Category: Photography

Primes Versus Zoom Lenses: Which Lens to Use and Why?

Which type of lens is better, a prime lens or a zoom lens? This is one of the most debatable topics in photography. Some of you might choose a zoom lens and others may choose a prime lens, it all depends on what and where you are going to shoot.

It is really important to know what each of the two types of lenses are, and which type should be used during a given situation. This article will help you in this area.

What is a Prime Lens?

A lens that has a fixed focal length is known as a prime lens. So if you want to change your view of the frame, you will have to go closer to, or farther away from the spot where you are standing. As the focal length is fixed, there is no zoom ring on the lens.

There is a wide range of prime lenses available on the market, ranging from wide-angle prime lenses (such as 14mm and 24mm lenses) to medium and long range telephoto prime lenses (such as 135mm and 400mm lenses).

A Sigma 20mm prime lens.

What is a Zoom Lens?

A lens which has a variable range of focal lengths is known as a zoom. Using such a lens, you do not need to move from your spot, and adjusting the zoom ring allows you to get a wider or narrower angle of view. So by using a zoom lens, you can change the focal length in order to adjust the angle of view.

There is a broad range of zoom lenses available, be it a wide zoom lens (such as the 12-24mm or 16-35mm lenses), the telephoto zoom lens (such as a 70-200mm, 100-400mm, and 150-600mm lenses), or the multi-purpose zoom lens (such as the 18-300mm and 24-105mm lenses).

Tamron 18-200mm zoom lens.

Benefits of Using a Prime Lens

Wide Aperture at a Lower Cost

One of the biggest advantages of using a prime lens is that you get to use a wide aperture (small f-number) such as f/1.8 and f/1.4 at a reasonable cost. For example, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens (only $ 125) and the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens ($ 1199 compared to the Nikon version at $ 1599 or the Canon one at $ 1899). Whereas, a zoom lens such as the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L does not allow you to shoot wider than f/2.8, and that will burn a hole in your pocket (close to $ 2000).

Shallow Depth of Field

A prime lens allows you to use an aperture value as low as f/1.2 or f/1.4, thus providing a really shallow depth of field. Using such wide aperture opening, you can get more of a bokeh effect which means that your subject would be in focus and the background/foreground is blurry. Comparatively a zoom lens may only allow you to go a wide as f/5.6, f/4 or f/2.8, resulting in a wider depth of field as compared to a prime lens.

Therefore, if you are planning to get shallow depth of field (more bokeh effect) then using a prime lens would fulfill your requirements.

Shot at f/1.4 using the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens.

Better Low Light Photography

As mentioned above, a prime lens can let you use an aperture value as low as f/1.2-1.8 which lets more light into the camera. While shooting in low light conditions using a prime lens you can use a faster shutter speed as it lets in 3-4 more stops of light (f/1.4 > f/2 > f/2.8 > f/4 > f/5.6 – a 50mm f/1.4 lets in 4-stops more than a standard f/5.6 kit lens) compared to a zoom lens.

So if your zoom lens at f/4 is giving you a shutter speed of 1/20th, using a prime lens at f/1.4 would allow you to use a shutter speed of 1/160th. If you are in a situation where the lighting is low and you do not have a tripod, using a prime lens would have an added benefit as it allows more light into the camera.

Better Sharpness and Image Quality

There are fewer lens elements inside prime lenses, each placed to perform a specific role. This is the reason why a prime lens produces less optical flaws such as chromatic aberration and lens distortion, thus resulting in better image quality.

The number of lens elements in a zoom lens is more because it has to provide variable focal lengths, resulting in decent sharpness. However, even zoom lenses are getting better day by day in terms of image quality and sharpness to closer match the results captured by prime lenses.

Benefits of Using a Zoom Lens

Versatility

One of the biggest advantages of using a zoom lens is that it allows you to change focal lengths without changing your lens. A zoom lens provides a range of variable focal lengths which can be adjusted using the zoom ring on the lens, the range depends on the lens model. To name a few zoom lenses, you can get 18-55mm, 16-35mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 100-400mm, and 18-300mm lenses. While using a zoom lens you can even go from a wide angle view to a telephoto view without even changing the lens.

So if your shoot requires you to switch between various focal lengths then it is better to use a zoom lens to save time and to avoid missing any important moments. In wedding photography, sports, and while traveling you should be using a zoom lens the most, because if you switch between multiple prime lenses then you might end up missing the moment.

This image shows the range of focal lengths the Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC lens provides.

Portability

A zoom lens such as the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 is basically five prime lenses in one as it covers some of the most commonly used focal lengths such as; 85mm, 100mm, 135mm, 200mm, and 300mm. Imagine how easy and light it would be to carry a single lens in comparison to carrying five in your camera bag. Though the zoom lens would not allow you to use a wide aperture or give amazingly sharp images as a prime lens would, but it would surely help you pack light. Now it is all up to you, either choose the advantage of the portability of a zoom lens – or carry the extra weight if you are not willing to compromise on image quality.

If you are a frequent traveler who likes to pack light and can compromise a bit on the image quality and the ability to shoot a wide aperture, then a zoom lens is an ideal choice for you.

All in all, a less expensive deal

As stated in an example above, the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens is basically five in one (or even more). So now if you do the math, a $ 449 zoom lens can allow you to use any focal length ranging between 70mm and 300mm. Whereas, if you buy five or more prime lenses then you might end up spending over $ 4000.

A zoom lens would be ideal for you if you have just started in photography and want to explore different genres of photography. First invest in a decent zoom lens such as the 18-55mm, 18-300mm, 55-250mm lens or the 70-300mm lens. Then once you are sure about what genre of photography you want to go ahead with then you can buy your next lens accordingly.

Conclusion: A Prime Lens or a Zoom Lens?

There is no doubt that prime lenses are superior when it comes to sharpness and image quality. However, zoom lenses are improving constantly, but still not close enough perhaps. Though some premium zoom lenses such as the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM produce images with brilliant sharpness and less optical aberration.

If you are looking for that beautiful bokeh effect which can only be achieved at wide aperture then you will have to go for a prime lens. It will allow you to choose aperture values such as f/1.2, f/1.4, or f/1.8. Similarly, to shooting in low light conditions a prime lens will give you the added advantage of using a faster shutter speed, thus resulting in sharp pictures.

But if you are a frequent traveler or are not familiar with the location, then using a zoom lens will be a safer option as it is a versatile as well as a portable option. Even at weddings or while covering events you cannot rely on a prime lens as there are limitations of moving around the area, therefore using a zoom lens is a wiser choice.

Please share your thoughts on the prime versus zoom lens discussion below. Which lenses have you opted to use?

The post Primes Versus Zoom Lenses: Which Lens to Use and Why? by Kunal Malhotra appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

April 6, 2017
Advanced Shooting Modes: What They Are and When to Use Them
Are you ready to get off Auto? When most people get started in digital photography, the first thing they do is set the shooting mode dial on the top of the camera to Auto. It makes sense to let the camera make decisions about things while you’re just getting used to using it.

In Auto mode, the camera makes decisions not only on the Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO but also on many other factors such as White Balance, Focus Mode, Focus Points and Metering Mode.

After awhile, you might start to choose one of the automatic scene modes such as portrait, sports, landscape or night, if your camera has those options. This gives the camera a bit more information about what you’re shooting so it can make better decisions for you.

But at some point, you are going to want to take control and make those decisions for yourself. Your camera is smart, but it’s not an artist! This is where the advanced shooting modes come in.

The Exposure Triangle

Before we get into discussing advanced shooting modes, you need to understand the concept of how the exposure triangle works.

First, there is shutter speed – the length of time that the shutter is open. This is the easiest part of the triangle to understand; the longer the shutter is open, the more light comes in and hits your camera’s sensor.

ISO 100, 24mm, f/22, 80 seconds

Second, there is the aperture – the variable opening in your lens through which the light passes. The opening is round and works just like the pupils in our eyes. On a bright day, you squint, making the pupil smaller to let in less light. When the light is dim, your pupil is larger to let in more light.

