Category: Photography

4 Tips to Help People Photographers Shoot Interior Spaces

As a people photographer, I am not a specialist in photographing still forms like architectural structures and interior spaces. However, because I photograph weddings, I often take photos of interiors and locations as part of the wedding photos I give my clients. This is essentially how I learned to develop an eye for detail, form and structure as part and parcel of my work.

Let me share with you a few tips I have learned that will hopefully get you started in photographing interior spaces and architecture if you are a people photographer.

#1 Use natural light

One of the advantages of still photography is simply that – nothing moves. You can leverage this by playing with your settings, especially the shutter speed. With the camera rested on a tripod or a table, you can play around with very slow shutter speeds to maximize capturing ambient light even in very dark corners, limited light, or night interior photography. If there are lamps and lights that make up the overall ambiance of the room, include them and take advantage of slow shutter speeds and long exposures. You can also keep your ISO low this way and have the bonus of clean noiseless images.

It is important to remember that for interiors, you should aim for balanced lighting. Meaning there are no overly dark shadows or overly bright highlights. You want to see the detail in dark areas but not blow out the light areas altogether. Because we are talking about natural light, think about which times of the day which best feature the interior space. Early morning and late afternoon light are the softest. Overcast days produce soft light. Bright super sunny days produce harsher light especially midday and therefore you may want to take into consideration shadows produced in the interior from harsh outside light. In contrast to photographing people, I would normally use these shadows as an artistic element of the photo. Interior spaces however are different and this may not always be appropriate.

Early morning and late afternoon light are the softest. Overcast days produce soft light. Bright super sunny days produce harsher light, especially midday. Therefore you may want to take into consideration any shadows produced in the interior from harsh outside light. In contrast to photographing people, I would normally use these shadows as an artistic element of the photo. Interior spaces, however, are different and this may not always be appropriate.

#2 Don’t forget your 50mm lens

Not only is the 50mm lens the closest lens that resembles the human eye (when using a full frame camera), it is also the perfect lens to separate some areas and details of the space without going in too close. In a way, it is an excellent “portrait” lens for spaces, whereas my 85mm is my choice of portrait lens for people.

When using wider lenses, I find I have to correct quite a lot of distortion on the edges of the frame. With the 50mm this is hardly an issue. The results are pleasing to the eye and it evokes a very natural look, making you feel like you are within the actual space yourself.

#3 Get the white balance right

This is tricky and the nemesis of many photographers. Most non-photographers are oblivious to white balance. This is especially obvious in weddings where the bride’s dress looks blue and people’s faces register as magenta, yet hardly anyone notices.

When I sold my house a few years back, the real estate agents who boasted of great property photography sent a photographer to my house to take some professional pictures. She arrived with a camera on the tripod and a flash head pointed slightly upwards. The lens used was very wide – I guessed around 10mm or 14mm. It took many days before the photos were up online, when finally I saw them, they were all very blue. My home felt so cold and not homely. One of the reasons for that was the incorrect white balance.

Personally, I prefer a warm feel to all my photos so I tend to edit towards that side. But do be careful that the whites still look white and not yellow or cream. Remember that what often draws people to an image is a feeling or emotion. Your image becomes all the more powerful if it reminds the viewer of a sentiment, experience, or something that resonates with them. White balance is key in helping achieve this kind of engagement with your viewer.

#4 Remember to go close, not just wide

Nowadays, when you browse through interior design catalogues or blogs, you will come across many interior details, arrangements and vignettes that do not show the entire space. Everyone is doing it from high street department stores to high end interior designers. There must be a good reason for it. In order to reinforce engagement and a connection to your audience, details are essential.

Imagine walking into a space, or that you are viewing a house for the first time. Before you walk though the door, you survey the outside look of the property and its surroundings. You do the same as you walk in, surveying the overall scene before your eyes. But when you are inside you get closer and see the details.

You may want to touch and feel the walls, flip some switches on if they work, or sit on the sofa with fluffy scatter cushions. You want to get close, touch and feel things. It is not only a visual connection then, it becomes physical. This is the sense you want to achieve with your images when the viewer is not physically in the space. That is why close up shots and details are important.

Conclusion

With photography, aim to connect with your viewers not only by using visual senses but also with the power of emotion. If you can add a virtual physical touch to this engagement, all the better. When viewers look at your images and say, “I feel like I was actually there.” take that as one of the highest compliments.

I hope you enjoyed this little beginner’s journey into interior photography. Of course there are many more tips like straightening horizons and shooting through doors. If you have any other awesome tips, do share them here in the comments below.

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The post 4 Tips to Help People Photographers Shoot Interior Spaces by Lily Sawyer appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

October 18, 2016
23 Academic Images of School Days

The kids are back in school in most places around the world. So what kinds of images represent school, students, and the education process?

Going to school means different things to each of us. Here’s what it means to these photographers (first two are my images of kids in Nicaragua):

By Omiya Tou

By Nick Amoscato

By Nikita No Komment

By World Bank Photo Collection

By Vladimir Fedotov

By Freaktography

By depinniped

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By jesuscm

By United Nations Development Programme

By Hansel and Regrettal

By Dean Hochman

By United Nations Photo

By Mal B

By Jacob Surland

By Jinx!

By Vanessa Lynn.

