Category: Photography

How to Tell a Story With Your Street Photography

Street photographs on the surface may seem like they are independent of one another and can only go so far at telling a story, unlike say photojournalism. In some cases, this can be true, but there actually is a lot of crossover between documentary and street photography. Your street photographs can certainly tell a story.

If you look at the individual books or even the entire bodies of work of photographers like Martin Parr, Trent Parke, Garry Winogrand, or Josef Koudelka, you can see that these photographers had a point of view. They were able to tell real stories with their photography.

How do you tell stories with street photography?

But how do you do this? If you are just starting out with street photography, you’re most likely focused on taking good shots and not on overarching themes. You never have to start trying to show comprehensive themes in your work, many great photographers don’t. But if you want to, plan on developing this over time.

The reality is that there is nothing more important than consistent time spent shooting. But while you are developing, here are some tips to help you get there.

*The photos used in this article are all part of a series called Luxury for Lease, which is about the disconnection, hyper-gentrification, conformity, and consumerism that has noticeably increased in New York since 9/11.

1. Create collections in Lightroom and group your images based on ideas and themes

When you’re out shooting you want a clear head. Be open to whatever happens, so you give yourself the best chance to get lucky. Sometimes, if you’re too focused on one thing, you will miss everything else around you.

But during the editing phase is when you can really start to figure out what you are shooting. This is where you can develop your voice. Look through your photos, choose your favorites, and start to put them together. Pick out your images that seem to have some similarities in content, tone, or look.

They don’t have to perfectly relate, just in some way. Brainstorm, try a lot of things, and just have fun with it.

I use Collections in Lightroom to do this. Collections allow you to put images into a folder without moving them physically on your hard drive. It is a great way to build portfolios of your work and to build and change around stories and ideas.

Over time, these stories will develop. Sometimes they will turn into nothing and you will scrap them, but other times they will morph. Sometimes the seed will develop into a fully formed idea over years of shooting, and the end result will be something that you couldn’t have imagined at the beginning.

That’s the fun part, and it will help you to think critically while you are out shooting. It will add a new layer to your abilities as you are photographing since you will begin to notice things that will fit into your projects.

2. Study the work of other photographers

I can’t state the importance of this enough. It is hard to truly fathom the power of this type of photography unless you look at the work of photographers who have lived it for decades. Sometimes seeing what others have been able to do, particularly when looking at how diverse the ideas and styles are, will help you to form your own ideas. You may pick a characteristic from one photographer and a different attribute from another photographer and blend them both into your style.

Some photographers that I recommend you look up for street photography are; Robert Frank, Martin Parr, Trent Parke, Garry Winogrand, Josef Koudelka, William Eggleston, Todd Hido, and Daido Moriyama. Although, there are so many others that I could have mentioned here.

3. Go to the same areas consistently to shoot

I like to think about style as consistency in what you shoot versus just how those photographs look. Yes, there is a large element of how your photos look that go into your style, but it’s more than that. It’s about the feeling behind the images.

By repeatedly shooting in the same areas, you will allow this consistency to rise to the surface. You will begin to understand the place better and give yourself more time to come across the right images. Most likely you will know the area well since you can only really photograph consistently in places that are close to where you live – so you will have a nuanced understanding of the place already.

Try to show a feeling for what the area is like under the surface. Capture the feeling of being there. Is it happy or sad, are there fun aspects or stressful characteristics? What makes the area interesting (or not interesting)? There is so much you can do with this.

4. Capture emotions and gestures

This is street photography 101, but you can portray so many ideas and feelings based on the expressions on people’s faces or the gestures in their bodies. When putting together a cohesive body of work, this will be a way to add some powerful emotion to push a story forward. Try to understand what people are feeling and attempt to capture them as they show those feelings.

5. Look for images with something going on beneath the surface

This is a tip that is hard to explain exactly how to do. Look for images where there is something going on beneath the surface. What that is you don’t exactly have to answer – it could be left for the viewer to decide.

These images will begin to show themselves more often as you start following the other tips in this article. In addition, the more you photograph in the same place and start to understand the place, the more these images will begin to pop out.

6. Think about yourself

There are some photographers who show something about themselves in their images. This feeling makes their work that much more powerful. Happy photographers often take happy images, depressed photographers often take depressed images. Some photographers who seem happy on the surface, use their photography to express emotions that they are holding inside. Think about what emotions you are feeling and use them. The more you know yourself, the more you can let that shine through.

Josef Koudelka is one example – he grew up behind a wall so to speak during the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968. He eventually got out, became a stateless person, wandering and traveling, and he spent much of his life photographing travelers. He has also been working on an ongoing project on the Israeli-Palestinian Walls and on the bleak landscapes that have been influenced by contemporary man. He grew up behind a wall and he was drawn to photographing walls. You can see in his images, even in random places and at random times, that the subjects he was drawn to were the ones that showed his inner feelings.

Putting it all together

This may all seem difficult to do, particularly if photography is your hobby. Don’t get me wrong, it is hard. But if you photograph frequently enough and think about all of this, you can really see your work transform in just a few years. The more you are in tune with it, the faster it should come, and it is very enjoyable to see.

So go out and keep shooting!

If you’d like to learn more about Street Photography, then please check out my ebook The Essentials of Street Photography.

The post How to Tell a Story With Your Street Photography by James Maher appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 26, 2017
Lighting 103: Greg’s Assignment: Results

Reporting in from our last assignment, in which you were asked to shoot a portrait in three different ways: clean white light, warm/cool light, and warm/cool light with the shadows muddied up with a little green. I did this one along with you—twice—and learned a lot in the process.

Which brings up a valuable point. You can read about this stuff all you want. But until you actually get off your ass and do it, you're not going to learn it.

In other words, learning to use color in your lighting is just like anything else. Read more »
Strobist

June 23, 2017
7 Tips for Finding Inspiration When You’re Stuck

Artists are funny creatures and many of us struggle with creativity. Working out what we want to do, how to stand apart from others. What is really needed is to find your muse, or in other words, finding inspiration.

It is a rare artist that doesn’t need inspiration to work. For the rest of us, we need help and we need to find what will inspire us to create our work.

One of my very first responses to the environment, the idea of cities becoming unlivable and animals taking them over.

