Photographers, photographers everywhere! It seems in this social media age, new digital photographers flood the industry every day. These “professionals” boast low prices and high quality. There’s nothing wrong with that, but how do you get your work to stand out from the pack? What makes your images different than Johnny Photographer who was given a DSLR for Christmas along Continue Reading
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The first thing I was told to do when I wanted to learn how to photograph landscapes and cityscapes, was to always shoot during the sunset. I have always asked myself why, but the answer is actually pretty easy. You get amazing colors in the sky, dramatic clouds, and soft light.
You can photograph the most beautiful place in the world and I can guarantee you, it will look much better during the sunset. The only problem with this mindset, is that you will never take another image in the middle of the day. If I find a really cool spot to photograph, but there won’t be any sunset anytime soon, my go to option is to create a desaturated long exposure. The second option is to come back another day.
In this article, I am going to give you some tips on how to shoot sunsets to get the best results possible. These tips can also be applied to photographing a sunrise, if you have the energy to wake up at 5am and go outside.
Depending on where you live, the sunset will be different. You can’t really predict a nice sunset, but there are some signs that can help you decide wether you should go out and give it a try or not. Of course, I would recommend going out and photographing all the time, but if you’re a busy person and do not want to go back home frustrated, then you should consider these few tips.
There are some areas in the world where sunsets are not vivid, and you won’t see any colors in the sky. For example, I have lived in the United Arab Emirates for a year and during that period I have only witnessed around 10 beautiful sunsets (no joke). However, when I go to the south of France, there is a dramatic and vivid sunset everyday.
One of the better sunsets in the United Arab Emirates. This is considered as an amazing sunset over there, but in reality it is just very average.
An amazing sunset in the south of France: I was really surprised because I got the same sunset five days in a row. and it wasn’t even summer.
There is a simple reason explaining this – clouds make all the difference. I am talking about patchy white clouds with a blue sky. These clouds will catch some amazing colors and give you the best results possible when the sun sets.
There were some patchy clouds in the sky, and during the sunset the colors turned out really nice in this image.
If there aren’t any clouds, then your sunset will be pretty boring. You will only have a nice gradient of color going from blue to orange.
Example of a sunset without any clouds.
I usually don’t bother going out when there is an overcast day to shoot sunsets, because the results are quite disappointing. The clouds cover the sky and you can’t see it, so you will end up having no colors at all.
If there is some light rain during the evening, then you can be pretty sure you will get an amazing sunset. I really can’t explain it, but trust me, it works all the time.
Planning is the most important thing, I would recommend going to the location around 30 minutes before the start of the sunset to compose your shot, especially if you don’t know the location.
With sunsets, the scene can change very very quickly. I highly recommend composing your shot, placing your camera on the tripod, and not moving until the sunset is totally finished.
Sometimes a nice color can appear on a cloud for only two minutes, and if you’re not ready then you won’t be able to photograph it. There is an app called Magic Hour which you can download on your mobile device (for iOS only) Based on your location, it will give you the time that magic hour begins, the time of the sunset, and the time it ends. It also does the same thing for the sunrise the next morning.
Note: you could also try the Photographer’s Ephemeris or PlanIt! apps.
With this information, you have the time to look around, try different compositions, and decide which one works best. I will repeat – once you find your composition, place your tripod, and do not move it. It’s better to have one good photo of a sunset then five different average ones.
You will stay behind your tripod for 30 minutes, taking an image every time the sunset changes, with the clouds moving and new colors appearing. It is quite frustrating, but at the end you will have the best composition possible, with an image of the best clouds, and the best colors of the whole evening.
I waited in the cold for one hour to photograph this sunset. At first it looked terrible, but it started developing very well. I ended up having some nice cotton candy looking clouds.
I would recommend using a wide angle lens to capture the whole scene, if you’re going to compose your image to include some foreground, middle ground and background, which I highly recommend. This enables the viewer to position himself in the image, and it adds a good sense of depth. Also, try to make the sky or the foreground at least a third of the image.
The trees as the foreground, the Eiffel Tower as the middle ground, and the sky as the background, all give nice depth to this image.
If you cannot find that type of composition, then using a long lens can be a good alternative, while using the rule of thirds.
I could not find a good composition for this shot, so I used a long lens to compress everything. and composed it using the rule of thirds.
Composing my shot using the rule of thirds.
A tripod is essential because you will want to shoot with an aperture between f/8 and f/13 for sharp images, and ISO 100 for the best image quality. This cuts down the light quite a lot, and you will end up having a slow shutter speed to compensate. To avoid any shaky images, use a tripod with a cable release or a two second timer.
I highly recommend exposing your images for the highlights (which means you are exposing for the sky). The rest of the image will be underexposed, but if you’re shooting in RAW you will be able to recover details in the shadows.
Another solution is to use a graduated neutral density filter that will cut down the light on your highlights in the sky, and keep your mid-tones and shadows well exposed.
A graduated filter that you can stack.
I usually leave my white balance on auto, because with RAW files I can take more time to change it on Lightroom. If you’re shooting JPEG, the white balance that works the best with sunsets is Shade or Cloudy. It gives a nice warm magenta color to the image, and makes the vivid colors in the sky pop more.
Polarizing filters are also a good alternative to recover details in the sky, and make the colors more saturated without any post-production.
Using manual focus can be useful if it gets too dark and your lens has trouble focusing by itself.
For sunsets, in my opinion the best thing to do is to get creative – either do HDR or digital blending.
In both cases, it’s better to take three different exposures to get the full dynamic range of the scene. Especially because there will be a lot of contrast between the brights and the darks, it’s difficult to get all the details. You can merge the exposures automatically with a software, or manually with luminosity masks.
This sunset looks good, but because I did not shoot three different exposures you can see in the middle there are white pixels in the sky that I could not recover.
You can also get creative by doing long exposures and stretching the clouds. And of course you always have Photoshop and Lightroom to finish your art the way you like it.
