Category: Photography

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects
In this article, I’ll give you some ideas and tips on how to use a prism to make some really cool and creative photo effects.

Prisms

Have you ever seen the beautiful rainbows dispersed by hanging suncatchers and wondered, how would that look in a photograph? Unfortunately, the small prisms used on most suncatchers don’t fill enough of the camera frame to render a detailed image. But where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Triangular prisms, usually found in college science labs have become an increasingly popular tool for adding beautiful reflections and light to a photograph. Plus, because prisms are small, they are easy to pop in a camera bag, ready for your next shoot.

The physics

You may be familiar with triangular prisms from high-school demonstrations on the characteristics of light. The physics goes something like this – when a beam of light (made up of different electromagnetic waves with varying wavelengths) hits a piece of glass straight-on, the light passes right through it.

However, if the beam of light comes into contact with a glass surface at an angle, the wavelengths bend, which is a phenomenon called refraction. Then, when the beam exits through the other side of the prism, the wavelengths bend again. The amount the light bend depends on the wavelength itself. Red bends at one angle, and violet bends another and so each color is dispersed into the rainbow we see when we look through a prism.

As photographers, we exploit the inherent properties of light whenever we take a photo. The assembly of glass elements in camera lenses directs light from a scene, translating it to the digital sensor. But by adding a prism into the mix (in front of the lens) you can introduce some interesting creative effects to your photographs. Light that would usually meet the outer lens element first, hits the prism, dispersing the light before it’s directed into the camera.

What you will need
- A camera
- One triangular prism
- A lens cloth
A triangular prism like this one is available on Amazon for only a few dollars.

This project only has two ingredients – a prism and a DSLR camera. For this project, I used a triangular prism I purchased on eBay for a few dollars. A prism that can be manipulated with one hand is ideal. My preference is one that is approximately 3″ x 1″ (8cm x 2.5 cm). Keeping a lens cloth close by is useful for fingerprints on the glass that can show up in the image.

Method

Using a prism to create interesting effects in-camera requires a little trial and error and a bit of co-ordination. Holding the prism over the front lens element is the easy part. It’s getting the effect right that’s a little fiddly. I’d recommend using a tripod as it can be a bit vexing having to juggle the camera in one hand and the prism in the other. I would also recommend using Live View to give you an accurate indication of what impact the prism is making, without being blinded by wayward reflections from the sun streaking through your viewfinder.

If you’ve ever shot through glass materials before, you’ll know that your autofocus can really start to struggle. First, focus the camera on your subject using autofocus, then switch to manual focus mode. That way, the subject in the background will already be sharp, without having the camera flail around trying to focus on the prism itself.

Slowly rotate the prism, monitoring the effect on the LCD screen. Angling the prism away from the lens, or changing your position in relation to the sun can also add different effects. Experiment with the distance between the prism and the camera lens too. When you find a reflection in the image you like, take a snap!

Now that you have the basics down, try changing up the prism! I am constantly switching between my triangular prism and a glass wine stopper I chanced upon in an op-shop. The hexagonal prism adds a greater kaleidoscopic effect but tends to distort the image more, so it’s fun to experiment and see what works best.

A wine-stopper I found at an op-shop makes for a great tool in prism photography.

You don’t always need sunny weather for prism photography, this abstract image of a crane was taken on a cold, rainy afternoon.

Your turn

So pick up a glass prism and give this a try. Please share your prism photographs in the comments below.

The post How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 14, 2017
3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop
If you shoot RAW, in general, you will be editing those files in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), Lightroom or some other RAW editor. This may be all the post editing that you require. However, if you are like me, I finish my editing in Photoshop. Why? Because I use layers and they play an essential part of my workflow.

Layers are definitely where the real magic in Photoshop happens. They were introduced way back in version 3.0. I am a long-time user of Photoshop, so using layers in my workflow is second nature.

How do layers work?

In Photoshop, there are many types of layers. You can add text to your image using a Type Layer. You can duplicate any type of layer. By using a Layer Style, you can add a drop shadow or other effects to your photo. For example, you may want to color correct a portrait image by using a Curves Adjustment Layer.

In this article, I’ll give a brief overview of how layers work and go on to explain why I use the following go-to in my workflow:
1. Adjustment Layers for non-destructive editing
2. Layer Masks
3. Smart Objects
The Layers Panel

Let’s go over to the Layers Panel and I’ll walk you through how layers work. Here is an example of a simple vector image of a mountain range with a sunset. There are six layers stacked on top of one another, that make up the final image. By clicking on the eye icon, you can turn the visibility of each layer off and on.

Different layer types in Photoshop

Six layers stacked on top of each other to form a picture in Photoshop

However, in Photoshop, you can do a lot more with layers. You can delete a layer by clicking on it and dragging it to the little trash can at the bottom of the panel. You can also duplicate a layer by dragging it down to the icon beside the trash can, which creates a copy of that layer. A layer can be moved by clicking on it and dragging it up or down the stack. You can reduce the opacity of a layer, thereby allowing some or all of the image layer underneath to show through, depending on how much you reduce the opacity.

Duplicate and delete layers in the Layers Panel using the tools circled in red.

#1 – Adjustment Layers

Without a doubt, when Adjustment Layers were introduced into Photoshop 4.0 it meant that users could unleash the magic of Photoshop by editing non-destructively. Prior to this, you had to duplicate the image first to preserve the original, as edits were permanently made to the layer. Adjustment Laters are key in any photographer’s workflow.

As a precautionary note, Adjustments under Image in the Options Bar is not the same as creating an Adjustment Layer via Layer>New Adjustment Layer. The former will apply edits directly to the layer that you are working on, where as an Adjustment Layer adds a layer above the working one. These edits can be redone or discarded without altering the pixels of your original image.

