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Image Editing Software Review: PortraitPro 15

15 Jun

mWhen it comes to portrait photography, there seem to be two predominant schools of thought. The first says that retouching is bad, that people should be presented as they are and retouching is a no-no. The second school of thought says that when people have their portrait taken, it should be an idealistic representation of the person, flattering the subject and minimizing any flaws.

The truth, however, probably lies somewhere in the middle. When people have their portrait taken, they want the photographer to make them look as good as possible. Most portraiture requires some level of retouching, and truth be told, retouching was in vogue long before the digital age. Digital photography, however, has brought with it some new tools. One of those tools is PortraitPro 15, from Anthropics Technology.

An example of a portrait retouched using PortraitPro 15

An example of a portrait retouched using PortraitPro 15.

Overview of PortraitPro 15

PortraitPro 15 is available as a standalone application, or as a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture. There are three different versions available; Standard, Studio, and Studio Max. PortraitPro Standard is the standalone version, which also has a few other limitations. PortraitPro Studio and Studio Max can both be used as plugins, and they also offer a variety of other options including RAW file support, color profile support, the ability to read and write TIFF and PNG files in 16-bit mode, and a batch dialog. The Studio Max version also offers a Full Batch Mode to greatly speed up your workflow. Compare all editions of PortraitPro 15 here.

Before and after using PortraitPro 15

Before and after using Portrait Professional 15

Getting started with PortraitPro 15

Getting started in PortraitPro 15 is simple. If you’re using the standalone application, simply open the file you wish to work on. From Photoshop (if you’re using the Studio or Studio Max version), go to the Filters menu and Select Anthropics > Portrait Professional.

Once your image is open, PortraitPro 15 will detect the facial outline of the subject. It will sometimes detect gender and age, or it may ask if the subject is male or female or a young girl or boy under 12. You will then be shown a side-by-side comparison, with the image on the left showing the outlines of the face that the software will use for its retouching. These outlines can be adjusted to provide better accuracy, but the software does a pretty good job of selecting facial features on its own. On the right is a preview of what the subject will look like after the retouching is applied.

On the far right, you will see a navigator window that allows you to move around the image easily. Beneath that is a list of presets so you can easily apply a particular look to your subject. Beneath the presets is a group of “Portrait Improving Sliders”. These sliders include;

  • Face Sculpt Controls
  • Skin Smoothing Controls
  • Skin Lighting Controls
  • Makeup Controls
  • Eye Controls
  • Mouth and Nose Controls
  • Hair Controls
  • Skin Coloring Controls
  • Picture Controls

Each of these groups of sliders affects different aspects of the image and provide an incredible amount of control over the retouching process.

Before and after using PortraitPro 15

Before and after using PortraitPro 15.

Some of these sliders, particularly Face Sculpting may seem a bit controversial. Like most digital photo editing tools, you can certainly go too far with its use. But, there are times when it has come in handy and improved the subject, such as when one eye may not be fully open. As with all things, moderation is the key to using these sliders.

The Basic Retouch

Gender Selection in PortraitPro 15

When you open an image using PortraitPro 15, the application will ask you to confirm the gender and age of your subject.

Whether you choose to use the plugin version or the standalone version, the workflow is the same. From Photoshop you’ll select Portrait Professional from the Filters menu, and from Lightroom, you’ll select “Edit In”, which will open the current image in PortraitPro 15. If using the standalone version, simply go to File > Open.

Facial features selection

PortraitPro 15 will try to automatically detect the age and gender of your subject and try to select their eyes, nose, and mouth. If it is unable to detect the gender and age, or any facial features, you will be prompted to do this. Selection, if needed, is easy. You’ll click the outer corner of the left eye, hit next, then click the outer corner of the right eye. Hit next again, and you’ll be prompted to click the tip of the nose. You’ll continue until the eyes, nose, and mouth are selected. PortraitPro will then find the top of the head and the jawline.

The main screen of PortraitPro 15

The main screen of PortraitPro 15

First editing steps

Once the selection is made, PortraitPro will automatically adjust your image using the Standard settings. From here, you are free to choose a different preset or start moving the sliders to better retouch your portrait.

The first slider I adjust is the Face Sculpt Controls. I will say that I’m not a huge fan of this adjustment so normally I just turn it off. There are times it can get too aggressive and will really alter the look of the subject’s face. You can minimize the amount of adjustment using the Master Fade slider to amend the overall look, or the individual sliders to only affect certain features. For instance, I will often set all the sliders to zero but then use the Eye Widening slider if the subject happens to have a sleepy eye. I do try and keep the digital plastic surgery to a minimum.

Skin Smoothing

The next slider group is the Skin Smoothing Control. This set of sliders does a nice job of minimizing wrinkles and removing blemishes. You do need to be careful when you have a subject with freckles or beauty marks that you want to retain. Again, adjusting the individual sliders will help you find the right amount of smoothing without making things look too plastic, and the Touch Up Brush will allow you to remove strong blemishes without affecting the overall skin texture.

Skin Selection PortraitPro 15

If you need to adjust the area affected by skin smoothing and lighting, you can manually paint in your selection.