This is an example of a creative sunset: I shot 3 different exposures, a long exposure of the clouds, a long exposure of the car trails one hour later, and merged everything on Photoshop to get the best of both worlds.
Now it’s your turn. Do you have any other sunset photography tips to share? Please do so, and share your images as well, in the comments below.
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We have all felt the frustration of editing an image either in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), only to remember that we forgot to adjust the white balance, or tweak the sharpening after we’ve spent hours of editing the image in Photoshop. If this has happened to you, let me introduce to you to something called a Smart Object.
Smart Objects give you greater flexibility in your editing workflow inside Photoshop. You can create a Smart Object when opening your image from Lightroom or ACR into Photoshop, and you can also create Smart Objects later on in your editing process, which can be very helpful – especially when you are applying a sharpening (or other) filter.
The icon over the preview of the layer indicates that this is a Smart Object.
Smart Objects preserve an image’s source content with all its original characteristics, enabling you to perform nondestructive editing to the layer. When opening an image in Photoshop as a Smart Object, you have the ability to double-click the background layer (the base layer) which will open the image in ACR with all the adjustments you previously made, and enable you to make any alterations to the image. These alterations will then be pushed through to the image open in Photoshop.
So for example, say you adjusted an image in ACR and then opened it in Photoshop. After editing the image, you decide that the colour temperature is a little off. If you opened the image in Photoshop without it being a Smart Object, you would have to re-edit the image in Lightroom or ACR, then re-open the image in Photoshop, and finally, move any of the adjustments layers across to the new image. But if it were opened as a Smart Object, all you would need to do is double-click the background layer, make any of the desired adjustments in ACR and you’re done. The Smart Object will update in Photoshop and you can carry on.
Another way Smart Objects can help you is when applying a filter, such as Unsharp Masks or High Pass filters. By creating a Smart Object to apply these filters you will be able to double-click and adjust whichever filter has been applied.
Inside Lightroom (with your image selected) go to the top menu and click: Photo > Edit In > Open as Smart Object in Photoshop… (see below)
OR Right click on the image you want to open in Photoshop. Then select Edit In > Open as Smart Object in Photoshop…
At the bottom of the ACR window you will see something like this:
Clicking on this will open this dialog box. Make sure you have the Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects box checked. If you do not wish to do this (it is set as a default), you can also hold down the Shift key and the Open Image button will change to Open Object at the bottom right of the screen.
These are the two methods for creating a Smart Object before being opened in Photoshop. But what if you want to create one after you have already made adjustments? To do this, follow these steps:
Step 1: You need to create a new layer with all the adjustment layers combined (stamped) into that one layer – but you don’t want to flatten the image. To do this, select the top visible layer (visible layers are denoted by the eye icon directly next to them), hold down the Option/Alt key, and select Layer > Merge Visible. Or you can use the keyboard shortcut: Then do one of the following: Press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Windows) or Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac).
Photoshop will create a new layer containing the merged layers. So you will now have a layer at the top of your Layers panel which has all the visible adjustments made below, stamped into it (the rest will remain untouched).
With the top visible layer selected, hold the Alt/Option key down, and select Layer > Merge Visible.
Step 2: With this new top layer selected, right-click and choose Convert to Smart Object. Now any adjustments you apply to this layer such as; motion blur, gaussian blur, any sharpening, etc., you will be able to alter again later by double-clicking on the Smart Object.
Creating Smart Objects is that simple, and the flexibility they give you is tremendous!
If you do not open the image in Photoshop as a Smart Object, creating a Smart Object in Photoshop will not give you the same editing abilities. If you want these editing abilities on your background layer, you must open it as a Smart Object.
Next, if you have made adjustment layers with masks applied to them, I would highly suggest that you do not crop the image through the Smart Object. This will crop the background image (your base image) and any masks that you have will not adjust to the new crop so you will have to go do your masking again. I would recommend doing any cropping before opening in Photoshop, or after you are finished in Photoshop.
Don’t be scared of Smart Objects. They are dead easy to make, and offer a massive amount of flexibility. Do you use Smart Objects? Have they helped you in your editing workflow? Let us know in the comments below.
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Bridge Camera is a general name for digital cameras that have some degree of manual control, a long range zoom lens and a viewfinder – but usually not interchangeable lenses. They are somewhere between a point and shoot camera, and a full DSLR.
Between those three shared properties there are many models to choose from. Use the following information to decide if there is a room for one in your kit, or if it is a good first camera to enter the world of photography.
In the early days of the second millennium, a digital camera was either a point and shoot with very few controls and fun to use for the amateur photographer, or it was a heavy, bulky digital SLR with a price tag far beyond reach of the average photographer (see below). Then there was room for a new type, the bridge camera with manual controls, a long non-interchangeable zoom lens, and decent amount of options. For many photographers the bridge camera was a safe option, connecting the old world of film, and future world of digital photography, hence the name – bridge.
A 2MP DSLR from the year 2000, price tag was $ 10,000 USD.
Take a small image sensor, put it behind a long zoom lens, in a body that looks and feels like an SLR camera, with all the manual controls and gadgets, replace the complicated SLR viewfinder system with a small LCD – and you have created a camera that is a compromise between price, size, and image quality – the bridge camera. A camera that is more than specifications and image quality, a camera that brings the experience of digital photography to non-professionals.
The golden age of bridge cameras was short lived, and it seemed like they disappeared as soon as affordable DSLRs hit the stores. That happened in 2004, but the bridge is still solid.
FujiFilm Finepix 4900Z, announced in 2000, was among the first digital stills cameras to use an electronic viewfinder (EVF) instead of the bulk of an optical one.
A decade later, deep into the age of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILC) and bridge cameras perform a new role. They stay loyal to their core design values, but with current technologies, they became a formidable tool that often is the right choice, rather a compromise. Bridge cameras today are made by many manufacturers, to fit different photographer’s needs. Some take the traditional task of being a good compromise between price, size and image quality, and others come to replace the DSLR as a complete photographic solution for all your needs.
