Category: Photography

13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits

The post 13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Guest Contributor.

Outdoor portraits present portrait photographers with a variety of challenges and opportunities. Today, James Pickett suggests 13 tips to help you with your outdoor portrait work.

When I bought my very first digital SLR, there was a sigh of relief. Everything was going to be so much easier, and I wouldn’t have to think anymore.

You know the scenario: You pull the camera out, charge the batteries, go for a walk around the house and down the street, taking the same pictures you have taken every time a new camera came into your life.

“This is great,” you think to yourself. “This is going to make my life so much easier!” I was wrong. In fact, I was dead wrong.

There are three very simple things that improve all photography, including portraits. To this day, there is no trick I have found that replaces the need for proper exposure, white balance, and sharp focus.

1) Never select all of the focus points for portraits; pick one

When you pick the autofocus option that allows the camera to select focus points, you are doing your portraits a terrible disservice.

This feature of a camera is usually designed to pick whatever is closest to the lens and focus there. In some cases, like with my 1DS Mark III, the camera will choose a cluster of focus points and make a “best guess” based on averaging the distance between all of the chosen points. Using one focus point gives you, the photographer, ultimate control.

2) Always focus on the eyes

The eyes are the windows to the soul and should be the focal point of any good portrait. Not only are the eyes the most important part of a good portrait, but they are the sharpest element on the face and should be left that way.

When you are shooting with a wide aperture value and you’re focused on the eyes, the lens’s bokeh will aid in softening the skin, as well.

3) Shoot wide open for shallow depth of field

There are quite a few reasons to invest in a fast lens capable of wide aperture values; the most common is for shallow depth of field.

If you can shoot at ƒ/2.8 or ƒ/4, you should use it. Most fantastic natural light portraits are from wide aperture values, and it is all because of the wonderful smooth background blur we call “bokeh.”

4) Never, ever shoot a portrait at less than 50mm; try to stay at 70mm or higher

The last thing you want to hear from a client is “Why does my head look swollen?”

Any focal length below 70mm can distort your subject. However, it doesn’t become very noticeable until you are below 50mm. The compression effect of a telephoto lens will also increase the blur of bokeh. Most of my portraits are done between 120mm and 200mm.

5) Always shoot in RAW

These words have bellowed from my mouth a thousand times, and they will surely come out a million more. Raw is an unmodified compilation of your sensor’s data during the time of exposure. It is your digital negative. When you shoot in JPG format, everything but what the image processor needs to make a shell representation of the image you intended to capture is stripped away. For every edit you make to a JPG, you lose more data. With RAW, you can make a vast range of edits before creating the JPG.

How can this make you portrait better? Think about the last time your white balance was set incorrectly and you tried for hours to remove the color cast, only to destroy the image with every attempt. RAW would have saved you by allowing you to fix the color before opening the image for retouching.

6) Always bring a gray card or a piece of a gray card for white balance

Gray cards aren’t free. However, $ 5.95 US for a cardboard Kodak gray card is darn close. To avoid confusion, I am going to explain this backward. When opening Adobe Camera Raw or any other RAW image editing application, there is always a way to select a custom white balance. Usually, it is an eyedropper of some kind that you can use to click on what you think is neutral gray in your image.

Imagine a world where your photoshoot involved 4 locations and a total of 800 images, and all day the camera was set to Auto White Balance. That is 800 different white balance values, a post-production nightmare.

If at each location you have your subject hold the gray card on the first shot, you will save hours of work. When you open images from the first location in your favorite post-production application, all you have to do is click the eyedropper on the gray card, select all the photos, and synchronize the rest. Precious hours will be saved.

(If you plan on taking your time, it may be wise to do this once every 30 minutes or so to compensate for the changing light of day.)

7) Shoot in the shade (avoid direct sunlight)

Direct sunlight is harsh, makes your subject squint, and creates hard directional shadows and unpredictable white balance conditions. When shooting in the shade, there are no more harsh shadows, only smooth, milky shadows created by your subject’s natural features. With proper exposure and white balance, you can make these shots look amazing.

8) Shooting carefully on an overcast day.

Nature’s softbox is a giant blanket of clouds. A good heavy blanket of cloud cover can help you enrich your colors, and make some very smooth and pleasing shadows.

9) If you must use hot, hard, bright light…

Always try to control the direction, use some kind of reflector, and try to mimic a studio light. Putting the sun directly behind your subject isn’t a good idea, unless you are trying to make a silhouette.

When the sun is at my back, I have the subject look off-camera (away from the sun) and get very nice results. Another great trick is to wait for a cloud to move in front of the sun; this usually creates a very bright-yet-contrasted look.

10) Use an existing reflector

For example, my guess is that about 75% of the delivery trucks on the planet are white. These big, white delivery trucks can make amazing fill light reflectors as long as they weren’t painted with an off-white. (A yellow tint can change the white balance in your shadows.) Picture framing outlets and craft stores always have medium-to-large-sized pieces of foam core lying around that have been left for scrap. They are usually more than happy to part with these scraps and, if not, chances are that there are pieces by the dumpster.

11) Learn the sunny ƒ/16 rule

Why?

So you have a baseline for proper exposure in your mind to work with if no other tools are present.

The sunny ƒ/16 rule states that on a sunny day, with your aperture value set to ƒ/16, your shutter speed will be the inverse of the current ISO speed. For example, if your camera is set to ISO 100, and your aperture value is ƒ/16, your shutter speed will be 1/100th of a second. On a cloudy day (or when in the shade), you simply use ƒ/8 instead. If you own an incident light meter or gray card, use either for the most accurate exposure instead.

(Note: the procedure for metering exposure with a gray card is not the same as a custom white balance.)

