Photography « 360Photography

RSS

Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

30 Mar

Macro photography can be incredibly rewarding. However, it can also be frustrating if you find yourself shooting the same photographs over and over again, struggling to improve. You find yourself uninspired. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Clemantis macro photography

But there are a few simple tips that you can take to improve your macro photography, right now. The tips that follow will help you take your macro photography to the next level, and they won’t bog you down with technical details, either.

1. Move in close (and keep going closer)

You might be tempted to shoot subjects such as flowers the way that you would a headshot – putting space around the subject, so that flowers are fully recognizable as, well, flowers. However, I urge you not to take a step back, but rather to take a step closer. If you can, think not in terms of “flower” and “background,” but in terms of shapes and lines.

If you have a dedicated macro lens, use it. Experiment with high magnifications and see how that opens up whole new worlds for you to shoot. Look for abstract compositions that make use of shapes and color. Fill the frame completely with your subject.

I used my macro lens to emphasize the lines and colors of this dahlia.

2. Consider the light

Lighting is incredibly important in macro photography. However, you can boil things down to a few simple rules of thumb:

Photograph in the morning.
Photograph in the evening.
Only photograph at any other time of day if it’s cloudy.

Photograph in the morning and evening

When I say “morning,” I’m talking about very early, during what photographers often call the “golden hours“. Essentially, these are the first two hours after sunrise.

The same goes for the evening. If it is sunny, I suggest you wait until two hours before sunset. One hour before is even better.

I took this image in the evening, which ensured some great golden light.

These morning and evening hours are the times when soft, golden light falls on your subject. Not only does this result in a more evenly lit subject and an easier exposure, but the golden cast simply looks beautiful.

If conditions seem a bit too bright, you can also create really interesting images by using the shade. For instance, try working with a subject that is in the shade, while the background is lit by the (hopefully setting) sun.

flower macro sun shade - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

I photographed this flower as the sun was setting, positioning myself so that the background was well lit, but the flower itself remained shaded.

Photograph in cloudy midday light

Midday sunlight tends to be incredibly harsh and results in photographs that are very washed out and contrasty.

Hence: if you’re shooting in the middle of the day, make sure that it’s cloudy. The clouds will serve to diffuse the light, allowing for wonderfully saturated colors.

coneflower macro color - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

I photographed this coneflower on a cloudy day, ensuring that the colors were nicely saturated.

If you find yourself in a situation where you absolutely must take images and you cannot wait until conditions become better, then you can try to offset the harshness of the sun by shooting in the shade, using a reflector, or by using a flash.

The artificial lights plus this flower made for a fun photography session.

3. Consider the angle

One of the mistakes that I made most when I was first starting macro photography was not thinking about my angle to the subject. For instance, I would point my camera down at a 45-degree angle, so that I would capture subjects as if I were a few feet in front of me as I walked.

While intuitive, this approach often results in a less appealing image. It causes elements of the subject to become messy, to cross over one another. It also tends to distort the shape of the subject, so that the overall impact is lessened.

Instead, I recommend two main approaches:

First: place the subject at eye level. For instance, if you are photographing a tulip, crouch down so that the tulip is directly before you. If you are photographing an insect, you should be staring directly into its face.

macro flower pink - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

By photographing this flower at eye level, I was able to create an even composition.

Second: place the subject directly below you. That is, you should be looking straight down so that the petals of an open flower are parallel to the camera sensor.

By composing from directly above this hibiscus, I was able to emphasize its geometry.

Of course, these are just starting points. Pleasing images can be made from many angles, and a lot depends on the subject itself. But these are good places from which to begin.

4. Think about the subject quality

This tip is very simple – before taking an image, look your subject over. Is it at its peak? Or is it on its way out, wilting, or dying?

If the latter is the case, then try to search for a better-looking flower. Unfortunately, such elements can really detract from an otherwise excellent image.

Rose macro close up - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

I found this rose in excellent condition.

Also, look for things like bugs, dirt, and torn petals. These are all indicators that you should search for a better subject.

Though it’s worth noting that sometimes wilting flowers can make for very interesting images. Just be sure that, if you are photographing a subject that’s on its way out, you compose with that in mind.

daisy macro - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

I focused on this wilting daisy in order to create a more somber photograph.

5. Consider the background

One final tip for really enhancing your macro photographs is to think about the background before taking that shot. This is probably the most important of all these tips because careful attention to background can make for incredibly special images.

What should you consider?

First and foremost, look for backgrounds that are simple and uncluttered. A background that doesn’t distract is often enough to ensure a great image. However, it can also pay to be creative, by shifting your position so that colorful elements, such other flowers, or a sunset, sit behind the subject.

You might also use bright spots to your advantage, working so that they frame your subject.

flower macro cosmos - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

The colorful flowers behind this subject made for an interesting background.

In Conclusion

By moving in close, considering the light, angle, subject quality, and the background, you can quickly improve your macro photography. Hopefully, you’ll have a lot of fun doing it as well.

If you have any other tips for people just starting with macro photography, please share them in the comments below.

peony macro flower - Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level

The post Five Ways to Take Your Macro Photography to the Next Level appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

29 Mar

It’s easy to use a modern digital camera to take generic looking snapshots. Getting beyond what’s easy requires a little, or a lot, of commitment, (depending on how creative you desire to become.)

Reflection of a tricycle taxi rider in his bike mirror in Chiang Mai, Thailand. - 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

Dedicating a little time each day to learning how to use your new camera will enable you to be truly creative in your photography. Without a good understanding of the basics of photography and how to control your camera, and regular practice with it, you will most likely continue to produce bland photos and become disheartened.

Let me encourage you by offering you five tips to help you really enjoy your first digital camera.