Here is a quick overview of some leading bridge cameras today, and their strong points.
The capital ship in Panasonic’s fleet of bridge cameras, is no a small camera by absolute measures, but it is a good package size for what it offers. The Lumix FZ1000 ($ 798 USD) offers a great combination of large image sensor (1″ 20MP) with a long, fast zoom lens that is optically stabilized. The camera’s EVF is very large and bright.
This camera has something for the beginner, as well as the seasoned photographer. Its ergonomics and controls resemble the ones of the Lumix G line of MILC cameras, and are made for fully manual operation. It is a very fast and responsive camera, the lens goes from 25mm to 400mm (35mm equivalent) at a fast f/2.8 at the wide side, and f/4 at the long side of the zoom.
This camera has the most tools in its box. It works great in low light, and the lens can produce shallow depth of field thanks to the large sensor. It is capable of 4k video and has a microphone input socket for better sound recording. The lens is not the longest, nor the fastest and also not the sharpest lens in the family, but in the right hands it will produce beautiful images that will look great on screen, as well as on prints as large as 16×24 inches.
This is the bridge camera to have when you want one camera to do it all. All photos in this article were made with a Panasonic FZ1000.
The king of all bridge cameras, the Sony RX10III is the one that truly redefines the place of such cameras in the bag of the professional photographer. It costs similar to a professional camera (at $ 1498 USD) and weighs in like one at 1.05 kg (2.32 lb / 37.07 oz), for some photographers it is the best photographic solution available with its unique features.
Aimed at wildlife photographers, Sony’s designers created this camera around the same 1″ 20MP sensor as the FZ1000, but in a weather-sealed body that feels like it was meant to suffer. It has a 24-600mm lens (35mm equivalent) with a fast f/2.4 aperture at the wide end and f/4 at the telephoto side of the zoom. The camera has three control rings around its large lens, of which one is a dedicated aperture control ring, a feature that offers more freedom than any other camera to manual photographers.
The RX10III is a large and heavy camera, but it shines in the most important spot, its image quality. The 24-600mm Carl Zeiss T* lens really makes the most out of the large sensor, at any point along the huge range, it performs in a way that makes you want to use it for your next shoot. For the wildlife photographer the camera offers a speedy 14FPS (frames per second) rate and a unique ultra slow motion video.
This is the bridge camera to take on a wildlife photo-journey, or if you are a one man show photojournalist. It will make sure you will return with great photographs.
The Nikon Coolpix P900, is an optical miracle but at a high cost in usability other than day time wildlife or other long distance objects.
The Nikon Coolpix P900 ($ 529 USD) is the longest bridge, with its extremely long 24-2000mm zoom lens (35mm equivalent). With f/2.8 at the wide end and f6.5 at the telephoto end of the zoom, the P900 has the longest lens you can get in a camera without breaking your back or your savings. For example, the same focal length in a fullframe Nikkor lens would cost you about $ 95,000 USD and it weighs 38.5 pounds. This telephoto wouldn’t be available without Nikon’s five-stop optical image stabilizer, that makes it possible to use the mighty lens without a tripod, even at a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, given your subject is not moving.
At 899g (1.98 lb / 31.71 oz) the Nikon Coolpix P900 if far from being called a compact camera. It should not be your first choice if you plan to do low light photography or video, nor does it have the best image quality. You should choose this camera if you are going to photograph real far subjects in broad daylight.
The Lumix FZ300 ($ 498 USD) is a well balanced mix of technologies and features, together they make this camera one of the funnest to use in most photographic situations, within the limitations of a small sensor. Panasonic chose a fairly low resolution sensor for this camera of only 12mp, in order to better its low light performance. The sensor is behind a 25-600mm lens (35mm equivalent) with a constant maximum aperture of f/2.8, a combination that not only allows for more control over the depth of field and creating beautiful portraits, but is also important to make the long lens useful in a larger variety of scenes with different light conditions.
The FZ300 is a mature bridge camera that works well within its size and cost limits and it makes the most out of the different components. It takes beautiful 4k video and make use of its that capability also to produce 8mp stills images at an astonishing rate of 30 FPS, a useful feature when you’re photographing fast moving objects. Its weather sealing will help you make the right decision before leaving home for a winter vacation, or just to get closer to the waves when photographing on the beach. This camera should be your choice if you wish to have lots of fun, but are not going to make very large prints.
A digital camera is a magnificent combination of optical, electronic and digital devices, put together in order to let you fulfill your photographic creativity and ideas. They come in many different styles and forms, some will fit for you more than others. It is always good to check-in with yourself as to exactly what is it that you want to photograph most, then go look for the camera that can give you that, rather than buy the one with the most impressive specification sheet.
Have you used a bridge camera? If so which one? Do you think there’s still a place for them in today’s photography world? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Tips for seeing and photographing the Northern Lights:
Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, might be one of the most fascinating phenomena to photograph during the night. Watching the sky turn green, blue, pink and even red, is something that will change you forever. After seeing The Lady in Green countless times, I still find myself shouting in awe when she’s elegantly dancing in the sky.
Seeing, and photographing, the Northern Lights aren’t something you can do all over the world. The truth is that even if you’ve booked a flight to northern Norway or Iceland, there’s no guarantee that you will see the northern lights at all.
Unfortunately, the Northern Lights aren’t visible all over the world. As the name might indicate, they are a phenomenon visible in the northern hemisphere. Places such as northern Norway, Iceland and Alaska are typical areas where people travel to witness the Aurora Borealis.
That being said, during extreme solar storms your might be able to see the phenomenon further south too, but not as powerful as in the north.
So, the first step in seeing the Northern Lights is to travel to the north. Remember that the Aurora Borealis is a night phenomenon and since summers in the north have up to 24 hours of sun, you should plan your visit for late fall or winter.
It’s nearly impossible to see the Northern Lights if you’re standing in the downtown of any larger city with light pollution. Yes, it is possible; if the KP Index (the strength indicator for Northern Lights) is at its highest. However, to increase the chances of seeing, and capturing a good shot of the Northern Lights, you should get away from light pollution, and find a location where you can clearly see the stars.
