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Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos

30 Jan

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” Ernst Haas

Do you ever ask yourself why the images you capture are not like the ones you see in your mind’s eye?

Do you ever wonder why your photos don’t look as good as a professional’s? What makes theirs look so great?

The answer is – probably because you are shooting in Auto!

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 5 seconds, f/8.0, ISO 100

Get more creative with Manual Mode

A professional takes full creative control over every aspect of the photo and makes creative choices in the image creation process. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are the base. If you don’t control these then you will be unable to create the best possible image.

Digital cameras nowadays make exposure so easy. There doesn’t seem to be a good reason to shoot on manual. But there is – it’s creativity. Specifically, creative exposures.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1/200th, f/2.2, ISO 500

Take control of the process

If you want awesome photos, then shooting with control is the most important part of the creative journey with photography. With Manual Mode, you get full control. Total creativity.

I know a lot of people feel intimidated trying Manual, but I have taught hundreds of people to feel comfortable and confident with it so I know it’s totally possible for anyone to learn.

Even if you aren’t tech-minded, you can do this! All you need is the basic understanding of the process – and practice.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 30 seconds, f/10, ISO 200

The camera cannot (at least at the moment) make creative choices in the way that you can. You’ll often end up with un-dynamic exposures when the camera chooses for you.

How many well-exposed photos do you see on Facebook? The majority are shot using some Automatic Mode or another. They are all the same base density. Sure, they are properly exposed, but that base exposure is just the beginning when shooting with intent.

All those exposures start from the same base, zero. Many photographers just leave it there because it looks good, it looks “correct”. That is Auto.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1.6 seconds, f/10, ISO 50

Exposure is part of photographic artistry. Don’t pass on it just because your photos look good….they can be so much better!

Here is the simple method I use to explain the process of shooting in Manual Mode.

The Exposure Triangle

Shooting in Manual Mode means controlling three fundamental settings in photography:

ISO
Aperture
Shutter Speed

Together they are collectively known as “The Exposure Triangle”.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 13 seconds, f/9, ISO 250

What do these three controls do?

ISO is the camera’s sensitivity to light. Think of it this way – do you want the sensor to absorb light quickly, sacrificing detail and contrast (high ISO), or do you want to let the light in slowly absorbing every color, capturing every juicy detail (low ISO)?
Aperture controls the INTENSITY of the light flowing onto the sensor. Think of coming out of a Saturday afternoon matinee and how intense the light is after being in the dark for a few hours. You’re practically blinded for a moment (until your pupils adjust to the light and become smaller – the aperture opens and closes much the same way). That’s intensity!
Shutter Speed (SS) is a time value – in other words, how long is the exposure. The time is combined with the intensity of the light from your Aperture setting. Shutter speed is represented as 1/250th of a second, for example.

These three settings are all you need to know about making a manual exposure. That’s it. Now let talk about how to approach it.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1/30th, f/2.2, ISO 3200

Think ISO first

When making a manual exposure ISO should always be your first consideration!

There are two questions you have to ask yourself before you start making exposures.

How much light is on the subject?
This is essentially a technical decision. (ISO)
How can I make my subject look its best?
This is essentially a creative decision. (Shutter speed and Aperture combination)

The answers to these questions are the key to the whole process. Once you have the answers, you can set your exposure.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1/125, f/13, ISO 400

This is how I shoot in Manual Mode, explained in three easy steps.

Step #1 – How much light is on the subject?

Do I have:

Full daylight
A gloomy interior
A heavily shaded area between buildings
And so on…

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 2 seconds, f/10, ISO 320

First off, I’ll set my ISO accordingly. I usually go for the lowest ISO I can get away with shooting handheld. If I have a tripod I’ll go even lower. You can go almost a whole day without needing to change your ISO much.

It’s the easiest thing to set and forget. But if you need to move it you can. This is not a big deal on modern cameras where image quality is amazing at almost any ISO.

ISO scale - Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos

TIP #1

Set your ISO and don’t think about it unless the light level changes a lot – like you go indoors, the sun sets, or you walk into a heavily shaded area, etc. You get the point.

TIP #2

Look at the light! Photography is a study of light, after all, so your first step is to learn to really see it, to observe what it is doing, its strength and quality. When you have a deep familiarity with light from willfully observing it, you grow to know it.

Being aware of light levels makes shooting in manual much easier. When you are out, be tuned in to the light.

Step #2 – I ask myself “What is my priority?”

How do I decide what is the priority for my shot?

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 10 seconds, f/11, ISO 50

It all comes down to what I’m shooting – prioritizing shutter speed or aperture to whatever I think will make my subject look its best.

Am I shooting landscapes and want a wide depth of field? (select a small aperture like f/16).
Am I shooting portraits and so want a shallow depth of field? (aperture again, this time a wide setting like f/2.8).
Perhaps I am shooting sports or action, and want pin-sharp images of fast-moving subjects? (shutter speed this time – choose a fast one to freeze the subject like 1/2000th).

I’ll make my choice of shutter speed or aperture as my top priority. Now I have two points of the exposure triangle set. For the last setting, I adjust the exposure on the light meter scale.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1/15th, f/4.5, ISO 12,800

Step #3 – Adjusting the exposure

Now is the time to look at the camera meter.

Use the light meter scale – get the marker near the center or thereabouts with the one remaining dial (in other words if you chose the aperture in step #2, the last one being set here is the shutter speed). On this -2 to +2 scale, where you place the exposure matters a lot! This is the essence of creative exposures. It dictates the mood of the photograph.

Being in the centre or “0” position is rarely the right exposure for me.

Light meter scale - Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos Light Meter Scale

Remember, each point of the exposure triangle is NOT fixed. Each click or interval (usually in 1/3 increments) are equal, so 2 (+) clicks of ISO is equal to 2 (-) clicks of aperture or shutter speed. These are called reciprocating exposures and they are the key to shooting creatively.

So, if you find yourself in a situation where you would like a little faster shutter speed, then do it. But compensate with an equal but opposite amount of another setting. What choice you make at this point is completely creative, not technical.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 3.2 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 100

TIP # 3

Let’s say you are shooting a landscape with a good foreground, a large tree perhaps, You set your aperture to f/16 for good depth of field (priority), ISO is at 100 and you have a shutter speed of 1/60th. This is a classic landscape exposure – with a lot of Depth of Field.