Thai woman and child share a fun moment with a DSLR camera in Chiang Mai, Thailand - 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

1. Use YouTube and Google

Use YouTube and Google, rather than your camera’s manual, to learn the basic controls. Camera manuals are notoriously difficult to make sense of so finding alternative sources of information that provide you with a foundational understanding of your specific camera can be more beneficial for you.

Searching online for your camera model along with the word “settings” will often return you results which are easier to follow than the manual that came with your camera. Find a good website or video channel where you can comfortably follow the presenter. This will help you gain the knowledge you need in order to control your camera well.

back of a DSLR camera showing the image of the Iron Bridge in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on the monitor - 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

2. Take a Course or Workshop

Going beyond the very basics will require a little more study. Once you are a little more familiar with your camera and its essential controls, joining a workshop, night class, or enrolling in an online course can help take you to the next level of photographic skill and creativity.

Books and websites are helpful as well, but I find people interested in photography are often visual and tactile learners. Many people who join our photography workshops in-person or study with our online courses give us wonderful feedback that they have learned more with our help during a workshop or course than they have through self-study with books or other mostly text-based learning.

Man with two cameras teaches photography - first digital camera

Before you enroll in a course it’s important to discover the content and style being taught. Make sure you are comfortable with whoever is teaching and ensure that they have sufficient knowledge and experience to convey what you want to learn.

There’s an abundance of photography courses available at various prices and levels of quality. Starting with a general course and then progressing on to more in-depth topics will build your photography experience in a positive manner.

people Learning photography - 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

3. Use Your Camera Every Day

One of the easiest and certainly most beneficial ways to grow as a photographer is to use your camera every day.

Even if you can only manage 10 or 15 minutes a day, if you are diligent and practice for a year, you will see a vast improvement in your photographs within 12 months.

To master any creative art form requires regular practice. Musicians, actors, painters etc., all must put in regular hours of dedicated practice to become successful. If you want to develop your skill level and produce truly creative photographs you must do the same.

Tricycle Taxi Rider in Chiang Mai, Thailand - 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

Taking my advice in tips one and two above will help you somewhat, but if you practice regularly and take photos every day you will certainly make the most of the study you have engaged in.

4. Go Easy On Yourself

Go easy on yourself. It’s very common for creatively oriented people to be too critical of their initial efforts. Learning to step back and taking a somewhat objective view of your photos as a beginner is a healthy practice.

Looking down at a Tricycle Taxi Rider in Chiang Mai, Thailand, With a Thai flag - 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera

Don’t compare your photos to those of really experienced photographers, but instead compare them to photos you have made previously.

If you are following my first three tips and compare photos you are currently making to ones you’ve made previously, you will begin to see a development in your technical skills, creative expression, and style.

Tricycle Taxis at Night near Warorot Market in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

5. Make a Habit of Photographing Something You Love

Start with something you love. By photographing a subject you are interested in, familiar with, and even passionate about, you are more likely to be encouraged by the results. Make sure to choose a subject which is easy for you and you can make a regular habit of shooting.

For example, if you love dogs but don’t own one, making regular dog photos may not be practical. If you love gardening and frequently have time to spend tending your garden, take your camera with you when you do so. This would be an ideal type of subject for you to start with.

Find something that you love and that’s easy and it may turn into a lifetime photographic project.

Detail of decoration on a tricycle taxi in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I’ve always photographed bikes and love the Samlors in Thailand.

In Conclusion

Modern cameras are designed to be easy to use and return good results in most situations. However, I know many people who have invested in a good digital camera only to become somewhat frustrated because they are not achieving the results they had hoped for.

Taking time to learn your camera settings, study, practice, think positively and objectively about your photos, and having an on-going project to work on will help you grow as a photographer and develop your own unique style.

Tricycle Taxi in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The post 5 Tips To Help You Enjoy Your First Digital Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

SLC-OE-01: $20 DIY Portable Doorway

29 Mar

Pictured above is Moishe Appelbaum, of Midwest Photo fame, whom you may remember from Lighting 103.

Moishe is lit with a single small flash. But the gentle wrap of the light—and the soft glow of the suppressed specular highlights—should cue you in to the fact that the light modifier itself is huge.

Today, we'll learn how to make a door-sized modifier DIY style, for about $ 20 and in a form factor that is super easy to transport. (It collapses down to about the size of a folded light stand.) Read more »
Strobist

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People

29 Mar

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Simple Portrait Setups You Can Create on a Tight Budget

28 Mar

In this article, I’ll show you several easy and simple portrait setups you can create even on a tight budget.

Find a model to trade with

Getting started in the photography business is difficult, especially if you have a tight budget and not a lot of extra cash floating around. The same can be said for starting a modeling career. The trick is to get noticed and get your name out there. You need to show people what you can do. That means you need to create a portfolio of work. People need to see what you are capable of creating.

Simple Portrait Setups You Can Create on a Tight Budget

One of the images from the shoot. I used just the one light and the flash.

Ironically, models need the same types of experiences. They need a portfolio they can show off. If you are just starting out in either industry, one of the best things you can do is find someone who is willing to trade services with you. Find a model looking to build their portfolio and then work with him or her to help you create a body of work that shows off your abilities.

It’s a win, win situation for both of you. The trick when starting out is to find ways to network and connect with people so that you are creating mutually beneficial relationships. My main focus has always been natural light and fine art photography. I do shoot family portraits and sporting events as well, but the majority of my focus is on natural portraiture and creating art.

Recently, I met a young woman who was interested in modeling. We got to talking and agreed to help each other out. I would supply her with finished images for an Instagram feed she wished to start. In exchange, she would help me with several upcoming projects and also help me create some images for my stock portfolio.

In this shot, we added props found at a thrift shop. You can see the wainscoting we used as flooring.

