Category: Photography

6 Free Ways to Improve Your Photography [Get More out of dPS]

Over the last few years dPS has grown from being a personal blog where I shared tips for friends about how to get the most out of their cameras into something beyond what I ever expected.

Our readership is now in the millions of visitors a month and to keep it all running we have a number of part time staff, 30+ semi-regular writers and some fantastic forum moderators.

One of the most common questions I get from readers is ‘how can I best get the new stuff you publish?‘

Over the years we’ve added a number of ways to get our fresh content including:

1. Newsletter

Every Thursday we send a free email to over 700,000 subscribers to our newsletter. It contains a summary of our new posts as well as anything else happening on the site.

To subscribe simply put your email address in the field below:

2. Facebook

We publish links to any new posts that we publish as well as running a few polls and discussions each week on our Facebook page. There’s also some great discussion happening between our 140,000+ Facebook Followers.

3. Twitter

Every time we publish a new post we tweet a link to it on our Twitter Account

4. Pinterest

We use our Pinterest account to not only share our content but also to share links to other photography related tips and tutorials being published around the web – Join over 15,000 other followers here.

5. RSS Feed

If you use an RSS reader (we recommend Feedly) you can add our RSS feed link to it to get updates every time we publish something new (note, if you subscribe via Google Reader please note that Google Reader will stop working in the coming months – it’s time to find another feed reader!)

6. Forum

Our forum area is another great place to connect with other dPS readers – it has over 240,000 members and is a great place to share your photos, ask for and give critique, ask and answer questions and just talk photography. Join our Forum here.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

6 Free Ways to Improve Your Photography [Get More out of dPS]

Digital Photography School

April 30, 2013
Good Stuff, Free: Joey L. on Creative Live, Now

Just a quick heads-up: for three full days, photographer Joey L. is teaching all day live on Creative Live. And it’s free.

So far, it looks like really good stuff, and definitely worth your time.

:: CreativeLive.com ::

-30-

Strobist

April 29, 2013
Lighting Setup: The Athlete

For this shot, only the strip box was used, to camera left. The back light was also used, but I turned the kicker light off for more dramatic lighting.

I was contacted by a local model who also happened to be a tennis player, and she wanted to do a tennis shoot for her portfolio. We discussed ideas, as well as location. A tennis court was the obvious choice for location. I had decided I wanted dramatic lighting, similar to what’s seen in sports drink ads, or athletic apparel ads. I knew that would require two or three lights, and a darkened overall scene to get the look I was after.

Since the shoot took place in the later afternoon, when there was still plenty of daylight, in order to get the darkened look, I needed to play around with my exposure. I was using the EOS-1D Mark IV, which has a top sync speed of 1/300. For lighting I used two Canon 580 EX II speedlites off camera in softboxes. One softbox was a Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox, while the other was a Westcott 18×42 strip box. For the shots where the model was backlit as well, I used a Canon 430 EX II speedlite on a light stand with no modifier. The 18×42 strip box is asymmetrical offers the ability to light a full length figure with soft falloff at the lower legs, while the 28″ Apollo softbox lights the upper half well when close up, or when pulled back can light a full length figure. I used the strip box to light the model from the front, and the 28″ softbox as the kicker light from the right rear. For the dramatic backlight, I used a bare Canon 430 EX II speedlite pointed back towards the camera.

In order to allow the speedlites to be the main source of light, I needed to deaden the daylight. I did this by setting the flash to E-TTL, and the camera to shutter priority. I then dialed back the camera’s exposure compensation to -3. This served to darken the ambient exposure, allowing the speedlites to provide lighting at the proper exposure. This made it appear I was shooting at night, or in a darkened stadium. It’s important to understand that there is a difference between exposure compensation and Flash Exposure Compensation. Exposure compensation will affect the exposure of ambient light, but will not affect flash output. This allows you to balance the flash exposure with the ambient exposure in any way you prefer. The speedlites were set to ratio their exposure based on E-TTL metering. Canon speedlites can ratio A:B. If a third group of speedlites is set to Group C, these can be adjusted using flash exposure compensation. The main ratio used was 4:1, but I did vary this throughout the shoot. The backlight was set to E-TTL, Group C, with Flash Exposure Compensation set to +3.

For athletes, in order to give them that larger than life look, it’s best to shoot from a low angle. I instructed the model to vary her poses between intimidating looks and stances. I used tennis balls to add to the theme, and by sending the backlight through the net, added a dramatic shadow to the foreground. This ended up being a set I was really happy with, and the model was happy with her shots.