Applying edits through Image>Adjustments will affect the image permanently.

Working non-destructively by adding a New Adjustment Layer via the Layer tab in the Options Bar.

Adjustments Panel

As with the Layers Panel, the Adjustment Layers has its very own panel too. The icons represent the 16 different layer adjustments available in Photoshop. Some are used more than others. Adjustment layers apply the correction to all the layers below them, without affecting any of the layers above.

Adjustment Layers has its own panel with 16 icons representing the different options.

Once I do my initial edits in ACR, I’ll finish off my post-processing in Photoshop using Adjustment layers. I like to use Levels, Curves and Selective Color & LUTs to add the necessary contrast and color corrections. As each Adjustment Layer is used and stacked on top of each other, it is essential to reduce the opacity of each layer.

How Adjustments Layers can add color correction and bring out the details in the image in a non-destructive way

Different Adjustment Layers such as Levels, Curves and Selective Color were used on this image.

What about areas of your image that don’t require the same amount of editing as other parts?

#2 – Layer Masks

When adding an Adjustment Layer in Photoshop, it applies the adjustment to the whole image. But, sometimes you need to make adjustments to only one area or separate parts of an image. This is where Layer Masks come in handy. When you add a new Adjustment Layer, it automatically adds a white Layer Mask (white reveals and black conceals).

For example, in the image of the waterfall, it was necessary for me to mask the water with each adjustment layer, otherwise, the highlights would have been blown out.

The water in the image on the left has not had masks applied when global edits were added using Adjustment Layers. Masks were used on the water in the image on the right to preserve the highlights.

In the following image of this landscape in the Dublin mountains, the day was quite overcast. I wasn’t happy with the sky, so I decided to try a different one. By using the Layer masks, I was able to mask out the original sky. I used the Pen Tool for this but you can use the Brush or the Quick Selection Tool and then fill the area with black.

Layer mask applied to hide the original sky and reveal the new sky from the layer beneath.

The new sky image underneath was put under this layer so that it showed through the mask, similar to a cut-out. I then added more Adjustment Layers to color correct the image so that the new sky looked seamless.

An animated gif to demonstrate the Adjustment Layers to color correct the image and by adding a layer mask to reveal a different sky to the original overcast one.

#3 – Smart Objects

Adobe really defines Smart Objects in a neat nutshell. Smart Objects preserve an image’s source content with all its original characteristics, enabling you to perform nondestructive editing to the layer.

So for photographers, this is fantastic news. Now, when you apply edits to a layer that is a Smart Object, you can transform, scale, rotate, warp, apply filters or layer masks. The quality of the image will not be degraded even though it is a raster image!

An image layer converted to a Smart Object

So how do you convert an image to a Smart Object? It is simple, right click on the layer and select Convert to a Smart Object. You will see a small icon on the thumbnail image that tells you that the layer is now a Smart Object.

Right click on the layer to reveal a drop-down menu and select Convert to a Smart Object.

If you edit your images in Camera Raw, you can then export the image into Photoshop as a Smart Object. Hold the Shift key and the Open Image button turns to Open Object. This means that at a later date, you can return to Camera Raw to re-edit by double clicking on the layer thumbnail.

How to set the default in Camera Raw for images to be exported to Photoshop as Smart Objects.

Alternatively, when you have the Camera Raw dialog box open, at the bottom there is what looks like a link on a website. This link actually takes you to the Camera Raw Workflow Options. You can check the box Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects to set that as the default in ACR.

Click the check box in the Camera Raw Workflow Options dialog box to ensure images are exported out as Smart Objects.

Conclusion

Layers can play an important role in your post-production.
- You can separate parts of the image and edit them without affecting other parts of the image.
- Converting your image layers to a Smart Object allows you to move the new image around, edit it, and resize it without affecting the resolution of the original image.
- You can add multiple layers on top of each other and put them into groups.
- You can apply filters and effects to layers independently, e.g. drop-shadow, color adjustments, etc.
- Blend Mode options can change the appearance of each layer
- You can reduce the opacity on a layer. This is particularly useful when using Layer Adjustments to fine-tune the edit to create a subtle effect.
The main take away from using Layers in Photoshop is that the whole process is working non-destructively.

Now it’s your turn, do you use layers in your post-production process? What are your favorite techniques for using layers? Please share your comments below.

The post 3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop by Sarah Hipwell appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 14, 2017
How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

I remember how excited I was to get my first DSLR several years ago. My wife and I had a newborn and wanted to get better shots of our little baby than what a pocket camera could provide. So we soon found ourselves with a new-to-us Nikon D200 that produced stunning images of our precious little boy. The pictures wouldn’t win any prizes, but they were leagues beyond what we could get with our pocket camera or cell phone and that was fine with us.

However, the more I learned about cameras in the coming months, the more I started to think we had made a mistake because our camera was, I discovered, a crop-sensor model. Unbeknownst to us, we had spent hundreds of dollars on what was clearly an inferior camera! Or so I thought at the time. The truth, as is so often the case, is much more nuanced. I’ll explore it a bit in this article so you can understand the practical differences between these two types of cameras and hopefully decide which one is right for you.

This duck is rushing to get the latest full-frame camera he read about on the internet.

Different, not better

Before I get too deep into this article I want to make one thing clear; neither crop, nor full-frame, nor medium format, nor micro-four-thirds are any better than the others. All of them are different, and each format has its strengths and weaknesses (yes, even full-frame cameras have weaknesses!) and each is ideally suited to different types of photography. Moreover, all types of cameras are capable of taking great photos. Even mobile phones, which are basically super-duper-ultra-crop sensor cameras, can take breathtaking award-winning shots that grace not only social media feeds but billboards, walls, and pages of magazines across the world.