1 – Movies and television

Movies are just moving images and they can provide a lot of inspiration. Think about the locations where they are shot. You can find new places in the world to take photos. Through films like Lord of the Rings, I have decided that I want to travel to other places and see them.

Look at the way they are filmed and processed. The angles they use can give you great ideas, but sometimes the processing is even better. Pay attention to what they do in the films and how color is used, and what special effects are done.

The Matrix has been a great inspiration to me and how they used color in the films. When they are in the Matrix it is different than when they are out of it. You can see that there is a lot of yellow in the highlights, while they have put blue and green into the shadows. In the other parts, there is almost no color at all. With a film like this, you don’t have to like the story to find inspiration, it is about the special effects. See what you can learn, and use in your own work.

Television shows can be just as inspirational and often it will be the least likely place that helps you. Recently I was watching, don’t judge me, Project Runway. My mind was racing after watching several series. The way they had to come up with a concept, work out how to do it, design and construct it, then finally present it. It was amazing, and throughout watching it, I started thinking about my own work. For the first time in ages, I find myself feeling incredibly inspired to do new work.

Dark lanes, creepy shadows, almost no color, were all inspiration from movies that have shown up in my photography.

2 – Fine Art

Painters from the past really were early image manipulators and we can learn a lot from looking at what they did. Look at the colors in their paintings and how they used them to emphasise what they saw in the scene. Find out what methods they used to add drama to their images, along with the lighting.

It doesn’t have to be just painters from the past, you can also look at modern ones as well. But also look at what other artists are doing, printmakers, drawers, and sculptors. They are potentially good sources of inspiration. It may not be specifically the work they are doing, but their motivations for doing what they do. If you find out why they work it may give you clarification for your own.

It is so important to find artists whose work you love and read about them. Make it your mission to find out where they get inspiration, why they do what they do. You don’t want to copy them, but you can get something from them. Often if there is an artist that I love I will look at their work, decide what aspect of it I like, then go away and start my own.

Painter Edward Hopper has been a big influence on my work. I think what he paints is incredible and while my work is nothing like his, what I get from his work is the sense of drama. It is like he is creating scenes everywhere. He puts people in his paintings, which I never do, but I do like to imitate that sense of drama.

Like movies, paintings can control the light and create moody images.

3 – World Events and History

There is a wealth of information available on what has happened in the past and is occurring now. Watching what is happening in the present can give you a lot of inspiration. You will find many artists who have used politics and world events to get ideas for expressing themselves. It is often their way of responding to what is going on around them. They will use their art to lend their voice to what is happening.

There are many artists that do this and one that I thought of first was an Australian artist, George Gittoes. His work is really raw and quite confronting, but he has created it in response to what he had seen in many war torn countries. That may not be what you are interested in doing, but he is inspirational in that he isn’t afraid to show the devastation that has happened in the places he has visited.

This website showcases The 50 Most Political Art Pieces of the Past 15 Years.

II created this image was in response to the world changing and how they want to put a freeway through this area.

4 – What happens in your day to day and memories

It can sound a little weird, but what you do every day can be very important in finding your muse. The trick is to be observant. Look to see what you can observe and what you could use in your work. It could be the area you live in, the architecture, you just never know until you look around.

I was going over a bridge once and one of the people I was with looked at me and said, “You’re trying to work out how to photograph that aren’t you?” She was right, that is exactly what I was thinking about. For me Melbourne is most definitely my muse. It is the base, my blank canvas for everything I want to do.

The bridge where I was trying to work out how to do a shot in my head. This is what I ended up creating.

5 – Environment

The environment can be more than just what you see around you. As many in the world become more concerned with what is happening environmentally, it can be political, but it doesn’t always have to be. You can help highlight what is happening in various places by photographing them.

You see a lot of photographers that photograph abandoned places. The images can show you how much a place deteriorates once no one is using them, or they can be a reflection on our society and how everything is changing.

The environment and the impact of coal on it is a big reason to photograph power stations. They look amazing, but they are destroying the world we live in.

6 – Social Media and Instagram

There are so many platforms for social media and they are all flooded with images. One in particular that shows a lot is Instagram. You can find images there that cover so many topics. You can pick the ones you are interested in and follow them. They will give you ideas and fill your head with inspiring images. There are many other sites that will do that, but being able to just flick or scroll through them quickly on Instagram is amazing.

You can look for images that have certain appeal by searching certain hashtags. For example, you could look for #moody, #environment, or even #inspiration.

I find it really inspiring, perhaps not for my fine art work, but as a location finder it can be brilliant. I’ve discovered a lot of places in Melbourne while scrolling through hashtags in Instagram.

A few months back someone had an amazing shot of Flinders Street Station at sunset, and I was inspired to see if I could do something similar. Mine isn’t the same, but I still got something interesting.

7 – Peers

There is nothing more satisfying than having a group of like-minded peers that you can talk to and go out and take photos with. Having people in your circle who have the same passion and understand what you are trying to achieve is really important. People think that artists have to work on their own, and perhaps for the most part they do, but peers are essential.

When I was studying I was surrounded by people that I could discuss ideas with and get inspiration. When I left school it was hard to get that same interaction and is something that I have really missed. Slowly over the years, I’ve found new people to hang out with. We go out and take photos together, discuss our plans and ideas, and help one another.

Another aspect of hanging out with peers is watching how they create their own work and what drives them. While you shouldn’t copy them (if you do you may find you are no longer one of their peers) you can watch and learn. See if there is anything they do that could help you with your own work.

I went to Craig’s Hut with a friend and we both got a very similar shot. I saw her processed image and it inspired me to do mine. In the end mine looked completely different, but that’s okay.

In the end

These are all tips that have helped me to get to where I am in my art practice. There is no reason why they can’t help you as well. Opening yourself up to finding inspiration around you can help you create some amazing images.

Where do you find your inspiration? Has something inspired you so much that you went on to do some amazing work? Please share with us what your inspirations are, from this list or from your own.

The post 7 Tips for Finding Inspiration When You’re Stuck by Leanne Cole appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 23, 2017
How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed
Are you running out of space on your hard drive? If you’re both a prolific photographer and a Lightroom user the answer may be yes. A hard drive that’s close to being full is bad news because it slows down Lightroom and just about every other application that you use on your computer. So how can you boost your Lightroom performance and make your computer run faster?