I have lived in a small town not far away from Oslo, Norway for most of my life. Yet, it wasn’t until a few years ago I realized that even here in southern Norway we can see the Northern Lights. In fact, it happens more often than you realize.
There are a few different tools you can use to see what area close to you is dark enough to see the stars, and possibly the Northern Lights. Dark Sky is a great website for this exact purpose, and it shows a detailed map of the light pollution.
Now that you know where, and how to discover the Aurora Borealis, let’s see how you can capture it with your camera.
Since you will be photographing in the dark you’ll be working with long exposures (long shutter speeds), and it’s therefore essential that you use a tripod to ensure you get a correctly exposed image that is still of usable quality.
You should also consider using a remote shutter when you’re photographing the Northern Lights. This removes any chance for vibration caused by pressing the shutter. Optionally, you could use the 2-second timer, but sometimes you want to capture the image at that exact moment with no delay.
When photographing the Northern Lights you want to use a wide angle lens. This lets you capture both the landscape and the sky in one shot. When the Northern Lights are strong you’ll also notice that they stretch all over the sky and it’s impossible to capture all of it in one image, unless you use a wide angle.
During nighttime photography you want to use an open aperture such as f/2.8 to allow enough light to reach the sensor. When using my 14mm I more or less always have it at f/2.8, as I rarely use it at any other time than during the night.
The shutter speed depends on the strength of the Northern Lights. I’ve experienced when one second at ISO 400 has blown out the green (I’ve never seen the Aurora as powerful as that since) but then it can be barely visible at ISO 3200 and a shutter speed of 20 seconds at other times.
You should also keep in mind the movement of the Northern Lights. If they area quickly changing shape, a long exposure might blur them out too much, and you’ll lose detail. It’s better in that instance to increase the ISO, and lower the shutter speed, so you freeze the motion and capture all its textures.
Another factor you should keep in mind when you choose the shutter speed is the movement of stars. If you go beyond 25 seconds you’ll start seeing small startrails. Sometimes this can give an interesting effect, but if you want to have a sharp and crisp image, be sure to use 25 seconds or less as your shutter speed.
I’ve experienced that the ideal white balance is somewhere between 3000-4000 Kelvin when photographing at night. This results in a cooler, and more natural look in the dark sky. If you go above 4000K you’ll also notice that the green in the Northern Lights gets a muddy look, which you want to avoid.
Avoid using Automatic White Balance and other preset modes such as cloudy. While these often do a great job during the day, they’re more of a gamble at night. You could get some okay results with AWB but generally you won’t.
I had to include this last tip. Remember, when you’re photographing the Northern Lights that it’ll most likely be winter or late fall. That means that temperatures drop, and since you’ll be out during the night, there’s no sun to warm you.
Bringing a thermos with something warm to drink could be wise during these long winter nights. Especially if you’re planning to stay out for a while or even make a timelapse.
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The post How to Photograph the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis by Christian Hoiberg appeared first on Digital Photography School.
One of the best ways to grow your photography is by working on a personal photography project. As a professional photographer, I am always working on personal projects. It’s a way to keep myself inspired, and to feel challenged to grow. It’s also a great way to keep my portfolio fresh, try out new ideas, and grow my vision as a photographer.
Shooting a place more than one time gives you the opportunity to capture the place in the perfect light. I had visited this part of the Oregon coast more than a dozen times before the perfect scene appeared.
In this article, I will share with you:
I define a personal photography project as choosing a subject to shoot over and over again over time. It can be as simple as shooting your kid’s sporting event every weekend, photographing an intriguing building near your home six times, or creating a series of portraits of your friends.
I photographed about 60 miles along the northern Oregon coast over a period of six months. I created a route that I drove whenever I could. By shooting the same place over and over again, I was able to truly capture the personality of the places.
Some photographers are reluctant to shoot the same subject over and over again, but by photographing it more than once, it gives you some great opportunities to grow as a photographer.
A different mood of Cannon Beach, Oregon.
A Project could look like this – Shoot City hall at:
Can you begin to see the many opportunities, and how to create different pictures of just one thing?
I was fascinated by this lone tree growing out of a huge rock near Garlibaldi, Oregon, but I wanted to get it with a beautiful sky.
It took many evenings of watching for the perfect sunset, but the photo was well worth it.
Once you nail the technical part of a situation, you can challenge yourself to do something really different. This is the point the great photos come in!
The great photos don’t come when you are trying to figure out how to focus your camera, use your flash, or what is the right exposure or camera angle. Once you’ve got all that nailed, the real creativity begins! That’s when the great pictures happen. Here’s an example:
This was my first glamour shoot. I just practiced finding the perfect window light in my studio. And, as a journalistic photographer, I rarely do any retouching, but this subject offered the opportunity to pull out some new retouching tools, and also reminded me to pose the subject in such a way to hide skin imperfections.
I fell in love with the work of a glamour photographer, Sue Bryce. She does beautiful work and doesn’t use studio lighting, she uses window light in a very sophisticated way. I decided to emulate her work by studying her technique. I had never studied glamour photography, so not only would the lighting be a challenge, but the posing would be too. Here’s what I did:
This was my second shoot. I practiced using a different kind of light, a little bit harder with more fill.
I also had the chance to work with posing and hands. It felt awkward to me, and I didn’t really get the subject to do what I wanted her to. It was time to go back to the mirror and practice with my own hands, then create language that would help my subject move into those poses.
This shoot went much better. I was learning, developing skills, having fun, and building my confidence in this new world of glamour photography.
By my fourth subject, I had learned how to direct my subject into a pose, and had a great feel for window light.
I had a few new pieces for my portfolio, not to mention a few happy friends with prints.
Let’s back up a few steps and review some of the ideas we’ve touched on so far.
The Capitol Building in Washington, DC is stunning at night, and I wanted to capture the full moon rising behind it. This was the sixth night I made a trip to the monument. Persistence paid off.