The term crop-sensor or full-frame refers solely to the size of the imaging sensor inside a camera. A full-frame sensor is the same size as a piece of 35mm film which was, and still is, the most widely-used type of film in analog cameras. The most common size that the term crop-sensor refers to is known as APS-C, which is the same size as a piece of film from the mid-1990’s Advantix format (also called the Advanced Photo System or APS) invented by Kodak.

How the smaller sensor affects your images

Using a smaller sensor has interesting effects on things like depth of field and apparent focal length of lenses, but it’s not a subjective measure of how good or bad a camera is. Think of it like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with different sized plates. Shooting with a full-frame camera is like taking a normal size plate to the serving area, whereas using a crop sensor camera is like using a plate that is about 30% smaller. Both will get the job done, and both are great for different types of people. So what’s all the fuss about? Understanding some of the practical differences between these two types of plates…er…cameras will help you know which type is best for you.

So what’s all the fuss about? Understanding some of the practical differences between these two types of plates…er…cameras will help you know which type is best for you.

Crop-sensor versus Full-Frame…it’s not about which is better, but which will suit you better.

ISO performance

For years one of the immutable truths about shooting with a full-frame camera was that it automatically gave you better performance at high ISO values. While this is still mostly true today, it’s also safe to say that for a majority of practical scenarios crop-sensor cameras have picked up the slack and can hold their own fairly well when pitted against their large-sensor counterparts.

If you are looking for the ultimate in high ISO performance though, you might want to ditch that Canon Rebel and start shopping around for a 5D Mark IV or a 1DX. The reason for this discrepancy is due to physics. The pixels, or tiny individual light-sensitive bits on a camera imaging sensor, are usually larger on a full-frame camera.

Bigger buckets

For example, pretend it’s raining and you want to collect some of the water that’s falling freely in your front yard. To do so you set out 24 large buckets (so big you call them mega-buckets) next to each other and wait a few minutes for them to start filling up. Your neighbor, meanwhile, sees your plan and rushes to do the same thing but uses 24 ultra-mega-buckets that are about 30% larger than yours. When the sun comes out and the birds start to sing, who will have collected more water? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not going to be you.

Even though you and your neighbor were both harvesting rainwater with 24 mega-buckets, hers were larger in size and therefore able to collect more water. It’s kind of the same with cameras in that a model like the Nikon D5500 has a 24-megapixel image sensor which is the same as a full-frame Nikon D750. However, since the pixels on the D750 are bigger they are more sensitive to light. So, when there’s not much light available, such as a situation where you may need to shoot at ISO 6,400 or 12,800, they do a better job of collecting the light.

ISO 6400, crop-sensor Nikon D7100. Note how grainy much of the dark areas look, and the somewhat desaturated feel of the bright colors.

Shooting the same scene with a full-frame Nikon D750 yields much better results, with less overall noise and cleaner colors.

Technology advances

This analogy quickly breaks down when you consider the advances in modern technology. Most crop-sensor cameras today significantly outshine their forebears from just a few years ago when shooting at ISO 3200 or 6400. The Fuji X-T1, a modern crop-sensor camera, is about equal to the full-frame Canon 5D Mark III in terms of high ISO performance. Granted the latter is a few years old and has since been bested by other full-frame cameras, but still, the point remains that today’s crop-sensor cameras are no slouch when it comes to shooting at high ISO values.

However, if you want the absolute best in terms of high ISO sensitivity, a modern full-frame camera is usually going to be your best bet. It’s not a zero-sum game though, and there are many other practical considerations to think about. Lastly, just because a camera can shoot at ISO 25,600 doesn’t mean it’s the right one for you.

Cost and Size

There is a principal of mathematics known as modus ponens which is used as a way of showing a certain thing to be true because it follows a logical progression. Basically, it’s a formal way of saying that one thing P naturally implies Q. If P is true, then Q must also be true.

Camera Size

When we apply this rule to photography we can immediately see one disadvantage of cameras with larger sensor sizes. It goes like this; full-frame sensors are larger than cropped image sensors (i.e. condition P). Larger sensors need larger camera bodies in order to compensate for the increase in sensor size (i.e. condition Q). Therefore, cameras with larger sensors are larger than cameras with smaller sensors. Quod erat demonstrandum.

The sensor in a full-frame camera is much larger than the sensor in a crop-frame camera. Therefore, the camera itself needs to be larger too.

Price – $ $ $

Thus, we can see another key difference between cameras with various sensor sizes, and it’s something to keep in mind when considering which type of camera to buy. Image sensors range from the size of a tic-tac breath mint to that of a postage stamp, to a potato chip, and even larger when you consider highly specialized imaging devices like those used at NASA. These image sensors are not cheap to manufacture, which is why full-frame cameras can easily cost twice as much as their crop-sensor counterparts. If you go all the way up to medium format, with sensors that are significantly larger than full-frame, you can easily spend $ 10,000, $ 20,000, or more on the camera alone, without any lenses.

Crop-sensor cameras like the Nikon D3300 or the Canon Rebel T6i are smaller, less expensive, and also more portable than their full-frame counterparts. If you’re shopping for a camera, don’t need crazy-high ISO performance, and also don’t want to empty your pocketbook in the process, then a crop-sensor or micro-four-thirds camera (which has a sensor that’s about 25% as large as a full-frame camera) will suit you quite nicely.

