Category: Photography

How to Create Gorgeous Flower Images using a Flashlight and a Reflector

In this tutorial, I’m going to share with you some simple and inexpensive ways to create beautiful flower images. You will learn to add light by using a flashlight and a reflector. If you add in some imagination and patience, you will soon be creating gorgeous flower images of your own.

In addition, you will gain insight about seeing light, and how and recreate it on your own.

The techniques I am going to share are reminiscent of light painting and burning (from film days printing negatives), but in this tutorial we are going to take advantage of the ambient light, combined with light from flashlights to create some great effects.

Setting up

You will need to put your camera on a tripod, and find a nice surface near some window light to photograph your flower. Set up to shoot using a shutter speed slower than 1/15th of a second, and it’s much easier if you use a cable release or use your camera’s self-timer feature.

Here’s my set up, above. I chose an easy location, perpendicular to a window, providing some nice light. I used a prop to hold the flower up.

Window light only. Exposure was f/4 at 1/4.

I did a test shot, above, to determine my exposure using just ambient light. I slowed the shutter speed down just a little bit to see what results I would get.

Window light only. Exposure f/4 at 0.40 seconds.

Add a reflector

It’s a little brighter at this exposure, but notice that the shadows are still quite strong.

To soften the light, I added a white fill card below, and to the side of the flower. It’s also called a reflector. Almost anything white can be used as a reflector. The idea is to fill in the shadows, and to make the light feel softer.

Window light with fill card. Exposure f/4 at 1/4.

This exposure above was taken with the fill cards in place. Compare it with the two above, and notice that the lightness/darkness is similar to the longer exposure. It’s pretty amazing how much light can be added to a photo just by using reflectors.

More importantly, note the quality of light. By that I mean, notice how the shadows are still present to the left of the center of the flower but are not as prominent. Also be aware of how nicely the shadows are filled in from the bottom.

Create a feeling that matches your subject

Flowers are soft. They are feminine. When we tell stories about our subject, we want to convey that feeling. One of the ways we convey feelings in photographs is in how we use light. Notice how the feel is different in the photos with the fill card and without. The second exposure feels softer and more feminine, and thus, supports the story of a feminine flower.

Add light from a flashlight for more drama

Now, to add a backlight with a flashlight. Make sure to position the flashlight in such a way that it doesn’t cause lens flare (the light isn’t hitting the lens directly). Make sure the light is pointing entirely at the flower, and not reaching your camera lens.

Flashlight with backlight, no fill cards or reflectors. Exposure f/4 at 1/4.

This is with a strong backlight. Notice how dark the center of the flower seems.

We can use a second light to fill in the center of the flower. I recommend using a slower shutter speed, 1/15th or less, and moving the flashlight while the exposure is made. If you don’t move the light, it will appear too strong and create harsh shadows.

If the light appears too strong and too direct, use a diffuser over your flashlight. I used a kleenex to soften the light.

Flashlight as a backlight, with a second flashlight as a fill light in the front. Exposure f/4 at 1/4.

How does this feel to you now? Notice how I brought the exposure of center of the flower up, just by doing a little light painting. If you ever worked in a darkroom, you will notice this is similar to manipulating an image in an enlarger called, burning, but we are doing it live at the capture stage.

Let’s see what our flower looks like with a backlight that isn’t as strong. I used a kleenex diffuser on the flashlight in the back.

Using a softer backlight by diffusing with tissue.

Can you see how much softer the backlight is?

In this image, I added a little bit of fill with a flashlight and kleenex diffuser.

This is very, very subtle. But move your eye back and forth between the two. Can you see the one directly above is a little bit softer? The difference isn’t huge on a computer screen, but makes a big difference in a large print.

Get creative with light and composition

At this point, it’s time to get creative with your framing and play with light.

In composition, you want to decide what your center of interest is in the photograph, and draw the eye to that point. Notice how dark the center of the flower is in the top image, so let’s add some fill.

The center of the flower is lighter now (above). Which image do you like better?

Notice the stamen of the flower above. Can you see it’s just a black blob? What happens when we add just a little bit of fill with a flashlight?

The center of interest becomes more pronounced.

Let’s try another one.

Dark stamen.

A little bit of fill.

A new angle with no fill.

A little bit of fill light, highlighting the center of interest.

A few more examples

Let’s go back to this simple lighting setup.

I used this setup on several different kinds of flower and I likde this white rose the best.

Can you see the beautiful light and how translucent the rose looks?

I like the overall feel to the image, however, there is a lot of contrast between the center of the flower and the outer petals. You want your viewer’s eye to go toward the center of interest, which is the middle of the flower, so I placed a reflector right in front of the flower.

You can see how the light reflects back in, and brightens up center of the flower. I also like this frame better because it feels softer.

This technique can work outdoors, too. Just use your reflector and your flashlight, and see what works.

There is no right or wrong when deciding where to put your light, but it’s usually best not to shine your main light from the camera angle. In this photo, the light is to the right and it feels to harsh to me. There are strong shadows on the flower that don’t add to the feel of the photograph. I moved myself in order to move the position of the light source, the sun.

I added a fill card, and see how the stamen starts to stand out. This is much better, but I decided to play with camera angles to see what that would look like.

I liked this better, especially how the light created patterns on the petals of the flower, but I wanted my interest in the center of the flower. It still just seemed to dark.

In the photo above, I used a reflector to fill in the shadows and used my flashlight to add a little bit of light.

Then, I changed the angle just a little bit. This is with no fill (above).

Here is the same flower with a reflector and flashlight filling in the dark areas.

There is no science to this. It’s all about playing to see what works. Here are a few more example that I shot, these images have no corrections. They are straight from the camera to help you see my process better.

Without a fill.

With a fill.

This final photo used several reflectors, as well as using a flashlight in the center of the flower.

Now you have some great tips, and inspiration to create a gorgeous floral photo of your own. You’ve seen how you can use simple fill cards to add light and soften an image. You’ve learned how light impacts the story you are telling, and you’ve learned how a simple flashlight or two, plus a kleenex, can take your photos to a new level.

Let’s see your floral photos, please share in the comments below.