Generally speaking, a small aperture opening and a long shutter speed may allow the exact same amount of light in as a large aperture opening and a short shutter speed. Choosing this balance between aperture and shutter speed is the key, and your choice will depend on what you are trying to achieve with your photograph.

The third and final factor in determining exposure is ISO – the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to light. For those of you who remember the film days, ISO is similar to ASA, the speed of the film. Essentially, it’s best to leave ISO at a low setting such as 100 (other photographers will recommend using high ISO as needed – do your own research and experiment with your camera). But if you’re in a low-light situation, you might need to increase it so that less light is required to make a good exposure.

Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas. ISO 200, 10mm, f/18, 1/10th of a second.

Advanced Shooting Modes

There are five main advanced shooting modes available on most digital cameras:
1. P for Program Mode
2. A or Av for Aperture Priority Mode
3. S or Tv for Shutter Priority Mode
4. M for Manual Mode
5. B for Bulb Mode
Many professional photographers frown upon using anything other than Manual Mode. But I respectfully disagree. A camera is just a tool and a smart one at that! There’s nothing wrong with letting your camera do what it’s good at as long as you are controlling the factors that are important to you.

Program Mode

In Program Mode, your camera chooses the shutter speed and aperture. You can control other factors like white balance, focus mode, focus points and metering mode. Program mode is a good place to start when you’re just coming off of auto mode and learning how to use your camera settings. But it isn’t where you want to stay because aperture and shutter speed are the key to taking control of your images.

Aperture Priority Mode

When you use Aperture Priority Mode, you tell the camera what aperture you want to use, and it will calculate the appropriate shutter speed to make a good exposure. The size of the aperture affects depth of field, which is a critical concept when you want to take creative control of your images.

When you have a very large aperture opening, such as f/2.8, you are going to have a shallow depth of field. That means that whatever you focus on will be sharp, but everything in front and behind it will be out of focus.

On the other hand, when the aperture opening is small, such as f/22, you have a large depth of field, so more things that are in front and behind your focus point will also be sharp.

Try them all

The best way to understand this is to try it out for yourself. Put your camera in Aperture Priority Mode and take the exact same photograph using each aperture setting. Then look at the photos on your computer and you’ll see the effect that aperture has on the depth of field.

What you’ll find is that photos with a large aperture have a soft background and photos with a small aperture have a background that is in focus. For me, depth of field is the most important factor in my photography, so I almost always use Aperture Priority Mode.

ISO 100, 33mm, f/18, 1/25th of a second. For this image, it was important to keep everything sharp from the closest cactus in the foreground to the mountains in the background. So I chose a small aperture to ensure I had good depth of field.

F-Numbers are Tricky

Before we leave this topic, there’s one thing that many people find confusing and that is the f-stop numbers. A large aperture opening is represented by a small number and a small aperture is represented by a large number. I don’t want to get into too much math here, but my trick for remembering how this works is to think of it like a fraction. 1/2 is larger than 1/8, so f/2 is a larger opening than f/8.

Shutter Priority Mode

When you use Shutter Priority Mode, you tell the camera what shutter speed you want to use, and it will calculate the appropriate aperture to make a good exposure. This mode is most useful when you have moving objects in your frame and you want to either freeze the motion or blur the motion.

For example, if you are photographing a bicycle race, you probably won’t be happy with just any old shutter speed. You’ll likely want to use a relatively long exposure, such as half a second or one second, to blur the motion of the bicycles going by. Or you’ll want a fast shutter speed such as 1/500th of a second to freeze the motion. Anything in between would look out of focus.

Shooting waterfalls is another good example of when to control the shutter speed for the silky water effect.

ISO 100, 180mm, f/22, 1/10th of a second.

Manual Mode

When you are in Manual Mode, you must tell your camera both the aperture and the shutter speed you want to shoot at. You will use your camera’s light meter to determine whether the settings you have entered will create a good exposure, then adjust the settings based on whether you have too much or not enough light.

In Manual Mode you are in complete control and practicing with it will give you a good grasp on how aperture and shutter speed work together. Once you understand this, it may be more convenient to use either Aperture Priority Mode or Shutter Priority Mode to accomplish your goals.

Bulb Mode

Bulb Mode allows you to extend the shutter speed beyond the camera’s built-in limit, which is usually 30 seconds. You can use this mode to photograph the streaks of clouds moving across the sky, or at night to photograph star trails.

To use Bulb Mode, press the shutter button and hold it down. The shutter will open and stay opened until you release the shutter button. But of course, this method isn’t practical because you can’t just stand there holding the shutter button down for 10 minutes! Plus, having your finger touching the camera during a long exposure will cause camera shake and your photo would be blurry.

This photo was made using an intervalometer programmed to make a 7-second exposure every 15 seconds for two hours. Then all the images were stacked to create the star trails.

The best way to use Bulb Mode is to use a shutter release cable (or a remote trigger). This allows you to press the button on the cable to open the shutter and then lock it opened so you can walk away and come back later to release it. Another option, instead of using a cable release, is to use an intervalometer which will allow you to program how long you want the shutter to be opened and even program multiple shots. For example, you can set it to take a 2-second exposure every 5 minutes for an hour.

Conclusion

Remember, the camera is your tool to use any way you like to make your art. The shooting modes are just some options that are available to you so you can accomplish your creative goals. Have fun and experiment!

Shooting modes are just one of the camera settings you’ll want to master to take control of your camera and your photography. My new eBook Taking Control: Essential Camera Skills for Beginners will help you understand what all the knobs and dials on your camera do and how to use them for creative control over your images.

The post Advanced Shooting Modes: What They Are and When to Use Them by Anne McKinnell appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
April 6, 2017
10 Reasons Why Photography is a Great Hobby
People start doing photography (versus taking snaps or selfies) for many reasons. It might be a major life event coming up – new baby, wedding, special birthday – or that overseas trip saved up for over many years. It might be that the capabilities of your phone frustrate you enough to want to get real about photography. However it happens, suddenly you find yourself with an empty bank account and some form of camera gear that you now need to figure out how and where and maybe even, why to use it.

10 Reasons why photography is a great hobby
1. Recording events and capturing memories
2. Have fun
3. Learning is good for the brain
4. Health and fitness
5. Creativity
6. Travel
7. Meet new people
8. Join a photographic community
9. Develop a personal style
10. It’s all about the light
#1 Recording events and memories

Photography allows you to create images of events, times, and places. To both record what happened and allow you to share them with friends and family, either in digital format or more permanently with prints or photo books. By being able to capture a special moment in time, you carry the memory of that event forward with you, allowing you to share it and remember it with those that were there. Those memories become part of your history, perhaps family lore, not just stories passed down through the generations – but images as well. As the popular idiom says, “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

Memorable moment capturing the rare NZ Falcon

#2 Have fun

So much fun can be had with a camera. You could be out with the family at the beach or a picnic, local sports games, randomly roaming your city streets photographing strangers without them noticing, stalking wildlife, hiking up a mountain for a stunning view, or standing under the stars at 2 a.m. watching the Milky Way slowly move across the heavens. So many opportunities to do new, interesting, and fun things with your camera that you likely may not have otherwise done.

All sorts of things become interesting when they can provide you with material for photographic adventures. Cultural festivals, parades, sports events, a wander along the beach, exploring parts of your city previously undiscovered, architectural details on buildings, intricate details of flowers, people watching, difficulties of photographing wildlife, meeting people who have different interests and hobbies – just for a few ideas. Most people are willing to share their passion with you if you take some time to talk to them. There are endless opportunities for photographic inspiration – even the contents of your fridge or pantry can be fascinating when viewed through a macro lens. All you need to do is make an effort to look.

Hanging out with the zombies at a Zombie Run event.

#3 Learning a new skill is good for your brain

Research has shown that learning a new skill helps the brain and improves memory, and the more difficult the skill, the more improvement you get. Coupled with exercise, these two things are considered important for long-term brain health and neuroplasticity. Studies show that slower learning over time helps build strong new linkages within the brain.

New knowledge will accumulate over time, as you keep putting effort into learning a new skill. Given that photography has so many elements, the science of light, the technology of the camera and the creative artistic side, there is a lot to learn. So whatever your age, now is the perfect time to start learning photography.