For an alternative image of the same scene, you could think of the tree as a portrait photo and open up the aperture to f/4 (+4 stops) and adjust the shutter speed to 1/1000th (-4 stops) keeping the ISO at 100 and the exposure the same.

You would lose most of the Depth of Field, but gain a nice bokeh making the tree isolated, like a good portrait. Now you’ve created a different feel to a classic landscape using a reciprocating exposure. But wait, there is still more you can do!

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 2.5 seconds @ f/4.0 ISO 100

Now, how about underexposing this scene by 1-1.5 stops to create a more low-key moody image. If the tree was in bright sun and the background shaded, I would instinctively underexpose to emphasize that contrast.

Putting it all into practice

You will miss a few exposures now and then. Everyone does, but don’t let it discourage you. I think a big part of the fear of shooting in Manual Mode is the, “I will miss the shot”echoing in people’s heads. Like I say, it happens to everyone.

Losing a few shots is still worth the wealth of knowledge and creativity you get from sticking with it and totally controlling your photography. Those missed shots will appear less and less as you improve, and your new found skill shooting in manual will reflect in your photos.

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 2 seconds @ f/5.0 ISO 50

I recommend you shoot at least 1,000 images in your practice. If you really focus, you could nail Manual Mode over a weekend. There is no substitute for practice.

Slow down and have fun! It will be worth every bad shot you take.

Study your images in post-production

Once you have taken your images, it is a really good idea to study your images in post-processing. All of the information about exposure is stored in the metadata which you access in a program like Lightroom (you can filter and sort your images by ISO, Aperture, etc.).

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1/30th, f/8, ISO 50

A few more final words – and action steps!

Did you know that two of the best ways to fully learn something is to:

Practice it
Explain it or teach it to someone else

By practicing it over and over you are teaching it into your body, almost like muscle memory. You do it so many times you’ll end up with it being automatic like it is for me (and those with years of experience who make it look effortless).

Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos 1/400th @ f/4.0 ISO 200

By explaining it, preferably a few times, to someone else, your brain starts to build new neural networks (which happens anytime you learn anything). So if you want to remember anything, you need to keep the neural networks alive, and by repeating it, explaining it, and practicing it over and over you’ll make that a solid memory in your brain.

So the short term work of repetition leads to remembering it long term. How cool is that?

I really, really hope this has helped you “get” Manual Mode. I love the creative possibilities of photography, and it makes all the difference when you feel comfortable with your tools. I would love to know if this has helped you – and if you’ll take the leap to practice shooting in manual.

The post Super Simple Introduction to Manual Mode and How it Will Transform Your Photos by Anthony Epes appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

30 Jan

So you want to make a splash in photography, well photographing with water is a great place to start. This is a broad area of photography, with many creative possibilities. In this article, you’ll see a selection of ideas for water photography, and how you can try those out yourself.

Will you want to turn your home into a lab to create stunning droplet photos, or prefer the serene calm of long exposure landscape photography? Let’s dive into water photography, and makes some great photos!

9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

You can photograph drops of water mid-air using a strobe.

1 – Water drop photography

This is a popular technique you can experiment with at home, and there are lots of YouTube guides available on how to do this. This is a form of macro photography where you’ll photograph water drops falling into a tub of water. The best results are achieved when combining the technique with off-camera flash.

When combined with an interesting background you can use this as a form of refraction photography, with the background refracted inside the droplet of water. Do you want to push this to another level more? Then look no further than the dripkit, which produces amazing results!

Read this dPS article for more on water droplet photography: Beginner’s Guide to Water Droplet Photography

2 – Long exposure landscapes

Long exposure photography has been one of the most popular forms of photography among landscape photographers for a long time. Head out to the coast, or perhaps to your nearest local river and see what you can do! A tripod is mandatory if you want to try this, and a good ND filter is a great idea as well.

Capture motion – Exposures of around 1/2 to one second in length will capture the movement of water. For example, waves moving in and out along the coast.
Silk water – Water cascading down a waterfall can be made to look like silk with exposures between one and two seconds.
Flat seascapes – Those wishing to make the ocean flat need to expose for 10-seconds or longer.

This coastal scene is captured using a shutter speed of a third of a second.

This is a great way to get amazing photos, especially when you are photographing a rocky coastline. Take care of yourself and your camera gear in these areas though, as accidents can happen. Along the coast, find out what the tide times are so you don’t get caught by the rising water.

Another tip is to watch the waves for around 30 minutes before you start photographing. Waves always come in cycles, with a sequence of much larger waves present in this cycle. You need to know where the force of these larger waves will land before you get too close to the water’s edge.

3 – Freezing objects

Freezing objects is an interesting way to take still life photos, and present an inanimate object in a creative way. As ice is transparent you will be able to see your object inside the ice, although good lighting is needed to make the photo come to life.

Once you have your object frozen in ice use a light source such as a spotlight, or a strobe to backlight it. This works well for many objects, but things you’d find in the sea like fish or seashells would be most interesting. In the winter, of course, you can go out and photograph ice in nature; icicles and ice waterfalls all look amazing.

Freezing fish in ice is a great way to photograph them as a still life. These fish were bought from a local market prior to freezing.

4 – Photographing in the rain

Most photographers will avoid photographing in the rain, concerned that it can damage their camera. This is a valid concern, although with the right precautions there are some amazing photos to be taken. There are several options for protecting your camera from the rain, which you can buy, or you can use a simple plastic bag and a rubber band.

Rain can add a lot of mood to the scene, and shots of people with umbrellas are classic images. In order to pick up the rain itself try photographing against the light, and the rain falling from the sky will give your photo more impact.

The rain shows up well in this scene because it is lit up by a nearby street light.

5 – Mixing oil and water

Back in your home laboratory, it’s time to mix some opposites together. Adding oil to water is a great way for you to make interesting texture photos. In order to create a series of photos of oil and water, follow these steps.

