Category: Photography

Photo Magic, 3D Photography
This will blow your mind. If you have never tried ‘free view’ 3D, then you might find it hard to imagine that you can take 3D photos with any camera and see them on any computer screen without glasses or special technology. I will show you how.

I’m Neil Creek, author of DPS’s latest ebook Photo Magic: Special Effects Photography Made Easy and the popular Photo Nuts ebook series. Photo Magic is full of techniques to create unique and impressive images, just like this one, so if you want a copy you can grab it here at the special launch price of $ 15.

We see the world with two eyes, and that tells us the depth of a scene. Most cameras can only capture a flat plane, destroying any depth the original scene had and robbing it of a great deal of its impact. This technique lets you capture photos of certain scenes that contain the depth of the original, and with a little bit of practice most people can learn to see these photos simply by crossing their eyes.

I’ve written a detailed guide on how to see 3D photos on my blog, and it has already helped thousands of people to learn how to ‘free view’ 3D photography. If you’re not familiar with the technique, go and have a read, then come back, enjoy the photo above in glorious 3D.

Now I bet you want to know how you can make these images yourself!

What I’ll Be Using For The Shot
- Canon 5D MkIII
- 24-70mm f2.8 lens
How The Shot Was Taken

Taking a 3D photo is actually really simple, but with some limitations. Most importantly: this technique will not work with a moving subject. You won’t be able to take good photos of moving water, leaves blowing in the wind, people you can’t direct, or anything else which does not stay still for a few seconds. Feel free to give it a go if you think your subject is still enough, but the effect may not work well.

The technique is called the “cha-cha” method because all you do is rock from one side to the other when taking a pair of photos.

Find a subject that you think will look good in 3D. My photo looks interesting because there are rocks and outcrops and overhangs and grass and all kinds of things going on in the depth of the photo which you can’t see in the 2D version. Use a relatively narrow aperture, as out of focus parts of a 3D photo can be distracting rather than attractive. A faster shutter speed also helps to reduce camera shake, since you are hand-holding.

Compose your shot and pick out a feature that’s not too far away from you to be a reference point. This will probably be in the lower third of the photo, near the centre. Now stand with your weight on your right foot and take the first photo. Then, while watching your reference point and trying to keep it in the same place in your viewfinder, put your weight onto your left foot and take the second photo. And you’re done! The magic happens in the processing.

Portrait or landscape?
For free viewing, it’s best to take all of your 3D photos in portrait orientation. This requires you to cross your eyes less and is thus more comfortable. Also, two landscape photos side by side are very wide and will thus make the whole image appear smaller on your monitor. However, if you have a 3D TV or monitor and you are taking 3D photos to display with it, then landscape is the better choice. These displays overlay the two images, so a landscape oriented photo will fill the screen.

Processing the Shot

Now that we have two images, to share and show them as a 3D pair we need to make them one. It’s not as simple however as just sticking them side by side in one file. There are a couple of issues we need to take care of which are unique to 3D photos: Alignment and the 3D window.

Both of these issues can be handled with a nifty piece of retro-looking software called Stereo Photo Maker, and the AutoPano plugin for it. Download them both at the links below, install AutoPano, run Stereo Photo Maker and in its preferences, point to AutoPano and you’re ready to go!
- Download and install StereoPhoto Maker
- Download and install AutoPano and link it to StereoPhoto Maker as a plugin
Alignment
Taking 3D photos with the cha-cha method can cause each photo to become slightly misaligned from the other. There is also distortion introduced from pointing the camera at the same target in each photo. Even though this is necessary for the most 3D coverage with your two photos, this keystone distortion needs to be corrected. This is achieved with the AutoPano plugin.

3D Window
The edge of the frame of your photo has an apparent position in 3D space: where your monitor is. Things look weird and uncomfortable if parts of your photo appear to be touching this frame, it’s far better to make it look like they are inside it, beyond the monitor. Stereo Photo Maker has a tool to help here as well.

Step by step process
- Drag both photos onto the StereoPhoto Maker shortcut icon
- Zoom out a bit with your mouse’s scroll wheel if you need to to make it easier to fuse the pair into 3D with the cross-eye technique
- Click on the auto align button to use autopano to correct for any distortions
- Click on the Easy Adjustment button to fix the 3D images position relative to the 3D window (see below for more information)
- I find adding a border helps, so if you like, in the menu go to View – Border Options
- Check “Show Border” and adjust the border settings to your liking
- Save the image by clicking in the menu File – Save Stereo Image
Positioning the image within the 3D window is done with the “Easy Adjustment” button in the top toolbar. This opens the adjustment dialogue box, seen here, and you move the slider above the two overlaid images, increasing or decreasing their separation, thus moving them in or out of the 3D plane. It can be difficult to know exactly how to adjust this but a good rule of thumb is to look at the lower edge, and get features here to overlap. With practice and experimentation you can try different positions for the 3D window, creating cool effects with elements coming through the 3D window. It’s best to avoid anything touching the 3D window however.