#4 Health and fitness

Getting out of the house, walking about, or even hiking is often a side-effect of getting into photography. If you are into landscapes then you have to go to where the landscape scenes are, and that often means some form of exercise. Once you have enough camera gear – likely a body, some lenses, and a tripod – it can weigh a reasonable amount and you will need a bag of some kind to carry it comfortably if you are traveling any reasonable distance.

Some people prefer a more gentle form of exercise – for health or mobility reasons. Others may prefer multi-day hikes into stunning mountain scenery. Mountain biking, horseback riding, kayaking and similar sports are often popular modes of transport to get you to a new landscape and allow for photography along the way.

Camera gear is heavy, so it’s important to be aware of any health or safety concerns. Carrying heavy cameras on straps around your neck for a long time can be quite painful. People with disabilities or limited mobility might prefer a lighter weight option and there are many available these days. Although one of the downsides of digital photography, especially if you shoot RAW, is the amount of time you can spend in front of your computer, processing the images, so that needs to be considered into your fitness regime as well.

#5 Creativity

In her book, “Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear”, Elizabeth Gilbert writes a great deal about creativity and inspiration. She says it is good for us as individuals, and that the world is a better place for having art in it. That feeling when you finally get the awesome sunrise photo or the perfect candid, maybe the aurora or a meteor shower, or whatever your passion is, that feeling when you finally get the image, makes it all worthwhile.

Being creative is something we don’t tend to allow ourselves to do as adults. Photography is a very acceptable form of creativity that allows endless flexibility in how you adapt it to your own personal style. That style can grow as you learn more and start to experiment with different things. Creativity is fun and it provides a necessary balance against the stressful demands of the modern lifestyle.

#6 Travel

Traveling to different parts of your own city or country, and if you are lucky enough to afford it, other parts of the world is a likely outcome of taking up photography. There is so much interesting stuff to photograph in other places including landscapes, wildlife, architecture, and people from other cultures. Travel broadens the mind and exposes you to new concepts and ideas and is an excellent learning opportunity, provides so much creative

Travel broadens the mind and exposes you to new concepts and ideas and is an excellent learning opportunity. It provides so much creative variety and possibilities for personal growth. Taking the opportunity to travel, even just a couple of hours drive or bus ride away, can provide entirely new situations and vistas. Be brave and venture forth.

#7 Meet new people

Meeting interesting new people in your travel and adventures is often an unintended side effect. Asking the locals for advice on how to find the way to a certain viewpoint may lead to them showing you the way. Chance encounters with people curious as to what you might be photographing can lead to directions to other points of interest. Maybe you organize a meetup with local photo enthusiasts in your area and you make a new friend, a new adventure buddy. A random chat in a cafe might lead to a new client.

If you are friendly and courteous with your camera, many people are often happy to pose. In some cultures, it may be appropriate to thank them with a small cash payment, so research that in advance. Engaging with other people, even with the barriers of language, means you make more of a connection, and the resulting images may be much more powerful and emotional. While keeping personal safety in mind, be brave and say hello.

#8 Join a photographic community

Being part of the photography community can be very supportive. Sharing your passion with other people around the world, who speak your language, understand your challenges, and have had similar experiences can very helpful. Online forums can be good places to find those secret local waterfall spots, where certain rare birds might be nesting or come to feed. People may be willing to offer assistance with problems, critique on your images, and it’s just generally a welcoming place to hang out and chat about your hobby.

Join our dPS community on Facebook!

Photographer in their natural state at a PhotoWalk

#9 Develop a personal style

There are many different types and styles of photography. Some people prefer to label things, put them into boxes and tell you that you have to fit within their preconceived ideas. Rubbish! One of the great joys of photography is its ability to be adapted to every individual’s desires, needs, or preferred style. There is space for all different approaches within photography from the classic landscape, nature, wildlife, street, portrait, sports styles to all the different variations in between.

Whatever your passion is, you can explore it via photography in whatever creative way you want. When starting out it pays to have an understanding of the basic guidelines for composition, but don’t let them limit you to always stay inside them. Challenge them, break them, and see what happens. It might work, it might not, but either way, it will be a learning experience.

#10 It’s all about the light

Whatever light you have at any given moment is the light you need to work with. Modification of the light might be required – it may need filtering, shaping or diffusing. You might need special gear to adapt to certain light conditions, e.g. astrophotography has certain types of lenses that are recommended, fast glass is recommended for situations where light levels will be poor – sports events inside gyms, music and stage events, churches for weddings, etc.

Too much light can also be a problem with harsh shadows and blown out highlights. Differential light where you have patches of bright light and shadow within the area you are working, which makes it difficult to get a good exposure. Learning to use a flash or another artificial light source has its own challenges as well as added costs in buying the hardware required.

Learning to work with the light available and knowing how to adapt to it to get the best image possible is one of the biggest challenges photographers face. Light has color, depth, dimensionality, texture, tone, shadow, and behaves in certain ways, dependent on some fundamental rules of physics. One day there will be a moment when you finally “see” the way a photographer does when you see how light falls, how light and shadow are interdependent, and how you can use them to add depth and drama to your images.

Summary

Photography adds so much value to our lives, by recording special events, people, or places, as well as helping us learn and grow as people. It allows you to share your life and experiences in more meaningful ways via images, either online or printed and given as gifts. Or perhaps you might be quietly puttering away in your home studio, perfecting the art of the macro lens.

Photography is a hobby that offers so many possibilities for creative expression, technical expertise, and sheer variety of ways to capture an image. Age is not a barrier to learning a new hobby and you can start with the camera on your phone if that’s what you have available. Start getting real now!

The post 10 Reasons Why Photography is a Great Hobby by Stacey Hill appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
April 6, 2017
Complete Step By Step Wedding Photography Workflow
You may have spent months planning a wedding with your client. After countless emails, meetings, and the actual wedding day itself; it’s time for the lengthiest part of your work to begin, the post-processing. Your wedding photography workflow is the part of the job that clients never see (and most never think about) after the event is over. Post-processing for digital photography starts from the moment you return to your home or office up until the clients receive their final images.

Wedding photography workflow

Every photographer has their own speed and style to post-processing and most will have their own aesthetic or editing programs they prefer to use. However, after owning a busy wedding photography studio for the past five years, I have created an efficient workflow that works well, while giving images a personal aesthetic. In this article you’ll find what to do after the wedding day is over, to delivering the final product to your clients using an efficient workflow.

Step 1: Back Up

You may have been shooting for eight or more hours, but when you get home, don’t crawl in that sweet, comfy bed just yet – your night isn’t over. It’s imperative that you back your client’s images up in several places as soon as possible. Not only did your client pay a lot of money for your time and expertise, but for the safety of their images as well. Until their images are backed up safely in several locations, no naps allowed! Don’t learn the hard way, back those things up.

Part one – download

On your computer, create a folder with the client’s name, and a sub-folder called “RAWS” (assuming you shoot in RAW, which you should. More on that later). You will need to copy the images from all of your memory cards into the new “RAWS” folder on your computer.

Note: RAW files are huge, s,o you will probably need to upgrade the amount of storage space on your computer, and get some more RAM while you’re at it to run your computer programs efficiently. If you’re using a Mac, make sure your computer is scheduled to back up using Time Machine as well.

Part two – make a copy

After all the files are on your computer, back them up again to a client folder on an external hard drive. When not in use, the external hard drive should be kept securely in a place like a fireproof safe. Some photographers back up on more than one external hard drive.

Part three – backup online

Lastly, when you don’t think you can stay awake another second, you need to start your RAW file back up to an online or cloud location. I use Zenfolio for my RAW storage, although there are other storage sites available. The good news? You can go to sleep while the files upload overnight (and maybe the next few days if you have a slower internet connection).

Step 2: Importing and Culling

The most exciting part of your job – not!

I’m going to be honest here, culling, or going through every image you took of a wedding, rating them, and deciding which to keep and which to trash, is the most tedious, eye-bleeding part of your job. This is why it’s not a good idea to “spray and pray” throughout a wedding day with your cameras. The more selective you are with the photos you take, the faster your post-wedding workflow will be. Alternatively, there are companies you can use to cull your images for you if that is within your budget.

