tip over with the weight of the camera body.
How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

This is the main setup I used for taking these photos. The strobe is not in the right position yet, it should be aimed at the striped background.

How to take the photograph

With the setup complete, you’re now ready to take the photos. The following is a step-by-step guide on how to do this:

  1. Focus your camera on a section of the glass plate with an interesting water drop formation. To get the sharpest focus turn off the camera’s autofocus and use manual. Now turn on Live View mode, zoom into a droplet (using the magnify view button), and focus the lens manually until the image is sharp.
  2. Move the background around to ensure it’s in the best position. You’ll want to look at both how it looks in the water droplets, and also as a background behind them.
  3. The camera settings you use can be varied, the following are a guide or starting point. The strobe you’re using may vary in strength, but there is certainly no need for full power. A Canon 430ex II at 1/32 power is sufficient. An aperture of f/9 and a shutter speed of 1/60th was used for the photos in this article.
  4. Once you have your photo check your results. You could now focus on some different droplets, move the background, or change the background.

The demonstration photos I took for this article didn’t quite work. In Korea, I was unable to buy Rain X, and the brand I did buy, didn’t work in the same way.

Now it’s your turn!

This, of course, is a form of refraction photography, and not the only way to photograph water droplets.

Have you tried this method, or something similar? How about showing the community your work in the comments section, either past or new images. This is an easy technique to try out at home, and anyone can do it. So why not have a go!?

How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

Here Rain X was used, and the difference is clear. In the background are some colored pencils.

How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

At the time these photos were taken I was living in Malaysia, so this is the Malaysian flag.

How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass

This was my first attempt at this style of photo, at this point I wasn’t using Rain X.

The post How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People

02 Apr

Have you ever wished that you could take better photographs of your friends and family? Do you love looking at portraits taken by professional photographers, but just aren’t sure how to replicate similar results for yourself? Have you ever felt totally overwhelmed by all the options for photography gear and need someone to help you understand what’s essential for photographing people and what isn’t?

If you found yourself nodding along to any of those questions, this guide is for you! In this dPS Ultimate Guide, we’ll walk through everything from equipment to post-processing, and give you the tools you need to photograph people with confidence!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Equipment

When it comes to photography, the best camera to use is the one you already have. Whether you’re using your cell phone, a point-and-shoot camera, a mirrorless camera, a cropped sensor camera, a full-frame camera, or an old film camera, you can take beautiful photographs of your friends and family. Essentially, don’t let the lack of “ideal equipment” get in your way. In almost every circumstance, you can combine the equipment that you already have with this guide to improve your people photography and portraits.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, in addition to your camera body and basic photography essentials like memory cards, there are a few key pieces of equipment that make photographing people much easier.

If you’re using a DSLR camera, lenses can make a huge difference in the quality of your photos. Most photographers prefer prime lenses for people photography. Although you do have to zoom with your feet, they tend to produce images that are sharper and more vibrant overall.

That said, whether you’re at a wedding or a soccer game, there are times when your subject’s distance from the camera is going to change frequently and quickly. In those instances, a zoom lens may be the best choice for photographing the special people in your life. Here are a few of the most frequently used lenses for portrait and people photography.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Prime Lenses

35 mm lens: This focal length is not great for traditional head-and-shoulders portraits, but it really shines when it comes to capturing people in the context of their surroundings.

The 35mm lens (on a crop or APS-C size sensor) is most similar to the angle of view of human eyes. So it’s a great lens to use when you want to capture what’s happening around you just as you see it. For this reason, the 35mm lens is an especially great choice for street photography as well.

50mm lens: For many photographers, the first lens they purchase after their kit lens is some variety of a 50mm lens. The price and versatility of a 50mm lens just can’t be beaten, and for a lot of photographers, having the ability to shoot at f/1.8 (or f/1.4, or f/1.2) is a huge upgrade from their kit lens.

If you’re shooting with a full-frame camera body, the 50mm lens is great for photographing families and sibling groups. If you’re shooting with a 50mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, it’s a focal length that’s great for portraits and photographing couples.

85mm lens: Most 85mm lenses are extremely versatile, allowing you to fill the entire frame with the subject’s face or backup to include their entire body without distortion. In fact, 85-105mm is known as being the ideal focal length range for portraiture because images captured within those focal lengths tend to be more flattering and have less distortion than images of people captured at other focal lengths.

Additionally, the lens compression with an 85mm lens makes it appear that the background is being pulled closer to your subject, which results in beautiful and dramatic portrait images.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Zoom Lenses

Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Art Lens: Designed for cropped sensor cameras, this lens has a range that includes many of the most popular focal lengths for photographing people. In addition, the ability to shoot at f/1.8 across all focal lengths makes this lens a powerhouse for both portraits and people photography.

70-200mm: This lens is considered to be one of the standards when it comes to wedding and event photography because of its versatility in capturing people across a variety of focal lengths. The 70-200mm focal range is especially helpful in situations where you’d like to be able to capture genuine emotion without being physically close to the people you’re photographing.

As you’re looking at different lenses for portrait and people photography, keep in mind that to achieve a nice blurred background in your portraits, you’ll often want a lens that’s capable of shooting somewhere between f/1.2 and f/2.8. You’ll notice that lenses capable of shooting at those apertures are more expensive, but this is one instance when the payoff is worth the increase in cost.

If you’re shooting on a cropped sensor camera, remember that you need to multiply the focal length of the lens you’re using by the crop factor (this number is often something like 1.5 or 1.6) to discover the functioning focal length of your lens. So, if you put a 35mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, it actually functions more like a 50mm lens.

Other Helpful Tools

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Reflectors: A 5-in-1 reflector kit will help you tackle a huge variety of lighting situations that you might encounter when photographing people. Not only is it helpful for bouncing warm or cool light on your subject, it also gives you the ability to absorb light and to fix dappled light issues when photographing one to three people.

Alternate light source: Even if you think you’ll only be photographing people outdoors in natural light, it’s a good idea to have some form of an alternative light source at your disposal, whether it’s a speedlight, ring light, or studio lights. We’ll talk more about when and how you might want to utilize different lighting sources a bit later in this guide. For now, just know that having some form of a light source will dramatically improve your versatility as a photographer.

Lighting

Photography is often described as “painting with light”. As such, it’s very important to have a good understanding of the different light sources that you may experience as a photographer and how to best use them to your advantage.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Natural Light

The most basic of all lighting types is natural light. This is as simple as it sounds – all of the light in your photograph is coming from the sun. No additional light source (like a flash) is used.

Photographing using natural light (sometimes also called available light) can mean that you’re shooting outdoors, or it can also mean that you’re shooting indoors near a large window. It can mean that you’re shooting when the sun is high in the sky, or that you’re shooting backlit portraits near sunset.

If you’re new to photography and are struggling with lighting even in natural light situations, grab a friend and try the circle trick, which is a quick and easy way to help teach yourself how to see different natural lighting situations.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Studio Lighting

Another option when it comes to lighting is to utilize studio lighting. This sounds more intimidating than it really is—studio lighting just means that you’re using a flash, stand lighting, and other artificial light sources as your primary source of light for your image.

Professional headshots are often photographed with studio lighting, as are many newborn photography sessions. The major benefit of studio lighting is that you can easily control what the light looks like and ensure consistent lighting regardless of external factors like weather. Studio lighting can also be helpful in creating high-key images with dynamic lighting and lots of contrast.

Using studio lighting does involve a different learning curve than natural light photography, and many photographers feel intimidated by it. However, learning studio lighting is a great way to achieve a solid understanding of a variety of lighting situations, and it’s absolutely worth taking a class or workshop to learn more about it.

Even if you don’t ultimately end up using studio lighting very often, it’s a valuable tool to have in your arsenal.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Combination Lighting

Many photographers utilize a combination of natural light and studio lighting—using available light when possible, and sometimes supplementing with another light source. The most common light source for beginning and intermediate photographers is probably the speedlight.