Some More Examples

Now you’ve got your feet wet, here are some more 3D photos I’ve taken over the years to show you. And don’t forget, if you liked this post, then you’re bound to enjoy Photo Magic! The book is packed with cool stuff you can create just like this, fully explained with examples, explanations and variations you can try on the looks described. Check it out here.

Enjoy dancing with your camera! Cha cha!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Photo Magic, 3D Photography

Digital Photography School
June 4, 2013
How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography

Photo by stevacek

When framing a landscape shot one of the types of environmental features that many photographers look for and like to incorporate in their shots is converging lines.

We’ve talked previously about how lines have the potential to add interest to an image – but multiple lines that converge together (or come close to one another) can be a great technique to lead your viewers eye into a shot.

Perhaps the classic example (and one that’s probably been overdone) of converging lines are railway tracks.

Position yourself in the middle of two tracks (after taking a look at what might be coming from behind) and you’ll see the two tracks on either side of you appear to get closer and closer together as they go into the distance.

Take this shot and the natural reaction for those looking at the scene will be for them to follow the lines off into the distance. In a sense the two lines act like a funnel which directs the gaze of those entering them in a certain direction.

The same effect can be achieved with roads or pathways, converging fence lines, a set of stairs, power lines or virtually any other lines that run parallel into the distance or that actually converge at some point.

4 Tips Regarding Converging Lines

1. Experiment with Positioning – the classic railway line shot described above has many possibilities. One is to position the tracks dead center and symmetrically in the shot.

Another positioning would be to step to one side of the tracks and let them run diagonally through your frame from a lower corner to the opposite upper corner. The beauty of this is that you’ll end up with a more dynamic shot. Symmetrical and vertical placement of the lines can be powerful but diagonal lines tend to convey movement.

Alternatively stepping away from the start of the lines can give another perspective – as can holding your camera on an angle to give another diagonal framing of the lines.

2. Wide Angle Lenses – different lenses can totally change the impact of a shot with converging lines. I find that a wide angle lens can be particularly useful – especially when positioning yourself between the two lines.

This will help to give the perception that the distance between the lines at the starting point of the image is wider than it is. This exaggeration of the width of your lines can have a powerful impact upon your shot.

Photo by MarvinOS

3. Positioning the ‘convergence’ – one thing to consider when you have converging lines in an image is that they draw the eye into a shot – towards the point that they converge – this becomes one of the most important parts of this image – a focal point.

As you’re framing your shot ask yourself – ‘where is the most effective position to frame this?”

Keep in mind rules like the Rule of Thirds that says that the intersecting points of imaginary lines a third of the way into an image are key points for positioning points of interest.

Also know that if the point of convergence is outside the frame of the shot that you are leading the eye out of your shot. This could leave a shot unbalanced and with tension – alternatively it could enhance the shot and leave your viewers wondering about the place that they converge.

4. Adding Interest at the Point of Convergence – Sometimes it is worth enhancing the point of convergence with something of interest (for example waiting until a train appears in the distance on the tracks – or positioning a person at the top of stairs) – on other occasions the composition of the shot is strong enough without adding an extra subject.

If you’ve got some examples of converging lines in images that you’ve taken I’d love to see them over at the DPS forums – either in the How I took It or Critique My Shot sections.

Here are a few more Converging Lines shots to illustrate the point and hopefully give a little inspiration.

Image by MarkyBon

Image by Loving Earth

Image by vividiti

Image by Lush.i.ous

Image by Aeloux

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography

Digital Photography School

June 4, 2013
Panasonic Lumix ZS30/TZ40 Review

For camera makers the bad news is that smart phones and their inbuilt cameras are hurting the sales of compact digicams.

The good news is that it probably means more people are taking more pictures and shooting video — but not with digital cameras.

Not for me. Ergonomics comes into it: I find holding a smart phone far from an ideal way to fire off a shot and even worse when it comes to shooting video.

With the latter in mind, let’s face it, a video camcorder is the ideal shape for shooting video, digicams/DSLRs and CSCs come in second and way down the list is a smart phone or, even worse, a tablet.

Then, when it comes to a camera like the TZ40 (or the ZS30 as it is known in North America), the game changes radically.