Luckily, there are ways to both minimize the amount of hard drive space Lightroom uses and to free up some space that is being used unproductively. As a result, Lightroom will run faster, as well as your entire computer usually.

So, how much spare hard drive space is required for Lightroom?

Ideally, you need at least 20% of your hard drive space to be free. If you have a 1TB drive, that means you should aim to keep at least 200GB free. If you have a smaller drive, such as the 256GB solid state drive I have on my iMac, then you need less. In my case, I need to keep at least 50GB free to keep Lightroom happy.

So, here are some tips to help improve Lightroom performance:

1. Store all your photos on an external hard drive

This has nothing to do with Lightroom per se, but it’s important because your photos are likely to take up a lot of hard drive space (especially if you shoot in Raw). The best approach is to use a separate hard drive for your photos, either an external drive or another internal drive added to your computer (if this is possible on your machine).

For example, my Raw photos take up 1.96TB of hard drive space. I keep them on a 3TB external hard drive like the one shown below.

It’s important that the hard drive on which your photos are saved also has at least 20% of its space free. Otherwise, it might slow Lightroom down as well.

It’s good practice to use the external drive for photos and Lightroom catalog backups and nothing else. That means it won’t get cluttered up with other files. It’s easier to backup to other hard drives.

2. Save fewer LR catalog backups

It’s important to backup your Lightroom catalog regularly in case it becomes corrupted or the hard drive it is saved on fails.

Many photographers recommend that you set up Lightroom to backup the catalog every time you exit the program. The only problem is that the hard drive space occupied by those catalog backups can soon add up to a considerable amount.

It’s less of an issue in Lightroom 6 and Lightroom CC, which compress the backup catalogs than it is with older versions of Lightroom. But even compressed backups take up a lot of hard drive space. For example, my backup folder currently has six backups in it and is 2.94GB in size.

There are two steps to take to minimize this problem:

1. Save catalog backups on an external hard drive. The same one you use to store your photos is ideal.

Each time you quit Lightroom the Back Up Catalog window appears. Click the Choose button to select the folder where you want it to save the Catalog backups. NOTE: this is the only time this option appears!

Also worth noting is that you want to save your backups on an external drive anyway because if your main hard drive crashes, both your main catalog and all the backups are gone. That is not good and defeats the purpose of having backups.

2. Delete old backups. You don’t need to keep anything older than the two most recent catalog backups.

I deleted my four oldest backups and freed up nearly 2GB of hard drive space. It may not sound like much if you have a 1TB or larger hard drive, but it does make a difference on a 250 GB solid state drive.

It may be tempting to move your catalog to an external drive, but this will slow Lightroom down. It’s best to keep the working catalog on your internal hard drive.

3. Keep an eye on the Preview Cache

If you go to Lightroom > Catalog Settings (Mac) Edit > Catalog Settings (PC) and click on File Handling you will see something like this.

Lightroom gives you a lot of useful information about how it uses hard drive space here. First, it tells you the size of your Preview Cache. This is where Lightroom stores all the previews it builds which enable you to view your photos in the Library module.

As you can see, my Preview Cache is currently 36GB, which is a large chunk of a 250GB hard drive. It’s less of an issue if you have a bigger hard drive.

If your Preview Cache is too large, there are some tips for reducing its size in the next two sections.

4. Regularly delete 1:1 Previews

Of all the Library module previews Lightroom uses the 1:1 Previews take up the most space. But they are essential for zooming into your photos at 100%, which is why many photographers build them.

You can manage 1:1 Previews by setting Automatically Discard 1:1 previews to After 30 Days. You can also set it to After One Week or After One Day. Just pick the one that works best for you. Avoid the Never option, otherwise, your Preview Cache will grow out of control.

Set your File Handling Preferences in the Catalog Settings to automatically delete 1:1 Previews after 30 days.

There’s another way to delete 1:1 previews:

1. Go to the Catalog panel in the Library module and click on All Photographs.

2. Go to Edit > Select All (or click CMD/CTRL+A for the keyboard shortcut).

3. Go to Library > Previews > Discard 1:1 Previews (click the Discard option in the next window).

There are a couple of things you should be aware of, though:
- Lightroom doesn’t delete the 1:1 previews from the Preview Cache right away. There is a delay, so in case you change your mind you can use the Undo function. You may have to wait a day or so to see the benefit.
- Lightroom only deletes 1:1 previews that are at least double the size of your Standard previews.
5. Build Standard Previews that aren’t too large

You can set the Standard preview size in your Catalog Settings as well. If you select Auto Lightroom sets the smallest size required for your monitor resolution. You can also set Preview Quality to Medium or Low to reduce the space the previews take up.

6. Build fewer or dump Smart Previews

The Catalog Settings also show you the amount of space occupied by Smart Previews. If that is too large, you can delete them.
1. Go to the Catalog panel in the Library module and click on All Photographs.
2. Go to Edit > Select All.
3. Go to Library > Previews > Discard Smart Previews (click the Discard option in the next window).
7. Regularly dump the Camera Raw Cache

Lightroom creates more previews to use in the Develop module when you process your photos. These previews are saved in the Camera Raw Cache.

You can set the maximum size of that cache by going to File Handling in Preferences. The larger the number you set the more hard drive Lightroom’s Develop module previews will potentially take up. But, Lightroom may run slower if you set it too low – so you need to find a balance between too big and too slow. Try around 20GB to start with and see how you go.

You can delete the Develop module previews by clicking the Purge Cache button. It’s probably a good idea to do this every now and then to free up hard drive space. The last time I did it I gained over 20GB of space (see below).

If you edit or view video files in Lightroom you can also gain space by purging the Video Cache (below).

Conclusion

Lightroom is essential for most photographers but it can use up a lot of hard drive space. The tips in this article let you take back control of your hard drive. Any questions? Let me know in the comments below.

If you’d like to learn more about Lightroom, then please check out my popular Mastering Lightroom e-books.

The post How to Boost your Lightroom Performance and Improve Speed by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 22, 2017
How to Create and Shoot Night Portraits

If you limit your portrait photography to daylight, you’re missing out on a chance to get some really cool people photos. Whether you just want something better from your camera automatically, or you want complete control of the light in the scene, there’s something in this article for you. Read on to get some tips to help you create and shoot night portraits.