12) Bring a sheet and a few spring clamps from home

Leave the expensive 200-thread-count sheets on the bed. You already got them? Well, go put them back. You know that cheap old sheet you stuck in the corner of the closet to use as a drop cloth the next time you paint? Go get it.

(Another option is to buy the cheapest low-thread-count white top sheet you can find.)

A queen-sized sheet is an amazing, cheap diffuser. Sort of a seven-foot softbox for the sun. Wrap an edge of the sheet around a branch or clothesline and clamp for a sidelight.

(Anchor the bottom corners with rocks to keep the sheet from blowing into your image.) Clamp all four corners to anything you can above your subject for an overhead light.

13) Keep the powerlines and signs out!

We have already discussed keeping your camera focused on the eyes, but you must also keep the viewer’s mind focused on the image as a whole. Powerlines, signs, long single blades of grass, single pieces of garbage, and sometimes even trees can be serious distractions from the overall focus of the image: the person you are photographing.

Last, and most important, have a great time shooting! Enjoy what you’re doing, and it will show in your work (as well as in the expression of your subject).

A few bonus tips for shooting on cloudy days

Clouds are wonderful. They create a giant blanket of natural sunlight diffusion that makes your images rich and powerful. The clouds can fool your mind in ways you can’t imagine, much like your mind corrects for the natural white balance throughout the day.

When you are shooting on an overcast day, using your camera’s custom white balance is especially important. Every day is completely different for color, and that color depends on two things. First, the time of day; most people understand white balance and how it changes throughout the day. Second, you have to account for all of the wonderful things that light has to pass through before it hits your subject.

Pollution changes the color of the light from minute to minute. Even if your eyes don’t see it, your camera does. On a cloudy day, pollution particles are being carried around in the sky by tiny water droplets. Now your sunlight is passing through nature’s prism and reflecting off of pollution particles in infinite directions.

Don’t forget to white balance with that six-dollar piece of cardboard, your Kodak gray card.

The ultimate secret to shooting on a cloudy day is a compass. (You either tipped your head like a confused Chihuahua or just had an epiphany.) I am an experienced, internationally-published photographer, and rarely can I see where the sun is coming from on an overcast day. The light isn’t omnipresent; it’s just diffused, softened, and scattered. Sunlight on a cloudy day is still directional, and your subject still has a dark side. Use a compass to find out where the sun is, put it at your back, and shoot like mad. Never again will you look at an image after and wonder why the sky was blown out when it was so cloudy, or why the clouds look great but your subject is dark.

The post 13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Guest Contributor.

Digital Photography School

August 22, 2020
Weekly Photography Challenge – Mistakes
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Mistakes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

A bit of a departure this week! We want to see your mistakes, we all make them, we learn from them (or we don’t, I mean… who knew my kids were that fast on scooters!)

Love them or hate them, mistakes are a part of learning. I could have used a different focus mode here, I could have been more prepared for when master 6 came towards me and I missed him with my focus point, but I wasn’t ready and I missed the shot and there was no way he was going back to do it again! Moving on.
- 9 Solutions for common camera mistakes beginners make
- Photo Mistakes! Learning from a Photo Autopsy
- 7 Mistakes beginner photographers make the camera can’t be blamed for
Dig through your photos and find something that you remember as a mistake, here’s another of mine from a few years ago now, I was in Cuba, somewhere I likely won’t get to go back to, and I’d recently purchased a 50mm f/1.4 and was still in that “Whoa! Everything looks amazing at 1.4!” …I misfocused when I built up the courage to ask this chap if I could make an image, I got the tip of his nose nice and sharp, but missed his eyes… It made me slow down a little and make sure I had the focus point in the right place. As long as we learn from our mistakes, they can be a valuable tool!

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. We’re interested to see how you revisit the images that you’ve taken before now in this re-edit challenge!

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 #DPSMistakes 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 Photography Challenge – Mistakes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

Digital Photography School
August 22, 2020
Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 Lens Review: The Best All-Purpose Fujifilm Lens in 2020
The post Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 Lens Review: The Best All-Purpose Fujifilm Lens in 2020 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Is the Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 OIS the right lens for your needs? Who should think about purchasing it? Can it satisfy beginners? Professionals? Everyone in between?

That’s what this article is all about.

For weeks, I’ve been testing the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 16-80mm f/4 OIS.

And now I’m ready to share my conclusions.

So if you want to find out how this lens performs…

…read on!

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 65mm | 1/500s | f/8 | ISO 200

Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4: Overview

On the surface, the Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 is an all-purpose lens that can do pretty much everything.

It offers:
- An excellent focal length range, stretching from wide to standard to (slight) telephoto (24-120mm on a Fujifilm APS-C camera)
- Fujifilm’s image stabilization technology (OIS), promising up to 6 stops of extra sharpness
- A well-built, weather-sealed body with relatively compact dimensions
- A fixed f/4 aperture, which can’t offer the same low-light or bokeh capabilities as an f/2.8 lens, but is still decently wide
- 0.25x (1:4) magnification
- A reasonable $ 800 USD price tag
Put all this together, and you’ve got a lens that should be able to find its way into the kits of landscape photographers, architectural photographers, street photographers, walkaround photographers, and travel photographers alike (and can even work for the occasional close-up shot!).

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 32mm | 1/125s | f/8 | ISO 320

But all-purpose lenses like these tend to fail in a couple of ways.

First, they’re often optically mediocre, especially on the extreme ends of their focal length range.

Second, they’re sometimes slow to focus, which immediately takes them off the table for street photographers, and can be a big issue for travel and walkaround photographers, as well.

So does the Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 suffer from these same issues?