However for many photographers, the size of their camera is of little concern, and they don’t mind the increase in size, weight, and cost that comes with venturing into the full-frame territory. Just know that bigger isn’t always better, especially because along with bigger sensors comes bigger lenses that are required to fit on them as well.

Lens Size and Selection

When considering a camera system, whether crop-sensor or full-frame, it’s not just the size of the camera that you will need to keep in mind but the size and price of the accompanying lenses as well. Lenses designed for smaller sensors are generally smaller and less expensive than lenses for full-frame cameras. A 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for full-frame cameras, which is fairly standard for many photographers, can easily cost upwards of $ 1500. Whereas a similar piece of glass like the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 lens for crop-sensor cameras will set you back about $ 1000. It’s even better when you look at the micro four thirds system, where lenses are significantly smaller and often less expensive than comparable full-frame models.

The classic 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Designed for full-frame cameras, it’s a fantastic lens that will give you great photos but it’s also expensive and heavy. Similar lenses for cameras with smaller sensors are smaller, lighter, and often cheaper.

However, one advantage of going with a full-frame system is the sheer quantity and variety of lenses that you have available at your disposal. Since all 35mm film cameras ever made are full-frame, you can use most of those lenses on modern cameras and sometimes you don’t even need an adapter. Many modern full-frame cameras are capable of autofocusing with older lenses too, making it easy to find high-quality glass that will suit your needs if you don’t necessarily need to buy brand-new. There is a growing selection of lenses for crop-sensor cameras, particularly in the micro-four-thirds ecosystem. But if you need access to the largest possible array of lenses than a full-frame camera might just be your best bet.

Lens Performance: Depth of Field and Focal Length

At this point, it might sound like I’m less than enthusiastic about full-frame cameras, but I promise you that’s not the case. I shoot with both crop-sensor and full-frame gear. There is a reason why full-frame cameras and lenses are highly sought-after despite their larger size, heavier weight, and greater cost. Most glass made for full-frame systems costs more and weighs more because it is higher quality. They also produce superior results compared to some of the cheaper lenses for smaller cameras. (Note that I said most, not all. Certainly, there are many outstanding lenses for APS-C and micro-four-thirds cameras. But it’s safe to say that lenses made for full-frame cameras are, for the most part, going to produce outstanding results.)

There’s also the fact that when shooting full-frame you get the benefit of a shallower depth of field. For example, portrait photographers often prefer shallow depth of field. When shooting with a large sensor and a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens you can get results that are difficult to replicate with crop-sensor gear. The math is a bit tricky, but shooting a subject at 200mm with an aperture of f/2.8 on a full-frame camera gives very different results than using a crop-sensor camera.

Examples

Shot with a 200mm lens on a full-frame camera.

I shot the photo above at 200mm with my full-frame camera, but it would have been quite different if I shot it on my crop-sensor camera. A 200mm lens behaves like a 300mm lens when mounted on an APS-C camera. That means I would have had to move much farther back to get this same composition and therefore would have significantly increased the depth of field. The background would not have been as blurry, and the pillar behind the boy would have been more in focus as well.

85mm lens on full-frame versus crop-sensor

Here’s a photo that I took with my crop-sensor D7100, using an 85mm lens at f/4.

85mm lens at f/4 shot with a crop-sensor camera.

After I took that picture I put the same 85mm lens on my full-frame D750 and while standing in the same spot, took the following image:

85mm lens at f/4 on full-frame, same physical position as the first picture.

It looks like I zoomed out, but in fact, I was using the exact same lens but on a full-frame camera. To get a picture like the one I shot initially, I had to move forward which then changed the background elements and also gave me a shallower depth of field with a background that was more out of focus.

85mm lens at f/4 shot on a full-frame camera.

The reason this happens is that with the former you are getting a picture that accurately reflects a lens’s true focal length, whereas on a crop sensor camera you are seeing a cropped version of what the lens sees.

Wide-angle

This picture of the Edmond Low Library on the Oklahoma State University campus was taken with my 35mm lens on my Nikon D7100 (crop-sensor).

35mm lens at f/4 on a crop-sensor camera.

I took the next picture sitting in the exact same spot on the library lawn, using literally the exact same 35mm lens mounted to my full-frame Nikon D750.

35mm lens at f/4 on a full-frame camera.

Nothing changed here except the camera on which the lens was mounted. The shot of the library on my crop-sensor camera is, in a very real sense, a cropped version of what you see on a full-frame camera. The implications of this are profound since it means a 35mm lens on a crop-sensor body actually behaves more like a 55mm lens. (The exact value varies just a bit depending on whether you shoot Nikon or Canon, which each use a slightly different crop factor.)

Implications – how it affects you

So what are the practical implications of this phenomenon? It means that if you are primarily interested in landscape, architecture, or other shots that are suited for wider focal lengths, a full-frame camera will generally be a good choice. However, if you like to shoot wildlife or sports, a crop-sensor camera can give you a lot of extra reach with your lenses and effectively transform a 300mm telephoto lens into a 450mm birdwatching, goal-scoring powerhouse.

I like to do close-up photography on my full-frame D750 not because it’s objective a better camera, but because there are specific features about it that I like for this type of photography.

The Final Word

After examining various differences between crop and full-frame cameras, I hope it’s clear that neither one is inherently better. Both are uniquely suited to different types of photographic tasks.

I’m always eager to hear from the dPS community on topics like this though, and if you have thoughts you would like to share on this issue please leave them in the comments below. Which system do you use and why? Are you satisfied, or are you considering switching from one format to another?

Do you have any questions after reading this article? Post a reply and in the meantime, no matter what type of camera you have, remember to get out there and use it to take pictures you enjoy.