Get off Automatic Mode

If you’re using your camera in Automatic mode, you’ll find one of two things will happen. With the flash off, you get a really blurry photo because the camera needs a longer exposure time at night. Or with the flash turned on, the camera restricts the shutter speed and while your subject is well lit by the flash (but is flatly lit), the background has gone black. It’s a lose-lose situation, especially if you want to mix a photo of your subject with a cool background.

With Auto Flash, the background gets rendered quite dark, and even fully black later in the night.

Night Scene Mode

Fortunately, most cameras have a set of helpful scene modes. On the command dial, there are modes like M for Manual and P for Program (or professional as some of my buddies like to joke). But you’ll also find a series of picture icons, like a mountain or a sprinter. The one you want here is the Night Scene mode (you may have to go into your menu to find it). It usually has the moon or a star with a person. This mode allows for a longer exposure, but your flash fires as well.

Night scene mode.

Set the mode and remember that because you’ll have a longer exposure, you need to hold the camera steady. Your flash will freeze the subject, but they need to stay still for the shot as well, to avoid going transparent. You’re not shooting ghosts here! Sometimes this mode will be called Slow Synchro instead of Night Scene Mode.

Slow Synchro/Night Scene mode exposes for both the flash and the background, although it can result in image blur from camera shake.

Moving to Manual

When I shoot nightclub portraits, I’m emulating this mode, but I have the camera set for Manual control. I use an aperture and shutter speed on the camera so the background scene looks good, maybe a little under exposed, then I use an automatic flash on-camera to capture my portrait.

A nightclub shot taken with the camera set to Manual mode, with exposure set to expose for the background. A mix of high ISO and a large aperture helped prevent camera shake. The flash was in TTL mode, setting flash exposure was set automatically.

Let’s look at how you can take even more control now. As you probably tell from how Night Scene mode works, you’re effectively taking two shots in one picture. The first is of your subject, the second is of the background.

Lighting the Subject

For complete control of light on your subject, you need to use a light that’s off-camera. This doesn’t have to be a flash. In fact, it can even be a street light, something we can touch on later in the article. It can also be a continuous light that you’ve brought with you, like an LED or video light. But before this, we’ll look at using flash.

To get your flash off-camera, you need a trigger to fire it. If you have a flash like the Godox V850II, it has a receiver built-in, so you just need a trigger like the XT-16 or the X1. The same applies to the Cactus RF60X flash paired with the V6II trigger. You’ll also need a light stand or someone to hold the flash and aim it for you. To get an idea of where you can point the flash to achieve great lighting, check out my article on lighting positions. If you want to control the look of the light, have a look at this article 4 Value Speedlight Modifiers that Won’t Break the Bank.

The Background

The background just needs a longer exposure to render on the sensor. If you want to avoid blurring your background, use a tripod. Even with a tripod, you can opt to use a higher ISO to make the shutter speed shorter.

This shot was in Manual mode, and the exposure was set for the background. The off-camera flash was set to manual and was dialed up or down as needed to suit the exposure for the background.

Getting the shot

The first step you need to make is how much of the shot you want in focus. A wide aperture like f2/.8 means the background will go out of focus, but you can use a shorter shutter speed to expose the background. When using flash, the shutter speed isn’t important for the subject, so you should get the subject flash exposure right first.

Set your aperture and your ISO first, 400-800 should be fine. If you’ve got a prime lens, you can even try wider aperture’s which will give a creamy out of focus background. The shutter speed can be anything below 1/200th (or your camera’s sync speed, which will be in your camera manual). Tip: If you can’t focus properly, use your phone flashlight to illuminate the face enough to focus, then switch the lens to manual focus.

Aim your flash at the subject at a low power like 1/32 or 1/16. Take a shot and check it. Firstly, if the subject is too bright, turn the flash power down. Alternatively, if they’re too dark, turn it up. Finally, if it’s still too bright at the lowest flash setting, move the flash further away from the subject.

This image was shot at 1/250th, which is the sync speed of the camera. Flash power is tied to the aperture below the sync speed of the camera, so you can safely open up the shutter speed to add more light in the background.

With that working, you probably have a black background, like the image above. Have no fear, you’re only halfway there. Next, bring your shutter speed down. If you’ve got live view on your camera, use it. Make sure it’s set to Exposure Simulation or Preview Mode On. As you lower the shutter speed (make it slower), you’ll see more and more of the background. When you’re happy with how the background looks, you’re ready to shoot.

This lighter image was shot at 1/30th. Notice that the flash exposure on the subject is the same in both pictures. Both shots are at ISO 1600 and f/4.0. As a final note, the subject was completely dark, so to focus I had him use his phone to light his face. I used autofocus to lock focus, then switched to manual and indicated he should stay still.

If your shutter speed is really slow, like 1/15th of a second or below, encourage your subject to stay still so they aren’t blurred in the image.

Background Ideas

Your background can be an interesting building, a bridge or even just a street. For a really cool look, find somewhere with loads of lights. By using a really shallow aperture these look fantastic out of focus.

Bokeh background

Using Continuous Light

If you bring a something to light your subject other than a flash, there’s a different juggling act that needs to happen. First, you’ll probably need a higher ISO. For these shots, set your background exposure first and then introduce the light on the subject.

In the image below I brought in a $ 35 Godox LED video panel. The panel has both brightness and white balance controls from Tungsten to Daylight. It gives a nice soft quality of light and looks natural. Even better is that what you see in the viewfinder is what you’ll get when you shoot, not like flash, where you’re always guessing.

Using an LED panel instead of a flash can be a great option. You can see the shot in the viewfinder and focus easily.

If your light doesn’t have a brightness control, you can move it closer or away from your subject to change the intensity on the subject instead. This applies to using a street light as well. If your subject is bright compared to the background, move them further away from the light to get a better balance.

Street lights can also be used for night portraits.

For this shot, I used a street light across the road as my key light. I moved my subject until I could see a triangle of light on the side of the face opposite the light. A slight tilt of the head helped as well. I chose this spot so I had the railway bridge and cars in the distance out of focus, but the background still retained interest.

Shooting with Style

To go the whole hog, you could get someone to do hair and makeup, as well as getting really stylish clothes to make the shot look even better. You can just use friends and clothes borrowed their wardrobe, but it makes it look properly professional.

Here’s a selection of night portraits that I’ve done and details about how they were made.