Panasonic Lumix TZ40/ZS30 Features

Let’s look at the specs:

The lens is designed by Leica. Its range is 20x, zooming from a 35 SLR equivalent of a wide 24mm to a tele 480mm focal length.

The camera is stabilised and compensates for five types of movement: horizontal, vertical, axis of rotation, vertical rotation and horizontal rotation. So there, smart phones!

The CMOS sensor captures a maximum image size of 4876×3264 leading to a 41x28cm print.

Video is captured at the Full HD resolution of the 1920×1080 pixels in either MPEG4 or AVCHD formats. And note: you can shoot stills mid video recording.

The DMC-TZ40 can easily ‘talk’ to a compatible smart phone easily, allowing still and video shooting to be controlled from the smart phone screen with the help of the supplied Panasonic
Image App for iOS and Android phones. Users can also see what the camera lens is seeing live from their phone at 30 fps, then set zoom, focus, shutter release, shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation, as well as capture video remotely.

Level Shot is a feature new to the TZ Series which detects the horizontal angle of view and keeps the image straight: useful for shooting ‘blind’. The video is cropped to allow the feature to come into play. I managed to make this feature work but found the straightening effect to be relatively minor. Still, it may help many a topsy turvy videographer!

Besides this, there’s also an on screen indicator for camera level.
The TZ40 will shoot at 10 fps in full resolution using the mechanical shutter and 5 fps with continuous AF.

The GPS function shows the name of the country, state, city and key landmarks using an internal data library. The area information covers over 200 countries or regions and more than a million landmarks worldwide.

The 7.6cm LCD screen is a touch screen, which makes it very useful when you’re shooting in a tight corner.

Panasonic Lumix TZ40/ZS30 Controls

The camera is small and light, only gaining depth when the lens protrudes.

Top deck: centre is the mode dial with positions for intelligent auto, PASM, two custom settings, panorama shooting, scene and creative control modes; the zoom lever is centred by the shutter button and flanked by the power and video record buttons.

Rear: WiFi button; map/exposure button; replay; jog dial with positions for exposure correction, self timer, flash options and macro … the menu button is in the dial’s centre; beneath this is a button for display options and another for quick menu access.

The scene and creative control modes are interesting.

The former offers 19 options: soft skin; scenery; babies or pets; starry sky; handheld night shots etc. Purists may scoff at these, but the options sure help novices to bring home the bacon!

Creative control: you get a choice of retro, expressive, high key, etc. Creative control lets users apply a filter effect while shooting, while another mode, creative retouch allows effects to be added to shots after capture.

In the creative panorama mode you can add the above filters post-shoot.

In High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode the camera takes an undisclosed number of shots at different exposure levels and then automatically merges them to preserve details in the highlights, mid-tones and shadows.

The menu display is clear and obvious.

Startup Time

Startup from cold took just over a second; follow on shots came as fast as the shutter button was hit.

Distortion

A good performance, with no evidence of distortion at either the wide or tele ends of the zoom

Panasonic Lumix TZ40 ISO Tests

Noise began to appear at ISO 1600 and the image became a little murky.

By ISO 6400 noise was well up, the image even murkier and definition far lower.

Panasonic Lumix ZS30/TZ40 Verdict

Quality: above average

Why you’d buy the Panasonic Lumix TZ40/ZS30: small, pocketable; 20x zoom is a useful range; wide range of features; good stabiliser.

Why you wouldn’t: can’t think of any reason!

There is little to fault with this camera, however I question the placement of the video record button a few mills away from the power on/off button. Too often did I hit the one when aiming for the other!

I may have gone overboard on this little device but I hope my review serves to remind people that there are well-featured digicams out there that are far superior to smart phones that seemingly offer similar capabilities. Go get ‘em!

Available in black or white.

Panasonic Lumix TZ40/ZS30 Specifications

Image Sensor: 18.1 million effective pixels.
Sensor: 11mm CMOS.
Metering: Multi, centre-weighted, spot.
Lens: Leica DC Vario-Elmar f3.3-6.4/4.3-86mm (24-480mm as 35 SLR equivalent)
Exposure Modes: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: 15-1/1200 second.
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC plus 12 MB internal.
Image Sizes (pixels): Stills: 4876×3264 to 480×480.
Movies: 1920×1080, 1280×720, 640×480, 320×240.
Continuous Shooting: 5 and 10fps.
Viewfinder:7.6cm LCD screen (920,000).
File Formats: JPEG, MPO 3D, MPEG4, AVCHD.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 6400.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMI mini, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery.
Dimensions: 1205x59x28 WHDmm.
Weight: 198 g (with battery and card).
Price: Get a price on the Panasonic Lumix TZ40 at Amazon.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Panasonic Lumix ZS30/TZ40 Review

Digital Photography School

June 4, 2013
In-Depth QA: Martin Prihoda Photographs Priyanka Chopra for GQ India

Long-time readers will remember photographer Martin Prihoda, who was originally based in Vancouver before packing up and relocating to Mumbai. Or as he still often thinks of it, Bombay. (Martin, on the distinction: "You do business in Mumbai. You party in Bombay.")