Doing it on a budget

The trick then became how to complete the project on a tight budget. I don’t own a strobe light or any beauty dishes. I use sunlight to create my portraits, and I own one flash which I rarely use. The reality is I prefer natural light. Given a choice between studio lighting or natural light, I will always choose the later.

Open shade is one of my favorite ways of creating beautiful soft even light that flatters every type of skin. The model in question wanted to create several different looks, and after discussing the images with her, I realized I would need some lighting. There was no way we could create those different looks she wanted using just natural light.

The project became more about following through with our plans on a very limited budget. Meghan, the model, agreed to be in charge of planning the wardrobe and finding the props. I needed to provide the photography expertise. Between the two of us, we created 10 different looks for less than $ 200.

Let’s take a look at the set up for three of those shots.

Cheap lights don’t have a lot of power. In this shot, you can see how close I had to position the lights.

Any artificial lighting used in the following images was created using a very cheap continuous lighting kit (under $ 100), my Canon Speedlite and a large piece of white styrofoam we used as a reflector. The backdrops are all old table clothes, the flooring we used is two pieces of wainscoting purchased from a local home reno store, and

Meghan’s wardrobe was a combination of her clothing, some borrowed from friends and items found at thrift shops.

Setup #1

This image was shot using natural light. I am very lucky to have a 9-foot wide window in my studio that never receives direct sunlight. It makes for lovely soft directional lighting. The backdrop was set up at a 90-degree angle to the window.

Then one of the small continuous lights was used to illuminate the backdrop. Meghan’s blue pants needed some separation from the blue background. Without the light, it would have been easy to lose her clothing in the backdrop.

The whole shoot took place in my house in my studio which I have converted from a living room.

One advantage to shooting indoors in a protected space is the luxury of tethering the camera to the computer so you can assess the images before shooting a bunch of different poses. In this case, the first few shots were created and assessed through a tethered camera but then once we had the settings correct we shot the remainder of the images untethered.

Here are the results of this first setup.

In this image, I edited the background and took the wrinkles out of the tablecloth. Please note this is my favorite type of light, natural.

Here’s the untouched image. Despite our best efforts to iron the backdrops before use, the wrinkles were quite evident. It’s a lot of work to remove the wrinkles.

Here is the file with the wrinkles. I do think that sometimes a less than perfect backdrop can add depth to an image.

Setup #2

The goal when creating a portfolio is to show some diversity, especially for the model. A model needs to adapt to different situations and be able to morph into different types of looks.

So with this in mind, this second set up is much different from the first set of shots. Natural light plays far less heavily into the look. In this case, the flash was used. The flash was aimed upwards and back at a piece of white styrofoam which bounced and diffused the light.

In this setup, the flash cast a large shadow on the backdrop. So to lessen the shadow on the backdrop, the large continuous light was once again placed behind and to the side of the model – this time to light the backdrop. This second look is far darker and different from the first set we created.

There are some slight changes to the lighting in this setup.

This is a much more dramatic look.

Here’s a headshot of the same clothing set up. The lighting was only changed slightly.

Setup #3

This final image was shot without the use of natural light at all. By this time it was 9 pm, and the light was completely gone.

The setup utilizes two continuous lights as well as the flash. One light was placed behind the backdrop. It shone through the red backdrop to create a vignette of sorts. The second light was placed on the left side of the model and illuminated her face.

The goal of this shot was to create something fairly dramatic. Once again a few simple adjustments allowed for a totally different look. The end of the softbox around the continuous light was also included in the frame again trying to create a diverse look.

The light placed behind the backdrop created a pretty glow and a natural vignette.

In Conclusion

The changes to the setup took very little time. We shot lots of different outfits and poses using just a few simple principles.

Be diverse in the looks created.
Highlight the beauty of the model.
Be picky and get the best photo possible using the equipment available to you.

Setting up a photo shoot doesn’t have to be complicated. Be smart! Plan ahead! Find ways to make something that could potentially be an expensive endeavor work to your advantage.

Below is a collection of some of the other images we shot that day. It was hard work, but it was also a lot of fun.

Same clothing and backdrop as setup #3 but we moved both lights around the front and used the flash. Again a different look.

Converting images to black and white and using dramatic lighting is a lot of fun to try.

The post Simple Portrait Setups You Can Create on a Tight Budget appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

27 Mar

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

While your in-camera technique is most important, the ability to post-process your landscape images also plays a role in your final product. Each photographer approaches the digital darkroom in their own way. Here are some post-processing workflow tips for your landscape photography.

You don’t need to apply each step. It serves simply as a guide to help you get started.

1. Check your White Balance or Color Temperature

If you shot your images in RAW, you retain the ability to change the White Balance after the fact. You can adjust the color temperature of your scene to make it either warmer (more yellow) or cooler (more blues).

Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography

Shot with Auto White Balance (AWB temperature 5800K).

Sunsets are often enhanced more to the warmer side, while winter scenes can benefit from both warm and cool tones, depending on what you are trying to depict. The temperature sliders can also be used to remove or correct any color casts captured in your original frame.

The same image with the temperature adjusted to 6700K to enhance the warmth of the sunset.

2. Expose it!

Check your exposure and fix it if it is too bright or too dark. Most people eyeball this process, but the histogram is a very useful tool for achieving your best exposure. The left side of the histogram represents the blacks or shadow areas of your image. The right side represents the brighter areas or highlights.

If you forget these basics, push your sliders to either extreme and look at how the image and corresponding histogram responds to these changes.

3. Chop Chop

With landscape photography, a good composition is key. Thus getting it right in camera is the best way to maximize your scene. You can apply rule of thirds/golden spiral, leading lines and a foreground interest optimally at this point.