Using a speedlight in combination with a diffuser is a great way to photograph people indoors in situations where you may not always be able to pose them near a window (think birthday parties, wedding receptions, holiday gatherings, etc.). Another way to use combination lighting is to take your speedlight outdoors and use it as a fill flash for outdoor portraits.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Finding Locations and Backgrounds

When it comes to photographing people, the location and the background that is behind your subject are extremely important. Your backdrop will either enhance your final image or detract from it, so here are a few tips to help you find and choose the best possible locations to compliment your photography.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Color is King

When I’m shooting portraits, I’m most often using a 50mm or 85mm lens, and shooting with a fairly wide aperture (usually somewhere between f/1.8 and f/2.5). Typically, I’m looking for the person that I’m photographing to be in focus, with a nice creamy bokeh background behind them. Because the background is softly blurred, sometimes the color of the background can be more important than what it actually looks like to the naked eye.

A parking garage can look like a less than inspired backdrop through a 35mm lens. But if you transition to an 85mm lens, suddenly the details of the background disappear, and you’re left with a backdrop that appears to be a nice neutral gray tone in portraits. Similarly, a field of weeds can look terrible in person but translates as a creamy golden yellow background in a photograph.

As such, training yourself to consider color in addition to content when looking for potential photography locations is a great trick to have up your sleeve as a photographer.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Memories Matter

One of my favorite ways to choose a photography location is to ask the person you’re photographing to share a location that’s particularly meaningful to them.

Is there a park that their family walks to on Friday nights in the summer? Go there. Does the high school senior you’re photographing have fun memories of picking peaches at a local farm with her parents every summer? Check out that orchard. Is a family bringing home their first baby? Consider shooting at their home instead of a studio.

Choosing locations that have special meaning to the people you’re photographing is a great way to ensure that they’ll be as comfortable in front of the camera as possible, and it’s also a great way to invoke genuine positive emotion. Hearing a song on the radio can take you right back to a specific memory in your life, and so can revisiting locations that have happy memories associated with them!

Don’t be afraid to ask the person you’re photographing if there’s somewhere particularly meaningful to them that could act as the backdrop of your photo session. From the public library to grandma’s famous dahlia garden, to a family friend’s lake house, you might be surprised at what they come up with!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Utilize Geotagging

Several popular websites for photography allow you to search images that have been geotagged by zip code, city, and other identifying factors. Flickr Map is one such resource, and although it can be a real mixed bag in terms of the quantity and quality of images to sort through, it’s a great tool for visualizing what different parts of your area look like at different times of the day and different times of the year.

I wouldn’t recommend choosing a location sight unseen, but it’s a great tool for narrowing down areas that you might want to check out in person. Another option that’s just beginning to gain in popularity is Shootipedia, a location scouting website, and app that allows photographers to post images and share details about their favorite locations to shoot. Some parts of the world have lots of locations cataloged while others have very few. That said, it’s always worth a look!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Go Explore

One of the best ways to discover photography locations near you is simply to get out and explore your area. Go for a hike. Hop in the car and drive around. Print off a listing of all the local public parks, and swing by at different times of the day.

Don’t discount familiar locations either. Chances are that as you begin to look through the lens of photography, you’ll find that there are countless appropriate locations and backdrops right in your own neighborhood.

Clothing Tips and Ideas

Most people can benefit from some sort of direction regarding what to wear when being photographed. However, whether or not you (as the photographer) will be able to offer direction in terms of what to wear will vary based on lots of different factors including the type of people photography you’re doing.

For example, if you’re photographing the attendees at a birthday party or doing street photography, you won’t have as much input into clothing choices as you would if you are shooting portraits.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography
In situations where you do have some influence over what the people you’re photographing are wearing, that level of “direction” can range from you purchasing specific pieces of clothing to be worn to simply giving general advice regarding colors and patterns that are flattering on most people.

The level of your direction as a photographer will also be dependent on your personal photography style and whether you offer styled sessions or not. However, regardless of your personal style, there are a few rules of thumb that generally hold true in most instances when photographing people:

  • Neutral colored clothing (black, white, tan, or gray) is always a good choice.
  • Jewel tones are flattering to most complexions.
  • Avoid logos or text on clothing.
  • When incorporating patterns, stick to very classic patterns like plaid or polka dots.
  • When photographing families, it’s better to work with one color family (warm colors, cool colors, jewel tones, neutrals, etc.) than to have everyone wearing exactly the same thing.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

  • Adding or removing jackets and/or cardigans is a great way to add some versatility to a session.
  • If you’re photographing more than one person together, make sure they’re not wearing exactly the same color on top, or it can be difficult to see where one person ends and another begins.
  • If the person being photographed isn’t comfortable in what they’re wearing, it will usually be evident in the photograph.

Most people genuinely appreciate tips and/or feedback from their photographer about what to wear. It helps them relax and feel confident in front of the camera.

All that said, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. If you’re photographing a toddler that desperately wants to leave her fairy wings on for the photos, you might want to consider giving it a try, even if it goes against your “vision” for the photo. Clothing choice can help enhance a photo, but in most cases, genuine expression in a photo will trump clothing choice any day.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Setting Up Your Camera

This section is especially for beginning photographers. If you have been using your camera’s auto mode, and aren’t even sure where to begin in terms of photographing people it’s designed to give you some ideas to help you start taking more control over your photography and to elevate your photos of people from mere snapshots to intentionally crafted images.

Two of the most frequently used camera modes for photographing people are Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography
Aperture Priority

When selecting the Aperture Priority mode on your camera, essentially you select the camera’s aperture, and you’re asking your camera to select the rest of your settings. You can still select your ISO if you wish, or leave it set to auto if you’d prefer that your camera choose that too.

When you select a small aperture number (f/1.8), less of your image will be in focus. When you select a large aperture number (f/8), more of your image will be in focus. If you’re wondering how to create a portrait with a nice blurry background, shooting with a very wide aperture (f/1.8) is one way to achieve that effect.

However, as you add additional people to the image, it becomes trickier to nail the focus on everyone. So one good rule of thumb when photographing small groups is to set your aperture no smaller than the number of people you’re photographing – if you’re photographing two siblings, set your aperture at f/2.0 (or higher). If you’re photographing a family of three, you may want to consider setting your aperture at f/3.0 (or higher), especially if not everyone is on the same plane.

Aperture Priority mode is a great choice for shooting portraits or small groups, wherein the people you’re photographing are not moving too much.

aperture priority portrait - The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People

Shutter Priority

Where Aperture Priority mode is great for photographing people who are largely stationary, Shutter Priority mode is great for photographing people that are on the go.

Whether you’re photographing a soccer game and want to freeze the action, capturing a family mid-tickle, or practicing street photography and want to show the blur of people bustling about, Shutter Priority is a great way to either stop action or emphasize movement in people photography!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Working with People

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

Indeed, there’s a difference between taking a snapshot of a person and creating a portrait that captures the essence of who they are and what they’re about. Often, the difference comes down to the interaction between the photographer and the person being photographed.

We’ve already talked about how location and clothing are two factors that can help the people you’re photographing relax in front of the camera. In addition to those two factors, coupling gentle posing with prompts and questions designed to help the person you’re photographing relax and evoke emotion during the session can be very helpful in capturing images that look and feel genuine.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Posing

If the idea of gently posing the person that you’re photographing feels overwhelming, you may be interested in purchasing the Posing App. This particular app includes over 300 illustrations of various photography poses for men, women, children, and groups, and can be a great starting point when trying to describe to the people you’re photographing what you’d like them to do.

Keep in mind that resources like Posing App are just starting places. Don’t be afraid to modify poses, changing them slightly for variety or to better flatter the person you’re photographing.