Add water and oil to a glass container, one with a clear transparent base.
Bridge the container over a surface, you could use two piles of books to create the supports.
The oil will make a large bubble, and not mix with the water. To create smaller oil bubbles add liquid soap and mix the solution.
Below the glass container add your background image, this will add color to your photo.
Use a macro lens to focus on an area of oil, the more circular shapes the better.
Either use a strong spotlight, or a strobe linked by radio trigger to your camera. This will be used to light your photo.

Oil and water don’t mix, which can make some nice colorful texture photos.

6 – Water droplets on glass

A similar approach to mixing oil with water is to photograph water droplets on glass. This form of water photography uses refraction to create its effect. The following steps are a guide for creating this style of photo.

Use a clear piece of glass, one from a picture frame would work well.
Create two piles of books, and place the glass over the piles. Make sure there is a gap to photograph through in the middle.
For better results, smear some windscreen rain repellent onto the glass. This hydrophobic substance will make the water droplets form more circular drops. Once you have added the repellent allow it to dry for a few minutes.
Add the water to the glass surface. To be more precise use a water dropper, or alternatively use a water spray bottle.
Add a background image behind the glass, choose one that will create an interesting refraction inside the droplets.
Use a macro lens, and focus on an area of glass that has some interesting water drops. Focus the camera on the water drops.
Use an externally triggered strobe to light up the image behind the glass, and expose your photograph. As a guide or starting point, an aperture of f/9, a shutter speed of 1/60th and an ISO of 200 were the settings I used for these images.

In this photo the South Korean flag is refracted inside water drops on a glass surface.

7 – Water photography with reflections

Water photography can provide some of the best reflections out there. Pick a nice calm day and head to your nearest reflection pool! A few tips that will help enhance your photos are listed below.

After the rain – Immediately after it’s stopped raining is one of the best times to photograph. Puddles offer some of the best reflection pools you can find, and they only form after the rain.
Calm days – Larger bodies of water such as ponds or lakes will also reflect, though these need to be visited on days when there is no wind at all so the lake is perfectly still and calm.
Get the angle – Getting closer to the body of water will improve the reflection. The angle of incident light is equal to the angle of the reflected light, so get low to the surface of the water.
Polarize the light – To really bring out the reflection using a circular polarizing filter will make the reflection much stronger (just be careful to turn it the right direction otherwise it will eliminate the reflection).

Rice paddy fields form amazing reflection pools. The calm of dawn was the perfect time to photograph this location.

8 – Making a splash with water photography

Water can of course look incredible when it impacts something, or something impacts it. The splash this creates needs a fast shutter speed to capture and freeze it in motion. There are a few popular methods that you can try with splash water photography.

Drop an object – Dropping objects into water is another twist on still life photography. The moment of capture is made using a strobe, with objects often dropped into a fish tank or perhaps a wine glass.
Throw your hair – This can be great fun to play with on the beach. The idea is to put your head in the water, then throw your hair back (or get a model to do so for you). The water droplets this creates can now be photographed, they’ll be picked up better against the light (with backlighting).
Throw water at an object – Here you pick an object, or even a person and throw water at it or them. Catch the moment of impact, and you could have a good photo. This works best when done with strobes to light up the water.

Dropping objects into water can make a real splash!

9 – Underwater photography

This niche area of photography allows you to fully immerse! Underwater photography is not cheap though, and to get professional results you’ll need expensive housing for your dSLR, which will also house a light source that can be taken down to the ocean floor.

Photographing with a model can also be fun underwater, once again providing you have the equipment!

Underwater photography is fun and challenging. With better equipment the results can be very impressive.

Now it’s your turn!

With so many possibilities for water photography projects, which one will you choose? When you’ve had a chance to try one of more of these ideas come and share your experience, and of course your photos.

Already tried taking photos like this? Then share your work in the comments section below, we love to see your photos.

The post 9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash by Simon Bond appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

29 Jan

Gear lust – it’s out there and is bound to bite you sooner or later. Whether photography is a business or a hobby for you, gear lust is a natural part of the consumer cycle. But there is a sane way to approach your desires and check if they are ruling you or you are ruling them. So here are some tips to help you know if you should upgrade or it’s just gear lust.

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

New Photo Equipment Flowchart

Follow this flowchart to see where you land. Only if you end up at a green bubble should you consider upgrading or buying more camera gear.

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust - infographic

Click to view the chart in a new tab or print it out.

Do you shoot for profit?

The first question on the chart is the most defining, “Are you going to make money from this lens?” Whether photography is a hobby or profession for you makes a big difference in the purchase decision. I believe both groups should look at the choice through different eyes, so let’s start down the hobby side of things first.

Skip down to below the hobby section to find the questions for profitable shooters.

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

Hobby: What can’t you currently do with your gear?

If you can’t answer this question truthfully, then you have textbook gear lust. If you answer it and that answer is, “Nothing,” you too have gear lust. That’s not a bad thing! I just want to help you recognize it so you can make your choice with a little more clarity.

But, if there is a technique or style you have tried to replicate over and over again with your current equipment, such as parallel lines in architectural photography or a ten-minute exposure when your camera has no Blub mode, you’re one step closer to justifying an outlay of cash. So let’s take a look at your next question.

Hobby: Should you buy pro equipment?

This question is usually related to lenses but can be adapted to camera bodies, lighting equipment, printers, and more.

If you’re in this photography game for the long haul, it’s in your best interest to purchase higher quality equipment. Lenses specifically will last through a number of camera bodies over the years, while camera bodies tend to make reasonable improvements every 3-5 years.

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

I usually suggest intermediate or pro-quality equipment to anyone who has been using their gear for a couple of years and continually hits the limit for its abilities. Then we need to ask the next critical question…

Hobby: Can you afford it?

If you can’t afford the higher quality equipment, and you can still justify the need to upgrade, I would suggest looking for used equipment in the style you want or possibly renting it for a short-term project. This is an excellent idea for trips abroad, for instance.

If you have come this far and can afford the purchase without going broke, hungry or breaking up a relationship to do so, I say go for it! It might be wise to do a quick cost/benefit analysis (e.g. I’d rather spend $ 1500 on travel than on a new lens). That might point you to a cheaper option to balance the scales, which tends to be a wise choice for hobbies. Or you might find bliss in your Gear Lust (this time) and will revel in the joy of new shooting opportunities.

Profit: Should you get pro equipment?