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Digital Photography School

May 31, 2016
Step by Step How to do Cloud Stacking

The effect of the clouds streaking across the sky is a very popular look now, but not everyone has ND filters and can get those photos. However, there are other ways of getting similar results. Cloud stacking can give a similar look. The process is much like what you do for stacking car light trails. You have to be more careful with how you take the original images, but you can get some wonderful results if you follow these steps.

One of the original images.

You need a lot of photos for cloud stacking, and the best way to get them is by doing time lapse photography. Take a series of images over time, then try stacking them to see if they will work. Unfortunately, you don’t always get enough movement in the sky to get a good cloud stacking image, but others will be fantastic.

How to do Time Lapse Photography to get the images for stacking

Time lapse is about taking a series of images, one after another with a break in between, to capture the movement of a scene. Normally, once they are taken, you would put them on your computer and make a video from them to show that movement, however for cloud stacking you will be doing something else.

There are several ways of capturing your photos for a time lapse sequence. Many Nikon cameras come with a feature that allows you to do some, called Time Lapse Interval. You can set it up so that it will take the images at certain intervals, how many shots to take each time, and the final number of images you want. Basically, you can tell your camera to take a photo every 5 seconds, and to stop when you have 300 images.

The Interval Timer Shooting on a Nikon Camera

If you have an intervalometer it will do the same sort of thing. Set what the interval will be, and how many shots to take. If you have neither of those options you can still do them, but it will mean you will have to keep an eye on the time and remember to press the shutter button at the intervals.

The Nikon Intervalometer, but you can also purchase other ones as well, get the one that works with your camera.

Usually what you do first is determine what the interval (time between shots) needs to be. Look at the sky and see how fast the clouds are moving. If they are moving fast, then the interval in between shots might need to be shorter. If the clouds are slower moving, then longer times will be needed. It does take experience, and the more you do it the better you get at figuring out the time between the shots you need.

The images for this tutorial were done at sunset, and the clouds were moving moderately fast. The camera was set to take an image every 10 seconds. A total of 122 photos were taken, but only 54 frames were used for the final image.

Direction of the Clouds

Cloud stacking seems to work best if the clouds are moving towards or away from you. Look for the clouds that appear to flow in a V shape. The base of the V is on the horizon and the arms come out over the top.

Using the photos

Once you have the photos on your computer, you need to work out which ones to use. The photos do need to be loaded into Adobe Photoshop as layers, the first consideration has to be the size of the images. If they are raw files they are likely to be too large to do this, so they will need to made smaller.

You can process the images in Lightroom first. Do a basic edit, and then sync, so that all the images have been treated the same. Resize the images when you export them from Lightroom, saving as smaller jpegs. (As this was going to be a tutorial for dPS the images were resized so the long side was 1500 pixels – if you want to print your image make sure you size appropriately, but do a test smaller first.)

Loading the images

For this tutorial I used Adobe Bridge, but you can also do it in Lightroom.

All the images to be used for the cloud stacking.

Select all the images you want to stack, using either Ctrl+A, or click on the first one, press the Shift key and hold, and click on the final image. Load all the images into Photoshop as layers. Select Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers (in Lightroom right click and select Edit in > Open as layers in Photoshop).

Select all the images and open them as layers in Photoshop.

This can take a while, depending on how many images you are using, and how large the files are. Once they are loaded select all again. Click on the top layer, hold the shift key down, then click on the bottom layer and it should select them all.

In Photoshop select all the layers.

Stacking the clouds

Go to the layer blending options, at the top of the layers panel and select Lighten.

Go to the Blending options and select Lighten.

You should notice a difference straight away.

The image after the stacking process.

You could leave the image there and be happy with your stack, but for this tutorial I’ve added some extra ideas on processing . They are relevant to this image, but you can try some ,or all of these ideas for your own image.

Some Additional Processing Tips

There are no hard and fast rules with what you can do when processing an image, it is up to you how you want to go. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Select all the layers, except for the bottom one, and put them into a group. This will make it easier to process the images. In this image it was windy, and the trees moved around, so in the final image they look blurry. By adding a mask to the groups you can carefully use the brush tool, painting with black, to go over the trees so only one is seen and they appear sharper.

Add a mask to the Group layer and remove anything unwanted, like the trees in this image so only layer one is seen.

The silos appear a bit too dark, and lightening them up a bit would make them stand out a little more as well.

Select the Lasso Tool, and draw a line just inside the silos. Press Shift F6 to get the feather tool. For this image a small amount of feathering was chosen as it is a small image, but on larger sized ones you may prefer to use a feathering of around 200 pixels.

Use lasso tool to draw a selection, and then feather it.

Go to the Adjustments above the layers panel and click on Curves. Try to always use these ones as they do the adjustment as a layer, and if you decide you don’t like it later you can simply edit it, lower the opacity of the layer, or delete the layer (this is non-destructive editing).

Add some light or dark depending on what the image needs. For this one the silos were made brighter.

For this selection curves was used to lighten up the silos.

The final bit of processing will be to add a little vignetting or gradient. Add a blank layer to the image, click on the symbol at the bottom of the layers panel, it is the one next to the rubbish bin. Make sure it is selected, then select the gradient tool from the toolbar.

Use the gradient tool to add some darkness to the sky.

At the top under the menu bar you will see the options for the gradient tool. Make sure the tool selected is the Foreground to Transparent is the one you are using (make sure the foreground color is set to black).

Make sure you have the right tool option for what you want to do.

You don’t want this to be 100%, it’s best to use it at around 50%. You can build it up, but start with that. You can change that by going to the tool options and changing the 100 to 50.

Add some gradient to the sky to darken it slightly.

To use the tool, click and hold outside the image then move inside the image and release. It will do a gradual lightening of the colour, so the darkest area is where you did the first click.

If you want it darker you can repeat until you get the desired effect. The image here it was done twice.

The final image

That is a very basic edit on this image, but is enough for now. The image is fine as it is, but, as with all images, the only thing stopping what you can do, is your imagination.

