Category: Photography

How to Take Unique Crystal Ball Portraits
The search is always on to try something new in photography. That process is often about taking a technique and applying it in a new way. A crystal ball is a great addition to any landscape photographer’s camera bag. In this article, you’ll see why this is also true for portrait photographers.

You’ll learn to take the perfect crystal ball portrait. There are some special characteristics of refraction photography to consider. You will learn the technical side of refraction photography, and how to use this for your portraits.

In this photo, the model is seated, with her legs near her body. This made it easier to “eclipse” her behind the ball.

What is refraction photography?

Refractions is an effect that is produced when the light is bent upon passing through an object of denser mass. In the case of a crystal ball, this has the effect of inverting the background image inside the ball. This can be great to use for photography, as the ball becomes an external optic for your camera. You can read more about refraction photography in one of my previous articles.

This effect is mostly used for photographing landscapes, as it creates a super wide-angle scene within the glass ball. However, there are occasions you’d use a wide angle lens for portrait work, and the same is true with the crystal ball.

As with all crystal ball photos, try to ensure your subject is well lit, this will enhance the image coming through the ball. If you try to use strobes for this you need to position yourself carefully, the ball will pick up the light from the flash as a reflection very easily. The best advice I can offer is to position the strobes in a parallel line with the glass ball.

In this, photo the model is silhouetted against the dawn sky. The distance from the model to the crystal ball is quite far, so the person appears small in the ball.

How to create your crystal ball portrait

Now you know what refraction photography is and how to do it, the next step is to apply this to a portrait.

There are three main types of crystal ball portraits you can make, each uses the ball in a slightly different way. The three types of photo are shooting close to the ball, photographing the ball in the scene, and using the ball as a prop. Let’s take a look at each one.

1 – Fill the frame with the crystal ball

This composition type has the crystal ball fill the entire frame, or become the dominant part of the frame. In this photo, your model will be the main subject inside the glass ball, which means they’ll need to be quite close to the ball itself. To succeed with this type of photo look at the following points, and apply them to your portraits.

You can avoid distortion by placing the model in the center of the ball.

Center the model
- The model needs to be in the center of the ball so that you avoid ugly distortion of the face on the edges of the ball. To do this consider the following steps.
- Don’t have your model standing up strait, a sitting position where there body is more compressed will fit better inside the ball.
- Take the portrait from the chest up, and center the composition on the eyes.
Compress your scene

Use a long focal length to hide the model behind the glass ball, essentially eclipsing the model. The larger the glass ball the easier this will be.

Position the ball

The ball should be level, or a little higher than the model. This will avoid distortions on the edge of the ball, and by having the ball higher than the model, it will focus the viewer’s eye more on the face.

Avoid bad bokeh

The background in a crystal ball photograph can make or break your image. With your model close to the ball, the background is likely to contain some bokeh. Use an appropriate aperture to blur them out, or consider using post-processing to remove them.

You can enhance your crystal ball portrait by using good light on the model.

A photo of this type is best achieved with a macro lens, or a long telephoto lens. Both these lenses will allow you to fill the frame with the crystal ball, and then it’s simply about avoiding a bad background.

2 – Use the crystal ball as part of the overall picture

The next option for incorporating the crystal ball into your portrait shoot is to include much more of the background, and make the ball a smaller part of the frame. In this type of photo the focus will be on the ball, but the background bokeh will be equally important in telling the story.

Use the bokeh in the image to create your crystal ball portrait.
- The ball is smaller – The ball will be more of an accent within the overall frame. It’s likely the ball will be placed on the ground, or perhaps on a wall and will take up between 10-25% of the frame.
- The background will be bolder – The shape of your model is important, so have them strike an interesting pose. As the focus is on the ball, the focus on the model will be soft.
- Use the correct aperture – Adjust the aperture to a suitable level, so defined shapes can be seen in the background. The background should be neither to blurred nor too sharp. An aperture of around f/4 is a good place to start.
- Wider focal length – Now that you are including a large amount of the background a wider lens will be needed to achieve this.
3 – Use it as a prop in your crystal ball portrait

You can also use the ball in the more traditional way, as a prop for your model. In this type of crystal ball portrait your model will be directly interacting with the ball. This will mean that the refraction effect inside the ball may or may not be seen, depending on the way you arrange your photo.

Have your model hold the ball, and interact with it.
- Tell the story – As a prop, the ball will be a focal point for your photo. You can use the crystal ball to show tropes like fortunetelling and magic. Use these ideas when composing your photo.
- Do you refract? – When using the ball as a prop you don’t have to show it producing refraction; however, it will add more interest if you do so.
- Using strobes – A glass ball is a very reflective surface. When using strobes you need to decide if you want your strobe light reflecting on the surface of the ball. Moving your strobe to a side light position will eliminate most of the reflection on the ball, so this is a solution.
Using more than one ball gives you more storytelling potential.

Go out and create your magical crystal ball portrait!

Have you ever tried using a crystal ball in portrait work? Let’s see your results if you have. What difficulties did you encounter when you tried this style?

If you bought the ball primarily for landscape photography, how about trying your hand at a portrait? Give it a go and let us know how it turns out.

The ball can help you make some unusual portraits.

Experiment with your crystal ball portrait, how about using other techniques like light painting?

When your model looks into a crystal ball, there is a story to that photo.

The post How to Take Unique Crystal Ball Portraits by Simon Bond appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 23, 2018
Five Essentials of Doing Dark Food Photography

Over the last several years, several identifiable trends have developed in the world of food photography, including one towards dark, moody images, often with a rustic feel. These photographs call to mind the interplay of light and shadow in the paintings of the Old Masters, such as those by Vermeer and Rembrandt.

The style is often referred to “chiaroscuro” photography, a painting term borrowed from the art world. It means “light-dark” and refers to the contrast between the shadows and light in an image. The technique guides the viewer’s eye to a specific area in the frame and creates a dramatic mood. Mystic Light is another phrase used to describe this dark and moody style.

However, a dark style won’t necessarily suit every image. Sometimes a dark, shadowy approach is not appropriate to your subject. Developing strong food photography requires thinking about the purpose of your image. Your lighting, props, styling, and camera settings all work together in service of the story you are trying to convey.