PortraitPro offers some quick tips when you select the various sliders. In addition, you may notice that the application hasn’t quite selected all of the skin you want to be retouched, due to changes in tone. Or, conversely, that it has selected areas which you don’t want to be affected, such as clothing with colors close to the skin tone, or hair. You can adjust the skin selection by clicking View/Edit Skin Area and adding or subtracting from the skin selection using a brush, similar to applying a selection by using a layer mask in Photoshop.

Before skin smoothing

Medium skin smoothing applied.

Heavy skin smoothing applied.

Skin Lighting

The Skin Lighting slider controls can actually adjust the lighting on your subject. This is another set of sliders that are best used with care, but a judicious adjustment can help improve your image. Going too far with it, on the other hand, will result in images that have a definitive fake look to them. You have the ability to adjust shadows to the left or right, a kick light to the left or right, and even adjust the angle of your main light.

Before skin lighting effects applied.

Skin lighting medium applied.

Skin lighting heavy applied.

Makeup

The Makeup Controls sliders allow you to add digital makeup to your subject. Everything including lipstick, mascara, eye shadow and eyeliner can be added or enhanced here. As with the Face Sculpting and Lighting Controls, you will want to be careful not to overdo things here. But again, I’ve had occasions where a little eyeliner or a change in lipstick color has helped the image.

By the same token, if you are taking a portrait as a starting point, you can create some incredibly different looks by changing the subject’s makeup. This makes it an excellent tool if you are creating a digital illustration from a photo.

Skin Smoothing Controls PortraitPro 15

The skin smoothing controls inside PortraitPro 15

Before make-up applied using PortraitPro 15.

Make-up added.

Make-up added heavily, this is over done.

Facial feature control sliders

The Eye Control sliders do a nice job of enhancing the subject’s eyes and bringing them out. Brightening the irises, sharpening the eyes, and whitening them are all done here. You can even change the eye color and add catch lights. The biggest mistake I’ve made (and seen others make) is going too far with the whitening, giving the eyes an unnatural glow. Eyes can be adjusted individually, so you have a lot of control over their look.

Before eye controls applied.

Eye controls medium applied.

Eye color change applied.

Mouth & Nose Controls are sliders to enhance the mouth and nose. Here you can adjust the saturation of the lips, their brightness, and contrast. You have the ability to make the same adjustments to the nose.

Hair and skin sliders

Hair Controls is a set of sliders that I like a lot. You have the ability to re-color hair, adjust the shine, reddening, and vibrance. In addition, as with the skin selection, you can adjust the hair selection. Especially cool is the Hair Tidying Mode, which allows you to smooth and soften the hair. It can give the hair an almost painted look, which is one I tend to like, but again, it is possible to go too far.

Skin Coloring Controls allow you to adjust skin color, add a glow, or a bit of a tan. In addition, you can add cheek coloring here and adjust the exposure on the face.

Before skin coloring

Tan skin coloring applied.
PortraitPro 15

On the right side of the application window, you’ll find a navigator, a list of presets, and the Portrait Enhancement Sliders.

Picture Controls

Finally, the Picture Controls slider allows overall adjustment of the color temperature, tint, exposure, contrast, and vibrancy. You can also crop here. If you’re using Photoshop or Lightroom, these adjustments are better handled there, after retouching. But if you’re using the standalone version, this is an excellent way to finish off your image.

Once you’ve finished with the face you’re working on, you click the Next button at top right, and either click “Return from Plugin”, or “Enhance Another Face”, if you have more than one subject in your photo.

Pros of PortraitPro 15

PortraitPro 15 is an excellent application for quick and easy retouching of portraits. Blemish retouching, eye enhancing, and cleanup of hair is simple and can PortraitPro 15 can provide a nice finished look to a portrait. In addition, the ability to adjust lighting can give added pop and make a flatly lit portrait much more interesting. The same goes for the ability to add or enhance makeup. It’s easy to see the effects of the changes you make usingPortraitPro and compare them to the unretouched photo, so you can judge the edits as you work.

Before and After

Before and After

Cons of PortraitPro 15

My biggest issue with PortraitPro 15 is that it’s easy to go too far with an adjustment and suddenly your image looks fake or digitized, almost like a 3D animation. Like most photo-enhancing filters, a little goes a long way and moderation is required. In the right hands, PortraitPro can be an awesome editing tool. In the wrong hands, it can return some ugly results. Additionally, PortraitPro appears to have some issues when one eye is covered by hair or a hat, or when the face is at a 3/4 angle to the camera. So in those situations, you’ll need to pay extra attention to your selections, and in the case where one eye is hidden, set all sliders for that eye to zero.

My other issue with PortraitPro is that it does seem to be a resource hog. As soon as I enter the plugin from Photoshop, the fan on my 2014 iMac (with the max amount of RAM) starts up and keeps going until I’m done. Some of the adjustments are slow, and on my machine, adjusting the outlines takes a moment as my computer catches up.

Before & After PortraitPro 15

Before & After

Bottom Line

Overall, I love PortraitPro 15 and the ability it has to retouch portraits quickly and easily. While I prefer not to use all of the features all of the time, such as face sculpting or skin lighting, things such as skin smoothing and eye retouching really help give my portraits a finished look. The learning curve is not terribly high and it is fairly easy to tell when you’ve gone too far. It’s become an essential part of my portrait workflow.