His recent cover shoot of Indian actress Priyanka Chopra for GQ India represents a major departure from his previous use of color and light. So I contacted him for a QA.

My questions (and his generous answers) follow, along with more images form the shoot. To see any image bigger (and other images from the shoot not seen here) click through to his blog, Atomic Safari.

Read more »
Strobist

June 4, 2013
Achieving a ‘Big’ Look with little Gear | Using What You Have

A Guest post by Judd Green

There’s always, always an upgrade that I ‘need’ or a new lens I ‘can’t do without’. And I could easily convince myself, and the boss (the wife) I can’t do my next shoot without getting this strobe or lens or wireless system, it would make the shoot awesome! Turns out the gear doesn’t make you awesome, you make you awesome. I have consciously decided to not upgrade any of my gear yet, I’ve made the decision to push my knowledge and the gear that I have to achieve what I want to achieve.

I recently had a band approach me to do some promo shots for them. All they gave me to work with was ‘classy with an edge’ which sounded like fun. Straight away I’m thinking I wanted the ‘look’ of a big production, I organized to do the shoot in a warehouse to give the ‘edge’ and have a set up with a lounge, side table and lamp to add some class. I’ve seen with something like this you’d have strobes and reflectors and assistants running around everywhere. I had my 580exii, a $ 100 strobe I bought off ebay and my mate Dylan.

I did the shoot with my 5d2 (would love to get the mark 3) and a cactus v4 wireless system (would love to get a pocket wizard system) and my 24-70 lens that I have dropped in the past (would love to upgrade that too) and my 580exii and a cheap strobe.

We had no ambient light to work with and in order to light every band member up perfectly I had to shoot them one at a time as a composite image so it would be a simple cut and paste job later. One good tip also when doing this style of shoot is to get a ‘clean slate’ shot, a shot with nothing in it but the background, it just makes it easier to cut and paste onto.

Don’t let only having little gear stop you from achieving what you want to achieve, but make sure you work it all out before hand, you can never be too prepared when it comes to shoots as to not waste your clients time.

Pushing boundaries and my knowledge is what I love about photography, I had an idea and a goal set and then just made it happen. Learn the gear you have and become excellent at it. It’s always nice to get the latest and newest gear, and it often helps and makes things easier, but it’s not the gear that makes you awesome, it’s you.

Judd Green is a Photographer from Brisbane Australia. See more of his work at www.juddricphotography.com

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Achieving a ‘Big’ Look with little Gear | Using What You Have

Digital Photography School

June 4, 2013
12 Stunning Silhouette Shots

One of our most popular posts on this site is How to Photograph Silhouettes.

Today I thought I’d add to the theory of the topic by posting some examples of silhouettes to give a little inspiration to take some of your own.

Image by Luza

Image by Thomas Hawk

Image by 3blindmice

Image by Alexbip

Image by !!sahrizvi!!

Silhouette by !!sahrivi!!

Photo by FreeWine

Photo by simpologist

Photo by Kalandrakas

Silhouette by Yves Lorson

Image by Thomas Hawk

Photo by Fort Photo

Have you taken any Silhouettes? Share them in our forum’s Share Your Shots section.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

12 Stunning Silhouette Shots

Digital Photography School

June 4, 2013
Unposed Posing: A few Tried and True Tips for Photographing Families in Natural and Fun Ways

by Lynsey Peterson.

Pose

– verb: to present oneself insincerely
– noun: a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display

I’m not a fan of posed portraits. I’m not even a fan of the word. Insincere exaggerated pretense is not how I want my images to look. I want honest responses, full-body laughter, and spills of emotion. A posed portrait maybe has a place in this world, but I am banking on my client’s children and my own children wanting to look back at pictures from their childhood and see their real reactions and meaningful expressions. You can’t get that in a pose. But you can get it in a set-up.

I use a couple tried and true set-ups every time I do a family shoot. I used to worry that all of my work would start looking the same and I would be known as the photographer that always takes pictures that look like this or that and nothing more. What I have realized though is when the ingredients are different, the end result never looks the same. Families bring their own energy to a shoot and even if I do the same “pose”, if I do it well and give it my all, it will never look the same as another family doing the same thing. To best illustrate this I am showing three different families doing the very same set-up.

