Month: December 2017

How to Quickly Process Your Holiday Photos with Luminar’s Accent AI Filter

The holiday season is upon us, and suddenly everyone seems to be in a rush. We all have a million things to accomplish in just a few short weeks. At this time of year, I’m always scrambling to get my Christmas photos processed and ready for viewing. Feeling overwhelmed once again this year I decided to turn to Luminar by Macphun, soon to be Skylum, and try out their unique Accent AI Filter. It’s supposed to be a super simple and quick way to get beautiful images.

What is the Accent AI Filter?

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence and this filter is designed to do all the hard work for you. It uses artificial intelligence to assess the image and then applies the required adjustments to the image. This means that each image is processed according to the individual shadows, highlights, and colors present within the photo. The Accent AI Filter allows you to make quick, impactful adjustments with just one slider.

Locate the Accent AI filter in Luminar by clicking on the “add filter” button or by selecting the workspace called “Quick and Awesome”. This workspace combines the Accent AI filter plus the Clarity and Saturation filters to create a dynamic combo of super quick adjustments.

Find the Accent AI filter quickly using the “add filter” button.

The Quick and Awesome Workspace is easy to use for super simple adjustments.

Time to edit some photos

Each holiday season I have to process a large number of images. The first set of images usually belongs to the commercial realm. I’m often shooting photographs that are used to promote various Christmas art sales. When I’m staring at a collection of 300 images and a rushed timeline, a quick post-processing workflow is so important. I need to download, tweak, and upload and deliver digital images to clients for their social media campaigns. It’s fun, but it can be overwhelming when it needs to be completed in such a short frame of time.

Using Accent AI with commercial images

It’s time to test the Accent AI filter on these commercial images and see how it handles the varied lighting conditions at these venues. These images of a Christmas craft sale located here in Canada were shot in a heritage building.

The lighting was pretty terrible, and on this particular day, it was cloudy, so I was challenged by these factors along with the fact that many of the pieces were quite shiny. It was a challenging situation, especially when I had to photograph the items during gallery hours and I couldn’t set up any lights. I had to use what was available.

Image #1 –Only one adjustment

For the following images, I had to use fairly high ISO settings and a wide aperture of f/2.8 to f/4. In the case of the image below, I moved the slider on the Accent AI Filter over to the right and was able to quickly and easily adjust the image without making any other tweaks. The item in the image is clear and easy for customers to view. It only took me a few seconds to prepare this image for upload.

I quickly applied the filter to this image. The result is certainly good given the lighting and conditions in the art gallery.

Here’s the full image after processing.

Image #2 – Applied as a mask

In this second image, I found that the Accent AI filter created too much of a yellow tone that took away from the beauty of the color of the red hat. The wall looked yellow, and I didn’t like this effect. However, I really liked the way the filter treated the hat itself, and I think it brought out its details and rich color.

So I applied the Accent AI Filter as a mask. I added a second layer (just click the + sign next to the word “Layers”) and painted in the filter over the hat. The resulting image took just a few minutes to create.

When I applied the Accent AI filter to this entire image it made the wall quite yellow.

Here I used a mask to apply to filter to just the hat so that the wall remained white.

The Accent AI Filter helped me to edit my photos for clients quickly. It handled the editing of images taken under some fairly challenging lighting circumstances with high ISO settings. I think this speaks to the capabilities of the filter to assess each image and adjust it accordingly.

It should also be noted that you can have too much of a good thing. In some instances, the filter created too much of an unnatural HDR look. It’s important to adjust the slider accordingly and subtly. In this case, I didn’t want a heavy HDR look, and I had to be careful just how much of a boost I applied to each image.

Here I purposely applied the filter to illustrate the point that the Accent AI filter can become too “heavy-handed” if you take it too far.

Using the Accent AI Filter for art images

I also tested out the Accent AI Filter on some images I created for use on Art Cards. The following image was shot with the purpose of being used as a Christmas card. I usually make a collection of 10 images that are all winter or Christmas themed. In years past I’ve slaved for hours, carefully editing the work. This year I decided to see if the Accent AI Filter could handle my art photos as well.

In the image below of an ice-crusted coniferous tree, I was struggling with a very hazy atmosphere. I wanted the yellowish tree to stand out from the green of the trees behind. I also wanted to define the ice and create an image that showed the unique nature of that moment in time. Remember I said to be careful in applying the filter too heavily, but in this case, I cranked it all the way to the right.

The brown of the tree branches stood out from the yellow of the tree needles, which is good. I also like how defined the ice became on the strands of dried grass below. There was no banding present, and the image still had a fairly natural look. In this case, the heavily applied filter worked perfectly.

Here’s the unprocessed image.

Here you can see the Accent AI Filter at 100 percent.

The changes made to this image are considerable with the filter at full strength.

Here’s the completed image.