Several years ago, while living in Washington, DC, I chose to shoot the monuments with a full moon. Why was this a good project? Let’s look at the checklist above and compare
I loved having something on my calendar to shoot. It provided some structure, and gave me something to shoot for several months without having to come up with a new idea. And, now I have a beautiful collection of photograph for my portfolio.
This is the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC with the Washington Monument in the background. Committing to shoot a personal project is fun, rewarding, and builds your self-confidence.
Here are some ideas to get you started on your own personal project.
Shooting projects is an amazing way to grow your portfolio and your self-confidence. Do you have an idea for a project? Share it with me in the comment section below, I’d love to hear about it or see your images.
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A huge thank you to everyone who entered our recent contest to win one of 10 copies of Corel’s AfterShot Pro 3 Photo Editor Software. This was an “After” themed competition, and so many of you shared your beautiful photographs, that we encourage everyone to go back and scroll through the comments section to view these wonderful images.
As a bonus to the entire dPS Readership, Corel is offering a 30% discount on their AfterShot 3 leading Photo Editing Software for a limited time, and you’ll also receive FastFlick Instant Slideshow Maker for free! Just click here.
Yet again, the response was absolutely wonderful! But now, onto the winners! Drum roll please, and the winners are:
The Winners of the Corel After Photo Contest for 10 copies AfterShot Pro 3 Photo Editor Software are…
Used the AfterShot Pro 3 free demo to finally fix a lightning picture of mine that was close but not perfect because of a raindrop on the lens. In 5 minutes I fixed something that was bothering me for months. If given a copy of this wonderful software, I would be able to finally salvage shots that are slightly off that I’d normally delete.
I picked this sunrise picture of the Grand Tetons to edit with AfterShot for one reason – I captured this picture with my Nikon D800 using a 50mm lens and a UV filter. The RAW file (.NEF) is 74 MB, and with some of the other post-production programs I use, there is a huge download time, but AfterShot opened the file in the shortest amount of time.
I use Adobe Lightroom (LR) 6, Creative Suites 6, Elements 14 and DXO Pro 10 to edit my photography and with that knowledge base, judging a new post-production editing program is based on experience and not guess work. The format of AfterShot appears to be directly off the layout of LR, so if you’re familiar with Adobe programs, the learning curve will be near zero.
In reality I find LR non-user friendly for beginners, especially importing files, AfterShot has a direct system of importing and exporting files. AfterShot has a simple editing sequence, with a color engine generator slightly clearer & cleaner than LR. Bottom line – if you’re looking for a post production editing program for less $ $ $ and you don’t need hundreds of different selections to confuse your efforts, AfterShot is the answer.
I have to say that I’d never even heard of this software prior to reading this article. I did go ahead and download the trial, specifically to see what could be done with a low-light shot of lights. I certainly wasn’t expecting much. However, it warmed the whole scene up and made my photo look much more the way I envisioned it in my head! The presets produced some stunning visuals, but, in the end, I played with the histogram and produced exactly what I was after.
I use Lightroom as part of my job as a graphic designer but AfterShot Pro 3 really appeals to me for my own personal photography use, for the improved file opening times. Typically I can be loading several hundred photos at a time and this will make such a difference. Here is my ‘after’ photo.
Well this is a very nice software! When I first started out with Lightroom, it was nearly impossible to learn how to use any part of the program… But AfterShot is an extremely user friendly, simple yet powerful software, that almost anyone can use. The tools are right there, the histogram is great and much more refined compared to LR. And oh my, I have a MacBook pro from 2014 with 8 GB of ram and a SSD, yet Lightroom lags when opening, importing, exporting and saving files which is not convenient at all.
As they say for professionals, time is money and AfterShot is the real deal. The photo I have taken is with a standard 18-55 mm lens from my backyard, I edited in AfterShot and it gave me amazing results! great job to my friends at Corel.
I have moved from Windows to Linux and have used AfterShot Pro 2 (edited the above image). Linux has some pretty good open source software but I find AfterShot works well for my needs. Very easy learning curve going from Lightroom to AfterShot. The price is more reasonable too!
I have AfterShot 2, and now I’m trying the AfterShot Pro 3, and so far I’m enjoying! There are some useful new features that make a lot of difference for me when editing my photos. I’m used to Corel products, since I’ve been using PaintShop since version X4, and AfterShot 2, and for me they work better than Lightroom or Photoshop. I like the fact that I don’t have to import my photos to edit, it makes everything much faster, and I directly export them as batch to finish my editing in PSP X8. …I call my photo After party, because that was a beautiful flower gift that’s been given to me. I edited in AfterShot [Pro 3] and finished in PaintShop Pro X8.
Well this little program made this little flower pop. A program for times when you thought you got it right but didn’t.
Most of the time I shot macro photos of flowers and animals. For this contest I picked one of [my] newer photos of a tiny butterfly who was just having dinner. I would use AfterShot to mainly correct colors and composition…
…I downloaded AfterShot Pro [3] and picked this image. I did some tweaking and made this picture look 10 times better using this program. I would love to win Corel AfterShot Pro! It would make editing pictures so much easier.
We were all very happy with the entries. You made us smile, but most importantly, you made us want to do more of what we do; provide you quality information and guidance to become a better photographer. We were so pleased to see that you came from every part of the world. Thank you all for your entries!
Again, for those of you that didn’t win, Corel is offering a 30% discount off their AfterShot 3 leading photo editing software for a limited time, AND, you will also receive FastFlick Instant Slideshow Maker for FREE!
Click HERE to receive your discount and free FastFlick.
The Winners will be emailed with details of how to collect their prize. Please make sure to look for our email. Thank you again for all the wonderful submissions and to Corel for sponsoring this competition.
Learn more about AfterShot Pro 3 HERE.
Disclaimer: Corel is a paid partner of dPS.
