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How to Make Headshots That Glow

11 Jul

I’d like to share a particular technique I use to capture a “glowing subject” effect for headshots. You may be disappointed to hear that, by glow effect, I don’t mean your headshots will literally glow, like in the dark, because they most likely won’t. But that’s okay because this technique is actually better than that and who wants a headshot that literally glows anyway? To the point, when set up correctly, you’ll end up with a subtle, spotlight-like feel on your subject which appears to glow, hence the title of this article.

headshots that glow example

The process

The process consists of a pretty straight forward lighting setup involving the use of different light levels for your key and background light and a fairly long lens. Essentially, you emphasize your subject by allowing light and focus to fall off as it moves toward the background. Here are the details:

To get the effect I use a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at around 200mm. I recommend a long and fairly fast lens zoomed all the way into the longest focal length. A long (telephoto) lens will compress the scene and keep your subject from appearing distorted and bent, the way a wide lens would. It will also give you a nice, shallow, depth of field.

headshots that glow lens

Background choice

You’ll want to choose your background first before setting up all of your lights. Unless, of course, you enjoy moving them around for the exercise, which I don’t. I often like to add some interest to each headshot by choosing a background that suggests a kind of “on location” environment. I set mine up in the studio, but backgrounds like this can be found almost anywhere.

headshot background

Keep in mind that the background will be soft in the final photo as a result of using the long end of the 200mm lens and a large aperture, so plan accordingly. To find your background you may find it helpful to focus on something close, reframe, and get some shots of your background out of focus just for test purposes.

Also, keep in mind that you’re going to place your subject at least six to seven feet from the background. Make sure you have room to do this while also having the appropriate distance in front of your subject to frame a good headshot at 200mm. To be safe, give yourself 15 feet in front of the subject.

headshots that glow distance to subject

Lighting

After finding a good background, it’s time to set up the lights. First, I’d like to give special thanks to my model, the mannequin, for participating in this demo.

headshots mannequin

Main light

The setup I’m using here is called clamshell lighting, with a rim light or kicker (whichever you prefer to call it, also known as an accent light) added on the side of the face. The main light is above the subject and centered. I most often use an AlienBees B800 light with a beauty dish modifier, softened with a diffusion sock or two. Sometimes I’ll use more than one sock so that I can effectively keep my aperture around f/3.5 or maybe even f/2.8 with no sync-speed issues. If you’d like to sculpt the light further, try using a grid on the beauty dish.

headshots lighting setup

I’ve also used a large octabox in place of the beauty dish. However, I think the beauty dish works well for this particular look. I won’t go into great detail about how to best use a beauty dish, but ideally, you’ll want to line the center reflector up with the subject’s face.

Adjust the light depending on your subject’s bone structure, moving it further up and in for more definition in the cheeks, etc. Typically I have the dish about two feet back from the subject (toward camera) and about a foot overhead, focused down at an angle. Boom the light and beauty dish over the subject with a c-stand or whatever boom arm you may have handy.

Addition lights and reflectors

Next, add a reflector under the subject’s face (right above waist level or just out of frame) to bounce light back up and fill the shadows under the chin. The size of the reflector really comes down to what you’re comfortable using.

headshots reflector

Use a strip softbox with a grid for the rim or kicker light. I’ll place the light a few feet behind the subject and about two feet off to one side or the other, aimed back at the subject. Set this light to an exposure equal to your key light (as low as it goes with an AlienBees B800).

headshots lighting

Lastly, set up a background light. You can use any method of diffusion you have at your disposal for your background light. I try to keep mine fairly soft and even. The trick is to underexpose your background a few stops. By this, I mean a couple of stops under the exposure of your subject.

How many stops is a matter of personal preference. However, you don’t want to go too dark or have an exposure too similar to your subject’s exposure, or you’ll loose the effect. Because the key and rim are already set to the lowest light level, you’re going to want to either use heavy diffusion or put some distance between your light and background. Turning the light away from the background works too. Underexposing the background a couple of stops is a critical part of the process.

Conclusion

That’s it. Don’t forget to thank our model, the mannequin, and you should be ready to go! Or shall I say, ready to glow? Hmmm.

Please post any questions or comments you have in the area below, and remember to share your headshots as well.

The post How to Make Headshots That Glow by Carlisle Kellam appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Adapt to any Situation for Portrait Photography

09 Jul

We all make plans and we all have expectations. Then when portrait photography, we want these plans to work well. We’ve got customers to please, memories to create and stories to tell. Plus clients have expectations. They want their pictures to look a certain way. They’ve hired you to recreate that vision.

As a professional, you need to be ready for anything

So when the best-laid plans fall apart, you’ve got to adapt. If you’re shooting portraits professionally, you need to remember that part of the reason you are being paid is you can produce great images no matter the circumstance. This is the difference between you and an amateur. You have the skills and know how to make any situation work.

How to Adapt to any Situation for Portrait Photography

I used the white sheet and the black couch for this family portrait. Then in post-processing added a vintage feel to the image.

Have a plan and a backup plan

I can’t stress this enough. It’s important to meet with clients and discuss plans for the shoot. Among the topics, you should discuss a backup plan. What will do if the weather doesn’t cooperate for an outdoor shoot? What if the children won’t cooperate by sitting in a tree? There are all sorts of possibilities, and you need to discuss the fact that sometimes the plans may have to change.

I had the benefit of a large window behind me but because it was so grey and dark outside I also needed to use my lights.

Sometimes the simple solution is setting an alternate date in case of weather issues. Other times you might discuss the need to use a different location. I love shooting family sessions outdoors. I’ll be honest, I prefer it. Natural light is my best friend, and I have very little patience for setting up studio lights. If at all possible I shoot outdoors. But recently I had a situation where I was unable to set up a “rain date”. The family had only one day together, and if the session didn’t occur on that specific date, well it just wasn’t going to happen. But, I made a mistake, I forgot to discuss alternate plans.

The need to adapt quickly

On the date of the session, the weather was cold, grey, blustery and very unpleasant. We could have shot the session outdoors but the wind wasn’t going to help my cause, and it was too cold outside for their small children. I don’t think the kids would have cooperated. I was lucky, my clients were flexible, and we quickly worked to discuss an alternate plan.

The boys loved being able to crawl all over the couch and be silly. I made sure I had mom’s permission first.

They had a beautiful, large bay window. So we shifted some furniture, hung up my large white sheet as a backdrop, and used a large couch as a prop. It wasn’t an ideal setting, but it did the trick. My clients were happy with the results, and that’s all that matters.

The boys weren’t centered on the couch but I wasn’t worried, as it was more about capturing their relationship.