The band, Drown, photographed for The Thin Air Magazine. Here I used the Godox AD360 with a 120cm Octa box off to camera right. This post-sunset scene was exposed to capture a good exposure for the clouds, then the flash was set to expose the band correctly. Without flash, the band would have been silhouetted

This photo doesn’t contain a background, but I wanted to create the feel of a busy road. I used two bare-bulb speed lights to give the effect of passing cars lighting from the front and back. In reality, we were on an empty road with no traffic. The backlight was positioned as both a rim light and to add flare.

I’ve been doing a series of portraits with a red tulle skirt, so it’s appropriate that I include them here. This was shot using a speed light and a 120cm Octa box. The light was off to camera left to create a loop lighting pattern. I’ve balanced the flash and ambient light to get this exposure. There is a mistake in it though. I really should have used a CTO gel (Color Temperature Orange), or at least a half CTO gel to warm up the color of the flash a little. The flash can look quite blue when shot against tungsten lighting, especially the sodium vapor lights in the background here.

Get out there and try some night portraits

Nothing here will make any difference if you don’t get out there. If you’ve got no gear, you should start with a battery powered LED work light or even one of the Godox LEDP 120C panels (make sure you get a battery as well). Get your camera off automatic too, and give yourself more control!

The post How to Create and Shoot Night Portraits by Sean McCormack appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 22, 2017
Should You Switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo?

If you are considering the switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo, you might wonder how it will affect your photo editing workflow. And how will just a tiny loss in features (for a big drop in price) affect your options for photo editing? Keep on reading to find out how your workflow will change, what you will miss and what Continue Reading

The post Should You Switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo? appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

June 22, 2017
Water Splash Photography Made Easy
How exciting is it to freeze things in action? High-speed photography and water make the perfect recipe to get stunning images – and creating them is incredibly fun and easy too! Here are some tips for doing your own water splash photography.

What will you need to do splash photography?

You will definitely need an assistant. He/she will make your life much easier. It’s true that you can do everything by yourself but it’s way more productive if you have some help, a person who can throw the objects into the water, get them out and then throw them again. And again. And again.
- Next you want a glass aquarium with a minimum size of 24x12x16”, preferably made of transparent glass.
- Set up a table covered in black fabric.
- Use a black background (paper or textile) standing at a minimum of six feet away from the aquarium.
Setup

Fill the aquarium with tap water, half or 2/3 full, depending on how deep you prefer the subjects to fall. Please keep in mind that if you fill the tank too high, every splash will probably result in water spilling. Please be careful with both flashes and your camera, when working with water.

Gear

Any decent camera will be okay, but to obtain better quality you would probably like to use a crop-sensor or full-frame DSLR – or a mirrorless camera, with a good lens. Shooting from a distance, I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 200mm in order to obtain as much depth of field as I could.

As subjects you can use anything you like. I personally prefer fruits and vegetables because they vary in size, shape, and color.

Always use a tripod for your camera. Set the camera at a position where you have the desired framing of the aquarium, leaving enough space up, down and on both sides to capture most of the splashes. After you have positioned the camera, set the focus manually.

Focusing

For this step, ask your assistant to hold the subject in the water approximately where you want to make the splashes happen. Leave the camera on manual focus (or use back button focus). This way, the camera won’t need to refocus every time you make a picture, and you’ll know that the subject will be in focus every time the object is thrown into the same location.

Freezing the water splash

You have to know that freezing the motion (in this case) is done by the flash and not by the camera. Here’s a little bit of theory to explain this.

You have probably already made pictures where you stopped a human or an animal in motion. You’ve achieved that result by using a really quick shutter speed, somewhere between 1/4000th or 1/8000th of a second. But in the studio, where you use flashes or strobes, things change.

Your camera has to be in sync with the flashes (sync speed) and in most cases, this results in a shutter speed of 1/125th – 1/200th which is way too slow to freeze fast action. Luckily, there is this magic word called “flash duration”. This is the short period of time when the flash emits light which, if short enough, gives you the freezing effect you wanted.

You can use hot shoe flashes (speedlights) as they generally have pretty short flash duration, but only at very reduced power settings of 1/32 or 1/64 of full power. That results in low light, but you can compensate for that by increasing the ISO and opening the aperture.

The other option I prefer is using strobes with short flash durations. Most manufacturers make the flash duration of their strobes public information and the power at which you get the shortest flash duration. For the pictures of this article, I used Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 500 strobes, which have the shortest flash duration – 1/4000th of a second – at power 3.1.

Setting up the flash and camera

For your water splash setup, you will need two flashes, one on each side of the aquarium, aimed directly at your subject. I prefer to use light shapers which restrict the light to hit only the subject, so it doesn’t spill all over the scene, thus avoiding unwanted reflections and highlights.

For this shoot, my camera settings were ISO 100, 200mm, f/16, at 1/125th of a second.

Taking the pictures

This is the fun part! If you an assistant you’ll have to synchronize your movements. As he drops the objects in the water you’ll need to capture the perfect moments. In practice, this means that you will count to three, after which he’ll drop the object while you press the shutter release and pray to get the moment just right!

I sincerely suggest you repeat these four steps for a few hours. I prefer to set my camera to continuous or burst mode (my flashes recycle very fast) and record three or four pictures per drop. That way I increase the probability of capturing the subject and the splash of the water.

Some quick tips:
- Use subjects with vivid color, this way you will have good separation of the subject from the black background and the white/blueish splash. This makes your pictures really pop.
- If you photograph small subjects, try to use a minimum of 6-10 pieces at once.
- Try to combine subjects of different sizes, colors, and shapes.
- The heavier the subject, the faster it will fall, making it harder to capture at the right moment. So take that into consideration.
- To get larger splashes, use subjects with a larger surface are, or let them fall from a higher position.
- Wash the fruits and vegetables well before you use them, this way you can keep the water cleaner for a longer period of time.
- If the water starts becoming dirty, change it. It’s pretty unpleasant as the tank is heavy and you’ll have to do that a couple of times. But the good news is that by doing so, you’ll have to work less in the post-processing phase, while also getting sharper, more cleaner images.
- Frequently clean the front glass of the tank to get rid of the water drops that tend to accumulate on it.
Post-processing tips

This part is crucial! Despite all the efforts you have made to capture the perfect splash, the raw images you’ll get will definitely still need a little bit of polishing and processing.