In Lightroom, create a new Lightroom catalog for your client in their client folder: File>New Catalog. Then import your RAW files from the client folder you created while in the Library module.

Once all the images are imported, make sure all cameras are set to the correct time, and do a “sort by capture time” so everything from the wedding day on all cameras is in chronological order.

Culling

Next, start to cull your photos by lens. I have found this is the quickest way to make a decision on which images to keep. You can do this in the Library Module, going to Metadata (or hitting the / key), and selecting the lens you want to cull (see below). Rate your images on what to keep (hit P for picks or keepers) and what to toss (hit X for rejects). Repeat your rating process with each lens, and after they are finished filter by “all lenses” in the Library module to see the images all together. From there, do a second (or third) round of culling in the Library module until you have your final number.

For the step above, you’ll need to choose a rating system that works well for you. My rating system is 1 stars are rejects, 2 stars are keepers, and 3 stars are keepers that need Photoshop retouching. I often find that if I took a series of photos at once (like I do for the family formals to ensure no eye blinks) the last ones in the set are usually the best, so I will look at those images first for my 2-star keepers.

For more on rating and flags in Lightroom read: How to Organize Your Photos in Lightroom OR Organizing Images in Lightroom.

Step 3: Basic Edits

This is where the magic happens!

You have your final number of culled images, and can now begin your basic Lightroom edits. This is where your cropping, straightening, and adjustments for exposure, contrast, shadow, highlights, etc., come into play. This part is very personal to each photographer and this is where your style begins to emerge. This is also why shooting in RAW is so important, as you will have greater flexibility in editing as compared to a JPG. Many photographers may stop after this step, and that’s A-Okay if you’re happy with your result! However, if you want to push your images further – there are a few more steps involved.

Quick tip! If you have a series of photos in the same lighting situation taken with the same camera, edit the first photo in the set, select the rest of the photos that match, then hit the “Sync” button to apply your edit to all of the photos in that set at once.

Step 4: Polishing

Making your images sparkle using Alien Skin or Presets.

Many photographers may polish their images (a.k.a. color tone) with a chosen preset after the basic edits are done. You can buy Lightroom presets from a plethora of sources online or create your own. I found the Alien Skin program years ago and fell in love. For me, Alien Skin gives me the pop, sharpness, and great skin tones that I absolutely adore. It also has beautiful lens flares and light leaks that I use for enhancing natural sunlight. If you choose to try Alien Skin, see the steps below, otherwise skip to Step 5.
1. Choose your favorite images (or all of them) to put through Alien Skin by selecting them in Lightroom, right-clicking and choosing “Edit in Alien Skin” (once the program is installed, this will be an option).
2. You can create your own presets in Alien Skin for a faster workflow and a likely favorite will emerge. Select your most used preset and apply to all. Then deselect all.
3. Go through each photo individually, and make sure that’s the Alien Skin preset you want to use and see what tweaks are needed for each image.
4. When you’re finished, click save and your images will automatically import back into Lightroom (as copies) with the filters applied. Hit the 1 key, to discard the originals that you’re not going to use. (Occasionally, I end up liking my Lightroom edit better than my Alien Skin edit, so it’s nice to compare them side-by-side).
Step 5: Photoshop – Retouching Your Images

Now that your images have all your basic edits and color toning, select the images that need to be retouched with Photoshop by filtering for the 3-star rated images. Retouching can include editing out acne, stray hairs, doing head swaps or editing out any distracting objects in the image. On a Mac, you can hit command+E (Window is Control+E) in Lightroom to open your image in Photoshop. After retouching is complete, you can select CMD/CTRL+S (or File>Save) to return your retouched image to Lightroom.

Step 6: Black and White Images

This is the quickest part of my post-production and one my favorites, as well, because I love black and white images so much. Many wedding photographers provide a mix of color and black and white photos, with the color versions of each black and white as well. This where Alien Skin comes into play again. Not only are the black and white filters so dreamy, but they automatically make a copy for you, making your job really easy.
1. In Lightroom, select the images you want to be in black and white by using CMD/CTRL+click to individually select them.
2. Right-click and select “Edit in Alien Skin”. From there, all the selected images are uploaded to Alien Skin.
3. It’s easiest if you already have a black and white preset that you love saved, and apply that to all images, then deselect all. Go through each image individually using the color sliders (especially the reds and yellows) to edit and ensure each black and white image is perfect.
4. Save all black and white images back to Lightroom where the edited color version and the edited black and white version will be side by side.
Black and white images can also be made in Lightroom by creating a virtual copy, Photo>Create Virtual Copy (or CMD/CTRL+’). Then select “Black and White’ in your Basic Edits box, and adjust the color sliders until they’re perfect.

Step 7: Exporting. The Home Stretch!

Hooray! All of your images have been backed-up, culled, edited, polished, retouched, and you have your black and white copies. Now you just need to export the final versions to your client’s folder on your computer (I create a folder called “Edited:).

Select all of your completed images in Lightroom, go to File>Export. Choose your file location, file name (I have mine set to custom name and sequence), file settings (Mine is set to jpeg, sRGB, quality 100), and then select export when you are finished.

Step 8: Importing to an Online Client Gallery

Once all of your high-resolution JPGs are exported to the Edited client folder on your computer, you can then upload to the online gallery of your choice. Some online galleries allow you to upload your high-res JPGs directly from Lightroom using a plug-in, letting you skip a step in the process. I use Pixieset for my galleries, as I like the modern look, ease of use, and their customer service.

Step 9: At Long Last…

After you upload your images to an online gallery, copy your final edits to your external hard drive in their client folder. Once your edited files are safely online and on an external hard drive, you can delete the RAW files from your computer, because they take up a lot of space and you already have them safely backed up online and to an external hard drive (or two). If you ever want to use that Lightroom catalog again, it’s easy to sync the RAW files on your external hard drive with the Lightroom catalog that’s stored on your computer. I like to leave the edited JPGs on my computer for easy access.

Conclusion

This entire workflow process time will vary for every photographer. For me, I need 4-5 full days of nearly uninterrupted work. As you know, photographers are humans too. With life and other weddings/shoots in between – delivery time can take weeks or months after the event, depending on how busy your season is, how many photos you have, and how much retouching is required. You may need to mail prints, albums, USB drives, etc., as well, so keep that in mind for your total post-production time.

With a lot of practice and knowing your style, you’ll see your post-processing time get shorter and shorter. If you’re lucky enough to find a post-processing company that fits your style and budget, you’ll have extra time in life for the things you love, like photography. Until then, get to work!

The post Complete Step By Step Wedding Photography Workflow by Misti Marquette appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
April 1, 2017
5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started Wildlife Photography

I first started photography almost 10 years ago, and I sometimes wonder where I would be if I knew what I know now, back at the start. I feel like I’ve learned the most important things about wildlife photography in the last 4-5 years, with the time prior to that being spent juggling schoolwork alongside my hobby.

The hardest part about getting really good at something is at the start. It can feel impossible to take a decent image when you’re comparing yourself to the stunning work you see online all the time. Maybe you’re even taking lessons, but feel like there’s some kind of barrier that you can’t bust through to photographic greatness above.

While we’re all still learning, whatever stage we’re at, I hope that some of these tips will help you fast track your photography. Hopefully, you can avoid some of the mistakes I made early on when I first started doing wildlife photography.

#1 Single-point focus is a must

There are few situations, other than perhaps birds in flight, where you would want to use anything but the single-point focus mode on your camera. If you allow the camera to select the best focus point itself, you’ll easily have an image of an animal with its body sharp but eyes out of focus. This kills the shot – instantly.

When you’ve switched to single-point focus, you can dictate exactly where the camera will look to focus. Point that little black square at the eyes of your subject and the rest will start to fall into place. Just be extra sure that you aren’t focusing on the nose, or beak, of an animal rather than the eyes. It’s an easy mistake to make in a small viewfinder. After that, no longer will you need to trash that super cute shot of a squirrel just because the eyes are not sharp.