See the three editions available on Amazon. The Studio version is a great value.

Before & After PortraitPro

Before & After PortraitPro

Before & After PortraitPro

Before & After PortraitPro

The post Image Editing Software Review: PortraitPro 15 by Rick Berk appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography

15 Jun

Night has fallen. All of the beautiful golden light that flooded across the landscape during sunset has slowly slipped away over the horizon – replaced by inky darkness and twinkling stars. But that doesn’t mean that you need to put away your camera until tomorrow! In fact, you most likely have an excellent source of light in your pocket or purse right now – your cell phone flashlight!

A man photographed using a phone flashlight as the key light -How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography

A man photographed using a cell phone flashlight as the key light.

Whether you’ve packed your camera bag light or are simply looking for a creative way to make a picture work in extremely dark conditions, your mobile phone flashlight is a surprisingly capable and adaptable lighting tool.

Creating dramatic off-camera lighting

You might be wondering; “Why bother with this at all? My camera has a pop-up flash. If it’s dark outside, my flash can provide all the light I need.”

It’s true that you can use your on-camera flash to light a picture even in near-complete darkness. However, the light that comes from a pop-up flash is direct. This isn’t how we experience light on a daily basis; we experience light coming down on us from the sun or light fixtures in the ceiling.

Directional light is that which comes from an angle, and creates pleasing shadows and depth, whereas on-camera flash erases shadows and textures, resulting in a flat look.

A photo of a man lit by one camera flashlight as the key light - How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography

Even using light from one phone flashlight can create dramatic shadows and interesting directional light.

Another problem with on-camera flash is that it often kills the ambient or existing light of a scene. If you want to save the soft glow of city lights in the background of your shot, you’ll often find that your on-camera flash is too overpowering and unnatural looking.

A photo of a man taken using on-camera flash to illustrate the lack of depth and shadow that occurs with this technique - How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography

This picture is taken in Automatic Mode, which used the on-camera flash. The light on the subject is flat, the background is dark and all drama or depth in the picture is lost.

Directional light is often what makes or breaks a photo. This isn’t just for photographers using flash. Natural light photographers can spend years learning how to properly position their models in relation to the sun and natural reflectors in order to create pleasing lighting on the subject.

Using a cell phone flashlight allows you to bring the light on your model in from an angle, which can be used to add dimension, enhance textures and create a sense of drama.

Taking the picture

The main advantage of using a cell phone flashlight is accessibility. Most people carry their phone wherever they go, so it shouldn’t be hard to quickly get two or even more light sources that you can use for your picture.

Behind the scenes of lighting a model with light from a cell phone flashlight

Using a cell phone flashlight gives you a mobile lighting kit that is ready for use within five seconds.

A portrait of a man lit by two cell phone flashlights he is holding in his hand

Looking to add more light into your scene? Simply add a second cell phone flashlight!

Things to watch out for

Of course, there are also some drawbacks that you need to be aware of when taking pictures with this technique. First off, most mobile phone flashlights aren’t very powerful. Fortunately, there are three ways to make the light more effective.

    1. Open your aperture wider. With a wider aperture, the camera will collect more light – including the light from your flashlight. Bear in mind that this will also make the whole scene brighter, background and all, so there needs to be a balance.
    2. Turn up your ISO. A higher ISO means your camera’s sensor picks up more light. Again, this effectively makes your cell phone flashlight stronger. Just like with the previous point, this will also make the background brighter.
    3. Move the flashlight closer. Saving the most practical method for last – if you aren’t getting enough light on your subject, try moving the light closer. Sure, you may not want to have a hand holding a cell phone in your image, but getting as close as you can, will add as much light as possible.

The second drawback with using mobile phone flashlights is that the color of the light may not be consistent or carefully balanced like you would find in a typical camera flash. This means that using more than one camera flashlight in a shot could result in slight differences of color.

The last drawback is that a phone flashlight is a small light source and, consequently, produces hard light. If you want an exceptionally soft light that leaves very faint shadows, you would need to use a large softbox or umbrella. But we’re aren’t expecting studio light when we pull out our phone – this is a quick and dirty solution to light.

Examples and comparison

But even with these drawbacks, using a phone flashlight allows you to create directional light that results in more interesting images. Consider the following two examples:

A man photographed in the city, lit by on-camera flash - How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography

This picture is taken on Automatic Mode. In the darkness, Auto decided to use the on-camera flash. Once again, all shadows and textures are gone from the subject’s face and the pleasant night-time ambience of the city in the background is lost.

A man photographed in the city, lit by a flashlight on a cell phone as the key light

By using a cell phone flashlight just to camera left to light the side of the subject’s face, I was able to add depth and drama for a shadowy, film-noir style image.

Post-processing

A picture lit with a cell phone flashlight will always benefit from some work in the editing room. It’s a good idea to shoot in RAW rather than JPG in order to have as much flexibility as possible with your edits.

The good news is that if you took the time to properly position your lights during the picture, you should have a pretty decent image right out of the camera.