In this shot, the backlight was turned off, and the 28″ softbox was positioned behind and to camera right of the model. This created a dramatic shadow to the front of the model while strip box lit her left side. The backlight was turned off for this shot.

For this shot, all three lights were in play. The backlight caused the dramatic shadows and a highlight effect, while the kicker illuminated the model’s right rear, and the strip box lit her face and front side.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Lighting Setup: The Athlete

Digital Photography School

April 29, 2013
The Awful Truth of Photo Theft, and What You Can Do About It

Stop what you’re doing for a second. Think about how content you are with your photography. The accolades. The compliments. Even if you think the only person who really appreciates the results is you. Think about how much work you put in to get those things. Experimentation with different filters, formats, and shooting locations, not to mention countless hours of Continue Reading

The post The Awful Truth of Photo Theft, and What You Can Do About It appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

April 29, 2013
A Simple 3 Step Culling Workflow: The “Editing Out” Culling System
Introduction

This tutorial has been transcribed from the SLR Lounge Lightroom 4 Workshop on DVD, a 14 hour Lightroom 4 A – Z guide with over 130 tutorials for mastering Lightroom from start to finish. The Digital download can be purchased from SLR Lounge while the physical copy is available through Amazon Prime.

Overview

In this article, we will go over one of our culling systems that we use at Lin and Jirsa Photography. We currently use the “Editing In” System at our studio, but in this article, we will go over the “Editing Out” System. Both systems are fast and effective; however, the “Editing In” System works a bit better for us (We will cover that “Editing In” workflow in an upcoming tutorial). Keep in mind that there is no one right culling system, so feel free to set up one that works best for you.

Either way, it is a good idea to keep your culling system as streamlined as possible. Our “Editing Out” System is a quick way to cull through images, so keep reading to see how you can save time in your production workflow!

KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid

As mentioned before, it is best to have a simple culling system because it can save you a lot of time. In most cases, the KISS acronym is quite fitting. Keep it simple, stupid. Seconds saved per image can end up being hours by the time you work through a large image catalog. Sometimes, photographers create rather complex culling systems to try and keep their images meticulously organized right from the start. For example, they may use the 5-star rating system like the one below.
- 5 stars = Portfolio photo
- 4 stars = Blog photo
- 3 stars = Average photo (delivered)
- 2 stars = A little potential but unsure (undelivered)
- 1 star = Reject image
While this kind of a rating system sounds great in theory, it can become too cumbersome when working from image to image since it requires you to carefully analyze each image and make too many decisions at once. “Is it good enough to keep, if so, is it blog worthy, or portfolio worthy, etc.” This is why we stress creating a simple culling system. We won’t truly know what images are blog or portfolio worthy until we are done culling, editing and finishing our images. At that point, we can scan through and quickly select and mark our blog/portfolio images in just a minute or two. Trying to make that decision during the initial culling is not only time consuming, it is impossible to make correctly.

So, let’s go over the 3 steps of the “Editing Out” System that you can adopt into your workflow to help speed things up.

The 3 Step “Editing Out” Culling Process

If you have seen our Lightroom 4 Workflow System DVD, you know that Lin & Jirsa Photography currently uses the “Editing In” System, which we mentioned earlier. In the “Editing Out” System, we will select all of our images in the catalog as a “pick” by pressing “P”. Then, we will go through each individual image and reject the images we do not want to deliver. The “Editing Out” System is simple because we now only have 1 choice : keep the image and move to the next or reject the image by pressing “X.”

Immediately, our workflow process has moved from 5 possible decisions with 5 different keystrokes, to only 1 decision and 1 keystroke.

Step 1: Flag All Images as Picks
We need to flag all images in our catalog as a Pick. Return to the Grid View by pressing “G.” Then, select all of your images by pressing “Ctrl + A.” Next, press “P” to flag all images as Picks. Then deselect your images by pressing “Ctrl + D.” This will allow us to go through our images and un-flag them during the culling process.

Step 2: Filter by Flag Status
Next, we need to filter our images, so that when we “reject” an image it disappears from view. We are going to filter by flag status, so click on the first flag, as shown below. Now, we can only see flagged images. Anytime we press “X” to mark an image as a “reject” it will disappear from view.