Suggestions for making it work on the fly:

Think outside the box. Be creative and look for places that will suit your purpose and still create an eye-catching image. You might use a bedroom or fireplace if you have to shoot indoors. Outdoors, maybe you could shoot underneath a large umbrella or veranda. The front door of a house can be quite attractive as well.
Don’t get nervous. Be calm and confident. This will ensure your clients that you are confident in your abilities. They, in turn, will relax and give you those amazing relaxed smiles you’re looking for and that you want to capture so much.
Always take a portable lighting kit to every session. You never know when you will need it. As much as I hate using the lights they’ve saved me so many times.
Make sure you have a really large backdrop and a white sheet. The white sheet can be pinned to the wall in a pinch or used as a large reflector if need be. I’ve even used the sheet to cover up an ugly floor.
Reassure clients that they are not the first to have plans change suddenly. Even if it is the first time, it’s ever happened to you, tell them it’s no big deal.
Go with the flow. Don’t be rigid, let things unfold as they will. If you always come to a photo shoot with a very specific plan, you may get easily flustered. Just relax and see what happens.
Rely on your skills, they are your biggest asset. Use all the knowledge you’ve gained to help you produce amazing images. Never forget all you’ve learned.

In this case, he lay on the floor near the window so we accessed all the light we could possibly get.

Conclusion

Portrait photography is often unpredictable but isn’t that the fun of it all? You never know what’s going to happen. Enjoy the rush that comes from turning a potential disaster into an amazing opportunity. Let it test your skills and push the limits of your creativity. Leave us some your tips for managing the unexpected in the comments section below. Tell us your anecdotal stories. We want to hear it all.

Leave us some your tips for managing the unexpected in the comments section below. Tell us your anecdotal stories. We want to hear it all.

He loved to pose for the camera so I let him. I later used a filter to create the vintage film look.

The parents relaxed when they saw how much fun the kids were having during the session.

The post How to Adapt to any Situation for Portrait Photography by Erin Fitzgibbon appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Make $500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

09 Jul

I am an amateur photographer, but I make around $ 500 in revenue from my photos each month. Photography is a hobby for me, but it can be an expensive hobby at times. This money pays for photography software, computer hardware, and lenses, so the hobby I love doesn’t cost a dime. This article will discuss how I did this with microstock, and provide tips on how you can do the same.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

Making your first buck

In 2010, I wanted to improve my photography so I purchased an entry-level DSLR and started to actively study how to become a better photographer, mainly from resources on the internet. As I tried different techniques, compositions, and camera settings, I posted my photos to sites like Flickr, Facebook, and 500px. In the beginning, I didn’t get very many views or likes but still enjoyed posting and learning from other photographer’s photos on those sites.

After shooting, learning, and posting for two and a half years, a design company saw a photo of mine on Flickr and asked if they could purchase a commercial license. I did a couple of quick searches about licensing and pricing on the internet, then sold my first commercial license for $ 75. This is the first photo I ever licensed.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

Pay for your hobby

Before this first sale, I hadn’t considered selling licenses to my photos. However, I had gotten to the point where I wanted to upgrade my entry level DSLR and lenses to a full frame system but couldn’t justify the cost for my hobby. However, I could justify the cost to myself (and my wife) if the money for the upgrade came from licensing my existing photos.

Microstock

So, I started researching photo licensing and learned about microstock sites. These sites are websites that act as an intermediary between buyers of photo licenses and photographers. They are called “micro” because they typically sell photo licenses for less than where professional photographers have historically set their prices.

As a result, there is a lot of negative information about microstock sites on the Internet. Despite this negative information I decided to try posting my photos on Shutterstock, one of the most popular microstock sites. At the time, I had only made one sale ever so I felt that getting a small payment for each sale was better than no payment at all.

The first month I made less than $ 10 with 55 photos accepted by Shutterstock. However, I kept uploading my photos when I had time. A monthly later I had 100 photos on the site. In my third month, I checked my stats one morning and found I made $ 56 dollars from selling extended licenses from these two photos.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

A work in progress – keep at it

This was a bit of beginner’s luck because after that I didn’t have a day with more than $ 50 in sales for many more months. But it kept me motivated to continue uploading my photos to Shutterstock and even upload to multiple other microstock sites as well.

I also started uploading my better photos to art-on-demand sites like Fine Art America. These sites allow you to upload your photos, set a price, and create a storefront for anyone to purchase prints of your photos. When someone purchases the art, these sites handle the payment, printing, and shipping of the photo and send you money from the sale.

Lastly, I upgraded my photo blog to sell licenses directly from my website. Despite the fact that my photos are available on all the popular microstock sites, stock photo buyers continue to see my photos on social media and purchase licenses directly from my website.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

Realistic numbers – don’t expect to get rich

Two years after my first photo license sale, my monthly revenue from photos was about $ 500 a month. This $ 500 is an average, with my biggest month was $ 1400, while some months have been lower. Now that my photos have been posted, they can continue to get sales indefinitely. In 2016, I did not have much time for photography and only posted eight photos over the course of the year. However, I still averaged $ 460 a month in revenue from the photos I had posted in previous years.

These revenue numbers are for all the photos I have posted online. I only post my best photos from each day out shooting. My current online portfolio of all my photos is around 700 total. Microstock sites don’t accept all of my images, so on some of the sites, I only have 300 photos accepted and up for sale there. Doing the math, my photos earn less than $ 1 a month on average (per photo). And in reality, it is even less because I have one photo that has earned over $ 4000 over the years, while others have gotten no sales.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

However, I am fine with this because I take the photos I want to take and then post to stock sites to see if they sell. Photography is still a hobby and the pleasure it gives me comes first, making money is secondary. Often, the photos I like best are not the best sellers on microstock sites. For example, I prefer the photo of me and my shadow below because I really enjoyed making it, but the snapshot I took of a split trail while on a hike, sells much better.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

What sites work best

Although I have posted a portion of my collection to over 20 sites over the years, all of these sites can be categorized into one of two types; microstock and art-on-demand. 75% of my photography revenue has come from microstock sites, while only 8% came from art-on-demand sites. The remaining 17% is through direct sales from my photography website.

I have tried a number of art-on-demand sites over the years but currently only post to Fine Art America because it is the only site where my images consistently sell. I have also tried many microstock sites. Typically, if I hear of a new one, I will upload 100 of my best photos to begin. If I start to get sales, then I will upload the rest of my collection. Here are my top five microstock sites based on earnings. I currently only post to these five sites as I have found the other ones aren’t worth the time it takes to post the photos.

Shutterstock
500px
Fotolia / Adobe Stock
123RF
Big Stock Photo (Owned by Shutterstock)

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

Last tips for you

If you are an amateur photographer who wants to make additional revenue from photo licenses, here are the steps you can take:

Post your photos to social sites. My favorite is 500px, but I have also started posting to Instagram, and I still post to Flickr, which was my favorite a couple of years ago.
Setup your own photography blog. My blog does not get as many photo views as my social sites, but all my social sites link back to my photo blog. It makes it easy for potential buyers to purchase licences if they see them on social media. I used Squarespace for my blog because it was easy to set up in one day.
Upload photos to Shutterstock. Most microstock photographers who post their revenue on the web list Shutterstock as a top earner. So it is likely that if your photos will sell, they will sell on Shutterstock more than other sites, making it a good place to start.
Upload photos to other stock sites. Once you see some success on Shutterstock then go ahead and post your top photos to other microstock sites.

How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock

Conclusion

It has been seven years since I decided to take photography seriously and I have improved a lot over the years. However, I still have a lot to learn, but these days the software, courses, and gear that help me make photos are all paid for by revenue from the sale of photo licenses, rather than out of the family budget from my day job.