Using the Accent AI Filter to adjust family snaps

Annually, I take a quick photo of the family to document the year. These images are not spectacular. They are family photos that are cherished on a personal level and document the changes each year brings. But they have to be shot quickly as my family isn’t overly patient when it comes to photography. I decided to see how the Accent AI filter would handle the editing of these photos.

Again the lighting is often challenging as they are usually shot on Christmas Eve. I wanted to see if the filter could enhance these memories and also help to fulfill my obsessive photographer tendency to want to take professional quality images all the time. In this case, I messed around a little and wanted to see how the filter affected the portrait. This time I used Luminar as a plugin for Lightroom.

So I made a few adjustments in Lightroom first. I straightened the image and cloned out the cat’s tail. Then I moved over to Luminar and applied the Accent AI Filter. I like the resulting image. The filter helped to put a little bit of definition into the boys faces and balanced out the light. All in all, it worked pretty well.

With the filter to almost 50% strength, the image is still pleasing.

Here you can see the subtle difference the filter made in this image. Look closely at the detail in the blue t-shirt (after image the right of the line)

Here you can see the changes in a side by side back in Lightroom. The image on the left shows the Luminar adjustments.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Accent AI Filter in Luminar is an effective tool that can help you to adjust a large range of images. The filter is highly “intelligent”. It saves several steps in post-processing. If I were to edit these images without using the Accent AI Filter, I would have had to apply several different filters and spend time carefully adjusting their effect on the image. The Accent AI filter streamlined the process for me.

Also read: Speed up Your Workflow with the Accent AI Filter in Luminar and Batch Processing for more on how to apply this handy filter as a batch to a whole set of images at once.

Here’s another image finished with slight adjustments using the Accent AI Filter.

Disclaimer: Macphun, soon to be Skylum, is a dPS advertising partner.

The post How to Quickly Process Your Holiday Photos with Luminar’s Accent AI Filter by Erin Fitzgibbon appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

December 12, 2017
Have your say: Best compact camera of 2017

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: time to vote for your favorite cameras and lenses in our year-end Readers’ Choice Awards. It certainly was a good year for compact cameras – cast your vote before the polls close!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

December 12, 2017
Lytro might open source its light-field photo sharing platform

Last week, light-field photography pioneer Lytro announced that it would discontinue the pictures.lytro.com platform, which allowed Lytro users to share their refocusable ‘living’ light-field images with others online and through Facebook.

The move, which is a direct result of Lytro changing its focus from consumer products to the professional market, was not received well by existing owners of the original Lytro and the Lytro ILLUM cameras. This more or less made their images unsharable in their interactive form. All may not be lost, though.

It appears the company has received enough negative customer feedback to consider allowing the developer community to host its ‘living pictures’ online without its involvement. In other words: Lytro might open source the platform.

Lytro explained this potential move in a new announcement, which reads:

We are currently evaluating this request but have not yet reached a conclusion. Although we fully trust that the passionate community of developers around Light Field photography can come up with brilliant solutions, there are some challenges to resolve around intellectual property and we cannot promise that it is possible.

If you currently own a Lytro camera you can sign up here for email updates on the issue. No matter how the story ends, it is a sobering reminder that today’s complex imaging hardware can far too easily lose some—if not all—of its functionality once software support ends.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

December 12, 2017
Musician kicks photographer in the face during rock concert, sending her to the ER

Queens of the Stone Age leading man Josh Homme did something at a show last night that seems both willful and horrifying. In the middle of a song, with no reason or provocation, he walked over to photographer Chelsea Lauren and kicked her squarely in the camera and face. Lauren, who was shooting the show for Shutterstock, seems to have been simply doing her job from the pit.

The whole incident was caught on video as well as in photos, with Lauren taking to Instagram to vent her disbelief and ask “WHO DOES THAT?” after the show last night.

Thanks to Josh Homme @queensofthestoneage I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!? #joshhomme #queensofthestoneage #qotsa #qotsafamily #concertphotography #musicphotographer

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 9, 2017 at 11:38pm PST

Later, Lauren uploaded a series of three photos from the incident. Two showing the moment right before she was kicked, and a third showing Homme “later after he cut his own face with a knife. I was in the pit in tears – and he just stared at me smiling.”

Thank you everyone that has reached out with supportive messages. A small update, as I’m being flooded with questions: My neck is a sore, my eyebrow bruised and I’m a bit nauseous. The doctor released me early in the morning. Here are three images. Two of them as Josh looked at me, smiled and then kicked me. The other one is later after he cut his own face with a knife. I was in the pit in tears – and he just stared at me smiling. Assault in any form is not okay, no matter what the reasoning. Alcohol and drugs are no excuse. I was where I was allowed to be, I was not breaking any rules. I was simply trying to do my job. I hold nobody accountable for this but Josh himself. KROQ has nothing to do with this and I will always support them. The irony is someone had thrown an ice cube on to the very slick catwalk before the QOTSA set. I was afraid that one of the band members might slip and hurt themselves so, when the lights went dark, I used my arm to wipe down the runway so nobody would hurt themselves. Thank you to @variety for their immediate concern and care with this matter. As of now, nobody from QOTSA has reached out to me. #queensofthestoneage #QOTSA #JoshHomme

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 10, 2017 at 11:22am PST

Lauren tells Variety that it was “obviously very intentional,” saying later that she spoke out because “I feel like if I don’t do anything, he gets to kick people in the face and not get in trouble because he’s a musician.”