By C.C. Chapman

By Casey Fleser

By Eric Parker

By Melissa

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Digital Photography School

October 17, 2016
Weekly Photography Challenge – School Days

Many of us had a love-hate relationship with going to school as kids. There are fun parts, and not so fun parts for each person. But there are some things that we always think of fondly, no matter where you went to school or your age. Here are some images of school days to get you thinking.

By Todd Petrie

Weekly Photography Challenge – School Days

This week it’s your job to head back to school. Find something school related for the theme this week whether it be a school bus, old desk, classroom, or playground. Photograph it using all the usual rules of good composition and lighting.

By Barbara Mazz

By Rae Allen

By Saku Takakusaki

By Todd Petrie

By Patrizia

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.

By naosuke ii

By amanda tipton

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.

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

Digital Photography School

October 17, 2016
Lightroom’s Secret Weapon: The Radial Filter and How to Use it
Back when Lightroom 5 was released, Adobe included an extremely useful tool called the Radial Filter. However, the name wasn’t particularly clear about what it could do, so many people still have yet to find how useful and powerful it can be. Further improvements were added in Lightroom 6, with the ability to further edit the effect of the tool with the Brush function.

Workflow process

A generally accepted practice when editing images, is that you do your global adjustments first. These are the ones that affect the whole image at once. Some examples of adjustments that you might use are:
- Exposure
- White Balance
- Contrast
- White or Black Point
- Sharpness
- Clarity
- Shadows and Highlights
Once the global adjustments are done, then the local adjustments can be made. These are changes made to only a small part of the image. They may be to add final polish to the image or to fix some blemishes. These changes should be subtle and layered on with a delicate touch. It should not be obvious that they have been made, but when you are finished and compare the before and after image, there should be some improvement visible.

How the Radial Filter fits in

This is where the Radial Filter can be used, adding in areas of highlight or clarity to the key subject, brightening or darkening areas, or adding a custom vignette. Lots of little touches to take your final image to the next level.

My example image is a shot of a couple tiger cubs taken at Melbourne Zoo in 2010. It was very dark and shaded in their enclosure so the original RAW images are very dark. This image has been edited in Lightroom 6 to apply all the required global adjustments. It is now ready to have some localized tweaks added with the Radial Filter.

WHERE TO FIND THE RADIAL FILTER AND HOW TO USE IT

The Radial Filter lives in the right panel of the Develop Module. Under the histogram are six shapes that link to different tools. The round circle with a dot in the centre at the fifth position from the left is the Radial Filter.

When you click on the button for the Radial Filter (you can also use the keyboard shortcut Shift+M to open the Radial Filter), a panel opens up with all the editing choices available for this tool.

Adding and adjusting the filter

If you click on your image and drag the mouse out a bit, a roundish ellipse shape will form with a centre button and four control handles. Let go of the mouse when the shape is roughly the size you want it. The Radial Filter only offers a roundish ellipse shape but it has a lot of flexibility with changing the size and squashing it down to be a narrow oval shape instead of a circle.

Clicking and dragging on the centre button allows you to move the filter to the part of the image you want to edit. Use the control handles to change the size and also the shape of the ellipse.

Which area is affected

By default, Lightroom sets the editing area to OUTSIDE the ellipse. If you want to edit INSIDE the area, tick the Invert Mask box on the Panel.

The red colour shows up if you have Show Selected Mask Overlay ticked. It is handy to see where Lightroom will apply the effect and how much feathering you need to use.

NOTE: if you do not see a coloured overlay like the red one shown here, hit the O keyboard shortcut for “overlay”. Holding shift and tapping O will change the color of the overlay.

Note: Always click Close or Done (or the keyboard shortcut Shift+M again) once you are finished editing a particular button so you can see the edited image clearly.

USING THE RADIAL FILTER TO EDIT AN IMAGE

In the example image the aim is to bring attention to the tiger cubs, adding some tweaks around the head and paws area (it’s not 100% sharp due to the low light and the movement while they were wrestling).

Add an off-centre edge vignette

First, we add a vignette to darken the distracting elements on the edge of the frame and bring the focus to the cubs.
Because they are not in the absolute centre of the image, the usual post-crop vignette tool will not work. This is where the Radial Filter is so useful, as you can add a vignette with the focus an off-centre subject rather than being limited to the middle of the frame.

The vignette needs to have Invert Mask NOT ticked, as the effect goes on the outside of the ellipse.

Add the Radial Filter and adjust the shape to be quite large – you can make the ellipse bigger than the actual image if necessary. Invert the mask and bring the exposure down just enough to darken the edges of the frame.

Feather the filter

Lightroom has a default feather setting of 50 which is quite a lot, too much for this image, so adjust the feather down. Be careful not to go too far as a harsh edge will become visible.

The right-hand edge of the image still has a bright spot of foliage. So add another long Radial Filter and bring the exposure down a little bit.

There are no set numbers of how much to edit with this tool, you will need to experiment and go with what feels right. The good news is these are all non-destructive edits (the image is not permanently changed) so you can remove them all and start again, or change the settings on one or all of them, as many times as necessary.

Tone control on select areas

There is a bright spot of foliage on the left-hand side, just sticking out from behind the tree trunk. Create a new Radial Filter just big enough to cover the right area and shape with the control handles.

Invert the mask and bring the exposure down a bit. This time, click and drag on the bottom control handle and drag to the right until the ellipse tilts back to the left a bit and aligns better with the line of the tree trunk.