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The post Announcing the Winners of the Corel AfterShot Pro Editing Software by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
There has been, and likely always will be, a lingering debate among professional photographers and amateur photo enthusiasts, about whether or not a third party lens can be every bit as good as the native glass produced by your camera’s manufacturer.
There is often a margin of compromise between cost and quality. Over the last five years or so, that margin has become increasingly slim. It’s become so small in fact, that we find ourselves living in an incredible time when these third party lenses are equalling the performance of high end lenses, in terms of optical performance and build quality.
To date, very few lenses I have evaluated have exemplified this coming of age of lens manufacturing, more so than the Tamron 85mm F1.8 Di VC USD. It is intended to be used with full-frame dSLR’s, as well as APS-C bodies (it becomes 136mm equivalent). This lens embodies what could be called a levelling of the playing field, in terms of cost versus performance. Recently, Tamron announced their intentions to re-energize, and improve their lens offerings with increased image quality, and more reliable build. During this review I was amazed at just how much punch Tamron has been able to deliver with their 85mm f/1.8.
After breaking open the box I found the lens, along with hood, to be very well cradled in its packaging.
At first feel, the Tamron 85mm f/1.8 seemed hefty, with a solid weight. Not overly heavy at 24.7 ounces (700 g), but certainly not light either. You will definitely know this lens is on your camera. The look of the lens is clean and classic.
The lens body itself is nicely finished in matte black, while Tamron has added some silver-toned accents; most notably of which is the new metallic ring at the base of the body around the mount. The focus ring is pleasantly rubberized, and feels very comfortable to the touch. There is also a voucher for a free download of SilkyPix, Tamron’s post processing software, included with the lens purchase.
As I said, the most noticeable physical aspect of this lens is its weight. Which isn’t a bad thing, and it strikes a balance when compared to other similar lenses: the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 and the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L which come in weighing 14.99 oz (425 g) and 36.16 oz (1.025 kg) respectively. Keep in mind that neither of those two lenses sports image stabilization(more on this feature later). Overall, the Tamron just feels serviceably solid. The focus ring is firm and extremely smooth when turning. All the markings and accents are very well executed and the focus indicator window is nicely done.
Here are the Tamron 85mm F1.8 mounted to a Canon 7D Mk1 alongside another excellent prime, the Canon EF 50mm F1.4 (below) for a size comparison.
The VR( image stabilization) and AF/MF switches are well placed for easy operation, and they switch on/off firmly. The included barrel-type lens hood looks great without screaming “Hey! Look at me!” and locks on securely with ease.
One thing which I’ve always found so pleasing about Tamron, albeit a small detail, is their attention to their lens cap ergonomics. I know, I know – it’s just a lens cap. But it’s a very important element of any lens that is intended to be used extensively. I mention it due to the fact that Tamron lens caps have a very deeply recessed front pinch.
Very much of my work centers around adventure and outdoor photography, where the elements aren’t always cooperative. Being able to take the lens cap on and off without fear of dropping (even with gloved hands) is a huge advantage in those kinds of situations. Small detail? Yes. An important detail? Very much so. It’s a feature that my fellow landscapers and outdoor photographers will greatly appreciate.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled review.
If you look closely at the lens you might notice a small black rubber gasket at the area of the lens mount.
This is part of the advanced steps Tamron has made to improve the resistance of their lenses to the elements. Though not as readily visible as the seal on the lens mount, the entire lens design has incorporated increased weather sealing on the areas between the focus ring and lens barrel. This means better long term service and protection from the grit and grime, often found when making photographs in the outdoors, where dust and moisture make themselves an unwelcome nuisance.
The 85mm F1.8 is intended to be a medium telephoto lens, that offers decent compression for portrait work, as well as true to life color rendition. In all these things, Tamron has excelled. I was excited to see that the lens performed very well, and was very sharp through the complete f/1.8 to f/16 aperture range. The corners were a little soft at f/1.8 but became crisp at f/4 and beyond. Overall sharpness was best observed from f/4 to f.8, with f/5.6 seeming to be the sweet spot of this review model.
Admittedly, I was very impressed with the sharpness, but the color performance is a point where this lens truly shines. Colors come through well saturated, with only moderate chromatic aberrations at wide apertures (past f/2.2 becomes very good) and contrast is wonderfully bold.
This is a series of uncropped images, showing the performance across common apertures from f1.8 through f/16.
Now, have a look at that same set after being cropped to approximately 1:1.
The nine curved aperture blades produce a creamy bokeh, which portrait shooters will love. I especially loved the bokeh produced at the largest aperture of f/1.8. In some situations it even hinted at a faint swirling effect, reminiscent of the selectively loved/hated Helios 44-2.
In any case, you will no doubt be pleased with the background blur of your images. Taken alongside the great color and contrast, the 85mm f/1.8 will consistently produce quality images with good sharpness, in a wide range of situations.
Here are some additional sample images made with the Tamron 85mm F1.8.
This is the part of the review that I could not wait to write about in regard to the 85mm F1.8. The autofocus of this lens is fast, accurate, and quiet. The ultrasonic motor drive produced very little vibration during autofocusing, which was great. I’m a big time fan of having the final say with my focusing. Tamron has included a full-time manual override capability, which definitely allows greater control for pinpoint adjustments when needed, without having to switch the AF/MF switch to manual.
The autofocus tracked very accurately when shooting moving subjects as well. Overall, the AF performance of the lens is top notch.
The image stabilizer on this lens is an absolute marvel. In most cases, vibration reduction technology is useful, but for me, it’s never been a make or break selling point when I shop for lenses. With the 85mm – I must say that I am thoroughly impressed. The image stabilization performance of the lens is one of, if not the best, I have ever encountered. Tamron states that the 85mm F1.8 was the first 85mm fast-prime to include the technology (as of January 2016). The VR (vibration reduction) makes shooting at what might be considered impractically slow shutter speeds in sub-optimal light, very possible. This is great for street photographers, and really anyone who finds themselves needing to keep their ISO in check, who also frequently encounters low light conditions.
This is an image shot handheld at 1/10 second with VR turned off.