For his part, Homme has since released two apologies. The first, published through the Queens of the Stone Age Twitter account characterized the incident as an accident.

Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage. Today it was brought to my attention that this included a camera held by photographer Chelsea Lauren. I did not mean for that to happen and I am very sorry. I would never intentionally cause harm to anyone working at or attending one of our shows and I hope Chelsea will accept my sincere apology.

But with both photo and video evidence seeming to show that the kick was intentional, this first apology came off more callous than sincere. It was followed by two tearful video apologies posted to Instagram:

Interestingly enough (though, perhaps, not surprising) it seems that other photographers have been warned about Homme in the past. In a post on her Facebook page, photographer Tanya Voltchanskaya said that she was told not to stand in front of Homme during a show back in 2014 because, and here she quotes directly, “[you] will get a boot in the face.”

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

December 12, 2017
How to Use Still-life Subjects to Understand Focal Lengths

Do you think that using an 18mm lens or a 100mm one will only zoom in or out your scene? Why are camera lenses are measured in millimeters? Do you know what those measurements mean for your photo? If you’re not sure which lens to use and why I invite you to keep reading and learn about focal lengths and how to use them.

The most common consideration when choosing your lens is whether or not you need to zoom in or zoom out. Therefore logic dictates that you would use a wide-angle lens for landscape photography and a telephoto for a detail of that landscape. Another well-known factor is the distortion of wide-angle lenses, so for example, if you want to do a portrait you would instead use a normal or a telephoto lens.

But how about shooting objects or photographing still life subjects? Which lens is better? I’ll use this subject to illustrate the characteristics of different focal lengths that normally get less attention.

What is focal length?

When light comes in through the lens, it passes through a small hole called a nodal point. The distance from that point to the sensor when your lens is set to infinity is called the focal length and this is measured in millimeters. A smaller distance gives you a wider angle of view and that’s why it’s called a wide-angle lens. Therefore a bigger distance gives you a narrower angle of view which is called a telephoto lens.

What is normal?

When you say a normal lens, it means that it will see more or less the same angle of view as the human eye. Anything longer than the normal focal length is a telephoto and everything shorter is a wide-angle lens. This measurement depends on the size of your sensor because the measure of its diagonal is what determines “normal” for that camera.

For example, in analog photography, it was a very standard measure because there were only so many negative film formats. A 35mm film had a normal lens of 50mm, this can be translated into digital cameras that have a full frame sensor because it’s about the same size as 35mm film. If you have a cropped sensor camera, that “normal” lens becomes a telephoto.

Left – longer lens more zoomed in. Right – wider lens more zoomed out.

Why is this important?

As I mentioned before, zooming in or out is the most obvious impact of the focal length. But what happens when you are shooting something where you can achieve that by getting closer or further from your subject? How do you choose your lens? Well, that’s where the other characteristics of the focal length come into play.

Compression

A photograph is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional world. By changing the focal length you can compress or extend the distance between two objects, or between the subject and the background. Let me show you with a series of images taken of the same scene but with different focal lengths.

I put a measuring tape next to the objects so that you have a reference and see that they were separated by the same distance even if it doesn’t look like it in the various images.

18mm lens.

35mm lens.

55mm lens.

Notice how the distance between the shells seems to change. With wide-angle lenses, things will seem further apart from each other, compared to how they look with a telephoto lens. Now, you probably also perceived another difference between the images, and that is the focus. Which brings me to the second characteristic.

Depth of field

As you probably know, the depth of field (area in focus) depends on the aperture. A small aperture gives you a greater depth of field than a big one. But there is another factor involved and that is the focal length.

A wide-angle lens appears to have a greater depth of field than a telephoto at the same aperture. It is a common misconception that wide-angles have more depth of field than longer lenses. The reason it appears so has to do with the subject to camera distance, not focal length.

This effect is intensified by the fact that you will be physically closer or further away with each lens to achieve the same framing. Allow me to illustrate with this photos in which I maintained the same aperture but changed the focal length.

1800mm

160mm

100mm

70mm

55mm

35mm

18mm

See how the photo taken with a 180mm lens has such a shallow depth of field that the blurry background even creates a halo that comes over the sharp focus subject. After that, each image got greater and greater depth of field by using smaller focal lengths.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is no such thing as the best lens for the type of photography you are doing. It really depends on the results you want to get.