Raw unprocessed image.

I only use Lightroom and Photoshop for post-processing, but you can achieve the desired effects in any preferred image processing application.

Clean up the water

After you’ve selected the image you want to retouch, you’ll first need to clean the water. I suggest that you use the Adjustments Brush, with Blacks set to -100. Apply this brush everywhere on the image except the subjects (that would make the subject too dark).

Adjustment Brush settings to apply to the water.

You can use the brush even on the splash itself, because this will make it cleaner and sharper, but be careful not to over do it because you can lose some details on the splash.

After the Adjustment Brush has been applied.

Final touches

Now open the image in Photoshop, create a new empty layer, select the brush color black, and start painting the new layer black. Be careful near the subjects, to avoid painting them also. This way you can achieve a clean black background around the subject. You can even paint away small drops of water that you consider unnecessary. Try to preserve a little bit of the surface of the water though.

If you like the painting you applied, it’s time to add sharpness to the image using the Unsharp mask at the level of your taste. You can also add some contrast or saturation depending on the final look you want to get.

Your turn

Are you ready to give water splash photography a try? Here’s another dPS article that can give you some more splash tips, How to do Creative Water Splash Photography with Off-Camera Flash.

If you have any questions please post them in the comments section below, and also share your images so we can see your results.

Bio

Stefan Mogyorosi is a photographer based in Oradea, Romania. He works mostly on commercial projects for the beauty industry, but also likes to do personal projects photographing still life, macro, fashion, portraits, or glamour. Experimenting with freezing motion and working with liquids are his top priorities right now.

Personal page – http://www.mogyorosistefan.ro
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/mogyorosistefanphotography/
Instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/mogyorosistefan/

The post Water Splash Photography Made Easy by Stefan Mogyorosi appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 22, 2017
Quick Review of the Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art Lens

In this quick review of the Sigma 135mm f1.8 Art Lens, I will go over some of its features and give you my overall impression of this lens.

Photographers like gear

I belong to several photography groups, both online as well as within my local area, and often times when we meet, we end up talking about our gear. Conversations typically revolve around the gear we have, what we would like to have, and what we want to sell off. On several occasions, I have heard my fellow photographers talk about the Sigma Art series of lenses. They always start the conversation with, “Oh, I absolutely love my Sigma Art lens. The bokeh is so dreamy!” Now, I am a Canon shooter – always have been and always will be. But that does not mean that every once in a while, I don’t like to test out gear from other companies to compare performance, specifications, and price.

The Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art Lens comes with a case and a lens hood.

So when I had the opportunity to test out the Sigma 135mm 1.8 DG HSM Art lens, I jumped at the chance. I spent about three weeks with this lens and used it for a variety of photography assignments – both indoors and outdoors. Here is my review based on my personal experiences with this lens.

Technical Specifications

As per Sigma’s website, the Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art is a medium range telephoto prime lens designed for modern high-megapixel DSLRs. A new large Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) delivers ample torque to the focusing group for outstanding speed, ensuring exceptionally stable performance even at lower speeds. This state-of-the-art prime lens touts a dust and splash proof mount for guaranteed performance in any condition and its large 1.8 aperture allows for more creative control over imagery.

The Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art Lens attached to my Canon 1V film camera.

My telephoto lens of choice is my Canon EF 70-200L lens. It’s heavy and bulky but gives me some of the best picture quality in its class. Compared to that lens, the 135mm felt lightweight and comfortable to carry around all day. Being a fixed lens, there are no moving parts, unlike the zoom ring on the 70-200mm. While this meant that I had to move around to get shots at various distances, it was not an inconvenience. I just used pretended to have a zoom lens by moving my feet!

The lens looks very sharp and clean. The smooth matte black finish of the lens gives it a certain visual appeal. The build quality is very clean and it feels like a solid piece of glass. The lens is a little heavy (at about 2.56 pounds or 1.2 kg) but if you are used to walking around with other telephoto lenses, it’s not any different compared to using those.

Sharpness of the Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art Lens

The legendary quality of having the dreamiest bokeh is very true with this lens. It is super sharp even when shooting absolutely wide open. I typically shoot very wide opened with all my Canon L-lenses which fits my style of photography. The aperture of f/2.0 is my personal sweet spot – the one that I really trust to give me a shallow depth of field and dreamy bokeh (blurry background). This lens did not disappoint at my favorite f-stop.

But even at f/1.8 (the widest aperture on the Sigma 135mm), the lens was tack sharp with very shallow depth of field. Once it was stopped down to f/16, there was some softness on the edges of the frame but it’s not very prominent. With a lens of this quality, the best aperture would be between f/1.8 to f/4 (in my opinion) to get the best of the shallow depth of field and bokeh that we all love.

Shot at ISO 200, f/1.8 – wide open – look at that dreamy bokeh.

ISO 200 at f/2.0

ISO 200 at f/9 – more of the entire scene is clear and visible – with a wider (deeper) depth of field here.

Vignetting

The Sigma 135mm at f/1.8 Art Lens showed slight edge vignetting when shot wide open. But for my style of photography, it’s minimal and nothing I could not fix in post-processing. I was very impressed with the number of tack sharp images that I could keep even when I used the lens completely wide open at f/1.8.

The image above left was shot at ISO 200, f/2.0 and on the right, the same scene was shot at ISO 200, f/9. There is no visible softness or vignetting at either aperture. The bokeh at f/2.0 is so dreamy (shallow depth of field) and at f/9 more of the background is visible.

Autofocus

The Sigma 135mm has an electronic hypersonic motor. This makes the autofocus very fast and smooth. I found that the lens locked focus easily and did not hunt while focusing. The AF motor was also relatively quiet and smooth as compared to other telephoto lenses like the Canon 85mm f/1.2L II USM that is really slow while hunting for focus in the AF mode.

While hiking my two boys decided they would lead the pack. I really wanted to capture this independent streak and both images are shot less than 2 seconds apart. The Sigma 135mm had no problems tracking focus as they moved up the trail. Both images were shot at ISO 200, f/2.0 and both have the subjects tack sharp and in focus in spite of the movement.

Macro capabilities

While the Sigma 135mm is not described as a macro lens, it did offer 0.2x magnification with a minimum focusing distance of just under three feet. Since I have a dedicated macro lens that I use for my detail shots, I did not pay much attention to this feature. However, in a pinch, this lens could be used to provide some magnification.