Step 3: Culling Images
While we view and cull our images, we want to have as much screen space as possible. Press “F” twice to go into Full Screen Mode. Then press “Tab” to get rid of the left and right panels. Double-click on your image to view the image in full screen. Now, we are going to start culling our images. If you want to reject an image, press “X.” Since the Filter is set to only display “Flagged” images, any rejected image will automatically disappear from the lineup. Continue moving through your images by pressing the Right Arrow on your keyboard.

With the “Editing Out” System, we only have 1 option to consider, is the photo deliverable, or is it not. Is it worth keeping, or is it not. Deciding on whether it belongs on your blog, or portfolio should really come after all the images have been finalized and edited, not during the initial culling.

If you turn off all filters, you can see that the rejected images are grayed out. If you want to look at the rejected photos, just turn on the Rejected Filter, down in Filters.

So, hopefully this article was helpful to you. In the next culling article, we will show you are simple “Editing In” workflow. Just remember to keep your culling system simple, and it will save you many hours of time!

Learn More with the Lightroom 4 Workshop Collection!

This was a sample tutorial from the Lightroom 4 A to Z DVD which is one of the DVDs in the Lightroom 4 Workshop Collection. A collection of nearly 30 hours of video education teaching everything from Lightroom basics to advanced raw processing techniques.

The LR4 Workshop Collection also includes the critically acclaimed Lightroom 4 Preset System which is designed to enable users to achieve virtually any look and effect within 3-5 simple clicks. From basic color correction, vintage fades, black & white effects, tilt-shift effects, faux HDR, retouching, detail enhancing, and so much more. Click the links above to learn more.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

A Simple 3 Step Culling Workflow: The “Editing Out” Culling System

Digital Photography School
April 29, 2013
DISCUSS: What Type of Camera Bag Do You Use?
What type of camera bad do you use and recommend?

We have asked this question every couple of years so I’m interested to see how things have changed since last time was there are a lot of newer bags and brands coming onto the market.

What camera bag do you use and recommend – and why?
- Do you use a brand like Think Tank Crumpler, Tamrac or Lowepro OR do you prefer a more anonymous brand that looks less like a camera bag (and makes it less attractive to thieves)?
- Do you use a bag that is not really a camera bag at all?
- Do you prefer a backpack, a sling bag or even a roller bag?
- What features do you look for in a camera bag?
- Do you have more than one bag for different situations?
Looking forward to hearing what bag/s you use!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

DISCUSS: What Type of Camera Bag Do You Use?

Digital Photography School
April 29, 2013
Canadian Travelogue – Introduction

PREFACE:

In 2000, as a millennium project, my good friend and noted landscape photographer Daryl Benson, and I joined forces and produced a book called “A Guide to Photographing the Canadian Landscape.” In this tome we presented our favourite places to photograph across Canada, how to get there and showed images of what to expect once the reader arrived at that destination. We called the book our “armchair trek” across this vast landscape.

It wasn’t long after I started contributing to Digital Photography School that personal messages started arriving from folks living in Europe (primarily) asking questions about where they should go in Canada to get good pictures. My answer has remained steadfast over the years: The best photos are where you happen to be at that point in time. Successful photography really is a combination of research, skill and mindset; with the later being the most important in my opinion. However, this did not satisfy those enquiring, and follow up questions continued.

From both an aesthetic and technical perspective, much has changed since we produced that 152 page book. Daryl and I were heavy users of filters – Photoshop wasn’t yet a viable option for landscape photographers as it was still in its infancy as a software, as well as snails-pace computer hardware meant excruciatingly long wait times for various functions to complete. As you can imagine, overt filter use has gone out of favour as have many trends (sorry to say that to all us HDR proponents). Our film cameras have essentially become antique and valueless – a Pentax 67 looks at me as I write this duly retired to its role as a bookend. And books are now delivered to the offset press as PDF files as opposed to huge CMYK sheets of film.

With all these considerations taken into account, it simply is not worthy of consideration to re-print the original book verbatim. Therefore, what I will do over the next few months is re-write the text, insert new photos, and generally re-work this book to bring it up to day’s styles and standards. The content will be posted in a systematic fashion, starting where the sun first reaches the North American coast and then eventually sets on the Pacific coast. We will take this journey from coast-to-coast-to coast (yes, I am fortunate to say I have literally dipped my toes in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans).

I have two requests from dPs readers: 1. Accept the fact that those initial entries in the original book written by Daryl, will be annotated in these entries as “DB” and the entries originally penned by myself will be signified with a “DW”; and 2. Let me know as we get going on this journey if you would like to see it produced as an e-book.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy this journey across what I consider the greatest country on the planet – my home, Canada.