The post How to Use Still-life Subjects to Understand Focal Lengths by Ana Mireles appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

December 11, 2017
Our favorite gear, rewarded: DPReview Awards 2017
DPReview Awards 2017

Here at DPReview we handle a lot of gear. This year, plenty of amazing cameras, lenses, accessories and other products came through our doors, and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading about them as much as we’ve enjoyed writing about and testing them.

We also enjoy arguing about them – about which camera is better than which other camera, and which lens is the best, etc. So we’ve spent the past few days going through this year’s products as a team, and ranking our choices, to make a shortlist for what we think was the best gear released in 2017.

After all that, we’re pleased to announce the results. Click through the slides above to find out which products made our list of the best gear of 2017!

If you’d like to have your say, make sure to vote in this year’s Reader’s Polls for best products of 2017, which will be running through December 18th.

Best accessory

Shortlist:
- Affinity for iPad
- Godox Ving V860 II
- Atomos Ninja Inferno
- Peak Design CaptureClip 3
Runner up: Affinity for iPad

While perhaps not as sexy as the high-value cameras and lenses that we get our hands on every month, there are some amazing accessories out there, with a lot to offer the modern photographer. And among the most important are the various software suites that enable us to turn our Raw (literally) images into finished photographs worthy of printing and sharing.

The arrival of high-powered tablet computers like the Apple iPad Pro means that imaging software is no longer limited to desktop and laptop computers. Affinity Photo for iPad is a full-fledged image editor that offers all of the major features you’d expect from a serious desktop Raw editor, for only $ 20. Impressed? We certainly are.

Read our review of Affinity for iPad

Winner: Godox Ving V860 II

A good flashgun (or two) can really transform your photography, but wireless TTL flash systems from the major camera manufacturers can be extremely costly. The Godox Ving V860 II kit is a powerful third-party flash solution that competes with options from the major brands at a considerably lower cost.

The V860 II is the latest Godox offering for Canon, Nikon and Sony users, and it provides TTL metering and off-camera control via a wireless 2.4GHz radio system. When we reviewed the kit back in June we praised its strong and reliable wireless connection, high standard of construction and great 650-shot battery life.

Among a competitive shortlist of high-quality accessories, the Godox Ving V860 II is a worthy winner. If you’re looking for an affordable solution for wireless off-camera flash triggering, we’d highly recommend checking it out.

Read our review of the Godox Ving V860 II

Best smartphone camera

Shortlist:
- Apple iPhone X
- Google Pixel 2
- LG V30
- Huawei Mate 10
Runner up: iPhone X

Love it or hate it, the fact is that a lot of people take pictures with their smartphones these days, and it’s in modern smartphone handsets that we’re seeing some of the most exciting technological developments in photography.

The iPhone X is Apple’s flagship iPhone and a significant milestone for the company, marking the 10-year anniversary of the very first iPhone – arguably the product that kicked off the ‘smartphone revolution’ all those years ago. As well as twin stabilized wide / tele cameras, artifact-free 4K/60p HEVC video and a bunch of clever effects like Portrait Lighting mode, the iPhone X also offers one of the best, brightest and most color-accurate screens of any smartphone. The P3 images that its camera generates take advantage of the display’s wide color gamut, and the iPhone X is also the world’s first device to support the HDR display of HDR photos – something we’ve only seen in the video world (HDR10, Dolby Vision).

The iPhone X is a beautiful thing, and a worthy runner-up for best smartphone camera of 2017.

Read mode about the Apple iPhone X

Winner: Google Pixel 2

Google is at the forefront of developments in computational photography and the Pixel 2 is a superb example of the difference that some very clever technology – and a lot of computing power – can make to a camera.

Despite only featuring a single camera module, split pixels and some clever software allow the Pixel 2 to create a surprisingly accurate and continuous depth map, which enables a very pleasing and effective ‘fake bokeh’ portrait effect. And thanks to the constant 9-frame image averaging of HDR+ the depth map and resulting image are often noise free, even at shutter speeds needed to freeze modest motion indoors.

Autofocus uses the entire dual-pixel sensor, so it’s fast even in low light and with moving subjects like kids. Although color and white balance tend to be less pleasing than an iPhone, the sheer quality and detail of the 12MP camera even marks a new standard in smartphone imagery.

It’s not just stills – dual pixel AF in video and the combination of both optical and electronic image stabilization make for the some of the sharpest and smoothest, glidecam-esque footage we’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for the best camera on a smartphone, look no further.

Read more about the Google Pixel 2

Best prosumer camera drone

Shortlist:
- DJI Spark
- DJI Mavic Pro Platinum
- DJI Phantom 4 Advanced
Runner-up: DJI Mavic Pro Platinum

Drones are becoming a popular photography tool as they allow anyone to capture high quality images from the air. All of the drones on this year’s list of finalists are made by DJI, but that’s not surprising given how quickly the company cranks out new models, each representing a good value in its own way.