Original Image

Some photographers shoot with a specific crop in mind, so many times there is a “picture in picture”. If your end result is a square crop, then compose and shoot for your final vision. This is also applicable if you need to print your final image to a different ratio.

Applying your crop early on in the post-processing workflow can alter the next steps you apply. So work out your composition and then continue processing.

4. Clarify This

Clarity is an adjustment available in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom. When you adjust the Clarity, you are working with the contrasts (edge contrast) in the mid-tones of your image.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Image prior to clarity adjustment.

This change makes your image look sharper, so you do not want it overdone.

The subtle changes of Clarity adjusts the mid-tones and apparent sharpness.

5. Shadow Me

Adjusting the shadows can either deepen the darker areas or lift them to retrieve some details. If you are recovering details, be aware of the appearance of noise in the shadows. You need to stop before reaching this point.

6. The Highlights

When you are shooting, an important concern is to retain details in the brightest parts (highlights) of your image. If you have heard the terms “blown out” or “clipped” highlights, they refer to those bright areas that have no detail.

If you are working with a RAW image, you can recover much of your overexposed highlights using the highlight slider. Of note, while recovering these highlights, pay attention to the overall look of the rest of the image.

Beach image unedited.

Beach image edited to adjust the Clarity, Shadows, and Highlights.

7. Whites/Blacks

In the simplest terms, the Whites slider adjusts image pixels that are white or have a partial highlight. The Blacks slider adjusts image pixels that are black. The Shadow slider, mentioned previously, covers a smaller range of dark pixels than the Blacks. Similarly, when comparing Highlights to Whites, the White adjustment (like the Black) is more global.

A reason to adjust the Whites/Blacks after the Highlights/Shadows sliders is because of the way they (whites/blacks) affect the overall tone of the image.

8. Saturation/Vibrance

Most people get confused with saturation versus vibrance. Saturation affects all your pixels, making them all either more colorful (saturated) or less colorful (desaturated).

Saturation adjusts all the colors in the image.

Vibrance, on the other hand, makes adjustments to the pixels that are not as saturated. This means it makes dull colors more vibrant and leaves already vibrant colors unaffected.

Vibrance adjusts less saturated colors only.

Bonus Tip: The Vibrance slider is used a lot to adjust images with people because it does not affect flesh tone colors!

9. Sharpen Up!

Sharpening increases the contrast between your bright and dark areas. In most post-processing workflows, it is done at or close to the end. This is because many other processes in your workflow, alter the “sharpness” of your image. Thus sharpening may be optional (or selective) when following those steps.

Read this for more on sharpening images: How to Make Your Photos Shine Using Clarity, Sharpening, and Dehaze in Lightroom

10. Vignette

A vignette is when there is light fall-off towards the edge of your image. This is often seen in images shot with wide open apertures or with wide angle lenses. They can also be caused or strengthened by the use of camera additions such as filter holders, lens hoods, or filters. These cause less light to reach the edges of the image than the center.

If you do not get vignettes when shooting, you can add them during your post-processing stage. It is not a necessity, but works well when you want to draw the viewer’s eyes away from distractions in the corners and more towards the middle of the frame.

Vignette added to draw attention to the sunset and keep your eyes away from highlights at the top of the frame.

In landscape photography, you can either remove natural vignettes, so the viewer’s eyes move around the image or you can add a vignette to draw them in. It all depends on your final objective.

Post-Processing Workflow for Landscape Photography

Conclusion

Developing a post-processing workflow for your images is a great step towards your final output. Keep in mind that less is more and that subtle changes can go a long way to enhance your already beautiful capture.

You do not need to edit every image the same way; take a minute and review each one and determine what it needs to take it to the next level.

The post Post-Processing Workflow Tips for Landscape Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography – Why F16 Isn’t the Only Choice

27 Mar

Landscape photography is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult disciplines of outdoor photography, and perhaps one of the most challenging genres of photography in general. At first glance, the art seems straightforward. You find yourself a pretty piece of scenery, wait for some good light, and click the shutter. Easy, right?

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

And yet that’s not the end of the story. I have screwed up endless opportunities by making errors in composition, focus mistakes, unwanted motion blur, over and underexposures, and of course, by messing up the settings of my camera. I suspect anyone who has dedicated much time to the art of landscape photography can say the same.

Let’s Talk About Aperture

While entire articles, even books, have been written about each of those errors and frequent mistakes, there is only one I’m going to discuss here – aperture.

What aperture should you use in landscape photography, f/16 right? That’s what I’ve always heard. It’s the perfect combination of sharpness and depth of field. So set your aperture to f/16 and shoot away.

That’s it, article finished. I hope you enjoyed it. No, of course, that isn’t all. But I am surprised how many photographers assume that is the end of the story.

The real answer to the question of which aperture to us is – all of them – depending on the situation.

First, landscape photography is much more than just the classic composition that includes a foreground element in front of lovely background scenery. Rather there are detail shots, aerials, night photography, telephoto landscapes, and god knows how many other sub-genres within the category. For each of these, and for each situation within, a different aperture may be appropriate.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

Before we get into that – first a warning.

Sharpness Issues

Wide Open

There are costs to different apertures. Wide open, most lenses will be soft because every part of each glass element in the lens is being put to work. Imperfection in the lenses, dirt, scratches, and the physics of light all combine to mess with your image sharpness. This is part of the reason that sharp, fast lenses cost so much. The glass has to be excellent to retain sharpness wide open.

Diffraction

Diffraction happens at the opposite end of the f-stop range. When the aperture is closed way down, images also show a reduction in sharpness, but not for the same reason. Rather, something called diffraction occurs. Diffraction is actually a term derived from physics of waves.