Also look here for more posing help:

  • Portraits: Striking the Pose – a dPS ebook.
  • 67 Portrait Poses (Printable) by dPS.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Prompting

Once you’ve got the person you’re photographing situated in terms of posing, the next technique in evoking emotion is to prompt them with questions or statements.

When photographing a child, this might be saying, “Show me your best lion roar!” As the photographer, you’re less interested in the roar itself and more interested in the fits of giggles that usually follow, so be ready with your camera to capture the moment!

If you’re photographing a high school senior, this might mean asking them about their plans following graduation and what they’re excited about. If you’re photographing a newly engaged couple, this might mean asking them to tell you the proposal story. When you’re photographing a wedding, this might mean asking them to practice their first dance for you.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Prompts can be sentimental, but they can also be silly. Ask a groom to whisper his favorite vegetable into his bride’s ear, and watch them both laugh hysterically. These prompting techniques allow you to connect with the person you’re photographing on a deeper level and also help evoke genuine emotion that translates to a stronger photograph.

Culling and Post-Processing

After you’ve snapped the actual photographs, you’ll want to weed out the best images and apply some sort of post-processing to them, even if only sharpening to print. If you shoot in RAW format, you’ll need some sort of software (such as Lightroom or Adobe Bridge) that can recognize RAW file types before you’ll be ready to start culling or editing your images.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Culling

Regardless of the software, most photographers use a process that either amounts to “Editing Out” or “Editing In” for culling images. If following an “Editing Out” process, you go through and deletes all the images that you do not want to edit, and processes the rest. If following an “Editing In” process, you go through and flag all the photos that you’re most interested in editing, and edit only those. This is largely a matter of preference, and neither method is better than the other.

When culling, keep in mind that no one needs 10 images with exactly the same expression, focal length, and camera angle. However, do be aware of micro-expressions, or particular mannerisms that the person you’re photographing may display, and consider including some of those images into your final cut as well. Sometimes, those are the images that capture the essence of a person, even if their eyes are squinty or their nose is a little scrunched.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography
Post-Processing

Whether or not to post-process images in digital photography is always the subject of much debate. Personally, as someone who started with black and white film photography, I find the debate to be a bit silly. There was little controversy about dodging and burning in the black and white darkroom to enhance a portrait, so I see little problem with doing the same in the digital medium.

There are many options available for post-processing, but the most common still seems to be Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography package, which includes Lightroom, Photoshop, and a whole collection of mobile apps to download.

Many photographers batch edit their images, using either a preset in Lightroom or an action in Photoshop. If you’re brand new to post-processing, there are a whole host of actions and presets available to purchase, including several great sets from Digital Photography School.

Keep in mind that most actions and presets are not designed to be one-click wonders. They do require tweaks and adjustments for best success, which means that having a basic understanding of Photoshop and/or Lightroom is definitely necessary when it comes to post-processing. This is one area where it’s absolutely worthwhile to check out an online course or eBook in order to understand the basics of post-processing so that you know what the actions and presets are doing, how to tweak them to your advantage, and how to eventually make your own to help you stand out from the crowd.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography
Marketing Yourself and Getting Paid Gigs (If You Want Them)

So, you’ve photographed a bunch of friends and family, and now people are starting to tell you that you should start your own photography business! If that’s something you’re interested in pursuing on a full-time or semi-professional basis, we’ll walk through a couple of things that can help make that happen.

Check Your Local Laws

Laws regarding small businesses vary drastically from location to location. Some places require you to have a business license and insurance before getting started. Some require you to register your business name. Others only require that you declare any income received so that you can pay appropriate taxes on it.

Because dPS has readers all over the world, the best suggestion I can give is to contact your local Small Business Association regarding what you need to do to keep your budding business on the up and up. Even if you aren’t ready to officially start your business quite yet, it’s still important to research the requirements (and whether your prospective business name is actually available) before you begin any of these other steps!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Build Your Portfolio

If you haven’t already done so, you need to build a portfolio of your work that you can show to prospective clients to demonstrate your skill as a photographer. Many times, photographers initially build their portfolio by offering to take photos of their family and friends for free in exchange for permission to use them as part of their portfolio.

Another option for building your portfolio is to participate in workshops or photo walks that grant you permission to use the images that you take during the event as part of your portfolio. If you’re interested in photographing weddings, many photographers partner with vendors to photograph several styled sessions before they ever actually photograph a real wedding.

Build Your Brand

Once you have a portfolio that you’re ready to market, you need to have a brand! This step includes coming up with your business name, logo, watermark, a headshot of you, and often a color scheme that you’ll use throughout your online and print materials.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography
Build Your Web Presence

One of the next key steps to developing any level of a photography business is to build a web presence so that people can actually find you! This may include many different avenues, such as creating a website, a photography blog, a Facebook business page, and an Instagram account for your brand.

Expand Your Audience

For lots of photographers, their business starts with friends and family and gradually expands out from there as those people recommend you to their friends and family. If you can encourage your friends and family to tag your photography pages on social media as they share your images online, this can be a really great way to expand your audience and reach. Some other easy ways to expand your audience include:

  • Offer a rewards or incentives program for past clients who refer their friends to you.
  • Host a model call on Facebook.
  • Consider running ads on social media targeted to “friends of friends”.
  • Donate your photography services to a cause you care about.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Conclusion

Whew! That was a whole lot of information about photographing people! Although it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the dos and don’ts of people photography, you don’t have to master everything at once!

Use the camera and the equipment you have, pick one tip from this guide, and try it out. At the end of the day, the most important part of photographing people is just to get out there and do it, as often as you can!

The post The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Review of the Godox AD200 Pocket Flash

02 Apr

Can you think of the ideal camera flash which can fit in your pocket, has almost 3-times output or regular speedlights, and also features a modeling light? The Godox AD200 is one such pocket flash (not if you are wearing skinny fit jeans) which meets all three of those expectations. That is why this flash has been my personal favorite outdoor fashion shoot light source.

To give you a quick overview of some of the features of the Godox AD200 flash, it features TTL, HSS (high-speed sync) up to 1/8000th of a second, 60 guide number, multi-stroboscopic flash feature and second-curtain sync.

If these specifications make you interested in this Godox flash, let me share my personal views and experiences after using it for more than six months now.

Review of the Godox AD200 Pocket Flash

Built Quality and Physical Overview

When you hold the Godox AD200 flash in your hand your first reaction might be that it is too heavy, as it weighs about 1 kg (2 lbs). Although it is heavier than any flagship flash than you might have used to date, at the end of this review you may realize that it is still worth carrying along to a shoot.

The built quality seems and feels durable and strong, almost a par with Canon and Nikon speedlights.

Talking about the physical overview, the front side of Godox AD200 has an interchangeable flash head mount. This allows you to mount the standard Fresnel flash head or the bare bulb flash head.

The only difference between this flash as compared to a speedlight is that the head of the AD200 cannot be rotated. And, the AD200 cannot be mounted on a camera, it can only be used as an off-camera flash. This could be a concern for some, but actually, this flash is not built to be used on-camera anyway.

The standard Fresnel head

The Fresnel flash head is ideal for situations when you are shooting without a light modifier and want to use it as any other speedlight. But an additional feature that the AD200 has is two LED strips on this head, which can use used as a modeling or continuous light. The continuous light could help the camera to focus in low-light conditions, instantly.

Bare bulb

The bare bulb flash head is ideal when while using this Godox flash with a light modifier, as the bulb is omnidirectional. I would choose to avoid using this head otherwise, as it is fragile and could easily be damaged shooting without a light modifier.

Controls

On the back side of the flash rests an AV display panel which is big enough for you to clearly see the various icons being displayed. There are five buttons dedicated to respective functions, a dial to adjust the flash exposure and the infrared sensor panel. The placement of the buttons, dial, and the screen is exactly what you as a photographer would desire in a flash.