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

If you are making a profit or looking to do so with your equipment, you’re going to want to look at this decision through money-making glasses. That equipment won’t do you any good if it just sits on a shelf. It needs to be making you money!

To answer the pro equipment question for profit-seekers, let’s look at how this lens will be used. Make no mistake; it’s easy for pros to justify business-related purchases right away when they are really just gear lust in disguise.

Real Life Lesson: I bought a drone on the chance that I’d get a gig where I’d use it heavily. The client ended up canceling the project, but I bought the drone before the contract was signed, because of my gear lust. I made up a reason to justify it when I had no concrete payback schedule. Now I use the drone mostly as a hobby and it dented my pocketbook unnecessarily.

Should you get pro equipment? Let’s ask first if the photos are mission critical.

Profit: Are your photos mission critical?

Relating another analogy from my recent past, I bought a nice Sigma 150-600mm Sport Lens because I recently got into birding. I ‘”needed” (heavy emphasis on the quotes) a longer lens to capture those small or far away birds. That’s bad, expensive gear lust and I didn’t ask myself the “Mission Critical” question.

On the other side of the coin, I also shoot weddings and portraits, so buying a new 24-105mm lens would easily be justified, because the lens will pay for itself over time. Those photos are mission critical and pay my bills. Photos of bird, currently, do not. “Maybe I’ll sell some photos in the future,” is not the best business decision to make and the purchase of said item should be put off until it can be afforded as a hobby.

Profit: Will the equipment increase profits?

These new photos you will take with this new equipment, will those photos increase your profits? Really?

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

Dig deep with this one, because you need to look at this as a business decision. Do you have work lined up that will pay for most, if not all, of the new equipment purchase? If so, skip to the last question. If not, continue.

Profit: Is the new equipment replacing old equipment?

If you’ve answered no this far, this no is your last. It’s gear lust, plain and simple.

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

If you are replacing old gear, the purchase can likely be justified. Especially if you can offload your old equipment or use it as a much-needed backup. But I have one last question for you before you click the “Buy Now” button.

Profit: Can your old equipment be repaired?

I felt gear lust strong and clear when my 28-300mm L lens started having problems. A new one, not all scratched up, would be so nice. Then I asked Canon about fixing it. They said it would cost me $ 300. Once I compared that to the $ 2700 cost of buying a new lens, my decision was clear.

This choice can be made more difficult if the manufacturer has upgraded your camera or lens to a Mark II or III version. If your old equipment is simply aged beyond your capabilities, or it can’t be repaired, it’s time to buy new gear. But if it can be repaired and you can get a few more years of use out of it, then save your profits for expanding your business rather than giving in to gear lust.

Profit: At what photo business stage are you?

You’ve made your way through the chart and are going to buy that new piece of equipment. Congratulations on being clearheaded!

There is one last thing to consider: What stage are you at in your business development?

Beginner

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

If you’re just beginning, I would consider some lower cost options for equipment. This might mean getting a mid-level camera body instead of the $ 8000 pro-version that gear lust is drawing you toward. Spending $ 6500 more than you need to on a camera body won’t make you that much more profit. Investing it in advertising has a better chance of bringing in more clients and hence more profits.

If you have a specific project to shoot for a client and you’re not sure if you’ll use that equipment afterward, renting can be a viable option to keep your profits up.

You’re getting some paid gigs

If the money is coming in steady enough, but it’s not your main source of income yet, then it’s likely a good time to upgrade to better gear. Especially if you have made a case for how you can increase profits or ease workflow (e.g. replacing a 6-year old computer will vastly improve your editing speed and leave more time for finding and shooting new gigs).

Be honest with yourself here. If paid work is sporadic and you can do other types of jobs to make cash, hold off on spending profits until the volume is up and more regular.

Also, I highly suggest upgrading your lenses before your bodies, all things being equal. While getting a new body that has GPS or one extra frame per second in high-speed mode might seem tempting, a faster and sharper lens will improve your end product in a more profitable way.

You make regular income with photography

If the dough is rolling in regularly and you can see the next three years being this way, pull the trigger and buy that new gear. You’re in this for the long-haul and can write off the new equipment as a business expense over its useful life.

Hint: If a new purchase would put your balance sheet far into the red for the year, you’re not making enough regular income.

How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust

Conclusion

Gear lust happens to us all and it can be a struggle. I’ve suffered from it more than once and made bad choices more than once – thus the reason for this flowchart.

I hope it helps you find your way to photo-taking bliss. Remember, that’s why we own all this stuff: to take amazing photos. Don’t let the gear lust pull you away from that goal.

The post How to Know if You Should Upgrade Your Equipment or if You Just Have Gear Lust by Peter West Carey appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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8 Ideas of What To Do With Your Vacation Photos

29 Jan

Going on vacation is one of the best opportunities to practice travel photography. But the problem persists that more often than not, those boatloads of vacation photos that you snapped end up going nowhere other than maybe scattered about on Facebook.

Vacation photos

Sound familiar? You’re definitely not alone! If you’re looking for ways to actually use your vacation photos, here are 8 ideas to get you started.

1. Make a blog post

One of the best ways to recap your vacation is to make a blog post, combining photos with stories and words to give it more context. Don’t have a blog? No worries! It’s very easy to create a free blog on sites like WordPress. If making a blog sounds like too much, Adobe Spark offers a free, very intuitive format for quickly creating a travel blog of words and photos.

Creating a quick, easy, and free “blog” on Adobe Spark. This is s snapshot from the one I created for our trip to Italy ad our wedding.

2. Create an online slideshow

If you’d rather not go through the hassle of putting a blog together, an online slideshow is another way to make a digital presentation of your photos. Simply upload your photos to an online slideshow maker such as Pholody, select background music, and share or download the slideshow.

Alternatively, you can also turn your favorite vacation photos into screensaver slideshows or desktop backgrounds for your laptop or cell phone. How to Create a Simple Slideshow in Lightroom is another way to do it.

3. Strategically post to social media for the most traction

This is probably the most obvious use of vacation photos that may not seem worthy of even being mentioned, but hear me out.