The DJI Mavic Pro Platinum is an update to last year’s Mavic Pro, which won our Editor’s Choice award in 2016. It adds quieter operation, thanks to redesigned props, as well as a few more minutes of flight time. Combined with its ability to capture 4K video using a good codec, 12MP Raw image files, DJI’s Active Track technology, and a folding design that makes it great for travel, the Mavic Pro Platinum gets the nod as runner-up.

Winner: Phantom 4 Advanced

When it comes to getting the highest quality images from a drone, one model on our shortlist stands out: the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced. Its camera is built around a 20MP 1″-type sensor, similar to what you would find in a high end compact camera like a Sony RX100, resulting in higher resolution, better quality images, and more malleable Raw files than small-sensor models.

It also has the most impressive video features on the list, including 4K/60p recording using a 100Mbps codec, an option to use the more advanced H.265 codec, and produces very usable Log video. Of course, it also gets all of DJI’s intelligent flight modes. Thanks to its high image quality and advanced feature set, the Phantom 4 Advanced wins our award for best drone of 2017.

Best zoom lens

Shortlist:
- Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F4 R LM WR
- Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G
- Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM
- Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2
Runner-up: Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G

A lot of lenses get released every year, and it’s always a challenge to whittle the year’s releases down to a shortlist – let alone to pick a winner. That said, this year several lenses stood out from the pack.

To say the Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G is an excellent wide-angle zoom would be an understatement: it’s optically as good or better than far bigger lenses weighing nearly twice as much. For some landscape photographers, that weight advantage may be enough to buy into the Sony system, and its super-wide angle of view will also be useful for architecture and interiors. For the sort of edge-to-edge sharpness this lens provides in such an immensely small and lightweight package, the 12-24mm could easily have won in this category, instead just losing out to…

Read more about the
Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G

Winner: Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM

…its big brother the Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM. More versatile than the 12-24mm, Sony’s pro-grade 16-35mm F2.8 is built to an exceptionally high standard and offers excellent sharpness, making it an ideal companion to Sony’s new a7R III.

For many years, Sony was criticized for offering a relatively small lineup of high-quality lenses, but products like the new 16-35mm F2.8 GM prove that the company has what it takes to make world-class optics. Sharp even wide open, fast to focus and capable of producing some of the nicest sunstars we’ve ever seen, this lens will be useful for everything from landscapes to indoor sports to weddings. The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM earns our award for best zoom lens of 2017.

Read more about the
Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM

Best prime lens

Shortlist:
- Canon EF 85mm F1.4L IS USM
- Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm F1.2 Pro
- Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art
- Sony FE 85mm F1.8
Runner-up: Sony FE 85mm F1.8

There were so many excellent prime lenses released this year that picking an overall winner and runner-up was very difficult. From high-quality wides to fast-aperture telephotos, the options have never been better, and 2017 saw some amazing lenses released from all of the major manufacturers.

In the end though, we narrowed the field down to four lenses, all of which would have made worthy winners. Sony’s FE 85mm F1.8 takes the runner-up spot for its combination of excellent image quality, speedy autofocus, attainable price and compact size. For anyone looking to get into portraiture using Sony’s full-frame lens ecosystem, we wholeheartedly recommend the FE 85mm F1.8.

Read more about the
Sony FE 85mm F1.8

Winner: Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art

After much discussion, our pick for the best prime lens of 2017 is the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art. At the opposite end of the spectrum to the Sony FE 85mm F1.8, the Sigma 14mm F1.8 ‘Art’ is a niche lens, but one that offers a unique perspective for certain kinds of photography where sharp, distortion-free images at wide apertures can make a huge difference.

Astrophotography is an obvious example, and shooting the Aurora Borealis, but the Sigma 14mm F1.8 is surprisingly useful for a range of other photography, too, including conventional landscapes and cityscapes. We’ve been in love with this lens since we first used it in Japan back in spring. The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art is our pick for best prime lens of 2017.

Read more about the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art

Best compact camera

Shortlist:
- Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III
- Fujifilm X100F
- Olympus Tough TG-5
- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV
Runner up: Fujifilm X100F

This year was a relatively slow one for compact cameras, even in a market segment that has contracted significantly in recent years. But several of the models released in 2017 were truly excellent, and any one of our shortlisted cameras would make a worthy winner.

Our runner-up pick for best compact camera of 2017 is the Fujifilm X100F. A well thought-our successor to the proven X100T, the X100F incorporates a higher-resolution sensor, bigger battery, and tweaked user interface including an AF positioning joystick. With the X100F, one of our favorite large-sensor compacts just got even better.

Read our review of the Fujifilm X100F

Winner: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV

Our expectations of compact cameras have shifted a lot in recent years, thanks in no small part to Sony. The Cyber-shot RX100 and RX10-series have shaken up the compact market by offering better image quality, faster shooting, and much more advanced video capabilities than most competitors, amid a product refresh cycle that is, frankly, exhausting.