NOTE from the dPS team: Check out our Going Pro Kit with more stock photo success tips and other ways to make money through your photography

The post How to Make $ 500 a Month From Your Photography Hobby with Microstock by James Wheeler appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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All Deals are Back – Photography eBooks, Presets and Courses at up to 88% Savings

08 Jul

It has been a big week with our dPS Mid Year Sale and we know thousands of our readers have picked up some great photography training at crazy low prices.

Today we have a special surprise for you – all our deals are back for one last time!

Dps mid year sale deals FB v1

Each of the deals this week have been enjoyed by many readers but whenever we do deals like these we get emails from people to miss out – particularly as we know many of you are celebrating holidays at this time of year.

So – we decided to bring ALL the deals back for a couple of days to give those who missed out the chance to enjoy one of these bargains.

A quick reminder of what’s on offer in our dPS resources store:

All of our eBooks are just $ 9 (normally $ 19-$ 49)
All of our Lightroom Presets are $ 19 (normally $ 49)
All of our Courses are $ 29 (normally $ 99)

And then there’s our 4 deals from our friends:

Mastering Shutter Speed Course (save 62%)
Phil Steele’s Photoshop Basics for Photographers (save 40%)
Cole Joseph’s Photo Collage Tool for Lightroom (save 88%)
Richard Scheider’s How to Photograph Fireworks eBook (save 55%)

All of our our dPS products and those from our partners come with no-risk money back satisfaction guarantees. Try them out and if you don’t love them simply let us know and we’ll arrange a full refund – no questions asked.

Whether you pick up just one or create a collection of training to last you the next 6 months – we hope you find something in what’s on offer this week that will help you take your photography to the next level.

But don’t wait too long – these deals will only last a couple more days and then they’ll be gone forever.

The post All Deals are Back – Photography eBooks, Presets and Courses at up to 88% Savings by Darren Rowse appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Use Your Camera’s Color Profiles in Lightroom

08 Jul

Your camera has several color profiles that you can enable to change the look of your photos. On most cameras, these have names like Standard, Portrait, and Landscape. The names are fairly self-explanatory and tell you what each profile is designed to be used for. This article will show you how to use those camera color profiles in Lightroom.

This photo was taken with the Canon Portrait Picture Style color profile which is ideal for portraits.

Why do cameras have color profiles?

Back before digital photography, when everybody used film, it was common practice to select a film that suited the subject being photographed. A landscape photographer might use Fujifilm Velvia, a slide film that produced high contrast, deeply saturated images perfect for landscape photography. A portrait photographer, on the other hand, might use a film like Kodak Portra to create portraits with softer, more subtle colors.

When digital cameras first became available, all photos looked the same when it came to color. You could adjust parameters like contrast and saturation if you knew where to find the menu option, but there was no easy or straightforward way of doing so.

Then manufacturers started adding color profiles to their cameras. I’m using the term color profile deliberately because every manufacturer has a different name for it. They are listed below:

Canon: Picture Style
Nikon: Picture Control
Fujifilm: Film Simulation Mode
Sony: Creative Style
Pentax: Custom Image
Olympus: Picture Mode

Fujifilm’s approach is interesting because they have named their profiles after genuine film types. As a result, Fuji color profiles are more nuanced and subtle than those made by the other manufacturers. This new approach to color profiles is one of the features that sets Fujifilm cameras apart from the competition.

This image was taken with the Fujifilm Velvia color profile. This Film Simulation setting works well for landscape photos.

How to use color profiles

You can enable color profiles both in-camera and in Lightroom. Check out; The dPS Ultimate Guide to Getting Started in Lightroom for Beginners for more help.

In-camera color profiles are really designed for JPEG users. If you use the JPEG format, it’s important to choose the most appropriate profile as you cannot change it afterward in Lightroom. If you use Raw then it doesn’t matter which color profile you select as you can change it late in Lightroom (or ACR).

Color profiles in Lightroom

If you go to the Camera Calibration panel in Lightroom and look at the Profile menu you will find a list of your camera’s available color profiles. The options you see depend on the camera used to take the photo. Black and white profiles are only available for newer cameras.

These are the options presented in Lightroom for photos taken with my Canon EOS camera. The profiles in the red square emulate the camera’s built-in Picture Styles. The other profiles are Adobe Standard (present for all camera types) and those that came with a set of VSCO presets I purchased.

Color profiles in Lightroom

Some people recommend a top-to-bottom workflow in Lightroom’s Develop module. That is, you start at the top in the Basic panel and work your way down to Camera Calibration.

The only problem is that Color Profile is one of the most important settings in Lightroom. I recommend that you go to the Camera Calibration panel before you do anything else and select the profile you want to use first.

To see why, select a portrait in Lightroom, go to the Camera Calibration panel and select the Portrait profile (Fujifilm users can use the Camera Pro Neg. Hi setting). Take a good look at the skin tones. Now change the profile to Landscape (or Velvia for Fujifilm). See the difference that makes to the skin tones? Which looks more natural? This is why it’s so important to set the profile first.

Color profiles in Lightroom

Monochrome color profiles

Most cameras have several black and white (or monochrome) color profiles. Again, these are designed for JPEG shooters and are not much practical use for Raw users. The best way to convert a photo to black and white in Lightroom is to go to the Basic Panel and set Treatment to Black & White.

My article, How to Convert Photos to Black & White in Lightroom explains how to convert your photos to black and white in Lightroom in more detail.

Color profiles and White Balance

Color profiles work together with the White Balance setting on your camera to control the colors in your photos. For example, if you are shooting portraits you could set the profile to Portrait and White Balance to Cloudy to give your portraits a pleasing warm color cast.

Just like color profile, if you use the Raw format you can set the White Balance in Lightroom. This lets you decide how cool or warm you want your photos to be at the development stage.

Portrait developed using Portrait color profile and Cloudy White Balance. The result is warm and flattering.

Color profiles and Lightroom Develop Presets

Most cameras have less than ten color profiles. This doesn’t seem like a lot, especially compared to the wide variety of film types available to photographers 20 years ago. But it’s possible to create your own customized color profiles using Lightroom. The way to do this is to create a Develop Preset.

Let’s say that you like your camera’s Portrait color profile, but would prefer the colors to be less saturated. In this case, you could develop a portrait in Lightroom, using negative Vibrance or Saturation settings to reduce the intensity of the colors. You could also adjust the saturation settings in the HSL / Color / B&W panel. Then, create a new Develop Preset that saves those settings, and call it something like Portrait Preset.

Click the Plus icon in the Presets panel to create a new Develop Preset.

Decide which settings you want to include in the new Develop Preset by ticking the appropriate boxes. Give the preset a name and click Create.

Now you can apply that preset to any photo you like by going to the Presets panel in the Develop module and clicking on it. For example, I developed the following portrait by making adjustments to the HSL / Color / B&W panel and Tone Curve panels.

Color profiles in Lightroom

Once you are competent at using Lightroom’s Tone Curve and HSL / Color / B&W panels to control color you can create some very beautiful presets that you can use on your photos. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the knowledge of other photographers and buy Develop Presets that somebody else has created.

Conclusion

You can probably appreciate that the usefulness of Color Profiles depends very much on your personal workflow. If you use the JPEG format then both color profile and White Balance settings determine the way the colors in your photos come out. So, it is really important to get both settings right when you take the photo.