How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography

This is the unedited, straight-out-of-camera image. It’s already pretty close to the final product.

The first step is to make some corrections to the color of the lighting. You may need to play with the White Balance, or even selectively reduce the saturation on a specific color in order to get natural skin tones.

For example, some cell phone flashlights might produce an overly green light. Pulling saturation back on the greens in your editing program will help to fix that.

You might also need to tackle some hot spots in the post-processing phase. A hot spot is when the center of the light is significantly brighter than the edges. This can be corrected with by using a brush to “paint” the hot spot a bit darker.

How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography - processing

This is the final edit of the photo shown above. Converting to black and white was a way to add mood while also helping remove some color issues that came with using a cell phone as a key light. This image was shot at 1/100, f/1.4, ISO 1000.

Play, experiment and have fun!

Practice, practice, practice. Taking the time to experiment will help you to better understand the benefits and drawbacks of this style of lighting.

Of course, if you need high-quality lighting for a shot, don’t expect your cell phone flashlight to produce the same results as a softbox. But if you’re in a pinch and need to improvise some lighting in a hurry, remember that you’ve got a ready-made light source right in your pocket.

The post How to Use a Cell Phone for Dramatic Night Photography by Frank Myrland appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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How to Evaluate and Purchase Your Next New Lens

15 Jun

It’s a day that comes for of us all at one time or another. You have to take the plunge…the big leap…go all in, take a chance. The decision can make or break you and your photography…or at least it can seem that way. It’s the day you invest in a brand new lens or one that’s new to you. Regardless, purchasing a fresh piece of glass can be confusing, frustrating, and painstaking. I’m here to tell you that we photographers who operate on limited funds (most of us) share in your anxiety when it comes to laying down what is usually a lot of money on something that we hope will improve our work and help us transcend to the next level.


How do you make the right choices? How do you choose the right lens to fit your particular needs? Well, there is both good and bad news for you. The bad news is that only you can finally determine the right lens to fit your own craft.

The good news, though, is that there are many ways you can lessen the anguish of lens buying and make sure that you find the right investment. In this article, you will learn how to look beyond just the obvious when shopping around for that new lens, so that you can ensure you make an informed and hopefully less painful decision. Lens reviews can become confusing in their own right. While there are infinite considerations, following these guidelines will help to make more sense of all those lens reviews.

Optical Performance

Sharpness

This is one of if not the most often encountered reasons for buying a new lens. We need better sharpness. But that sharpness, of course, comes at a price. So when evaluating the sharpness of a new lens it’s important to consider all the elements of the equation.

Are you looking for a lens that zooms or does not zoom? Prime lenses (non-zooming) are often cheaper and faster (have a larger maximum aperture) than zoom lenses of the same speed (more on this later). So, ask yourself if you need a lens that can change focal lengths quickly, such as for events or sports shooting? Or do you need a lens that can cope with more static scenes such as landscapes or posed portraits?


Sharpness is so subjective that it often takes looking at many sample images to see the actual results from real-world tests. Be sure to note the camera each image was made with and the source of the sample. Pay special attention to the entire frame especially at the corners to judge the overall sharpness. Speaking of corner sharpness….

Edge Softness

When we talk about edge softening the reference is to the deterioration of sharpness at the corners of an image. This is brought about by many variables but usually, it is due to the composition and quality of the glass elements within the lens. As you approach the wide or short end of the aperture range of your particular lens this softening almost always become more apparent.

Shot with the Rokinon 14mm at f/2.8. Note the more prominent loss of sharpness at the far edges and corners of the frame.

While shopping for a new lens, of course, you want the least amount of “softening” at the edges of the frame. Make a point to inspect the aperture at which each test photo was shot because different apertures carry with them inherent differences in edge sharpness. If you know you will be shooting wide apertures (low light, shallow depth of field) or small apertures (landscapes, large depth of field) pay special attention to test photos shot towards the wide or narrow f-stops.

Lens Distortion

Lens distortion is fairly self-explanatory. It is anything that alters the spatial appearance of lines within the frame. There are two main forms of distortion; “barrel” and “pincushion”. Barrel distortion is common with wide-angle lenses and appears as a bulged effect; with the straight lines within the images appearing to bend outwardly.

An example of “barrel” distortion often encountered with extremely short (wide) focal length lenses

Pincushion distortion is the exact opposite of barrel distortion. This type of image distortion occurs most often when telephoto lenses are zoomed to their maximum magnification. The appearance is a slight bending inwards of the photo towards the center. However, it’s not nearly as apparent (hardly perceivable at times) as barrel distortion.

A case of uncorrected pincushion distortion…

…and now corrected. As I said, almost in-perceivable….

If you’re in the market for a quality wide angle lens, make it a point to find one with little or relatively little barrel distortion. Keep in mind that the shorter the focal length the more prevalent barrel distortion becomes, even in high-grade lenses. The same is true for pincushion distortion. The higher the telephoto range the more often you will encounter pincushion distortion at long focal lengths.

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration is a technical term for the unsightly discoloration that sometimes occurs around high contrast areas in a photo.