Here we see the almost magical impact of the image stabilizer once the VR is switched on.
Generally, I base the majority of my exposures around the Reciprocal Rule (1/focal length) so at 85mm I wouldn’t normally go slower than 1/80th of a second, or 1/60th on a good day. The fact that I was able to pull off this measure of sharpness at 1/10th of second, means that the image could have been made with an even slower shutter speed, while still maintaining acceptable clarity. This means a lower ISO can be used in situations when it would previously not have been possible. Tamron has hit the VR out of the park with the 85mm F1.8.
What you’ll like:
What you might not like:
Well, it’s difficult to list anything here. An extremely scrutinous shooter might mention the weight and moderate chromatic aberrations at f/1.8 as drawbacks, but both fall very safely in the range of what would be considered acceptable for most uses.
It’s difficult for a lens to leave a reviewer without having any real negatives. Still, the Tamron 85mm F1.8 appears to have done just that. There were no issues encountered that would warrant inclusion. The fact is that the optically quality is superb, and the build is very solid.
Taking into consideration the fast autofocus, and the incredible image stabilization, it truly is a tough lens to beat at this price (around $ 749 USD). Add in the beefed up weather protection, and you are left with a beast of a mid-range telephoto lens, which will excel at portraiture and street photography, while holding its own during adverse shooting conditions in the outdoors.
4.5 out of 5 Stars
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There is a mindset that a lot of photographers seem to have around anything but manual mode is cheating. Not only does this frustrate me as a statement, but it’s just bad advice, that hinders the photographic progress of others. I would argue that there’s no cheating in photography, and that using your camera in fully manual modes actually makes it harder to achieve the photo you’re looking for – so let’s take a look at why semi-automatic modes are a good choice for wildlife photography.
Tracking this puffin in flight, I’d never be able to change the settings quick enough if I was in full manual mode.
Now I’d never recommend anyone use full automatic modes. They are a pain in the backside, to be frank. The camera focuses wherever it sees fit, seemingly changing its mind on a day to day basis. The setting are often wrong, since you have no bearing over how the exposure triangle is balanced (other than a little bit of exposure compensation). For wildlife photographers, this is a pretty poor choice of mode.
However, what I do recommend is that you run with a semi-automatic mode. Because with wildlife, everything is so unpredictable that there is little chance you can spin the wheels, and react to changing conditions fast enough in manual mode. Picture this: you’re photographing an eagle swooping down from the sky to catch a fish from the water. It’s moving through many different ambient light conditions, from looking up towards the sky, all the way down to the water, and away again. You can’t accurately change the settings quick enough.
Northern Gannet
So what can you do? Use a semi-automatic mode. It’s definitely not cheating, and is a choice favoured by almost all wildlife photographers in the industry. It’s not to say that we can’t run the camera in manual mode – and that’s definitely something you should learn to do – but rather that there is no point putting such a simple task as adjusting the shutter speed, in the way of you composing a stunning wildlife image.
There are a few choices you can make here when it comes to semi-auto modes. Let’s take a look at the best choices.
This is my personal favourite. Aperture priority mode allows you to set the aperture you require, leaving the camera to adjust the shutter speed automatically, in order to balance the exposure. You can increase your ISO should the light become a limiting factor, letting the camera increase the shutter speed as a result. But you still have total control really, because all you need to do is adjust your exposure compensation to fine-tune the resulting photo.
Exposure compensation allows you to retain control and properly expose a photo, even in a partly automatic mode.
A wide aperture often favours wildlife photographs, as it allows for a nice, soft bokeh, that isolates the subject from the background. This is what often gives a wildlife image a sense of quality, although I am a big believer in breaking the rules and actually including the background in your shots. For this reason, aperture priority often makes sense as you are able to control the setting that can make or break a photo.
This is definitely not the mode you want to be in, if you’re going to involved in wildlife photography. Chances are you’ll be setting your shutter speed high – and probably too high at that. Wildlife is most active at dawn and dusk, and while you may find it relatively easy to see, it is surprising how little light is available to the camera, especially if you’re shooting with a lens slower than f/2.8. With a shutter speed dialed down, the camera only has so far it can go in increasing the aperture before the photo starts to become underexposed. Conversely, with aperture priority mode there is no real limit to how fast or slow the shutter speed can go – the worst thing that may happen is you get a blurred image, although this can sometimes come off artistically.
Note: Stay away from shutter priority mode for wildlife photography!
Two hooded crows engaged in a scrap.
This is a popular choice amongst wildlife photographers too, although I have yet to use it myself. By sticking the camera into manual mode, but leaving the ISO set to automatic, you retain control over both aperture and shutter speed, allowing the camera to adjust the ISO to balance the exposure. Personally, I like to have control over the ISO, as I feel this can ruin an image.
This mode does allow you to ensure you have the desired aperture and shutter speed for proper effect, but consequently you may not notice that your ISO is increasing quickly as light conditions drop. The worst thing to find is a photo that looks fantastic on your camera’s LCD, until you return to your studio and find it is peppered with digital noise.
Even so, getting into a good habit of checking the ISO settings periodically during a shoot, will mean this is no longer a problem. With experience you’ll learn what the limits tend to be for certain ambient conditions, before the ISO gets ramped up.
You still have full control in semi-automatic modes, allowing you to achieve more unusual images.
You also still retain the ability to use exposure compensation while ISO is set to auto. This allows you to fine-tune the exposure, just like with aperture and shutter priority modes.
Now we’ve looked at three different semi-automatic modes you’re probably wondering which you should go for? Well, you know what I think about shutter priority mode. Other than that, it’s essentially up to you. If you want to be entirely confident in your aperture and shutter speed, then opt for manual with auto ISO.
Thanks to a semi-automatic mode, I was ready for action when this woolly monkey surprised me in the Amazon rainforest. Manual mode would have rendered my efforts useless in such a fleeting moment.