But if you are like most photographers and you shoot Raw, you can leave that decision until the post-processing stage. You can even go further, using Lightroom’s color control tools to alter the colors in your photos.

If you have any questions about any of this, please let me know in the comments below.

Are you a fan of the natural/vintage look in portraits? Then check out my Vintage Portrait Presets for Lightroom. There are over 30 presets to help you create beautiful portraits in Lightroom.

The post How to Use Your Camera’s Color Profiles in Lightroom by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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VSGO Camera Sensor Cleaning Kit Review

08 Jul

Cleaning your camera sensor for the first time can be a scary thing! But the fact of the matter is that it’s not as scary as many people make it out to be. Indeed if you get the chance to watch a professional sensor your camera, they’re pretty stress-free and just get on with the job, and while there is a (mostly!) good level of care, they’re not carrying on as if they’re performing open-heart surgery.

Yes, our cameras are our babies. But they’re also tools and despite what we may think, they can handle a little bit of hard work and a good cleaning, too. In this article, I’m going to tell you about my experience cleaning my own sensors and using the VSGO sensor cleaning kit.

See below for the video demonstration.

VSGO Sensor Cleaning Kit

The first time I ever tried cleaning my own sensor was on my new Canon 5D MarkII. I remember being super nervous and thinking that I was going to cause some irreversible damage!

Well, as it happens, I managed to put a big streak of cleaning fluid on the sensor and when I took a test shot I was horrified. I thought I’d scratched the sensor right down the middle! So I did a little bit of Googling to find that almost all modern sensors have some sort of protective layer in front of them to protect them from fools like me! I added a tiny dot of cleaning fluid, did it again and my sensor was sparkly and clean!

It is scary, but it’s not hard to effectively clean your own sensor.

I’ve used other sensor cleaning kits before. They worked fine, but they were just bigger and bulkier than this simple VSGO kit so I left them at home. With the VSGO sensor cleaning kit, I chuck a couple of swabs and a little bottle of cleaning fluid in my camera bag and I’m always ready should the need arise.

Sensor cleaning demo

I’ve put together this quick video to show you the exact procedure I use with these VSGO cleaning swabs, take a look!

As you can see in the video above, it’s easy to see the bigger dust spots, they’re sitting there waiting to be wiped away. Many people like the idea of blowing those right off, but I prefer not to do that. I don’t like the idea of blowing the bigger bits of dust off of my sensor and straight into the shutter box or sensor cavity to blow around at a later date and make your sensor clean mostly invalid! Kinda like driving through a car wash that’s just had its washy bits coated in dirt, no thanks.

In my few months of testing the VSGO cleaning system, I’ve found that with most camera sensors, you will only need one VSGO brush with a wipe from left to right. Then one more back from right to left using the opposite side of the brush and you’re done. But there have been one or two sensors that have required a couple of extra wipes!

How do you know when to clean your sensor?

When you’re out taking photographs and you close down your aperture (bigger f-number, for those of you that are newer to photography) for a deeper depth-of-field, you may notice little dark smudges, particularly around the edge of your photographs. Those cheeky little things are dust spots on the sensor (unless you had a pack of rabid pigeons flying around you looking for chips!)

They’re not very obvious when you’re taking a photograph with a shallow depth of field, and many photographers are prone to using our lenses as wide as they will go for the most part, so it’s not an issue. But from time to time, given the right situation, you will notice them.

In the photo below, I’ve bumped up the Contrast and Clarity in Lightroom to make the little smudge stand out a bit – pretty sure you’ll spot them!

My experience with the VSGO sensor cleaning kit was a very positive one and I have a couple of swabs and a bottle of cleaning fluid in both of my camera bags. (Thanks to Jeff at ProTog in Melbourne for telling me about these kits!) There is no downside to buying and having the VSGO cleaning kit with you, so I award it five out of five stars!

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6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

08 Jul

In this article, I’m going to talk about photography from a cyclist’s perspective, rather than the other way around. So here are some photography tips for cyclists to get the most of out of your cycling journeys.

There are many reasons why people take up cycling; to get fit, lose weight, explore new places, and to have the feelings of exhilaration and freedom are among them. One thing exercise does for you is put you in touch with your own body and highlight any health issues you may have. For photographers, it also opens creative opportunities. On a bike, you’ll travel farther than you can by foot and see more than you would when driving. You can also stop more easily than you can in a car and aren’t forced to bypass great pictures.

6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

Cyclists tend to want slightly different things than regular photographers; they’re looking to record their adventure, rather than passively photograph what’s around them. That adventure might include an amazing sunset or two, but there will be more emblematic photos of cycling itself. Often the bike will be included in the picture, which has more aesthetic appeal to cyclists than non-cyclists. Cycling companions may also feature, of course.

#1 – Camera choices for cyclists

A touring cyclist that bedecks his/her bike with panniers may decide to carry an SLR on a cycling trip. However, most cyclists are looking for a camera that’s light and compact enough to fit in a jersey pocket. A smartphone is an obvious choice since it’s likely to be carried anyway. However, photographers may prefer something with a bigger sensor and higher image quality.

There are a couple of candidates that immediately spring to mind as ideal cyclists’ cameras. The first of these is any of the Sony RX100 series. These are slim enough to be easily carried in a pocket, while also offering high image quality through a relatively large sensor. I sometimes carry this camera, which replaced an old Panasonic LX3. The latter was also okay, but lumpier than the Sony and less easy and comfortable to slip into a pocket.

Sony Cyber-Shot RX100 MK I

Choosing a light camera is especially desirable if you climb a lot of hills when cycling since gravity becomes your worst enemy. It’s no coincidence that the world’s fastest climbers among cyclists are either skinny, short, or both. Even if you’re slim, you don’t want to carry more weight on your bike than is necessary. Along flat roads, this is less of an issue, as wind resistance becomes the biggest obstacle to your effort.

A second camera that is popular among cyclists is the Ricoh GR. This camera isn’t quite as compact as the Sony RX100 but it is ruggedly constructed and offers high image quality. The Ricoh has a fixed wide-angle lens as opposed to the zoom of the Sony, so is a little less versatile. I haven’t used a modern Ricoh GR but can attest to the quality of these cameras having once owned a film version.

#2 – Cycling effort and its effect on creativity

All cyclists enjoy riding their bike, but their reasons for doing so are often quite different. A performance cyclist who trains for races will very often not stop once during a ride, regardless of its length. Such a rider will typically go on long, moderately paced rides to build endurance as well as some high-intensity rides to improve strength and speed. Rides with a relaxed pace are more conducive to taking photos than those where the cyclist is barely able to converse.

Rides with a relaxed pace are more conducive to taking photos than those where the cyclist is barely able to converse.

6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

Touring cyclists, I’d contest, are in a better position to take good photos, since they’re predisposed to admiring their surroundings and less bothered about performance. I’ve tried fast rides (“fast” only to me) and find it immensely difficult to stop during the effort, take a decent picture and move on. Whether it’s lack of oxygen to the brain or low glycogen levels, I always feel my chances of a good picture are reduced on faster rides. Photography, being a contemplative sort of pastime, needs a certain amount of attention before it can be done well.