Take a look at the terrible hand-drawn illustrations I made below and you can see why I’m a photographer, not a painter. Hopefully, however, you’ll also learn something about diffraction. The lines on the left show waves moving across space. Think of them as light waves or ocean waves, it makes no difference.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

As they approach a wall with a large opening, the gap allows the waves though largely intact causing only a slight dispersion and curving of the incoming wave.

But apply a smaller opening (below), and suddenly those waves are quickly curved and dispersed.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

In photography, a large aperture will cause relatively little change in the light waves entering your camera, but a small aperture will force a small amount of light to spread, disperse, and curve before hitting the sensor unequally, and with less intensity. This results in a loss of sharpness.

While the physics of it all is interesting, when it comes to photography, what you really need to know is that very small apertures will be less sharp than mid-range apertures.

Attaining Sharpness

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

It’s probably clear to you by now that if you wish to achieve maximum sharpness then neither fully wide open nor closed down apertures are the best. Rather, sharpness can be found somewhere in between. For most lenses, 2-stops down from wide open is the sharpness sweet-spot.

Perhaps that is why f/16 is so popular in landscape photography, it’s a good compromise between sharpness and depth of field.

So What Now?

We are back where we started, right? Just shoot at f/16.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

Well if tack-sharpness were the end all and be all of landscape photography, that would probably be the case.

However, sometimes you may wish to sacrifice some lens sharpness for shallow depth of field or suffer some diffraction blur for the sake of attaining a long shutter speed.

Detail Shots

Landscape details are those small parts of a landscape that catch your photographic interest. This may be a cluster of autumn leaves, a stone in a tundra meadow, or light upon snow-covered trees, among many other possibilities.

In such situations, you may want to isolate that interesting subject from a cluttered background. You can do that by embracing the shallow depth of field, through the use of a fast (large) aperture.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

I was photographing a couple of years back on a crisp autumn day. Frost covered the meadow I was walking around, and each stem of grass glittered in the early morning sun. Spotting one particular stem, rising from the rest, I paused. I wanted to isolate that single piece of grass.

So, using a 70-200mm f2.8 lens, I opened the aperture wide to create a shallow depth of field, composed, and shot.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

I’ve used this strategy, again and again, with my landscape photography. Shooting autumn colors, I frequently wish to isolate a single leaf, or patch of foliage from a distracting backdrop. Fast apertures and shallow depth of field are the only way to do this.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

In such cases, I’m happy to sacrifice a bit of sharpness.

Aerial shots

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

In aerial photography, you are always well separated from the landscape you are photographing (if you aren’t, you’d have much greater concerns than making photos). Thus, depth of field is not your top concern.

Meanwhile, the vibration of the airplane or helicopter’s engine is a much greater risk for lack of sharpness than setting your aperture too open.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

When I’m shooting aerials, I open my aperture wide open to maximize shutter speed. When you need a shutter speed of around 1/1000th of a second, minimum, a wide open aperture is the only practical way to go.

Long Exposures

Purposefully dragging your shutter for multi-second (or even multi-minute) exposures requires you to greatly reduce the light hitting your sensor. Even with a low ISO and a neutral density filter, trying to get a long exposure on a bright day is impossible without stopping down your aperture.

I was shooting along a river in Alaska a couple of years back, on assignment for a conservation organization. It was a bright afternoon, but some clouds were breaking up the sky making for decent photography conditions.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

I knew I would be unable to return there in the evening, so I needed to make the most of the situation. Despite the bright afternoon light, I still wanted a long exposure of the flowing water.

I lowered my ISO to its minimum setting (50), put on a 4-stop neutral density filter, and sacrificing a bit of sharpness, stopped my aperture down to f/22.

With that combination, I was able to get an 8-second exposure of the flowing river. The rippled water blurred pleasingly to a ghostly reflective surface, and I got the image I wanted.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

Night Photography

Here in Alaska, I spend a lot of time shooting the Northern Lights and taking out visiting photographers to do the same. There is a myth about Aurora photography that you need a long exposure – you don’t. In fact, you really don’t want one.

One of the things that make the Aurora Borealis so spectacular is the details in the curtains, the shifting colors, and the near-constant motion. A long exposure, anything more than a few seconds, will cause all those details to blur away. Fast shutter speeds (or as fast as you can manage) are far, far better.

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice

Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography - Why F16 Isn't the Only Choice - night sky aurora

To get a fast shutter speed at night, you have to be willing to open your aperture all the way up, sharpness loss, be damned. High ISOs and fast lenses set wide open will allow shutter speeds fast enough to capture the details of a fast-moving aurora display.

Conclusion

So sure, in classic landscape photography, with a foreground element, and background scenery, you’ll want a deep depth of field and maximum sharpness. In those conditions, by all means, set your aperture to f/16 and forget about it. But such situations are not all there is to landscape photography.

Your cameras and lenses are equipped with many tools. To say there is only one that is “right” is like saying that the only tool a carpenter needs is a hammer. Sure a hammer is the perfect tool for a carpenter when he needs to bang in a nail, but it’s really lousy at cutting boards.

What is the lesson here? Set your aperture for what is needed for the scene, not how you’ve been told it should be by someone else. “They” say a lot of things. You don’t always have to listen to them.

The post Understanding Aperture and Landscape Photography – Why F16 Isn’t the Only Choice appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Tips for Client Photo Sessions – What it’s NOT All About

26 Mar

There are a host of things which are important when doing photo sessions for clients. But if you’re not careful you could end up falling into the trap of assuming that photo sessions are about something that they really are not. The list of things to keep in mind covers topics such as lighting, exposure, location, posing, and even practical elements like what to charge and what to recommend they wear.

I’ve personally made some mistakes in my development as a photographer when I got caught in the trap of focusing on the wrong things. An understanding of what client sessions are not about can be just as impactful as knowing what they are all about.

With that, here are a few things to keep in mind the next time you set out to take pictures for people.

Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About - family portrait

It’s not about your gear

I know how fun and exciting it is to get new photography equipment. While I don’t have an entire room full of cameras and lenses, I do have enough to fill a pretty large backpack, and I once chased down a UPS driver just to get my new 70-200mm f/2.8 lens one day early. I always enjoy showing my latest camera purchase to friends and family. While none of this is necessarily a bad thing, an obsession with photo gear can actually become a hindrance when working with clients.

I can remember some photo sessions from a few years ago that I’m almost embarrassed to recall because of the way I showed up and starting flaunting my cameras, lenses, and accessories for my clients. There were times when I would make it a point to explain that my lenses had super wide apertures which meant that they were so much better than a kit lens.

Or when visiting with potential clients I would make sure to point out that I was shooting with the latest, greatest, and costliest full-frame camera on the market. Shamefully, I have even gone so far as to literally pull out speedlights, tripods, and other accessories that I had no intention of using just so the clients could see that I had them.

mom and baby photo - Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About

Clients want results and to feel important

In hindsight, not a single client I have ever worked with was impressed with my camera gear. They wanted results, not grandstanding, and it was the pictures that mattered to them rather than the gear I used to make the images. For all my clients care, I might as well be using an old Canon Rebel T3 and the on-camera flash! (Truth be told I know some photographers who do great work with a basic setup like that.)

If you try to dazzle your clients with how cool your camera stuff is, it could actually make things worse by setting unrealistic expectations in their mind of what you can actually do. Or worse yet, you could come across seeming like an arrogant show-off even if that’s not your intention at all.

When you work with clients I recommend leaving gear out of the equation entirely. Don’t talk about your cameras, your lenses, your super cool equipment bag with dozens of folding pockets, or the camera you don’t have but hope to buy someday.

Discuss your goals for the photo session, explain your plan for getting the kids to smile, or take a few minutes and just get to know your clients on a personal level. Don’t make the session about your expensive fancy camera stuff. Instead, make it about your clients and let them be impressed with your pictures, not your camera.

Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About - photo of a little girl

It’s not about your last gig

Have you ever been to a holiday gathering and had the unfortunate luck of sitting by a particular relative who just wouldn’t stop talking about all the things he or she has done, the places they have visited, or the new stuff in their house?

Every time you bring up something from your own life, they counter with a swift rebuttal, “Oh you went to the Grand Canyon for a day? That’s nice. But it’s nothing compared to the week I spent backpacking in the Swiss Alps!”

All you want is to share some of your life experiences, but all this unfortunate friend or family member wants to do is play an endless game of one-upmanship until you finally excuse yourself to go get some pie. And you don’t even like pie.

Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About - family photo

Think about those uncomfortable situations the next time you are at a photo session with clients and you feel tempted to regale the people with tales of fun, excitement, and adventure from previous sessions. You might have some fun stories to share of how you barely got the shot before a thunderstorm rolled in, or you might want to pull out your phone and show off some amazing images of that time you photographed a destination wedding at a national park.

Focus on the people in front of you right now

The best course of action in those situations is to say nothing at all and keep the focus squarely on your clients and the job you are currently doing. You know, the one you are getting paid for.

Regaling clients with tales of your previous sessions can make them feel inadequate by comparison, and often sends them messages that you don’t intend. It can make your clients feel inferior, outclassed, or even jealous when pitted against the fantastic tales being spun of your other work.

Save your stories for your friends and instead talk with your clients about how great they look, how much fun you are having, and how you plan to address the questions and concerns they might have.

Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About - family photo siblings

Rest assured your clients already have a high opinion of you and your work based on what they saw on your website or heard from others. Otherwise, they would not have asked you to take their pictures. So put away the stories of past gigs you’ve had and make the session about the only people who matter at the moment – the ones in front of your camera.

It’s not about how awesome you are

Look, I get it. As a photographer, you’ve done some pretty cool things, seen some great places, made some incredible images, burned the midnight oil into the wee hours of the morning to make sure your RAW files were edited to absolute metaphysical perfection.

You’ve got some stories to tell and you might have even earned an award or two along the way. Perhaps one of your pictures ended up in a print publication, or you teach photography classes at your local vocational/technical school. As Ron Burgundy might say, you’re kind of a big deal.

Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About

All this may sound harsh, but I bring it up because I’m ashamed to admit it used to be my attitude. There were times when visiting with clients that I would make it a point to describe, in painful detail, how hard I worked on other sessions. Or I’d brag about the number of images on my memory card the last time I did a similar shoot. And I would talk about this as if it had any bearing at all on the quality of my work when all it did was alienate people and send them the wrong message about me as a photographer.

The most important people in the room

Your clients don’t care about the stories you might want to tell them demonstrating how great you are. What they care about is the job you are doing for them and the pictures they are paying you for, not your stories, your adventures, or your portfolio.

They hired you for a reason, and they are probably already familiar with your work after seeing samples on your website or talking with friends, family, or other client referrals. They already think highly of you or they wouldn’t have hired you, so you don’t need to keep reminding them of your greatness.

Tips for Client Photo Sessions - What it's NOT All About

Conclusion

When it’s time to do the photo session just show up, do the work, and rest easy in the confidence of knowing you are an awesome photographer. You consistently produce great results, and people like your work enough to pay you for it! Let your work speak for itself, pay attention to your clients and their needs, and you’ll get some phenomenal photos that will keep your clients returning and sending others your way as well.

What about you? Do you have any lessons you have learned from doing client photo sessions over the years, or mistakes you feel comfortable sharing with others so they can avoid the same pitfalls? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Tips for Client Photo Sessions – What it’s NOT All About appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Five Ideas for Your Spring Photography

26 Mar

The renewal of life is never more prominent than in the spring, and this change in the season is a magical time for photography. This article obviously relates to those temperate parts of the world that have four seasons including spring.