#2 Semi-automatic modes are your friends

I want to address a common misconception I hear again and again. This is that anything other than full manual mode is cheating and not proper photography. While I insist that everyone should learn how to use their camera in full manual, there is no reason to add extra obstacles in your way to a great photo.

With wildlife photography, everything is moving so quickly and the light is constantly changing. Most of the time when shooting in full manual, you’re just introducing a load of unnecessary wheels to spin and adjust to account for the tiniest change in light.

Photo: Mario Calvo / Unsplash.com

But, that’s also not to say that photographers using semi-automatic modes aren’t capable of shooting in full manual. Having to continuously adjust settings in a fraction of a second will most definitely make you miss opportunities. Plus, when you really understand how full manual works, it takes only a little thought to adjust and perfect the exposure. It just adds time to the process.

Semi-automatic modes take away this chore, meaning you can focus more on composition and other, arguably more important, ingredients that make up a great photo. You can still have control over your exposure, fine-tuning it using exposure compensation. I have lost count of the number of shots I missed when I insisted on solely using full manual mode at the start of my photographic journey.

The shooting modes I’m referring to are Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and full Manual with Auto-ISO. Take a look at this article I’ve written about which of these is best for certain situations: Why Semi-automatic Mode is the Best Choice for Wildlife Photography

#3 Organization is key

By alborzshawn

My biggest regret is never properly organizing my photos. I only started to do this vigorously back in 2015, which I am quite ashamed to say! I use Adobe Lightroom, and it just makes life so much easier. Creating a catalog of my images, I can keyword and easily find them all. Collections allow me to sort through specific shoots quickly, and the delete button is never too far away either with a tap of the X key on my keyboard.

Deleting images is something that we all need to do, but it’s never easy. But be brave, and if a shot isn’t up to scratch then make sure to haul it out of your catalog and into the trash. If you don’t, you’ll end up with hard drives full of thousands of pictures and you’ll never be able to find the good ones hidden within them.

It’s good practice to make sure you dig through all the photos from a shoot fairly quickly. Remove the blurred and rubbish frames so that you don’t procrastinate and find down the line that you still have to prune the images from a shoot a few years ago. Whoops!

#4 You don’t need to fill the frame

I always thought that a good wildlife photo filled the frame with the subject. If it was too far away, then there was no shot to be had. How wrong I was! The style of minimalist wildlife photography, having the subject small in the frame, is becoming increasingly popular nowadays. Perhaps styles and tastes have changed in the field since I first started out, but either way, it is something I wish I had experimented with more when I was younger.

This is great news for those of you who don’t have access to large telephoto lenses, too. It means you don’t need to go and shell out thousands for a 500mm prime lens when you can get shots that are just as good with a shorter telephoto (or even a wide lens).

Keep the subject small and introduce the environment around it into the scene. You might need to adjust your aperture to increase the depth of field, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. Since the surroundings will become a larger part of the shot, perhaps you want them to be more in focus than usual.

#5 You don’t need to stick to a normal aspect ratio

One thing that I’ve only started to do within the last year or so, is to play with the aspect ratio of my photos. You don’t need to stick to the standard that pops out of your camera. Try cropping into a square, or even creating a panoramic shot, to make long photos that capture a wider view than normal.

A colony of guillemots on the Farne Islands, Northumberland. One individual is attempting to land and squeeze into the group.

Experimenting with the aspect ratio of your photo makes them stand out too. Immediately people notice that the photo doesn’t fall into normal ratios, and pay attention to the shot. I really like these long, snaky frames. I feel they tend to work well with scenes that have a large number of focal points within them. For example, this image of the guillemots has so many different birds that you can look at in detail. The long frame creates a sense of a large colony of birds, and works well to get rid of the unnecessary sky above that would be there with a standard ratio.

In Conclusion

We can’t all be experts from the word go, I still have loads to learn about wildlife photography. But hopefully, some of these tips will help you to buck the trend and let you benefit from some of the things I wish I knew when I first started clicking wildlife photography.

The post 5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started Wildlife Photography by Will Nicholls appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 31, 2017
8 Reasons to Revisit the Same Photography Location Again and Again
It’s good to keep moving forward and trying new things all the time. There are times when going back to an old photography location can be a great idea, though. Even if you have a stellar photo from that location it doesn’t mean you can’t get an equally good image that has different characteristics.

The easiest places to make return visits to are of course those local to you, but heading back to that far-off exotic destination is also rewarding. Let’s take a look at those eight reasons to revisit a photography location, and why this will improve your work.

This is a great vantage point in Busan. I returned to this location to take this photo.

1 – Conditions are never the same!

The earth is a constantly changing and dynamic entity, that means you’ll almost certainly get a different image if you go to the exact same spot and photograph it again. There are even projects that show the same location photographed every day, with the intent of showing subtle changes. You don’t need to go every day, of course, but you might take a shot of the location in the snow, and one in the sun.

The following is a list of variables that should ensure you can return to a photography location, and get something different from it each time.

A different angle of the bridge in Busan. This time photographed from the coast.
- Season – Provided you live in a temperate area that sees a change of the seasons, you can make the most of this with your photography. Taking shots of the same location in spring, summer, fall and winter is a classic photography idea.
- The tide – If you’re in a coastal location the change in the tides can alter the scene you photograph dramatically. You can check the state of the tide at this website, and remember to stay safe in coastal areas.
- The sun position – This is similar to the seasonal change, though the position of the sun could make or break the photo more than if there is snow or not. The position of the sun can be planned before you go back using the suncalc website.
- Astro-photography – You may have photographed a place by day, but how about photographing it at night? You could try photographing star trails, or even the Milky Way. As with the sun, the position of the Milky Way shifts in the sky throughout the year, so prior planning is needed when shooting the night sky.
Everything looks great with snow! Snow is one of the best weather conditions in which to shoot.

2 – Revisit a photography location with brand new gear!

New photography equipment can really open up other creative angles that you’d never thought of before. One of the best pieces of equipment any new photographer can purchase is a tripod, which will then open up the door to lots of long exposure photography.

The addition of a new lens to your camera equipment will open up yet further possibilities, especially if you’re trying a wide-angle or fisheye lens for the first time. Those who like light painting should look at the pixelstick, a great tool for this type of photography.

New gear is a great reason to revisit a photo location. In this photo I used a glass ball, it’s one of the first photos I took with it.

3 – New photography techniques

New gear often means learning a new technique. There are plenty of techniques you can learn with your existing gear.

As a landscape photographer, you may have photographed a location before using a technique like digital blending. Of course, once you know this new technique you’ll want to revisit a photography location and see if you can improve on your old shots. Equally, if you’re a portrait photographer learning to use

Equally, if you’re a portrait photographer learning to use off-camera flash will really enhance your work. This would give you a good reason to go back and shoot a place again.

A new technique such as steel wool spinning can lead you to revisit a photography location.

4 – A special event is happening

There really is no better reason to revisit a photography location than some kind of event happening there. A big cultural event can give a location much more context and story, enriching your photo. The potential for unique photos that other photographers won’t be able to replicate also exists at these kinds of events.

Photographing an event also presents a good test of your skill, there are no second chances with these type of photos. Lastly, it’s great to experience a place at its vibrant best, which will be the case during a festival or event. It’s always worth running a google search on a particular location to see what yearly festivals they have, this way you can plan to be there during that time.

A fireworks festival will often show a location in a different way.

5 – Improvement as a photographer

The longer the gap between revisiting a photo location, the more your photography will have changed. This can be a great way to gauge your improvement as well.

Lay out your best five photographs from the first trip you made, and then your best five when you return this time. Are there differences? How have you improved as a photographer? Is there something you wanted to improve that you still need to work on? It is typical for a photographer to first improve by making their photos more minimal. After a period of learning the next step is to add story and context to a more minimal scene, this is a step-by-step process.

As you develop as a photographer the angles you use will change. You should be able to look back and see your improvement.