If you aspire to have your photos viewed by more than just your current followers, you’ll have to be more strategic in how you post your images. This means adding hashtags and tagging tourism-related businesses that relate to your photos. Think airlines, tourism boards, local Instagram communities…the list goes on.

Research hashtags and businesses ahead of time and keep a list handy in Evernote so you can easily copy and paste them into your Instagram posts.

Vacation photos

4. Print a photo book, scrapbook, or photo album

Some photos simply pop and look better when they’re physically printed in book form. Consider putting together your top vacation photos and getting them printed via a service.

I recently used Zno and was impressed with their high-quality printing and the fact that the images lay flat without the book gutter running through them. Another service called ChatBooks is a little more automated and can sync your Instagram or Facebook photos into a book design for printing. If you’re more DIY-inclined, you can also opt for making batch photo prints and sticking them in an album or scrapbook.

See also: How to Create a Simple Blurb Photo Book in Lightroom

A Lay Flat photo book by Zno.

5. Make postcards or thank you cards

More often than not, your vacation will fall between occasions when you might receive gifts from friends or family. This is the perfect opportunity to create unique thank you cards using your own vacation photos. Also, consider creating fun postcards to send to friends and family as a recap of your trip.

If you’re a professional or aspiring photographer, you can even use these postcards as a form of a business card, handing them out to curious passersby who want to know where to find more of your work.

6. Create your own custom postage stamps

Before you send off that custom postcard or thank you card, make sure you include a custom postage stamp. You can use any of your own photos or use a pre-made design. These postage stamps are real and are licensed for use by the United States Postal Service.

Vacation photos

7. Transform your photos into wall art

It’s not unusual to capture some of your very best travel photos while on vacation. Whether it’s a great family photo or a stunning landscape, there’s almost always a photo or two in your albums that are print-worthy. So why not turn them into actual photo prints?

Making prints is incredibly easy to do via online ordering. You also have a plethora of print material options including traditional photo prints, canvas, metal prints, and even wood.

For more on printing, see these dPS articles:

Digital Photography – Is it the Death of Prints?
How to Size and Export Images from Lightroom for Facebook and Print
How to Prepare Your Images for Print and Display
5 Steps to Creating a Printed Photo Collection as Wall Art
5 Tips for Going from Pixels to Print Quality

Vacation photos

8. Print your photos on…just about anything!

Thanks to printing companies such as Zazzle, you can print your photos on a wide range of objects. T-shirts, magnets, and mugs might seem like traditional items on which you tend to find custom printed photos. But did you know that your photo can be printed on an iPhone case, blanket, pillow, bath mat, Zippo lighter, playing cards, and even a skateboard?

Vacation photos

Over to You

What are some creative ways that you have utilized your vacation photos? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below. And show us the photos!

The post 8 Ideas of What To Do With Your Vacation Photos by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

28 Jan

Basically, a zine (pronounced “zeen”) is a low-budget DIY booklet. The word stems from the shortening of the word magazine and was developed as a rejection of commercialism and mainstream publications. In stark contrast to the mass media industry, zine artists don’t seek to make a profit. Instead, they are designed to share ideas, stories, and artistic work.

Due to the fact that they haven’t gained much of a corporate backing, creators of zines pay homage to their own creative roots, carving an organic niche in visual arts for themselves. Originally churned out by hand, the prospect of a potential zine is an exciting one, with an endless amount of technology, media, and materials readily available.

The constant evolution of technology mixed with older, more traditional techniques means that zines continue to intrigue with highly individual and versatile methodology.

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

The contemporary zine emerged alongside technology like the photocopier. The interest and creation of zines grew in popularity during the punk movement of the 70’s and quickly spread from the United Kingdom to Australia and America. Marginalized creatives sought a medium that wouldn’t leave them broke. Graffiti was one solution to the problem, and one of the others was zine-making.

Authors of zines soon developed the DIY magazines to incorporate new ideas, personal observations, poetry, concepts, and artworks within their limited pages. Let’s have a look at one of the predominant zine styles today – and how you can make simple and effective photography books with a printer and a bit of low-grade origami!

How to create your own zine

You will need

A few blank pieces of A4 paper
Photo editing and printing technology
A craft knife
A marker, pen, or pencil

Method

Zines are designed as a simple, accessible and low-cost project. With a couple of folds, a simple piece of paper can become a comprehensive creative space.

First, we’ll build a scaffold to get a hold on the zine’s layout. It’s important to visualize the construction of a zine to understand the folding process. The layout will also guide your images later. Practicing the process will allow you to create work quicker, but also with greater efficacy.

For this project, I’ll be using a blank, A4 sheet of paper – but different sizes and colors work well too! Let’s get started.

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

Folding the paper

Step 1 – Folding

Fold your original paper (1) so the short edges touch and press down on the crease with a finger to create a neat line in the center of the page (2). Always fold the two smaller edges of paper together. Folding length-ways results in a paper fan instead. Fold 2 in half so that the shorter sides of the folded paper intersect. Press down along the center line to make a crisp edge on stage three. The next stage is…you guessed it! Double stage three over and crease at the fold to make stage four.

Unfold the paper.

Now, open your paper. You’ll see 8 evenly divided rectangles.

Labeling each of the sections of the paper.

Step 2 – Labeling

The next step is labeling each of the sections of your paper. Looking at the image above, you’ll notice that half of the pages are marked upside down. Folding the final stages of the zine can be tricky. Each image needs to be oriented in a specific way. The end result of the zine will be made up of different orientations of your paper, due to the final folding process. If you want all your images to be one size and right-side up, mapping our the zine’s final orientation like this is invaluable.

Mark one line and make a cut.

Step 3 – Cutting

Next, you’ll need to put a neat horizontal line in the inner two pages of the layout. Mark a continuous line between page 1 and page 4 and between page 5 and the front cover (as shown above). With a sharp craft knife, cut along the mark you made. Just be sure the knife is sharp, otherwise, it will leave nasty edges all the way up and down your cut.

Once you have finished cutting the marked horizontal line, you will have a result like this. with a pointed gap in the center of your paper.

Step 4 – Refolding into the zine

Hold onto the outer layers of the paper with your fingers and gently push the outer pages toward the middle slit, so that the slice opens up to accommodate the pages (see below).

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

As you push the push the outside layers of the paper, it will form together like a star.