Although it might look like a relatively minor update to last year’s RX10 III, the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV is a considerably more attractive camera thanks to the addition of phase-detection autofocus. It rarely hunts for focus even at 600mm. While it can’t manage DSLR-level subject tracking, it’s impressively capable for both stills and video, and this combined with the razor-sharp 24-600mm stabilized zoom lens makes for an unbeatable combination. As such, the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV earns our award for the best compact camera of 2017.

Read our review of the
Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV

Best consumer stills/video camera

Shortlist:
- Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5
- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV
- Sony Alpha a9
- Sony Alpha a7R III
Runner up: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV

The days of dedicated stills cameras and dedicated consumer video cameras are almost over. Pretty much every camera released in 2017 offered a high-quality video mode, and 4K and even 6K features are becoming common in mirrorless ILCs and DSLRs alike. The ability to smoothly transition from shooting stills to capturing high-quality video footage is invaluable to multi-media professionals, events photographers and casual social photographers alike.

All of the shortlisted cameras in this category offer excellent video features, centered around high-quality 4K capture. For its combination of versatility, portability and (relative) affordability, runner-up in this category goes to the ultra-versatile Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV.

Learn more about the
Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV

Winner: Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5

When reviewing the cameras shortlisted in this category, one product kept coming up again and again. The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 is a stunning stills/video hybrid camera, offering an unmatched 4K video feature set, alongside solid stills photography features.

The more recent (and more stills-focused) G9 offers more stable autofocus in video mode, but in terms of expandability, and the sheer quality of its 4K/6K footage, the GH5 is a clear winner. As such it’s incredibly versatile for everything from ‘run and gun’ videography to high-resolution reportage and easily earns our award for best consumer stills / video camera of the year.

Read our review of the Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5

Best entry-level ILC

Shortlist:
- Canon EOS M100
- Canon EOS Rebel SL2 (EOS 200D)
- Canon EOS Rebel T7i (EOS 800D)
- Olympus OM-D E-M10 III
Runner-up: Canon EOS M100

Entry-level cameras are among the most important products in every manufacturer’s lineup. Once a new photographer has invested in a system, the hope is that they’ll stay loyal, growing their investment in lenses, accessories and – in the future – more advanced cameras.

Canon refreshed virtually its entire entry-level portfolio this year, across both the EF and EF-M lines. One of our favorite entry-level cameras this year (and any year) was the tiny EOS M100, which earns the runner-up spot for its combination of stress-free handling, excellent autofocus and solid image quality.

Read our review of the Canon EOS M100

Winner: Olympus OM-D E-M10 III

One camera stood out among entry-level models this year for its attractive combination of advanced stills features, 4K video and lightweight design. That camera is the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. While its M43 sensor can’t match some competitors for resolution, the addition of 4K video and provision for 5-axis in-camera stabilization make it among the most versatile entry-level cameras on the market.

Despite being very small and light, the E-M10 III offers generous manual controls, and an accessible user interface that still provides a lot of customization options – ideal for a photographer just starting out, who wants a camera that gives them some room to grow. For these reasons, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 III wins our award for best entry-level ILC of 2017.

Read our review of the
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III

Best midrange ILC

Shortlist:
- Canon EOS M6
- Fujifilm X-E3
- Nikon D7500
- Pentax KP
Runner-up: Fujifilm X-E3

This year’s collection of mid-range interchangeable lens cameras makes for stiff competition in this category. They all come with plentiful controls, APS-C sensors, and well thought-out (if distinctly different) ergonomics. This made choosing our winner very difficult, as all are highly capable photographic tools.

In the end, we decided that Fujifilm’s X-E3 is our runner up for this category. We love the JPEG output, and we’re fans of its new and useful touchscreen, revised controls and smaller size relative to its predecessors. The autofocus joystick in particular makes this camera a great shooting companion, and it slots in well alongside the company’s X-T20 as a rangefinder-styled alternative.

Read our review of the Fujifilm X-E3

Winner: Nikon D7500

Taking the crown is a refined DSLR that’s supremely capable in almost any scenario – the Nikon D7500. We’ve long been fans of Nikon’s midrange DSLRs, and the D7500 is no different. With a capable autofocus system, great image quality, comfortable ergonomics and an expansive lens ecosystem, the D7500 has a lot going for it.

Whether you’re into sports, portraiture, landscapes or low light work, there’s really not much the D7500 can’t do. The crop in 4K mode is a little extreme (though the video quality is quite good), and it’s not the most compact of its peers. But the D7500 remains supremely versatile, and for that, it takes the top slot in its category.