Well, I’m happy to report that it does not. And while I’ll go more into the details later, I’m prepared to argue that the 16-80mm is one of the absolute best all-around lenses out there, and combines impressive value with fantastic photographic capabilities.

It’s not that the lens doesn’t have any drawbacks; pretty much all lenses, especially sub-$ 1000 lenses, do! But the Fujifilm 16-80mm offers remarkable quality given the price (and will even satisfy both amateurs and professionals).

Let’s take a closer look.

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 80mm | 1/500s | f/8 | ISO 200

Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4: Build and handling

Right out of the box, the Fujifilm 16-80mm feels solid, but not in an annoyingly heavy tank sort of way. It’s just under a pound (0.97 lb/440 g), which is light enough for long days of shooting even when lots of travel is involved. You have a mix of metal and plastic on the body, and a nice, tactile zoom ring smack-dab in the middle of the barrel:

Below the zoom ring is the aperture ring, which fits nicely with Fujifilm’s old-school style and feels great. Above the zoom ring is the focus ring, which is a bit smaller and fast to focus than I’d like, but still very serviceable.

One of the great things about the 16-80mm f/4 is its size. At 16mm, the lens is under 4 inches (10 cm) long and fits firmly in one hand, so you can store it easily in a camera bag or backpack.

And even when zoomed out to 80mm, it feels relatively unobtrusive, which is nice for street photographers hoping to move through crowds unnoticed.

As I mentioned above, the manual focus ring is smoother than I’d like (there’s no real stiffness, at least not on my copy), which is a shame, given how the lens boasts 1:4 magnification for close-up shots on the fly. But the focus ring isn’t bad, and should be fine for casual macro shots.

And I haven’t even mentioned the weather sealing. Honestly, this feels like icing on the cake, and is especially important for street and landscape photographers, who shoot in all sorts of conditions and need a lens that can withstand a bit of water.

(Of course, you’ll want to make sure that you’re also using a weather-sealed body, such as the all-around awesome Fujifilm X-T4!)

Finally, one of the real bonuses on the 16-80mm is the image stabilization. This is a lifesaver in so many situations, from close-ups to low-light street shooting to handheld landscape photography and more (though the exception is photography of fast-moving subjects, where you’ll probably want to opt for a lens with a wide maximum aperture, instead).

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 16mm | 1/125s| f/8 | ISO 200

Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4: Autofocus and focal length

I tested the Fujifilm 16-80mm on the Fujifilm X-T4, and focusing speeds were stellar; the lens was snappy in good light and still pretty strong in low light. I’d expect a slight drop in focusing speeds as you work with other cameras in the Fujifilm lineup, but I can say, without a doubt, that I was happy with the 16-80mm’s performance.

If you’re shooting street-style photos, this fast focusing is essential. And you’re also going to appreciate the 16-80mm’s speed if you grab the occasional action shot while doing walkaround or travel shooting.

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 16mm | 1/250s | f/7.1 | ISO 200

That said, the Fujilm 16-80mm doesn’t really scream fast-paced action, so if you’re looking for some sort of wide sports lens or fast lens for indoor events, I’d suggest going elsewhere. This is thanks to the f/4 maximum aperture, which really isn’t going to get you the shutter speeds you need when shooting fast-moving subjects in low light.

On the whole, however, the Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 autofocuses very well, and won’t let you down when it comes to capturing the occasional action shot.

In terms of focal length, I absolutely love the 16-80mm range on a crop-sensor camera. You can shoot landscapes at the wide end, zoom in for portraits, and zoom all the way to 80mm for longer street shots.

In fact, I’d argue that the 24-120mm focal length equivalent is one of the best focal length ranges available, especially compared to the standard 16-55mm kit-lens focal length range, which does well on the wide lens but just doesn’t offer that extra bit reach for travel and street scenarios.

Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4: Image quality

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 36mm | 1/250s | f/8 | ISO 200

When I buy a lens, image quality is my greatest concern.

Why?

Because I don’t care if a lens is lightning-fast and is a dream to handle if it can’t deliver sharp images in key scenarios.

Fortunately, I can confirm that the Fujifilm 16-80mm does extremely well optically. At f/4, sharpness is excellent at the center of the frame at all focal lengths, though it does fall off toward the edges of the frame, especially at the focal length extremes (i.e., 16mm and 80mm).

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 80mm | 1/125s | f/8 | ISO 500

That said, edge sharpness is still good at f/4 when shooting in the 30mm to 50mm arena, and edge sharpness improves across the board when you stop the lens down to f/5.6 and beyond (which is really where things start to count for landscape and other detail shooters, anyway).

All in all, you’re going to love the resolution that this lens can provide. You get gorgeous results in the center of the frame, and very good results at the edges when stopped down, which will be enough for most photographers, including professionals.

You also get pretty much zero chromatic aberration, limited distortion, and limited vignetting.

Now, the f/4 maximum aperture isn’t great for low-light shooting. You’re going to want an f/2.8 lens if you plan to shoot indoor events, and you’ll probably also want f/2.8 if you plan to do any astrophotography.

The f/4 maximum aperture is also a problem for portrait photography, where the goal is often to achieve a creamy background blur combined with a sharp subject; at f/4, the blur is nice, but not outstanding (as pictured below).

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 80mm | 1/250s | f/4 | ISO 200

Who should buy the Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4?

The Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 is, simply put, an outstanding lens.

It offers the focal length, build quality, autofocus speed, and image quality to be taken seriously by professional landscape and street shooters. It’s also a fantastic walkaround or travel option, given its light weight and compact size, especially when attached to Fujifilm’s smaller camera bodies.

At $ 800 USD, the lens doesn’t come cheap. But the price is far from unreasonable when you consider everything it offers.