The post How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 14, 2017
23 Remarkable Mirror Images of Reflections

Mirrors are not the only things that can provide a good reflection. Look around and see what other things can provide a good mirror image.

These 23 images are great examples of how to photograph a reflective surface and reflections creatively. Enjoy.

By Jacob Surland

By Glenn Simmons

By M.G.N. – Marcel

By Pablo Fernández

By Bruce Irschick

By Elizabeth Haslam

By Rüdiger Stehn

By Jim Choate

By Michael Levine-Clark

By Ken Douglas

By Chris Sorge

By josef.stuefer

By Bernat Casero

By Ramesh SA

By Dianne Lacourciere

By Chrissy Wainwright

By Arild Storaas

By Max Milkovitsch

By Theophilos Papadopoulos

By Mario

By Susanne Nilsson

By Laurent Ribot

By ANDY ARCIGA ( www.arcigaandy.com )

The post 23 Remarkable Mirror Images of Reflections by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 8, 2017
Weekly Photography Challenge – Reflections
Reflective surfaces can be difficult to photograph – a “challenge” even! Here are a few examples of images of reflections to get you started.

By Theophilos Papadopoulos

Weekly Photography Challenge – Reflections

Your challenge this week is to find some reflective surfaces and photograph them in a creative way. Some sources for reflections might include:
- Windows
- Puddles
- Lakes and rivers
- Chrome (fenders and car parts)
- Actual mirrors
- Sunglasses
- Roads and sidewalks after the rain
- Plexiglass or shine countertops
By Jeff Wallace

By Gavin Golden

By Jamie McCaffrey

By Dan Masa

By Vince Young

Share your images below:

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 on the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Reflections by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
June 8, 2017
How to Make and Apply a Bokeh Overlay Using Photoshop

Bokeh overlays are an excellent way to add a trendy stylized look to your portraits. You can purchase overlays, but I would instead suggest making your own. It’s easy, fun, and best of all, it’s free!

In this video, I take you through the process of making and applying a bokeh overlay to a portrait using Photoshop. You will also learn to how to color tone your image to create a stylized look.

How to Make Your Own Bokeh Overlays

You can create bokeh overlays from almost any photo that is not too bright, and which has good contrast. The photos themselves do not have to be great photos at all; they can even have boring subjects and be totally out of focus.

To demonstrate the power of this technique, we will work with two bad cell phone pictures; a photo of a hamburger and a photo of a street.

It’s a good idea to look through your phone and experiment with the photos that you already have.

To create a bokeh overlay, place the image into your working document by going to File > Place Embedded. Once the image is in the Layers panel, right-click on it and select Convert to Smart Object. This will make it so that any filter that you apply is non-destructive and you can edit it later if you need to.

To blur the image, and get the bokeh effect, go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Field Blur.

Start by dragging the Blur slider to the right to make the image blurrier. In most cases, you’re going to want to keep the bokeh small, so don’t take the blur slider past 200px.

You can then fine-tune the effect by adjusting the Light Bokeh, and the black and white points in the Light Range. You can introduce more colors to your bokeh effect by dragging the Bokeh Color slider to the right.

Here are my results:

How to Applying a Bokeh Overlay to Your Photo

Once you have made your bokeh overlays, you can apply them to any image by using layer Blending Modes.

For this type of effect, the Screen Blending Mode will be the best to use in most cases. But you can try any of the Blending Modes in the Lighten Category to see if they can give you a result that works better for your image. If you’re not familiar with Blending Modes and how they work, then check out this comprehensive look at Blending Modes where I explain each one in detail.

The Screen Blending Mode allows you to keep the bright pixels of an image and hide the dark ones. In this case, the bokeh is bright, so it will stay, and it will hide the darker background.

How to Use Layer Masks to Hide Problematic Areas

Some overlays will not be perfect matches for your photos. Sometimes the bokeh may cover up important parts of the portrait, such as the eyes or even the entire face. Create a layer mask and paint on the mask with black to hide those problematic areas.

When you paint with black on a layer mask, you hide pixels. To reveal them again paint on the mask with white. Painting with different levels of gray will give you different levels of transparency.

Use Levels to Change How the Bokeh Blends

The bokeh overlay may not give you the best results by simply changing the Blending Mode to Screen. In many cases, you will have to modify the luminosity of the layer to change how the bokeh blends. Remember, the Screen Blending Mode reveals bright pixels and hides dark pixels.

By using a Levels or Curves Adjustment Layer, you can control the brightness of the layer which will control how much of the bokeh is revealed. When using an Adjustment Layer add a Clipping Mask to make sure that the changes only affect the bokeh layer. To clip an Adjustment Layer to the layer blow it, you can press Command/Control+Option+G.

Apply a Color Tone to the Image

To finalize the stylized effect, you can color tone your image by using a Selective Color Adjustment Layer.

Under the Colors dropdown menu select Blacks and slide the Cyan slider to the right, and move the Yellow slider to the left to subtract yellow. Doing so will add a blue tint to the shadows, and it will give your image a retro feel.

You can watch a video of the whole process below:

Conclusion

Here is the before and after comparison of the image.

Before

After

There it is, a quick and easy way to make and apply your own bokeh overlays. Try it and please share your images in the comments below.

The post How to Make and Apply a Bokeh Overlay Using Photoshop by Jesus Ramirez appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 8, 2017
How To Do Freelensing – Budget Tilt-Shift Photography

Photographers are always looking for new and interesting ways to create images. But even as a hobby, photography can be a very expensive venture. Camera bodies, memory cards, bags, tripods, lenses, it can all add up to one seriously prohibitive price tag. But all is not lost! We photographers are a clever bunch, good at developing DIY tricks to minimize costs. One of these is a handy little trick I discovered for budget tilt-shift photography. While it’s not perfect, the technique does work pretty well in simulating a tilt-shift lens without the price of an actual tilt-shift lens.