It is evident to some extent in all lenses no matter the quality, but it is more perceivable at wide or small apertures. The key thing to look for is the least amount of chromatic aberration present at the extreme ends of the aperture range. Much like edge softening, aberrations can be controlled albeit not eliminated.

Autofocus and what is Image Stabilization anyway?

Autofocus

Ah yes, autofocus. Having the ability to focus on subjects by merely pressing a button is a gloriously underappreciated benefit modern photographers share. You probably owe your camera and lens a long overdue “thank you”. Go ahead and thank them…I’ll wait.


However, the question remains, how important should autofocus (AF) be to you? It all comes down to what type of photos you will likely be shooting. Back when I did location wedding and event photography, I could not have imagined operating without a fast and accurate AF lens. Now that I shoot primarily landscapes and nature photography, AF has become less of a priority for me.

That’s not to say that AF doesn’t have its uses even now for me and my work. The reason I share this is to demonstrate the priority that you should place on the quality of AF in whatever lens you might be looking at buying depends on your own needs.


If you shoot sporadic, fast-moving, or otherwise unpredictable subjects, place a fair amount of emphasis on AF performance in the lens you seek. However, if you’re a landscapist, shoot still lifes, or otherwise find yourself making photographs of static subjects, AF becomes less important.

That being said, if you find yourself requiring AF, look for a focusing system which consistently focuses accurately and is able to lock onto a subject. Granted, the type of camera you use plays a key role here as well.

Image Stabilization

There’s somewhat of a split in opinions when it comes to image stabilization. Some shooters swear by it, some say it isn’t worth the trouble. As for me, I’m a blend of the two factions.

For the majority of my work, which involves a tripod and slow moving/non-moving scenes, I seldom use a stabilizer even when it’s available. Still, there are times when I find myself saying, “Man, this stabilizer is awesome!” So as with many aspects of choosing a lens, it depends on you and your needs.


The truth is that the longer focal length lens you use, the more image stabilization will come in handy. It provides an exposure “cushion” when shooting handheld. I’m happy to say that the technology seems to be improving each year. If you shoot the majority of your photos without a tripod, for whatever reason, you will have the use of a stabilizer. The very bottom rung of modern image shake reduction systems can give you two to three stops of exposure latitude (to be able to use slower shutter speeds and maintain sharpness) which can go a long way depending on your camera.

Some final thoughts on lens evaluation

Hopefully, with any piece of gear you buy, you choose to analyze and find every scrap of information you can before taking the plunge. The tips here come from someone who has reviewed, tested, and used camera lenses from virtually every leading manufacturer on the market today. These lessons are simple, applicable, and most importantly, easy to understand so that you can make an informed choice.

Today we find ourselves fortunate to be able to select from a pool of increased quality when it comes to our camera lenses. Unfortunately, this means choices are nearly infinite. Be smart and be savvy. Don’t spend time and money on new glass that does more or less than what you need.

The post How to Evaluate and Purchase Your Next New Lens by Adam Welch appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

15 Jun
How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

In a city full of construction sites, concrete walls tucked around a corner not visible from the street are a haven for graffiti artists. You have to go looking for them.

Maybe you just recently bought your camera, or maybe you got it a while ago. But has it been sitting on a shelf for a few months? Perhaps you have been shooting for a while but have just run out of enthusiasm? Feel like you are stuck in a rut? Like you should change it up a bit but don’t quite know how?

Or maybe you are just so overwhelmed with possibilities and potential that you are paralyzed with the indecision of what to try first?

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

Glorious spring cherry blossoms. So many shades of pink.

Inspiration is everywhere

Sometimes it’s a matter of opening your eyes and seeing the world in a different way. Perhaps you need to let go of the fear of trying something new. Lack of equipment can sometimes be an excuse. Difficulty or the cost of travel is another factor that can hold people back.

Trying new things can be scary, especially if you are new to photography and uncertain about how your images will turn out. So let me tell you one really important thing;

It doesn’t matter if you don’t get it right the first time.

Or even the twentieth time, though you might prefer to move on to something new at that point.

What is the worst that could happen if you try street photography? Pick some flowers and have a go with macro photography? Try to capture an awesome sunrise?

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

One of the best sunsets I have ever seen, absolutely stunning. Probably my 127th sunset shot, and worth the effort of the previous 126.

Kickstart your inspiration

Here are a few tips to help you kickstart your inspiration:

  • Actually get out there with your camera. Get your bum off the sofa, camera in hand, out the door in any direction. Make time for your hobby. Do it regularly. Give yourself permission to go out and shoot.
  • Go somewhere different than your usual places. Sit near a busy cafe. Take a walk in a nature reserve. Explore the sand dunes at the beach. Find a stream or river where birds are active.
  • Once you get to your new place, find a good spot and then just sit for five to 10 minutes. Immerse yourself in the sound of the place (yes take the headphones ooff). Watch the activity around you, see where the light and shadows fall, what textures are nearby. Be present and soon you will see all sorts of opportunities for images.
  • Be brave and attend events with your camera. Sports events, local festivals, markets, concerts, fairs, car rallies, agricultural shows – the list goes on and on of places you can go for minimal cost. There are people dressed up, doing interesting things, lots of different stuff to see and photograph. Walk around, watch the people, see the patterns, spot the areas of activity. Hover at the edges if that makes you more comfortable.
How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

First time at Roller Derby – the lighting was awful so I decided to experiment with slower shutter speeds for fun.