Fujifilm X-T4 | Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 | 80mm | 1/250s | f/8 | ISO 320

So who should purchase this lens?

Pretty much anyone looking for an all-purpose lens who can afford the price tag. The Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 also does well at street photography, travel photography, walkaround photography, and handheld landscape shooting, and while I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary portrait or macro lens, you can still get some use out of it in both of these genres.

So I absolutely recommend you check it out; the lens is available for $ 799 USD here!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The post Fujifilm 16-80mm f/4 Lens Review: The Best All-Purpose Fujifilm Lens in 2020 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School
August 21, 2020
5 Ways to Diversify Your Photography Business

The post 5 Ways to Diversify Your Photography Business appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Karthika Gupta.

Photography is an incredible art form that really gets your creative juices flowing. There are so many elements to making a great image, and the beauty of it is that so much of photography is really subjective.

Sure, there are some technical requirements that you might need to pay attention to. But these days, even those are somewhat relaxed in the name of art.

That said, there are a lot of things that you need to consider and pay attention to if you want to make photography your full-time career, or even make a living out of creating images. It is hard to start out and get consistent work in a sea of photographers. The fact that there is really a low barrier to entry in terms of starter gear results in a lot of competition. Plus, much of photography education online is free (or almost free), so there is nothing you cannot learn about photography on your own, right?

Being able to call yourself a full-time photographer and being able to make a living out of photography is not that easy. Markets are constantly changing; customer tastes are evolving and prices for good photography are also shifting. Unfortunately, you will always find someone who is willing to do a job for less money. That is a reality, not only for photography, but for almost any business out there.

Luckily, it is not all doom and gloom when it comes to making a living from your photography. The smart thing to do is to diversify your photography business and create multiple streams of income; that way, when one area is slow, the others more than compensate in terms of monetary benefits you can derive from this art form.

Here are five ways you can diversify your photography business:

1. Shoot different genres

I know that many photographers promote picking one genre and sticking to it. There definitely is an advantage in honing your skills and perfecting them. But I have never been one to follow that rule. I tend to get bored easily and, when I was just starting out, I did not know what I wanted to specialize in.

I tried to photograph everything I could as a way to practice using my camera as well as a way of figuring out what I wanted to do long term. When I first started my photography business, I photographed children and families. Then I moved into photographing weddings. That quickly changed to more travel and lifestyle photography and, somewhere along the way, small business branding came into play.

Now I focus on travel, lifestyle, and business editorial visual content creation. While you might think this is a crazy trajectory, I try to focus on all the soft skills I picked up during each of these phases: dealing with different types of clients, working with different kinds of lighting, and even creating different types of visual content. And I found that this really helped when it came time to diversify my photography business.

Family photos for this client led to a small business branding shoot and many more family shoots along the years.

2. Teach or mentor other photographers

Once you have been around the block a few times, you realize that you have learned a lot from all your experiences. This holds true for life as well as photography, doesn’t it? If you find yourself constantly in the position of talking to other photographers who are asking for advice on how to do certain things or how to manage a photography business, perhaps it is time to officially start teaching and mentoring newer photographers.

But I have to warn you: This has to come from a place of genuinely wanting to help and teach others. Don’t just use this privilege as a way to make money. We photographers know when we are being taken for a ride, right? Being someone’s mentor or teacher is a huge responsibility, and you need to be willing to give more than you take.

I teach photography workshops at conferences as well as small group mentoring. It’s a way to share my love of this art form with other photography enthusiasts.

3. Write photography-related articles

This is, by far, one of my favorite ways to diversify my photography business. I started writing articles for Digital Photography School in 2013, and I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity this community has given me to connect, share, and be a part of an awesome group of people who all have a common love for this art form. This has also led to more writing work, as well as more clients, so I see this as a win-win from all sides.

Writing articles and reviewing gear for DPS.

Now, just to set the record straight:

When you first exploring writing photography articles, be prepared to maybe do some pro-bono work. As more and more photographers are getting into writing and teaching, there is a lot of supply. Consider this exercise very similar to your initial portfolio-building experience.

4. Shoot and sell stock

I admit that this was not on my mind at first. But the more I started speaking to my friends about how they are maintaining their photography business, the more intrigued I became by stock photography.

I started shooting images for stock and found that it was a lot of work. So instead, I started adding stock imagery as one of the line items in each of my shoots (client and personal). I was creating work for my clients, anyway; why not spend some time after the shoot creating some images that can be added to my stock portfolio?

I also shoot scenarios specifically for some of my stock clients if and when I am assigned that job.

I prefer creating custom stock for clients rather than shooting generic stock.

5. Sell physical products

I started doing this when I was actively photographing weddings and families. I resisted the temptation to simply copy all images onto a disk or add to an online gallery and give my clients all the images. I found that most of the clients I served were overwhelmed with 50+ images from a session.

Instead, I started an in-person-sales process, where clients would get to see their images and choose images/prints and products. This increased my average sales per shoot and added more revenue to my bottom line.

Never underestimate the power of diversification of your business; this was taken on a content creation trip to Sri Lanka.

Conclusion

I have been a professional photographer for the past 10 years and, if I have learned anything this last decade, it is that we have to be nimble and flexible in how we navigate the small business entrepreneur path. What worked five years ago is definitely not going to work today.

For that matter, what worked last year may not work this year. So take it in your stride and actively work on diversifying your photography business.

Not all of these options might be appropriate for you. But if you can even take one of these suggestions and make it your own, you might be less stressed when the slow season comes along and your bills keep piling up.

The post 5 Ways to Diversify Your Photography Business appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Karthika Gupta.