The 135mm zoom was a little tight when I had to take in-studio headshots but once I got the focus locked, it turned out beautifully. Both images were shot at f/2.0 ISO 640, 1/125th.

Summary

Overall I was really very impressed with the Sigma 135mm 1.8 DG HSM Art lens. It is a superbly built piece of gear that was incredibly fast, easy to carry, handle, and use.

The only thing I needed to get used to was the fact that it was a prime lens and not a zoom, unlike my favorite 70-200mm telephoto lens. This meant I had to move around to get shots at different angles and different focal lengths, but I don’t consider that a con. Instead, I feel that shooting with a prime lens makes you more careful and thoughtful about your compositions since you have to physically move around to get a diverse range of shots.

The Sigma 135mm lens is definitely something to look into if you are in the market for a good quality telephoto lens.

The post Quick Review of the Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art Lens by Karthika Gupta appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 22, 2017
10 Reasons Why it’s a Good Idea to Start Producing Video Content

If you spend any amount of time online you’ll be well aware of the rapid expansion of access to video content that has happened over recent years. Being largely user driven, this content varies from professionally produced through to home videos of cats, puppies and everything in between.

With the increase in internet speeds and processing power of viewing devices, we have the ability to watch countless hours of video content where and when we like. This provides some interesting opportunities for you as a photographer to consider, either through creating video content, or using video as a platform to show your work in a different way.

Ultimately it allows you to connect with people differently, using elements of storytelling and emotional connection that can only exist through the use of motion and sound. Here are some reasons why I have embraced video as a way of communicating.

1. Video allows you to tell stories in a more immersive way

Anyone who has been to see a film or documentary and become heavily invested in the story and its characters will be able to relate to this. While still images can communicate much of a subject, the depth of which you can tell stories through motion is effective in a different way.

Hearing the person’s voice rather than reading a quote, listening to them describe a situation or speak to another person and feeling the emotion in what they are saying and how they are presenting it. There is the element of moving images that cannot be replicated through stills. It is not to say that motion is a better way, just a different way to tell stories.

It also allows the viewer to have a different experience in seeing environments through motion. Seeing the elements that exist move and interact is again difficult to replicate through stills. Wildlife photos versus wildlife footage is an excellent example of how your understanding of an environment can shift based on the way you are viewing it.

Case study: Karma Coffee

2. Music can introduce a different kind of emotional pull

Music plays a significant role in every piece of film or TV content, from the news to drama to documentary. It has incredibly strong pulling power with our emotions and this is something anyone can take advantage of. The immediate tone that is set with music helps to identify what we can expect to feel, the anticipation of a lion hunting its prey, the feeling of accomplishment for a climber reaching a summit, or a family coming together after a long time apart. The ability to pull your audience further into a story with the emotive power of music is something we should look at seriously if producing video content.

While we may not have the budget for commercial music or large-scale productions, there are a lot of options available through stock music sites that will give you the style of music you are after. By using music that is available for licensing, you are free to have your video projects available for public viewing with no concern of copyright infringement as long as the music is licensed for the correct use.

Case study: Mates in Construction – Kokoda

3. Creating slide shows of your images adds a more dynamic element to your portfolio

This is a great way to bring a collection of images together and show them in a more dynamic way. The collection of images may simply be your portfolio, or it could be from a wedding you have shot, an overseas trip, or a family event. There are many benefits to presenting still images in this way as it allows you to include music and some animation or movement of your images within the frame as opposed to just a static position.

It also means your photographic portfolio can now be viewed on platforms that would otherwise be unavailable for still images, such as YouTube.

Case study: Damian Caniglia Photography Slideshow

4. You can bring together a collection of images and video that are connected

Producing video content doesn’t have to include exclusively just video. Incorporating stills and animation can help tell stories in a more complete way, as well as utilizing content that may already exist.

An example of this may be a short story telling project about a person’s life growing up. Using old photos as part of the visual elements means you are able to give greater context to that person’s life, their story, and what they were like at this time. It also brings a greater level of authenticity to the person’s story as the viewer is able to see a visual representation of what they are talking about.

Another example of this is you may be telling the story of an artist. Using images of their art as they describe their motivation, process, and aims allows to help show their work as they are discussing it. Again, giving better context to who they are as well as a visual representation of their work within the video piece.

5. You can develop character-driven stories and documentaries

Many documentaries have a narrator or voice-over directing the flow and narrative of the story. Character driven stories only allow the voice and vision of the person the story is about, to appear.

While often there is an interviewer involved, the voice of the person asking the questions is removed from the final edit leaving only the people appearing in the video as the ones directing the story.

This has some considerations when asking questions during an interview, and more specifically, the way in which the person being interviewed responds.

Case study: Kokoda 2013

6. Most social media channels favor video content

A quick look across the most popular social media platforms will show how much video content is being favored. In fact, doing a few tests will show you that the current algorithms being used by these platforms favor video content above almost all others.

While YouTube is still the king of video, other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are definitely showing great reach and interaction with its users and video content. This can be a big advantage for those producing video as you have the potential to reach a bigger audience based on this shift.

Case study: Preserving the Ancient

7. You can offer more options to existing clients including time-lapse videos

It used to be the case that if a client wanted photographic work done, they hired a photographer and if they wanted video content produced, they hired a video producer or production company. But, there has been a shift in recent years with clients having the option of choosing one person who is capable of producing both. This has a number of benefits for the client as well as the supplier.

For the client, they only have to deal with one person or company. This is especially important if the styled approach needs to match across different content (photo still and video, for example. For the producer of content, it means you are able to offer more solutions for your clients, giving them a turnkey solution for production and more reasons to use you instead of anyone else.

Case study: PODS time-lapse

8. You can produce video for stock licensing

There has never been a greater demand for video content. That demand is only set to rise as video content is embraced across all sectors of our society and more online platforms.

Here lies the opportunity for content creators. While there is nothing better than custom footage made specifically for a story, film, or documentary project, there is not always the budget or easy access to what is needed. Stock content is an excellent way for producers to obtain content for their respective projects. This is not a new concept as stock content has been around for a long time.