Read our review of the Nikon D7500

Best high-end ILC

Shortlist:
- Fujifilm GFX 50S
- Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5
- Nikon D850
- Sony Alpha 7R III
Even without flagship professional DSLRs from Canon and Nikon, the competition in the high-end ILC marketplace was fierce this year. Fufifilm’s GFX 50S (announced in 2016, but released in early spring) shook up the medium-format market, while Sony’s a7R III and a9 redefined our expectations of professional mirrorless cameras. Meanwhile, Panasonic made a play for professional and enthusiast videographers with the Lumix DC-GH5 and Nikon pulled out all of the stops with the D850 – arguably its most ambitious DSLR yet.

After a lot of discussion, we couldn’t decide on a single clear winner in this category. So we opted to recognize two cameras as joint winners, both of which are excellent for slightly different reasons. Drumroll please…

Joint-winner: Nikon D850

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that we chose the Nikon D850 as our joint winner for best high-end ILC of 2017. It’s hard to imagine how much more advanced a DSLR could be. Offering a combination of incredible resolution, speed, equal best-in-class dynamic range and excellent autofocus, the D850 is a winner whichever way you look at it. A highly respectable 4K video option is the icing on the cake.

Performance is excellent, handling is luxurious, and it’s out of stock pretty much everywhere – for good reason.

Read our review of the Nikon D850

Joint-winner: Sony Alpha a7R III

Our second joint-winner is a similarly impressive camera, that pushes the boundaries of mirrorless technology. The Sony a7R III is a technological tour-de-force, incorporating a tweaked version of the 42MP sensor used in the a7R II, now with even more dynamic range, and one of the best autofocus systems we’ve yet encountered in a mirrorless camera.

While it can’t quite keep up with the sports-focused a9, the a7R III is no slouch, and offers a combination of speed and resolution that make it very attractive for a range of different kinds of photography. Equally at home capturing 4K video as it is 42MP stills, the a7R III is capable, versatile and more than a match for anything with a mirror. As such, it earns the title of joint winner, in our category for best high-end ILC of 2017.

Read our review of the Sony a7R III

DPReview innovation award

Shortlist:
- DJI Zenmuse X7
- iOS 11 / HEIF
- Google Pixel 2 computational camera
- Sony a9
Runner-up: iOS 11/ HEIF

Our runner-up is the HEIF (‘heef’) image format. Consumer digital photography has been stuck using 8-bit, sRGB JPEG images for more than twenty years, despite periodic touted replacements. The HEIF format, developed by the MPEG working group, can be used to contain all sorts of multi-image data, whether that’s a high res image and a low-res preview, multi shot bursts, focus stack groups or variants of images rendered for HDR and standard DR displays.

Its adoption by Apple not only in its latest desktop operating system but also on the much more widely-used iOS 11 mobile OS increases the likelihood of its wider adoption, particularly on the iPhone X, whose HDR display will help its users to appreciate the value of the 10-bit images (in the wider-than-sRGB P3 colorspace) that its camera shoots by default. This push towards fairly widespread adoption and perhaps appreciation, might finally see a more sophisticated format dethrone the all-conquering JPEG. And just in time to let us all shoot natural-looking wide dynamic range images for the HDR screens that are becoming ever more common.

Winner: Google Pixel 2 computational camera

After much discussion, the Google Pixel 2 ‘computational camera’ wins our ‘Innovation of the Year’ award. With the Pixel 2, Google shows us that computational photography not only renders most compacts obsolete, it’s coming for your camera as well. That’s not meant to be as ominous as it sounds. In fact, it’s great news.

The Pixel 2 camera wins because of the sheer image quality it can produce from minimal hardware thanks to computational approaches. The camera is always maintaining a 9-frame full-resolution buffer at at least 60 frames per second. Dual Pixel AF means your subject is most likely pre-focused before you even press the shutter button, and when you do, the camera goes back in time to those last 9 frames, combines them, and thereby reduces noise by over 3 stops compared to a conventional sensor of that size. In high contrast scenes, the Pixel 2 exposes to not clip highlights, then averages those frames to reduce noise in shadows. And all of this happens at the press of a button.

Probably most impressive is its Portrait mode, which generates a depth map from the tiny stereo disparity between the split pixels behind the lens. The results are nothing short of impressive: look at the progressive blur, both in front of and behind, our main subject here.

DPReview product of the year, 2017

Shortlist:
- Nikon D850
- Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G
- Sony a9
- Sony a7R III
Runner-up: Nikon D850

‘What was the best product of the year?’ That’s a very difficult question to answer even in a quiet year, but as we’ve seen, 2017 saw the launch of some seriously good cameras, lenses and accessories. But as we get close to the end of the year, two products really stood out, for their combination of features, power and flexibility.

Our runner-up this year is perhaps the most advanced enthusiast DSLR ever released. Combining almost class-leading resolution with unrivaled speed and one of the best autofocus systems on the market, the Nikon D850 earns the runner-up spot in this year’s DPReview Awards for Best Product of 2017.