On one side of this pocket flash, you will spot the Lithium battery slot, an unlock switch to change the flash head and a rubber cover which covers the 3.5mm sync cord jack and wireless control port. On the other side sits the ON/OFF switch, mini USB port, and a 1/4″ tripod/stand mounting hole.

Review of the Godox AD200 Pocket Flash

Highlighted Features and Performance

TTL (Through-the-lens)

This pocket flash by Godox features TTL metering, a technology which allows the flash to sync with the camera and automatically set the flash exposure based on the camera exposure. Using a flash in TTL mode is exactly the same as using the camera in automatic mode. The camera exposure helps the flash to set its own output value accordingly to correctly expose the frame or the subject.

The TTL mode performance on the Godox AD200 is precise in a majority of situations and it works perfectly in sync with the camera exposure to properly expose the subject. I rarely came across any instances where I got an underexposed or overexposed photo when shooting in TTL mode. Even if I did encounter exposure issues, I used the FEC (flash exposure compensation) feature to overcome it.

HSS (High-Speed Sync)

The Godox AD200 can sync up to 1/8000th while using its HSS functionality. This is ideal for situations where you want to freeze a fast-moving subject or shoot at an outdoor location where you need to control the light.

Review of the Godox AD200 Pocket Flash

Rear-Curtain Sync

Using the rear-curtain (or second-curtain) sync feature of the Godox AD200, you can shoot some really creative and cool photos with long exposures.

Ideally, when you shoot using a flash, the light gets fired from the flash the moment the shutter opens. So if you are shooting a long exposure photo of two seconds, the flash will fire the moment you press the shutter release button and whatever happens after that does not get exposed properly.

But by using the second-curtain sync feature, you can instead make the flash fire right before the shutter closes. Considering the above example, the flash will now fire just before the 2-second exposure is completed and the shutter closes.

Using this feature might sound confusing, but trust me, once you practice you may fall in love with it.

Flash Exposure Compensation

Assume flash exposure compensation to be exactly like the exposure compensation feature of your DSLR camera. If you feel that you are not getting the desired exposure in your photo while using the flash in TTL, or if you plan to try something different, you can adjust the flash exposure compensation.

This amazing feature lets you reduce or increase the flash output as per your desire, all you have to do is adjust the exposure value to your requirements. This is basically like shooting in aperture priority or shutter priority mode, without getting into manual mode.

Review of the Godox AD200 Pocket Flash

Flash Output

The AD200 has a guide number of 60 and the flash output that you get is almost three times of what any flagship speedlight can provide. I was able to expose my subject correctly while shooting outdoors in bright daylight conditions, and believe me when I say that the flash is powerful enough to overpower the background light.

Imagine using three speedlights at a time and on the other hand using just one Godox AD200 flash. The light output shall be almost same. For me, it has performed amazingly well even in low light conditions as I used the built-in LED light to ensure that the focus and flash exposure were correct.

Godox AD200 Flash Recycle Time

The recycle time also plays an important role while deciding on the perfect flash, so here are some tests that I conducted to figure out the recycle time of this flash at various powers.

The recycle time on this flash at full power is quite impressive:

  • While using the flash at 1/1 (full) power, the recycle time that I got was just less than 2 seconds.
  • While using the flash at 1/2 power, the recycle time that I get was almost half a second.

I mostly use a flash when I’m shooting fashion and portraits, and with this swift recycle time I hardly miss any shots. Even if you plan to buy this flash for wedding, action, or event photography, I am sure you will thank me later.

Review of the Godox AD200 Pocket Flash

Would I recommend this?

At $ 299, this pocket flash by Godox looks like an ideal choice for a fashion, wedding, event, or even sports photographer. This flash has almost all the features that you, as a hobbyist or as a professional photographer, would require to get the desired results, with almost three times the power of a regular speedlight.

I have been using this portable flash for almost 6 months now, and I do not have any major complaint about this beauty, except for the display panel which could be better for outdoor visibility.

The best part about the Godox AD200 is that there is a universal model of this pocket flash. This means that you can pair this flash with the compatible trigger (Canon, Nikon or Sony) and use it as an off-camera light source. So if you own multiple brand cameras, this is another reason you should consider investing your $ 299 in this Godox flash.

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Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

02 Apr

My wife can be very unkind about my photography. She’ll often flick through my edits and ask me where the good shots are… I don’t think she has cottoned on to the fact that us creative types are deeply sensitive.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

She said to me recently:

Wouldn’t it be amazing to show people how many bad shots you take before you get any good ones?

She is most obviously not a photographer…

But then I started to think about how much time we photographers spend putting out our very best work, and only our best work – as we should!

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

I started to think that perhaps she was right. Maybe it would be good to show you the photos I took before I got the shot before I nailed it. Definitely a good teaching idea.

There’s a book I love by Magnum photographers who published a collection of their contact sheets. It shows all the mediocre shots of some of the great masters of the art. That is kind of reassuring, right? If even the masters can’t get it right with one shot, there’s hope for the rest of us!

But also shows the process of refining an interesting scene into a great shot.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

Photographic composition is all about being able to see interesting elements out there in the world and arranging them in a pleasing, interesting way. That sounds easy enough, right?

Here are some examples of what kinds of things I notice – and how I work the shot from being a good to great composition.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

Scene One

I was in Hong Kong and I was totally awed by the density of skyscrapers, the busy port, intensely colorful lights and the tropical weather.

I am usually a great lover of capturing the emptiness of cities at first light – but for me, Hong Kong was all about evening and nighttime. The play of lights and finding intriguing moments to capture amongst the density of excitement of the city became my goal.

Walking around on my first evening in Hong Kong I saw a red sign in the blue twilight that caught my eye. It had a great contrast of colors. I noticed a nice shapely arrangement of skyscrapers in the distance that created an impressive background across the image.

I’d use a wide aperture to make them a bit soft and create more depth with my red sign. Good start, I’m thinking!

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

But this isn’t very interesting, right? So I tell myself, “Stop fixating on the red!” Red does tend to keep our attention longer than it really deserves. I start to look around for something else to add to the frame because the elements I have so far are not super-interesting.

I ask myself, “Where are the balance and harmony? Why did I cut my subject in half? Was I so drawn to the skyscrapers that my subject became a secondary thought?”

Yes, that is what I did. I fixated on the red sign and I took a rubbish shot because of it. Where was all my great compositional skill? The image could definitely be improved. So, I move around the scene and moved back.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

Okay, this is getting better. Although – can you see in the top right-hand corner there is a little wedge of something. Now I know you can remove things in post-production – but I always aim to get the frame as perfect as possible in camera. It’s more fun for me that way. Plus, if you aren’t checking your corners you are not considering the whole frame, the whole composition.

There is one important point that is obvious here which I tell all of my students – check your corners! I am a believer that you will not create consistently great images if you do not practice total photography. Your subject is only one piece of the perfect puzzle you are attempting to create.

That image you have in your head needs to be constructed – all the pieces assembled with intent. This is a skill separate from camera skills that you must also practice. Just keep shooting with intent and it will come.

Getting back to my images, “Now I’m getting somewhere” I thought. These elements next to the sign, including the circular mirror (why didn’t I see that first? I blame the red!) and the orange light look very compelling to me. So I recompose ever so slightly…

That time though the orange light was off – it was blinking! It took me several frames to get the timing right and capture the orange light.

So after a few minutes of working the scene, I end up with this:

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

Bang! Now, this is the one. Can you see what’s different in this shot? What I got by moving a little more, and also by timing the shot just right?

You want to get the most impact with every element in your photo. And those details in the mirror are very cool.  You can see how I made the reflection really pop in post-production by creating a circular mask just on the mirror and increasing the contrast, exposure, and clarity some. Sweet.