I knew keeping around an old graphics card would have its uses. The freelensing effect gives the impression that the little nodes on the computer board are buildings in a city.

Tilt-shift…what?

Tilt-shift photography is used to control the part of an image that appears sharp. By adjusting the knobs on the barrel of tilt-shift lens upward/downward (tilt) and side to side (shift) you can be extremely select about the area of focus, allowing for only a very small portion of the photograph to be sharp. By changing the angle of the lens relative to the camera body, you also have greater control in changing the perspective in an image too.

Tilt-shift lenses are often used in architectural photography. For example, if you take a photograph of a building from below, the lines of the building will appear to converge, and it will look as if it is leaning away from the viewer. A tilt-shift lens realigns convergence by moving the lens parallel to the sensor, without having to physically move the camera much further back.

So what is freelensing?

Freelensing is a technique of letting your lens run free of the camera body! Tilting an unattached lens in front of the camera’s docking point simulates the selective focus of a tilt-shift lens. But first things first.

As the proud owner of a camera baby, you may be thinking to yourself, “Is it actually safe to remove the lens from a camera for extended periods?” The answer is yes… and no. While the camera will function fine without a lens attached, there is a greater chance of dust entering the body and ending up on your sensor. That’s why I strongly recommend trying this project out on a spare or old camera you may not use anymore. Sensor cleaning is expensive so proceed at your own risk.

Method

The method for tilt-shifting with a detached lens is fairly straight forward but takes a little preparation. I recommend using a prime lens, because it’s lighter and simpler, with less moving parts. Before detaching your lens, line up the shot and set the camera to manual mode. You may want to use a tripod to reduce camera shake. Meter and adjust your exposure settings and switch the lens to manual focus. Now, detach the lens and hold it about a centimeter (1/2 inch) from the lens cradle.

Have a look through the viewfinder. At first, you may only see blurry versions of the subject, that’s normal! Keeping the lens close to the camera body, and slowly begin tilting the angle of the lens from side to side. Tilting the lens to the right means that the left side of the image retains the most focus, and vice versa.

Take advantage of the light peeking into the gap between the camera and the lens. Achieving atmospheric bokeh and soft light effects are another great reason to try out freelensing. Try taking photographs at different times of the day and under different lighting conditions.

One of the downsides of this method is that achieving perfect focus is almost impossible, but with a bit of adjusting, you can come pretty close. Even the slightest of movements can affect the outcome of the image dramatically, but you will get a feel for it sooner than you might think.

The light leaks peeking through the gap between the lens and the camera body make for some beautiful atmospheric images

Here’s a blast from the past! The contrasting colors and textures of the Tamagotchi and the fluffy blanket make a dynamic juxtaposition enhanced by the freelensing technique.

Conclusion and give it a try

Freelensing is a fun and simple way of experimenting with tilt-shift photography. Once you have a handle on the technique, head out into the world!

Aim to photograph scenes that have a variety of depth. Tilt-shift photography isn’t as effective when used to photograph a scene that is consistently the same distance from the camera. Try looking for subjects that trail off into the distance. Good examples are densely wooded forests, long, straight streets populated with people, fields of flowers or a line-up of dominoes.

Give it a try and share your images in the comments below. I look forward to seeing them. Happy freelensing!

The post How To Do Freelensing – Budget Tilt-Shift Photography by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 8, 2017
Worth a Thousand Words: The Story of a Photograph

Whether an image is spectacular or otherwise, a photograph is a representation of all the words that we choose to say…or not say. Photography is a medium, unique to perhaps all other mediums, which has the potential to convey thoughts and feelings without saying a word. You might say it’s worth a thousand words.

In today’s current photographic climate which is saturated with selfies, cellphone snaps, and impromptu portraits, have we forgotten the weight a photograph can carry? It’s an easy mistake to make and also a crime that we all commit from time to time. In case you have managed to forget, allow me to remind you of just how important the photographs you make can truly be.

Photographs represent ourselves and how we see the world

The images that spew forth from our cameras are more than just bits of film or clusters of ones and zeros. Photographs are representations. Not just representations of time and events, of light and shadows, and splashes of vibrant colors. No, a photograph speaks to our own emotions and to the thoughts and emotions of others. They allow us to express our own feelings and inner workings in a uniquely personal way.

The photo could be a portrait that snatches a piece of the person’s elation or sorrow. It could be a photo of a morning sunrise reaching up over a snow covered mountain. Whatever the image is, there lives inside it the potential power to unveil a moment of emotionalism that may otherwise have remained covered.

Like all forms of art, that power connects our mind (or even our soul) to that of the viewer, however briefly.

Photographs are records of reality

I’m about to say something that is completely arguable, non-provable, and likely inflammatory – even though it’s not intended to start a debate. Brace yourselves because here it goes….

Photography is one of the only artistic mediums that can portray the static reality of time and events fluidly mixed with personal expression.

What I mean is that a painting displays a world that is filtered through the artist’s physical movements. The same is true for sculpture and other tactile forms of art. While the beauty and emotive content are absolutely the same in these other mediums, photography differs immensely in that it records the same world we all see, free of physical (usually) interruptions brought on by the photographer.

The inherent merits of photography are that our images capture still moments of reality which is readily viewed all around us. A photograph, after all, is just a picture of “something.” Hence, it’s simply a record of different points of reality. The magic happens, and thus the art, when the image is captured in such a way that it become more than just the sum of its parts.