6 – Revisit a photo location until you get the best weather

If you know a good landscape photographer they’ll likely tell you they revisit the same spot until they get the photograph they want. The truth is you never know whether you will get the perfect sky. This can be especially frustrating if you need to travel several hours to reach the location. Weather can change fast, and these days pollution can also be a factor.

The need to make repeat journeys then is important if you wish your photo to be striking. Even once you have that perfect shot going back can be fun. Can you take this scene with different weather conditions and make another striking image?

This is what happened the first time I visited this spot. The day was nice, then dust and smog rolled in.

7 – Previous experience of a location

As a photographer, it’s always a good idea to have some stock locations you know about. These are places you’ve been before, and you will know very well. The big advantage here is you will automatically know the best location and shooting angles.

That means no losing the shot because you’re scrambling around looking for the best perspective. Landscape locations very often work well for portraits as well, and prior knowledge of a place will help you choose a good spot for this. It’s always good to have a killer location in your back pocket.

I’d shot this bridge several times before. I used my prior knowledge of this location to choose a new angle.

8 – Visit with friends

When friends come and visit, and especially if they’re photographers, it’s great to show them a nice place. They’ll appreciate the local knowledge passed on to them. The chances are one day you’ll benefit when someone takes you to a great location that they know about, so sharing is always a good idea.

The other benefit of going with another photographer is they’ll have fresh eyes. They may spot something you missed, and give you further ideas about how you can photograph that location.

Infrared is another photography technique that opens new creative possibilities.

Get out there and play it again!

Do you really need any of the above reasons to revisit a photography location? Those areas of natural beauty or the cool festival you went to the year before are always great to see again.

Let’s see your favorite photography location in the comments below. What draws you back to this place, and do you have more than one favorite photo from there? Is there anywhere you’ve been to that you’d like to visit again? We’re all looking forward to hearing your stories in the comments below!

This was one of the first photos I took at this location. Return visits have meant better photos.

This bridge in Busan is photogenic. It’s fair to say one of my first photos of it isn’t that dynamic.

This bridge at Seonamsa in South Korea was a favorite photo when I took it. I have since photographed this place several more times.

The post 8 Reasons to Revisit the Same Photography Location Again and Again by Simon Bond appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 31, 2017
Review of the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens

As I begin this review I find myself searching for appropriate adjectives. A few that come to mind are sharp, crisp, beautiful, sleek, and sexy. Easily, any one of these could be used with confidence when describing a sports car or an extra tasty hot dog. But here, I feel the need to apply such words to what very well may be the most impressively performing lens I’ve encountered in some time, perhaps ever. Before I get too ahead of myself, the one in question is the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art Lens.

The folks at Sigma have long been in the game of photography and lately their newly engineered “Art” line of lenses have been aimed to impress the discerning shooter. Let’s take a look at the 24mm F1.4 Art Lens to see why it’s worthy of all those impressive adjectives.

Build Quality

Aesthetically, this lens is beautiful. It arrived pristinely packaged and once I removed it from the box the high quality of the build is readily apparent. All markings and indicators are well executed and easily readable. The focus ring turns smoothly with very pleasing travel with the autofocus/manual switch being acceptably well placed and crisp.

With Sigma’s Art line came a newly introduced method of manufacture and construction material. This lens is made from Thermally Stable Composite or TSC. The lens barrel is constructed using this material rather than opting for a metal housing such as aluminum. According to Sigma, the benefits of using TSC is its resistance to shrinking and swelling when placed in temperature extremes (not as aluminum would) while maintaining its relatively low size to weight ratio.

It feels remarkably like metal and in the hand, it’s quite difficult to discern the difference. To date, all Sigma lenses I have evaluated which have been made with TSC have performed quite well. The 24mm F1.4 also comes fully weather sealed.

Specs – Size and Weight

The size and weight of the lens feel very manageable especially once it is mounted on the camera. Balance is something that can be difficult to maintain when sporting this wide of an aperture but the weight is very well managed on the Sigma 24mm F1.4. Even with a substantial number of elements (15), it is by no means outlandishly bulky at 23.5oz (665g). It’s close cousin, the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM weighs in at approximately 22.8oz (646g)

The Sigma 24mm F1.4 Art is both beautiful and manageable.

Here’s a full specification list from Sigma:

Image Quality

The overall image quality is, as I mentioned earlier, completely impressive. Short focal length lenses tend to suffer from distortion at the corners as well as loss of sharpness towards the edges of the frame. This softening becomes more apparent as the shooter uses wider apertures. Even at f/1.4, there is no considerable reduction in sharpness nor is there any apparent barrel distortion.

Another bane of large aperture lenses is the increased incidence of chromatic aberration as the aperture widens. Not the case with this 24mm. The only occurrence of chromatic aberration that I encountered was during imaging with highly backlit objects. There was a minute amount of purple fringing in those cases, which was only visible at 3:1 magnification. Vignetting was also minimal but nonetheless evident at apertures wider than f/2.8.

Chromatic Aberration in corner at f/1.6 is barely noticeable. Note the 3:1 magnification in the preview window.

Sharpness

Sharpness has been second to none, quite literally. Ultimately, maximum sharpness is one of the great goals of photo makers. The Sigma 24mm F1.4 Art lens delivers the best sharpness I have ever encountered with a lens of this focal length. I place it high in the running for the sharpest lens I have used in my career. I don’t make that claim lightly!

From corner to corner the sharpness is superb. At wide apertures there was virtually no diminishment of clarity toward the edges of the frame. Sigma claims this is due to the inclusion of FLD and SLD glass elements. The FLD is marketed as being arguably comparable to fluorite glass found in many telescope lenses. Whether these claims from Sigma are practically applicable or not, the proof is most certainly in the pudding.

Bokeh at f/2.8 and wider is absolutely dreamy. Pure cream, and as the aperture widens the results were even more impressive. Again, for a lens of this focal length, the bokeh is quite brilliant. The unnervingly close minimum focus distance of 9.8 inches (25cm) does a lot to help the lens in this area, as do the nine rounded aperture blades.

Even the lens flare was pleasing to the eye.

Autofocus

The autofocus capabilities of the 24mm F1.4 Art follow form with the other impressive attributes of this lens. The HSM motor is astonishingly quiet and swiftly focuses on the subject. The autofocus is, of course, overridable so the photographer can manually adjust focus without switching the lens to full manual focus. There is no image stabilization on this lens which, is not uncommon for lenses of such short focal length.

Some Final Thoughts

The Sigma 24mm F1.4 Art has excelled in every aspect of testing. It is dumbfoundingly sharp across all apertures, presents low chromatic aberrations, and is virtually distortion free. I don’t mind adding that the lens itself has a beauty that rivals even similar lenses in Sigma’s Art line. Its aesthetic appeal is possibly due to some yet to be discovered cosmic ratio that we haven’t been able to name. In any case…this lens looks downright sexy. There…I said it.

If there’s a cumulative notion I can lend to describe my attitude towards this fine piece of glass it’s this: this lens will likely be finding a home in my bag in the very near future. Here are a couple more sample shots taken with the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens.

The post Review of the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens by Adam Welch appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 31, 2017
Six Ways to Capture Character in Portraits

Broadly speaking there are two types of portraits. The first is where you try to make the model look as beautiful as possible. You may need a make-up artist or stylist to do it properly. Most commercial photographers are paid to make their models look beautiful, and there are many links with the world of fashion photography.

The other is where you try and capture somebody’s essence, create character portraits. One interesting thing about this style of portraiture is that it opens up your range of models beyond people that are considered conventionally beautiful. It’s less complex because you don’t necessarily need make-up artists, stylists, or complex lighting.

Capturing character is a more simplistic, honest approach to making portraits. The techniques and principles behind it are simple but may take a lifetime to master.

1. Focus on the eyes

This applies to all types of portraiture but even more so when trying to capture their character. This idea goes beyond focusing your lens on your model’s eyes and making sure they are well lit and have a catchlight.

I made this character portrait of an elderly lady in Bolivia. Her eyes and the wrinkles around them convey so much about her life.

Eyes should be a focus conceptually as well as literally. They tell you a lot about a person. Eyes convey emotion, vitality, and life. The saying, “The eyes are the windows of the soul” has a lot of truth to it. Older people have wrinkles around their eyes that speak of experiences lived and wisdom gained.