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The post Step by Step How to do Cloud Stacking by Leanne Cole appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 31, 2016
Logos for Photography Business: 5 Trends to Use

A well-designed logo is a must-have tool for any photographer and studio wants to be seen on the market. According to many analysts, a logo plays an important role in entrepreneur’s success. Especially, if it’s a part of a brand identity. Use the following trends and ideas to create a powerful logo for your photography business and grab the attention Continue Reading

The post Logos for Photography Business: 5 Trends to Use appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

May 30, 2016
5 Tips to Improve Your Background and Make the Subject Stand Out More
If you are looking for a quick, simple, hassle-free way to make your images pop more and stand out, this is the article for you!

You don’t have to be a Photoshop genius – in fact, this may help you spend less time in Photoshop. These simple tips can elevate the photos you take. If there was one element in many images I see that could greatly improve it, it would have to be this: backgrounds. An ugly or distracting background can easily reduce the impact of even the best subjects. A clean, un-distracting background will help improve your images and make your subjects stand out even more. The best past is, you wont even have to spend a cent to do this.

Even though the background here works quite well with the subjects, using a wider aperture has ensured that the subjects do not get lost, but stand out. © Daniel Smith / Getty Images.

All too often we overlook the background and what is in it. You swear that those power lines weren’t in the viewfinder when you took that picture, and that post, where did that post come from?! That surely wasn’t protruding from your partner’s head when you clicked the shutter button. This occurs for a number of reasons:
- You’re too focussed on the subject alone that it’s almost like you have blinders on and the subject is all you can see.
- You may get too obsessed with the camera settings and making sure you nail the photo that you miss all those little annoying things that pop in to the frame.
- Or you are simply unaware of the importance that a good background can make.
So how can you improve your backgrounds, or at the very least, reduce the negative impact they can have on your images? By following these simple strategies, you’ll be well on your way to a better background and improving your images.

#1 – Location, Location, Location

If you have the option, do try and choose a location that has a nice background – that will make it as easy as it can get. What defines a nice background will depend on your subject, but as a very general guide, look for a spot that has a uniform look to it. Brick walls, corrugated iron roller doors, metal cladding on walls, or even something as simple as a painted white wall, can all make for a nice clean background. Ultimately, what you are not looking for is something that has a lot of other elements in the frame, that do not add to your subject.

If you cannot find a location that has a clean background, looking for somewhere where the background complements – or works with – your subject will also work, too. An example of this would be with sport photography. You simply cannot decide where the game will be played, so you have to work with what you have. In this situation, think about what would look good as a background. Would a stand full of supporters look better than a car park full of cars or a building site? I think it would. The stand full of supports, while not clean, works with your subjects and in fact, has more impact as the supporters add a nice element of atmosphere to the image.

Even though this image has the stadium in the background, it is a little cluttered. The seats are mostly empty, so it’s not really portraying any sense of atmosphere in the sport.

By changing my position, I was able to use a the large black cloth in the background to make the athlete stand out much more. Nothing more than moving was required; much easier.

Here, the backgrounds in these two images are quite plane. They help make the subjects the heroes of the images, as there is nothing else to compete with them.

With this image, the stands in the background have much more people in them. This works nicely to complement the subjects which, in this case, are the players. © Daniel Smith / Getty Images.

While this is a nice action frame, the background is not that fantastic. It’s in between areas of the different stands at this venue. It would look much better if it were against the full stadium, as in the previous image. © Daniel Smith / Getty Images.

You’ve found your location, but a clean background just cannot be had. What do you do?

#2 – It’s All About Perspective

A good backgrounds can be anywhere, and it can change quite a lot depending on the angle at which you photograph your subject. You may be in a very busy space, but within that space will exist areas of calm and peace. By this I mean that your backgrounds can be clean; even when it just looks cluttered in all directions.

When this happens, consider photographing from a different perspective. Photographing your subject from down low will make the sky your background. Conversely, if you’re looking down on your subject, whatever is below them will be the background. So if you cannot find an ideal background, don’t forget to look up and down – that’s where the best one may be hiding.

This rower was photographed from a bridge, making the water the background. in this case, the background works quite well with the subject.

This time, I was photographing this plane landing. This meant that I would be looking up, and the sky became the background here. The complementary colour set of the blue sky and yellow light on the plane also help to make the subject stand out more.

You may have the best background sorted. But it’s not always possible to be lucky enough to have that perfect background all the time. So what else can you do to help your subject?

#3 – Camera Craft

There will be times – more often than not – where you simply cannot win with your background. No matter which way you stand, you just can’t seem to find a nice clean backdrop. What now? Here’s where a little camera craft comes in to play and you have a couple of tricks up your sleeve with this.

First point of call is aperture. You know that you can simply open your aperture up a little more, and give that background some nice bokeh (or blur) to reduce its impact. Even when you do have a nice complementary background, it’s still a good idea to use a wider aperture to blur it out a bit and make your subject stand out against it more.

What if you can’t open your aperture any further, though? There’s still hope. Our next strategy is to play with shutter speed and use a panning technique. This can help greatly in rendering a busy background into a nice blurry mess. It also helps to add a great sense of movement and action, as well as give a sense of excitement to an image. If you’re unsure about how to do panning, have a read of this article – it will help greatly. But in a nutshell, panning is the technique of using a slower shutter speed (usually around 1/60th or slower) while tracking a moving subject. The combination of a slow shutter speed, coupled with the panning action, will result in a nice motion blur affecting the background, and if done correctly, the subject will remain sharp.

This background is clean; there are no real distractions in it, but it could be improved upon.

Here’s a different frame but this time, a panning technique has been used to remove all the creases in the blue backdrop. This has made the background cleaner again, and the added motion blur gives a sense of speed which works well with the subject.

The use of a wide aperture here has dramatically blurred out the background making it much cleaner. The result is that the subject stands out much more. © Daniel Smith / Getty Images.

#4 – Can You See the Light?

Something that seems to always be overlooked in photography is light. This seems to me like quite a remarkable thing since without light, we don’t have much of a photo. But using light, and the contrast it can provide, is another way to reduce the appearance of a distracting background. With this strategy you need to look for a higher amount of contrast between your subject and the background; that is, you’re subject is (ideally) brighter than the background. By exposing for your subject (the brightest area) you effectively make shadowed areas in the frame darker, thereby affecting your background. This can be achieved with both natural light and flash.