Add focus on the subject

Now it is time to add some brightness and focus to the tiger cubs. Add a new Radial Filter to cover the area on the bright side of the head and paws and bring up the exposure a tiny amount. That is where the sunlight is naturally falling, so that is the area that needs brightening. Be careful to add light effects only to the lighter parts of the image as it can look a bit odd if a darker area is unnaturally bright.

Now is a good time to mention that you may have to make LOTS of little adjustments to cover areas with different shapes. It is fiddly and takes time, but you will get a better result if you take the time to edit that way.

Adding some clarity to the side of the face and paw in the sunlight is the next step. Create a new Radial Filter with size, shape and tilt to match the area and invert the mask. Add some clarity, and because this image is not quite sharp, just a little bit of sharpness. Be careful with these tools, as it is easy to go too far and get obvious effects.

The vignettes have darkened the overall area in the middle a bit much so let’s add some brightness. Add a Radial Filter to cover the area around the cubs and tweak the exposure up a small amount. Also, increase clarity and saturation a very small amount.

Before and after comparison

Let’s stop there and compare the BEFORE image with global adjustments only to the AFTER image with several specific applications of the Radial Filter.

First, we have the finished image with all the dots for the different individual Radial Filters added.

Then we have the BEFORE image.

Finally the AFTER image with both global, and local edits applied with the Radial Filter.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, careful use of the Radial Filter can add many small subtle changes to an image, and bring the focus to the subject. It can also be used to further enhance the subject and give it extra punch and vibrancy.

The Radial Filter is a very capable tool that can take a bit of time to get used to. The limited shape has some challenges to learn how to work with it to get the best effect but it gives you a lot of power and control too.

Do you have any other tips for using the Radial Filter? Please share in the comments below.

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The post Lightroom’s Secret Weapon: The Radial Filter and How to Use it by Stacey Hill appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
October 17, 2016
Tips for Getting the Image Right In Camera

I suspect if asked the question “Would you rather be editing your images, or out there photographing that what you love?” only a select few of us photographers will raise our hands for the former! Photography is an incredibly creative art form and as artists, we want to be able to create beautiful imagery every time we click the shutter. For the most part, we want to spend more time creating and less time editing our images. There are several simple steps we can take to try and get the images as close to perfect (as we imagine it), right in camera a.k.a SOOC (straight out of camera).

#1 Pre-visualize the shot you want to achieve

Having an idea of what you want to shoot and planning for the shot can go a long way in helping you achieve the right results the first time around. Like anything else in life, have a plan of when you want to shoot, where you want to shoot, and what kind of image you want to create.

A golden hour shoot where I knew the kind of image I wanted this to be – this is SOOC and a little bit cool but I liked the halo effect on her hair and the framing with the tall grass.

With a few simple edits of temperature, contrast, tint and spot removal for some rogue blades of grass, I got the image that I envisioned when I clicked the shutter.

Do you want an image that is light and bright? Then plan on shooting during the day in a wide open space with lots of sunlight. Do you want to create an image that is dark and moody? Then look for locations that are not in direct sunlight, ones that have texture and tones that are on the darker side.

Resist the temptation to arrive at a location and immediately start clicking the shutter just because you want to take a picture of something. This does take some discipline but it can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. Not to mention the hassle of storing images that really don’t convey a story and are really random in nature.

#2 Limit yourself to a select number of frames

This is a concept that transfers over from film days and I strongly encourage you to go out and shoot a roll or two of film (even a small disposable point and shoot camera). Challenge yourself to really tell a story in a limited amount of frames (typically 24 to 36 for 35mm cameras and even less for medium format cameras). You will immediately feel restricted and limit yourself to only shooting that which is interesting. And you will find yourself paying more attention to composition, lighting ,and technique when you limit yourself to a small number of frames like 16, 24 or 36.

#3 Go into Single Shot drive mode on your camera

If your DSLR has a burst mode capability, deactivate that functionality or change it to Single Shot. When you press the shutter, only one shot will be taken. The ability to hold down the shutter and fire away 5-6 frames is deactivated. Again this will help you focus on technique, technical

The image of the horse jumping the poles is soft as I missed the focus on the moving horse.

But the next rider was caught at the right moment of the jump. And by tracking the previous rider, I knew the general path of the jump and was able to get a sharp image.

Again this will help you focus on technique, technical aspects, and composition of each shot which in turn forces you to slow down and be more intentional with what you shoot. Yes, you may run the risk go having a blurry image, especially if your subject is moving. But after a few tries, you will learn to anticipate and track your subject at exactly the right time to get a sharp image (as seen below).

#4 Utilize the full capabilities of your camera

Most DSLRs today are sophisticated pieces of equipment with advanced computing technology built-in. They are built to read, analyze the scene, and make decisions based on what they have been programmed to do. But at the end of the day, they can still make mistakes by making incorrect decisions. You can avoid these errors by taking control of your camera.

A) Learn to shoot in Manual mode

By shooting in Program or Auto mode, you are relinquishing control to the camera and allowing it to make all the decisions. Shooting in Manual mode gives you, the user, the most amount of control and forces you to think about all the aspects of a good image like light sensitivity, depth of field, and movement before you click the shutter.