Secrets don’t make Friends

But they do make for good pictures. The Set-Up: ask anyone in the picture to tell anyone else a secret. Honestly it doesn’t matter who because often it isn’t the secret shot itself that you are going for, but rather the reaction of said secret. Every once in a while I get a kiddo that doesn’t understand what a secret is or how to do it and when this happens I just tell them to lick their brother/sister/moms ear. Which would totally gross me out personally, but usually gets met with fits of hysterical laughter and there ain’t nothing bad about photographing that instead.

Line ‘Em Up

[LINE1]

Like crows on a clothesline. The Set-Up: with a younger family, I get away with asking everyone to hold hands. Once kids get a little older, I just have everyone get on the same level. This takes on a different direction every time: a running contest, a stadium-style wave, a monkey swing. The goal is always interaction. And if that isn’t happening on it’s own, I find it’s never a bad idea to bust into song. Everyone likes a serenade.

Surprise Attack

Kids take great delight in getting to run up behind their unknowing big people and surprise hug/tackle them. The Set-Up: if kids are too young to understand this or too old for it to work without being awkward, reverse it and have parents do the sneak attack. I usually save this for the end of a shoot because sometimes it can get a little crazy. Though my photography business has still never caused an emergency room visit. That I know of.

Kid Sandwich

Grown-ups are bread, kids are peanut butter and jelly. Or, pickles and prosciutto. (I’ve photographed some very sophisticated young folks.) The Set-Up: Depending on size and age of kids, have parents bookend the little people and either pick-up kids and smash everyone together, or just get low enough to make it work. If there are more kids than adults, this can get really funny but it’s quick. Be ready and consider being a bit lower than you usually would, as the pull of gravity is heavy here because the kids likely are too.

Giant Hug

Now is probably a good time to mention that I get laughed at a lot. Usually 95% of what I ask people to do for photos is met with a sweet but certain: “I absolutely will not do that.” I just ignore that. Because they always do in the end. No one has ever flat-out refused and told me no when it comes down to it. Which may be something I should factor into my personal relationship issues, but that’s a different article. The Set-Up: This typically works best when you ask a grown-up to have REALLY BIG ARMS and hug everyone at the same time. Sometimes this requires encouragement and you have to think of yourself as a little hugging cheerleader. When I have to do this, I am just grateful that there is no one videoing my crazy hand motions and the way my voice gets squeaky.

Randomness

My goal for each shoot is to do something random that I have never done before. When doing this, don’t over think it. It will work or it won’t; those are the only two options. If it works, great! You have a new idea. If it doesn’t work, great!

Now you know to never try that again and hopefully no one was sent to the emergency room in the process. The Set-Up: This is a good time to really shoot for the moon, knowing that it’s nothing more than a bonus. It honestly could be anything. Be brave and ask for something new—you’ll know pretty quickly if it’s going to work and there is nothing wrong with it not working—just know to move on.

These ideas, as with any type of lifestyle photography posing are about the reaction, not the concept itself. Shooting digitally allows us the ability to shoot constantly; keep the expectation open and allow the moment to play for itself. And have a funny song in your back pocket just in case.

Check out more of Lynsey Peterson’s work on her website.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Unposed Posing: A few Tried and True Tips for Photographing Families in Natural and Fun Ways

Digital Photography School

June 3, 2013
Google+ Takes An Evolutionary Step With Online Photography

Social media has brought about the ability to share images across the world in seconds, something unthinkable a decade ago. There are several major firms who dominate this market – Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, and Instagram to name but a few. Sleepy old Google+, however, hasn’t had much of a say. With 500 million registered users it’s officially the second most Continue Reading

The post Google+ Takes An Evolutionary Step With Online Photography appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

June 3, 2013
Dax, the Newfoundland, 2002-2013

Dax, my Newfounland girl and amazing water dog, didn’t wake up from her afternoon nap yesterday.

She was named after Star Trek character just like our first Newfounland dog, Worf. I feel that a certain chapter in my life is closed. A lot of memories remain.

Dax trained Pixel to become a Corgi water dog.

paddling with a camera

June 3, 2013
100 Fantastic Examples of Long Exposure Photography to Take Your Breath Away

Today I’m gonna bring you an exciting showcase of long exposure photography that will take your breath away! Long exposure is used when you want to blur moving objects in the frame and you want to leave still objects sharp. To do that, you should place your camera on a tripod to avoid any camera shake for a long time. Continue Reading

The post 100 Fantastic Examples of Long Exposure Photography to Take Your Breath Away appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

June 1, 2013