  • See the small details via macro photography. Good macro lenses are expensive, so see if you can borrow or rent one to see if that is your thing.  Macro or close-up filters are a cost effective option to get you started. Look inside your pantry or fridge. See what is flowering in the garden. Setup a small studio with your tripod, a table and some natural window light and experiment.
How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

Take time to see the small interesting details – this is an old cash register.

  • Learn to see in black and white. Look for contrast, texture, shapes, and lines. Try to see the image without color. At the beginning, this will be really hard, but eventually, you will start to see the core compositional elements that make for a good black and white image.
How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

It was lightly raining as I took this image. The light was flat and dull, but I knew the sky would look fabulous once processed into black and white.

  • Start a photography project. There are lots of 365 Day or 52 Week Challenges around – some with themes and some just to encourage you to shoot regularly.  Try one of them or develop your own project idea.
  • Work with props. Taking straight portraits can be really challenging. Getting people to relax and smile naturally is hard. Instead, give them something to interact with and take their mind off the camera. A ball, or a hat. Perhaps a pretty shawl or wrap. A book or a bunch of flowers. Be creative, make it fun and light hearted.
How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

Three ladies that I ran across and asked to pose in front of these blue statement walls. They did their own posing with no prompting from me.

  • Go out at nighttime. So many new possibilities – light painting, astrophotography, star trails, auroras, steel wool, light trails, fireworks or even kids sparklers.
  • Find a thing, anything, anywhere. Shoot it at different angles, in different kinds of light. Keep coming back and try and find a new and interesting way to capture the essence of a mundane everyday object.
How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

Looks simple, try doing it backward in the dark within 30 seconds, ankle deep in snow with freezing feet running back and forth from the camera.

Endless possibilities exist

Landscapes, sunrise, sunset, wedding, portrait, boudoir, food, macro, street, dance, cats, astrophotography, waterfalls, compositing, fine art, black and white, weather, birds, architecture, events, underwater, travel, flowers, sports, product, photojournalism – all options for you to try.

The list goes on, that is just off the top of my head. There are still many more choices. Take any one of those words above, and break it down into smaller elements, and there are even more choices, for example;  travel > people, places, food, color, culture, and experiences.

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

An installation at an outdoor art festival being constructed.

Develop a habit

Some of my best work came after completing a 21-day creativity course. On day five I was to “Allocate a 15-minute time-slot to shoot anything”. The idea is that when you tell yourself it will only take 15 minutes, then you are much more likely to make the time to do it. Of course, it always took much longer, but because the effort is made to get started, suddenly it becomes fun. It doesn’t matter that it actually ends up being an hour instead.

Maybe you have kids to feed, bathe, and wrangle into bed so you feel like you cannot take the time. Instead of sitting down to Facebook or watch TV when you do have time, go get your camera instead. Talk to your family and friends, let them know it is important to you. Ask them to help – maybe they will be a model for you? Maybe they have a cool prop you could borrow?

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

Attendees at a local Zombie Run kindly agreed to lurch for me.

What makes you happy?

Where is your happy place? Is it a library? A cup of coffee at your favorite cafe? Is it down at the beach? At the park with the kids? Walking the dog? Playing a sport?

What could be better than doing your favorite thing and taking the camera along to record the experience? Kids playing in the autumn leaves, or about to push off down the slide. Your dog fetching a stick or racing along the beach. Steam rising off a cappuccino with a cupcake on the side. Frost patterns on a morning walk. Sunset setting the sky on fire. The smell of a new book. What’s your thing?

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

It’s not my thing, but street photography is hugely popular.

Learn to let it go

Don’t try too hard. Have your camera handy but take the time to be in the moment too. Genuine emotions and responses are far more compelling than a contrived situation. Learn to be patient and wait for the right moment. Sometimes just put your camera aside and let it go. Not every day will give you a keeper, or even a reason to shoot.  But you can guarantee that the best shooting opportunities will be the ones that happen when you leave your camera behind.

So in some circumstances, it may be more appropriate to be present, and leave the camera at home. It might be culturally insensitive or just plain rude. It could be more fun to enjoy being part of the event, rather than shooting from the sidelines as often happens with photographers.

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

A gorgeous art graffiti piece with the foundation for a building about to be built immediately in front of it. Taken on a step stool bought from home so I could shoot over the security fence.

Research

My favourite place for inspiration is Pinterest. I have boards dedicated to food, still life, fine art, Gothic, the macabre and pinup photography. All these things that have inspired me one way or another. Some are there to remind me to try a new thing. Others are there to remind me to keep experimenting with a style that is still new and experimental. Some are just fantastic images that delight me.

Instagram is another source of wonderful images.  Both are places you can search for reasonably specific concepts and find images to match. It is also easy to curate your feed for both, so that you get a regular supply of stuff that may inspire you.