Over time, shooting in Manual mode where all the core elements like ISO, f-stop and shutter speed are adjusted by you the photographer and not the camera, will lead to images that are (almost) perfect right out of the camera. The histogram is a great way to validate if the image is structurally correct (subjective to your shooting style).

B) Use the preview function (LCD screen)

If your camera has a preview function (also known as the playback function), use that to view and analyze the image you have just taken. Is it sharp and in focus? is the properly litm, or is it too dark? If the composition is incorrect, the image is blurry, or the exposure is completely off, you can fix the problem, delete the image and retake the shot. The more you practice fixing the image right then and there, the fewer bad images you will take back with you to try and edit and salvage later in post-processing.

C) Use the histogram

You can take the review functionality up a notch by checking the histogram (if your camera has that information available) via the LCD screen. The histogram shares information like the quality of the shadows and highlights of the scene.

This image was intentionally shot this way – overexposed – because I was almost shooting into the sun and I really wanted that lens flare in the bottom right of the image.

I will throw out one caveat here – make sure you practice the art of reading and reviewing the histogram when you are shooting just for yourself or during test shoots, not during paid client gigs. On a client shoot, if you are messing with histograms and excessive review of the LCD, you may appear very unprofessional to your clients. They may perceive it as you don’t know what you are doing and that you lack confidence in your technical abilities. The good news is that by practicing enough on your own time, you will be confident to nail the shot right on the first go!

D) Get out of the mental mindset of, “I will fix it in post-production”

This is one of the worst dialogues you can have with yourself (I too have done this in the past). It encourages a mentality of laziness and the attitude of “spray and pray”. Firing away what appears to be hundreds of shots in the hope that at least a few will be worthwhile. Let post-processing be only for any artistic touches and not as a fix for basic things like exposure, color temperature (white balance), and tonality.

I absolutely love this image and the use of negative space. This is how I saw the scene in front of me and I had less than three seconds to take the shot. This is almost SOOC. I only cleaned out some traffic signs and brightened the highlights, an easy 2-second edit in Lightroom.

Conclusion

The basic premise of this article is actually quite simple. If you want to have a perfect or near-to-perfect image right out of the camera, learn how your camera works and behaves. And learn to use it to create images that you envision as representing your true artistic abilities.

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The post Tips for Getting the Image Right In Camera by Karthika Gupta appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

October 17, 2016
Tips for Getting Started Doing Event Photography
Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall? To see the behind-the-scenes of amazing events and activities? To meet influential or interesting people? If so, candid event photography may be the thing for you!

While wedding photography is technically event photography, that is not our focus here. There’s just something different about wedding photography. It’s more pressure, higher stakes, more intensity. In this article we are going to focus more on other types of events – social, corporate, family, religious, and others, that can broaden your experience (and line your pocketbook!).

Getting Started

Unless you are an event planner or have an “in” already, sometimes it can be a little hard to break into event photography. You are probably going to have to volunteer for a few events to get started.

Are you or any of your immediate family members part of an organization or club? This can be absolutely anything – PTA for your child/grandchild’s school, a community fraternal organization, a slow-pitch softball team, your place of worship. Do they have any big events that they feature regularly or annually? Ask if they would like some free event photography. The good thing about doing free photography is that it lets you practice and hone your skills without feeling like you’re wasting someone’s money if your photos aren’t perfect.

Communication is Key

Before the event, work with the event coordinator in advance. A phone call, or thorough email, is usually sufficient, but you may also want to meet in person. You’ll want to ask some key questions, if they don’t have the information readily available such as:
- “Is there an itinerary for the program? Can I receive a copy in advance?” If you’re anything like me, you’re a planner. You want to know in advance exactly what is going to happen, and ideally, where. That way, you can make sure that you’re lined up to catch the keynote speaker or the moment when an honoree receives their award. This isn’t just a matter of convenience for you, it helps you make sure that you are able to provide the shots that will help the group remember their event (or, if appropriate, to market it for the future!).
Who to photograph
- “Who are the key people I should photograph?” Unless you’re a seasoned veteran of the event you’re photographing, you might not know who the big players are. I recently photographed a big charity gala for the biggest hospital in the area . Some of the attendees were CEOs of companies, coaches of Big 12 sports teams, mayors, and councilpersons. By receiving the names of the key attendees in advance, you can do a Google Image search for them (yeah, I know it sounds super-creepy) so that you can recognize them on-site.
- “Who or what should I avoid photographing, if anything?” Nobody really wants to get into a situation where the person being photographed becomes belligerent or aggressive. You also don’t want to photograph a moment that is supremely personal if that is not desired. There are many events where you don’t need to ask this question, but keep it on the list for more personal events (such as family or religious ones). Don’t be paparazzi!
What to photograph
- “How many/what kind of pictures would you ideally like?” I try to provide as many photos as possible to my clients because everyone’s tastes vary so widely. However, this can be really overwhelming for some people who are under time constraints, or who really only want photos of a certain portion of the event. Figure out their ideal amount and try to stick to it.
- “Is it okay if I use any of these photos in my business advertisements or on my web page in the future?” It can essentially be free advertising if you can use these photos to demonstrate your abilities.
- “When are you setting up for the event? May I stop by early for some test photographs?” Unless you want to take every flash, diffuser, and lens you own, you want to get a feel for the venue in advance. It’s ideal if you can get some test shots using the same lighting (whether it’s natural or artificial) and see how they come out. This will not only help you decide what gear to bring, but it also saves you time on the day of the event. Having to readjust your camera settings to accommodate the environment, get your ISO correct, decide on a lens, etc., all take time. This will make you look more professional and prepared.
Work the Crowd – Tastefully

This next bit may not be appropriate for more solemn and serious occasions. For most, however, your foot is officially in the door. Be friendly and professional, make appropriate jokes or comments to appear personable and fun. Keep the attention off of you, but interact kindly with everyone you meet.

