Category: Photography

6 Color Settings in Photoshop That You Need to Know
Photoshop CC is a complex piece of software. Most of us barely scratch its surface in terms of the features we use. Thankfully, it doesn’t matter if we’re not familiar with every aspect of this vast program if only we achieve the results we want. One of the hurdles in Photoshop has always been understanding how it handles color and what effect different color settings have. This can be mind-boggling for new photographers and even catches a few seasoned ones out.

There are 6 color settings to consider in Photoshop

#1 – RGB Working Spaces

Some basics

Under “Color Settings” in Photoshop, the first item needing attention is choice of RGB working space. What is this? It’s your editing color set, if you like, where all the various tones of red, green and blue are split into values between 0 and 255 and blended to make 16.7 million possible colors. We can’t separate all these colors with our eyes, but mathematically they’re there.

This simple RGB color wheel shows the relationship between primary (red, green, blue) and secondary (cyan, magenta, yellow) colors. For example, a fully saturated magenta tone contains no green (RGB 255,0,255), so sits opposite green on the wheel. Tertiary colors are created by blending adjacent primary and secondary colors.

All RGB working spaces have the same number of colors; the gamut they cover is the main difference between them. Choice of RGB working space is, therefore, mainly about picking a gamut that suits your needs best.

Standard RGB working spaces (e.g. sRGB, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB) are used for editing because they are “well behaved”. In other words, we know what to expect from them when we edit our photos. To illustrate this, if all three red, green and blue (RGB) values are equal in any pixel, the tone will always be neutral, be it gray, black or white. Any adjustments made to shadows, mid-tones or highlights cause the same degree of change, too, so editing is always predictable.

Choosing an RGB Working Space

Here are the three main choices of RGB working space:

sRGB

sRGB might be a good choice of working space if all you ever do is publish photos on the Internet and get your prints done at the shopping mall (i.e. a commercial photo lab). It’s one way of keeping things simple, but does potentially forfeit a lot of color data between camera and Photoshop, especially if you shoot RAW.

Some subjects are better suited to this color space than others, like portraits. Skin tones are likely to be encompassed by the sRGB color space, so you don’t lose data by editing in it. The types of subjects you shoot may play a part in choosing a working space.

The popular assertion that this color space is the “Internet standard” is partly true, though slightly outmoded. Most people can’t see much color outside of sRGB because of the standard gamut of their monitors, so a bigger space would be largely wasted on your web audience.

Adobe RGB

Adobe RGB is recommended to anyone who does their printing at home or who supplies third parties with images for publishing. Even humble models of inkjet printer produce colors outside of the sRGB gamut, while only high-end printers exceed Adobe RGB in output.

The Adobe RGB color space was designed to encompass the output of CMYK printers. It is often seen as a good all-rounder for the average photographer, and you can easily convert files to sRGB for the web at the end of editing if desired.

Landscapes benefit particularly from Adobe RGB, largely because of the cyan and green colors lost when converting down to sRGB. To a lesser extent, yellows and oranges are also truncated.

Since most browsers are now color-managed by default, you can get away with saving photos in the larger Adobe RGB color space for the web. You must embed the profile into the image file if you do this, otherwise, your photos will look desaturated to most people. Only a minority of your audience will benefit from the bigger color space, alas, but it could be worth trying among a group of keen photographers with wide-gamut monitors.

ProPhoto RGB

ProPhoto RGB is the largest of the three commonly used RGB working spaces, and it’s the one that best preserves all color data between a RAW file and Photoshop. A purist would ask; why would you want to throw color away needlessly? You don’t always discard color with a smaller color space, of course, depending on the content of your photo.

ProPhoto RGB is a good choice if you use a high-end inkjet printer capable of colors outside the Adobe RGB gamut, but there are caveats attached to its use:
- Because ProPhoto is spread over such a wide gamut, you’re forced to work with larger 16-bit files to avoid posterization, or banding. (The opposite is true of a small working space like sRGB, which is ideally suited to 8-bit editing.)
- Since ProPhoto RGB produces colors beyond the capabilities of any monitor or that of human vision, you’ll be working partially “blind” when you edit in this color space. This is a trade-off that many accept in return for extracting as much color as possible from their printer.
Note: some photographic subjects, particularly those with a deep yellow color, lose detail straight away merely by opening them in Photoshop in a smaller color space (i.e. sRGB or Adobe RGB). It’s possible to see blotchy, posterized areas in photos of yellow flowers, for instance, in anything less than ProPhoto RGB, and the effect is worse the smaller a working space you select. This makes it desirable to print such subjects directly from ProPhoto RGB.

Again, there’s nothing to stop you from editing your files in ProPhoto RGB and then converting down to smaller RGB color spaces when required. Remember; you can’t convert up to a bigger color space and get data back.

ProPhoto RGB is not typically an in-camera option. You need a RAW > 16-bit workflow to make it a useful choice in Photoshop.

A comparison of RGB color spaces. Note how the profile of an Epson 2200 printer with matt paper exceeds the Adobe RGB gamut.

#2 – Monitor RGB (check your monitor profile)

Also under the RGB working space menu you’ll see the “Monitor RGB” heading. This is not a profile you’ll want to use as a working space, because it effectively turns off color management in Photoshop. One thing the Monitor RGB selection is useful for is checking that Photoshop is accessing the correct monitor profile. The profile in current use is listed beside “Monitor RGB”.

If you’ve created a custom monitor profile and notice that color is wayward in Photoshop, one thing you can do is temporarily switch the monitor profile back to sRGB in your OS settings (Adobe RGB for wide-gamut monitors). If this improves the color, your own custom profile is probably corrupt and you’ll need to delete it and create another. Again, the “Monitor RGB” working space option will verify the profile in use.

#3 – Color Management Policies

Under “Color Management Policies” in Color Settings, select “Preserve Embedded Profiles” in all three drop-down menus.

There is a case for unchecking the 2 boxes next to “Profile Mismatches”, since you’re unlikely to act on the alerts they produce. The first box “Ask When Opening” might be useful if you want to be kept in the loop and know immediately if a file has a different profile embedded to the one you edit with. You can disregard the second box “Ask When Pasting”.

It’s desirable to check the box next to “Missing Profiles”. When opening an image file without a profile embedded, you can sometimes guess the correct color space based on where it came from and then assign that profile to the image. You may also choose to open the file without a profile and then assign different profiles in Photoshop to see which looks best.

#4 – Assign Profile

The vital thing to learn about “Assign Profile” in Photoshop is that you should leave it alone in most situations. Many people don’t distinguish between this and “Convert to Profile”, which is a mistake.

A color shift occurs when wrongly using “Assign Profile” to convert files from one known RGB color space to another. “Convert to Profile” uses a relative colorimetric rendering intent to match destination colors to source colors as closely as possible.

Assign Profile applies the RGB values embedded in a photo to a different color space without any attempt to match color. This often causes a huge color shift. You’d only use this feature on a file that had no profile embedded or that had one assigned upon opening that you’d like to change.

#5 – Convert to Profile

If you need to convert a file from one RGB color space to another in Photoshop, “Convert to Profile” is the right tool for the job. A relative colorimetric rendering intent is used to match color between different color spaces. If you’re converting from Adobe RGB to sRGB, for instance, colors outside the sRGB gamut are matched to their nearest in-gamut equivalent.

Convert to Profile is typically used to convert between RGB color spaces, since most of us have no need to convert to printer or CMYK profiles within Photoshop. When converting between RGB files, “relative colorimetric” is always the rendering intent used, even though it’s possible to select other intents from the menu.

#6 – Proof Colors

You wouldn’t ordinarily check “Proof Colors” under the “View” menu unless previewing the color output of a printer or other device. The colors it displays are based on the selection made in the “Proof Setup” menu. Some people assume they should use Monitor RGB proof colors for editing, but, as we’ve already noted, this turns off color management in Photoshop.

Proof colors being used to simulate “Color Blindness – Protanopia-type”. More typically, you’d use this function to preview and edit print colors so they matched the original RGB screen image satisfactorily (a technique known as “soft-proofing”).

The normal method for using “Proof Colors” is to open a duplicate image next to the original, apply the printer profile to the duplicate using proof colors and then edit so it closely matches the original. This is basic soft-proofing method, though a full description merits another article.

Checklist
- RGB Working Space: Choose Adobe RGB if in doubt. It’ll encompass the output of most monitors and inkjet printers.
- RGB Working Space: Take note of the Monitor RGB selection to ensure Photoshop is using the right monitor profile.
- Color Management Policies: Select “Preserve Embedded Profiles” in the three drop-down menus and check the “Ask When Opening” box next to “Missing Profiles”.
- Don’t use “Assign Profile” to convert from one RGB space to another. It causes unwanted color shifts. Use it only when the original profile is unknown, which shouldn’t be often.
- Use “Convert to Profile” to convert from one known RGB space to another. This matches color as closely as possible between the source and destination color space.
- Proof Colors are used for previewing the color output of other programs or devices, or to see how an image will look to a color-blind viewer. For normal editing, this should be turned off.
Conclusion

I hope that clears up any confusion you have had around color settings in Photoshop. Please post any comments and questions below and I’ll try to answer them.

The post 6 Color Settings in Photoshop That You Need to Know by Glenn Harper appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
April 28, 2017
How to Use a Neutral Density Filter to Control Depth of Field

If your photography isn’t focused around landscapes, there’s a fair chance you don’t have a set of neutral density filters. These accessories are mainly for landscape photographers as their use in long exposure photography is invaluable. Because they are most associated with slow shutter speeds, their application in other genres, like portrait photography, isn’t immediately apparent. A neutral density filter can, however, be vital to gain control over your depth of field in some situations.

This tutorial will show a quick and dirty tip for two scenarios in which to use ND filters to control the depth of field in your photography; one outdoors in natural light and the other in a studio environment.

What is a Neutral Density filter?

At its most basic, a neutral density filter is a piece of material (usually plastic, resin, or glass depending on the quality) you place between your lens and subject to reduce the amount of light entering your camera. This will result in a slower shutter speed being required, a larger aperture, or a higher ISO in order to achieve the correct exposure. The filters come in different strengths, usually ranging from a loss of one stop to three stops of light. For example; if you are metering an exposure of f/8 at 1/250th and you place a 1-stop ND filter on your lens, to compensate you will need to change either your shutter speed to 1/125th or your aperture to f/5.6.

Neutral density filters are a valuable tool in landscape photography, but they are also useful in other genres.

In terms of photographing landscapes in low light, you can probably see how they are useful. A 2-stop ND filter turns a 2-second exposure into an 8-second exposure. Alternatively, it turns an 8-second exposure into a 32-second exposure. If you’re trying to smooth out water or clouds on a windy day, an ND filter makes it a breeze.

For portraits, however, you will almost never want to reduce the shutter speed. If anything, you will often want to increase it. Why, then, would you want to put something on your lens that reduces the amount of light coming in? The answer is simple – when you have too much light in the first place.

Outdoors

If you’re taking photographs outdoors on a bright sunny day, you may find yourself limited to smaller apertures like f/11 and f/16. This is great for capturing a high amount of detail, not so much if you would like a shallow depth of field.

This is where a neutral density filter comes in. A 2-stop ND filter will turn an aperture of f/8 into f/4. A 3-stop ND filter will make it f/2.8, making it far easier to obscure a cluttered background with a shallow depth of field.

Both of these images were taken moments apart. Left: Shot at f/8 without an ND filter. Right: Shot at f/4 with a 2-stop ND filter.

In the studio

The idea behind using the ND filter in a studio environment is the same as it is outdoors. The main difference is that with natural light, you can always wait until later in the day. With high powered studio lights, that’s not always the case. If you’re aiming for soft light , you need to get your light source in close to your subject. If you have high-powered studio strobes, you may not be able to turn the power down low enough to use large apertures.

Again, a quick solution is to pop a neutral density filter on your lens. By doing so, you don’t have to sacrifice the softness of your light and you gain the benefit of complete control over depth of field.

Taken in a studio environment at f/8

Adding a neutral density filter reduced the aperture to f/4 without changing anything else in the scene.

Bonus round

Chances are that throughout this tutorial, the problem-solving side of your brain has figured out that all of these scenarios have a multitude of other methods to solve them. Outdoors, you could use a diffuser that cuts down exposure, or you could move to an area of open shade where the intensity of the light is reduced. In a studio, it’s often easy enough to move a light backward or to move your subject. Using an ND filter just adds another potential tool, and like most techniques, it is neither a be all or end all, nor is it required. It’s just another option.

That said, what do you do in a situation where you can’t control the intensity of your light and if you were to move it even an inch further away from the subject, everything in the frame would completely change? Same with diffusing it? I ran across this exact situation recently, as illustrated below, and it was a 2-stop ND filter that solved the problem.

Moving the light source in this instance, would have ruined the effect of the lighting. A neutral density filter allowed for a larger aperture while still allowing the camera to be handheld.

That’s it

In the end, if you want to have full control over your camera and the depth of field in your images, then neutral density filters deserve a place in your kit bag even if you never set eyes on a landscape.

The post How to Use a Neutral Density Filter to Control Depth of Field by John McIntire appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

April 28, 2017
7 Tips to Get Professional Results on Your Next Outdoor Fashion Photography Shoot

Many photographers like to take portraits or fashion outdoors, as it does not require any huge investment such as owning a studio space and lights. Though it might look like an easy task, there are few things that you need to be aware of before and while doing fashion photography outdoors.

You might have a good-looking model and expensive camera and lens, but you still may not be able to capture professional results. You need not worry, as the tips mentioned below would help you drastically improve your results during your next outdoor fashion photo shoot.

1. Know the location well

The location is one of the first things you should finalize while planning an outdoor photo shoot. Scout the location at least once before the day of the shoot to ensure that you do not waste time on the final day. It is even better if you take some photos of the places that you feel could be perfect for your images, and simply browse through them on the day of your shoot.

If you follow these practices for your next outdoor photo shoot, you would surely save a lot of time as you would have already pre-planned and pre-visualized your frames.

2. Choose the right time of the day

Once you have finalized the location for the fashion photo shoot, you need to make sure that you choose the right time of the day to captured desired results. There is no fixed time of day that you should be shooting, it all depends on the weather conditions and how you want to use the ambient light.

Try and avoid the time when the sun is at its peak as it would create hard shadows on your model’s face. The safest time to shoot outdoors is either just after the sunrise or a couple of hours before the sunset. During a cloudy day, the light would be soft and there would be less contrast in the background (depending on the backdrop) but it all depends on your choice. I you wish to capture photos with diffused light, you can go ahead and shoot during a cloudy day.

3. Choose the right background

It is important to spend some time thinking about the background in your photo. You might see a beautiful location and simply pick up your camera and get started taking photos, without even visualizing whether the background will make or break your photo.

You need to think, visualize, and then frame accordingly, making sure that the colors in the background and the colors of the model’s clothes are not getting merged. The colors in the background should not overpower the model, which is the main highlight of your photo.

4. Try mixing ambient and flash light

Go out of your comfort zone and do something different by using both ambient light as well as flash. This gives an extra dimension to your photos. You can use the sun as the key light falling on the subject and place the flash at the back of the model to give a rim light effect on their face or hair. Or you can use the sun light as the rim light or the kicker and the flash as the key light source, this allows you to control the shadows on the face.

5. Make the model comfortable: Talk and Compliment

Expressions and body language of the model are key ingredients in fashion photography. You need to make sure that your model is comfortable shooting outdoors, as sometimes there may be other people surrounding you as you work. If it’s possibility that you are shooting with a model who is not professional or has just started his/her career, you as a photographer have to make your model feel comfortable.

You can do so by constantly interacting with your model, compliment them while he/she is posing and make them feel confident. You need to tell your model whether they are posing right, you must direct and get the best out of the model in the friendliest way possible.

6. Get the best possible exposure in camera

Never shoot with the thought that the exposure can easily be adjusted during post-processing. You can adjust the exposure later during the post-processing stage but you might end up losing details in your photo, depending on the camera that you are using. If you have taken a photo which is 2-3 stops over/under exposed, adjusting the exposure during processing will not give details as good as a correct exposure would.

If you adjust the exposure of an underexposed photo, remember that you may also be introducing noise. Similarly, if you adjust the exposure of an overexposed photo then you will not be able to retain as much details in the highlights as you would have in a correctly exposed photo.

To ensure that you are capturing correctly exposed photos during the shoot, you should refer to the histogram in your camera.

7. Shoot in RAW format

Never be afraid of shooting in RAW. It may take up space on your memory card but it is really for your benefit. Shooting fashion in RAW format allows you to capture much more details as compared to the JPEG format, which helps in retouching the image during post-processing.

Another benefit of RAW format is that it contains the maximum dynamic range possible from your camera and can be used to recover an overexposed or an underexposed image during the processing, as discussed in the previous point. You can also edit the same RAW file multiple times, without losing any details. Whereas, a JPEG file loses its quality every time you edit the image.

Conclusion

Being a photographer, you need to plan and stage the photo shoot so that you get the best possible results out of your model. From choosing the apt location to scheduling the shoot at the right time of the day, it is your job to get the things planned in advance to save time and energy. Try and get out of your comfort zone by adding more light sources such as the flash lights or strobes, this will help give you more professional results.

You might be using the best possible camera and lens, but if you are not able to get good expressions and body language, your photos will not stand out. So, the next time you plan an outdoor fashion photo shoot, do keep these tips in mind to achieve the best possible results.

Share your fashion photography tips and images below.

The post 7 Tips to Get Professional Results on Your Next Outdoor Fashion Photography Shoot by Kunal Malhotra appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

April 28, 2017
How to Find the Best Locations for Landscape Photography
Have you ever looked at the work of a good landscape photographer and wondered how they found such beautiful places to shoot? Or would you like to travel to a new place to do landscape photography but are unsure how to find the best locations?

You are not alone. It takes work to find the best locations and most landscape photographers go through this process. The tips in this article will help you.

1. Look at the work of other photographers

The first step to finding great places to take landscape photos is to look at the work of other photographers. There are so many great photographers on 500px, Instagram, and Flickr that it should be relatively easy to find some who have worked in the areas that you have in mind.

Looking at the work of other photographers helps you in two ways:
1. It helps you find the most iconic, popular, and spectacular places to take photos.
2. It gives you an idea of the potential of a place for the type of landscape photography you have in mind (for example, perhaps you are looking for somewhere to do long exposure photography, or perhaps you like to work in black and white).
It’s a good idea to look for the work of a local photographer. Locals have a huge advantage over visitors. They know the area better and are familiar with photogenic but relatively unknown locations. They may have lived there for years and built up a substantial body of work. Their portfolios contain photos taken at different times of the year. All these things help build a picture in your mind of the location and its potential for landscape photography.

I went through this process when I traveled to northern Spain last year. Looking at the work of local photographers helped me find locations like this.

2. Go out and explore

Once you’re on location, curiosity is the key to finding interesting things and places to photograph. If you’ve done your research you already know the most iconic and popular locations – they are probably what attracted you in the first place.

But what about other locations? The not so well known ones? You can only find those by exploring. It’s only the desire to see what lies around the next corner, or where a lonely road takes you that allows you to find these places.

I made this landscape photo while walking along footpaths near my parent’s house. This is not a well-known area and you’ll struggle to find other photos taken here. Yet it has a lot of potential and I was able to make photos like this.

3. Make a bucket list of great locations

As you look at other photographer’s work and read about landscape photography on websites like Digital Photography School you are bound to come across interesting places and locations.

My suggestion is that you set up a spreadsheet or word processing file that contains a list of all the places you might like to visit one day. The world’s a big place and there are a lot of photos to look at online. If you don’t make a note when you find something interesting you may forget it and never find it again.

As time goes by you can go back to your list and research the places that seem most interesting to you. For example, let’s say you have the city of Venice on your bucket list. Whenever you find an interesting photo or a good article about photography in Venice, add it to your file. Then, when the time comes that you finally get to go, you’ve already done most of the research required and have a good idea of what you’d like to achieve.

Make your list

Another approach is to write down a list of the places you’d like to visit. Don’t censor the list – they are ideas, not certainties. Then you can research them and make notes as you find out more information. This gives you time to think about how much time you need on location, and how to fit that into your schedule. You can think about time and money and gradually build your plans.

Places on my bucket list include the mountains of Torre del Paines National Park in Patagonia, the Italian Dolomites, and the desert landscapes in the southwestern United States. How about you?

The Picos de Europa in northern Spain, where this photo was taken, were also on my list.

4. Find your personal vision

One of the dangers of looking at the work of other photographers is that it creates a desire to take photos of the same places as other photographers. There’s nothing wrong with capturing photos of iconic locations, and sometimes it’s just an itch that has to be scratched before going on and finding the lesser known places. But the danger is that you forget to look elsewhere for good places to take photos.

Photographer Cole Thompson has an interesting idea he calls photographic abstinence. He never looks at the work of other photographers as he wants to find his own locations and his own way of seeing the landscape. There’s a lot of merit to this idea and it’s something you might like to try for yourself. It’s the opposite approach to the advice given at the beginning of this article, and it may work well for you.

Personalize it

Last year I visited my family in Norfolk, England. Look up the work of local photographers and you’ll find lots of photos of sand dunes, wide beaches, and beach huts – the typical landscape of the local area.

I stayed away from those places and walked around with my camera through the landscapes around the village where my family left. It wasn’t intentional to start, but as I did so I found that I was building a body of work photographing the elements of the landscape that were personal to me. I was ignoring the iconic locations, the ones you see photos of for sale in local galleries, and photographing the landscape in a much more personal and interpretive way.

I ended up taking photos like the one above, and this one.

Wherever you go to take landscape photos, and no matter how well known and iconic some of the locations there are, I encourage you to look for and find your own personal vision.

Conclusion

These ideas are just some of the ways that you can find interesting landscapes to photograph. Do you have any more? I’d love to hear them – please let me know in the comments.

Andrew is the author of the ebook The Black & White Landscape.

The post How to Find the Best Locations for Landscape Photography by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
April 28, 2017
How to Photograph People Outdoors Without Using a Reflector

Subject: Kota Wade

You just got booked for a marvelous portrait photo shoot out in a gorgeous natural landscape. You run out the door, with camera gear in tow. Then you arrive at the location, the fresh air filling your nose, the beautiful natural world flourishing all around. You meet with your lovely portrait subject. The sun is beating down on you from above. Then it hits you… you forgot your reflector at home.

Or maybe you don’t have a reflector, maybe you just never felt the need to spend money on one. All of this is totally okay because there are some tips and tricks to take stunning photographs without the use of a reflective disc! Keep reading to learn more.

Subject: Bina Monique

What is a reflector?

A reflector is a simple tool that redirects existing light. A reflector does not illuminate, it merely allows you to manipulate the light that you already have.

Photographers use reflectors to fill shadows, which is why you often see them used in outdoor settings where you cannot control the light. Being at the mercy of the sun, you add a level of control to your situation with the use of a reflector. However, there are ways to take advantage of your situation without one.

Subject: Skylar Roberge

Find even lighting

Essentially, part of the trouble with shooting outdoors comes from the lighting. Clients often see a clear blue sky with the beaming sun and think that is an absolute joy for photographers. But we shooters silently scream in agony at the prospect of overblown highlights, underexposed shadows, and the dreaded contrast.

What’s the best solution for this? Find some even lighting!

Positioning your subject under a tree, in the shadow of a building, or simply positioning yourself so that the sun hides behind a mountain can all make for some nice even lighting. Although the background might be overexposed if you are simply using a small patch of shadow, try to change your perspective to make the most of the situation.

ISO 400 – Shutter Speed: 1/100 – Aperture: f/2.8
Even Lighting: Rooftop overhang

Make even lighting

Are you out in a field or a desert and don’t have access to any form of even lighting? Is the sun too bright to have on your subject’s face? Then it’s time to get creative!

You can make your own even lighting utilizing things you may already have in your car. Use an umbrella and position that over your subject, or to block out the sun in your frame. You can use a vehicle windshield cover or shade to do the same.

ISO 1250 – Shutter Speed: 1/500 – Aperture: f/2.8
Even Lighting: Umbrella

Use the contrast to your advantage

Are neither of the aforementioned tips applicable to your scenario? Well then, this is where we get inventive.

Photography is an art form, and artists are creative, imaginative, and inspired. Instead of fighting against the contrast, why not use it to your advantage? Work your shoot around the contrasting shadows and highlights, and create dramatic photographs. Several well-known clothing designers, such as Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, use contrast in their fashion editorials to stage a theatrical scene and illicit an intense response in the viewer.

ISO 200 – Shutter Speed: 1/1000 – Aperture: f/2.8

Shoot at the right time of day

When a choice presents itself, shooting at the correct hour of the day can ease your lighting woes. The golden hour is infamous for being an excellent time to photograph. Aiming to photograph when the sun is low and producing a more even light removes the need for a reflector.

ISO 1600 – Shutter Speed: 1/640 – Aperture: f/2.8

Fill shadows by finding a natural reflector

Various surfaces can double as reflectors, such as water or windows from a building. Positioning your model just right can garner the same effect as if you had a reflector yourself.

ISO 2000 – Shutter Speed: 1/320 – Aperture: f/2.8
Reflector: Car windshield, parked to his right side

Fill the shadows in post-processing

The computer is your friend, and it is okay to use programs to help you bring your vision to light (no pun intended). Shooting in RAW format (an image file that contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of a camera – Raw files are named so because they are not yet processed) gives you better control over your image when you edit it. RAW files have more shades of colors compared to JPEG files, higher image quality, significantly better control over editing lightness, white balance, hue, saturation, etc., and all of the changes made on a raw image file are non-destructive. You can use any post-production software to lighten the shadows in your image and darken the highlights.

Original image before processing.

After processing.

There you have it, sounds like you have a solution to your no-reflector problem.

The post How to Photograph People Outdoors Without Using a Reflector by Anabel DFlux appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

April 28, 2017
3 Lighting Setups for Photographing Headshots
I do a lot of corporate and actors headshots around Washington, DC and I wanted to share some of the simple but effective lighting setups that I use over and over, which you can easily copy and use yourself.

The One Light Wonder

My standard setup consists of a large soft light source to the left or right of the subject, a reflector under the face, and another reflector opposite the main light source. I shoot hundreds of headshots per year using this simple setup. I use a Paul C. Buff Einstein unit with a large octabox in my studio, but you could easily put together something similar with a cheap speedlight, an umbrella, and a couple of $ 20 reflectors.

You can see this setup in the photo below, with my poor wife Karen standing in as a subject. She was just coming downstairs to make some tea, and got ambushed!

Reflectors and adjustments

Once my subject is in place, I do some tweaking. First I will adjust the light source so it is slightly above their eye level. For most people, I think it looks best to have the light coming from above to cast subtle shadows under the chin, accentuating the jaw and helping to hide any double chin.

Then I will adjust the reflector underneath their face and bring it up to about their mid-chest level. This reflector helps fill in shadows on the face and provides a really nice extra catch light in the eyes. Some folks will use another (powered) light source down here, but I find the reflector to be much simpler to set up, and it also has the virtue of being idiot proof.

For example, if you have another light instead of a reflector below the subject, and you accidentally overpower it (so it is more powerful than the main light), you have created some horrible Frankenstein lighting! It is physically impossible to do this with a reflector, which can save from you from costly mistakes.

You can see the side reflector in my studio in this photo (it’s just to Karen’s left).

Finally we have the reflector opposite the light source. For this one, I will often use a black-sided panel to create a darker shadow on that side of the face. This effect can be very dramatic, and has added benefit of slimming the face. The downside is that if your subject is very wrinkly, you’re not filling those wrinkles with light from that side. So it doesn’t work for everyone.

Here’s an example where of a headshot where I used this effect to create a nice dramatic edge:

Some additional tweaks

With this simple setup, it’s very easy to make tweaks and see what works best with a particular person’s face. Often I will leave the basic setup in place with the black reflector, but a few examples where I might make changes are:
1. The subject has a double chin, so I really want to define the jaw. In this case, I may raise the light up extra high to cast more shadow under the chin (make sure you don’t go too high and lose your catchlights), and/or lower or remove the under reflector.
1. The subject has long dark hair. In this case, the dark reflector is not necessary because we already have a dark edge there from the hair. So in this case I would go with a white reflector on the side or bring in a hair light from behind (more on that in the next section)
In the photo below, you can see a lot of detail in her hair on the shadow side. That’s because I brought my big white reflector in close.
1. Subject has deep set eyes. We want to fire more light into those sockets or our poor subject will end up looking like a serial killer or a cave man! In this case, I might lower the main/soft light so it is right at eye level.
Two Lights

You could run a whole business just using the one light system, but if you’re anything like me you get bored and like to try new things. So let’s bring in a second light.

The second light for me is usually a “kicker” (also called a rim or accent light) coming from behind and opposite the main light. I use this to accentuate the jaw, especially in men, or hair in women. It’s especially nice to create a little highlight on darker hair.

In the photo below, I needed a way to separate this young man from the dark background. My kicker light did the trick!

In my studio, I use a strip softbox for this purpose, but you could also use a bare head with a grid or even an old speedlight with a paper towel roll taped to it to make a simple snoot. The important thing is that you want to control the light so it doesn’t spray into your lens and create flare or lack of contrast.

You can see my kicker light in this setup shot with Karen.

Three and Four Lights

I use lights three and four to create a clean white background. You can either use one light fired at the background from just behind the subject, or two lights off to either side.

The white background is my favorite look these days for a lot of reasons. I think it looks super bright, modern and happy, and really pops on LinkedIn and other online profiles. It is also a great way to go for companies because it is easy to replicate and get a consistent look from shoot to shoot (for example, when photographing a new employee months after the initial shoot, or replicating the same look with shoots done across the country by different photographers).

Whether you use one or two lights for the background depends on your budget and the space where you are working. Two lights can give you a larger more even spread of light, whereas with one light you might have some fall off around the edges that you need to clean up in post-production. So I usually stick to two lights unless I’m on location somewhere and space is tight.

Conclusion

So I hope you all found this article helpful and you can use the lighting setups for your headshot. I look forward to your comments and questions!

The post 3 Lighting Setups for Photographing Headshots by Dennis Drenner appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
April 28, 2017
How To Choose Photo Paper for Printing?

Photography is not a hobby nor a profession – it is an art. Although, being different from many other hobbies, it requires sheer dedication, skill and talent to end up making something outstanding. Choosing the optimum paper may not be as easy as we think. I would say this part is most challenging to a neophyte. Having no experience in Continue Reading

The post How To Choose Photo Paper for Printing? appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

April 26, 2017
Sonoma, Redux

I am quickly becoming a big fan of Northern California. I first went out last year for my birthday, had a blast, drank lots of wine. This was my second trip up to SF/Sonoma – Hung out for a day or two in the city, then drove up to the wine country. Only carried my GF1, but it served me well. (although my buddy who isn’t a photographer himself had an old Hasselblad 503cw from his dad, which we took out for some shots!) Early winter seems the perfect time to go as well – the countryside was a rainbow of reds and yellows… the vine covered hillsides were shockingly bright, especially when viewed from afar – the highly maicured vines created an almost solid carpet of color across the rolling hills.

Lots of pictures, lots of wine… what more could you ask for? (slideshow below)

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April 25, 2017
My new evaluation criteria for my portfolio work…

From the inimitable “Burns Auto Parts Blog”

So here’s my challenge to you: look at your work on your site. Do you love it–all of it? Does it make you smile/get you excited/make you want to do more of it? Be honest–don’t look at it from its technical side and definitely do not ask “Do I think buyers will want this?” If you do, then look at your marketing.

If you don’t, then get off your creative butt and start making the work that you make out of love and that weird compulsion that makes you do this and not be a 9-5 “normal” person.

Words of wisdom indeed. I have been working on a major portfolio overhaul, with just this in mind. You know the saying… Show what you wanna shoot!

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April 25, 2017
I think most “creatives” can relate:

A great quote from Sebastian Marshall:

I don’t differentiate between work and play. I think my time is spent in either excellent, good, okay, or bad fashion. If too much of my time is just “okay” or “bad” – I’m doing something wrong

I think most freelance photographers, painters, writer, and pretty much anyone in a non-“standard” 9-5 job can relate. Kinda reframes the whole “wasting time” thing – instead of trying to stop wasting time, just aim to increase the amount of time spent in excellent fashion!

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April 25, 2017