In this image, the flower was in the daylight; whereas the background was in the shade. I exposed for the flower and this made the background darker.

Again, the background here is much darker than the subject; helping to isolate the subject more. © Daniel Smith / Getty Images.

These photographs were taken in an undercover car park. I used two flashes (both off-camera) as my only light source. This removed any ambient light affecting the image.

#5 – The Final Stop

You’ve done what you can with the background. You’ve tried everything, but your background still doesn’t want to play ball. There will be times when you simply cannot control any of the aspects that have been mentioned. Don’t worry – it isn’t uncommon. Now all you can do is hope that there is something that can be done later, and there is!

If you’ve done everything you can to help improve your background and you’re still not winning, the last port of call is post-processing. You may be thinking, “Hold on, I’m not that great with selecting and masking in Photoshop yet.” but you needn’t worry. There is no selecting or masking with this one. (As a side note, if you intend on making a selection around your subject and replacing the background, you will need to photograph your subject accordingly to make this much easier and more natural).

All you need do is crop your image. That’s it. Cropping is about all you can do now. By cropping, you are effectively removing as much of the background as possible without cropping into your subject. Don’t worry about how much you are cropping out – unless of course you intend on doing a large print. You’d be surprised at how much many photographers are willing to crop.

Do you have any other tips for making the subject stand out, or improving the background? Please share your thoughts and images in the comments below.

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The post 5 Tips to Improve Your Background and Make the Subject Stand Out More by Daniel Smith appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
May 30, 2016
Fast Glass: Tips for Working With Wide Aperture Lenses

As photographers, many of us become infatuated with new gear, such as a new flash, tripod, or lens. We scrimp and save our money, and go off to the camera store to purchase that new lens we’ve had our eye on, most times satisfied with whatever new piece of kit has found its way into our bag. Sometimes, though, it happens that for some reason that new gear we’ve spent our hard-earned money on doesn’t live up to our expectations.

Fast lenses enable the photographer to use shallow depth of field creatively. A 24mm f/1.4 lens, shot at f/1.4 was used for this image.

It may be that it was overhyped, or it doesn’t suit your workflow. There are occasions, however, when a piece of gear has a learning curve attached to it that needs to be solved before you can fully enjoy it. One such item that seems to have that learning curve attached, is a fast lens (one with large maximum aperture).

At some point, we all begin dreaming of fast (large aperture) lenses. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to define fast lenses as ones with maximum apertures wider than f/4.

Fast lenses are great for a lot of things, shooting in low light being one of the major advantages, because the wider aperture allows more light into the imaging sensor, which in turn allows you to use a faster shutter speed. This is why lenses like the 70-200mm f/2.8 are such a workhorse in a photojournalist’s camera bag. Another advantage to the wider aperture is the ability to create shallow depth of field in your image, which can make your subject really stand out from the background. The 85mm f/1.4 is one of my go-to lenses for almost any portrait situation for just that ability.

When photographing portraits, focusing on the closest eye is ideal when using shallow depth of field.

That all sounds great, right? But it’s that last point regarding shallow depth of field which seems to create the biggest problems for most photographers, who are new to using a fast lens. I often hear of photographers complaining about a lack of sharpness in their lenses, and more often than not, the issue crops up when the photographer is using a fast lens.

It may be a portrait photographer trying to use an 85mm f/1.8 wide open, or someone doing street photography with a 35mm f/1.4, and for some reason there’s a lack of sharpness to the image that will invariably be blamed on the lens. In my 20 years in photography, I’ve owned and worked with a lot of gear – 0ver a dozen different camera bodies, and several dozen lenses I’ve used at one point or another. I can honestly say that I have never once had one come straight out of the box brand new, and not be in perfect working order, so treat that option (that the lens is faulty) as a last resort for now.

Understanding Depth of Field

In addition to their low light capabilities, many photographers purchase fast lenses simply because of the ability to shoot with a shallow depth of field. When used creatively, a lens with a large aperture used wide open, allows you to be very selective in what you show the viewer, and what you hide in soft out of focus areas, known as bokeh.

However, it’s very important to understand that depth of field works differently dependent on the lens you are using. For instance, a lens such as the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 will have paper thin depth of field when used at f/1.4, at close distances to the subject. As the subject moves further away from the camera, that depth of field becomes a little greater. But at the minimum focusing distance, you could focus on an eyelash on your subject, and still have the eyeball be out of focus, despite the fact it’s only half an inch behind the eyelash. Assuming you don’t want to back up and change the framing on your subject, the best way to ensure sharp focus on the eye, is to choose a focus point on the eye and be careful it does not accidentally focus on an eyelash.

If you are willing to sacrifice a bit of that shallow depth of field, simply stop down a bit to give yourself some leeway on where you focus. While at f/1.4 or f/1.8 you may not be able to get both the eyelash and the eye in focus, but at f/2.2 or f/2.8, you’ll likely have enough depth of field to achieve sharp focus on both.

Using a 24mm f/1.4 lens wide open, setting the focus distance to the hyperfocal distance, allows you to get greater depth of field even when photographing wide open.

Even on wide angle lenses, such as a 24mm f/1.4 or 35mm f/1.4, which have inherently (seemingly) greater depth of field due to the nature of wide angle lenses, you’ll still notice some issues arising due to the use of a wide open aperture. If you can step back from the subject, you can increase the perceived depth of field since you’ll be focusing further away. You can calculate how far away you need to be by using a hyperfocal distance calculator.

The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused, while still keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp. In the shot of the upended bus at night, knowing the bus was about 30 feet away, I calculated the near limit of focus for the lens I was using at about 18 feet and the far limit was 91 feet, meaning anything past that distance would still be out of focus at f/1.4. By focusing at the hyperfocal distance of 44 feet, I knew the bus would fall into the area of sharp focus, while still keeping the stars in sharp focus. This is true because the hyperfocal distance is where everything from that distance to infinity falls within your depth of field, and everything from the hyperfocal distance to the point halfway between the camera and that distance, also falls within your depth of field.

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to focus at the hyperfocal distance. For instance, photographing at a party in a dimly lit room, you may notice some areas out of focus due to the shallow depth of field. The fix here is to stop down a bit if you can. If you need more light, consider using a flash if appropriate, and stopping down the lens to give greater depth of field. Another option is to raise the ISO a bit to allow you to stop down the aperture more.

You may find yourself saying, “I didn’t purchase a fast lens to use it at a smaller aperture!” While that may be true, if you find yourself unable to capture sharp images due to the shallow depth of field, stopping down is the best solution. Please keep in mind, I’m not talking about a lens that just isn’t sharp. I’m talking about a lens that, due to its fast aperture, isn’t capable of capturing the depth of field needed to keep everything that you want sharp in focus.

Choosing Your Focus Point

When it is critical to focus on a specific area in the image, choosing the correct focus point will ensure sharp focus where you want it, even when using a wide aperture with shallow depth of field.

One of the best things you can do when using a fast lens, is to ensure you’re focusing precisely where you think you are focusing. You want to be sure your camera is set to allow you to manually choose a focus point. By manually selecting a focus point, you can ensure the camera focuses on what you think it should. Most cameras default focus point selection method is automatic. In this mode, the camera will generally try to focus on the nearest object with detail that is covered by one of the focus points. Allowing the camera to choose can be a recipe for disaster, since quite often, the nearest object with detail is not what you want to focus on.

One of the best things you can do as a photographer is take control of where your camera is focusing by selecting the focus point that you want, and ensuring that the focus point you choose is on the subject you want to be sharp. Cameras today have multiple focus points, with some having as many as 61 AF points. While it’s true that generally speaking the center point will be the most accurate of those points, technological advances have made the points along the outer edge much more accurate than in the past. This means that you can choose those outer focus points with confidence when composing your image.

Using shallow depth of field on a portrait allows the photographer to focus on the eyes, and lets the rest of the body fall out of focus. An 85mm f/1.2 lens was used here.

Another related problem to the camera choosing the wrong AF point, is photographers employing a technique known as focus and recompose. This technique came about back when cameras only had a few AF points bunched around the center of the viewfinder. In many situations, it’s not a problem, as long as you are using an aperture that will provide adequate depth of field to maintain focus on the object or person you’ve focused on.

However, when using a fast lens, at a wide open aperture, focusing and then recomposing your shot becomes a real problem. This is because when using a fast lens at a wide aperture, the depth of field is so thin, that recomposing the shot will actually shift the plane of sharp focus away from the subject you initially focused on. So while you may have focused on the correct subject, using the center AF point, in adjusting your composition you knocked your subject right out of focus again. The solution for this issue is the same as above: manually select an AF point that you can place right on top of your subject, without recomposing your shot.

Embrace the Bokeh

Shallow depth of field can be used to create interesting effects and force your viewers to look where you want them. This image was made with a 70-200mm lens at f/2.8.

Lastly, in answer to those who bought fast glass to shoot it wide open, I say – embrace the bokeh! Bokeh is defined as the visual quality of the out of focus areas of an image, and each lens renders these areas a bit differently. Fast lenses typically have beautifully smooth bokeh.

Compose your shots so that the shallow depth of field is used creatively. To do this, you’ll need to understand what you can and can’t do when shooting wide open. Knowing that you will have a shallow depth of field, you’ll want to avoid stacking subjects at different distances. Create compositions that contrast sharp areas, with out of focus areas. Use that contrast to highlight certain objects within your frame, and by the same token, hide other objects by causing them to be drastically out of focus.

Using shallow depth of field allows you to highlight one object in sharp focus against a blurry background. This image was made with an 85mm f/1.2 lens.

Images created using shallow depth of field force your viewers to look where you want them to, because the eye is naturally drawn to areas of sharp focus. By using proper focusing techniques, you can ensure the image you see in your mind is the one you capture, and by understanding how the lens will handle depth of field, you can ensure that you’ll know to stop down when you need to for added depth of field, avoiding the mistake of having an important part of your image out of focus.

What’s your favorite fast lens to work with and why?

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The post Fast Glass: Tips for Working With Wide Aperture Lenses by Rick Berk appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 29, 2016
6 Tips on How to Create Abstract Photos

It’s time to have some fun with your camera, and pop you out of the realistic rut you may not even know you’re in. It’s time to create some images based on color, light, emotion, and a lack of concern for sharpness or details.

It’s time to play around with abstract photography!

Abstract | ab-stract | adjective | of art : Expressing ideas and emotions by using elements such as colors and lines without attempting to create a realistic picture.

You already have all the tools you need (a camera or even a smartphone), so let’s take a look at some methods of creating emotive and abstracted images.

Techniques

1 – Move Your Camera

The simplest method for creating images filled with color and lines, is to blur the snot out of everything. This is a liberating concept for most of us. “I get to move my camera and not worry about staying super steady? Heaven!” I can hear you shout.

All of these techniques are paths of self discovery, but I can give some tips on where to start.

First, slow your shutter speed down to 1/10th of a second or slower. As with panning blur, this is where things get interesting. You can do this in Shutter Priority mode, or if you know how to adjust your camera in Aperture or Program modes, you can use those to get the same shutter speed. You’ll also be helped with a low ISO, such as 100 or lower.

Second, look for things in the shade. That slow shutter speed needs a lack of light to work well, otherwise your shots will be blown out (overexposed).

Third, take some sample shots moving your camera in one direction, then another. I know, this sounds like lame advice, and is simplistic, but it starts out that way. You have to start seeing what the scene in front of you does when you move one way or the other. Then start moving in circles or random wiggles.

Sometimes straight lined objects look best when you go with their grain and direction. Sometimes circular items (flowers being an easy target) look best with some random wiggle. This is your official “Get out of photography-jail free card” to experiment and make some ugly images. But you may also make some that pique your interest.

2 – Move the Subject

I used to hate see tags on train cars, until I realized the magic of all those random colors screaming by at 40 miles per hour (65 km/h).

Now I often look for all kinds of colorful items, just for their color alone. The shape, subject, or intent may not be what I want, but if I can use that color and get it to move just the way I want…I can capture the colorful essence.

This can be a lot like light painting, but without the subject emitting the light. Think of other things that can be moved around, and go for bold colors.

WARNING: Watch out for white, yellow and other super bright colors. Their properties mean they will fill your sensor with too much data too fast, and they will washout/cover over any other colors you may have in your shot.

3 – Remove Reference

A zoom lens will be your best friend here. Wide angle shots, even with ample blur, often allow us to ground ourselves in the scene, not the colors or emotion. It’s breaking out of what we can recognize, and can relate to, that helps the abstract images.

Let me show you an example. What do you see here (below)?

Now let me show you the larger context.

The more you zoom in and pick apart details, the more you can play with abstraction.

4 – Shoot Through Things

I have yet to experiment heavily with shooting through objects, but there is much fun to be had here too. Having a way to hold the object helps, and a clamp on a light stand would be handy. Otherwise, start with everyday objects and work your way through colored glass, a glass block, or even smear various gels and liquids (Vaseline, olive oil, etc.) on a clear sheet of glass or plexiglass.

5 – Multiple Exposure

Using in-camera multiple exposure techniques can sometimes leave too much of the original, recognizable subject, for some photographers’ tastes. I have found the Average setting on my Canon to work well in combining shots. If you want to get funky, go for the Dark setting, and prepare to shoot a lot of tests.

My method is to take one shot, mostly in focus. Then I shoot two more in varying degrees of out of focus. This sometimes ends up with more of a soft focus look, and that’s where the argument can be made that these images are not abstract enough. That’s why I’ll choose to zoom way in, to hopefully make the subject a little more out of context.

6 – Post-Processing as a Playground

You know how people tend to complain about too much post-processing of some artists’ work? Now’s the time to cast off those bonds and have some fun. You can soften scenes to make them even more ethereal.

Or you can try on different versions of the same image, but with vastly different color renditions (in this case, I simple moved the White Balance Temperature and Tint sliders in Lightroom).

Once your images are in the computer, let your impulses go wild!

Conclusion

The thing I like most about abstract photography is that it plays on the “This is something I really like, but I’m not sure why” nerve inside all of us. I can possibly breakdown each of these images and tell you why I picked them, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. It’s about creating art for art’s sake. It’s about getting back to the basics of attraction to art. It’s about being surprised by what you see on your LCD while breaking a few of the rules you used to hold so dear.

Now go experiment and show me what you can create!

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The post 6 Tips on How to Create Abstract Photos by Peter West Carey appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 29, 2016
An Overview of Google’s Nik Collection Filters for Post-Processing

By now, if you have not downloaded Google’s Nik Collection, at the very least you have heard that this once $ 500 software, was made free for download in March 2016. The Nik Collection, as it has been known for over a decade, is a set of photographic filter plug-ins, and image enhancement tools, that delivers another look and feel to your photo.

The Nik Collection is comprised of Analog Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Dfine, HDR Efex Pro, Sharpener Pro, Silver Efex Pro and Viveza. As you see, the suite is quite extensive, thus this overview will just touch on its potential uses, and hopefully encourage you to further explore the collection more in-depth.

The layout in each set is very similar, which translates to ease of use once you get the hang of it. Preset filters are listed down the left side panel of the dashboard. If you click any of them, the chosen filter is immediately applied to your preview, and you then have sub-options for that filter listed on the right panel, which gives you further control over its application.

An awesome feature that the Nik Collection utilizes is called Control Points, which is available in each plug-in. A control point, as the name implies, is a way to control the application of a filter to selected areas of your choice. Take note of this, as it will be referenced and elaborated on below, as the various plug-ins are discussed.

Analog Efex Pro

If you love the images produced by older cameras, or want to add a vintage look to your photo, Analog Efex Pro may be the set that appeals to you. It strives to pay homage to techniques used by photographers many years ago, and will help transport your image back in time.

Original Image Analog Efex Pro: Wet Plate preset applied

In the sample image above, the finish is one of the “Wet Plate” preset options available in Analog Efex Pro 2, inspired by an alternative processing technique of yesteryear. Along with Wet Plate, some of the preset filters in the left panel include Classic Camera, Vintage Camera, Toy Camera and the popular Double-Exposure – all of which require little effort to give your image a unique style.

Original Image edit Analog Efex Pro: Double-Exposure preset applied

With a few clicks, the application of this technique attempts to mimic processing techniques established in the darkroom, or in-camera double exposures. Each filter can further be fine-tuned to your desire, using the sliders and curve-adjustments included in the right panel; you can even add Dirt and Scratches to create a sense of age and give your digital photo a film-like feel.

Color Efex Pro

Color Efex Pro is a collection of visual presets that allows you to enhance, or get more creative with your photo. There are 55 filters in this set, but with the ability to stack filters, the possibilities are endless. Customized combinations can also be saved as a preset, so you can easily apply the same processing to other images with a single click.

Original Image

Color Efex Pro 4: Skylight preset applied

In the Lighthouse example shown above, the Skylight preset filter was used, which simulates a glass warming filter. It removes some of the blue color casts, and intelligently warms the colors in the photo for a more pleasing effect. You can use your right sub-options to make this as intense as you want, but in some cases less is more.

Original Image Color Efex Pro 4: Tonal Contrast preset applied

In the photo above, the Tonal Contrast preset was applied. This preset adjusts contrast and light levels on a small scale, as well as brings out some texture in the image. The sliders enable you to affect how dynamic the final result turns out.

Original Image Color Efex Pro 4: White Neutralizer preset applied

Sometimes you need your whites to pop, for example the snow in the photo above. The White Neutralizer filter removes color casts from light objects and can be used to create bright, crisp whites without affecting the other colors of the photo. It is very useful for brides’ dresses and large expanses of white, such as snow or walls.

A very cool feature of Color Efex Pro is the ability to layer multiple filters on an image.

Original Image Color Efex Pro 4: Tonal Contrast Color Efex Pro 4: Sunlight filter

In the example shown, the Tonal Contrast preset was applied to the original image, then layered with the Sunlight filter. Layering equates to endless possibilities for your final edit.

Dfine

Dfine is Nik’s answer to noise reduction. Image noise characteristics deviate with exposure length, ISO settings and even temperature based on your camera. Dfine selects areas of your image and generates a “noise profile”. This allows the quick reduction of noise in your photos while retaining the edges, and in one click applies the calculated noise reduction to the image.