Digital Photography School

August 20, 2020
Great Android Apps for Adding Glitch Effects to Your Images

The post Great Android Apps for Adding Glitch Effects to Your Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

In digital photography, glitches are usually avoided at all costs. However, there are some who welcome the whimsical aesthetic of glitch art. Here are four of the best Android apps that can be used to add artificial glitch effects to your images.

What is glitch art?

Generally, the word glitch refers to a visual or audio malfunction occurring in a media format.

Music, video games, and digital photography; all technology can succumb to glitches. While often viewed as an unwelcome occurrence, glitches have, over time, garnered a growing amount of creative interest. That’s where glitch art comes in.

Glitch art embraces the glitch as an artistic event spawned by the development of technology.

Glitch art is created by artists who embrace the nature of the glitch for its aesthetic and audible qualities. By either intentionally creating glitches or capturing them as they occur organically, artists elevate the status of the glitch from a technical irritation to an intriguing insight into the technology we surround ourselves with.

One of the earliest examples of glitch art was orchestrated by the art collective JODI. Founded by Joan Heemskert and Dirk Paesmans, JODI operated on experiments like deliberately causing errors on their website to evoke error messages. From there, artists have adopted the glitch aesthetic as a means of conveying ideas and exploring the technological landscape.

How is glitch art made?

Glitch art can be achieved in various ways.

For example, misalignment glitches are the result of a digital file being opened by a program that is ill-equipped to process that specific type of file.

Hardware failure glitches, on the other hand, are caused by tampering with the physical mechanisms of a machine itself.

Databending refers to the manipulation of file data with programs like hex editors.

An example of glitch art made with a hex editor.

The appreciation for glitch art has spread across the globe, with many glitch artists sharing their broad range of technical approaches to the format online. And with the growing number of glitch art apps available at little or no cost to the user, glitch effects have been an increasingly popular presence in art and social media.

Now let’s take a look at the best Android apps for creating glitch effects:

Glitch Lab

Glitch Lab operates on the central theme of being “simple to use yet at the same time endlessly configurable.” With an impressive amount of free presents and adjustments available to induce glitched imagery, all alterations can be tweaked with an easy-to-use interface, creating rich layers of visual chaos.

In addition, Glitch Lab offers some basic photo adjustments as well as a Generate function, which allows a user to generate glitch art from scratch, without the use of a photo as a starting point.

Glitch!

Simple to use and with a good amount of free features, Glitch! is one of the most popular glitch art apps available. With glitch effects like Scanner, Hacker, and Paintbrush, Glitch! realistically imitates manual glitching techniques. Premium functions include a Datamosh preset and video-based options.

Glitcho

The Glitcho app allows a user to glitch photos and videos in real-time, which can be handy for quick adjustments and previews. The app also offers a GIF-generating function, which animates some glitch effects applied to images.

Glitcho has a range of free glitch presets that can be applied to both photos and videos. The app also offers additional glitch effects that can be unlocked by watching ads or by upgrading to Glitcho Pro.

EZGlitch

Like Glitcho, EZGlitch provides glitch effects to create glitched photography and videography in real-time. The in-app purchases available in EZGlitch are balanced by the range of filters on offer at no charge to the user.

EZGlitch is also equipped with a simple-to-use Auto GIF function to generate animated glitchy GIF or MP4 files to save and share.

Conclusion

If you’ve recently looked for glitch-based editing apps on the Play Store, you’ll have seen a myriad of different options on offer.

While it may take some trial and error to find the glitch app that works best for you, these four apps are a great entry point, allowing for quick and easy glitch effects on your Android device.

The post Great Android Apps for Adding Glitch Effects to Your Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Digital Photography School

August 19, 2020
Macro Photography for Beginners

The post Macro Photography for Beginners appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Barrie Smith.

The advent of digital photography swept away one of the most challenging problems in image capture: how to shoot macro without a pile of specialised gear. Now you can get down, dirty, and close in the image capture business, and make macro the digital way with a 100 percent success rate.

I know I’m not alone when I say that macro photography is an absorbing activity: to be able to reach into ‘near space’ and record an image that is not easily visible to the naked eye is an attractive option. There is nothing more satisfying than to make a huge print of an insect, mineral specimen, or any small object that is normally so tiny to the naked eye and captured with the technique of macro photography.

To shoot macro in the days of film — aside from the requirement of using an SLR camera — you needed a few add-ons to take highly magnified images of extremely small subjects.

You could begin by slipping a diopter lens to the front of the existing standard lens, which would impart a degree of magnification; you could also install extension tubes between your normal lens and the camera body; you could also acquire a set of macro bellows and place them between lens and body; and finally, you could invest in a fairly expensive — and optically superb — macro lens that was dedicated to macro shooting. Another option was to fit a reversing ring that allowed you to mount the lens on backward, which improved the close-up resolution and allowed you to focus much more closely. But to be honest, it was a hassle — although you can still use these methods if using a DSLR to shoot macro.

These days, digital does it with a dash! With a digital camera — compact, mirrorless, or DSLR — even newbies are surprised by how easy it is to capture really, really big shots of tiny subjects.

In truth, you can make digital macro photography as basic or as complex as you wish it to be. Even with a budget camera, you can capture images of the tiny world before you, subjects as small as a matchbox, a match-head, or even tinier. The higher-priced compact digital cameras can do it even better, some offering macro shooting with a powerful zoom lens, so you can stand back a bit.

The other approach is to use a DSLR or a mirrorless model; it is surprising how powerful a macro camera circa-$ 1200 USD can become.

Image by macropoulos

What is macro photography?