Photography, being a contemplative sort of pastime, needs a certain amount of attention for it to be done well.

6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

The very act of getting up early for a bike ride may result in photos that you wouldn’t otherwise get. One type of motivation very often benefits another. Thus, even if you’re going on a fast group ride, there might be the chance of a good picture before you even reach the meeting point. Big cycling sportives, which are as much social events as athletic, should also provide a chance for good photos and are usually purposely designed to take in impressive scenery.

Big cycling sportives, which are as much social events as they are athletic ones, should also provide a chance for good photos and are usually purposely designed to take in some impressive scenery.

early morning photography - 6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

Early morning bike rides for me often involve crossing the misty River Seine.

#3 – Planning rides for photography

Cycling adventurers like to explore new roads whenever possible. It’s fun to do this without any preplanning just by taking a random turn here and there. However, you can also plan a route on your computer using tools like Google Maps, MapMyRide, Ride with GPS, and Strava Route Builder. If you have a bike computer capable of navigation, you can load a route into the computer in the form of a TCX or GPX file and then follow its course out on the road.

Strava route builder cycling photography - 6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

Strava Route Builder, which lets you create routes and download them for use in a GPS bike computer.

Some bike computers will randomly generate a route for you, though they might take you along roads or through areas that are unsafe, so you must be a bit wary of that. If you really want to predict photo opportunities, an app such as LightTrac (or PhotoPills) will tell you what time the light will be at its best at any given location. Not everyone wants to plan their journey down to the finest detail, but the possibility does exist.

#4 – Bike Preparation

Non-cyclists are unlikely to “get” this, but people who love to ride bikes also tend to like looking at them. Most cyclists appreciate a stylish or characterful bike. So, what is the best way to prepare a bike for photography?

Here are some slightly tongue-in-cheek details that may make a bike portrait look better:

Remove any bidons (water bottles) from their cages for the picture.
Ensure the saddle is level.
Cut any excess from the steerer tube (an untidy protrusion that often exists when handlebars are lowered).
Match the colour of the handlebar tape to the saddle.
Line the pedal cranks up with the chain stay so they don’t cut across the bike frame (manufacturers do this in catalogue photos).
Install matching tires.
Remove saddle bags for the photo. (Impractical for fully loaded touring bikes.)
Gum wall tires outline the shape of the wheels nicely, but don’t hide dirt very well. They tend to offer a plusher ride, so you might buy them for aesthetics and comfort. Make sure they’re clean.

fixie bike portrait cycling photography - 6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

Portrait of a single-speed “fixie” bike, often considered to be the height of urban cool.

Clearly, these are not all things that can be addressed out on the road, and you can attend to any or none of them as you please. The stuff you carry on a bike might be part of your adventure, so whether you remove it or not will depend on the story you’re trying to tell. On a bike ride of a couple of hours, most people don’t carry much, so don’t need to include it in a picture.

mountain bike photography touring cycling - 6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

Bike luggage is part of the story when touring.

#5 – Background and composition

However good your bike looks, you’ll let it down if you don’t set it against a pleasing background. If the background complements the color of the bike, so much the better. Nice light helps, too.

If you’re traveling, of course, you’ll want to include some scenery in the picture or any iconic buildings and monuments. The same rules that apply elsewhere also apply here. Keep the composition as simple as possible and don’t include clutter or any unnecessary elements. Pay attention to detail and remove litter and unwanted objects. Use roads to create strong diagonals, which will lead the eye into the picture.

Cyclists well positioned along a road that leads the eye into the picture.

#6 – Photos on the move

Though it’s highly inadvisable among traffic, a lot of cyclists can handle their bikes well enough to be able to take a photo while moving. There are several possibilities here:

When moving at the same pace as a companion, you’ll be able to take a portrait with a motion-blurred background.
You can take photos of a cycling group up ahead, preferably on a quiet road or cycling path where you don’t endanger yourself or them by taking the photo.
You can take a selfie while riding, either from side-on or from the front. Holding the camera/phone at a high angle will capture any cyclists behind you, too.
When you’re riding with sympathetic companions, set the camera up before moving for a particular type of shot. For instance, a slow shutter speed will enable you to take a portrait while maximizing the effect of movement.

cycling photography group rides - 6 Photography Tips for Cyclists

When it’s safe to do so, you may want to photograph other participants in a group ride.

Other photo ideas and summary

There are various other types of pictures you might take as a cyclist. If you puncture a tire, you could photograph your bike in its state of disrepair and record the process of fixing it. Then there’s the obligatory café stop that’s part of the group-riding culture.

Photographic subjects on a bike ride are almost limitless, but those most relevant to your journey will often be bridges, roads, tracks, trails, grass banks, sweeping fields and vistas, wildflowers, woodlands, road signs, traffic, tanned legs and cool sunglasses.

Most of all, enjoy your cycling and your photography. The two go hand in hand once you’ve found the right balance of exercise and creativity. Please share your cycling photos and tips below.

The post 6 Photography Tips for Cyclists by Glenn Harper appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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12 Tips for Practicing Good Camera Etiquette When Photographing Events

07 Jul

It’s easy to get excited about having a good camera you can take with you to various events and activities. Being able to record the event in images to print or share is exciting and sometimes a nice thing to do for the people holding the event. But do you follow good camera etiquette? And what does that even entail? Let’s have a look.

Low light situation with bright coloured stage lights made this shot difficult. I wanted to capture the colours of the lights, so I chose not to use my flash.

People attending the event may appreciate being on the other side of your lens. Some people are uncomfortable when faced with big professional looking cameras. Other people just want you to sit down and stop blocking the view for everyone behind you.

It can be a challenge to balance your desire to capture those special moments against a level of intrusiveness into the occasion. What are your options? What should you consider in advance?

#1 – Is it appropriate?

Some religious ceremonies may not be the place to take a camera along. Photographing other people’s children is now something to be done with caution for a variety of security reasons. Are you blocking the view of other participants? Are you being a distraction? Have you just blinded everyone with your flash?

Were you asked to bring your camera along to the event and shoot? Have you got permission or approval to be shooting? These days it can be assumed that images will be shared online, not everyone may want to have their images shared, or to be tagged or identified in some way.

You can share relevant images of an event without showing the faces of attendees

#2 – Use discretion in your approach

So you rock up with a big DSLR body, big long lens, and your camera is clicking away audibly over the hushed sounds in a church. People are looking at you over their shoulder, others are grumbling about you being in their way. Maybe your flash just scared the birthday boy and he is now crying and scared? Sound familiar?

Being there with your camera doesn’t give you the right to impose or interfere with the event. Even a professional wedding photographer is there to be discrete, to capture the images without being the focus of the event. So standing up in the audience, blocking the view behind you isn’t okay. Distracting the performers or people involved with the loud shutter sound is not okay. Getting in the way of people to get the perfect shot is not the point of the event from everyone else’s point of view. They probably paid to be there too.

If you can’t get into the front row easily, if you feel you have to use your flash in a dark venue, if you are getting in the way of attendees or other people, then learn to identify a better time and place to be shooting. Enjoy the event instead and put the camera away.

Flash was used in this instance with the permission of the dancer, who was performing for our camera club. I specifically wanted to throw the background into darkness so the bright colours of her outfit glowed.