Spring of course accompanies flowers blooming, and leaf shoots growing. This dramatic change in the natural world allows you as a photographer to tell the story of a place afresh, just as nature restarts again for another year. So let’s look at some spring photography ideas, to help you get the best out of the season.

All those flowers make for some amazing backgrounds for your portrait photos.

1 – Focus on the finer details

Whether you’re able to photograph bluebells, daffodils, or cherry blossoms these detail photos you can get from floral photography will be an important part of your set. Even if you’re not photographing flowers, perhaps instead you’re at a spring festival, the detail photo is important.

The following are a few ideas that may help you improve your spring photography:

Bokeh – Bokeh and detail photos go well together, especially when you photograph flowers. The easiest way to achieve to this to photograph a flower in the foreground, with other flowers in the background. Then using a large aperture you should achieve a nice soft background. This works better with macro lenses or prime lenses with a large aperture.
Patterns – Nature is full of nice patterns so use this to your advantage. The repetition of flowers can make for a nice pattern, or indeed petals on the ground once they’ve fallen. Alternatively, at a spring festival, the produce can often be laid out in a pattern, ideal for photography
Background – As with all photos the background is important. Aiming in a certain direction you can create a clean background and a much nicer image. Shooting up at the sky on a clear day will give a blue background, or perhaps aim down towards the grass for a green background. As mentioned above, you may also choose to blur out the background with bokeh.
The Light – Using the light is what photography is all about. The way it may shine through petals can give you nice details, as the sunlight picks up all the textures of the flower. You can also use shards of light, if you spot a leaf that’s lit up on its own it can make a nice photo.

Using bokeh and good light is important, but adding an extra element like a bee will make the photo even better.

2 – Explore the wider scene in your spring photography

The temptation, especially with flower photos, is to keep in close and not take a bigger landscape style photo. The flower beds and areas with many blossoming trees can make for some amazing spring photography though.

Likewise, taking a photo of the whole festival from an elevated position is an integral part of a sequence of photos you’d take at such an event. If you’re looking for the quintessential floral spring photographs, you can look to the following to enhance your chance of success.

Check the forecast – That’s not just the weather forecast, but the blossom forecast! Whether you’re in Japan, Washington or any other part of the world with seasonal flowers, there will be a peak period.
The composition is king – As with all landscape photos good composition will get you the best results, now you have the element of spring to incorporate into your photo as well.
Extra context – This could simply be those floral blossoms indicating spring. However, including other elements like buildings that are region specific will add even more context to your photo.

Looking for more context could mean using buildings with typical local traditional architecture.

3 – Take some portrait photos!

Spring can be a really popular time for portrait photography. The symbol of new life and those amazing backgrounds combine to make this a special time for portrait work. Whether you’re photographing yourself, or other people there are ample opportunities.

Photoshoot – Models and couples will travel just as far as photographers to get beautiful photos will natural backgrounds. Aim to use a large aperture and blur out the background. Lines of trees can add depth to a photo when a shallow depth of field is applied. Having your model interact with some of the flowers is also a nice touch.
Other people – Photographs of people enjoying spring can be great. As the weather warms up and people start to enjoy park life, there are increased chances for street photos. Typical examples might include people walking through flowery fields, or perhaps taking self-portraits.
The selfie – Lastly there is always taking photos of yourself, everyone needs a new profile picture for spring!

Daffodils are one of the first signs of spring in many countries. Here a person walks through a field of these flowers.

4 – Try something creative

Spring photography is a broad subject, it does, in fact, encompass more or less every type of photography that exists. The theme that’s consistent is that you’re photographing spring specifically.

The application of more experimental techniques can be a great way to shake things up, so what could you try? The following are just some examples and ideas for getting creative:

Light trails – It is not uncommon for spring foliage to grow along the side of a road. This presents a great opportunity to take a car light trails photo, and include some spring blossoms for context.
Refraction – The crystal ball is a versatile piece of equipment to have in the bag, and for sure you can use it in the spring to make some creative photos.
Motion blur – On a windy day, setting your camera on a tripod to capture the motion of the moving vegetation can create a nice abstract looking photo. To do this you’ll need to expose for several seconds, to capture that movement.

In this photo a yellow ball was used. The yellow against white echoes that of an egg, and with spring this gives the concept of new life.

5 – Spring festivals

Another sign of spring is the festivals and religious holidays that occur during this time, depending on where you are in the world they will be different. They all offer photography opportunities, again with still life, portraits or scene setting photos portraying that festival.

In Asia, there are some dramatic festivals such as Japan’s Setsuban festival that celebrates the end of winter, and the beginning of spring. Then perhaps closer to home are the Easter holidays, with the accompanying traditions that go along with it. These events both tell the story of renewal, a powerful theme for spring.

This is a festival in South Korea that marks the end of winter and the start of spring. People wear the traditional clothes of Korean farm dancers.

Time to go and enjoy the fresh spring air

How do you like to do your spring photography? Does it only mean flowers and nature, or are there other things about spring that you enjoy photographing?

Perhaps you’ve photographed spring many times before, so how about trying a different photographic style this time? Lastly, we love to see examples of your spring photography both past and present, so please share them in the comments section!

A bed of petals can make a great detail photo.

Look for people in their natural environment, caring for the land. It adds a bit more story to this spring photo.

Capturing the wider scene here to include a local landmark, and spring flowers in the foreground.

Try experimenting with some different concepts, here some motion blur was captured by using a slower shutter speed.

The post Five Ideas for Your Spring Photography by Simon Bond appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

25 Mar

Your tripod deserves a good cleaning if you don’t want to have to buy a new one every couple of years. Cleaning your tripod will help it last 10+ years and keep Gear Lust at bay. It also makes you feel like you just got a new piece of equipment for the cost of only 1-2 hours of mild effort.