First, an explanatory note for all those with a modicum of photo history and tech basics: the term macro used to refer to the capture of an insect or whatever that resulted in an image on the 35mm film frame (24x36mm) that ranged from 1:10 to 1:1 the size of the original subject. The term micro referred to a film image that was larger than 1:1; micro photography could easily give you a 35mm film image of an ant that was itself larger than the original ant.

A CCD or CMOS sensor can be as tiny as 3x4mm, so any definition term that applied in the film days is now obsolete. But the rules that apply in accomplishing successful and satisfying macro photography still stand.

Normal photography works in using a camera to record a sharp image by adjusting the lens-to-sensor distance to attain precise focus. For distant subjects at infinity, like landscapes, the lens is positioned at a minimum lens-to-sensor distance; to capture sharp images of closer subjects, like people, the lens-to-sensor is increased.

In macro photography, a sharp image of a tiny object requires the lens to be positioned much closer still, with the lens moved even further out than for normal photography.

Just about all compact cameras and some DSLRs have a selectable macro mode. In some cameras you can select the macro mode via an external control, while in others you must select it in the internal menu.

Think about it: no extra lenses, no macro tubes or bellows, no special lenses. What a wonderful world in which to shoot macro!

Image by macropoulos

Tips for macro photography beginners

Being curious about how digital cameras can capture macro so easily, I investigated the subject. Here are my findings, gained by chatting to the tech expert at a major camera company.

Engage macro mode on a digital camera, and the system adjusts the lens elements to re-arrange them into an array that best suits close focusing. Quite a feat, as even simple camera lenses have a surprising number of lens elements to juggle.

Unfortunately, by engaging macro mode with the vast majority of cameras, you lose control of both the lens aperture (f-stop) and shutter speed.

Why is this so important?

The best macro photography — regardless of camera — requires that you use the smallest lens aperture to gain optimum image sharpness and depth of field. Using a small lens aperture means you need more light, so you need to extend the exposure time to make a correctly exposed photograph.

So you can’t reduce the lens aperture to a smaller, more favorable setting, nor can you slow the shutter speed to permit the use of a smaller lens aperture.

For the keen macro makers, I’ve discovered a few digital cameras that do allow the use of macro mode and lens and shutter speed adjustment.

With DSLR cameras, the macro operation is somewhat different. Select a macro mode and you activate a different chain of events: With any lens fixed to the camera, engaging macro mode on the camera commands the lens aperture to close to its minimum, therefore extending the depth of field and allowing you to move closer to the subject.

Shooting macro with a compact camera is easy, but you have to forgo a fair bit of control, and you need to understand that the demands of an amateur as far as resolution and color quality are less stringent than the pros.

The pro approach would be to use a purpose-built macro lens on a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Dedicated macro lenses are not cheap, but they are optimized to operate at closer than normal distances. With macro lenses, you are unlikely to experience problems such as color fringing and optical distortion; many macro lenses also compensate for the additional exposure necessary when racking out the lens to distances very different from those used in normal photography.

Read the second part of this series here: Macro Photography for Beginners, Part 2.

Image by ecstaticist

The post Macro Photography for Beginners appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Barrie Smith.

Digital Photography School

August 18, 2020
Decline in Camera Sales Continues While Sony Outpaces Nikon
The post Decline in Camera Sales Continues While Sony Outpaces Nikon appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Nikkei has unveiled the 2019 sales and market share data for digital cameras, and numbers are looking bad across the board:

In 2019, camera units sold dropped by over 22%, which mirrors last year’s 22% decline, and suggests that the shrinking digital camera market won’t stabilize anytime soon.

Nikkei also revealed individual market share numbers:
- Canon is the industry leader (45.4% market share)
- Sony is now second (20.2% market share)
- Nikon comes in to third (18.6% market share)
- Fujifilm claims fourth (4.7% market share)
- Panasonic nabs fifth (4.7% market share)
Last July, we reported on market share data, and the biggest news was Nikon’s decline. If you compare the 2019 data (above) to last year’s data (here), you’ll see that Nikon has descended yet again, dropping from the second spot to third (to be replaced by Sony, which increased its market share after a 2018 downturn).

This is in spite of the Nikon Z6, Z7, and Z50 models, which were Nikon’s (seemingly unsuccessful) attempt at refreshing its DSLR-centric camera program to compete better with major mirrorless players. As is clear from the numbers, a few high-performing mirrorless models just weren’t enough to outcompete Sony, a company that has been steadily capturing photographers thanks to a well-rounded APS-C and full-frame camera lineup.

But despite Sony’s impressive array of mirrorless models, it is Canon that managed to capture the largest digital camera market share in 2019, and has continued to eclipse its competitors by showing significant overall market share growth from 2018.

And while Canon has gained a lot of negative press lately thanks to EOS R5 overheating issues, it’s tough to see Canon losing its dominance anytime soon, especially when you consider the company’s “full steam ahead” approach to mirrorless development in 2020, with the release of both the EOS R5 and EOS R6, new RF lenses, and more.

Also notable is the fifth position in the market share rankings, previously occupied by Olympus but now held by Panasonic. This is hardly a surprise, given Olympus’s decision to sell off their camera division, but note that Panasonic is now pretty much on par with Fujifilm (a company that had seen a significant increase of market share in 2018, only to drop again in 2019).

Now over to you:

When do you think the camera market decline will end? Or is this the end of mass-market digital cameras? Also, how do you feel about Nikon’s descent? Do you think the company will rebound for this year’s data? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Decline in Camera Sales Continues While Sony Outpaces Nikon appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Digital Photography School
August 17, 2020
How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night
The post How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Barry J Brady.

Gastown light trails, Vancouver, Canada

Before I understood how photography worked, I was always intrigued by light trails in images. I never understood how that happened. When I began to study photography, one of the first assignments I did was an advanced course on night photography. I decided I would try and capture some light trails.