Bordered on three sides by salt water in a northern climate, ice is never far away. As the Canadian comedian Pete Soucey, aka Snook,” says: We have nine months of winter and three to get ready for it. It’s not all ice, there are also deserts and temperate rain forests as well. This image was made in mid-May at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador; Canada’s easternmost province.

INTRODUCTION:

“An incomplete Guide to Photographing the Canadian Landscape” was the original title for this book, but very early in the project our ace marketing, research and development team told us that no one would buy a guide book that admitted to being anything less than comprehensive. Bowing to wisdom, we re-named the book, but deep down we know that really it is incomplete.

Why so?

Well, Canada covers 9,970,610 square kilometres (second largest in the world behind Russia) and has 243,000 kilometres of shoreline (the most of any country in the world). If you could walk 20 kilometres per day, and followed the shoreline, it would take you 33 years to complete the trek. It is simply impossible to cover the vastness, the diversity and the natural beauty of Canada in any finite work. Consequently, we know our book will forever be incomplete despite what that crack team of marketing people suggest.

A Guide to Photographing the Canadian Landscape has been created to make it easier for you to “hit the ice with sharp skates, so to speak; this is a Canadian metaphor that means, roughly, to arrive prepared. Interestingly enough, in the Russian language the same metaphor appears as “punch some vodka with a shaving device,” which is a good suggestion should your vodka be old and growing fur.

This guaranteed hair-free and clean shaven series is not intended to be a definitive photographic guide to areas that will be profiled –each one of them is worth a book itself- but merely a starting point at the head of the trail.

You are strongly encouraged to hike and explore further on your own, using the following words and information as a key to open the front door; what lies beyond is infinite.

The majestic Mount Cephren rises 3,307 metres (10,850 feet) from the Mistaya River Valley in Banff National Park, Alberta. The north-south running mountain range is also a physical border between Alberta and British Columbia, and is a continuation of the Rocky Mountain range which originates farther to the south in New Mexico.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Canadian Travelogue – Introduction

Digital Photography School

April 28, 2013
Nikon Coolpix P330 Review

Nikon has again upped the ante in its compact digicam lineup and the Nikon Coolpix p330 is an excellent example of the movement.

A biggish 15mm CMOS sensor, moderate pixel count plus a fast f1.8 lens leads to a surprisingly high performance in such a moderately-priced camera.

Coupled with this is the camera’s small size, easy pocketability and light weight.

Nikon Coolpix P330 Features

After months of wading through high end DSLRs, MILCs and other complex babies it was a relief to handle this easy to use camera from the well known house of Nikon!

It was indeed a surprise and confirmation in one sense that, in the pursuit of taking images, flashier is not always finer! And, as I’ve often said, it’s the driver not the car!

In many respects this camera is a top buy.

For one thing its maximum still image size is 4000×3000 pixels or 34x25cm as a print is notable.

Video can be shot in MPEG4 as Full HD 1920×1080 pixels. And yes, you can stills during a video shoot without interrupting the latter.

Rarely seen on a camera at this price level, you can capture in JPEG and RAW formats.

The camera has lens-shift VR (Vibration Reduction) which worked well in my time with the camera.

There is built in GPS which logs where shots are taken and this data can be stored for later reference. An onboard database of approximately 1.86 million POI (Points of Interest) lets you confirm and record the name of the location.

Controls

At the front is a Function button which gives quick access to such matters as ISO, single/continuous shooting, AWB etc.

Top deck: at left is the pop up flash cell; at mid position is the mode dial to access PASM settings plus auto, as well as 20 scene modes (sports, fireworks, panorama etc) and a custom user setting; power button; zoom and shutter button; command dial.

Rear: replay; rotary selector to select flash options, exposure compensation, single/continuous shooting and macro; menu; trash.

And tass all. To my mind the external control layout is exemplary. And the menu selections are sufficient.

Nikon Coolpix P330 ISO Tests

In my tests, the camera handled all ISO settings up to 3200 very well …a good performance for such a low priced camera.

Startup Time

Two seconds from startup to first shot; follow on shots about two seconds apart. Not the fastest kid on the block!

Distortion

No problems at the wide or tele ends of the zoom.

Nikon Coolpix P330 Review Verdict

Quality: above average image quality.

Why you would buy it: pocketable; zoom range for average shooting; easy to use.

Why you wouldn’t: you may want a longer zoom.

Impressive camera. If you’re on a tight budget and still want above average quality, go for it!