For example, in the image above, I imagined someone sitting down at a farmhouse to eat a bowl of chilli on a cold winter’s day. I envisioned that the light was spilling in from a window onto my scene. This food story is one that I often use in my work, in one form or another, and chiaroscuro is the perfect style to bring it to life, as it arouses the emotions of the viewer.

So let’s take a closer look at how you can apply the chiaroscuro style to your food photography.

Dark Props and Backgrounds

The idea in dark food photography is to keep the background in shadow and draw the viewer’s attention to the main subject—what in food photography we call the “hero”. Therefore, a selection of dark or muted props, surfaces, and backgrounds is vital. White or light dishes and props will draw the eye away from the food and create too much contrast, which is distracting and can also be difficult to expose correctly.

When sourcing props, look for vintage utensils with a patina, which will not reflect the light as much as new ones. Matte dishes will also be less reflective, and are best in darker, neutral tones. Reflections can be hard to manage and cause a lot of problems in food photography.

Some good places to look for these items are thrift shops and vintage or flea markets, where you can find them for a fraction of the price you would pay for them new. Many food photographers use old, mottled cookie sheets in their work, which create a stunning surface or background, which subtly reflects the light without being to bright.

Wood is also a great material to utilize, both in the background and as props. It is easy to work with and lends a rustic feel. You can use weathered items such as an old cabinet door or tabletop. Ensure that whichever wood you use isn’t too warm toned. It will look quite orange in the final images and therefore unflattering to the food. A deep espresso color always looks great.

Food Styling

You will most often find the dark food photography style in editorial as opposed to advertising work. Advertising photography is meant to look perfect, with highly stylized food. Anyone who has ever seen a fast food burger ad and compared it to a real burger knows what I’m talking about.

But editorial food photography, such as that found in cookbooks and foodie magazines, has a looser, more candid style. The food is often perfectly imperfect, with scattered crumbs or artfully placed smears and drips, as if it has been freshly prepared or someone has just begun to tuck in.

This is not to say there is no deliberate effort in the styling because there is. The line between rustic and real and downright sloppy is a fine one. It takes a practiced hand to make food styling look casual and random.

In the image of carrot ginger soup above, I gently swirled cream on the surface and carefully placed the croutons off-center to create a focal point. I garnished it with pepper and thyme leaves, which I also scattered on my surface with a thought to the composition.

In reality, one’s dinner table would hardly look like this, but for the purposes of food photography, such extra touches give an honest, storytelling quality and enhance the main subject, which in this case is the soup.

When approaching styling, think about the ingredients used in the recipe you are shooting. Ask yourself how you can incorporate some of them into your image in a way that makes sense and complements your hero.

Carving the Light

When producing darker images, it is imperative to carve and shape the light to bring attention to your main subject. You will need to determine how you want to light your image and where you want the shadows to fall. For moody images, I often use side and backlighting. My light placement is at about 10:00 if I am imagining the face of an analog clock as my set.

It’s best to use indirect lighting so no lights pointing directly at the set or food. In the case of natural light, placing the surface at an angle to the window.

Use small black reflector cards, like black cardboard or poster board cut into squares, to kick in shadows where you want them, and place them around your set depending on where you want to cut down the light. Alternatively, you can roll up pieces of black poster board and staple the ends together; these rolls can stand on their own and do not need to be propped up against anything.

In the images above, I wanted the mushrooms to be bright and catch some of the light, especially as the look was monochromatic, yet I wanted shadows to fall on the plate. I used side backlighting and a black card from the front, angled into my scene to create shadows in the front and absorb some of the light that was coming directly into my scene.

You will have to play around with different sizes and placements of the reflector cards to get the shadows where they work with your story.

Exposure

Typically, with chiaroscuro food photography, you want to slightly underexpose the image in the camera. Chiaroscuro can have very bright treatment of food with very deep shadows, or the image can be low key with not a lot of contrast. Whichever approach you choose, the main subjects should be placed in the brightest part of the frame, which attracts the eye first. Make sure the highlights are not blown out and the shadows are not too black with no detail.

It is best to work with a tripod, especially if you are shooting in natural light in less than ideal conditions. Instead of boosting the ISO and risking a high amount of noise, you can increase the exposure time when using a tripod. As long as you have some light, a long exposure allows you to take a properly exposed picture.

Using the timer or a remote shutter trigger will prevent camera shake and an image that is less than sharp. The focus should be on the main subject, however, the image needs to be exposed for the concept, mood, and story.

Post-Processing

The right post-processing for dark food photography will really make your image pop.

Using the luminance sliders in Lightroom or Camera RAW to brighten colors individually. Use global and local adjustments to bring out the best in the food, instead of bumping up the exposure in the whole image, which can cause your shadows to fall flat.

And remember, warm colors bring elements forward, whereas cool colors recede. The best food photography has a balance of both, as it gives a three-dimensional feel to your image. With chiaroscuro food photography, white balance and tint can be used creatively, since you are not using white dishes and backgrounds. Split-toning can also be used to great effect, as long as it is done with subtlety.

Finally, no matter how you carve the light, a bit of a vignette adds a bit more mystery. It also prevents the eye from wandering out of the frame by bringing you back to the brightest part of the image — the food.

Conclusion

So there you have it, my top tips for making dark and moody food photography images!

I’d love to hear if you’ve had a chance to experiment with this approach to food photography. What were your struggles? Please share your experience and images in the comments below.

The post Five Essentials of Doing Dark Food Photography by Darina Kopcok appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

January 23, 2018
How to do Black and White Conversion with ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate

Now that we’ve poked around ACD System’s most capable software – having worked out a decent Photo Studio Ultimate workflow, as well as ways to make migration as easy as it can be – I think it may be time to actually use it.

After all, photography is the whole point, right? And, as much as we may sometimes dislike this fact, post-processing is very much part of it. So, this time, no ratings, no color labels, keywords, or metadata. No presets, either. In fact, we’ll only be touching on a small part of the Photo Studio package. Mainly the Develop mode, or however much of it we might need for a black and white portrait of an immensely charming lady. This is refreshing.