Having a camera in your hand instantly makes people more prone to smile around you, so use that goodwill to make them laugh. This will also allow you to get natural, fun shots that will please both the client and the subject of the photo. This will often lead to people either asking for your business card or asking the event organizer for your information. Make sure to keep a stack of business cards on hand, and give a few to the event organizer if they are comfortable with that.

After the event, don’t hesitate to ask the organizer if you can use them a a reference, or if they might be wiling to write you a review. You’re doing them a service, potentially for free. It’s not uncommon or inappropriate to ask for an honest review of your services.

Details, Details, Details

Whether you’re photographing a political dinner, a church bazaar, a birthday party, or an awards event, someone put a great deal of thought and time into making that event unique and special. Someone spent hours thinking aboutcenterpiecess and the dessert table, about the table layout, registration table, the serving stations and other details. In many instances, the people who planned the event are also in charge of hiring the photographers now and in the future, so it doesn’t hurt to get on their good side!

To do so, get good quality shots of the small things that went into the event to make it special. Programs, food, signage, the little things. These shots are good for remembering all of the wonderful details that were so special to them on that day, and they can also make good marketing (for a company, religious entity, charity organization, or similar) in the future. Getting them these shots gives them lots of options – this makes you more helpful and versatile, as they’re getting more bang for their buck. This ultimately makes you more marketable!

While You’re At It…

For some events, they want to get the feel of the event from the attendee’s eyes. These can be tricky to do, you may have to photograph tactfully over someone’s shoulder, or through an open door. These types of photos, however, can be used to promote events in the future, especially if they do not actually feature the faces of anyone. It’s always important to get shots of the attendees for the event, but you can also get some of these shots that are not related to a specific date and time. This gives the organization (if applicable) options if the attendees do not want their faces being used as advertisements.

Make It Artsy… But Not TOO Artsy

One of the biggest mistakes that I see in some candid event photography is that there is little artistic focus or composition to the photos. Yes, there will be times you’re ultimately just getting crowd shots, and those ARE important. In those instances, make sure you’re using the appropriate aperture and focal length to get everyone in focus who needs to be.

Try and catch an interesting moment, or a moment when the crowd is focused on something , when someone is the center of the crowd’s attention. This composes your photo more and draws the viewer’s eye. For shots of smaller groups, couples, or solo shots, use a wider aperture and an appropriate focal length to get more artistic portraits. Attendees like to see more personal, beautiful photos of themselves. People are predisposed to stopping and smiling for the camera, so you will end up with some staged shots. But also get images of people in mid-conversation, or engaging in activities.

You can also use a wider aperture to up your artistic factor. Is there a beautiful centrepiece that is blocking your shot of a crowd on the other side of the room? Focus on it with an f/2.8 or f/4 aperture so that your crowd in the background is slightly blurred. This will make for some interesting variety in your shots.

Not Too Flashy

Just imagine that you are in the crowd at a movie night sponsored by the PTA. The lights have been dimmed, your eyes adjusted for the screen, and then someone’s camera flash pops right in your eyes. This exact same situation can occur at almost any event. A flash can distract from the event and disrupt not only the audience, but a potential performer or speaker. While it is usually absolutely appropriate to use a flash for group and/or staged photos to get proper lighting, it is often ideal to simply adjust your camera settings to make the available lighting work for candid photos.

The photos below were taken at a PTA movie night just like the one I described. It was in the cafeteria of a local elementary school, with no artificial lighting other than the projector screen, and some natural light coming in through a skylight. I adjusted my ISO to 800 to accommodate for the limited light, and opened my aperture to f/2.8. Even at that, I had a shutter speed around 1/25 or 1/15 pretty consistently. If I needed to capture action (which was very limited in this sort of event), I bumped my ISO up to 1600 to accommodate it. These adjustments allowed the families to watch the film without disruption as I photographed.

Picking the Best Shots

The first time I photographed an event was at my church, and I realized during editing how much people yawn and pick their noses when they think nobody’s looking!

For a multiple-hour event, you will likely get an abundance of photos. On your first pass through, obviously weed out any photos that are fuzzy or have poor technical skills. Since these photos will represent your abilities, you want to make sure to highlight the best of them.

I always take a second and third pass through, however. Hopefully the event organizer gave you a rough idea of how many photos he or she wanted. So go through and remove any photos that are boring, or that paints the subjects in a bad light (such as picking their nose). If you still have a surplus, narrow it down on the next pass through to weed out ones with weak composition, or ones that don’t tell the story of the event well. I will then edit the remaining photos (rather than editing hundreds that I will just throw away), and export them. I usually give them another look at that time to make sure there isn’t anything I missed in my editing software.