I set up my camera, made sure the settings were correct and waited. A few cars went past, but my timing was off and the shots were not great. I continued to wait. After about an hour of trying and experimenting, I got the shot I was looking for. It was like magic to me.

The car was not in the shot but the lights seemed to float in mid-air. I was hooked. This was something that had mystified me for a long time, yet I had managed to get it right. What was so mesmerizing for me was that the image I saw on my LCD screen was not what I saw in real life. The camera had managed to capture a scene that my eyes could not capture in the same way. This seemed amazing to me.

I soon realized that the camera was able to “see” things differently compared to the way my eyes saw them. I spent many nights trying to capture light trails in various locations. I was also doing lots of reading and research and came across a technique called long exposure.

This too was amazing. It had the ability to alter a scene in such a way that it looked totally different to the way our eyes normally see it. Again I was hooked; to this day, long exposures and light trails are some of my favorite techniques in photography.

Long exposure photography and light trails have similar techniques; it is the subject matter that differs. So I will discuss each technique separately, and tell you how to get the best results in both.

How to do long exposure photography

Shooting long exposures effectively requires that you should be shooting in Manual mode as much as possible. If you are not sure how to shoot in Manual, take a look at “Getting Off Auto – Manual, Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes Explained to learn more about these modes. To be able to get sharp and effective long exposure images, here is a checklist of items you will need.

1. What equipment is needed to shoot long exposures?
- A tripod – this is a good piece of equipment to have in most instances, but is a critical piece of equipment for shooting long exposures. Make sure your camera is properly mounted onto the tripod before you start shooting.
- A camera – obviously you will need a camera, but many people assume you can only do this type of photography with an SLR. Some advanced point-and-shoot cameras can also do long exposures if they have a Shutter Priority function. Take a look in your camera’s manual to see if it has this function; you may be surprised.
- Cable release – your camera will be on a tripod, so it should be very still. However, sometimes the action of pressing the shutter release button can cause the camera to move slightly and this movement can cause your image to blur very slightly. You may not notice this on the LCD screen, but when you open the image on your computer, it will be evident. I recommend getting a cable release (also called a remote trigger). It is simply a cable that attaches to your camera and acts as a shutter release button. Using a cable release means you can set up your camera, step away from the tripod, and press the button without touching the camera. Cable releases can be wireless too. If you don’t have a cable release or don’t want to buy one, you could use your camera’s self-timer function to trigger the shutter.
- Warm clothes and comfortable shoes – depending on where you live, and depending on the time of year you plan to be shooting, you may need to dress warmly. Long exposures work well after dark and it may get cold, so be sure to wear warm clothes. Be sure that you have comfortable footwear, too, as you may be standing for a few hours.
2. What subjects are best for long exposure photography?

Long exposures work well for certain types of subjects like seascapes, landscapes, and cityscapes. The key to getting a successful long exposure image is to have something in your image that is perfectly still and something that is moving. Water, clouds, and trees blowing in the wind all work well if the rest of the scene is stationary. This difference between the elements in the scene will create drama, and will add significant value to your image. The viewer will be seeing something that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

The reason why long exposure images are so compelling is that they warp time. Water looks like a soft mist, trees look like a dull blur, and clouds become long and streaky. This is what makes a familiar scene more compelling.

Long exposure scene in Vancouver, Canada

3. What camera settings should be used?

Long exposures are ideally shot in Manual mode. If you are not sure how to shoot in Manual mode, you can use one of the other semi-manual modes such as Aperture priority or Shutter priority. Here are some quick pointers on the settings:
- Shutter speed – depending on the light in your scene, your shutter time will need to be at least 10 to 15 seconds, or longer if necessary. If you are doing a seascape and the water is moving quickly, then a few seconds may be long enough to make the water look misty.
- Aperture – you will want to have your aperture set at anywhere between f/8 and f/16. This will be determined by how much light is in the scene and how long you want to expose for.
- ISO – keep your ISO settings as low as possible. ISO 100 is what I use for long exposures.
4. When is the best time of day to shoot long exposures?

It’s normally a good idea to shoot long exposures as the sun is setting, or just after sunset. My suggestion is to be on the scene an hour before sunset. That way you can test some shots, make sure your composition is good, and be sure all your settings are correct. Then wait.

I will sometimes simply sit there and enjoy the scene; other times I may listen to some music. But I like to be relaxed and ready for when the light starts to work. Normally you will want to start shooting about 15 minutes before the sun has completely set and up to an hour after it is below the horizon. The important part is to be willing to experiment.

Each time you decide to shoot long exposures will be a little different. The light may be brighter than you think, the sunset may not be as dramatic as you hoped, or the shot may not be just as you imagined. Be patient and experiment. I will sometimes go back to a location two or three times to try and get the shot I am looking for. Once I have it, though, the sense of reward is fantastic, and the patience and effort are paid off!

Long exposure of Science World in Vancouver

How to shoot light trails

Much of the advice for shooting light trails is very similar to the tips above. The key difference is in the timing and location of your shoot.

1. What equipment is needed to shoot light trails?
- Same as above
2. What subjects are best for light trails?

For light trails to work, you need to have something with lights moving through your scene. A car, a bus, a train, and even an aircraft can work. Be sure to be out of the direction of the vehicle you are photographing. Please do not stand in the middle of the road, or on train tracks. Position yourself in a safe place to make this work. Always be aware of your surroundings. It is easy to become immersed in what you are shooting and lose sight of where you are standing. Be safe, first and foremost!