#3 – Get permission

Have you checked that cameras and photography will even be allowed at the event? Plenty of concerts, plays and similar events specifically ban photography. Sometimes they will announce it on stage before the curtain rises. Some venues specifically ban professional looking equipment, so are you prepared to have yours confiscated at the gate?

Depending on the country you live in, people have rights over how images of them are used. So they have the right to deny you the ability to take shots of them, especially at a private or family event. Not only should you ask for permission to shoot in advance, you should also clarify about what will happen to the images. Will you be sharing them online? Are people okay with that? Do you have model releases for images you might want to use commercially or in competitions?

This steampunk lady and her partner not only agreed to pose, they also signed model releases for me.

Are you shooting architecture? Have you checked what approvals may be required? Many buildings that you may assume have public access are actually privately owned. Some do have limitations on photography, especially if it’s a busy space and you want to set up a tripod in the middle of it. It is easy to think you have the right to shoot anywhere you want, but to avoid an uncomfortable situation with a security guard or police, do your homework in advance.

A day out shooting airsoft was lots of fun – I was taken along by one of the organizers who made sure I followed all the safety protocols.

#4 – Flash is rarely a good idea

Many events are held in quite dark spaces like; concerts, plays, musical events, sports, dancing, etc. Everyone in the audience is sitting in the dark, watching the action happen under the stage lights. Imagine how annoying it must be for someone to stand near the edge of the stage and light up the place with a camera flash repeatedly. Imagine how annoying and distracting (and potentially dangerous) it must be for the performers to have the flash bombarding them.

If you are in a low light situation where you cannot obtain good images with the gear you have, then put it away. If you need to do a lot of low light work, you may want to consider investing in a body with good ISO performance and a fast prime lens. But otherwise, don’t be the jerk with the camera spoiling it for everyone else by having your own fireworks show while you are trying to shoot.

Shooting an indoor swing dance event using a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens to maximize the use of available light and reduce the need to use flash allowed for more intimate images, as the dancers didn’t notice I was there most of the time.

#5 – Avoid conflict

Are you at a wedding or other event where a professional shooter has been engaged? Did you go up to them, introduce yourself, mention you had a camera and ask if it was alright with them if you grabbed a few frames for your own personal records? Did you gracefully put your camera away when they said no, that they didn’t appreciate an amateur getting in the way? Do you respect the wishes of the people organizing the event and allow the professional to do their job?

Did you avoid conflict with someone being paid to do their job, or did you cause a scene or aggravate them with your attitude? Were you professional?

If someone asked you not to take photos of them, did you agree? If someone asked you not to post images of them online, did you shrug and do it anyway? Did you consider your right to shoot and post more important than that of the people whose images you are using to promote yourself?

Are you covered legally if something bad happens as a result of your photography interference?

This lady walked into my shot and is saying oops!

#6 – Participate and be present

How many times do you get asked along to a family event or social occasion? A few? People are generally pleased to see you and chat and catch up about things. What happens when you bring your camera out? Are people then avoiding you? Do the invites stop coming?

Ask yourself an important question at any event you are tempted to take your camera along to – especially if it involves family or friends. What is more important – the people you are with and the event you are celebrating or is it your camera and photography?

Sometimes it is more appropriate for you to leave the camera behind, to actually be present and participate in the moment. To talk to and connect with people without the barrier of a camera lens between you.

Pick your occasions, your sister may be delighted by your offer to shoot your niece’s first school play outing (but the school or the other parents may not be). Or you could sit in the audience and enjoy the special moment for what it is.

Don’t forget to enjoy the barbecue!

#7 – Personal security

Walking the streets, or being in a big crowd with expensive camera gear hanging off your shoulder can be a dangerous exercise. Camera gear is obvious, people see you using it, and the big flashy stuff is usually worth a reasonable amount. Are you paying attention to your personal security and that of your gear? Do you want to be out alone at night in the city getting the gritty street shots?

Traveling to other countries is exciting, but they have different laws and situations. Have you studied in advance to make sure you are not causing any offences? Do you walk around with big branded straps on your camera and on your bags? Are you a walking advertisement for expensive camera gear just waiting to be grabbed when you leave it on a chair in a restaurant? Dress to blend in when you can.

camera etiquette

#8 – Don’t waste people’s time

Is your camera all set up and good to go for the lighting conditions you might encounter? Or are you standing there fiddling with the buttons while your subjects stand there awkwardly, wondering what’s going on?

Be ready to capture the best and most genuine smiles.

#9 – Engage your subject

This may well depend on the circumstances, but an image of someone looking at the camera and sharing some emotion makes for a far more powerful image, than a furtive capture from the sidelines. Take the time to say hello, introduce yourself, and explain why you are taking pictures.

Ask their name, if they are okay with you photographing them. Talk a bit about the event, get them interacting with you. Be sincere, everyone has an interesting story to tell, if only you take the time to listen. A few minutes is all it takes but the difference in the quality of the images will be huge. Plus it’s polite to treat people like people, and not just objects for your photography amusement.

I spent an afternoon with these lovely ladies at a Zombie Run and we had lots of time to get to know each other. So they were happy to spend some time lurching towards my camera when I proposed the idea.

#10 – Don’t compete for attention

If there are several photographers at an event clamouring for attention, you will get different people looking in different directions within the same image. The end result is not as nice as it can be, and can matter for things like group wedding shots. So wait your turn to get in front of the subject, don’t try to shoot at the same time as someone else (especially a hired pro doing their job!), and potentially ruin both your images.

I have the attention of two of the three guys, the one on the right is looking at another shooter next to me.

#11 – Take no for an answer

Some people hate having their photo taken, regardless of the situation or approach. There are many reasons for people not to want to be in front of your camera, so be respectful of their wishes. If they ask you to delete any images they are in from your memory card, then do it. If asked not to post images of people online, don’t. Your rights as a photographer are not more important than those of the your subjects.

good camera etiquette

#12 – Act professional even if you aren’t a pro

Lots of photographers hope to make money out of their hobby and interacting with customers is a key part of the business. Even if you are new and learning, be professional and courteous. Eventually when you are taking paying customers, you will have developed good habits and hopefully a good reputation as well. It will pay off. Have a business card with some contact information to assure people you aren’t a creep with a camera, but a genuine photographer. Who knows, it might also generate some new business for you.

This troupe performed at an event I was at and while I was taking some portraits in the lobby they saw me and asked me to photograph them. As I was happy to do that, then they asked if I could get a shot of this guy doing a high kick. The lighting was terrible and my camera wasn’t really up to it, but I agreed, took a few shots, and emailed the best ones to them the next day.

Conclusion

Remember that when you turn up at an event with your camera, it isn’t about you and your photography. It’s about recording the event in a way that doesn’t interfere with it, or disturb the other people or patrons attending. Respect people’s wishes and privacy, ask permission, follow good camera etiquette and everyone will be a lot happier about the situation. Don’t be a jerk, no one appreciates that.