Facebook has many groups dedicated to specific photography styles. As well as a good source of image inspiration you can also ask questions or ask for advice. Asking someone how they achieved a certain image can be a simple way of making your learning easier. Many people are often only to happy to help. Quite a few will even have blogged about the image with some backstory around how it was created.

Art galleries, museums, books on the grand masters of painting or photography are all available for viewing – many of them online.

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

A local steampunk lady agreed to pose for me in exchange for an image.

Summary

It can be easy to fall into the same old habits, sticking to one particular style or technique. Making the effort to change that is difficult. Overcoming inertia and breaking out of your comfort zone is hard.

Yet if you keep doing the same things, you will keep getting the same images, the same results. Eventually boredom will set in, causing you to put the camera aside.

My challenge to you is to instead, pick up the camera, open your eyes and give yourself a chance to truly see the world around you. Once you do that, limitless possibilities will become apparent, and your inspiration will be everywhere.

How to Find Inspiration for Your Photography When Your Muse is Missing

A light festival held in mid-winter. It was bitterly cold, but I had so much fun I went back the second night to catch all the things missed first time round.

Still, don’t try to do it all at once either, as creative fatigue and burnout can result. Learn to pace yourself. Break it down into manageable chunks, learn one thing and move on to the next. Some things will have more resonance and stay with you for longer. Others will not click with your style at all.

Conclusion

It’s possible that you could find your niche and want to stick with one particular style.  If so, then congratulations on finding your happy place. But keep in mind, even when you are in that zone, there are still ways to explore it, try different points of view, and push your boundaries.

In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about her theory that ideas are constantly swirling around us. But unless we are in a receptive state of mind, they will fail to find purchase:

“But sometimes – rarely, but magnificently – there comes a day when you’re open and relaxed enough to actually receive something. Your defenses might slacken and your anxieties ease, and then magic can slip through. The idea, sensing your openness, will start to do its work on you. It will send the universal physical and emotional signals of inspiration (the chills up the arm, the hair standing on the back of the neck) (…)”

Inspiration is anywhere and everywhere, we just need to make ourselves open for our muse to find us.

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5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

15 Jun

Summer is arriving here in northern Europe, and with it, a whole new world of color, vitality, and humming activity. It’s the perfect time to go outside and explore what all the buzz is about! Doing macro photography outdoors can be a very rewarding and pleasant activity, and no, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Knowing some basics will make it more worthwhile, and it might also help you learn even more from your experiences.

Outdoor macro photography 01

So what are the essential steps of enjoying an outdoor macro photography session? There are a lot of excellent resources on macro photography here at Digital Photography School, so I won’t go through the technical aspects in too much detail. Either way, the most important factors for enjoying doing some macro photography outdoors are pleasant weather and an inquisitive mind. So let’s begin!

https://digital-photography-school.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-macro-photography/ https://digital-photography-school.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-macro-photography/

1. The gear

The great thing about macro photography is that there’s a wide range of gear that you can use; everything from a complicated setup with microscope lenses and focus stacking to using your mobile phone camera. In between those extremes there are point-and-shoot digital cameras that often come with a surprisingly good macro mode, and SLRs in combination with macro lenses, close-up filters or extension tubes.

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

Here are some dPS articles on macro gear options:

  • Close-up filters
  • Using extension tubes for macro photography
  • Reverse lens macro
  • Macro lenses
  • Budget alternatives for macro photography

Once you have some kind of setup for macro photography, you’re ready for the next step!

2. Find a subject

What would you like to photograph? The choices outdoors are many and varied. It can be something small or a detail of something bigger. It might be something you’ve researched and planned for a long time or something you just found. This is where your creativity comes in.

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

I have a thing for ants, so they are always a go-to subject for me.

If you don’t have a specific idea and are looking for inspiration, lying down in the grass on a sunny day and seeing the world from the point of view of a frog might help!

3. Lighting your subject

You have your gear, you have your subject – now all you need for a photograph is some light. Good exposure can be accomplished either by using natural light or an external light source (such as a flash).

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

This image was made using only natural light. It was taken late in the day in the shade, but the light was still bright enough to capture this sleeping dragonfly.

In one way, using natural light is easier, as you don’t need anything but your camera of choice. In another way, natural light can be quite tricky. Apart from being unreliable, the very nature of macro photography calls for a narrow field of view, which means that the sensor has to receive enough light from a very small area. In short, there has to be a lot of light – especially if you’re trying to capture something that is moving and you have a ridiculously narrow depth of field.

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

Here, a flash was bounced off a nearby wall to give the scene enough light.

Using an external light source, such as a flash, is an excellent way to control both the amount and the direction of light. Before you begin, though, it’s useful to learn a bit about the basics of flash photography – as with everything, flash photography also has its own challenges. The look and feel of the photo will also be different depending on whether you use natural or artificial light.

4. Stabilize yourself

Remember that the longer focal length you use, the higher the risk is for getting a shaky image. This means that even if you’re photographing a still subject, your shutter speed needs to be fast – or you need to use a tripod. A tripods is a great photography tool in general, but it is especially useful in macro photography, where there might not be enough light due to the setup and the small field of view. Here, a tripod is essential.