2. Ask the model to wear their own clothes

Choice of clothing can say a lot about an individual, particularly if they have a quirky fashion sense. This is the opposite approach to fashion, where the model often wears clothes that don’t belong to them. When capturing character ask the model to bring along clothes that are meaningful to them.

The model in these portraits is a circus performer, she wore the costume she uses while performing. The close-up portrait draws more attention to her dreadlocks and tattoo, the other to her costume.

3. Shoot the model in their environment

A common component of the type of portrait photography where you try to make somebody look beautiful is to place the model in an unusual or striking environment.

When capturing character you should try and do the opposite. Look for links between your model and the environment. If your model is the outdoorsy type, look for a place to take the portrait that reflects that. Or maybe their home or garden are decorated in a way that reflects their character. Or perhaps they have an interesting hobby or profession.

Think about how you can use these elements to create a portrait that tells a story about the model’s character.

The man in these portraits makes wooden flutes, so I photographed him in his workshop. Hands often reveal character so I took a close-up photo of his hands at work.

4. Use prime lenses

Prime lenses are the secret weapon of the portrait photographer. Part of that is because of the practical advantages. We all know you can select a wide aperture to blur the background and create compositions with bokeh. But you can also set the aperture to f/2.8 or f/4 knowing the results will be sharp (compared to the softer performance expected from zoom lenses at those apertures).

Being restricted to a single focal length means you have to get creative with your compositions. You can create variety by changing the distance between you and your model, and by utilizing different points of view.

But most of all, the minimal approach to gear enforced by prime lenses lends itself to a more honest approach to portraiture. I often take just one camera, one short telephoto lens, and no lights to a portrait shoot. I prefer to rely on natural light (and reflectors). Eliminating distractions helps me concentrate on the next step – making a genuine and meaningful connection with the model.

I used an 85mm prime lens set to f/2.5 to create this portrait. The wide aperture blurred the background, making the model the center of attention.

5. Build rapport

The success of the shoot depends on the relationship you create with your model. You might only have a short time to do this. I’ve turned up for shoots with people who I’ve never met before, having communicated only by email or text message. It helps that I’m a naturally curious person and enjoy learning about other people and their lives.

Part of building rapport is getting the model genuinely interested in the photo shoot. If it is part of an ongoing project (and it should be, because projects are the best way to help you develop creatively as a photographer) let the model know about it so they can take pride in being part of your project.

Use conversation during the shoot to provoke animated expressions. Read the story about Yousuf Karsh photographing Winston Churchill for an extreme example of this!

I made this portrait as part of a project photographing musicians. The violinist enjoyed being part of the project.

6. Post-process appropriately

Think about your style of post-processing. For example, a portrait that expresses character probably needs far less retouching than a portrait that is trying to make the model look as physically beautiful as possible. A light touch is often best, when working in color.

You should also consider converting your best portraits to black and white. There is something timeless and special about a good black and white portrait. It’s ideal for expressing character and emotion.

The strong eye contact and black and white conversion turn this portrait into one that expresses the character of the model.

Conclusion

Capturing character, rather than (but not necessarily instead of) beauty poses a challenge to the creative photographer, but the results are often more satisfying.

I find that an interest in capturing character rather than beauty marks an evolution in a photographer’s thinking, a shift from photographing the superficial to looking for deeper themes and human connections. But what do you think? What techniques do you use to capture character? Let us know in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about portrait photography then please check out my ebook The Candid Portrait.

The post Six Ways to Capture Character in Portraits by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 31, 2017
How to Customize Your Images With In-Camera Picture Styles

I’ve written before about how your images are being processed. This is true regardless of whether you shoot RAW and process in software such as Lightroom or Photoshop, or JPEG and allow the camera to make color and contrast decisions for you. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the canned in-camera picture styles the camera manufacturers prepackage in their cameras. Some are too contrasty, while others don’t offer enough color saturation for my taste.

A landscape image using a picture style I created in Canon Picture Style Editor.

While all of today’s digital cameras have some ability to adjust the processing decisions being made by selecting and adjusting Picture Styles (in Canon-speak) or Picture Controls (in Nikonian terms), many people aren’t aware that you can be even more creative and create your own styles using desktop software provided by Canon and Nikon.

There are two reasons why you would do this. First, if you do not like processing RAW files, or just prefer “getting it right in camera”, but would still like to be able to create your own look to your images, creating a custom picture style is an easy way to do so. Second, if you’re undertaking a project which would require processing large numbers of files, having the camera use a custom look for these images takes away a lot of processing grunt work.

Canon’s Picture Style Editor is available on the Canon EOS Solutions disc which is packaged with the camera and is also available for download via the various Canon websites, under Drivers and Downloads for your specific camera. Nikon’s Picture Control Utility 2 is available via Nikon’s Download Center.

Canon’s Picture Style Editor

Canon Picture Style Editor

Canon Picture Style Editor offers a tremendous amount of control over the final look of an image. Once inside the application, you’ll be prompted to open a Canon CR2 file you’ve taken. A popup will appear advising of the best way to adjust the picture style. First, make the basic adjustments. Next, you should make adjustments to the six color axis. Finally, make adjustments to specific colors.

Make the adjustments you want

In the Basic Adjustments, you select the Base Picture Style to start with, and then you can adjust Sharpness, Contrast, Color Saturation, and Color Tone using the labeled sliders. You can also create a custom tone curve here.

The three adjustment panels found in Canon Picture Style Editor

Once the Basic adjustments are done, you can move to the six color axis. Here you can adjust Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow values including Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity. For further color adjustments, you then click on the Specific Colors tab and again make adjustments there including Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity, as well as Tone Curve.

The number of adjustments available within the Canon software allows for a wide variety of styles for your images. Canon has several downloadable picture styles available so you can see what’s possible, but the ability to create your own really make this utility a great addition to your workflow, especially if you dislike post-processing. Effects such as selective color, muted color, highly saturated color, and more, can be created in-camera.

On the left is an image using Canon’s Portrait picture style. On the right, is a selective color picture style I created in Canon’s Picture Style Editor. You have to know which color you want to show through before the shot is taken, but conceivably, you could create several selective color styles and upload them to the camera.

Adding the styles to your camera

To upload your new custom picture style to your Canon EOS camera, you need to connect the camera to your computer with a USB cable. You also need Canon’s EOS Utility Software, which is provided on your EOS Solutions CD, or is available on Canon’s website.

Once inside EOS Utility, select Control Camera, then Camera Settings/Remote Shooting. You’ll see a window open up that displays the camera settings. Beneath that will be a shooting menu, where you’ll see the heading for Picture Styles. Click on Register User Defined style. A window will open up where you can select from three slots to register a user-defined style. Select one and then click on the Open Folder button to select the picture style file you created and upload it to your camera. Once it’s in the camera, you can select it the same way you would with the pre-loaded picture styles.

Nikon Picture Control Utility

Nikon Picture Control Utility

The adjustment panel for Nikon Picture Control Utility

Nikon’s Picture Control Utility is a bit more limited in its adjustments than is the Canon application, but you still have a fair amount of control to create new image styles. When you open the application, you’ll see a listing of the Nikon Picture Controls on the left. These are the same as you see in-camera when you select the Picture Control menu on your Nikon. On the right hand side, you’ll see the adjustments you can make, which include Sharpening, Clarity, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation, and Hue. You also have the ability to create a custom tone curve if you prefer, rather than using the Brightness and Contrast sliders.

While I prefer the greater control over color that Canon provides, Nikon’s Picture Control Editor allows you good options to create your own look for your images.

Uploading to the camera

Uploading them into your camera is even easier than Canon’s method. Simply connect a Nikon formatted memory card to your computer, and at the bottom of the application window, click Use In Camera. You’ll want to use a descriptive name for your picture control so that you’ll know what you’re choosing when selecting it in camera. This will automatically save the picture style to your memory card. Insert the memory card into your Nikon camera and in the Camera menu, select Manage Picture Control. Select Load/Save and you’ll see any Picture Control files you’ve saved to the card and be prompted to add them to the camera.