The post 12 Tips for Practicing Good Camera Etiquette When Photographing Events by Stacey Hill appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to do Photography of Frozen Flowers

07 Jul

Have you ever received a beautiful bunch of flowers and wondered how they might look frozen solid? No? Well, me neither! Actually, up until recently, I was more interested in keeping flowers in a good old conventional vase. But photographers are a mighty creative bunch. Provided with some of nature’s most basic ingredients, we put our heads together and discovered an amazing way to create such wonderfully abstract photographs of frozen flowers. And with such beautiful results, I wish I had started stowing my floral bouquets in the freezer sooner!

How to do Photography of Frozen Flowers

Supplies

You will need:

Flowers
Freezer
Water
Container
Camera

Method

Getting started

How to do Photography of Frozen Flowers

There are a few methods I’ve encountered for preparing photo-ready frozen flowers. One of those methods involves the use of liquid nitrogen, but I’m going with something a little less technical. To fully encase your beautiful flowers in a block of ice, you’ll need to gradually build up the surrounding layers of ice. Usually, you could go about filling any old tray with water, throwing it in the freezer and forgetting about it until summer. However, flowers contain oxygen, and oxygen is lighter than water. This means that chucking flowers into a full bowl of water and freezing it over is a no-go. The flowers will simply bob to the surface, stick out of the ice and wither away.

Anchoring your flowers

Instead, have a dig in your Tupperware drawer. I’ve found that a wide and relatively shallow plastic container works best, depending on freezer space. Fill your container with a few centimeters of water. Tap water has a foggier appearance when frozen, so use distilled water if you want a glossier effect. Place your flowers face-down in the water, arrange them how you like, and place the container in the freezer. The small amount of water will freeze over, trapping parts of the flowers and anchoring them so that they can’t float in subsequent layers of water.

Retrieve the container after a couple of hours, making sure the flowers are partially frozen to the ice in the container. Once the flowers are secured, pour a few extra centimeters of cool water over the flowers and existing ice. Be careful not to add too much though – the ice below can thaw and release the flowers, starting the whole process again. Return the container to the freezer.

Flowers fixed in place by a few centimeters of frozen water

Final stages

After another couple of hours (you guessed it) take the container out of the freezer again and add a few more centimeters of water. This time, you can add as much water as you like. But remember, the thicker the ice, the harder it will be for light to pass through the frozen block, cutting down the amount of light which will reach your camera’s sensor. However, ice will melt over time, so adding more water is better than adding too little. When you have added the last layer of water, take your container and pop it back in the freezer one last time.

Once the uppermost layer is frozen, remove the container from the freezer and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. After the ice has separated from the container, turn the container upside down over a cloth. Gently tap the container and the ice should slide out. Voila, behold the beautiful results of your hard work!

In this image, the base of the container has created an impression in the ice. You can even out the surface by rubbing a warm dampened cloth over the uneven imprint.

Photographing your creation

Now that you’ve created your icy flower sculpture, it’s time to photograph it before it melts. I recommend positioning your ice block near a light source or window with natural light coming through. This allows light to penetrate the ice and the membrane of the flowers to create a more detailed subject. For my photographs, I leaned my frozen flower block against the glass petitions of my apartment balcony. Be sure to put a towel underneath the ice to avoid a wet puddle.

How to do Photography of Frozen Flowers

Positioning the frozen block of flowers against natural light illuminates the details and varying tones in the image.

Experiment!

Now that you have the technique down, have a go with different combinations of flowers and containers. Depending on the shape and length of a container, you can manipulate the density and trajectory of bubble trails frozen in the ice. Try adjusting the orientation of the container, or breaking and refreezing the ice.

To make the rounded point encasing the rose head below, I lined the inside of a glass cup with a plastic bag. After anchoring the flower head to the first few frozen centimeters of ice, I gradually built up the layers of water to completely cover the rose. The air that escaped the rose was squeezed out and trapped inside the base of the glass, creating intricate patterns around the rose head. To make the ice more rounded, I simply wore the edges down with my hand for a minute or two.

The long bubbles suspended over the rose head are the paths of oxygen trying to escape

Line the inside of a glass cup so that the flower is easier to remove once it is completely encased in ice.

Once completely frozen, I let the glass sit at room temperature, gently tugging on the plastic bag every 10 minutes or so. Eventually the plastic bag became separated from the glass, and I carefully lifted the ice from the cup, revealing the beautifully encased flower inside.

A single rose, completely frozen after being positioned vertically in a glass cup.

As water freezes, oxygen is squeezed out of the flower, leaving beautiful trails in the ice.

Conclusion

Frozen flower photography is a super simple way to give your floral images a unique edge. With a few simple tools found in the kitchen and a pretty selection of flowers, you can create a countless variety of beautifully intricate photographs. Whether you are looking to update your portfolio or searching for something to do on a rainy day, these eye-catching floral sculptures are definitely worth braving the cold.

Share your frozen flower photos in the comments below! You could also give this a try: How to do Frozen Object Photography at Home.

How to do Photography of Frozen Flowers

The combination of ice and organic material is simple and striking, even as the ice begins to crack.

A small section of an autumn leaf protrudes from the ice.

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Photo Editing Alternative – An Overview of ACDSee Ultimate 10

07 Jul

As more and more people take up digital photography and want to get started editing, many are asking the question, are Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop my only options? At ACD Systems, they have their own editing software called ACDSee Ultimate 10, which allows you to do many of the same functions as the former.

Adobe’s subscription model—membership and monthly payments—is a big turn off to many, particularly because if the price becomes too high, it will become unattainable, and then they will be left with nothing. We have already seen some price hikes recently. ACDSee Ultimate 10 could be perfect for those looking for an alternative to what Adobe offers.

ACDSee Ultimate 10

Starting Up ACDSee Ultimate 10

Without a doubt, you will scratch your head as you try to work out how to do things in ACDSee Ultimate 10, but this can be said for any new software you try. If you have used Lightroom, then much of it should be easy to work out, and there are a lot of similarities. If you have not used it or any other photo editing programs, then you will find a wide range of videos on their website to take you through how to use ACDSee Ultimate 10 and understand it.

One of the biggest problems with Lightroom is how you must import your photos into it. With Ultimate 10, there is no need to import your photos as they are read directly off of your hard drive and displayed in the exact same folder structure you see in Windows Explorer (or Mac Finder). This saves you one step altogether, however, there is also an import function available, which you can use to apply some batch functions, such as renaming while extracting the photos off of your device.

What Manage Mode first looks like when you open ACDSee Ultimate 10.

Parametric Processing

As you work your way through the videos, you will hear a lot about parametric processing. If you are like me, you have never heard the term before. It is another way of saying non-destructive, or in easy terms, you can save all your layers so you can go back to it and work on it some more, later.

Using ACDSee Ultimate 10

There are obvious differences between ACDSee Ultimate 10 and Lightroom, but you are also going to find a lot that is similar—perhaps even better. When you open it up, you can see in the top right corner the different modes that are available: Manage, Photos, View, Develop, and Edit. We will take a look at each mode and see how they compare with Lightroom and a little of Photoshop.

It is fair to say that Photoshop does offer a lot more than this program. However, as many people prefer using Lightroom, this could be a really good alternative for them. You can certainly do all the same edits that you can do with Lightroom. However, it’s when you start getting into the more advanced image manipulating where you would normally use Photoshop that you may find limitations withACDSee Ultimate 10.

See a feature comparison between Lightroom and ACDSee Ultimate here.

Manage Mode

The Manage Mode is very similar to the first window you find when you open Lightroom, the Library Module. On the left, you see a column with all of the folders on your computer. It displays the folder structure you have on your hard drive, so there is no searching through unfamiliar territory. The way Lightroom does this can be confusing and it can be hard to find directories.

Taking a look around to see what is in Manage Mode.

Underneath the above, you will find details about the selected image, such as the camera model, the size of the image, and what your settings were. Then under that, you will find a histogram of the image.

The middle section is where you see the contents of the selected folder and any subdirectories that may be in it. Each thumbnail indicates what type of file it is, RAW, PSD, etc. It is still possible to put ratings and labels and such on your images. There are categories and keywords that Lightroom users will be familiar with, which can be used the same way in Ultimate 10. This section works like a proofing sheet, which allows you to see all of the images in the folder.

In Lightroom, you can get a preview of the image by pressing the spacebar, however, in Ultimate 10 you use View mode to get a larger view of your images. To get there you can double click or press enter with the desired image selected. In the right-hand column, all the EXIF data that is available in the image is found there. There is the same additional information that you find available in Lightroom.

Photos Mode

In this mode, you will get a small preview of every image that you have on your computer. It is almost like a list, in order. The images will be sorted by the date they were taken, and you can do rearrange to sort by day, month, or year. It is a great way to help you find photos when you can’t remember where you put them, especially if you’re like me and don’t use categories or keywords.

How Photo Mode appears.

In Lightroom, you could only do this with the photos that you have imported. In Ultimate 10, it doesn’t matter; it will show every image that is on your computer.

View Mode

In View Mode, you will get a larger view of the selected image. Underneath the image, there is a filmstrip with all the photos in the selected folder so that you can navigate between them. There are also some basic functions you can apply to the image if you want to make some changes. However, this mode is more for viewing your photos and figuring out which ones you might want to work on.

Opening View Mode.

In this mode, you can add ratings, labels, and set your categories. To rate an image, click Ctrl/Cmd plus the number you want to assign to it, or to label an image press Alt/Option then the number according to the color you want to apply. You can do many other things to the image as well. There is a small menu on the left just above the filmstrip, or you can right-click on the image to get options as well.

Some of the functions you can do in View Mode.

Develop Mode

This is the mode that seems to most resemble Lightroom and is your workspace. It is laid out differently and you will find all the adjustments in the left-hand column. Many of them are the same, though to get to each of the sections you will find these modes; Tune, Detail, Geometry, and Repair near the top that you click for various adjustments. Each one of those modes have different tools you can use to make the various changes to your images.

Opening an image in Develop Mode.

A lot of the processes are set out differently, but they often have the same names. There are titles for each one which, like Lightroom, are menus and when you click on them new adjustments can be accessed. The plus sign means it is closed and when it’s opened, it turns into to a minus sign.

Looking around Develop Mode and the Tune Mode.

What is available in Detail Mode.

What you can do in Geometry Mode.

A quick look at Repair Mode.

Develop Presets

In ACDSee Ultimate 10, you can save your develop settings as presets, either globally by mode (Tune, Detail, Geometry, Repair) or by tool group. You can then apply saved presets to a single image, or a batch of images in Manage Mode.

Develop Brush, Linear Gradient, and Radial Gradient

These three tools similar to Lightroom’s Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, and Radial Filter. They can seem a little strange at first if you are used to Lightroom. The Develop Brush doesn’t have an erase button, so how do you remove the parts you did by mistake? By right clicking and going over the part you no longer want. This is actually much better, and makes your workflow much faster.

In Lightroom, when you want to use the Graduated and Radial filters, you click on them and then draw a line on your image. With Ultimate 10, once you click the Gradient button, the Gradient will appear on your image, and then you move it, enlarge or shrink it, or rotate it to where you want. There are specific places on the gradient to do that. The cross in the middle is used to move it, the hook from the cross rotates it, and the squares on the dotted lines are used to resize it. It is different but doesn’t take long to get used to. If you want more than one gradient, you will find a section with the icon and a blank square above it. To apply another brush, just enable the next checkbox.

How the Graduated Filter works.

How the Radial Filter works.

To make them disappear once you are done, click on the icon for the tool and the program will unselect it.

Edit Mode

Edit Mode is very similar to Photoshop, however, again, it is set out a bit differently. In this mode, you can do a lot of fine-tuning. You can use layers and make adjustments.

The tools are along the top under the menu bar, and the edits that are available are down the left side. On the right, you will find your layers panel, and the layered adjustments are down the bottom of that panel. Underneath those, you will find where you can add new layers, masks, or duplicate layers.

Opening up into Edit Mode.

When you have different layers, you will also find the rubbish (trash) button will appear there. Highlight the layer you want to delete, and press the button. Though you could simply press delete on your keyboard as well.

The feathering option is different and you don’t set how much you want to feather until you have added the mask. You press the mask button and the settings for it will appear at the bottom of the layers panel.

Adding layers in Edit Mode.

Edit Presets/Actions

While you can also save presets in Edit mode, perhaps even more useful is the tool they developed to address the general limitations of batch editing. ACDSee Actions allow you to “record” any and all adjustments you make in Edit mode, and then to apply them to other images, (individually or to a batch), by “playing” them back (like Actions in Photoshop). It’s as simple as pressing a Record button before you start editing, pressing Stop when you’re done, and then choosing a name to save the action under.

If you forgot to begin recording before you started editing, you can simply use the Undo button, press Record, and then press the Redo button. You can even preview the effect that an action is going to have on an image before applying it. This really speeds things up and ensures that you can apply anything in a batch.

Using Actions.

Overall Impressions of ACDSee Ultimate 10

Without a doubt, ACDSee Ultimate 10 is a good alternative to Lightroom. It has a lot of similar functions, and many of the things that you do in the first, you can do in the second. How you use it is always going to be different and finding your way around the settings and functions will take time, but that is the same with any software.

If you are someone that doesn’t use Photoshop but you would like to start working with layers, then Ultimate 10 could be a good way to start.

The final image.

Owning or Renting

With the latest release of Lightroom, everyone was told that it would be the final one that you would be able to buy outright. All future releases will come under the Creative Cloud subscription plans. This has made a lot of people nervous. Meanwhile, many are frustrated that while they have purchased it, there are still functions that are only available if you subscribe to Adobe.

At ACD Systems, they understand this frustration, and you can buy all their products so you own them. Or, if you want the benefit of getting updates and having the latest version, you can also subscribe. The choice is yours.

If you are unsure of what to do, their Live Chat is available, along with email and phone numbers for you to call as well. To take a look at the Ultimate 10 follow this link, ACDSee Ultimate 10.

A quick look at the website where you can find videos.

Finally

ACDSee Ultimate 10 is a great program for anyone who wants to get into photo editing. While there is a learning curve, that is true for any other editing software that is available. For most photographers, Ultimate 10 will have everything they need to do the image adjustments they would like. Give it a try and tell us what you think.

Disclaimer: ACD Systems is a paid partner of dPS

The post Photo Editing Alternative – An Overview of ACDSee Ultimate 10 by Leanne Cole appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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