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

What’s You’ll Need

Before you get to the cleaning part, you’ll need some supplies. I suggest the following:

Cotton cloth.
Soapy water in a bowl.
Old toothbrush.
Canned air or blower.
Waterproof lubricant (marine grease, brake grease, etc.)
Tools to disassemble your tripod (typically Allen wrenches, socket wrench or a screwdriver).
Camera (ideally just a smartphone) so you can document how things came apart
A small bowl for the small parts.
Clean and clear working surface.

Disassemble the Legs

The first step to cleaning your tripod is taking it apart. A number of tripods come with the tools to disassemble them, but if not, a quick search of your owner’s manual will point you in the right direction.

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

I’m going to use two tripods as examples in this article because they should cover a wide range of options included on tripods on the market today. The first is a Vanguard Abeo Plus 323CT carbon fiber tripod with BBH-200 Ballhead and the second is the MeFoto Classic Aluminum Globetrotter Tripod/Monopod. The Vanguard has flip-lock on the legs, and the blue MeFoto has twist locks. This matters most in the leg section of the tutorial.

It’s important to take photos when cleaning your tripod the first time. This helps you remember what went where and how to put it all back together. I suggest using a clean surface, free of clutter so nothing gets lost.

Taking the legs apart

Twist locks, like those on the MeFoto, are straightforward. Simply twist the lowest section as if you are extending the leg, then keep twisting until the ring comes free.

cleaning, tripod, twist lock, twist-lock - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Slide the lowest leg section from the one above it, being careful to not lose any plastic parts near the top of the tube. Under normal use, these plastic parts (typical of most tripods) help the leg section to not slide out under normal use. They are important don’t lose them!

twist lock, twist-lock, tripod, cleaning - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Flip locks need a little extra help. In this case, the Vanguard requires the flip lock to be open and then use a Phillips head screwdriver to loosen the bolt.

tripod, disassemble, clean - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Note that on the back side of the screw is a nut that needs to be retained. Not all tripods require complete removal of the screw/nut for the leg to slide free.

screw, nut, tripod, cleaning - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

The top of each tripod leg also has a plastic retaining cap, the same as the twist lock, that may fall out when the leg is removed.

clip, tripod, cleaning - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

It’s also important to note that your tripod might have notches to help it align when assembled. In this case, the Vanguard has two small notches in each leg tube that fit in the gap between the top plastic cap. Keep in any rubber O-ring gaskets in the correct order.

notches, tripod, cleaning, clean - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Remove all legs pieces, laying them out in order. The Vanguard I am using also has an added shim that sits in the flip-lock mechanism and I need to keep this safe.

shim, vanguard, tripod, latch, flip-lock - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

The shim inside the legs of the Vanguard tripod. Yours may contain something similar if it has flip-lock legs.

Once all the legs are removed, use the blower/compressed air to clear obvious dust, dirt, and sand. Next, dip your toothbrush in soapy water and scrub the remaining debris from threads and leg parts. Dry with a rag.

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Use air first to blow any debris out of the grooves.

Then use an old toothbrush and soapy water to get the hard to remove dirt.

cleaning, tripod, legs - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

The tops, where the legs attach to the tripod head unit, may or may not have the ability to be dissembled. The Vanguard pictured is not user-friendly and the best I can do is to clean it with the toothbrush and blower.

The MeFoto tripod, however, has two easily removed screws which, when removed, allow me to clean the sliding mechanism underneath.

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Dirty

All clean!

Wipe down the outside of the leg tubes with the damp rag.

Tripod Feet

The feet of tripods take the most abuse and deserve to be cleaned too, even if you will just get them dirty again tomorrow. The Vanguard pictured here has rubber feet to cover spikes which invite sand and debris aplenty.

The MeFoto has flat feet that can be screwed off (and replaced with other optional feet) which trap grit.

Dirty

Clean!

For removable feet, give them a dip in the soapy water and a scrub with the brush. Otherwise, use your blower and toothbrush to remove all dirt.

Let all the components dry thoroughly before moving on to reassembly (below).

Tripod Head

Most tripod heads are not meant to be fully disassembled like the legs. The ball heads pictured here are sealed at the factory and can only be cleaned to a certain degree.

Remove any quick release plates and clean under and around them. Loosen up all twist-locks that tension the ball or swivel head and clean the threads the best you can.

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

cleaning, tripod, head - How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Remove the head from the tripod and clean the underside with a damp cloth.

Other Parts

Both of my tripods have a removable hook on the bottom to hold a weight for stabilization. I will take those apart too and give them a cleaning.

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Reassembly

When all parts are dry, it’s time to put everything back together. I suggest using the waterproof grease on threads that are meant to tighten and loosen. In my case, I’ll grease the threads of the MeFoto leg twist-locks and the control screws for the ball head.

cleaning, grease, clean, tripod, legs

How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New

Add a small amount of the grease to the threads to ensure easy movement of the parts.

Some people prescribe putting a little bit of grease in the ball head and working it around. This can be helpful, but I would check your owner’s manual first to see if the manufacturer recommends it or not.

Sliding the legs back together, make sure any notches are properly aligned and that plastic end caps are in place before assembly. It’s also important to ensure you aligned the flip-locks so they are all facing the right way. Tighten up all locks and give your tripod a quick run through to make sure nothing is too loose or too tight.

Conclusion

A properly cleaned tripod will last much longer than any camera body you will ever own. While you may want to upgrade to a lighter or stronger unit in the future, there’s no reason your current tripod can’t serve you well into the future.

The post How to Clean Your Tripod and Make it Like New by Peter West Carey appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography