Category: Photography

How to Take Sharp Images
The post How to Take Sharp Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

Taking sharp images is something that most photographers want – but clean, crisp, sharp images can be difficult to achieve.

Before we start exploring how to improve sharpness, let’s talk about the main causes of a lack of sharpness:
- Poor focus – The most obvious way to get images that are ‘un-sharp’ is by shooting them out of focus. This might be a result of focusing on the wrong part of the image, being too close to your subject for the camera to focus, selecting an aperture that produces a very narrow depth of field, or taking an image too quickly without checking that it is in focus.
- Subject movement – Another type of blur in shots is the result of your subject moving; this is generally related to the shutter speed being too slow.
- Camera shake – You can get blur if you, as the photographer, generate movement while taking the image. This often relates to shutter speed and/or the stillness of your camera.
- Noise – Noisy shots are pixelated and look like they have lots of little dots over them (get up close to your TV, and you’ll get the same effect).
10 Ways to Take Sharper Images: Tips for Beginners

Here’s a list of 10 basic things to think about when shooting – so you can get consistently sharp images.

(Note: There’s also a lot you can do in Photoshop after taking your images!)

1. Hold your camera well

A lot of blur in the photos that I see is a direct result of camera shake (i.e., the movement of your camera for that split second when your shutter is open).

While the best way to tackle camera shake is to use a tripod (see below!), there are many times when using one is impractical, and you’ll need to shoot while holding your camera.

I’ve written a tutorial previously on how to hold a digital camera, but in brief:

Use both hands, keep the camera close to your body, and support yourself with a wall, tree, or some other solid object.

2. Use a tripod

Regular readers of this site will have seen our articles on tripods and know that we’re a big fan of using tripods as a way to reduce (and even eliminate) camera shake.

While tripods are not always practical, the result you’ll get when you do go to the effort of hauling one around can be well worth it.

Related Article: A Beginner’s Guide to Tripods

3. Select a fast shutter speed

Perhaps one of the first things to think about in your quest for sharp images is the shutter speed that you select.

Now, the faster your shutter speed, the less impact camera shake will have, and the more you’ll freeze movement in your shots.

As a result, you reduce the likelihood of two of the main types of blur in one go (subject movement and camera movement).

But how do you pick the right shutter speed? I recommend the “rule” for handholding:

Choose a shutter speed with a denominator that is larger than the focal length of the lens.

So:
- If you have a lens that is 50mm in length, don’t shoot any slower than 1/60th of a second
- If you have a lens with a 100mm focal length, shoot at 1/125th of a second or faster
- If you are shooting with a 200mm lens, shoot at 1/250th of a second or faster
Keep in mind that the faster your shutter speed is, the larger you’ll need to make your aperture to compensate (see the next section!). And this will mean you have a smaller depth of field, which makes focusing more of a challenge.

4. Choose a narrower aperture

Aperture impacts the depth of field (the zone that is in focus) of your images. Decreasing your aperture size (which means increasing the f-number) will increase the depth of field – meaning that the zone in focus will include both close and distant objects.

Do the opposite (by moving to f/4, for example), and the foreground and background of your images will be more out of focus. Therefore, you’ll need to be exact with your lens focusing.

Keep in mind that the smaller your aperture, the longer your shutter speed will need to be – which makes moving subjects more difficult to keep sharp.

5. Keep your ISO as low as possible

The third element of the exposure triangle is ISO, which has a direct impact on the noisiness of your shots.

Choose a larger ISO, and you’ll be able to use a faster shutter speed and a smaller aperture (which, as we’ve seen, helps with sharpness). On the other hand, this will increase the noise in your shots.

Depending on your camera (and how much you plan to enlarge your images), you can probably get away with using an ISO of up to 400 (or even 800 or 1600 on some cameras) without too much noise. But for pin sharp images, keep the ISO as low as possible.

6. If you have image stabilization, use it

Many cameras and lenses are now being released with different forms of image stabilization (IS).

Image stabilization won’t eliminate camera shake, but can definitely help reduce its impact. I find that using IS lenses gives me an extra two or three stops (i.e., I can drop the shutter speed by around two to three stops) when handholding my camera.

Keep in mind that IS helps with camera movement but not subject movement – so it’s not helpful in low-light action scenarios.

Also, don’t use image stabilization when you mount your camera to a tripod.

7. Nail focus as often as possible

Perhaps the most obvious technique to work on when aiming for sharp images is focusing. Most of us use our camera’s autofocusing, and this works well – but don’t assume that your camera will always get it right.

Make sure you check what part of the image is in focus before hitting the shutter. And if the focusing isn’t right, then try again or switch to manual focus. This is particularly important if you’re shooting with a large aperture (small depth of field), where even the slightest focusing error can result in your subject being noticeably out of focus.

Most modern cameras have a range of focus modes you can shoot in, and choosing the right focusing mode is very important. You can learn how to do that here.

8. Make sure your lenses are sharp

This one is for DSLR and mirrorless owners:

If you have the budget for it, invest in good-quality lenses, because this can have a major impact upon the sharpness of your images.

For example, shortly after buying my first DSLR, I was in the market for an everyday zoom lens that would give me the ability to have both wide and telephoto zoom capabilities. I bought a Canon EF 28-135mm lens. It was a good lens (and reasonably priced), but it wasn’t as sharp as some of my other lenses.

A few months later, I borrowed a Canon EF 24-105mm “L” lens (“L” is Canon’s professional series of lenses) from a friend, and I was amazed by the difference in sharpness between the lenses.

While the first lens was good for what I paid for it, I ended up going for an upgrade. The new lens is now almost permanently attached to my camera.

9. Get your eyes checked

Since I was young, I’ve worn glasses. But in recent years, I’ve been a little slack in getting my eyes checked.

Recently, I got them tested for the first time in a number of years, and I was surprised to find that they’d deteriorated significantly. Getting new glasses improved a number of areas of my life, one of which was my photography.

Also connected to this is checking the diopter on your camera, if it has one.

What’s a diopter?

It’s usually a little wheel positioned next to your viewfinder that lets you tweak the sharpness of the image you see when shooting. The diopter is particularly useful for people with poor eyesight, because you can use it to compensate for your vision (so you won’t have to remember to wear glasses when out shooting!).

10. Clean your equipment

Recently, my wife and I went on a window-cleaning frenzy at our place. Over the previous months, the grime on our windows had gradually built up without us really noticing it.

But when we did clean the windows, we were amazed at how much more light got through and how much better the view outside was!

The same can be true for your lens. Keep it clean, and you’ll eliminate the smudges, dust, and grime that can impact your shots.

Similarly, a clean image sensor is a wonderful thing if you have a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, as getting dust on it can produce noticeable blotches in your final images.

11. Use your lens’s aperture sweet spot

Lenses have some spots in their aperture ranges that are especially sharp. In many cases, the ultimate “sweet spot” is one or two stops from the maximum aperture.

So instead of shooting with your lens wide open (i.e., where the f-numbers are smallest), pull it back a stop or two, and you might get a little more clarity in your shots. Learn more about identifying your lens’s sweet spot here.

Further reading about how to take sharp images

Learn more about how to take sharp images with the following tutorials:
- Advanced Tips for Tack Sharp Images
- Getting Sharper Images – an Understanding of Focus Modes
- How to Get Super Sharp Landscape Photography Images
- 9 Ways to Ensure You Get Sharp Images When Photographing People
- 5 Tips for Getting Sharper Images
- The Secret to Ultra-Sharp Photos
- 5 Simple Secrets To Sharper Photos
- Making Sharper Wildlife Photographs
The post How to Take Sharp Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

Digital Photography School
December 9, 2020
dPS Roundup: The Best Photos of November

The post dPS Roundup: The Best Photos of November appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

We’re back with our second in the series of monthly roundups! November was a fun month, with Wheels, Down, Coffee, and Dark & Moody as our weekly challenges.

Join the challenges here!

For our Wheels challenge, I was really drawn to the unique red light in this photograph from Ira Papamalama:

© Ira Papamalama

The reflections in the photograph of the car wheels from Ivan Galic were quite good, too. (Plus, there’s a Porsche, and…well…it’s a Porsche!)

© Ivan Galic

Moving swiftly on to our theme, Down, we had a handful of drone photographs along with some other great images; it was really fun to go through the photos posted in the Facebook group and on the blog and see how everyone interpreted the theme!

This image grabbed me – there’s so much going on:

© Cristina Salvacion

And our second choice in the Down challenge came from a regular challenge participant, Chinmoy Biswas. The shadow and action in the photograph is really great!

© Chinmoy Biswas

The next challenge was dear to my heart…well…to my whole body? Coffee!

This first photograph from Jin Mamlouk is great! Beans, steam, and a unique mug – winning! Thanks, Jin.

© Jin Mamlouk

And in the photograph below by Amal, it’s the light and shadow that really sets the shot apart! The layering (as my good friend Deanne Fitzmaurice always tells me) with the coffee, the light, and the newspaper, is all great. Well done, Amal.

© Amal

Another regular to our weekly challenge, Moncat, dropped a lovely photograph into the Dark & Moody challenge this month! I imagined rowing into the fog on an eerie morning – but maybe that’s just me. Great photo!

© Moncat

And rounding out our best weekly challenge photos of November is this photograph from matt93, another cracking photograph with all the makings of a dark and moody scene. Thanks, Matt!

© matt93

Don’t forget, you can join all of our weekly challenges for free. To sharpen your skills, go ahead and submit a photo to all of the past challenges (click here). Or enter the latest challenge, Light Painting, which is still open (here).

Our weekly challenge isn’t about the best photographers showcasing their work. It’s about getting us all out to make photographs and to keep practicing so we get better at this fantastic medium that we’ve chosen! Come and interact and get feedback in the private Facebook group, and submit your photograph there if you’d like!

See you soon!

Simon

The post dPS Roundup: The Best Photos of November appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

Digital Photography School

December 9, 2020
Your Quick Guide to Understanding Photoshop Adjustment Layers
The post Your Quick Guide to Understanding Photoshop Adjustment Layers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Adjustment layers are one of the most essential aspects of editing images in Photoshop. They let you apply rich, detailed edits to your photos that go well beyond what you can accomplish in other programs.

Now, adjustment layers can be a bit difficult to understand if you’re used to a more streamlined application like Lightroom, Apple Photos, or Luminar. But with a bit of practice, you can easily master Photoshop adjustment layers and take your photo editing to the next level!

Nikon D7100 | 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/500s | f/2.8 | ISO 250

What are Photoshop adjustment layers?

When you open a picture in Photoshop, you can’t just start dragging sliders to change its appearance. Before you can do much of anything, you need to start with layers, which serve as the bedrock of everything that makes Photoshop so powerful.

Nikon D7100 | 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/250s | f/2.8 | ISO 450

To help visualize the concept of adjustment layers, think about a physical picture sitting on your desk. If you wanted to give the picture a green tint, you could simply drape a sheet of green cellophane over it.

That’s exactly how adjustment layers work in Photoshop: They let you change the visual properties of your image without destroying the underlying file. You can add as many adjustment layers as you want and use them to change things like white balance, exposure, hue/saturation, and over a dozen other properties.

In other words:

Photoshop adjustment layers are like stacking sheets of digital cellophane on top of your images. Each layer can be controlled individually and combined with layer masks to apply edits to specific parts of your images. All of this might seem needlessly complicated compared to the simplicity of other programs, but once you get the hang of Photoshop adjustment layers, you’ll never want to go back.

Nikon D7100 | 50mm f/1.8G | 50mm | 1/2000s | f/2.8 | ISO 100

Another way to think about Photoshop adjustment layers is by comparing them to panels in the Develop module of Lightroom.

However, the Develop panels only offer a handful of adjustments that you can use. Photoshop lets you stack as many layers as you need – even multiple layers of the same type of adjustment – so you can tweak your images as much as you could possibly want. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the results are well worth the effort.

How to add an adjustment layer

The first step when working with adjustment layers is to load an image into Photoshop. Then click on the Adjustments panel, which is usually located above the Layers panel.

(If you don’t see the Adjustments panel, go to the Window menu and choose Adjustments.)

Load an image into Photoshop and then click the Adjustments panel.

The Adjustment panel offers sixteen adjustments to choose from, and sorting through all of these can be overwhelming (especially if you’re used to the simple, straightforward editing parameters available in Lightroom).

Each one of these icons is a specific type of adjustment. Hover your cursor over each one to see a brief description.

Some of these adjustments are similar to what you might find in Lightroom, such as Brightness/Contrast and Color Balance. But using the adjustments is much different from working in Lightroom and, in some ways, more complicated. Fortunately, that also means you can get much better results.

To see how this process works, I’ve included an image (below) that clearly needs some editing. Thankfully, Photoshop adjustment layers are here to help!

Fujifilm X100F | 23mm | 1/4000s | f/8 | ISO 200

I’ll start by adding a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer, which is a simple matter of just clicking the Brightness/Contrast icon in the Adjustments panel. Immediately, two sliders appear, which you can use to make the picture brighter or darker and to add or remove contrast.

After clicking an adjustment layer icon, the available editing parameters show up for you to start working with.

A few seconds later, my picture is much improved, thanks to a brightness boost. However, there is still a lot of work left to do.

Brightness +75, Contrast -5

One other thing happens when you click an adjustment layer icon that you might not notice but is critically important:

The Layers panel will create a layer specifically for that adjustment.

Clicking an adjustment icon automatically adds a new layer to your image with the selected adjustment as its title.

This new layer, along with all the icons associated with it, is what gives an adjustment so much flexibility. In Lightroom, you can enable and disable individual panels in the Develop module, but you don’t have this level of control over your adjustments.

Note the different icons in the short screen capture above:
- Indicates layer visibility: Click this to hide or show the adjustment.
- Layer thumbnail: Double-click this to show the editing parameters (sliders, eyedroppers, etc.) for the adjustment layer.
- Indicates layer mask is linked to layer: Click this to unlink the adjustment layer mask from the adjustment. If you’re new to adjustment layers, you can just ignore this altogether.
- Layer mask thumbnail: This is a very tiny preview of the layer mask that is created by default when you click on a new adjustment layer icon. Click this to show the editing parameters of the mask.
While my picture of the Minnesota sign is better than when I started, it still needs a lot of improvement. The next thing I want to do is set the white balance, but this option is missing from the Adjustments panel.

Instead, you have to use the Curves adjustment, then click the gray point eyedropper. Next, click a neutral or slightly gray portion of your image to counteract any color casts. Note that this process essentially replicates the White Balance function of Lightroom.

Select the gray point tool, then click a slightly gray or neutral area of your photo to set the white balance of the image.

One thing you might notice is that the Curves options in Photoshop are much more comprehensive than the Curves options in Lightroom. This should give you an indication of how much more flexibility you have with adjustment layers. You can use Curves to do everything you would do in Lightroom, along with much, much more.

The final operation to fix this image involves a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Click on the Hue/Saturation icon to bring up a panel that looks like this:

The Hue/Saturation adjustment layer parameters

The key to this panel is the hand icon in the top-left. Click it, then click on a part of your image that you would like to saturate or de-saturate.

In this case, I want to start with the grass below the sign. Clicking and dragging to the right makes it much greener, and gives a sense of vibrance that is sorely missing from the original.

The grass and foreground elements really pop, thanks to a quick tweak with the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

This is a good start, but I need to fix the sky, and that is where a layer-based approach really starts to come in handy.

Instead of editing the sky with the adjustment layer I just created, I can add a new adjustment layer and use that for the sky. This allows me to control my Hue/Saturation edits for individual parts of the image, instead of having just one Hue/Saturation adjustment layer that affects the entire scene.

The sky colors are now improved. These edits are applied using a layer separate from the grass edits, and thus can be controlled independently.

While the resulting picture is much better than the original, there is still some tweaking that needs to be done for it to truly feel finished.

Adjustment layer masks, explained

Eagle-eyed observers might notice something amiss with the picture above:

The Minnesota sign now has a purple tint to it.

Never fear, adjustment layers are here! Click the white rectangle next to a layer name to edit its mask:

You see, by painting black onto a layer’s mask, you prevent that area of the photo from being affected by the adjustment. So if you don’t want the sign to be affected by the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, simply paint black over the portion of the mask that covers the sign!

Here’s how it works:

First, select the Brush tool (press B or click the Brush icon in the left-hand toolbar).

Make sure your foreground color is white and your background color is black (to do this quickly, just hit D).

Now it’s time to actually paint the mask. Press the X key to switch between white (revealing) and black (hiding), and the [ and ] keys to increase or decrease the size of the brush.

For tricky shapes like the sign, you can use the Magic Wand tool to select the shape. Then, with the shape still selected, use the Brush tool to mask (remove) the adjustment from that portion of the image.

A closer inspection of the Layers panel now shows a black silhouette over the portion that has been masked out of the top Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. I have also renamed the top two layers so as to accurately describe the type of effect they have on the image.

(Double-click a layer name to rename it, and press Enter when you finish typing.)

The mask for the Hue/Saturation Sky adjustment layer shows a black patch where the adjustment has been concealed.

Nondestructive editing

One mistake some beginners make when editing images in Photoshop is applying adjustments directly to the original photo. This can be done using the Image>Adjustments menu, which gives you common editing options such as Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, and more. Unlike adjustment layers, these edits are not easy to work with, nor are they easy to alter once they have been implemented.

Photoshop adjustment layers, on the other hand, are nondestructive. You can tweak and change layers after they have been implemented, and you can easily delete them. That’s why layer adjustments are much more flexible than edits applied directly to an image.

Adjustment layers can be renamed, re-sorted, locked, disabled, and made transparent. And that’s just the beginning!

You can perform all manner of custom tweaks and changes to adjustment layers, such as:
- Showing/hiding a layer by clicking the eye icon
- Editing the adjustment by clicking the light/dark circle icon
- Adjusting the opacity of a layer
- Changing the blend mode, which adjusts how the layer interacts with layers below it
- Adjusting the order of the layers by clicking and dragging
- Locking a layer to prevent further changes by clicking the lock icon
Photoshop adjustment layers open up new editing possibilities that simply cannot be achieved in Lightroom. For example, the image of a leaf from the beginning of this article can be altered with a selective color adjustment in a matter of seconds. All I need to do is add a Black & White adjustment layer. I can then select the leaf with the Magic Wand tool and paint over the selection on the layer mask.

Adding a selective color black and white effect took about four seconds.

Photoshop adjustment layers: conclusion

If you have a Creative Cloud Photography subscription, you can use Photoshop in addition to Lightroom at no extra charge. Now, if the sheer level of options and buttons in Photoshop makes you want to run to the comfort and safety of Lightroom, I get it. I have been there, too, and I still have that feeling from time to time.

However, learning to use Photoshop adjustment layers is one of the first steps in understanding how powerful and flexible Photoshop can be. If you have not yet tried working with layers, take a moment to test them out. See what layers can do for you.

You might be surprised at how easy it is!

The post Your Quick Guide to Understanding Photoshop Adjustment Layers appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
December 9, 2020
Stellar Photo Recovery Software Review: An Easy Way to Reclaim Your Precious Photos
The post Stellar Photo Recovery Software Review: An Easy Way to Reclaim Your Precious Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Have you ever accidentally deleted photos or videos from your memory cards? Or, even worse, have you ever formatted your card, and only then realize it contained valuable photos or videos?

It happens to the best of us.

In fact, if you’ve never experienced either of the above situations, consider yourself lucky. Because while digital files are convenient, they’re all too easy to lose – and if you don’t have the right recovery software, those files will be gone forever.

That’s where Stellar Photo Recovery comes in.

You see, Stellar Photo Recovery offers an impressive set of DIY recovery tools for photographers and videographers; according to the website, you can recover almost any file on almost any device. And you can purchase a package that lets you repair corrupted files, which is tremendously useful for situations where your photos or videos have been damaged.

But how does Stellar Photo Recovery perform? Does it work as well as advertised? And how do you use it for file recovery?

That’s what this article is all about.

In it, I put Stellar Photo Recovery to the test, using some formatted memory cards of my own.

And I share all my findings with you.

So to find out whether Stellar Photo Recovery is a worthy purchase…

(Spoiler alert: The software works incredibly well!)

…keep reading.

Stellar Photo Recovery: Why might you need it?

Stellar Photo Recovery is a DIY recovery package, designed to help you find and recover lost photos, videos, and audio files.

But why, specifically, might you need Stellar Photo Recovery?

Imagine you’re out taking pictures and fill up several cards. You go home, download all the photos to your storage drives, and then – as many photographers do – format every card in-camera.

Moments later, you feel a dawning sense of horror, as you realize that you failed to transfer the photos from one of the now formatted cards.

At this point, your hard-earned photos are deleted, the card has been wiped, and your only real option is recovery software.

That’s just one of the many ways you could accidentally delete photos and videos. You could also format a hard drive and realize it had photos you needed. Or you could stick a full memory card into your camera while out shooting, format it, then suddenly realize that you hadn’t transferred the previous photos over to your storage drives. Or you could clear a flash drive, then realize it had valuable media that you needed for a client.

You could also end up with corrupted files thanks to faulty memory cards or old drives or viruses.

If you’ve been doing photography for a while, then you’re probably aware:

This sort of thing happens all the time. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, then it will, because it’s just the nature of having lots of easy-to-wipe memory cards. You’ll make a mistake.

And when you do, you’ll want to have software like Stellar Photo Recovery.

Right off the bat, you’ll be impressed by the sheer volume of scenarios Stellar Photo Recovery can handle. You’ve got the option to recover:
- A whole host of image file formats, including Canon RAW files, Fujifilm RAW files, Sony RAW files, Nikon RAW files, Olympus RAW files, Pentax RAW files, Panasonic RAW files, JPEGs, TIFFs, GIFs, PNGs, and PSDs, plus quite a few others
- Lots of video formats, including MP4, AVI, MPEG, AVI, 3GP, and so much more
- Audio file formats, including MP3, WAV, MIDI, M4P, and AU
And you can do your recovery on a bevy of storage devices, including CF cards, SD cards of every kind, XQD cards, flash drives, HDD drives, and more (even if the drives are encrypted).

Plus, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve deleted individual files or simply formatted the storage device, because Stellar Photo Recovery can deal with both.

Honestly, if you’ve lost any type of photo, video, or audio to deletion or corruption, Stellar Photo Recovery Software probably has you covered.

Using Stellar Photo Recovery: A simple, three-step process

Using Stellar Photo Recovery is incredibly easy.

Once you have the software downloaded on your computer (you can grab your copy here), you’ll simply need to follow a three-step process:

Step 1: Select the drive in need of recovery, and hit “Scan”

When you first open Stellar Photo Recovery, you’ll see a list of all accessible drives:

By placing a checkmark next to the location you need to recover files from, you’re telling the software where to look. To save time on the scan, I’d recommend checking only the precise drive/memory card on which your files originally existed.

Then hit Scan:

As soon as you’ve done this, the software will start checking your drive for any and all media. This might take a while, depending on the size of your drive; I used a 32 GB SD card for my test, and the scan lasted around 30 minutes.

You can minimize the window while you wait and leave it scanning in the background.

By the way, if you’re in a hurry, you can always shorten the scan time by heading into the Advanced Settings menu:

And clicking on File List:

You’ll then see a list of all file types you can recover. By checking the files you’re after, you’re telling Stellar Photo Recovery where to focus its search.

Neat, right?

Step 2: Go through your recoverable files and select the ones you’d like to restore

Once the scan is complete, the software will report the number and size of the files it found:

Then you can go through the folders and preview files for recovery (not all file types will offer previews, but my Olympus RAW files showed up nice and clear).

By putting a checkmark next to a file, you indicate that you’d like to recover it:

So make sure you do this with all relevant files.

Step 3: Hit “Recover” and watch as your images appear!

Once you’ve checked off all the files you want to recover, hit the Recover button:

Then select the folder where you’d like to save the recovered files:

Finally, click Start Saving.

You can then watch (in the Saving Data window) as your files are recovered and saved. This isn’t a long process; each RAW image I recovered took about one second to save, which means that you can recover quite a few images in a minute or two.

Then, if you go to the folder where you’ve saved the files, you’ll see them completely intact and unharmed.

One nice additional feature here is the ability to go back and recover different photos, even once you’ve done one recovery sweep. So if you accidentally recovered the wrong files, you can just go back into the list of recoverable media and check off a different set of files – without having to scan the drive again.

What’s even nicer is that you can save your scan data when you exit Stellar Photo Recovery. So if you’re tired of recovering images and want to continue later, you can work from a previously-scanned drive without needing to go through the whole process again.

Stellar Photo Recovery: Performance

Speaking as a longtime photographer, I’m always worried about losing my photos.

Yet I’ve never managed to find any recovery software that I really, truly trust, especially because there’s all sorts of dodgy options out there that aren’t worth the money.

But I am genuinely so impressed by Stellar Photo Recovery. It’s easy to set up, easy to use, and it works amazingly well. I tested it out on a 32 GB SD card that was full of Olympus RAW files. The card had been formatted twice in recent days – but Stellar Photo Recovery managed to bring back every photo from before the second wipe, and what appeared to be all 400+ photos from before the first wipe, all in perfect condition.

The most difficult thing about Stellar Photo Recovery is the waiting – as I explained above, the scan takes some time. But you don’t have to babysit the software, so you can easily get the scan started, go do something else, and come back in 30 minutes or so.

Now, I do think it’s important to be up front, here:

I didn’t try to restore any corrupted files, and my sense is that Stellar Photo Recovery works here but won’t always do a perfect job. So it’s certainly worth using for that sort of thing, but while recognizing that repairing corrupt files is inherently difficult and might not happen.

Also recognize that the more you overwrite files, the more Stellar Photo Recovery will struggle to recover the originals.

In other words:

Don’t take pictures, format the card, take more pictures, and only then try to recover the originals; instead, make sure any accidentally-formatted cards are immediately put aside for recovery.

If you don’t do this, your results will vary, depending on the amount of new photos you took.

Make sense?

Ultimately, I’m now a huge fan of Stellar Photo Recovery. And I guarantee it’ll be the software I turn to the next time I lose images.

Stellar Photo Recovery: Pricing

There are three Stellar Photo Recovery packages (all are available for both Mac and Windows):

The Standard package, which costs $ 39.99 for a one-year subscription, and offers complete recovery capabilities, but cannot repair corrupted files.

The Professional package, which costs $ 49.99 for a one-year subscription, and offers complete recovery capabilities plus the ability to repair corrupted photo files.

And the Premium package, which costs $ 69.99 for a one-year subscription, and offers complete recovery capabilities, the ability to repair corrupted photo files, plus the ability to repair corrupted video files.

Which should you get?

If you’re just looking to recover deleted files, the Standard package will work just fine.

But if you have corrupted image files, then the Professional package is a must.

And if you have corrupted video files, you’ll want to go for the Premium option.

So make sure to grab your version of Stellar Photo Recovery software here.

Who should get Stellar Photo Recovery?

Stellar Photo Recovery is a fantastic option for photographers and videographers looking to recover files.

It’s simple to use, its performance is impeccable, and I can’t recommend it enough.

So the next time you find yourself needing to perform file recovery or repair…

…turn to Stellar Photo Recovery.

Stellar is a paid partner of dPS.

The post Stellar Photo Recovery Software Review: An Easy Way to Reclaim Your Precious Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School
December 7, 2020
6 Tips for Capturing Dramatic Skies in your Landscape Photography

The post 6 Tips for Capturing Dramatic Skies in your Landscape Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Hillary Grigonis.

Don’t let the “land” in landscape photography fool you; a great landscape photo relies just as much on the sky as the land. Boring gray skies make for boring landscape photos, after all!

That said, capturing a dramatic sky in-camera is trickier than it seems. When the sky is lighter than the land, your camera will typically overexpose it, turning a brilliant blue into a vague and unexciting gray or white.

But with a little fine-tuning, it is possible to capture a sky that is the cherry on top of a great scene! Here are six tips for capturing more dramatic skies in your landscape photography.

1. Time it right

Landscape photography may not require the split-second timing that’s necessary for capturing a toddler’s smile or a wide receiver’s catch, but timing is still a big part of the picture. The sky that’s gray one day could be bright blue the next. So when planning out a landscape photo, consider how the timing will impact the sky.

Watch for weather patterns that add interest to a shot, like a storm brewing just above the horizon. Weather plays a big role in the overall mood of the image – so if you’re hoping to capture a dark and gloomy shot, head out when the sky is stormy.

On the other hand, if you’re hoping to capture a more relaxed or happy photo, look for blue skies dotted with clouds.

The time of day matters, too. While the middle of the day will produce the most shadows on the land, it’s when the sky tends to be the clearest blue. And just after sunset and just before sunrise is often a good time to capture wispy clouds and a warmer tint of light.

Of course, sunrise and sunset is great for dramatic skies, as well.

2. Try the wrong white balance

Photography rules are sometimes meant to be broken, including rules about always using the correct white balance.

You see, the wrong white balance setting can create a more dramatic sky. This is especially true when shooting toward the beginning or end of the day – using a different white balance preset will adjust the color in the sky.

Auto, Cloudy, and Shade white balance presets will get you an orangish sunset with a light blue sky (with slight variations in warmth depending on the setting you choose). A florescent setting, on the other hand, will typically turn an orange sunset purple with a brilliant blue sky. Tungsten offers a similar effect, but with even deeper colors.

Using Kelvin temperatures to adjust your white balance results in even greater control over the colors in the sky. At around 5500K, you’ll usually capture a sunny sky with an accurate white balance – that is, where things that are white are still white in the picture, and where things that are gray are still gray in the picture.

A higher temperature – 6500K, for example – will give the land an orange glow but also enhance the colors in a sunset. A cooler temperature, on the other hand (e.g., 3000K), will play up the blues and purples. By using the Kelvin scale, you have more options for picking a white balance setting that best captures the colors in your photos.

Here, the white balance was altered in post-processing to warm up the sky.

While it’s always best to get the shot right in-camera, shooting in RAW offers you even more flexibility when it comes to adjusting the colors in the sky (and the rest of the image, for that matter).

If you overdid things by making the shot too warm or too cool, you can easily adjust a RAW photo in post-processing, so that you use the color temperature that best fits the image. If you have a landscape photo that you already shot in RAW, open it and try different white balance presets, or the temperature slider, to see first-hand how shooting with a different white balance would have impacted the shot.

3. Compose for the sky

When the sky is more dramatic than the land, why not use that to determine your composition?

Pay attention to where you place the horizon when you are composing your shot. Use the rule of thirds to imagine the image is divided into threes, then place the horizon on one of those horizontal lines. If you are shooting a photo with an average-looking sky, try placing the horizon on the upper third of the image, so more of the land is included in the photo, like this:

As the sky here isn’t very dramatic, the higher placement of the horizon improves the composition.

But if the sky is really dramatic, take advantage of that and include more of it in the frame – by placing the horizon on the lower third:

The sky here is dramatic, so the image was composed to show less ground and more sky.

4. Use a filter

There are two filters every landscape photographer should have in their camera bag in order to capture more dramatic skies.

The first is a graduated neutral density filter. Now, a regular neutral density filter is like putting sunglasses over your lens – it limits the light coming in for bright scenes or long exposures. But a graduated neutral density filter places that darkening effect only on a portion of the image. And by positioning the dark portion of the filter over a bright sky, you can properly expose the entire scene.

Without a graduated neutral density filter, the sky will often be overexposed and bland, or the land will be underexposed and dark. With the filter, you can achieve an exposure that works for both portions of the scene. The only downside is that graduated neutral density filters don’t work as well with an uneven horizon, like when shooting a cityscape. Graduated neutral density filters come in both circular and square formats, but the square is often preferred because you can place the horizon anywhere in the frame.

The second filter landscape photographers should use to capture more dramatic skies is a polarizing filter. Polarizing filters work by adjusting the reflected light coming through your camera lens. Since the sky is blue because of this reflected light, turning the front of the polarizing filter will adjust the intensity of the blues in the sky. Since polarizing filters only affect reflected light, they can still be used when mountains or buildings make the horizon uneven. Polarizing filters are also great for enhancing or removing reflections on water or other shiny surfaces.

5. Experiment with motion blur and long exposures

Long exposures aren’t just for photographing waterfalls. If you use a long enough shutter speed, the clouds will blur, too, creating a sky of wispy streaks and a slight feeling of motion.

To capture motion blur in the clouds, you’ll need to use a long shutter speed. The best settings will depend a bit on the weather and how much motion blur you’d like, but you can try starting with a two-minute exposure and adjust up or down from there.

If you are shooting during the day, you may not be able to balance out a two-minute exposure with a narrow-enough aperture or a low-enough ISO; instead, you’ll end up with a photo that’s way too bright.

So how do photographers capture motion blur in the clouds when the photo obviously wasn’t taken at dusk or dawn?

They use a neutral density filter – which helps block out some of the light so that you can set a long exposure during the day.

(Note that a neutral density filter is the same thing as a graduated neutral density filter, but the entire filter is dark instead of just half of the filter).

6. Use the Adobe Camera RAW Graduated Filter tool

While it’s always best to get the shot right in-camera, there are a few editing tools that can improve the sky in your landscape photos. One of those tools is the Graduated Filter inside Adobe Camera RAW (this works the same in Photoshop and Lightroom).

With the Graduated Filter, you can drag an effect over the sky in your photo. Like an actual graduated filter, the effect will only cover the top portion of the image and gradually fade away, making it possible to create natural-looking edits.

The Graduated Filter tool can be used to adjust the exposure, creating an effect much like an actual graduated neutral density filter. But the tool can also adjust contrast, saturation, clarity, sharpness, and color. That opens up a lot of possibilities for applying edits just to the sky for more drama – creating effects that sometimes can’t be done in-camera.

This is the original photo.

This is the same photo, but with a Graduated Filter used on the sky to increase the drama.

Capturing dramatic skies in your landscape photos: conclusion

The sky can make or break a landscape photo. From timing and composition to filters and post-processing, when you consider the sky as you shoot, you’ll end up with more dramatic, frame-worthy shots.

Do you have any other tips for creating dramatic skies in your landscape photography? Share them in the comments!

The post 6 Tips for Capturing Dramatic Skies in your Landscape Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Hillary Grigonis.

Digital Photography School

December 6, 2020
10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits

The post 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

How do you take portraits that have the wow factor?

Today, I want to talk about taking portraits that are a little out of the box. You see, it’s all well and good to have a portrait that follows all the rules – but it recently hit me that often the most striking portraits are those that break the rules.

I want to look at some ways to break out of the mold and take striking portraits by breaking (or at least bending) the rules and by adding a little randomness to your portrait photography.

1. Alter your perspective

Most portraits are taken with the camera at (or around) the eye level of the subject. While this is good common sense, completely changing the angle that you shoot from can give your portraits a real wow factor.

Get up high and shoot down on your subject, or get as close to the ground as you can and shoot up. Either way, you’ll be seeing your subject from an angle that is bound to create interest.

2. Play with eye contact

It is amazing how much the direction of your subject’s eyes can impact an image. Most portraits have the subject looking down the lens – something that can create a real sense of connection between a subject and those viewing the image.

But there are a couple of other things to try:

A. Looking off-camera. Have your subject focus their attention on something outside the field of view of your camera. This can create a feeling of candidness and also create a little intrigue and interest as the viewer of the shot wonders what the subject is looking at. This intrigue is particularly strong when the subject is showing some kind of emotion (i.e., “What’s making them laugh?” or “What is making them look surprised?”). Just be aware that, when you have a subject looking out of the frame, you can also draw the eye of the viewer to the edge of the image, and this will take them away from the point of interest in your shot: the subject.

B. Looking within the frame. Alternatively, you could have your subject looking at something (or someone) within the frame. A child looking at a ball, a woman looking at her new baby, or a man looking hungrily at a big plate of pasta – it can all work. You see, when you give your subject something to look at that is inside the frame, you create a second point of interest and a relationship between it and your primary subject. It also helps create a story within the image.

3. Break the rules of composition

There are a lot of “rules” out there when it comes to composition, and I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with them. My theory is that, while composition rules are useful to know and employ, they are also useful to know so you can purposely break them – as this can lead to eye-catching results.

The rule of thirds is one rule that can be effective to break. You see, placing your subject dead-center can sometimes create a powerful image. And creative placement with your subject right on the edge of a shot can sometimes create interesting images.

Another “rule” that we often talk about in portrait photography is to give your subject room to look into. This can work really well – but again, sometimes rules are made to be broken.

4. Experiment with lighting

Another element of randomness you can introduce in your portraits is the way you light them. There are almost unlimited possibilities when it comes to using light in portrait photography.

Sidelighting can create mood, while backlighting and silhouetting your subject to hide their features can be powerful.

Also, using techniques like slow sync flash (as well as long exposures combined with light painting) can create impressive images.

5. Move your subject out of their comfort zone

I was chatting with a photographer recently who told me about a corporate portrait shoot that he had done with a businessman at his home. They’d taken a lot of head and shoulder shots, shots at the desk, shots in front of framed degrees, and other “corporate” type images. The photos had all turned out fairly standard – but there was nothing that really stood out from the crowd.

The photographer and the subject agreed that there were plenty of usable shots, but they wanted to create something special and out-of-the-box. The photographer suggested they try some “jumping” shots. The subject was a little hesitant at first, but stepped out of his comfort zone – and then, dressed in his suit and tie, started jumping!

The shots were amazing, surprising, and quite funny. The shoot culminated with the subject jumping into his pool for one last image!

While this might all sound a little silly, the shots ended up being featured in a magazine spread about the subject. It was the series of out-of-the-box images that convinced the magazine the subject was someone they’d want to feature.

6. Shoot candidly

Sometimes, posed shots can look somewhat…posed. Some people don’t look good in a posed environment, and so switching to a candid-type approach can work well.

Photograph your subject at work, with family, or doing something that they love. This will put them more at ease, and you can end up getting some special shots with your subject reacting naturally to the situation they are in. You might even want to grab a longer zoom lens to give your subject space and get really “paparazzi” with them.

I find that this can work particularly well when photographing children.

7. Introduce a prop

Add a prop of some kind, and you create another point of interest that can enhance your shot.

Yes, you might run the risk of taking too much focus away from your main subject. But you can also really add a sense of story and place to the image that takes it in a new direction, and gives the person you’re photographing an extra layer of depth that they wouldn’t have had without the prop.

8. Focus on one body part (and get close up!)

Use a lens with a long focal length, or get up close so that you can just photograph a part of your subject. Photographing a person’s hands, eyes, mouth, or even just their lower body can leave a lot to the imagination of the viewer.

Sometimes, it’s what is left out of an image that says more than what is included.

9. Obscure part of your subject

A variation on the idea of zooming in on one part of the body is to obscure parts of your portrait subject’s face or body. You can do this with clothing, objects, your subject’s hands, or just by framing part of them out of the image.

Doing this means that you leave a little to the imagination of the viewer. And you also focus the viewer’s attention on the parts of your subject that you want focused on.

10. Take a series of shots

Switch your camera into burst mode (also known as continuous shooting mode) and fire off several shots.

In doing this, you create a series of images that could be presented together, instead of just one static image.

This technique can work very well when you’re photographing children – or really when you’re photographing any active subject that is changing their position or pose in quick succession, like the runners below:

10 ways to take great portraits: conclusion

Capturing stunning portraits is easy – as long as you remember a few of these simple tips!

And if you’re interested in improving your portrait photography even further, make sure you’re subscribed to the Digital Photography School newsletter, where we share lots of photography tips and techniques every single week.

Also, make sure you check out the second half of this series here: 10 More Tips for Stunning Portrait Photography, as well as our Portraits: Making the Shot eBook!

And start taking some great portraits, today!

The post 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

Digital Photography School

December 5, 2020
Under $10 Holiday Deals: Deal 1 from Photzy
The post Under $ 10 Holiday Deals: Deal 1 from Photzy appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

Instead of our usual 12 Days of Christmas promotion, we’ve considered the impact of the year to date and selected just 4 deals to promote (one per week) during December, all under USD$ 10. We hope you can find a little something to treat yourself or a loved one these holidays. We’ve negotiated some amazing deals for you with our trusted partners, who pay us a commission and have added some extra special bonuses for you.

Our first “Under $ 10 Holiday Deal” is from our trusted partner Photzy, and is a great alternative to their full set of Snap Cards . . .

Have you ever gone out to shoot, but forgotten a technique you recently learned?

We don’t all have a photographic memory, so having a compact reference guide at hand can help you recall what you learnt.

That’s why the folks over at Photzy made these 20 printable Photography Training Cards called “Snap Cards”.

As part of our Under $ 10 Holiday Deals, they’re offering them to dPS readers for just $ 7USD. And they have already been flying off the shelves! It’s unbelievable how popular these cards are every time we mention them.

This is a gentle reminder – as a “dPS Under $ 10 Holiday Deal” you only pay ~~$ 100~~ just $ 7 Today. And if you pick them up this week there are special bonuses available.

Normally $ 100, for the next 7 days you can get these reference cards for 93% off + a free limited daily bonus (more information on the page)

A few of the cards include:
- Aperture Explained
- Shutter Speed Explained
- ISO Explained
- Shooting Modes Explained
- Auto Focus Modes Explained
- Taking Sharp Pictures
- Exposure Compensation Explained
- Landscape Photography Checklist
- Tips on Photographing Night Scenes
- Composition Tools
- Portrait Cropping
- Working with Natural Light
- And So Much More!
There are 20 colour coded lessons in 8 main photography areas. Photzy offers a 100% money back guarantee, so there’s no risk in trying them out to see if they’re right for you.

Available with the current free bonus, if you pick them up this week, grab them here while you can.

People are loving these cards

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There’s 20 cards in total, organized and color-coded into 8 key problem areas!

PLUS they’ve included two free video tutorials to show you how to print, and how best to use these cards…

If you’d enjoy having a quick, easy to read, (and understand), reference system that you can take with you “anywhere” when you’re out shooting pictures…

You owe it to yourself to Click Here

Print them out, pop them in your bag. They’ll be right there with you, exactly when you need them.

As always- your purchase is 100% Guaranteed by Photzy!

Time is running out on this special offer.

You need to check them out. This will be the most useful training tool you’ll pick up all year.

Don’t miss out. Check them out here.

Happy Holidays
Darren and the dPS Team

The post Under $ 10 Holiday Deals: Deal 1 from Photzy appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

Digital Photography School
December 5, 2020
Weekly Photo Challenge – Light Painting

The post Weekly Photo Challenge – Light Painting appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

We had some great photos for last week’s ‘Wheels’ challenge, this week it’s a bit harder and maybe new for some, we’re going to try our hand at light painting!

Missed a challenge? Go back and do them all! Click Here

Not sure what light painting is, think it’ll be too hard? there’s a full blog post here that we’ve written to help – have a read and then come back and submit your photo!

SEE THE HOW-TO POST HERE

Make sure to include the tags #dPSLightPainting if you share your photo on Instagram or Facebook.

Great! Where do I upload my photos?

Simply upload your shot into the comments 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.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSWheels to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

Follow us on Instagram?

The post Weekly Photo Challenge – Light Painting appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

Digital Photography School

December 5, 2020
How to Use Photo Studio Ultimate 2021’s Color and Tone Wheels for Amazing Results
The post How to Use Photo Studio Ultimate 2021’s Color and Tone Wheels for Amazing Results appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Color editing is an essential part of nearly every great photo.

Unfortunately, adjusting the colors in most post-processing programs is difficult – or downright impossible.

One impressive exception to this, however, is ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2021, which offers two powerful tools for color editing:
1. The Color Wheel
2. The Tone Wheels
And that’s what this article is all about. I’m going to show you how to use the Color Wheel and Tone Wheels to apply gorgeous color adjustments to your photos. You’ll discover how the Wheels work, what they can do, and how to get a professional look in your own images.

Let’s dive right in.

The Color and Tone Wheels: overview

The Color and Tone Wheels come as part of Photo Studio Ultimate 2021, a recently updated, all-in-one photo editor that you can grab on ACDSee’s website for $ 8.90/month (you also have the option to purchase a lifetime license for $ 149.99).

While Photo Studio Ultimate 2021 offers a lot of upgrades over its predecessor (including some major speed improvements that you’ll want to see for yourself), one of the biggest features for amateur and professional photographers is the set of color editing tools: the Color Wheel and the Tone Wheels.

Here’s a quick peek at the Color Wheel:

And here is the Tone Wheels panel:

Together, these two tools can revolutionize your photo editing workflow.

And here’s why:

With the Color and Tone Wheels, you can make both broad and targeted adjustments to the colors in your images. You can shift, brighten, and saturate colors selectively, you can push colors into the shadows, highlights, and midtones separately, and so much more – all with a few easy-to-use wheels and sliders.

As someone who’s a bit color-obsessed, I’ve used quite a few color adjustment tools in many different post-processing programs. But I can honestly say that Photo Studio Ultimate’s version is one of the best implementations I’ve ever seen (if not the best). Yes, the wheels are amazingly powerful, and they should offer any amateur or professional all the color adjustment power they need. But they’re also just so fun and intuitive to work with, which is what’s really sold me on this program.

Now let’s take a look at how you can actually use the Color and Tone Wheels for great results (and if you’re feeling intimidated, don’t be – I’ll give you simple, easy-to-follow instructions!).

How to use the Color Wheel to selectively adjust colors in your photos

You’ll find the Color Wheel in Photo Studio Ultimate 2021’s Develop mode, which you can select in the top-right corner of the screen:

Then open the Color Wheel panel on the left-hand side, and you’ll see a color wheel with a series of sliders below it:

Here’s what you need to know:

The color wheel itself lets you select the colors you’re targeting in the photo.

And the sliders below it allow you to adjust the targeted colors.

So once you have your Color Wheel panel open, here’s what I recommend you do:

Step 1: Select the colors you want to adjust

Selecting the colors you’d like to adjust pretty easy, and there are a couple of methods you can use.

First, you can simply hover your cursor over different parts of your photo, and watch as it turns into a dropper icon:

Then, by clicking once on the photo, you’ll select that color for adjustment.

So if you click on a pinkish-purple part of your photo, you’ll select all the pink-purple colors:

And if you click on a yellow part of your photo, you’ll select all the yellow colors:

Now, as soon as you click on a part of your photo, you’ll see the color wheel change. This is to show you the color range you’ve selected.

You can also use the display on the color wheel to either select colors (instead of the eyedropper), or to refine your color selection.

To select colors, just click on the relevant part of the wheel:

And to fine-tune the color selection, just narrow the range of colors on the color wheel – by dragging the edges of the selection inward or outward. That way, the adjustments you make via the sliders will affect a narrower or broader range of colors in your photo.

Here, I’ve narrowed the color selection:

And here I’ve broadened it:

Also, if you want to get really picky with your selection, you can drag your color range upward from the center of the wheel:

And this will ensure you only select the more saturated colors.

You can also drag downward from the rim of the wheel to select only the less-saturated colors:

By the way, if you want to see the areas you’ve selected displayed on your photo, just hit the Auto preview the selected range checkbox:

Your selected colors will be highlighted on the image, while everything else will be grayed out:

Cool, right?

Step 2: Adjust the colors using the sliders

Now comes the fun part:

Actually adjusting the colors.

While there are a number of sliders, I recommend you focus on three key options:

Hue.

Saturation.

And Brightness.

These are the main adjustments you’ll want to make (I use them on almost every photo I edit).

By shifting the Hue slider, you shift the hue of your selected color range. So if I select the pink colors in this flower photo and want to make them more purple, I can just push the Hue slider to the left:

I can also make them more red by pushing the Hue slider to the right:

Speaking more generally, the Hue slider is useful for situations where you want to separate colors to create contrast, or where you want to make colors more similar to add harmony.

(How do you know what creates contrast and what creates harmony? Look at the color wheel! Colors that are opposite one another are contrasting/complementary colors, whereas colors next to one another are analogous colors.)

While color contrast will generally create a more powerful, in-your-face photo, analogous colors can result in a more peaceful final image.

Anyway, once you’ve adjusted the hue, I recommend turning to the Saturation slider. This works the way it sounds: It lets you selectively boost or reduce the saturation of your selected color range.

So by selecting the yellows in the image below, then adjusting the Saturation slider, you can boost the yellow intensity:

Or you can dial it back:

In general, boosting the saturation of your main colors looks pretty good, as long as you don’t overdo it. That way, a few colors in your photo will stand out and keep the viewer interested.

However, it can also be helpful to reduce the saturation of colors that distract from the main subject. So if your photo includes a red “Exit” sign in the background, you might reduce the saturation of those reds to keep the viewer focused on the foreground.

Finally, I recommend experimenting with the Brightness slider. This allows you to adjust the brightness of your selected color range. So you can brighten up your selection to make it pop:

Or you can darken the selection down to make it less impactful:

Step 3: Create additional color wheels for further adjustments

While one color adjustment may sometimes be enough, you also have the option to create more.

Simply click the Plus icon:

Then follow the previous steps all over again!

Also, to toggle the effects of the color wheels on and off, you can just check and uncheck the box above each color wheel icon:

How to use the Tone Wheels to produce beautiful color grading

The Tone Wheels panel is located just below the Color Wheel panel in the Develop mode of Photo Studio Ultimate 2021:

Now, unlike the Color Wheel panel, you cannot select individual colors to adjust.

Instead, each of the three wheels corresponds to a different tonal range of your photo:
- The top wheel corresponds to the highlights (the brightest tones)
- The middle wheel corresponds to the midtones (the middle tones)
- The bottom wheel corresponds to the shadows (the darkest tones)
And by adjusting the tone wheels, you change the color in the corresponding area of the image.

So by setting the Highlights wheel to yellow, your photo’s highlights will be tinted yellow:

And by setting the Shadows wheel to green, your photo’s shadows will be tinted green:

This is a fantastic way to add different looks to your images. For instance, you can create blue shadows and yellow highlights, which is a popular look on Instagram. Or you can make the highlights orange and the shadows teal, for a cinematic, movie-type result.

Now, the tone wheels themselves only allow you to select the hue and saturation of the color you’d like to add.

But by shifting the Brightness slider – found to the right of each wheel – you can also make the highlights, midtones, and shadows brighter or darker.

So how do you get great results using the Color Wheel panel? How should you approach this color adjustment tool?

Here’s what I recommend:

Step 1: Adjust the shadows

I like to start by adjusting the shadows in my images.

Now, you can choose your shadow color a few different ways:

One method is to select the Shadows eyedropper:

Then you can click on a part of your photo and the Shadows wheel will select its hue:

Alternatively, you can click around the wheel to select different colors:

And you can further fine-tune the saturation with the left-hand slider:

Plus you can change the brightness of the shadows with the right-hand slider:

Personally, my favorite way to select colors is to use the wheel, but start by pushing the Saturation slider all the way up:

That way, you can clearly see the effects of your color grade – and once you’ve chosen the right color, you can dial it back.

Also, while it’s always a good idea to experiment, the best shadow colors are generally cool – blues, greens, and purples.

I’d also recommend paying careful attention to the colors already present in your shadows – by matching the shadow color with already-existing colors, you can unify the darker parts of your photo and make it even stronger.

For this flower photo, I like blue-green shadows:

Step 2: Adjust the highlights

Selecting a color for the Highlights wheel is just like selecting a color for the Shadows wheel.

You can use the eyedropper tool:

Or you can click on the wheel directly.

Of course, you can also fine-tune with the Saturation slider and the Brightness slider:

Generally, you’ll want a warmer color for the highlights: an orange, yellow, or red.

It’s also a good idea to pay attention to your existing highlight colors. For instance, if your photo has a lot of warm sunlight, such as in the shot of the Black-eyed Susan flowers, you might want to accentuate the yellows with some nice golden highlights:

I’d also recommend looking at your shadow colors even when adjusting the Highlights wheel. For a nice result, you might choose a color that contrasts with the shadows to create a complementary color pair (as I discussed in the Color Wheel section, above).

Step 3: Adjust the midtones

Adjusting the midtones is a bit less common than adjusting the highlights and the shadows.

For one, if you adjust the midtones, your photo will often take on a more obvious tinted look, because we humans expect midtones to be more neutral compared to colder shadows and warmer highlights.

Plus, the midtones can correspond to skin tones, which you (generally) want to keep as natural as possible.

So I recommend you be careful when experimenting with the Midtones color wheel. If you do decide you want to make changes, I’d recommend keeping things closely aligned with the highlights, because too many colors in your scene will start to look messy.

Make sense?

As you’d expect, adjusting the midtones is just like adjusting the highlights and shadows. You have the Midtone color wheel that you can click on:

Plus your eyedropper:

Which you can use to give your midtones a slight color grade!

ACDSee’s Color and Tone Wheels: the next steps

Now that you’ve finished this article, you know how to make pro-level color adjustments.

And with Photo Studio Ultimate 2021’s Color Wheel and Tone Wheels tools, you have everything you need to take your color editing to the next level.

So make sure you grab ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2021. It’s currently available for just $ 8.90 per month, or you can get a lifetime license for $ 149.99. And if you’re just interested in trying out the software, you can get a free trial right here.

ACDSee is a paid partner of dPS.

The post How to Use Photo Studio Ultimate 2021’s Color and Tone Wheels for Amazing Results appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School
December 4, 2020
A Guide To The Limitations of Repairing Camera Lenses

There is one heart-stopping moment for every photographer. It happens when the prized possession that they spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy falls to the ground. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know the gut-wrenching agony and how the seconds feel like hours until you pick up your camera and begin to examine it. You know the cold Continue Reading

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December 4, 2020