By looking through the libraries of some of the larger stock libraries, you can quickly determine the style of content that is accepted by stock libraries, and what is the most popular for purchase and download. There are many options for your approach to creating stock video content. However, maximizing your existing connection or access to local areas or industries means you can take a more strategic approach to what you produce based on your knowledge of said industries or areas.

Case study: Sample Footage, Tasmania, Australia

9. You can start doing a regular vlog (video log) to showcase your work

This is almost like a behind the scenes process of telling your story. It is a great way for your audience to get a better idea of who you are as an artist and producer. It will allow your followers to become better invested in your work and your story so they become better connected to you.

By understanding your process in a transparent way, your followers can not only understand the amount of effort and resources that go in to producing your work, they will also develop a better understanding of what it takes to be a successful artist.

10. Producing video is a good skill to have

Even if you are not using video production within your business or work, it is a good skill to develop for the future. As mentioned earlier, there is no doubt we are consuming more video content than ever before.

Organizations that traditionally would not consider producing video content in-house are starting to do so. Developing the skill and understanding for what is needed to produce this content will give you a better understanding of the strategy needed, whether you are producing it personally, or engaging the services of an external producer.

This will often lead to better planning and execution of a project, which results in better quality outcomes.

Conclusion

If producing video content is of interest then get out there and start experimenting with this medium. As most, if not all cameras for photography also shoot video now, it means there is little or no investment in equipment to get started. Be sure to check out some articles on how to get started shooting video and hit the record button and start experimenting.

The post 10 Reasons Why it’s a Good Idea to Start Producing Video Content by Damian Caniglia appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 22, 2017
How to Have Fun with Shutter Speed and Added Motion Blur

If you think learning is a boring task, you definitely haven’t studied photography. To make this point, I decided to explain the relationship between shutter speed and movement by spending the day at a theme park.

Image blur – unwanted or not

When you get an unwanted blur in your photograph it can be very frustrating. However, this shouldn’t stop you from experimenting with your camera’s shutter speed. Perfectly sharp images can be great for composition and color but they don’t really reflect everything that’s going on and can fail to convey the atmosphere.

Shutter speed 1/640th, f/9, ISO 200.

Shutter speed 1/50th, f/22, ISO 200.

Theme parks can be the most fun, but even so, they can appear a bit dull in still images. However, just adding a little movement can do the trick. Don’t you agree?

Shutter speed 1/1000th, f/3.5, ISO 200.

Shutter speed 1/15th, f/22, ISO 200.

If you are comfortable using Manual Mode on your camera, then please do so. However, if you are not used to adjusting your settings you can always do these exercises by using Shutter Priority Mode. To do this you have to set the dial of your camera to the S (Nikon, Sony) or Tv (Canon) symbol on your mode dial. This mode gives you the flexibility to choose the shutter speed that you want, and the camera figures out the rest of the settings for you in order to have a well-exposed photo.

However, there is one thing that you do need to know first . . .

What is shutter speed?

The shutter is a curtain inside your camera that opens to allow light to enter the camera and hit the digital sensor (or film) in order to create your photo. Shutter speed refers to how fast or slowly it opens and closes. The longer you leave the shutter open, the more light will come in.

Therefore, as long as it’s opened everything in front of your lens is leaving an imprint. In the case of a moving object, this results as a halo or a ghost and is why you get blurry photos when using slower shutter speeds. The longer the exposure time, the blurrier the subject will be.

Shutter speed 1/60th, f/22, ISO 200.

Shutter speed 1/30th, f/29, ISO 200.

Creative effects of shutter speed

#1 Blurry subject sharp background

Now that you have that clear, let’s dive into the fun part and start doing some creative effects with this knowledge. First, we’ll start with a sharp background and a blurry object/subject, as this is the easiest one to achieve. For this one, you need to be standing still and have something or someone in motion in the scene in front of you. As for your camera, you need to use a slow shutter speed. How slow depends on the speed your subject is moving, so just make a few tries.

Note: All movement gets registered in the image when you are using slow speeds, including your own. So if your subject requires for you to shoot lower than the length of your lens (i.e. slower than 1/50th with a 50mm lens) it’s better if you use a tripod or else your fixed background will look blurry as well.

Shutter speed, 1/6th, f/22, ISO 200 and an 18mm lens.

Shutter speed, 1/50th, f/29, ISO 200 and a lens focal length of 33mm.

#2 Blurry background sharper subject

For the second effect, let’s do the opposite; a blurry background and a sharper subject. You don’t want the moving subject completely sharp because then you can lose the purpose and it will look dull or worse, fake (as in Photoshopped into the image). So it’s always better for the subject to have a small halo around it that shows its movement, direction, and speed.

This one is a little bit trickier because, on top of choosing the correct shutter speed, you also need to follow the moving subject with your camera, matching its speed (this is called panning). So please don’t get frustrated if you don’t get it right on the first try because the results are worth the effort!

Shutter speed, 1/50th, f/29, ISO 200. The camera was moved in a circular motion to follow the subject.

Shutter speed, 1/40th, f/32, ISO 200. The camera was moved in a vertical motion to follow the subject.

Shutter speed, 1/60th, f/22, ISO 200. The camera was moved in a horizontal motion to follow the subject.

#3 Mix it up

When you feel comfortable with the previous techniques, try introducing some mixed movements. In other words, your subject moving one way and you in another.

Shutter speed, 1/50th, f/22, ISO 200.

Shutter speed, 1/40th, f/32, ISO 200.

#4 Still objects

Liking it so far? It gets better! You can even put some movement into photos of still subjects.

Shutter speed, 1/50th, f/22, ISO 200 with an 18-35mm lens.

To achieve this effect you need to use a zoom lens. What you have to do is to twist (zoom) so that you go from one focal length to another while the shutter is still open. The bigger the zoom, the more intense the effect.

Shutter speed, ½ a second, f/29, ISO 200, focal length 18-28mm.

Shutter speed, 1/50th, f/29, ISO 200, focal length 18-45mm.

Shutter speed, ½ a second, f/29, ISO 200, focal length 18-55mm.

Your turn to go try it

There you go, you are ready to enjoy your day in the park while making some amazing looking shots. Take a ride, have fun, and let all your problems all blur away!

Shutter speed, 1/15th, f/22, ISO 200.

Please share your comments, questions, and motion blurry images below.

The post How to Have Fun with Shutter Speed and Added Motion Blur by Ana Mireles appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 21, 2017