Scene two

I was in a very industrial part of the city. There were shipping containers everywhere and signs of work around the port. It was an intriguing scene because the ubiquitous skyscrapers were looming in the background.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

But the first shot I took, above, is not very interesting, even with decent composition (again it was me thinking that red is really good!) Can you see where I might have thought that there are some interesting elements here that I could work to juxtapose?

I walked up a little further and some vests caught my eye which could be juxtaposed with a backdrop of buildings. But the next shot is not right either.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

I saw the work vests and the skyscrapers and thought of the disparity of wealth in this world, especially in cities like Hong Kong – it’s staggering! I got the idea to juxtapose these elements and work a narrative into the image (always a good idea).

I also like this contrast of imagery. You have the workers’ vests draped over the rails – almost like they are exhausted – with the strength and power of the vertical lined building next to them. There is lots of structure contrasted against the softness (weakness) of the workers’ vests.

Even if the narrative was coming together, the photo was not. So I moved around and see what else I could conjure up.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

In the shot above I moved back and took in a wider view of the scene. I was really liking this now. The shape of the shipping containers shot at this angle, with the skyscrapers looming in the background works. I still had that strong structure but now with the addition of dynamic lines. Juicy!

I wasn’t totally happy yet – the balance was still not right between the foreground and the background. I needed balance to make the composition neutral and let the viewer pick a side, so to speak.

So I moved a bit more and then – bang – I got the shot.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

I am proud of this shot because it displays some of my favourite techniques to compose with – line and form.  These all help to construct a narrative.

I often see people on my workshops who will work a scene, but they stop before they have taken their very best shot because they are thinking “Oh, I can work this in post-production. I can crop it, etc.” Or they’re thinking that it’s “good enough”.

Working to find the very best composition definitely pays off. You will never regret spending those extra minutes just being still and looking at a scene for angles and new ideas. You need to make that kind of effort all of the time. And don’t forget to use your imagination. Make up a story. Open yourself to random crazy thoughts. You never know where they may take you creatively.

The cool thing is – you’re loving every moment because you’re out making images. What could be better right?

Scene Three

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

This last series of images was taken in Havana, Cuba. I was walking about with my assistant just absorbing some back streets when we came upon this scene with the factory smokestack over a residential neighborhood. Ouch! The light couldn’t have been better – it was just before sunset and the light was very warm.

My first instinct when I come upon something that strikes me is to take a shot. I think we all do it. But it is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you accept that there is more to be done.

So I took the reactionary shot above. Dull and uninspired I thought. After looking at the scene a little more I felt motivated to get something, anything else.

I had a dedicated flash on my camera for some other types of images I was making so took this next shot, with the idea of getting a great image with the smoke. But this too was more of a reaction to the young man in the frame – maybe if I timed it right I would get a good pose.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

Nope.

I realized at that point that I was shooting way too wide for what I saw in my head as a vision for this scene. It wasn’t totally clear what that was yet but I knew those first two shots were not it. No way.

I kept moving towards the smoke (at that point our eyes started to itch and our mouths had the taste of bad oil). Next, I took this image:

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

The man on the fourth floor stands out to me but not to my lens. Way too wide for that – still, this is somewhat better than the previous two shots. I didn’t really want to take an image of the old man sitting at the bottom left of the frame. It is really not my style to be invasive without being social to people first and I was interested in the smoke (fixated really).

At that point, though (a good 3-4 minutes since the first frame shot), I was after a great image. So I took one of the old guy sitting down (I said hello first):

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

Better. This is a very good image but I wanted one where the smoke was more prominent. I knew I could create that image in my head if I just kept looking for it. So I walked a bit more. I still had my 17-40mm on the camera (I believe it or not, that was all I had with me) and got really close to the smokestack, regardless of my burning eyes and itchy skin.

But right underneath the smokestack, it became substantially more ominous and horrible and I instantly knew how I felt about it – confused and frightened. So I took this last shot and was really pleased with it.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

It is an odd composition without a lot of “rules”, which I feel is reflected well in the chaotic nature of the wires and the industrialness of the location, even though there were children practically under my feet. Finally, I got my smoke!

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed that little meander through my shots. I like to think that turning my head inside out can give you a bit of insight into the creative process.

Here are the key ideas points covered in this article:

  • Find a subject or scene that you are fascinated by.
  • Work the scene until you have the best shot you can get.
  • Move around!
  • Be patient – wait for the best light, best weather, interesting people or expressions – whatever it takes.
  • Have perseverance.
  • Use your imagination to create narratives. Open up.

Tips for Working the Scene to Take Your Image from Good to Great

I would love to know if you found this process I go through to capture my shots useful? Does it help to see that we all take a bunch of boring shots? Taking photos is more than just pressing a shutter (anyone can do that), but an artist is something we all are inside and photography is our journey/path in finding that inner artist.

Please comment below and let me know what you have learned or how this might have helped you. Thanks!

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4 Marketing Mistakes – How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

01 Apr

You can market your photography business in hundreds of different ways — some incredible effective, and some a total waste of your time. Here are four marketing mistakes or wrong ways to promote your photography business and what you should be doing instead.

How To Market Your Photography Business1

Mistake #1 – You’re Too “Professional”

By no means does this mean you should act or present yourself unprofessionally in your photography business — but often we hide behind a front of professionalism. If being a professional means a headshot on your website holding your camera (or no headshot at all) and a story about how you love love, and love photographing weddings, it’s unremarkable. Every other photographer does and believes those things.

Through trying to be perceived as a professional, you’ve becoming boring! Yes, you need to conduct your business professionally – but add some zest to your brand. What makes you unique as a human, and therefore, a photographer?

What 5-10 things could you talk about all day? Which things make you excited? What 5-10 things do you dislike? What are 5-10 ways you could describe your personality and your images?

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Brainstorm the list of you! Get clear on your interests, personality, photography style, brand, and voice and consistently communicate this uniqueness to your clients.

It’s simple to do a brand audit of your website, blog, and social media accounts. Within 30 seconds, would a new client know what makes you different? What facts will they remember? This is the key to non-boring, but still professional marketing.

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Mistake #2 – You’re Advertising Without Intention

In the name of honesty, I have never paid to advertise my photography business. But I’m not against advertising in magazines, wedding shows, or placing Facebook ads. However, advertising without intention is a big marketing mistake many photographers make.

Before you pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for an ad, ask yourself this question, “Is my ideal client hanging out here?”

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

If you’re not clear on who your ideal client is, that will be the first step! Think back to some of your favorite clients and scribble a list of describing words about their personalities, wedding day, and photos. After you’ve reviewed at least 10 of your past couples, circle any common themes that occur.

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Testimonials are a gold mine for sketching out your ideal client. If you don’t have one already, start a document with feedback from your clients and look for themes. What are clients most excited about after working with you? A few more details to include in your client profile include their age, location, career, income bracket, and hobbies.

Once you get clear on who your ideal client is, then you can filter every advertising opportunity through your client profile. Would your ideal client be looking for a wedding photographer in that magazine, at the bridal show, through Facebook ads? If so, wonderful but if not, perhaps your marketing efforts and dollars are best spent elsewhere.

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Mistake #3 – You’re EVERYWHERE on Social Media

You have a limited amount of time to market your photography business, and you have to make your moments count. Before you get involved on Google Plus, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. – pause.

Is your ideal client finding their wedding photographer on that platform? If you’re not sure — a good place to start would be surveying your past clients and asking “Where did you find me?”

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Chances are that a few social media platforms (2-3 maximum) are bringing in most of your inquiries. The other platforms are a waste of your time. For photographers, I have found Instagram and Facebook to be front-runners, perhaps with Pinterest as a third. But you’ll have to investigate the stats for your business.