I personally use Lightroom for editing event photography. Unless it is a statement photograph or a photo to be used for advertisement, I try to do very spare editing. These photos are not likely to be hung on someone’s wall in a large size, so you usually do not need to worry about editing out stray hairs or specks of lint. Basic adjustments for exposure and contrast, white balance, and occasionally a conversion to black and white are often sufficient.

Ready to Roll

You’re now ready to deliver your photos to your client. Be sure to provide your contact information and business cards for the future. If they indicated that you could share the photos on your website or business pages, make sure to feature them to show your amazing prowess as an event photographer.

Do you do events? If you have any other tips please share them in the comments below.

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The post Tips for Getting Started Doing Event Photography by Angie DeWaard appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
October 17, 2016
What’s special about the Lensbaby Velvet 56 and is it for you?

Usually, when you buy a new lens you are trying to get a wider angle or maybe more of a telephoto view, but with some lenses, you are trying to get more of a special effect. The Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens (price it out on Amazon.com or B&H Photo) is one of those. You can almost get normal images, but it is far better for giving you soft focus ones, not to mention some great blurred backgrounds, or to give you the bokeh effect.

The Lensbaby Velvet 56

A portrait lens and more

If you look around at reviews you see it described everywhere more as a portrait lens, but it can be used for so much more. It is a 56mm fixed lens with manual focusing and you basically get a lens very similar to a 50mm, but with some differences.

There is a range of apertures from f/1.6 to f/16 and each one creates a different effect. When you use the widest, f/1.6, you get very soft images, and the more you close it down the sharper it gets. The wider settings help you get that soft focus and bokeh look.

Flower from the garden.

Size and quality

It is reasonably compact, though made from metal it is heavier than other lenses in the same range. My Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens is much lighter than the Velvet 56 f/1.6. You can tell when you are holding it that there is quite a bit of metal in it, as it ‘s cold to the touch. It is bigger than the Nikon lens, but not by much. It also has a very cool metal lens cap.

Painterly effects

Without a doubt, this lens is known for its effects and one that is highly desirable is the painterly result. The wide apertures give images that look as though they were painted. Some say they can get the same type of image in Photoshop, but it would never have the same softness.

A flower shot with a wide aperture giving it a very soft focus look.

Works on a full frame or cropped sensor

It is a lens for a full frame camera, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it with your cropped sensor if that is what you have. If you do have the latter, in theory, you should be able to get closer to your subject as well.

It is also available for a number of different mounts, so whether you have a DSLR or a mirrorless camera you can find it for your model.

The different apertures

As stated, each aperture gives you a different effect to your image. Play around with those. As you start changing them and closing down the aperture, the image in the viewfinder does start to get darker. It is because not as much light is coming through, however, it doesn’t affect your final image, as long as you have the correct exposure.

Your camera won’t recognize the lens and you will have to change the aperture the old fashioned way, with the aperture ring on the lens. This also means that when you look at your metadata on your computer you will have no idea what setting you used. If it is important then you should record it as you take photos.

Flinders Street Station, with a wide aperture, then around f/8 and the third at f/16. See how the image slowly comes into focus.

Manual focusing

One of the aspects that a few people seem concerned about is that it’s a manual focus lens. Perhaps it is just the people that I hang around with, and as we are getting older our eyesight is affected. But having to manually focus is one thing that is (or seems) much harder.

It does take some getting used to, but it gets easier the more you do it. With most macro lenses you always seem to get the best results when you manually focus, though, so perhaps that shouldn’t be considered an issue.

When you are using wide apertures, even with macros, you are going to get very soft images which will mean you will never get very sharp images with this lens. In some ways, that can make it a lot easier to focus as the sharpness isn’t as important. This is how you get the painterly effect.

A close up image of the clocks and sign of Flinders Street Station in Melbourne.

Landscapes

Doing distance shots can be tricky as everything can appear too blurry. You really need to play around with the aperture to get the best effect. However, as stated previously if you play around with them you can get more in focus. The downside is once you close it down you lose the special effect of the lens and the softness it creates.

In reality ,you wouldn’t really use this lens for landscapes or architecture. I would use it mostly for macro, it really shines for that. It is too soft for landscapes and architecture if you ask me. But people do it, and you get some great effects, but it is never going to work like a normal lens, which is the point I suppose.

What would you use the Lensbaby Velvet 56 for?

For many, it is a great lens for portraits. Photographing people and getting great bokeh behind the subject is very desirable. As most portraits are done in an intimate environment, meaning the photographer is very close to the subject, the softness of the lens can enhance that and add an artistic feel to the images.

Like portraiture, macro photography is another great use for the Lensbaby Velvet 56. You can get very close to flowers and can create some very painterly images using different apertures. The lens is also suitable for attaching extension tubes and close-up filters to use with it. I’ve used the extension tubes on it. Plus, from time to time, I put on a 5+ close-up filter on to allow me to get even closer.

When you are focusing on a subject, if it is further away than 3-4 meters (9.8-13.1 feet) then the lens will be focused at infinity. So you don’t have to worry about focusing for landscape or architecture shots, just twist the focus ring all the way to the right so it is on infinity and shoot. It is only when your subject is closer that you need to start manually focusing the lens more critically.

It is good to use the soft focus look on subjects up close. But it doesn’t look as good when objects are further away, like large buildings, though that may be something that you like, so it’s your call.

Using the aperture to focus on one part of the image, in this case, the lock and chain.