If, like me, you find the prospect of an unacceptably high ISO speed creeping up on you, then stick to aperture priority mode. Professionals use both modes, and either can result in great success with the right photographer behind it. It’s just getting used to the mode of choice, and playing to the relative advantages each one brings with it.
You’re going to feel the limitations of either mode as light drops, but I always say that a slightly blurred image (or risk of one from a slow shutter speed) is better than a photo rendered unusable thanks to digital noise.
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The post Why Semi-automatic Mode is the Best Choice for Wildlife Photography by Will Nicholls appeared first on Digital Photography School.
There’s something about the way sunlight illuminates a room. The light pours over surfaces, metal fixtures gleam, wood detail shines, and the edges of furniture upholstery glows. Natural shadows produced by different objects convey a sense of depth. A naturally-lit image gives you a feel for what it would be like to see the space in person.
The following will give you a basic understanding of equipment needs, how to manage contrast and mixed lighting in a room, and HDR shooting techniques to get you started doing real estate photography using natural light.
Shooting with natural light has the benefit of a short equipment list. A camera, tripod, and wide angle lens is all you need.
A sunny day is the best canvas for your exterior shots. Try to schedule your shoot during a time of day when the sun will be shining on the front of the house. Ask your client (or check Google Maps) to see which direction the house faces. You want capture the front exterior in its best light, as it’s almost always used as the featured image for the property’s listing.
If it’s not possible to shoot the exterior in sunlight, don’t fret. Shooting HDR (explained later on) will help perk up a shady exterior.
There’s usually one ideal spot in a room, to position your camera to showcase the best angle. A room’s best angle usually shows:
For the natural light photographer, finding that spot depends on two things: available space, and window brightness.
Most importantly, you need to pick a space you can physically occupy. For smaller houses and rooms, quite often your only choice is the doorway, as it is likely to be the only spot where you can fit behind the tripod, and still squeeze enough of the room into your shot. Capturing three walls in your shot will give the viewer a better idea of the size and space of the room.
Rooms large enough to offer more than one shooting location often have windows lacking shades or blinds. Pick a spot in which extremely bright windows are angled more than 45 degrees away from center of your lens’ field of view. Doing so will help you avoid a high-contrast shooting situations and potential lens flare, which will in turn reduce your time spent in post-production.
The shooting location for this image placed the bright window at a 90-degree angle to the lens, minimizing contrast, as well as producing a pleasantly side-lit scene. An out of frame kitchen window, provided supplemental light from the right.
This room’s patio doors looked directly onto a foliage-covered hillside, resulting in a reduced contrast between interior and exterior, and less work required in post-production.
The windows in smaller rooms, such as bedrooms and bathrooms (in which your shooting position is limited) usually have blinds or shades. If the windows are bright, consider closing them at least partially, to reduce contrast between the interior and exterior – especially if the view outside is not an additional selling point for the house. This cuts down on the overall contrast of the scene, while still illuminating the room. It also prevents direct light from hitting your lens, minimizing flare and ghosting.
Blinds are angled at 45 degree to cut down on scene contrast.
Blinds on the brightest window are partially closed, whereas the patio door blinds were left open.
Natural light can create beautiful images, but they do require some extra work in post-production. Rarely can a single exposure handle the range of contrast produced by an interior space with windows. HDR techniques will help remedy shadowy corners and bright windows, properly exposing all parts of the space.
From a single exposure.
HDR composite created with nice bracketed images.
To create an HDR image, you’ll need to shoot a series of bracketed images. Tiny rooms without any windows, such as washrooms and closets, usually require three images bracketed by 1-1.5 stops. In most rooms 5-7 images will do the trick. High-contrast spaces containing bright interior lighting and/or windows, may require nine bracketed images. For rooms with exterior views, sometimes HDR programs have difficulty rendering the contrast, no matter how many bracketed images you shoot, and the composite starts to look unnatural.
In general, it’s difficult to achieve a natural look within an image that contains a room with a view. For finer control over this interior/exterior blending process, consider shooting an image to expose for the view out the window, then using Photoshop to mask the view into the HDR composite image of the room.
HDR composite image.
HDR composite with an additional image exposed for the view masked into the windows with Photoshop (above). Even though the change is subtle, the potentially distracting overexposed window scene is now closer to proper levels, making it easier for the viewer’s eye to move from the interior to exterior, and back again.
One of the difficulties of working with natural light, is dealing with mixed lighting situations. If enough light is coming in through the windows, you can choose to leave interior lights off, resulting in a single daylight color temperature throughout the image. Leaving interior lights off works especially well when window light is sufficiently illuminating the room, the light fixtures themselves aren’t in the frame, and the palette of the room is mostly white.
Lights off in this bathroom resulted in a fresh and clean look.
The window light was so abundant in this bedroom that turning the interior lights on could have arguably made the scene look unnatural.
The interior lights were kept off to avoid mixing tungsten with daylight for this shot. Turning them on wouldn’t have added much illumination, as the sunlight was quite bright on its own.
If the room isn’t bathed in sunlight, or contains light fixtures like pendants or chandeliers that should be on display, make sure to turn them on. You’ll end up with multiple color casts that will require correction later, but there’s a point at which simplifying the lighting just to speed up post-production, starts to undermine the ambiance of the room.
Mixed lighting in the living room above, and the bedroom below, required a significant amount of color correction in production, but resulted in more inviting and warmer looking spaces.
You can reduce your color correcting time by masking in the lights, the same way you would the view outside a window. Shoot the room with the lights off, then with the lights on. Create two HDR composites of each lighting situation, then mask in the illuminated lights. This works well with fixtures that don’t provide much illumination but should be seen turned on.
HDR composite with chandelier off.
HDR composite with the illuminated chandelier masked in with Photoshop.
Shooting real estate with only sunlight and interior lighting lends a beautiful, natural aesthetic to your images. When setting out, remember:
Please post your questions and share your real estate photos in the comments below.
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The post How to Shoot Real Estate Photography Using Natural Light by Lauren Schroeder appeared first on Digital Photography School.