Once you’ve narrowed down the platforms you want to pursue, let go of the ones that aren’t working! On your chosen platforms, engage consistently with a mix of personal and business posts – sharing your face regularly, sharing work you love and calling prospective clients to action.

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Mistake #4 – You’re Sending Cold Emails

One of the best ways to market your photography business is building a strong network within your own industry. By this, I mean connecting with other photographers as well as wedding vendors and venues. However, sending cold impersonal emails is the wrong way to market your business.

If you want to send emails that not only get read but receive a reply back, make sure you do your research. Before you send an email, follow their accounts on social media, leave comments on their blog — so do that at least a week in advance of emailing. When you email, keep it short and to the point. Genuinely compliment their work. Share who you are, what you want and how you can help that person achieve their business goals.

4 Marketing Mistakes - How NOT to Promote Your Photography Business

Practically, this may mean helping a vendor by providing free headshots of their staff, photos of their storefront, or offering to help them improve their website or blog one afternoon. Most industry leaders want to help, they were new once as well – but not at a disadvantage to their own time.

If you want to connect with a fellow photographer, asking them for coffee for “tips” is a terrible way to get an email response. Instead, focus on relationship building, helping them in their business, sending a gift in the mail and asking to take them out to their favorite lunch spot. I guarantee your “cold emailing” success rate will increase if you follow these tips

Conclusion

What other mistakes have you make marketing your photography business, or seen others make? Please share your ideas in the comments below.

All the best to you as you work to market your photography business!

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Five Common Portrait Retouching Mistakes to Avoid

01 Apr

When it comes to retouching portraits there are a number of mistakes that I see photographers make over and over. Part of the problem is that there are too many poorly made skin smoothing plugins. Another is that Photoshop gives you too many options for portrait retouching. There is a simple solution for this which I’ll mention at the end of the article.

In the meantime, let’s look at the most common portrait retouching mistakes photographers make so you can avoid them. Don’t feel too bad if you are making any of these errors. Consider it part of the learning process. You’ll learn to avoid these mistakes as your retouching skills improve.

Portrait retouching mistakes

1. Applying too much skin smoothing

This is a problem you see in commercial photography as well as in the work of hobbyist photographers. If you look closely at a typical cinema photo or a perfume advertisement you’ll see that the models and actors are often retouched to the point they are nearly unrecognizable. They certainly don’t look real or authentic. When this happens in the commercial world it’s little wonder that other photographers imitate what they see and make the same mistakes.

My advice is to consider whether skin smoothing is required in the first place and if it is to apply it with the lightest possible touch. Most photos of men don’t require skin smoothing. It’s conventional to apply some skin smoothing with most portraits of women, but it’s also important to retain skin texture to avoid the plastic skin look.

Portrait retouching mistakes

Two versions of the same portrait. The one on the left has had too much skin smoothing applied. The one on the right has less skin smoothing. You can still see skin texture and the result looks more natural.

The best way to apply skin smoothing that I know of is to use the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom with the Soften Skin preset (this preset comes with Lightroom and affects the Clarity and Sharpness sliders).

Portrait retouching mistakes

When you first apply the preset you’ll see that it’s very strong and as a result the effect is overdone. But you can get around that easily by clicking the black triangle above the Adjustment Brush sliders (below).

Portrait retouching mistakes

When you do so the sliders disappear and are replaced by a single Amount slider. You can set it anywhere from 100 (full effect) to zero (no effect). This lets you apply the skin smoothing effect with a light touch that retains skin texture.

Portrait retouching mistakes

2. Making the model’s eyes bigger

Amongst some photographers, it has become trendy to use Photoshop’s Liquify tool to make the model’s eyes bigger. The idea behind it is simple – large eyes are considered appealing, and enlarging a model’s eyes makes her more attractive.

Where this theory falls down is that most people are smart enough to recognize when this has been done, especially if they know the model personally. It results in an unnatural looking portrait that has lost any authenticity.

Portrait retouching mistakes

3. Making the model’s eyes too bright or too sharp

One of biggest advantages that software like Lightroom and Photoshop has given photographers is the ability to make highly accurate local adjustments. But it’s so easy to make the model’s eyes whiter, brighter or sharper that many photographers do so without thinking about whether or not it looks natural.

A better approach is to apply the effect subtly and zoom into 100% to check that it looks realistic. Go too far and you end up with a portrait where the model’s eyes attract attention for the wrong reason – they are over-processed rather than being the windows into the person’s soul.

portait retouching mistakes

4. Applying too much Clarity

Even professional photographers make this mistake. Recently I saw a friend’s wedding photos and my first thought was that the photographer had applied way too much Clarity, making her look older than she really is. Of course, I didn’t say anything as I didn’t want to spoil her enjoyment of her big day or the wedding photos. But if the photographer had photographed my wedding I would have been very disappointed with the results.

Adding Clarity emphasizes skin texture, blemishes, and wrinkles. For this reason, it’s usually a bad idea to apply it to portraits of women. Normally you do the opposite and apply skin smoothing (which is a negative Clarity adjustment in Lightroom).

With men it’s different. You may want to apply Clarity in order to emphasize skin texture and make the model’s face appear more rugged. You have to judge it on a case by case basis as every portrait is different.

The key, once again, is to apply it subtly rather than with a heavy hand. Your processing technique shouldn’t draw attention to itself.

5. Over-sharpening

This is another big mistake that I see photographers make. Over sharpening can come from several sources. For example, if you use the JPEG format rather than Raw then remember that your camera sharpens the photo for you. Any sharpening you apply in post-processing is applied on top of an already sharpened photo.

If you use Raw there is very little need to set Sharpening to anything other than the default settings in your Raw converter. It’s rare that any additional sharpening is required on top of that. Remember that the effect of Sharpening is heightened if used in conjunction with applying Clarity.

The best approach to Sharpening is to use your software’s default settings and to never apply any additional Sharpening on top of that. If you do apply extra Sharpening, you need to zoom into your portrait to check the effect on the eyes and eyelashes, as this is where artifacts caused by over-sharpening are most likely to appear.

Note: Remember to use the mask feature of the sharpening tools in LR and ACR. That will help keep the sharpening to only edges and not smooth areas like skin or sky. 

Conclusion

Another aspect we haven’t discussed yet is to think about exactly what you want to achieve with your portrait processing. For example, you have probably guessed by now that I favor a natural, authentic approach to portraiture. That means using natural light, prime lenses, wide apertures and minimal processing. These techniques help me achieve the look I’m after.

Other photographers may be more commercially minded. If this is you, then a slightly more heavy-handed approach may be required. Even so, it’s wise to apply skin smoothing and other portrait retouching techniques subtly, rather than over-process your portraits.

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned a simple solution to the problem of over-processing portraits. The solution is this – use Lightroom. Don’t use Photoshop and don’t use a portrait retouching plugin.

There is no Liquify tool in Lightroom so you won’t be tempted to change the shape of a model’s eyes or face. There’s only one skin smoothing preset, so you should be able to avoid the temptation to over smooth the model’s skin. There is no high pass filter or other fancy sharpening techniques, so this should prevent you from over sharpening your portraits (be careful with the Clarity slider though!).

What are the most common portrait retouching mistakes you’ve seen or made yourself? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Mastering Lightroom ebooks

Want to get a head start with Lightroom? Take a look at my popular Mastering Lightroom ebooks, written to help photographers learn how to use all of Lightroom’s powerful features. Use the code DPS20 to get 20% off your first order.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Dogs and Puppies

31 Mar

Last week we photographed our feathered friends, how about some furry ones this week?