One of the things I have found with architecture and city shots it that while it does a great blurred effect, it can make the images seem busier than normal. While some may not like that, you could make it work for you. If you keep trying you can get some interesting images. You might even get images that give everything a tilt-shift look, so the city looks miniature.

It is about experimenting, trying on different subjects to see what works best for you and which you like the best.

A night view of the city with the aperture opened up a little gives it an almosttilt-shiftt look.

The price

The price of most 50mm lenses are around two to three hundred dollars, whereas the Velvet 56mm is a bit more expensive, selling for around $ 500 USD. However, if you like the specific types of photography mentioned in this article, then the money spent on it would be worth it.

Is it for you?

There is no doubt that you have to get used to it, but most people will fall in love with the lens straight away. It is good to play and experiment with and the more you do, the more you will discover. It could be a great way to add something new to your photography. I think it is amazing, and I love using it for macro photography.

A flower photographed with the Velvet 56.

Have

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The post What’s special about the Lensbaby Velvet 56 and is it for you? by Leanne Cole appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

October 17, 2016
Choosing Big Lights

If you shoot small lights long enough, you will run up against some limitations. You might be trying to light big areas, or trying to get a combo of soft light with a large working distance. Most likely, you might be trying to light against full sun. Or, obviously, any combination of the above.

Suffice to say that at some point you might want a big gun in your lighting bag. But how do you choose? Read more »
Strobist

October 13, 2016
4 Reasons to Never use the Delete Button on Your Camera

I was walking around a wild horse range in Utah this past summer, backing up, shifting one way then the other, looking for my shot, composing and recomposing when I almost stepped on this:

I freaked out. Very quietly, since I was almost standing on a snake and I don’t want to disturb him any more than I already had but it was a Xanax moment. My fellow photographer assured me that it was a bull snake out for a sunbath and that no self-respecting rattlesnake would have let me get that close without rattling. After a few muttered words I can’t repeat here and a bit of deep breathing, my hands were steady enough to do what any avid wildlife photographer would do. I photographed it.

Because I was on a wild horse range, I was shooting in burst mode. Each brief press of my shutter captured 5-6 images. A few seconds later, I had 50 shots of a coiled-up, sunbathing snake. Snakes don’t move all that much and ones taking a sunbath don’t really move at all so that seemed like an excessive amount of frames to me. To save memory space on my card, I briefly thought about deleting a few of the images. I forced myself not to delete anything, though. Here’s why.

Reason #1: Chimping and deleting takes you out of the moment

While you’re chimping (looking at the images on the back of your camera) and deleting images, you’re no longer in the moment. You take yourself out of the present and start reviewing images from the past. If you were on a roll or having a moment of magical oneness with your camera and your subject, you’ve just disrupted all that.

When you start pressing the delete button, you’re pressing the disconnect button too. You’ve stopped being an artist to chimp, delete, and save space on your memory card. Will you be able to immediately reconnect with your inner artist when you’re done chimping and deleting? Most of us can’t get back to that creative place quickly or easily so once we get there, it’s best to stay focused there.

Reason #2: You’ll miss some great shots while your head is down

What are you missing while your head is buried in your camera’s LCD? Think about this. You’ve traveled all the way to [insert your favorite place here] to photograph [insert your favorite subject here] and instead of photographing it, you’ve let your OCD take over and you’re cleaning up your memory card. Is that a good return on your investment? Are you making the best use of the time and money you’ve expended? Or, while you’re chimping and deleting images, are you missing the opportunity to capture the image above?

Or this?

Or this?

When you bury your head into the technical parts of your camera, you miss so much. Yes, a quick glance at your histogram is fine. Yes, you can quickly double-check your focus to make sure you’ve nailed it, but then keep shooting before you lose your mojo.

If you’re concerned about space on your memory card, stuff your pockets full of them and change them often. Don’t be the photographer that misses the best moment of the day because you can’t stop yourself from chimping and deleting images.

Reason #3: You can’t really see what you’re deleting

With the haze of sunscreen and the sun’s glare on my camera’s LCD, it was hard to see the details of each image I made. I was shooting the snake with a shallow depth of field but not so shallow that the entire snake wasn’t in focus. I was focusing on his eyes but snake’s eyes are pretty tiny and I wasn’t sure I’d nailed it. Plus, I was still feeling some anxiety.

My hands weren’t really very steady. It was hot out and every time I got low, to put my camera as close to the snake’s eye level as possible, I started to feel even shakier. I couldn’t stay with my knees deeply bent for more than a few seconds. The grass around the snake was also blowing slightly and I wasn’t sure if my camera was grabbing focus on the eyes or the grass. When I uploaded all the images, here’s what I found:

In this image, the snake’s eyes weren’t sharp

In this image, the blade of grass obscured the snake’s eyes and mouth.

In this image, the eyes were sharp and not obscured by grass and Sunny the Bull Snake was sticking his tongue out at me. Winner winner, chicken dinner! I couldn’t see those details on my camera’s LCD screen at all.

Reason #4: Formatting is better for your memory card than deleting

Rather than deleting images, the gold standard is to download your entire card, reformat it, then start shooting again. Every photographer has varying opinions on this but this method seems to save wear and tear on your memory cards.