That’s all there is to it. In addition to saving the picture control to a memory card, you can save it to a file on your computer, and also use it in Nikon’s Capture NX or View NX software.

The image on the left is shown using Nikon’s Portrait Picture Control. On the right, is a custom Portrait Picture Control created in Nikon Picture Control Editor.

Summary

In the digital age, it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate your images from the millions of others out there. One way to do so is in post-processing. But that’s not something every photographer, be they professional or enthusiast, wants to deal with.

Creating custom picture styles takes a few minutes on the computer, but allows you to create a look that is distinctly yours. By uploading it to your camera you can then apply it to images you make from that point on. Have you created any custom picture styles for your work? Share samples in the comments below!

On the top is the image using Nikon’s Landscape picture control. On the bottom is the same image with a custom picture control I created. I adjusted to tone curve to reduce contrast and increased color saturation to provide better color in my landscape images.

On the left is Nikon’s Standard picture control, while on the right is a custom picture control I created.

The left image was shot using Canon’s Portrait Picture Style. On the right is the same image where I created a more muted look.

On the left is Canon’s Landscape picture style, on the right is a custom picture style I created for landscape images.

The post How to Customize Your Images With In-Camera Picture Styles by Rick Berk appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 31, 2017
How to Understand the Curves Tool in Photoshop

After you’ve mastered Levels, it’s time to take a step up to the tool that is probably the most useful for color and contrast control in Photoshop: Curves. As with levels, you should play around with the basic Curves command to get a feel for it. For safety’s sake, begin by duplicating your background layer, either from the Layer>New Layer from Copy menu, or use the shortcut Control/Command + J. You should make a habit of learning shortcuts because it speeds up your workflow.

The Curves Dialog

Here’s our starting image for this tutorial, shot on a hazy day at Formentor in Mallorca.

Formentor, the northern tip of Mallorca

Use Control/Command + M to invoke the Curves dialog. Taking a look, you’ll see the main part of the dialog is the Curve itself. By default it’s a straight line from bottom left to top right – this is the baseline. There’s faded histogram in the background that corresponds to the tones in the image. There are two other tools to help you work in Curves.

There are two other tools to help you work in Curves. The first is the Channel Overlays, which show you the changes you make when applying curves to the individual red, green, and blue channel curves. The second is Intersection Lines, which appear when you drag a point on the curve. They let you see where the point is relative to the grid. The Channels Overlays, the Histogram, the Baseline, and the Intersection lines can all be turned off in the “Show” section of the dialog box. They’re all on by default.

Another default is that the darker tones are on the left, and the lighter tones are on the right. It can be swapped by clicking the “Show Amount of:” option from Light (0-255) to Pigment/Ink %. Unless you have a specific reason to change it, leave it on the default option Light. The final option is for the Grid. You can change from quarters to tenths by alternating the grid size icon. Alternatively, you can Alt or Option click directly on the Grid to toggle between them.

Starting with Curves

To change the Curve, you click on the baseline to create a control point (we’ll just call them points from here). By dragging the point up, you will lighten the image at those tones and surrounding tone. Drag down, and you’ll see the image darken at the tones around your point.

The most basic change you can make is to click on the center of the curve and drag up. This lightens the mid-tones and acts in a similar way to the Brightness slider, but with more control over the center-point of the effect. By the way, you don’t even need to drag the point. Instead, you can click to create a point and then use the Up/Down/Left/Right arrow keys to move it. A single arrow click moves 1 point (in the range 0-255), while holding the Shift key down as well, moves it 10 points. For utter precision, you can enter the number directly into the Input (that’s the point you click) and Output (that’s the place it moves to).

While it will work as a brightness tool, Curves is really about contrast. Contrast defines the relationship between the tones in your photo. A high contrast image will generally have strong shadows and highlights, with a lot of saturation. Low contrast photos will look flat and almost gray. That’s not to say low contrast is bad, it can be ethereal like the woods in fog, or a flared backlit portrait at sunset. A lot of photos can benefit from an increase in contrast.

So how can you do this? Well, you’ll need to make the shadows darker and the highlights lighter.

Creating Contrast

First of all, click on the line about a quarter of the way in from the left. Next, drag the point you’ve created down. This will darken your entire image. You don’t need to drag it down much to see a difference. After this, you should create a second point, this time about three-quarters of the way along and drag it up a little. Again, only a small amount is needed for this to work.

If you look at your curve, you’ll notice it resembles an S-shape. This S-Curve is probably one of the most common ways for you to create contrast with Curves. Our sample photo has better contrast now, but it is still a little dark, we’ll come to that shortly.

Notice how the line now resembles the shape of the letter S.

As another way of working, start by placing a point in the center. This will be your anchor point. You’re not going to move this one. Now create the point for your shadows and drag it down. You’ll notice that as you drag the shadows down, the highlights will move up automatically across from the anchor point. By clicking and dragging the center up, you both brighten the image and increase contrast. If you want to control the image more, just add more points.

Endpoints and Input

You’re not restricted to making just curves. You can also move the endpoints of the line in. This results in a look that’s similar to when you move the black and white points using Levels. This adjustment makes a huge difference with this image, where most of the tonal information is in the center of the histogram. Notice that as you move the endpoints in the black and white points on the Input Slider move to a corresponding position – so you could also just move these sliders.

Moving the endpoints in curves.

To finish up this look, you can add a little S-Curve after moving the end points. You’ll notice that the increased contrast has also led to increased color saturation.

Erase and Rewind

At any point that you want to start again without closing the dialog and reopening it, you can hold down the Alt or Option key, and click the Reset button that appears instead of the Cancel button.

If you only want to remove a single point, you’ve got a few options. Drag the point right off the grid. Or, you can click on a point and press the Delete key. The last option is to Control/Command+click on a point to remove it.

Presets

Just by way of mention, you should try the Curves presets in the menu to get a feel for what particular points can do to a curve. You can also save any curve you create yourself by clicking on the tiny cog beside the menu and choose “Save Preset”. Your Curves preset will then get added to the menu.

Auto and Options

Just like Levels, there’s an Auto function for Curves. It too depends on the Options section. Rather than repeat it verbatim, go check out the Auto section in the Levels article.

Using Curves as an Adjustment Layer

Up to now, what you’ve done has been destructive editing. You’re completely changing the layer to which you apply the Curve. Instead, it’s best to use Curves as an Adjustment layer. From the bottom of the Layers panel, click the split circle icon and choose Curves.

The Curve will appear in the Properties panel. Using the information you’ve got so far it should be no problem editing a file like this. I’ve started by pressing the Auto button, then added a curve to both increase contrast and brightness.

Sectioning your photo with Curves Adjustment layers

So far you’ve been using Curves on the entire image. Not all areas in a photo may need the same work, but it’s easy for you to select different areas to work on.

Press L to bring up the Lasso tool, or select it in the toolbar. If it’s not the main lasso, use Shift+L to cycle through the options. At the top, enter 15px in the Feather option. You’re going to select the sky first. In order to draw outside the photo edge, hold down the Alt/Option key. You need to do this so the Feather, which softens the edge of the selection, doesn’t soften the edge of the photo. Join the two ends of the lasso to make a selection.

Now, create a new Curves Adjustment Layer. Notice that the mask beside the curve is white on top, and black on the bottom? That means your curve will only affect the top of the image. White means the effect is revealed, whereas black means it’s concealed. You can use the brush tool to add to a mask or remove from it using a black brush. Shades of gray will work too but act like an opacity control.

You can now go and edit the curve for the sky, separately to the main curve. Another advantage to using Curves as an adjustment layer is you can overdo the look of the curve, and then bring it back using the layer’s opacity slider.

Before Curves adjustments.

Here’s the version after curves have been applied.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Curves is a pretty useful tool and more versatile than Levels for advanced contrast control. You’ve seen a lot of what can be done here, but there’s also the color changes that can be done using the individual color channel curves, but that’s a topic for another article.

The post How to Understand the Curves Tool in Photoshop by Sean McCormack appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 31, 2017