In the image above, the little squares denote what the software determined were areas requiring noise measurement. The loupe view (circled in red), shows the applied noise reduction on the right side – this view is at 100%.

On the right panel, the “Reduce” sub-option gives you two main methods to take away noise – either via the contrast or color. Both these adjustments affect the image differently, so play around with them and see which one works for your image.

Original Image Dfine 2: Auto Noise Reduction applied

Also included are some useful global adjustments for further refinement, such as the removal of JPEG compression artefacts and debanding.

Control Points in Dfine allows you to selectively apply noise reduction, which gives you the power to increase or decrease the noise reduction intensity in different areas of your image. So, even though Define auto-calculates the noise reduction needed, you can still maintain control over your noise processing.

HDR Efex Pro

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging is a processing technique that has had mixed responses over the years. It was a trendy technique a few years ago, but has since matured into being used as a tool that extracts all the details of a scene available to the naked eye. HDR can be either overdone, or used subtlety, by exploring the differences between the darkest shadows and the brightest parts of the photo.

HDR Efex Pro is Nik’s contribution to this type of processing; where several images captured at different exposures, are translated into a single image that reflects a more dynamic range than your camera output is capable of creating (although camera advancement is starting to address this).

Original Images for HDR edit

Images combined using HDR Efex Pro 2

In the example above, three exposures are combined to bring back the lost highlights and shadows with tonality adjustments. This image can be pushed to look more realistic or even in the opposite direction.

Above its predecessors (such as Photomatix), HDR Efex Pro 2 has promised a simpler process and increased control and fine-tuning over the final image, along with an improved tone-mapping engine that claims to render color better. All tools are subjective, but no harm in trying this HDR tool out, even if just to verify some of Nik’s claims that they have improved Ghosting and Chromatic Aberration reductions.

Silver Efex Pro

Silver Efex Pro focuses on black and white processing. There are many programs quite capable of creating great black and white images, but various built-in tools like Dynamic Brightness, Soft Contrast, Amplify Whites, Amplify Blacks, and the advanced Grain Engine creates excellent diversity.

Original Image Silver Efex Pro 2: Dark Sepia preset applied

Silver Efex Pro comes with quite a variety of presets, and of course you can also create your own. The easiest way to do this is use an existing preset, customize it by making your adjustments, then save it so you can apply it to other images later on. Saving a preset is especially useful if you are doing an image set, and want the photos to have the same look and finish.

Original Image Silver Efex Pro 2: High Structure preset applied

The structure in this software adds depth to the photo by adding some sharpening. If you are into black and white photography, this is definitely a set you want to play around with.

Viveza

Viveza is an easy way to apply enhancements selectively without creating masks. Yes, you can still do global or image-wide adjustments, but it is very useful to be able to later refine only selected areas. Imagine the possibilities of applying structure, color, exposure changes, or doing shadow recovery to only areas you choose, knowing that the software is going to blend in your changes seamlessly.

You can use Control Points on any part of the image you want to change. As with the other software in the Nik Collection, the top control (on your control point) allows you to change the radius/size of your adjustment area.

The Control Point shown in this image is on the blue sky. Based on the look you want, the radius of this area can be increased or decreased in size.

If you check the box next to the Control Point on the right (sub-options), all the affected areas will be shown in white, so you can decide if you want to adjust your work area.

In this example, the Control Point affects the blue in both the sky and sea, so any adjustments will apply to everything blue in the selected radius (highlighted in white on the image).

Selections, masks or adjustment layers may be your tool of choice to get precisely defined areas, but Viveza’s localized adjustments blend in with the surrounding areas quite well, and in some cases look more natural.

Sharpener Pro

While not everything in your image needs to be razor sharp, the best way to end up with a crisp finish and distinct edges, would be to start out with a properly focused image. Post-capture sharpening increases the contrast between adjacent pixels and significant edges within an image, which attracts your eye. Sharpening is thus used to enhance a focused image, as opposed to rescue elements of photograph that was captured out of focus.

Original Image Sharpener Pro 3: applied to show edges

In the sample image above, the sharpening is exaggerated to show the contrast effect that the software applies.

Sharpener Pro takes away some of the guesswork and gives you control over your sharpening, which is typically the last step in image processing. Control Points gives you the ability to selectively sharpen aspects of your image and allows the changes to blend in easily.

Conclusion

A great feature of each set in the Nik Collection is that it applies the effect on a duplicate layer. This is especially helpful if you want to dial back the effect and blend it with your original image, by simply changing the opacity of the layer.

Each plug-in has great potential, so do not be fearful to explore, test your creativity with preset combinations, and experiment with Control Points. It is a user-friendly collection and while this is a plus, it can also make it easy to overdo it.

Do share your thoughts and some of your images processed with Google’s Nik Collection of filters. How have they worked for you? Which is your favorite?

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The post An Overview of Google’s Nik Collection Filters for Post-Processing by Nisha Ramroop appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 29, 2016
23 Moving Images of Flowing Water

Water, especially that which is flowing, is a popular subject for photographers. You get to make artistic choices about whether to freeze or blur the water, and to what degree. That will affect how the final image looks.

Take a look at these images of flowing water and see how the photographers chose to capture the scene.

By David Kingham

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By little shiva

By Christopher

By Kamil Porembi?ski

By ~ lzee. . . mostly out

By James Bremner

By Nick Kenrick

By Andi Campbell-Jones

By Andy Rothwell

By Crouchy69

By Crouchy69

By Christian Barrette

By Billy Wilson

By Neil Howard

By Christian Ronnel

By Dirk Dittmar

By Nicole Quevillon

By Jonathan

By Marjan Lazarevski

By John Fowler

By Susanne Nilsson

By Louis du Mont

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The post 23 Moving Images of Flowing Water by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 28, 2016
Weekly Photography Challenge – Flowing Water
By Franck Michel

Start by viewing these 23 images of flowing water to get some inspiration.