As you press the ends together, the other pages will form around the folded slit. Be sure to check that the front and back pages are in the right place with a little bit of fiddling.

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

Your complete layout has folded down into a neat zine. So what’s next?

Photographic Zines

Photographic books are one of the best ways to share your photography. But producing professional-grade art books is a seriously costly undertaking. They may be small, but zines are a powerful and fun way to present your work and build networks.

The DIY nature of zines adds an extra layer of physicality to a body of work. They emphasize tactility, size, and detail. As they are handmade, each zine is a personal, tailored body of work, with the care that can only be imbued by hand. Because they take on an informal appearance, people will be much more inclined to touch and interact with your work. The price of the copies doesn’t hurt the viewer’s hip pocket either. They can take your work and revisit it again later – at minimal cost to creator and viewer.

Making a photographic zine

Because we will be working on the computer, grab a template like the one below and open it in a new document in Photoshop. You can copy mine if you like. Open up a new document and paste the layout onto the page. How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

Carefully transpose each of your images to the corresponding page on the layout. Refer to your test dummy zine to visualize each page in the booklet. Remember, each image has to be orientated in the same way as the layout. Otherwise, you will end up with upside down images on your final zine.

For the cover of this zine, I’ve decided to use a joint image that spans over both the back and front page so that the pages will correspond.

Here is the final layout before I print my zine. I took the time to experiment before sending it off to the printer. Then, printed in a matter of seconds, I have my zine layout ready for folding!

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

Following through the folding instructions above, you’ll have your finished product! Now that you’ve made one, are you tempted to get started on a few more?

Here are a few examples of some recent zines I’ve made.

This little character is a blood mascot tasked with recruiting more blood donors in Japan. I took a photo of her one day, and it was so cute I upped the contrast and used her as the front cover of a zine.

To create this zine, I simply recycled an image I printed by mistake

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

I printed this photo which is a scan of an inky painting. I also added a blank white square to the back page section, for a little message to a reader.

How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine

To make this zine I incorporated a few film photographs I took one night. Film makes great material for zines. Note that there is a white strip in the layout, due to a film end. I decided to leave it in the design as a testament to the original image.

Conclusion

Zines are all about sharing art and creativity, founding trades and friendships across the world. Please share your photographic zines below, I would love to see them. Perhaps we could set up a trade!

The post How to Make and Fold a Little Photographic Zine by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Take Control of Color in Lightroom

27 Jan

Back when everybody used film cameras, photographers had to match the film type to their subject. For example, landscape photographers liked Fuji Velvia 50 because it produced deeply saturated slides. But portrait photographers liked films like Fuji Reala which rendered good skin tones. Today, as long as you use the Raw format, you can take the same approach in Lightroom.

It doesn’t matter what camera you have, Lightroom gives you a great deal of power when it comes to adjusting the colors of your photos. To give you an idea of Lightroom’s potential, take a look at the different versions of the photo below. The first is more or less straight out of the camera. I developed the others with customized Lightroom Develop Presets.

Color in Lightroom

Now let’s look at some of the tools Lightroom has for altering color.

Vibrance and Saturation

The Vibrance and Saturation sliders are located at the bottom of the Basic panel. They alter the intensity of the colors in the photo in different ways.

The Saturation slider changes the intensity level of all colors in the photo equally.
The Vibrance slider affects the most deeply saturated colors in the photo the most. It evens out the saturation levels and is a more subtle adjustment than Saturation.

I prefer to reduce Saturation and Vibrance rather than increase them as desaturated colors are more subtle and atmospheric than saturated ones. These photos illustrate the difference between Vibrance and Saturation.

Color in Lightroom

Camera profiles

Most digital cameras come with a set of color profiles. Every manufacturer gives their color profiles a different name. For instance, Canon uses Picture Style and Fujifilm uses Film Simulation. Check your camera’s user manual if you’re unsure. Regardless of your camera maker’s terminology, the color profiles all appear in the Camera Calibration panel in Lightroom.

Color profiles are the digital equivalent of the idea of using different films for different subjects. Most cameras have profile names like Landscape, Portrait, and Monochrome. The exception to this is Fujifilm, which names its profiles after real Fuji films, such as Velvia, Provia, and Astia. You’ll find most of these in Lightroom as well, ready for you to use.

The color profile setting is important as it sets both the color and contrast. You need to select the best profile before adjusting other Develop module sliders. For example, if you apply a preset intended for landscapes to a portrait then it’s unlikely you will get good skin tones.

This photo shows three different color profiles. I made the photo with a Fujifilm camera and the color profiles are specific to that model.

Color in Lightroom

HSL / Color / B&W panel

The HSL / Color / B&W panel contains a set of powerful tools for adjusting colors in Lightroom. The HSL and Color tabs both contain the same sliders, just arranged in a different order.

I prefer to use the HSL tab, so let’s look at that. It lets you adjust Hue, Saturation, and Luminance individually.

Color in Lightroom

Hue

The Hue sliders let you change the colors in your photos. The colors on the sliders (see above) tell you how they work. For example, if you move the Red slider to the left you will turn anything that is colored red in your photo to magenta. If you move the slider right then red colored objects become orange.

In the example below, you can see that I moved the Red, Aqua, and Blue sliders to change some of the hues (colors) in the photo.

Color in Lightroom

Saturation

The Saturation sliders let you change the intensity levels of the colors in your photo individually. This is different from the Saturation and Vibrance sliders, which change the color saturation levels across the entire frame.

The photo below shows how it works.

Color in Lightroom

Luminance

The Luminance sliders let you adjust the brightness levels of individual colors in your photos. In turn, this affects the apparent saturation. If you make a color darker (by moving the corresponding slider left) the color appears to be more deeply saturated. If you make it lighter (by moving the slider right) the color appears to be less saturated.

The example below shows it in action.

Color in Lightroom

Putting it all together

Now it’s time to look at how you can put these techniques into action. We’ll do that by looking at the portrait I showed you at the beginning of the article.

Here is the before version and one of the after versions.

Color in Lightroom

These are some of the settings I adjusted that affected the colors.