An important disclaimer: As has been stated on numerous occasions (so many times, in fact, that you may have learned this paragraph by heart) the license for this copy of ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate has been provided by ACD Systems. Having said that, the article has not been dictated by the company in the slightest, not even the task itself. My words are always my own, so take that for what it’s worth.

About the Portrait

The curious and geeky among you may wonder about the context behind this unusually-composed photograph, and I will gladly satisfy said curiosity and geekiness. The lady’s name is Ona (or Anna, if you will). She is a 94-year-old ex-partisan and exile survivor from my hometown, known better here by her codename, Acacia. Along with that, she is an immensely lovely old woman with a brilliantly sharp mind and memory.

I find her beautiful, most of all because, after being betrayed by her loved one, stabbed, shot, imprisoned and tortured, there is little bitterness to be found in her words. This portrait was taken as we met for the second time when I took her on a promised trip to a nearby forest.

The best part of this process we call taking portraits is everything that happens before the click and after the camera is cozy in its bag again. This is the part to savor, not the visual proof, the byproduct of simple human interaction. Whether you like the given portrait or find it exceedingly average, the experience is beyond all that. It was a lovely evening, and lovely company to be in.

The data

Unlike a different portrait of Acacia keen-eyed readers may have noticed in one of my previous articles, this one’s not an already-perfectly-black-and-white Ilford HP5 Plus negative. Instead, it’s a Fujifilm X-Pro2 RAW file, taken with the XF 23mm f/1.4 R lens, then converted to DNG. And, upon close examination, this is a lovely, natural-looking image. ACDSee Photo Studio is handling it very well.

But none of it matters. Not the camera, or the lens, or the aperture (f/2) and ISO (that’s at base 200). Not the image sensor, the size of it, or the resolution. Before we even start talking about tones and their curves, here’s a secret about portraits, whether black and white or of gentle color – it’s about the light. Really, if there was one thing for you to take from this article, repeat after me— it is all about the light.

Even when it’s as unassuming, as undramatic and soft as it was on that warm May evening, this is where you start your post-processing. Beforehand. It’s the crucial first step.

Get the light right, and you’ll have the most fun, and the simplest time at the computer bringing about the final touches. Photo Studio will help you here and make the task easy. Get the light wrong, and no effects, no HDRs, clarity sliders, and dynamic ranges will save the image.

With the romantic bit out of the way, let’s get to it.

Black and White Conversion with ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate

Bump the Contrast to high. Using the Tone Curves, deepen the shadows further, and bring out the highlights until they are almost white. Use the Sharpness slider liberally to emphasize the wrinkles. Something missing? Finish up with a dash of vignetting. Skin as bright as the sky, shadows as deep as … something else vaguely poetic. All the experience reflecting in the now-shocking creases on her face.

This is everything we are not going to do.

Not to say that there is something wrong with high-contrast black and white photography, but thinking every portrait of an older person needs to be accompanied by a healthy (read – senseless) dose of clarity/contrast is a cliché I will gladly call out. Acacia is soft in her expression. The light is soft. Her feather-light hair is soft. Let’s keep it that way. Let’s not bring drama where there is only calm. Let’s not try to change what seems to come naturally from all this softness. Let’s, instead, start with color.

Strange as it may sound, converting a digital image file to black and white means working with color. In fact, from a certain point, it’s almost no different than working with a color image. Especially when post-processing with portraits, understanding skin tones and what colors lie there is extremely important (a lot of red), because that, along with the light, will dictate a large part of the adjustments to be made. And, as ever is the case when working with color…

1. White Balance

Setting the White Balance (to taste) is mandatory, and is the natural first step. Now, Fujifilm is usually so very, very accurate when it comes to color temperature. It doesn’t really do the “warm glow” thing and sticks to a more neutral tone overall. Some might even call it cool (in both a color temperature and the “it rocks” sense of the word)

My White Balance adjustment is subtle and verging on unnecessary. A bump of just around 500 degrees towards the warm side (from 5000K to 5500K). I may come back to this setting at some point, but before diving into gray tones, I tend to give myself a technically good starting point, a decently-exposed, decently-toned image. This small adjustment seems to have done the trick for now.

Speaking of technical things, I also tend to fix any visibly-irritating distortion, vignetting, and image straightness at the very start, when necessary.

NOTE: Jumping ahead a bit, I will show you what I mean about white balance and black and white photography. Notice how adjusting this one setting that is seemingly unrelated to black and white conversion (from around 2450K degrees to our chosen 5500K) changes the overall look of the image.

The impact of warmer or cooler color introduced with WB adjustment depends on how dark/light and prevalent certain color ranges are. As you tweak Tone Curves and lightness/darkness of individual color ranges using Color EQ/Advanced Black & White tools, the effect of the WB adjustment will become more noticeable. But it’s a complex process and quite difficult to accurately predict.

2. Convert to Black and White

There are three ways to do black and white conversions with ACDSee Photo Studio Develop mode.

The first one involves adjusting the Saturation slider (General tab) to -100. The second involves desaturating each individual color range using the Color EQ tool. Obviously, neither way is particularly practical. Unsurprisingly, the third option proves to make the most sense – simply change the Treatment setting from Color to Black & White at the very top of the General tab, above the Exposure slider.

All three options render the exact same initial conversion, so using the most convenient (and most easily reversed) method is, well – you get the idea. Using the Treatment method will disable the Saturation adjustment slider and replace the Color EQ tool with the Advanced Black & White tool.

Change the Treatment setting from Color to Black & White on the General tab.

3. Overall Contrast

I have likely noticed that the initial conversion is fairly low-contrast. For me, that’s good. I like to start off with a flat look and work from there (and I already love how soft and beautifully toned the hair is). For the general contrast of the image, I tend to use the Tone Curves. The contrast slider is fine for adjusting general contrast by just a smidge but is too imprecise when a more pronounced or more controlled adjustment is needed.

Tone Curves is an exceedingly powerful tool, of course, and I keep coming back to it again and again during post-processing, just to make tiny adjustments. When using the Tone Curve, I don’t pay too much attention to areas that I know are of mostly one specific color, like trees and grass. Even if these areas are a little off, I’ll be adjusting them later on using the color tools.

What matters to me is the general look, the shadows, and the highlights. Here, a mild adjustment of the shadows is enough.

Before Tone Curves

After Tone Curves has been tweaked.

To keep the image subtle and calm, I’ve left the highlights as they were and only really pulled the shadows down a touch. Nothing too drastic, just enough to emphasize that soft light. Note how the bright tones of Acacia’s face and hair remain almost identical, but the deeper shadows have corrected the sense of flatness to a degree.

We are not quite done yet, but this is now closer to what I envisioned.

4. Back to Color

I think it’s possible to do a decent black and white conversion using just the Tone Curves, or alternatively just the color adjustments. At least if the first step is done well – remember my point about the light? But, when used together, these tools work at their best.

Switching to the Luminance tab of the Color EQ tool allows us to adjust the brightness of each individual color channel. In other words, I can adjust how dark or bright my reds, blues, greens, and other colors, each separately. This means two things; you have a very high degree of control, and also unlimited ways to mess something up. I’d say we should avoid the latter.

My issue with this image lies mostly in the grassy area. You see, there are at least two things that I can do to emphasize Acacia’s face. I can go down the “clarity and contrast everything” route and just keep working those Tone Curves further. Alternatively, (this is clearly my preferred choice) I can de-emphasize the area that surrounds the main visual element, to make her stand out a bit more.

In other words, I’ll just pull down the grass tones to make them slightly darker using the Advanced Black & White adjustments. As I’ve mentioned before, this tool allows control over the luminance of individual color ranges. The Advanced Black & White tab allows grab-and-pull action on the image itself if you’re ever unsure what colors are in that area. In this particular case, I know it’s mostly green and yellow.

Again, this is a subtle adjustment, but it has helped make Acacia’s face stand out more. As ever, there’s plenty of room to push further. But, knowing I’d be making some more adjustments afterward, I didn’t. Keep in mind I’m doing this all to personal taste.

One might proceed to adjust the tonality of skin, for example. But I’ve found it to be to my liking already, so why tweak something just for the sake of it? And if you’re curious about the Purple and Magenta colors, that’s for the hair and sweater. We are now nearly done!

5. Final Critical Touches

The last adjustments (not counting any going back and forth with the tools that have already been used) are made using the Light EQ tool. What this tool does is give you precise control over shadows and highlights, the same way Color EQ/Advanced Black & White allows precise control over colors.

Light EQ is actually not that different from Tone Curves but can be a little easier to use and it doesn’t seem like such a global adjustment. I use it when I only need to make small changes like save a highlight here and there, or bring out a shadow or two. A subtler operation is easier with Light EQ than with Tone Curves.

My goal here was to make sure all the shadows and highlights of Acacia’s face were in order and not too harsh. But because I knew I’d be printing this on a fairly textured paper (PermaJet Portfolio Rag), I also knew I had to bring it all up a notch.

Notice how the last step, the Light EQ tool, is also perhaps the most prominent. I could have done pretty much the same with the Tone Curves, but Light EQ has made it easier. I also find the Standard mode the most user-friendly, while still offering plenty of control.

After setting the Tone Bands to 9 from the default 5, I could make the adjustments with enough precision. The image is nowhere near as flat as it was when we started off, but the fundamentals are very much the same.

6. Final Less Critical Touches

Once the overall look of the portraits is as I envisioned, it’s time to take care of the little things, like sharpness, noise reduction, and such.

That’s It!

Over the years, I’ve found that when it comes to photography the less you tweak the better. The simpler tools you use, the more you learn to focus on the image itself rather than effects and wow-factors. I believe this article is a supporting example of such a point of view and I hope you’ve picked up some tips for black and white conversion using ACDSee’s Photo Studio Ultimate.

Disclaimer: ACD Systems is a paid partner of dPS

The post How to do Black and White Conversion with ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate by Romanas Naryškin appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

January 22, 2018
Review of the Tenba BYOB Camera Insert
Is the perfect camera bag still eluding you? If so, Tenba has a great DIY option worth checking out. Dubbed the Tenba BYOB Camera Insert, it invites you to actually Bring Your Own Bag while still protecting your camera gear. Here’s more about what fits in the insert, plus pros and cons about using it as your new camera bag.

What is it?

The Tenba BYOB Camera Insert is a padded shell meant to carry and protect camera gear while being carried inside another non-camera bag. It consists of a soft yet durable outer shell that easily molds to fit the shape of other bags, such as suitcases, handbags, and backpacks. Unzip the insert and you’ll find padded interior dividers that can easily be configured to hold gear of all shapes and sizes.

On the outside, there’s a handle for carrying the insert as-is if desired. Or you can purchase the BYOB Packlite Bundle, which includes a BYOB Camera Insert and an easily storable Packlite bag. The optional bag is rather thin, yet very durable and easily expands to hold the Camera Insert, or compresses to a size that will fit in your pocket.

There’s a range of sizes available for the BYOB Camera Insert, with the smallest being the BYOB 7 (best for inserting into a purse or handbag). The largest is the BYOB 13, which is big enough to hold a DSLR with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens attached, plus 2-3 additional lenses. In this case, I’m testing out the BYOB 10 with the Packlite bag included.

The Good

Solid Build

Even though Tenba doesn’t really refer to the BYOB Camera Insert as a camera bag, it really can function as one. This insert is very well built and feels very solid and durable. Pockets line the exterior of this bag, with two flexible mesh accessory pockets on the ends. There’s even a solid top handle to help with removing the Camera Insert from another bag or to carry the Camera Insert on its own.

Lots of Space

I used the BYOB 10, which was advertised to carry a “DSLR or Mirrorless Camera with 2-4 lenses.” At first glance, it looked like a large DSLR, such as my Canon 5D Mark III, would be a challenge since the BYOB appears very slim and narrow. It turns out that the BYOB has quite a bit of depth, allowing it to carry its suggested load, and then some. I appreciated the inclusion of flexible padded dividers that made it easy to pad stacked lenses to take full advantage of available space.

With the Tenba BYOB 10, I was able to pack the following camera kits. In the case of the Canon kits, it was definitely a tight fit, but the zipper did close all the way in both cases. For the Sony kit, I still had room to spare.

Canon Kit #1 (tight fit)
- Canon 6D (with camera body cap, no lens attached)
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8
Canon Kit #2 (tight fit)
- Canon 5D Mark III (with camera body cap, no lens attached)
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
- Canon 580 EXII Speedlight
Sony Kit (with room to spare)
- Sony a6300 with 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 attached
- Sony 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3
- Sony 20mm f/2.8
- Rokinon 12mm f/2
- Small bag of spare batteries
Truly Flexible Bag Options

The Tenba BYOB is efficient at packing and protecting your gear while also maintaining a slim profile. This makes the camera insert truly flexible, as it snugly fits into a wide variety of bags. I appreciated this for several reasons.

First, it was nice to not be restricted to having to carry a typical camera bag. I could literally choose ANY large bag I had and convert it into a camera bag. This is especially handy if you want to fly under the radar with a bag that is not so obviously a camera bag.

Second, the BYOB addresses the constant problem of being limited by the amount of baggage you can typically take with you when traveling. Usually, the two-bag carry-on restriction for airline travel means that at least one bag needs to be your camera bag. With the BYOB Camera Insert, you can easily turn your dedicated camera bag into a more multi-purpose bag that can hold additional items.

What the BYOB 10 Fits into

The list of what bags you can stuff the BYOB Camera Insert into will vary based on the specific size of your bag. During my tests, I was able to stick my BYOB 10 into the following bags, each with room to spare:
- ThinkTank Airport Takeoff Rolling Camera Bag
- InCase DSLR Pro Pack
- Clark and Mayfield Stafford Leather Laptop Tote Bag
- A medium-sized women’s handbag
- A Poler drawstring backpack
What Could Be Improved

All in all, the BYOB Camera Insert is a very simple concept that is executed well. Thus, it’s hard to find too many points for improvement.

The one thing I’d say is that the optional Packlite bag could use some improvements in terms of aesthetics. It is made of a thin water-resistant fabric that packs down to an incredibly small size, but at the cost of the bag appearing very wrinkled when unfolded. As a result, this Packlite bag is great to use if you really need it, but it won’t earn you many compliments.

Over to You

What do you think of Tenba’s BYOB concept? Would you try it out for yourself, or do you have another camera bag that you’re dedicated to? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Review of the Tenba BYOB Camera Insert by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 22, 2018
Using Layers and Foreground Interest for Better Landscape Photography

Have you ever been travelling, come upon a breathtaking vista, and taken a photograph only to find your representation to be a poor record of the view you remember? Welcome to the wonderful world of landscape photography! Capturing that breathtaking view in a photograph is not quite as easy as it looks.

Luckily, with a few simple strategies, you can significantly improve chances of getting better images. Read on and follow these tips for using layers and foreground to take your photos to the next level.

Do your images capture what you saw?

As is the case with any type of photography, great subjects (people or places) always help make better photographs. However, just because a vista is spectacular or the light is gorgeous does not guarantee that your photographs will turn out that way.

Why? What is going on?

The problem

Basically, the problem lies in creating composition from the vistas as they are presented. Many tourist views are interesting because of scale or the unusual nature of the location. To make a good image you need to create interest and capture that sense of scale. As you travel through scenic areas around the world, those locations that are the easiest to access don’t necessarily make the best landscape photographs. Being high or adjacent to the road may create a great viewpoint but it often doesn’t lend itself to a great two-dimensional representation (photography) of a three-dimensional object (the world and the view in front of you).

Going one step further, many beginners will look at landscape images from other photographers and instinctively like some and not others. They will often have difficulty articulating why they prefer one image over another. Understanding composition and layering will help you make more interesting images and get a better appreciation of why you enjoy certain landscape photographs.

The solutions

The best way to understand these concepts is to break your image down into a few simple pieces when approaching a scene you want to photograph, and then put them all together in the final photograph. Let’s start with scene scouting and composition before you worry about your camera settings.

Choose your subject

As part of your location scouting, before you set up to take an image, take some time to think about what you are looking at before you are ready take your camera out of the bag. Decide on the subject matter you are interested in making into a photograph. Figure out what part of it you found interesting – it could be something close, like a lake, or something far away, like a mountain.

Shoot when the light is best

Next, try to make sure you are taking the image when the sun is low in the sky. This is not always an option when you are travelling and it is raining or you only have time during the middle of the day. The wrong time of day (i.e. midday) will significantly limit the impact of your photographs. It is almost always essential to shoot landscape images during golden hour (right after sunrise or just before sunset).

The only exceptions are when the sky is overcast or if you are in the mountains. If the sky is overcast it will extend your shooting time but simultaneously makes getting good images harder because the sky is not interesting.

When you are in a mountain range, the mountains are often big enough to interfere with the lighting on your subject as shadows from mountains will get in the way. This means you have to shoot later in the day. In general, shooting during the golden hour will create interesting shadows and great quality of light.

Think in terms of layers

Once you have your subject selected and have picked an appropriate time of day, the next step is to think about layers. Add an object(s) of interest in front of your subject, and include it in the composition of your image. This will often mean using your feet to get into a better position.

What is meant by layering composition or objects of interest?

Good landscape photos have layers or objects in the foreground (close to you), middle ground (medium distance from the camera), and background (farthest away). This will help prevent your images from looking flat. These layers form elements that draw the viewer’s eyes and create depth in your photo.

It’s even better if the foreground leads into the background (maybe a river or a line of trees). Some objects, like people, can create a sense of scale. This is particularly important when you are looking at large vistas. For example, a massive cliff will provide no sense of scale without someone or something of a recognizable size in the field of view.

What makes a good foreground layer?

What kinds of things can you use to create these layered elements? For the background, distant mountains or hills can do the track. For the middle layer, look for tree lines, intermediate distance hills, clusters of objects, rivers, or lakes. If you have open water such as a lake in the foreground, lowering your perspective, may allow you to see a reflection of your subject that can create additional interest.

Finally, for the front layer, any isolated object in the foreground can function for this purpose. It could be a rock, a cluster of grass, or even a person. The object in the foreground creates weight and balances the image. These should all be placed in the field of view to divide up your image and create interest. You get extra credit for atmospheric effects like fog, mist or haze. Remember you can introduce a subject in the foreground, or get lower to the ground to make something small look bigger.

Get ready to shoot

Okay, now that you have scouted your subject, planned your layers, and have positioned yourself you can grab your camera. Choose a lens that gives an appropriate field of view, remembering that really wide angle lenses don’t necessarily work for distant objects in landscapes because they tend to make them appear very small.

Compose your image well

With your camera and lens selection in hand, you need to compose the image in your frame. It is easiest to remember and implement the Rule of Thirds with layers at the thirds. Most modern cameras can be configured to have a grid with lines that divide the screen into nine squares (two horizontal lines and two vertical lines). Where these lines intersect is where you should put the objects(s) of interest, or the layers.

For example, placing the horizon on one of these lines is great. Having the sunrise positioned on one of the intersections of the lines is even better. If the sky is really interesting, put the horizon on the bottom third so the sky fills the top two thirds. If the ground is the most interesting, position the sky so that it is only the top third.

Remember you can also shoot landscapes in portrait orientation if that helps the composition. Some people don’t want to follow things like the rule of thirds, but until your photographs are regularly turning out as you want them, it is a good general approach.

Camera settings

In general, for each type of landscape there will be preferred camera settings that will make your photographs really pop. Don’t set your camera at its widest aperture for landscape photographs. You want to try to get as much of the subject of interest in focus. Using a smaller aperture will help, but don’t go too far or you will start introducing diffraction effects.

Use the hyperfocal distance of your aperture to your advantage and make sure you are focusing on an element in the middle ground. This will get all of your background in focus and much of your foreground too, especially if you are using a f-stop in the range of f/8 – f/11.

Finally, you should almost always use a tripod for landscape photography. This type of photography demands tack sharp images: achieve this by using a tripod.

Conclusion

Once you get used to this as an approach to your imagery, it will help you create better images and understand why you like some landscape images more than others.

Please share any additional tips you have for adding layers to your landscape photos in the comments below. Share your landscape images as well, we’d love to see them.

The post Using Layers and Foreground Interest for Better Landscape Photography by Mark C Hughes appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

January 22, 2018
How to Photograph Light Trails from the Back Seat of a Car
Photographic light trails are a beautiful effect. You’ve no doubt encountered them before. Photographers perch over a vantage point and trace the trajectory of cars navigating an urban landscape using a slow shutter speed. The result renders a fluid trail tracing around the environment in a variety of shapes and colors.

Think of this project as a new take car light trails. We’ll still be recording passing light sources – but we’ll be capturing them from inside of the car instead. The result is just as striking inside as it is outside. You might have an old car or a fresh new one – it doesn’t matter! You get an impressive effect regardless.

Safety

First, a little caveat. Safety is the priority here. As we are going to shoot from the back seat of the car, you will need a pal as the driver. Do not try and take photos while driving – it can only end badly. Having a buddy as a driver will allow you to concentrate on what you are doing while the driver can focus on driving. It’s strictly a team effort.

Another safety point, try not to obscure the rear-view mirror. Hunch down a little to save the obstructing the driver’s view. For the best effect, photographing at night is ideal – so be extra aware of the limited visibility.

Equipment

What you need to do this:
- Camera
- Sturdy Tripod
- A friend
- A car
Setting up

It can be a rough ride trying to get everything set up in a moving car, so set up before hitting the road. First, clean the glass. Give your windshield and windows a good clean to avoid spending countless hours cloning out unfortunate bugs in post-production. Next, set up your tripod in the car. You’ll have to do some adjusting to get the camera level with the windshield.

Just keep in mind, the tripod just adds extra stability. It’s impossible to take a sharp slow shutter speed image while driving along in a fast car. But the tripod is far more stable than photographing by hand. I use a Manfrotto tripod because it’s nice and heavy to keep things a little steadier.

Sit the tripod so two legs rest against the front seats, with your camera peeking through the gap between the headrests. Be sure your camera is securely attached before heading out. You don’t want a camera bouncing around in a moving car.

Method

Once you are packed and ready, it’s time to set off. Take a few test shots on your camera. As I mentioned before, this project works best at night, otherwise, you won’t get much of a result at all – just blown out exposures. In addition, the variety of lights will be much more apparent at night, with a good mix of color and shape.

Next, try to familiarize yourself with the car’s handling so you can expect certain lumps or bumps and the car’s response. I’m not saying you have to become a car-psychic, but higher cars behave differently from one to another. The interior of a car also has an impact on how your photographs will turn out. You may have to incorporate a dashboard or interior lighting too. I chose to keep the dashboard lighting in my images to maintain the process of the photograph.

The next step is all experimentation! You’ll get an endlessly diverse result with every exposure. I recommend setting your camera to ISO 100 so you can use shutter speeds between 10 and 30 seconds. If you have a shutter release, give the B (Bulb) setting a try too. Just take a few moments to find a comfortable position. You can keep your tripod a little steadier if you brace yourself against the legs of the tripod and the front seat.

In this image, the driver is making a turn which creates the horizontal lighting effect.

You can choose to include your friend in the review mirror. Just make sure you warn them in advance and don’t obstruct their visibility for too long.

You can tell how rough this section of road was due to to the jagged lights. You can also see the illuminated settings on the dashboard. I felt that including them adds to the final image and the process leading up to each photograph.

By swiveling the camera to focus on a different area of the car you can record light sources from two angles of the frame.

On a rainy night, the windshield gets a little fogged, diffusing the lights at this interchange.

By unfocusing your camera, you can create some colorfully abstract patterns and bokeh.

Conclusion

Photographing light trails inside the car is a quick and easy way to capture a unique perspective. We know the world outside the windshield is a wonderful one, but sometimes it takes an abstract project like this one to truly bring it alive. While I’ll admit it ain’t Top Gear, it does have some pretty amazing results. I would love to see some of your results below!