Weekly Photography Challenge – Dogs and Puppies

Need some help? Try these articles:

  • How to Take Better Action Photos of Dogs
  • Pros and Cons of Photographing Dogs with a Prime Lens
  • 10 Amazing Camera Hacks for Better Dog Photography
  • How to Photograph Agility Events and Other Dog Sports
  • 5 Good Reasons to Take Your Dog on Photography Walks
  • 6 Tips for Working with Unruly Animals in Pet Photography

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

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

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How to Choose the Best Portrait Lens According to Three Professional Photographers

30 Mar

Here on dPS, we’ve covered this topic in previous articles. For example: How to Choose the Perfect Portrait Lens.

In the following videos, see which lens these photographers chose and why.

85mm versus the 70-200mm f/2.8

Portrait photographer, Manny Ortiz takes you to a live shoot in this video. Watch as he shoots the same subject, in the same location with both the 85mm f/1.4 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses.

See how they differ and watch all the way to the end to find out which is his favorite lens and why.

Is there such a thing as the “best” portrait lens?

In this next video, Gabriel Sanchez (Gabe) talks about the four lenses he uses most often for portraits and which are his go-to and favorites.

He goes over the 24mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, and a Sigma 85mm f/1.4, and the benefits and results you can get with each lens. See why he says there is no “perfect” or best portrait lens, watch to the end.

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Favorite lenses – fashion photographer

Finally, get a different point of view from fashion photographer Julia Trotti as she explains why the 35mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.2 are her favorite lenses.

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Which lens do you use for portraits?

So at the end of the day which lens are you going to choose for doing portraits? Do you have any favorites? Tell us which lenses you use and why in the comments below.

If you’re still undecided here are some more dPS articles to help you out:

  • 3 Tips for Taking Portraits with a Kit Lens
  • Tips From a Pro to Help You Know Which Lens to Choose
  • Primes Versus Zoom Lenses: Which Lens to Use and Why?
  • Comparing a 24mm Versus 50mm Lens for Photographing People

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Using Scanography to Create Images of Plants

30 Mar

black and white flower - How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

Since its inception, photographers have found weird and wonderful ways to create photographic images in amazing styles and mediums. The first photograph, or more specifically, the earliest known surviving photograph made in a camera, was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827. He used a polished sheet of pewter coated with a thin layer of bitumen, a naturally occurring petroleum tar, which was dissolved in lavender oil, applied to the surface of the pewter and allowed to dry before use.

As cameras developed, the popularity of photography increased and the possibilities of the medium grew, opening new artistic avenues.

How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography - leaves

We’re a creative bunch, so it’s only natural that as technology progressed into the contemporary climate, advances in office technology such as the printer presented a whole new realm of artistic possibilities. Printers not only allowed for new aesthetics but provided the opportunity for more economical distribution too.

It’s the same with scanners. Modern scanners are considered the successors of early telephotography and fax input devices. The first modern scanner developed for a computer was a drum scanner built in 1957 at the US National Bureau of Standards. Led by a team headed by Russell A. Kirsch, the first image ever scanned on this machine was a 5cm square photograph of Kirsch’s then-three-month-old son, Walden.

Companies such as Acer, Microtek and HP began offering flat-bed scanners in the late 1980s, although hi-res (600 DPI or more), color versions didn’t become popular until the mid-1990s. Once the technology moved into mainstream use, people began experimenting with the flatbed scanner’s artistic potential. What they discovered was a new form of digital photography, called scanography.

How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

Making your own scanography

The process of scanography is as simple as arranging objects on the scanner and capturing the resulting image. But a few extra steps can help refine the process for more successful images.

What you’ll need

  • Computer
  • Flatbed scanner
  • Objects to scan (flat, mailable objects like plants make great subjects)
  • Glass cleaner and cloth
  • Square of glass approximately A4 in size
How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

For this image, I have combined two scanned images together and included the duct-tape frame that was on the piece of glass I used to compress the branches flush against the scanner bed.

Before you start

Because the scanning surface is made of glass, you’ll have to take care that the bed doesn’t get scratched or cracked. If you are particularly concerned about marking your scanner, try using a layer of glad-wrap as an extra barrier between your objects and the glass. Keep in mind that a scanner bed can only hold so much weight and exceeding this weight will break the scanner.

Method

First, open your flatbed scanner and give it a good wipe-down with glass cleaner and a cloth. This will reduce the amount of dust that will show up in your scanned image. Next, arrange your objects face-down directly on the scanner glass. For a nice, sharp image, I place a layer of glass over the top of my objects so they are flush with the scanner bed.

The depth of field of most scanners is very limited, usually no more than half an inch (12 mm), but the built-in light source provides excellent sharpness, color saturation, and unique shadow effects on objects pressed close to the bed. This is why flat objects like plants produce the most successful scanographic results.

How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

Using a pane of glass will help keep your subject flush with the scanning bed, emphasizing detail. I’ve included the duct-tape border of the glass to create a more dynamic image.

The next step depends on whether you would like a black or white background for your image. For a white background, simply close the scanner lid and activate the scanner. For a black background, leave the lid of the scanner open and activate the scanner in a dark room. Once your scanner has finished processing, observe the results on the computer screen and make any necessary adjustments until you are happy with the finished result.

Post-processing

Once you are happy with your scanned image, open it up in Photoshop for a better look. Photoshop will allow you to remove any pesky dust marks or scratches that appear on your image. Personally, I don’t mind a few imperfections in the capture, as it embraces the quirks of the medium.

How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

Experiment!

Once you have the technique down, the possibilities are endless. Why not try “branching out” and scanning some other objects?

How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

Here are several scanned images of my pet rat that I’ve combined in Photoshop. I think it makes an interesting (and cute) study of movement, detail, and the scanner technology itself.

How to Create Images of Plants With Scanography

This creepy wavy effect was done by slightly moving my hands from side-to-side as the scanner arm passed over my fingers.

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Software Overview of the New ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1

30 Mar

The world of photo editing is changing and as more people are picking up cameras to take photos, it also means those same people are looking to process them. ON1 is one of the leaders in that change. They have been developing their software for a few years and pride themselves on having the only editing program that has been designed by photographers for photographers – ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1

Software Review - ON1 Photo Raw 2018.1 - sunset

A sunrise processed with ON1 Photo RAW 2018.

You may know ON1 as a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. While it is still available as such, it also comes as a stand-alone product. You can purchase the program and use it on your computer without a subscription to Adobe to use the plugins. This makes it far more accessible to most people. You can also buy it outright, so there are no monthly payments and you have options to upgrade as it is updated over time. It is only available as a perpetual license.

ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is available for both Windows and Macs.

ON1 Community

There is a community around ON1 and if you love being a part of one then you are going to feel at home. They encourage you to tell them what you like about the software and what you don’t like. They like to listen to the ideas submitted and if they are feasible will implement them in future updates. The community can submit their feature requests through the ON1 Photo RAW Project.

There are tons of free training videos available to help you learn how to use ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1. The videos are not too long and are made so they are easy to follow.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1

A macro flower image, processed with ON1 Photo Raw 2018.

Opening up

When you open up ON1 Photo RAW you will go straight to the Browse mode. This is where you will find your photos.

Layout

When ON1 opens you are automatically taken to the Browse Mode. From here you will find the folders and files for your images on the left. In the center are the images. On the right is all the metadata information about your images. You will also see on the far right all the different modules in which you can work.

If you want to see the image on its own, just click the tab key.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1

By clicking the tab key all the windows around the image disappear so you can get a clearer view.

Browse

The Browse module is where you can view your photos and all your folders. There are four different ways of viewing your images.

  1. The first, which seems to be the default, is a set of thumbnails of which you can adjust the size.
  2. You can view just one image on its own without the distraction of the others.
  3. There is the filmstrip method, with your photo blown up and the thumbnails below.
  4. The last method is like the previous one, but you can click on more than one image using Ctrl/Cmd which allows you to compare them side by side.