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

It might sometimes feel like the tripod is restricting your movement and making your photography session a bigger deal than what you want it to be. That’s okay! It’s possible to do fantastic macro photography without a tripod; just remember to keep that shutter speed fast.

5. Telling a story

When photographing something that is technically challenging and conceptually extraordinary, it’s easy to forget about the other aspects of photography. But as with photography in general, some of the most interesting macro photographs are the ones that have a story to tell.

Death and birth.

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography 5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

You can create your own tale or just open your eyes to all the small stories that are being told around you, all the time. If you stop to have a look, there is a lot to be inspired by among the small lives that are being led in the great outdoors – whether it’s a remote wilderness or your backyard.

5 Quick Tips for Outdoor Macro Photography

Ants moving to a new colony – sometimes it takes less energy for the colony if workers carry each other to the new location.

Conclusion

These are the factors I try to keep in mind when I’m heading outside to do macro photography. There are many more that can help you create an interesting photograph of the natural world. What are your best tips? I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your creations in the comments below.

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How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

14 Jun

In this article, I’ll give you some ideas and tips on how to use a prism to make some really cool and creative photo effects.

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

Prisms

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

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

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

The physics

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

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

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

What you will need

  • A camera
  • One triangular prism
  • A lens cloth
triangular prism - How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

A triangular prism like this one is available on Amazon for only a few dollars.

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

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

Method

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

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

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

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

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

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

How to Use a Prism to Make Creative Photo Effects

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

Your turn

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

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3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

14 Jun

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

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

How do layers work?

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

In this article, I’ll give a brief overview of how layers work and go on to explain why I use the following go-to in my workflow:

  1. Adjustment Layers for non-destructive editing
  2. Layer Masks
  3. Smart Objects

The Layers Panel

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

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

Different layer types in Photoshop

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

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

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

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

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

#1 – Adjustment Layers

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

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

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

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

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

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

Adjustments Panel

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

Adjustment Layers has it's own panel with 16 icons representing the different Adjustment Layers

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

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

How Adjustments Layers can add colour correction and bring out the details in the image in an non destructive way

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

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

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

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

#2 – Layer Masks

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

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

The water in the image on the left had no masks applied when global edits were applied using Adjustment Layers. Masks were used on the image on the left to preserve the highlights of the water.

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

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

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

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

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

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

#3 – Smart Objects

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

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

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop

An image layer converted to a Smart Object

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

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop - smart object

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

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

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

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

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

3 Good Reasons to Use Layers in Photoshop - ACR

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

Conclusion

Layers can play an important role in your post-production.

  • You can separate parts of the image and edit them without affecting other parts of the image.
  • Converting your image layers to a Smart Object allows you to move the new image around, edit it, and resize it without affecting the resolution of the original image.
  • You can add multiple layers on top of each other and put them into groups.
  • You can apply filters and effects to layers independently, e.g. drop-shadow, color adjustments, etc.
  • Blend Mode options can change the appearance of each layer
  • You can reduce the opacity on a layer. This is particularly useful when using Layer Adjustments to fine-tune the edit to create a subtle effect.

The main take away from using Layers in Photoshop is that the whole process is working non-destructively.

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

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How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

14 Jun

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

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

Different, not better

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

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

How the smaller sensor affects your images

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

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

ISO performance

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

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

Bigger buckets

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

Technology advances

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

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

Cost and Size

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

Camera Size

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

Price – $ $ $

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

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

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

Lens Size and Selection

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

Lens Performance: Depth of Field and Focal Length

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

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

Examples

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

85mm lens on full-frame versus crop-sensor

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

Wide-angle

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

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

Implications – how it affects you

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

How to Understand the Differences Between Full-Frame Versus Crop-Sensor Cameras

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

The Final Word

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

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

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

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


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23 Remarkable Mirror Images of Reflections

08 Jun

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

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

By Jacob Surland

By Glenn Simmons

By M.G.N. – Marcel

By Pablo Fernández

By Bruce Irschick

By Elizabeth Haslam

By Rüdiger Stehn

By Jim Choate

By Michael Levine-Clark

By Ken Douglas

By Chris Sorge

By josef.stuefer

By Bernat Casero

By Ramesh SA

By Dianne Lacourciere

By Chrissy Wainwright

By Arild Storaas

By Max Milkovitsch

By Theophilos Papadopoulos

By Mario

By Susanne Nilsson

By Laurent Ribot

By ANDY ARCIGA ( www.arcigaandy.com )

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Reflections

08 Jun

Reflective surfaces can be difficult to photograph – a “challenge” even! Here are a few examples of images of reflections to get you started.

By Theophilos Papadopoulos

Weekly Photography Challenge – Reflections

Your challenge this week is to find some reflective surfaces and photograph them in a creative way. Some sources for reflections might include:

  • Windows
  • Puddles
  • Lakes and rivers
  • Chrome (fenders and car parts)
  • Actual mirrors
  • Sunglasses
  • Roads and sidewalks after the rain
  • Plexiglass or shine countertops

By Jeff Wallace

By Gavin Golden

By Jamie McCaffrey

By Dan Masa

By Vince Young

Share your images below:

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images on the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

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


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