While they aren’t as expensive to replace as they used to be, they do last longer with more care. Reformatting rather than deleting also seems to prevent your card from corrupting, which saves you the time and expense – and panic – of dealing with that issue. It’s never pleasant to download a card and realize half your day’s shoot is corrupt and won’t load.

Usually, recovery software works and you can eventually retrieve those images. But if skipping in-camera deletion helps prevent corruption, then by all means, let’s all stop doing it.

Those are my top four reasons for not deleting when I’m in the field shooting. Please share in the comments if you have any other reasons for not deleting images in camera. I’d love to hear from you.

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The post 4 Reasons to Never use the Delete Button on Your Camera by Lara Joy Brynildssen appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

October 13, 2016
How to Use a Limited Color Palette to Compose Strong Images

There are lots of ways to use color in photography. One is to look for strong, complementary colors – those on opposing sides of the color wheel – and include them in the same frame. The opposite is to use a very limited color palette.

Here’s an example of the first approach. There’s a green background, purple petals, and yellow stamen. Three strong colors, working together to create an image that has good impact, because of color contrast.

Limited color palette approach

But the approach is the opposite. Instead of including several strong, contrasting colors the idea is to use a much more limited color palette. You can do this with strong colors, as in this example below, where the dominant color is red.

Or you can do it with much more subtle colors, as in this photo.

Either way, the result is a strong image with an intelligent use of color.

Many photographers move away from using saturated, contrasting colors towards a more limited and subtle palette as their skills and vision evolve. As you look at the work of other photographers, especially professionals, you’ll find that a limited color palette is a mark of maturity and sophistication.

Color in the landscape

Landscape photography is a genre that is synonymous with saturated color. Back before digital, one of the most popular films for landscape photography was Fuji Velvia – a slide film noted for its contrasty, saturated images.

In the modern era techniques like HDR and software like Lightroom and Photoshop help us create saturated, contrasty images. Often that’s what you’ll see.

But what about exploring the subtleties of light and landscape?

For example, instead of photographing the setting sun try waiting until after it has set. The colors are softer. If you have a clear sky the entire landscape may be bathed in a golden glow. The result is a much more subtle use of color.

Another technique is to explore the possibilities offered by bad weather.

I took the photo below in a town in southern Chile called Puerto Aysen. It rains a lot there, even in summer. When I took the photo it was raining. But the soft light captures the mood of the region well. The color palette is limited and dominated by green. Subtle contrast is provided by the colors of the painted boats.

Limited color palettes and portraiture

Think about the use of color carefully in portraiture. Here you have much more control than you do with the landscape, as you can ask your model to wear specific items of clothing. You also get to choose the background.

If you haven’t decided in advance what your model is going to wear, a good tip is to ask them to bring along several options. Then you can choose the most appropriate outfit.

Here, I liked the model’s unusual hat. I positioned her against a neutral background so that the green hat was the strongest, most dominant color in the composition.

Still life and color

Here’s a simple still life that I took in a restaurant in New Zealand. I liked the way the wooden platter and wooden table went together. The colorful fruit contrasts nicely with the neutral tones of the wood.

The photo shows another composition technique in action, one that I touched upon in the earlier portrait section. It’s the technique of composing the photo so that a single strong color is placed against a neutral or gray background. You then have a photo with a subtle color palette consisting of gray (or neutral tones, like the wooden table) and a single, dominant color.

This leads to my next point, which is an important one. One of the keys to using a limited or subtle color palette is to develop your observation skills. The photos shown so far have one thing in common – I saw the subtle colors and framed the photo in a way that uses them well.

This an important skill to develop. One thing that elevates the work of the best photographers above everybody else is composition. Observation and composition go together. The more you learn to observe the world, and see how color, texture, tonal contrast, and the other building blocks of composition work together, the better your composition will be. In turn, this helps you create stronger, more memorable photos.

Lightroom and color

Don’t forget that Lightroom gives you several tools for controlling color.

The Camera Calibration panel is very important when it comes to processing Raw files. For most cameras, you will see Profile options like Landscape, Standard, Portrait, Neutral, and Faithful (with variations depending on camera model). Selecting Landscape gives you stronger, more saturated colors. Selecting Neutral or Faithful gives you more subtle, true to life colors.

You can also use the Saturation and Vibrance sliders in the Basic panel to reduce the intensity of colors.

The photos below show the difference it makes.

The first was processed with the Profile set to Velvia (the equivalent of the Landscape setting on my Fujifilm X-T1). The second was processed with the Profile set to Astia, which gives softer colors, and Vibrance set to -12. You can see the difference, the colors in the second version are softer and more subtle.

The HSL / Color / B&W panel lets you target and adjust the saturation of specific hues. In this portrait example below, I used the Targeted Adjustment Tool to lower the saturation of the background, reducing the amount of blue in the photo. The result is that the model’s pink dress becomes the strongest color in the image. Reducing the saturation of blue simplifies the color palette and makes a stronger image.

Hopefully, this article will help you understand that there is more to color than getting as much of it in the photo as possible. There’s plenty of room for using a more subtle approach and limiting the number of colors included in the frame.

Do you have any ideas for ways to use a limited color palette or subtle colors in your photos? Please let us know in the comments.

Mastering Composition

If you’d like to learn more about color and composition then please check out my ebook Mastering Composition: A Photographer’s Guide to Seeing.

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The post How to Use a Limited Color Palette to Compose Strong Images by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

October 12, 2016