It transcends the simple nature of being just a picture. If that sounds a little deep that’s because it is – but it’s also true. Making an image is more than just pressing a button. It’s a capture of a moment in time that will never come again. Always remember that every photograph you make has the ability to transport a viewer to a place and time they have never been and could never have witnessed otherwise.

Photographs are mechanisms of change

Photographs show what is good and right with our world. Just as true, photographs document what is all too often ugly, cruel, and evil as well. This duality itself is beautiful because it means that photography can be a powerful conduit for change. As first-hand accounts of events and human nature, photographs are visceral mechanisms that can spur awareness and make people take notice.

Photos help in raising political advocacy which can affect the policies of entire nations and governments. They show the wonders of our natural world so that those places can be protected for the countless generations which will come after we are gone. They demonstrate the determinants of pollution, climate change, and species degradation that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Seeing, after all, is believing. And nothing makes people see more than does a strong photograph.

Never forget…

Not all photographs have to be powerful expressions for social change or be plastered on the covers of national magazines in order to be important. I mean, making photographs is just plain fun…especially to fellow photo geeks like me. Sometimes we make images that are only meaningful to us and eventually end up in the trash bin.

Still, we should never forget the weight that our work can and does carry. Our photographs speak loudly and sometimes they whisper. But they do speak. Always remember that. Be mindful of what your photographs might say…and just as importantly, the words they leave out.

The post Worth a Thousand Words: The Story of a Photograph by Adam Welch appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 8, 2017
How To Choose Gear For Travel Photography

Changing and missing flights, running to catch buses or hiking mountains is part of any beautiful trip story. But what can we do when we have at least 5 kilos in our backpack and we need all of it? You might already know what I am talking about. This is our HOLY photography gear. We can’t make compromises. We need Continue Reading

The post How To Choose Gear For Travel Photography appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

June 8, 2017
Overview of the Intuos Pro Wacom Tablet and the MobileStudio Pro for Post-Processing

Around 15 years ago we were visiting my brother-in-law and his family. While there I saw his computer and it had this strange flat thing with a pen on the desk. I asked my husband what it was and he said it was a Wacom Tablet. You use the pen on the flat part, the tablet, and it works just like a pen, or pencil. I said I wanted one, he said I didn’t need one.

So I waited, and one day while trying to do fine detail work in Photoshop and screaming because the mouse wouldn’t do what I wanted, I finally said: “I’m getting one”. In 2011 I got my first Wacom Tablet, the Intuos 4. I haven’t looked back and now consider it a vital part of my photography gear.

The Intuos Pro from above, image courtesy Wacom Australia.

What is a Wacom Tablet?

Wacom Tablets come as two pieces, the tablet, and the pen. The tablet sits flat on your desk and you use it like a piece of paper. So when you put the pen, or stylus, on it the tablet communicates with the computer.

The pen is similar to a mouse in that as you move it over the tablet, the cursor onscreen follows. The active part of the tablet covers the whole screen, but unlike a mouse, you have to lift the pen from the surface to move the cursor. When you want to click on something you just touch the pen to the surface of the tablet.

What do you use it for?

Have you ever considered how good it would be to be able to draw on your computer like you can on a sketch pad? The Wacom Tablets allow you to do that. The pen becomes your drawing instrument and the tablet part your paper or sketch book.

The Wacom Intuos Pro medium, image courtesy Wacom Australia.

Getting starting using a tablet

There is no doubt that a lot of people have trouble using a tablet when they first start. The pen can be a hard concept to get your head around. It does not work the same way a mouse does. It works more like a pen, and you need to think of the tablet like a piece of paper. When you want to move from one part to another you lift the pen up and move it. The pen talks to the tablet and knows where you are going.

Getting used to it

After you have been using a tablet for a while it becomes second nature. You just move instinctively with it, and in many ways, more so than with a mouse because pens have been around a lot longer.

The Wacom Intuos Pro from the side, image courtesy Wacom Australia.

The Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet

After having the Intuos 4 for a few years I decided that it was time to get a slightly bigger one, and I opted for the Intuos Pro Medium. It is larger than my previous one but has some options which were not available with the older model.

The Pro series allows you to use the tablet wirelessly. Which is really good for people who don’t have a permanent place for it and what to move it around. You have the choice of having it sit on your desk plugged in, or if you want to move it you can remove the plug and not have to worry about connecting it. Mine sits permanently on my desk and so I tend to keep it plugged in.

The tablet part can also be a touchpad. So if you find you are used to using your fingers to move around on the computer then the touch pad area may suit you. This feature certainly helps people that use your computer and don’t know how to use the pen. The touchpad can easily be turned on and off as you want it. The top button on the tablet is set as the default switch for the touchpad feature.

There is also a stand that holds the pen when you aren’t using it. In the bottom of the stand, you will find a storage area for more nibs for the pen. You can purchase them separately, many options are available or both the stand and extra nibs.

I have the older model of the Intuos Pro. The new updated version includes Bluetooth. The pen that comes with it now, the Pro Pen 2, has over 8192 levels of sensitivity with pressure and tilt response. The one I have only has 2148 level of pressure sensitivity. The tablet part is also much thinner on the newer model.

The Wacom Intuos Pro Medium retails for $ 349 at B&H, or you can shop for it on Amazon.com as well.

St. Kilda Pier long exposure taken at sunrise and processed with my Wacom Intuos Pro.

Using the Intuos Pro Pen

The Intuos Pro comes with a lot of default settings, but you can change them so the tablet and pen will work the way you want. There are four buttons on the pen. Clicking the nib is like doing a regular left-click. I have changed the settings on my pen, so the two buttons on the side now do a right-click (the bottom one) and middle-click (The scroll wheel on a PC mouse is also a button you can click. If you middle-click a link it will open it in a new tab. If you middle-click a tab it will close. It is very handy, and one I use a lot.). The one at the top of the pen has the factory default setting of erasing, but I’ve changed mine to double-click.

You can change how fast to double-click, or how much pressure you can use. It is all there for you to set up exactly how you want. It is good to play around with it so you can try different things. As you get used to using it you may find that you want to change other things as well.

I’ve been using a tablet for years now and when I purchased the Intuos Pro I decided I would use it for everything, so I threw away my mouse. I now use my tablet as my mouse whether I am processing or not. I have gotten very used to typing with the pen stuck between my thumb and hand. In fact, I almost find it difficult to type if it isn’t there. It has become like an extension of my hand and I will often find myself in the kitchen making a coffee with it still attached.

This image of the Seafarers Bridge has lots of fiddly bits and the Intuos Pro just makes it much easier to edit.

My family don’t like it because they can’t use my computer with it. I have a mouse in a drawer for them now.

Why use a tablet and pen?

If you get frustrated by trying to do details with a mouse, then the Intuos Pro could be exactly what you need. A tablet and pen allow you to do fine detail work that you can’t do with a mouse or your finger unless you are really good with them. A mouse frustrating for me and would shout a lot, which, in the end, was why my husband agreed that I needed a tablet. I haven’t looked back. Now with the pen, I can trace around curved lines, or get into small spots to change things easily. I couldn’t live without a tablet and pen anymore.

Wacom come into their own for post-processing work on the computer. Whether you are using Photoshop or Illustrator, or another program where you require a lot of control over what you are doing, you will find the tablet is perfect.

A cityscape of Melbourne one of many images that I have used the Intuos Pro to edit.

Wacom MobileStudio Pro 13 512GB

The Mobile Studio Pro another tablet style unit from Wacom except it looks more like what we have come to expect from a tablet. It has a screen and you can use it independently from your computer. It is a computer itself, and you can run Windows on it as well as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. This model has Wi-Fi and works just like a regular tablet.

You can use it as a tablet or as a laptop, although you would have to get an external keyboard if you don’t like the keyboard on the screen.

With Bluetooth capabilities you can pair other devices with it easily as well. So getting a Bluetooth keyboard is a really good option, especially the one by Microsoft that folds in half and is easy to carry around.

Taking the MobileStudio Pro out for coffee and a bagel.

It doesn’t have the usual ports for connecting devices and uses USB-C. That will soon become the standard, but for now, you will not be able to connect any others to it. You can get adaptors for USB > USB-C.

Pros and cons

PRO: Without a doubt, the best thing about this particular model is that it is exactly like drawing in a sketchbook. You are working straight onto your image. It is great to be able to move it around and work the angle that is needed for your image. Your hand can get in the way sometimes, so being able to turn it is a definite bonus.

A long exposure of the Seafarers Bridge in Melbourne. The MobileStudio Pro was fantastic for processing this image.

PRO and CON: It does have touchscreen capabilities, and that can be great for browsing the internet and using other programs. However, for processing images with the pen it was very frustrating with the touchscreen on. You put your hand somewhere and then something else would go off, or get deleted. In the end I turned the touchscreen feature off when I was processing the image, but turned it back on when I was doing everything else.

Getting out of the house to process an image is such a luxury, the MobileStudio Pro makes it to easy, it even goes well with a latte.

CON: You do have to think a bit differently when using a tablet, especially if you are used to using keyboard shortcuts. I use them all the time, so when working on an image I have one hand on the keyboard, and the pen in the other. You have to find other ways of doing delete, save, etc. I was told by Wacom Australia that you can set up shortcuts on the tablet. For the short amount of time that I had the MobileStudio tablet, I didn’t worry about it, but it’s good to know. As previously stated, you are also able to use an external Bluetooth keyboard if you wish.

The final image.

PRO: The Wacom MobileStudio Pro 13 512GB is perfect for anyone that travels a lot and wants to work on their images on the go. You can take it anywhere and with a battery life of 4-6 hours, you have plenty of time to do what you need. I took it with me when I met friends for coffee so I could work if they were late. It’s small, isn’t very heavy, and will fit anywhere most laptops do. I also used it to edit images while I was watching TV.

CON: It does come with a hefty price tag as it retails for $ 2499 at B&H (with the 512gb hard drive, smaller ones are available for less as well – 256gb is $ 1999 and 128gb is $ 1799). If you want the larger 15″ model, then you will need to pay an extra $ 500.

One of the first images that I edited using the MobileStudio Pro.

Different tablets available

Wacom offers a wide range of tablets so you can choose from a small one, up to very large ones. Most of them work as mentioned here. They aren’t as expensive as you may think (they start at about $ 199 for a small one) so if you want to try one out you should be able to find one that fits within your budget.

The new ones have screens built-in and work like similar to other tablets (like an iPad). You use the pen directly on the screen so you can see exactly what is happening to your image real-time. They are a lot more expensive, but if you really want to get serious it could be just what you need.

There is another version for those that want to process on the go. So if you are traveling a lot, you can use it as your laptop and for processing your photos. There are also much bigger ones that sit on your desk and work in a similar way.

Whatever level you are at, they have a tablet for you.

Finishing up

If you are serious about your photography, or more so if you are serious about editing your photos, then a Wacom Tablet is an essential tools that can help you to make fantastic images. They have a massive range available, so you will have to decide which one is right for you.

The post Overview of the Intuos Pro Wacom Tablet and the MobileStudio Pro for Post-Processing by Leanne Cole appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

June 8, 2017