A moving bus in the scene made this shot more dynamic

3. What camera settings should be used?

Light trails, like long exposures, are ideally shot in Manual mode.
- Shutter speed – depending on the light in your scene, your shutter time will need to be at least 10 to 15 seconds, or longer if necessary. Make sure that your shutter speed is long enough to capture longish light trails. You don’t want to cut them off too soon as you will have some short trails in your image that may look strange.
- Aperture – you will want to have your aperture set at anywhere between f/5 and f/11. This will be determined by how much light is in the scene and how long you want the exposure.
- ISO – keep your ISO settings as low as possible; ISO 100 is what I use for light trails. If your ISO is set to 500 or higher, your exposure will be shorter and you run the risk of overexposing the highlights, especially when shooting car headlights.
4. When is the best time of day to shoot light trails?

Light trails can be shot in the early evening, or after the sun has set. Each scene will be different, but sometimes it is too light to get effective light trails just after sunset. You may need to wait until 30 minutes after the sun has set to get longer light trails.

The important part, once again, is to be willing to experiment. Try different times after sunset and see what works for you. Spend time behind your camera perfecting your timing. Scout locations during the day that you will think will work for light trails and then go and try it out.

Steam Clock in Gastown, light trails on the road

Photographing after dark can be very rewarding. It is worth the effort to learn how to use these techniques to bring new images into your portfolio, and to have new skills which will enable you to shoot under any lighting conditions. Experiment and enjoy it! Happy shooting.

The post How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Barry J Brady.

Digital Photography School
August 16, 2020
How to Create Dramatic Portraits in Your Garage

The post How to Create Dramatic Portraits in Your Garage appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nick Fancher.

The setup

If you want to take dramatic portraits on a black backdrop (without even needing a single light), a garage is your new go-to spot.

This is the simplest (and most makeshift looking) setup that I use. As you can see in the image above, all I am using is a piece of black foam core, folded into a “V,” set inside a garage on a sunny day.

While you can accomplish this setup on overcast days, having a sunny day helps to increase the brightness of everything outside the garage, thus increasing the catch light in the model’s eyes. The sunny daylight scene outside the garage essentially acts as a giant reflector, which illuminates the area under the subject’s chin to soften shadows.

The reason why a garage is great for this kind of setup is that it allows you to place your subject closer or further away from the bright, outdoor light, depending on how much light you want in your subject’s eyes or how even you want the light to appear.

For example, if the subject is right at the edge of the garage, just out of the sun, the exposure will be very bright, requiring a very fast shutter speed and/or a small aperture, but they will have large catchlights in their eyes. Note that the smaller aperture will cause the image to be sharper from the front to the back. Also, the closer the subject is to the bright outside, the darker the background will be once you’ve adjusted your exposure for their skin tone.

Alternatively, if the subject is placed deeper into the garage, it allows you to use a wider aperture or slower shutter speed, which can create a flattering, softer, shallow depth of field look, though the catch light and overall light quality will change.

Shooting in a garage is the equivalent to a one-light studio portrait since the only light source is the open garage door. This increases the appearance of the image being a studio portrait, as it mimics a large softbox or octabox (though an open garage door is larger and less expensive).

If you want to have more light, such as hair light and rim light, to create separation between a subject and the background, there is another option available to you. Simply place your subject on the shaded side of the garage, allowing the sun to light just the edges of your subject’s hair and shoulders, as seen below.

The one downside to having a huge wall of soft light in front of your subject is that it can flatten out the subject, which can make the lighting appear flat or boring. One remedy for this is flagging off portions of the light, as seen in the image below. Note that any object you place in front of the model to flag the light will also change the shape of the catchlights in their eyes.

For portraits like this, you will want to use a focal length of at least 50mm or longer. Anything wider angle will lead to distortion of the subject’s features. Since you are shooting outdoors, you have unlimited space to back away from the subject. So I like to use my 70-200mm lens for these types of headshots.

The other perks that come with shooting outside or in a garage are that you have a free hair fan and plenty of ventilation, which comes in handy when you’re shooting smoke.

My buddy Colin is a drummer in the band House of Heroes. He approached me to shoot the cover of their latest EP, Smoke. He wanted a dramatic, close-up of a girl’s face with smoke all around. I knew that my garage would be the perfect spot to conduct the shoot (as it’s open-air with bright light).

I placed whiteboards on either side of Courtney, which helped to not only fill in any shadows under her jaw but also add catchlights to her eyes. In addition to the images of Courtney, I also shot several frames of smoke being exhaled by Colin (try doing that inside a studio) isolated on the black backdrop, which was later overlaid on the final image of the model in post-production.

Have you tried doing portraits in your garage or other makeshift location? Have any additional tips? Please share in the comments.

The post How to Create Dramatic Portraits in Your Garage appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nick Fancher.

Digital Photography School

August 15, 2020
Weekly Photography Challenge – Looking Up

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Looking Up appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

This week we’re going to go with ‘Looking up’ and yes, you could spin that more than one way! Things are looking up, or looking up, as in pointing straight up (or near enough) with your camera! What will you choose and how will you portray your choice?

‘Up’ – Building tree houses.

Or maybe ‘looking up’ along a city street (I nearly said ‘busy city street’ but we certainly have less of those right now!) Maybe ‘looking up’ could be your positive frame of mind on the current state of the world, etc? How will you depict that?

If you’re in isolation at home, maybe this article will help to give you some ideas, work on a theme of ‘looking up in or around your house’ We’ll share some as we go, through the week, in the Facebook group and on our Instagram

Looking Up

Great! Where do I upload my photos?

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see. Or, if you’d prefer, upload them to your favourite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. We’re interested to see how you revisit the images that you’ve taken before now in this re-edit challenge!

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 #DPSLookingUp 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.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Looking Up appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

Digital Photography School

August 15, 2020