While you can see all the images that are on your computer, you can also import photos from your camera, phone, or wherever they are currently stored. The Import function allows you to rename your photos, decide where they will go, and you can also opt to change the metadata at the same time.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - browse

The Browse section where you can view all your photos.

Develop

Once you have decided which image you want to work on you are ready for the Develop module.

Here you can make all your basic adjustments like exposure, highlights, and shadows. You can adjust the white balance and look at adding sharpening or noise reduction. There are quite a few options in this section.

If you go to the top of where the adjustments are located you will see a button called Show More. From there, you will see more adjustments that you can use. They appear as more panes underneath the default ones that are available when you go to Develop.

Above the Show More button are two tabs. The first is Overall settings, and the other is Local Adjustments.

The first one, Overall Settings, will make any changes to your entire image. On the other hand, Local Adjustments is there to make changes to only small sections of your image. The tools you can use to do this are on the left-side panel. There are two, an Adjustment Brush and a Gradient. With these, you can work on only parts of the image where you want the desired effect.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - develop

Working on your image in the Develop module.

Local adjustment tools

With the brush tool, you can make changes to the size of the brush, amount of feathering, opacity and other things from the menu along the top of the window.

You will also see another option there, the Perfect Brush, which allows you to make selections or correction to parts based on the color on which the cross-hairs of the brush is placed. If you keep the brush over the color or tones you want to adjust, then nothing else outside those tones will be affected. It is a great tool to use when you want to remove or replace a sky.

There are other tools in the Local Adjustments tab as well. You can crop your images here if need be. The crop tool also allows you to straighten any wonky horizons.

Retouching tools are also on that panel. These will allow you to remove sensor dust spots, which is very important. You can clone, heal and use the content-aware Perfect Eraser with them as well. There are a lot of choices.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - split toning

Adding a split tone to the image in the Develop area.

Effects

In the Effects module, you have even more adjustments, though they are referred to as filters here (some of the most popular include Dynamic Contrast, Textures, Borders, Lens Blur, Skin Retouching, etc.). You can add as many as you like and then stack them on top of each over. The effect will be applied to the whole image, however, you can add a mask so it will be more local to the areas of your image that you want to affect.

You will notice in the panel on the left that there are more tools available, including two that are very important.

There is another brush tool, along with a gradient and they both have masks attached. As soon as you start working on the image with one of them a mask is created automatically. This is valuable because it means you can fix what you are trying to do if you make a mistake. Masks are a great way to work non-destructively.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - effects

Looking at the filters and presets you can add in the Effects module.

Layers

When you get to the Layers module, you can start using the workspace which is designed to be easy and help take your photos further. It is here that you can start editing your photos. It also gives you more choices so if you want you can add layers, or start compositing. You can also do specific edits to particular layers.

One thing that is amazing in this section is replacing skies. Using the masking brush you can switch it to the Perfect Brush so you select just the sky, then reveal the image underneath. To help with the edges of the subjects you can switch to the masking refine tool, or the chisel masking one. They work really well together to help you get clearer edges.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - Layers

Working in Layers doing a sky replacement.

If you look at the menu on the left near the tool panels you will see a section called Files. From here you can add extra images if you want. It is a great place to choose a new sky or find textures to add to your image. It even comes with a collection of skies you can use on your photos.

Once you make that selection you can also blend the images or layers. There are many different blending modes. You can try them all out to see which ones will work for your image.

You do have to be prepared to take layers back into Effects or Develop to make adjustments or add filters to them to get the desired results that you are after.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - replace sky

Looking at the different options for replacing the sky and applying it.

Resize

As the name states, it is where you can resize your images, though ON1 has packed it with far more. You can crop, level, sharpen, add film grain, add gallery wrap wings for canvases, plus many more things. It is a great place to finish off your images ready for printing.

There are also a lot of resizing presets that you can use to help you get the printed results and size that you are looking for.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - resize

Resizing an image ready for posting on the web.

Presets

In Develop and Effects, you will find a series of presets you can use to enhance your image. Unlike other programs you have options with them and can adjust them to suit the purpose of your image. You can also add a mask so that it is only applied to part of the image.

If you do your own enhancements and think you will want to use the same settings again then you can also save them as a preset. You can use the filters in Effects to get the image you want, then make a preset that can then be applied to your other images. This is really good if you like all your images to have a similar look and feel.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - presets

Adding presets and layers in Effects.

ON1 Photo for Mobile

There is also an app available for your phone, so you can process your images there. The advantage of this app is that you can send your photos straight to social media. Most of us do not like images straight from the camera and like to be able to edit them in some way.

The downside to this app is that it is only available for iPhones, so if you have an Android, you can’t use it. Unfortunately, I have a Samsung (Android) phone, so, therefore, have no idea how the app works. Though I am sure it is good if it is anything like the Desktop program.

Some of the improvements that have been made

With every new version that is released, there are always new features or some of the old ones are improved. Let’s look at what you will find with the latest release of Photo Raw 2018.1.

HDR

Doing High Dynamic Range (HDR) images in ON1 is incredibly easy and the results are fantastic. Aligning the images, along with deghosting have all been improved to help you get the best image. You are now able to mark which frame you want to use to help with the deghosting process, as well as decide how much movement you get with motion instead of the program doing it for you.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - HDR

An HDR image that was done with ON1 and then processed further.

Catalog

If you’ve used an older version of ON1 Photo RAW, when you go to Browse mode, you should notice how much faster it is to look through your images in this new updated version. You don’t have to wait for eons while your photos all load. As soon as the folder is open you can view the images. They have improved the catalog searching tool as well so it also loads faster.

Noise Reduction and Sharpening

You can now sharpen your images to enhance the details on a micro level that will give you better results.

With so much people doing long exposure photography, one of the major problems is hot pixels. ON1 Photo RAW 2018 now will remove them automatically, along with the ability to remove high levels of noise from your images which all make your workload easier.

Chromatic Aberrations are caused by your lens and there isn’t a lot you can do to prevent them. But ON1 has worked on improving how to get rid of them, which is now much easier in this updated version of the software.

Panoramic Images

Many people like to do panoramas and you will find that ON1 has improved this feature so it will stitch your vertical images together far better. You can stitch together over 25 images at once. You also don’t need to worry about different exposures as it will compensate for them.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - HDR

A composite of two images where the sky was replaced.

New Features

With the latest release, some features were also added.

Import

If you choose to use the import function you can decide where those images will go on your computer. As they are importing you can also assign metadata that you think is important, like copyright information.

Soft Proofing

The ability to soft proof has been added so you can simulate what your image will look like when it is printed. It should stop the surprises that you get sometimes when an image comes back from your printer.

Batch Renaming

While a lot of people don’t worry about this, it is a great feature if you have to send a bunch of photos somewhere. The ability to select the images and then rename them all at once is a fantastic feature that has been added to ON1 Photo RAW 2018.

Edit Capture Date

This was added so if you want to change the date and time that a photo was taken you can do so. This is a good feature if you’re like me and are too lazy (or you forget) to change the time and date on your camera when you are traveling. You can now fix it with ON1 Photo RAW.

Auto Advance

When you are going through your photos picking your faves, once you have culled one image the program will automatically move to the next image. This makes moving through them much faster.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1

The final image of the cloudy sky.

More information

When you purchase ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 it also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee if you aren’t happy with it, no questions asked. Though if you want to try it out first you can use the full program for a free 30-day trial. It doesn’t stamp a watermark on your images making them ineligible to use, so it’s fully functional.

Software Review - ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 - b/w

Converting an image to black and white.

Overall

ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 is a good alternative for you if you wish to edit your photos, but don’t want to be locked into a subscription.

It is also suitable if you want to learn about image processing as the community that surrounds ON1 is welcoming. There is a lot of help available if you are just learning. In some ways, it is perfect for beginners, but also for others who want to get the best possible images they can.

Disclaimer: ON1 is a paid partner of dPS.

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