Available in black or white.

Nikon Coolpix P330 Specifications

Image Sensor: 12.2 million effective pixels.
Metering: Multi, centre-weighted and spot.
Sensor: 15mm CMOS.
Lens: Nikkor f1.8-5.6/5.1-25.5mm (24-120mm as 35 SLR equivalent).
Exposure Modes: Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: 60 to 1/4000 second.
Continuous Speed: 10fps.
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC cards plus 15MB internal memory.
Image Sizes (pixels): 4000×3000 to 640×480. Movies: 1920×1080, 1280×720, 960×540, 640×480 at 25 or 30fps.
Viewfinder: 7.5cm LCD (921,000 pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, NRW (RAW), MPO (3D), WAV, MPEG4
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 12800.
Interface: USB 2.0, AV, HDMI mini, WiFi, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, AC adaptor.
Dimensions: 103x58x32 WHDmm.
Weight: 200 g (inc battery and SD card).
Price: Get a price on the Nikon COOLPIX P330 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.

Nikon Coolpix P330 Review

Digital Photography School

April 28, 2013
20 HDR Photography Tutorials to Learn This Technique in One Day

HDR photography is successfully used by amateur photo masters as well as professionals.There are 5 HDR video tutorials and 5 text tutorials with detailed screenshots.

The post 20 HDR Photography Tutorials to Learn This Technique in One Day appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

April 27, 2013
10 Tips to Improve Your Food Photography Styling
This is a guest post by Jules Clancy of Stonesoup.

While portrait photographers need to be skilled in the art of getting their subjects to relax in front of the camera to get a great shot, we food photographers have things a little easier. At least our subjects (mostly) can’t talk.

But that doesn’t mean you should forget to apply a little charm in the food styling department.

The more time spent making the food attractive as possible, the easier things are when it comes to taking the shot.

So here are 10 tips to help you improve your food styling, naturally.

1. Use less food than you normally would

While it may seem more generous to serve plates piled high with food, an over crowded plate can look less appealing than a minimalist spread. Think about how you can use the white space of the plate to frame your dish.

2. Use paper to add texture to plates

Lining plates with parchment or baking paper helps to add visual interest and soften the lines of your plates.

3. Look for contrast with backgrounds

While there are times when all white on white can be visually striking, I find I get better shots if I go for contrast. So a pale coloured food and plate gets a dark background where as a vibrantly coloured dish tends to be best with a simple white background.

4. Allow food to spill over naturally

Getting a bit messy really helps to add movement and life to your photographs, rather than having everything confined to plates and bowls.

5. Choose simple crockery and tableware

While highly decorative China and napery are beautiful on their own, they can detract from the visual impact of the food. Plain plates, especially classic white allow the food to be the star.

6. Emphasise the natural beauty of the food

Try and think about what it is that makes a particular dish look delicious and then serve it in a way to flaunt it.

For example, I love the golden, cripsy skin of a well roasted chicken. Rather than carve the chook into individual slices with tiny slivers of skin visible, the whole bird tends to look best.

7. Get some work-in-progress shots

It can be easy to focus on getting the final plated-up food shot and miss out on some great opportunities along the way. Try taking a few shots during the preparation and cooking process.

8. Try and capture the ‘yum’ factor

Think about what makes your subject really delicious and then aim to highlight this characteristic in your shot. Ice cream is a great example. It’s all about smooth creaminess and licking drips from the sides of your cone or bowl.

9. Always be on the lookout for ideas

Inspiration can strike from anywhere. When you’re eating out or even just flicking through your favourite food mag, take note of what looks appealing and what doesn’t.

10. Dig in and reshoot

Once you have a shot of the whole food that you love, eat or serve some out and then take another shot. Often a half finished plate is more appetizing than the original whole.

A few great food photography blogs:
- What Katie Ate
- Wrightfood
- Souvlaki for the Soul
For more tips on improving your food photography see:
- Food Photography – An Introduction
- 11 Great Camera Angles for Food Photography
- 7 Tips for Aspiring Food Pornographers
- Food Photography Tips and Techniques
- 10 Tips for Mouth Watering Food Photography
- A Basic Food Photography Kit
Also check out our Snapn Food Guide to food photography.

Jules Clancy is a qualified Food Scientist, and self-taught food photographer. She blogs about her commitment to cooking recipes with no more than 5 ingredients over at Stonesoup.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

10 Tips to Improve Your Food Photography Styling

Digital Photography School
April 27, 2013