The post How to Photograph Light Trails from the Back Seat of a Car by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 21, 2018
4 Tips For Better Black and White Photos In Lightroom
Some photographers use Photoshop for converting photos to black and white, others use plugins. But what you might not know is that you can create beautiful black and white images with Lightroom. The benefit of keeping your workflow within Lightroom is that it saves you a lot of hard drive space (as the only way to send a full-quality photo file to a plugin or to Photoshop is to convert it to a 16 bit TIFF).

The tips in this article will help you create beautiful black and white photos in Lightroom without Photoshop or an extra plugin!

1. Shoot Raw

The first tip is quick and simple. You need to use the Raw format to make the most out of your camera and for Lightroom to get the best out of your photo files. JPEG files have already been developed and compressed by the camera and don’t contain the information that Lightroom needs to make a good black and white conversion.

2. Learn to use the B&W tab

The B&W tab is part of the HSL / Color / B&W panel. When you click on the B&W tab, Lightroom converts your photo to black and white. At the same time, it automatically adjusts the Black & White Mix sliders (see below) to the settings it thinks will give you the best black and white conversion.

As this is an automated process, it is quite likely that you’d like to take control and override the settings. But first, you need to know what the Black & White Mix sliders actually do. They work very simply and make the tones in your photo lighter or darker according to the underlying color.

The easiest way to explain this is with examples. The color photo below has a deep blue sky which would look great in black in white.

When you click on the B&W tab Lightroom carries out an automatic conversion. This is what the photo looks like.

And these are the Black & White Mix sliders as set by Lightroom.

Tweak it a bit

The conversion looks good, but you can take control by moving the sliders yourself to see what happens. In this example, you could move the Blue slider left to make the sky darker, which would make the conversion even more dramatic. Or you could move it right to make the sky lighter and give a softer, more subtle conversion. It’s up to you.

You can see the difference when I move the Blue slider more to the left.

Here the blue sider is at -30.

Or move it to the right and the sky gets lighter: Blue + 25

Skin tones

The next example shows how the Orange slider makes a big difference to Caucasian skin tones. Here’s a portrait converted to black and white in Lightroom, with the Black & White Mix settings as chosen automatically by Lightroom.

This is what happens when you move the Orange slider. To the left makes skin darker – to the right makes it lighter.

Orange at -31. It makes the model’s skin darker and brings out its texture. If that is not desired – move the Orange slider to the right.

Orange at 0.

Orange at +20

Experiment with the B&W Mix sliders to see the effect they have on your photos. Keep these points in mind as you do so:
- The sliders always affect the underlying colors in the photo. If it helps to see the colors in your photo so you can understand which tones are affected by which sliders, click on the Color tab in the HSL / Color / B&W panel. Click the B&W tab again to return to black and white and your settings will not be lost.
- The B&W panel is for subtle adjustments. If you move the sliders too far you’ll get strange effects like pixelation. Try not to go past +35 or -35.
- If there are people in your photos pay attention to skin tones when adjusting the Red, Orange, or Yellow sliders. Zoom into 100% to double check your adjustments haven’t done anything odd to their skin tones.
3. Apply Clarity wisely

Clarity is a powerful adjustment that increases contrast, emphasizes texture, and adds punch to your black and white photos. But it needs to be used wisely in order to avoid an overcooked look. If you are new to Lightroom this can be hard to judge at first, but a good rule of thumb is to always add a little less Clarity than you think you need.

Another tip is that Clarity may be more effective when it’s applied locally. A good example of this is a photo taken with a prime lens at a wide aperture, with the subject in sharp focus and a blurred background. In this situation, it’s best to apply Clarity to the sharp areas using a local adjustment.

Let’s look at some examples. In the first, the entire scene is sharp. You can apply Clarity globally (using the slider in the Basic panel) to photos like these. Here, I set Clarity to +80 to emphasize the texture of the metal.

In the second, I applied Clarity only to the cow’s head, but not to the blurred part of the photo, using the Adjustment Brush.

This screenshot shows the mask created by the Adjustment Brush.

4. Learn from Lightroom develop presets

Follow the tips in this article and you’ll have a good foundation for working in black and white in Lightroom. Now it’s time to get even more creative. There are lots of techniques you can use, from Tone Curve adjustments to Split Toning and manipulating contrast.

One of the best ways to learn these techniques is to download Develop Presets made by other photographers. These are helpful if you are new to black and white photography by giving you a quick and easy way to convert your photos to black and white without paying too much attention to the details.

But you can also learn a great deal from those presets by analyzing the settings used. Go into all the Develop module panels and see what the photographer has done. For example, I developed the photo below using a preset.

One of its characteristics is that there are no true black tones in the photo. This is confirmed by the gap on the left side of the histogram.

How has this been achieved? The answer is in the Tone Curve panel. The creator of the preset lifted the left-side of the Tone Curve up, which gives the effect seen in the photo.

Conclusion

Lightroom is a powerful tool for black and white conversions and you’ll be amazed at what it can do when you learn how to use it properly. The tips and techniques in this article will get you started. If you have any questions about this then please let us know in the comments!

SuperBlack Presets for Lightroom

Want to get a head start with black and white? Take a look at my SuperBlack Presets for Lightroom, developed to help photographers like you create powerful black and white photos in Lightroom.

The post 4 Tips For Better Black and White Photos In Lightroom by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 20, 2018
Weekly Photography Challenge – Black Background
This week I have something a little different for you for the challenge – shooting on a black or dark background.

Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

Weekly Photography Challenge – Black Background

The idea here is to create something dramatic. Make sure you choose lighting that will help separate the subject from the dark background. That could be backlight, rim light, or side lighting – choose the direction of light carefully.

If you need some help try these dPS articles:
- How to Create Dark Moody Low-Key Portraits with Minimal Gear
- Low-Key Photography – Highlighting Darkness
- How to do Accent Lighting for Portraits
- How to Make a Low Key Portrait Step by Step
Image by dPS writer Kevin Landwer-Johan

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 – Black Background by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 20, 2018
Tips for Selecting and Doing a Successful Photography Project
If you find yourself stuck in a rut, can’t find anything to shoot, or just need to get shooting – here are some videos to help you select an idea and get started doing a personal photography project.

The importance of doing a photography project

Photographer Matt Day talks about the importance of doing a personal photography project and gives you some ideas and direction to get started in this video.