Camera profile

I set the Camera Profile to Adobe Standard. This is a standardized setting created by Adobe specifically for your camera. The idea is that if you take a photo of the same scene with two different cameras, then apply the Adobe Standard Profile to each one, the colors will look the same in each.

The benefit of using Adobe Standard is that it lets you create a Develop Preset that you can apply to photos made with any camera with consistent results. If you don’t want to do this, then you can use one of Lightroom’s camera specific profiles instead.

Color in Lightroom

Saturation

Next, I reduced the overall Saturation using the Vibrance slider.

Color in Lightroom

I reduced the Saturation of specific colors using the sliders in the HSL tab.

Color in Lightroom

Luminance

Then, I increased the brightness of some of the colors using the Luminance sliders.

Color in Lightroom

Tone Curve

Next, this isn’t related to the color, I made a Tone Curve adjustment to create the faded effect. The result of this Tone Curve Adjustment is that there are no true blacks in the photo.

Color in Lightroom

The techniques in this article don’t cover all the color adjustment tools in Lightroom as there are too many for one article. But these are the main ones and they will get you started. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions about any of them.

Faded Glory Presets for Lightroom

Want to get a head start with creative colors in Lightroom? Take a look at my Faded Glory Presets for Lightroom, created to help photographers like you apply powerful creative color fade effects to your photos.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – White on White

26 Jan

If it is still winter and is blustery and snowy, this one will be easy for you.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Your challenge is to photograph a white subject on a white background. The trick here is to use light to your advantage. Usually, with a white subject, you’ll want to create a high-key or all light toned image. But you don’t have to do so, get creative. Use some shadows and create a dramatic image.

Use directional light to add dimension and show the shape of the subject. You will need some shadows to separate the subject from the background. So let’s see what you can do.

Weekly Photography Challenge – White on White

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

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

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Tips for Using Your Wide-Angle Lens Better

26 Jan

One thing I see beginners make mistakes doing when they first get into photography is using a wide-angle lens. Many think it’s just for getting more stuff to fit into your image, but there’s a lot more to it than that.

Here are three videos to help you understand wide-angle lenses and use them better so you can create more dynamic and effective images.

#1 – 5 Reasons you need a wide-angle lens

First up is this video from DigitalRev TV. It’s a few years old now but the information is still good, and the tips are solid.

Kai can be a bit unorthodox, but the tips here are good. Here’s a quick summary:

Get closer
Push things away and pull other things near
Cool lines
Expand spaces
Reality distortion field (as he calls it)

#2 – How to use a wide-angle lens

In this video from Tom Greenwood, learn how using a wide-angle lens can help you tell a story and create a powerful connection between the subject and the viewer. Plus get tips on shooting wide angle portraits, action shots, and landscapes.

#3 – Three tips for using a wide-angle lens

Finally, three more tips for using a wide-angle lens from Matt Wallace in this video from Adorama TV. The one he emphasizes the most is to get close to the subject – that a wide-angle lens is for close-up photography. I personally could not agree more!

Make sure you have an obvious and predominant subject in your frame
Get closer to the subject
Use leading lines

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.– Robert Capa

Need more help?

If you still need more help and tips for using your wide-angle lens try these dPS articles:

How to Use a Wide-angle Lens with Wildlife for a New Perspective
10 Tips for Photographing Wide-Angle Landscapes
How to Create Compelling Wide-Angle Portraits Using One Off-Camera Flash
7 Ways to Get More Out of a Wide-angle Lens

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Tips for Doing Digital Painting with the Mixer Brush in Photoshop

26 Jan

If you have ever felt the need to be a bit more creative with your photos, then Photoshop contains a multitude of ways to make that happen. In fact, it offers such a variety of options it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out which one might be the right one for you in a given situation. In this article, I will go over a method of digital painting using Photoshop to give you one technique you can add to your toolbox.

Mostly you can get some great effects without having to purchase any other software or features, but those options are available and can extend your portfolio of choices.

Perhaps you might want to create a birthday card or give someone an extra special present. This digital painting technique is ideal for use on an image which is not 100% in focus. Everything else might be perfect but if it’s a tiny bit blurry, apply a painting technique and no one will notice.

Tips for Doing Digital Painting Techniques with Photoshop

NOTE: Please be advised I am using CS6 so things may be in different places if you are using the CC subscription model.

Mixer Brush

The Mixer Brush is a very effective way of getting a painted look for your image because you actually paint over your image in Photoshop. It can be quite fiddly and time-consuming but the end result can look really good. My recommendation would be to do this with a graphics tablet and a pen, otherwise, you will get a cramp in your hand from the mouse. Plus you have more control in areas of fine detail with a tablet.

Any image can be used, but because the mixer brush picks up colors from your image and adds paint texture, you need to keep that in mind. All the brush strokes will be visible so the direction in which you paint may affect the final visual outcome. It took me 2-3 goes before I finally got the hang of this, so stick with it.

STEPS

Step #1. Open your image, add a new layer and select that one as your active layer. You can delete this later if you need to without affecting the original image.

Step #2. The Mixer Brush is found on the toolbar, left mouse click on the Brush icon, it should be in the drop-down box.

Mixer Brush open, showing settings on Adjustment Tool Bar

Step #3. On the top toolbar, you can make adjustments to the settings. Set them up as follows (as a starting point):

The drop-down box set to Custom.
Wet: 100%.
Load: 1% (this sets the paint color load on the brush to a minimal setting).
Mix: 100% (this uses the color from the original file – Load and Mix work opposite each other that way).
Flow: 50% (medium pressure on the brush).
Airbrush set to OFF.
Sample All Layers must be ticked – this is important as it allows us to pick up the color from the original image.

NOTE – all these settings are adjustable depending on what works for you, so feel free to experiment.

Choose your brush, make sure you are working on the new layer, and begin to paint.

Tips

Start with the dark areas of the image first.
Use the textures in the image to help direct the flow of the brush strokes.
The paint is very wet and colors will mix and blend readily which can be used to your advantage where colors change in the image. It can be a bit tricky to get the hang of at first.
Adjust your Flow value to get harder or softer strokes.
You may want to use a layer mask to show fine details like eyes or whiskers after painting to bring back a bit of sharpness in those areas.
Adjust the brush size to suit the areas you are working in, fine detail needs a smaller brush, and larger areas may support bigger brush strokes (a bigger brush covers more area quicker which is an added bonus).
If the background is not ideal, you can also replace it with a painterly texture instead. This is a great treatment for when you have a really good shot but not the cleanest background. So do a background replacement, add the painting and it becomes artistic instead.