Then read some articles on the subject:
- 3 Tips for Waterfall Photography Beyond Just Using a Long Exposure
- Simple Tips for Photographing Waterfalls
- 7 Tips to Help Improve Your Seascape Photos by Controlling the Waves
- How to Create a Silky Water Effect in Post-Processing without Using Filters or a Tripod
- 9 Top Tips for Shooting Waterfalls, Creeks and Streams
By Jacob Surland

By Jon Rawlinson

By Andy Rothwell

Weekly Photography Challenge – Flowing Water

This week your challenge is to find some running water and photograph it. Here are a few ideas, you don’t have to be near a waterfall:
- River
- Stream
- Waterfall
- Ocean waves
- Fountain
- Shower in your bathroom
- Kitchen tap
By James Niland

By Tarek

By Riccardo Cuppini

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 favourite 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.

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

Digital Photography School
May 28, 2016
How to Improve the Impact of Your Urban Images Using Lines
If you are struggling with getting your photos of cities and architecture to pop out, chances are that you are underestimating the power of lines in your images. Lines help you structure your images in ways that lead your viewers to look at different parts of the picture, and create interest in both your main objects and the surroundings.

The image above shows an example of how you can use lines to create a visual guidance within your city and architecture images, that will help your viewers find multiple points of interest and take a closer look.

To help you understand how the lines work in a rather complex image like this, reducing the image to a black and white version with high contrast, can help visualize the structures of the image without getting distracted by the color elements.

Why lines are important especially for urban images

While in many areas of photography, using depth of field and blurred backgrounds is a good way to lead the viewers’ eyes to the most important element, and add a sense of perspective, as city photographers we rarely have this choice. In architecture images, you want most elements to be in focus.

When taking pictures of city scenes, you need to structure your images in different ways to provide perspective and a feel of scale. The conscious use of lines in your images can divide a photo into smaller pieces, separate elements from each other, provide a sense of perspective and lead your viewers’ eyes to where you want them to focus.

The image above shows an example of a random shot without considerations for the use of lines. With its grey stones, the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin on a cloudy day, doesn’t offer much to work with when trying to create an interesting image. This is merely a documentation of the place, but probably wouldn’t make it as a header image.

However, beyond the documentary aspect, the use of lines to create perspective, orientation and symmetry can increase the impact, even of an otherwise dull looking image.

Which lines can you use to increase impact?

You can separate the lines in three categories which I call:
- Dividing lines
- Leading lines
- Symmetrical lines
A dividing line structures your images into separate areas of interest. It can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. You can use it to make a clear difference between bottom and top of an image, but also make sure to use dividing lines to show near and far. In many outdoor images, the horizon line is a natural dividing line.

In this image, I am using a major dividing line to clearly separate the floor and the wall. Less noticeable, the additional line in the wall serves as another separation in the photo. Without the addition of this line, the right half of the image would be rather boring. By adding a simple line into the frame, it helps dividing the image into a left and right.

Make sure that your dividing lines are in the right place. With very few exceptions, make sure to place your lines outside of the center of the image (both horizontally or vertically) but also not too close to the borders. The well known Rule of Thirds is good guidance, in many cases dividing images into a two-thirds and a one-third part works best.

Leading lines are an important way to provide your viewers with an idea of perspective. They will lead the eyes into, and around the image. Leading lines often come in pairs, slowly merging into the distant part of the picture. But in fact, you can use multiple leading lines, even one can help the viewer find orientation. Leading lines don’t even have to be straight, you can use curves and angles just as well.

The main street in this image serves as a single leading line, it helps the eye find orientation from the interesting space in the foreground, and puts it into the context of the big city.

The third way of using lines to increase impact, is the use of symmetries. When looking for interesting images to capture in a city, try to find symmetrical lines in the architecture around you. Thankfully, architects also know the visual impacts of symmetries, and use them to create the buildings around us.

Buildings like this lend themselves to be taken in symmetries. While the content is not perfectly symmetrical due to the individual office decorations on the inside, the structure of the building makes an interesting frame for these individual elements. The symmetry helps to create interest, as you subconsciously start looking for the differences between the halves.

Learn to focus on lines

If you are shooting with a camera capable of RAW images, there is an easy way to train yourself to look out for lines: Use your camera settings, and change your camera to shoot in black and white!

When shooting RAW, the camera will still capture and store all the data from the sensor, including the color information. So when you are back at your computer to edit images, you will find all the options to create color images as well. But while shooting, you can look at your images at the screen in black and white, which will eliminate distractions from the forms in your image.

Going a step further, in most cameras you can set up your own image processing profile in camera: Increase the contrast and sharpness of the image as far as possible, and you will end up with a preview image on the camera screen that is mostly reduced to the lines.

Additional ways to use lines

Probably one of the most photographed objects in the world, the houses of parliament and the tower with Big Ben in London, UK, it is hard to come up with a unique version. In this image above, I added the light trails created by the passing traffic to add an interesting element. The light trails serve both a dividing lines between the other photographers in the foreground and the architecture in the background, as well as leading lines providing perspective from the left to the right part of the picture.

When taking images of tall buildings, like in this case the tower of Westminster, the borders of the building will typically provide leading lines from the bottom (near) to the top (far). To generate an additional element of interest, I used a long exposure image to create another set of lines, through the moving clouds in the sky above the building. This helps add a dynamic element and interest, to an otherwise static and often boring background.

Do not limit yourself to using only straight lines. While a horizon should always be straight and strictly horizontal, others, especially leading lines, can also be curved. In this image above, the cable car tracks take two turns that lead the viewer’s eyes from the bottom (near) to the center (far) part of the image.

Even complex scenes win from the use of lines

Once you become aware of the lines in your images, you can use them to structure even more complex scenes.

While the above example might show the lines all that obvious, you will most likely see the curb of the street easily as a (curved) leading line into the image.

However, upon a closer look, you can also note the use of a dividing line separating the photo into a top and bottom part to provide additional perspective and scale. Finally, a use of lines as a frame puts more emphasis on the silhouetted person crossing the scene, adding further scale to the size of the elements contained.

These lines help the viewers structure the image into separate parts and make it easier for the brain to digest all the elements contained.

How do you use lines in your compositions? Please share in the comments below.

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The post How to Improve the Impact of Your Urban Images Using Lines by Michael Zwahlen appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
May 27, 2016