5 Reasons why you should do a photography project

Adam from First Man Photography has five good reasons why you should start a photography project:
1. 1. Find direction – break out of a rut.
  2. Improve your photography.
  3. Build a social media following.
  4. Challenge yourself – get out of your comfort zone.
  5. It’s fun!
The most important ASPECT of doing a photography project

In this short video, COOPH founder Ulrich Grill shows you five things you need for a successful photo shoot or project. They follow the acronym A.S.P.E.C.T. – can you guess what they are? If not, go ahead and watch the video now.
- A – atmosphere
- S – shadows
- P – positioning
- E – energy
- C – contrast
- T – timing
Still need some help starting a photography project? Try these dPS articles for more tips.
- 12 Creative Photography Project Ideas to Get You Motivated
- How to do a Photography Alphabet Project
- Tips for Doing a Successful Picture-a-Day Photography Project
- How to Start and Finish a Photography Project
- 6 Tips for How to Build a Story and Shoot a Photo Project
- Tips for Creating a Personal Photography Project
The post Tips for Selecting and Doing a Successful Photography Project by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 19, 2018
How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

Blue hour, especially the one in the evening (yes it happens before sunrise too!), is probably the most popular time of day to take cityscape photography with dazzling city lights illuminated. But exactly when is the prime time of blue hour that could result in you getting the best possible shots?

Singapore skyline at blue hour.

Hong Kong skyline at blue hour.

Blue Hour Photography Requires a Tripod

One note before we get started. Although you could shoot handheld at blue hour by bumping the ISO up, it’s always advisable to use a tripod in order to shoot clean (noise-free) photos with low ISO (e.g. 100). It also comes with an added bonus of letting you do long exposure photography with smoothed-out water, etc.

For your information, sample photos shown in this post are all shot using my trusty Manfrotto MT190CXPRO3 carbon-fibre tripod.

Setting a tripod up and getting ready for blue hour.

Finding out Your Local Sunset and Dusk Time

Let’s get down to business. In terms of timeline, SUNSET comes first, followed by DUSK 20+ minutes later. The time between sunset and dusk is called TWILIGHT, and NIGHT falls once dusk is over.

To find out your local sunset and dusk time, simply go to timeanddate.com and search for your city (e.g. sunset and dusk time in Singapore on January 26th, 2018 will be 19:18 and 19:40 respectively). Or alternatively, search Google using “dusk date city” format (e.g. dusk January 24th, 2018 Singapore). Then, Google returns a dusk time even before the first result. Checking a dusk time has become a second nature to me whenever I’m shooting at blue hour, locally as well as traveling abroad on holidays.

Note: Apps like PhotoPills are also really helpful for planning shooting times and figuring out the sunrise, sunset and dusk times daily in any location worldwide.

Sunset to dusk in timeline. Towards the end of dusk is the best time to shoot blue hour photos with beautiful bluish hue in the sky.

Aim for Shooting the Last 10 Minutes of Dusk

In this 20 or so minutes between sunset and dusk, the first 10 minutes are still not quite “ripe”, as city buildings are not yet fully lit up, and the sky hasn’t yet taken on the beautiful bluish hue that appears towards the end of dusk. Use this time to decide on your composition, do some test shots, etc.

This Singapore skyline was shot 15 minutes before the end of dusk (six minutes after sunset) at f/13, 1.6 seconds, ISO 100. The stage isn’t quite set yet, as the sky is still bright and not many of the city lights are illuminated.

When there are about 10 minutes left before dusk, more city buildings will be lit, and bluish hue starts to appear in the sky, getting deeper and deeper with every single passing minute. It’s these last 10 minutes of dusk that are undoubtedly the prime time to shoot blue hour photography.

In addition, the limited available light at blue hour allows for your shutter speed to naturally get longer, especially with the use of a small aperture. Shoot in Aperture Priority mode and use a bigger f-stop number such as f/13, which helps create smoothed-out water and rushing clouds effects (provided that you’re shooting with a tripod).

A neutral density (ND) filter is an item that will enrich your blue hour photography experience and images.

Add an ND Filter

To enhance such effects, try shooting with a neutral density (ND) filter attached. ND filters help reduce the light that is coming through the lens, allowing you to use much slower shutter speeds.

For example, with a 3-stop ND filter attached, a base shutter speed of 2-seconds is extended to 15 seconds. For a greater effect, use 6-stop ND filter to extend a base shutter speed of 2-seconds to 128 seconds (just over two minutes), which gives your photo a surreal and dreamy feel that is typically seen in long exposure photography, like Marina Bay (Singapore) photo below.

This Marina Bay photo was shot three minutes before the end of dusk (f/13, 135 seconds, ISO 100). The blue hour sky looks just right – not too light, not too dark, not overly vibrant. Also, an exposure of 135 seconds (with a 6-stop ND filter attached) helped create a silky smooth water effect.

Blue Hour Suddenly Ends after Dusk

Blue hour photography is sometimes mixed up with night photography, which starts once dusk is over. You might be surprised to find out that night falls almost suddenly after dusk. It doesn’t even take 10 minutes for the blue hour sky at dusk to turn into pitch-black night.

Personally, I never shoot after dusk. Photos shot after dusk tend to come out very dark and colors look muddy as there is little bluish hue left in the sky. Your photos will look considerably different if you miss this prime time of blue hour even by a mere few minutes.

This Hong Kong skyline was shot 8 minutes after the end of dusk. The bluish hue in the sky quickly disappeared, and the scene turned into the dark night rather abruptly.

Conclusion

In fact, what we call blue “hour” seems to last only approximately 10 minutes towards the end of dusk (depending on where you are located relative to the equator).

Blue hour photography is quite a time-sensitive genre, as this prime time of blue hour sky ends in the blink of an eye. So, stay focused, otherwise, you could suddenly miss it passing you by under the fast-changing dusk sky. I really wish blue hour could literally last for an hour!

Editor’s note: it does in some parts of the world, at certain times of the year. If you want more blue hour time – travel farther away from the equator! Where I live in Canada blue hour is almost a full hour in the summer, versus 20 minutes where the author lives in Singapore.

The post How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour by Joey J appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

January 19, 2018