Image results using the Mixer Brush

Tips for Doing Digital Painting Techniques with Photoshop

Photo of a Jabiru bird, with digital painting done over the feathers.

This image of a Jabiru I quickly painted for this article. The lovely colors in the feathers, plus all the different directions they lay in made it a good choice for digital painting.

Tips for Doing Digital Painting Techniques with Photoshop - Jabiru bird

Original Jabiru image

This is the original photo for comparison. You can see how the feathers around the eyes are much smaller and finer and you can see the different directions in which the feathers lie. In the painted image where the rainbow colors are on the top of the head, it’s visible how they have blended in softly, even picking up the hints of gold in the purple feathers at the top.

Tips for Doing Digital Painting Techniques with Photoshop

When you view the digitally painted layer by itself, you can see all the brush strokes, plus the areas that might have been missed. This is a useful step to check and make sure you have enough coverage. Additionally, this layer can have its opacity adjusted down if you wanted to bring back some of the original feather detail.

I tend to adjust the flow down to around 30% and fill in the gaps. It can also help to soften the transitions in direction as well. Also useful for extra blending across areas where colors change.

My first experiment with using the Mixer Brush was this portrait of my cat Cognac. You will notice I have left the whiskers, eyelashes and fine hairs around his ears unpainted as I felt it looked better that way. I was careful to follow the flow of the fur so it looked natural and picked up the subtle color differences.

This was probably my third go at this technique – so be patient with yourself if you aren’t happy with the first one you try. Keep at it.

Summary

This technique isn’t complicated, is fully contained within Photoshop and requires only one extra layer. A graphics tablet will make it much more comfortable to do as it is a lot easier to use than a mouse. The thing you need most is time and a careful steady hand. With those things you can elevate your photo to a new creative level, perhaps print it out on canvas as a gift.

Have you tried this method of digital painting before? Please share your results in the comments below.

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6 Tips to Master Panning Photography

26 Jan

You must have seen those photos where the car or the motorcycle appears sharp and in focus whereas the background appears to be in motion with a blur effect. At first, you might have thought that it is a Photoshop trick or assumed it to be something only a professional sports photographer can achieve. Well, let me tell you it is called panning photography and this technique is easy to learn.

All you have to do is keep practicing this technique until you master the art of panning photography. To help you do so, I have listed six easy to understand tips that will help you capture perfect panning photos.

1 – Set your camera on Shutter Priority mode

Shutter Priority (Tv for Canon, S for Nikon and others).

The first thing that you have to do as you hold your camera to capture a panning photo is to set the camera mode to Shutter Priority. Panning photography is all about the correct choice of shutter speed – the aperture and ISO values do not play that major role here.

This mode allows you to adjust the shutter speed while the aperture and ISO values are taken care of by the camera and will vary depending on the lighting conditions.

2 – Choose a slow shutter speed

Shutter speed set to 1/30th of a second for panning.

As we discussed above, the most important exposure element of panning photography is the shutter speed. So in order to make the subject appear sharp and the background to appear in motion, you must allow the shutter to remain open for an adequate amount of time.

To capture perfect panning photos, the ideal shutter speed is anything between 1/30th of a second and 1/125th (the faster the subject is moving the faster the shutter speed needs to be). This range of shutter speed allows enough time for the camera to register movement in the photo, while keeping the subject in sharp focus.

3 – Use a tripod

6 Tips to Master Panning Photography

Clicking photos handheld at a slower shutter speed might introduce slight shake in your photos. To ensure that you capture sharp panning photos, mount your camera on a tripod or a monopod to minimize the camera shake during panning.

It is possible that while you are panning your camera along with the moving subject, you are also moving your body and that shall introduce a slight shake in your camera. Using a tripod or a monopod will minimize the upwards or downwards movement of the camera and will only allow the camera to pan side to side.

4 – Focus accurately

6 Tips to Master Panning Photography

As the subject is moving swiftly across your frame, so it is really important to lock the focus on the subject accurately. There are two ways you can do this in order to make the subject appear in sharp focus, whereas the background appears to be in motion.

Automatic focus technique: If you are just starting with panning photography or if you are not sure about the distance of the subject from the camera, always use the automatic focusing technique. To make sure that you focus on the subject accurately, switch on the continuous focus tracking mode (AF-C on Nikon, and AI Servo for Canon). This helps your camera to continuously focus on the subject as it moves across the frame.
Manual focus technique: If you are sure about the distance at which your subject will pass by, then the best method is to use a manual focus technique. Focus on the point where your subject will be beforehand and then switch the focusing mode to manual. This ensures you to click at a much faster rate as your lens will not be constantly hunting for the subject. Simply pan your camera along with the moving subject and click multiple photos, later choose the best among all.

NOTE: Remember to also set your camera to continuous or burst mode to shoot multiple images when the shutter is held down.

5 – Position yourself correctly

6 Tips to Master Panning Photography

Try and keep some distance between your camera and the moving subject in order to allow your camera enough space to swiftly lock the focus on the subject. If you position yourself too close to the moving subject, there are chances that your lens will fail to focus on the subject because of the distance being shorter than the minimum focusing distance. It’s also harder to keep the subject in the frame when it is really large (close up).

Panning photos look eye-catching when there is a contrast and there are at least two or more colors in the background. Imagine a background which lacks contrast and has only one color, it would hardly add any impact to your panning photo.

6 – Move along with the subject

6 Tips to Master Panning Photography

The whole idea of panning photography is to shoot a photo of a moving subject while panning your camera along with the subject. One thing you need to make sure is that the speed at which you are panning the camera should match with the speed at which the subject is passing by your frame. Follow the subject left to right (or vice versa) at the same speed and don’t stop when you get to the middle (follow-through like in golf).

One golden tip that I would like to share as per my experience is that press the shutter release button only when the subject is parallel to your camera. This will ensure that your subject is completely in focus and appears sharp, while you get to perfectly capture blur motion in the background.

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