Winner: Sony Alpha a7R III

You guessed it – one of the last cameras released in 2017 ended up taking the top spot. The Sony a7R III is a truly impressive camera, which combines advanced stills and video features in a body designed to satisfy the needs of professionals and enthusiasts alike. While the a9 is faster, and features an autofocus system better optimized for shooting sports, the a7R III is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera for the rest of us, and a well-deserved winner of our award for the best product of 2017.

As we approach the end of the year, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support, and your feedback. For a chance to vote for your own favorite product of 2017, our Reader’s Polls are open, and can be found here. Voting in the first round closes on December 18th.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
December 11, 2017
7 Style Tricks to Steal from Other Artists

You’ve been taking photos for quite a while now but suddenly you notice your shots are looking a bit the similar. Same locations, same light, same style, same subjects.

Yes, you can travel to new places once in a blue moon, but you itch to get out with your camera all the time taking inspiring shots.

You want to create something new and individual but there is always that nagging feeling that everything’s been done.
Yes, friends and family love what you do, but you want to make an impression on your peers. Maybe even enter a competition or two.

Well, you can break out of the same old same old ruth, here’s how. Just borrow a little style from other artists – they’ve been making images for thousands of years and are well practiced at bringing in the new.

7 Ideas to get you out of a rut

1. Andy Warhol Pop Art

Warhol is famous for his multi-image saturated color artwork such as his portrait of Marilyn Monroe and his Campbell’s soup cans. There is little depth created and the work is all about the surface patterns.

For this first steal you need a straight forward head and shoulders shot against a plain background. There are dozens of videos on YouTube that show you the process for creating pop art, which is quite straight forward, even for a novice at photo manipulation. Choose colors to suit your decor or mood. It’s a lot of fun scrolling through the hues and selecting the color combinations that grab you.

2. Rothko’s Color Fields

Mark Rothko’s paintings are often a field of just one color. They are full of texture, light and shade and nuances of hue and tone. Completely abstract, they still encompass a gamut of emotions from calm reassurance to dark solemnity. Other works include bands of color or two juxtaposed fields.

For this style, try photographing a field full of texture and color such as rapeseed in golden hour light for a picture full of joy. A windswept, sandy beach or a derelict urban factory wall make great subjects to try.

You could create bands of color with long exposures and intentional motion blur smoothing out features that may distract from the visual idea.

The field of orange ephemeral leaves here is offset with the solid green of the tree for changes in texture and color. This would be a good subject for the motion blur technique.

3. Escher’s Perspectives

Famed for his impossible changes of perspective and tessellating patterns, Escher also looked at the natural world capturing unusual, thought provoking views. One of those was a woodcut of tire tracks holding a puddle reflecting trees. It’s one of those pictures where you do a double take. This isn’t the same as including reflections in rain covered streets, it’s more about capturing another world where the rest of the scene is merely background.

This example is a small pool in a beech wood. There is just enough “right way up” detail to explain the view point but not enough to change the subject.

4. Monet and Impressionism

The work of the Impressionists is hugely popular, full of light and sparkle. This was achieved by placing complementary colors such as orange and blue next to each other. Your eyes mix the colors and create a myriad of tones that seem to dance across the surface.

You can recreate this effect by looking out for natural occurrences of complementary colors such as these orange and gold leaves against a blue sky. Overexposing the shot slightly helps to give the high key and luminance you need for this to work well.

5. Rembrandt and Chiaroscuro

Rembrandt was a master of Chiaroscuro, the use of deep changes in tone from dark to light adding drama and mood. He mostly used this style for portraits, his brightly lit figures coming out of a deep dark background.

It’s a lovely technique you can use on your portraits, as Rembrandt did, using a dark room and a simple light source such as a lantern. You could also use this style to add a different dimension to still life or macro subjects such as this ox eye daisy.

In this case the background was in shadow behind the flower and a reflector was used to direct more light onto the bloom itself. A little tweaking with Photoshop increased the depth of the darks.

6. Mondrian Grid Patterns

Blocks of pure color carefully arranged and separated by black lines of a grid were Mondrian’s stock in trade.

To replicate this style, you could look out for grid patterns occurring in the environment, such as different color fields separated by stone walls, paintwork in urban decay, windows in office or apartment blocks, and reflections on water surfaces. You could even set up a still life on a black table using found textures and colors.

In this photo, the initial attraction was the colored reflections, the duckling was a happy accident!

7. Mandalas

These are currently hugely popular across creative fields from adult coloring books to crochet.

This is a great style to use to organize still life subjects containing lots of small items in a cohesive structure. It can be most enjoyable and therapeutic to create the mandala in the first place. You then have the added bonus of the photo opportunity at the end.

This photo used a selection of fruit, leaves, and nuts on a slate table mat background. Nothing went to waste in this one.

You could try autumn leaves, sea shells on the sand, sweets, or mixed media. Get the family to join in for some creative bonding.

Conclusion

So now it’s over to you. You can take some of these ideas and maybe some of your own inspired by this article and run with them. It’s time to get out with your camera and look around with an artist’s, as well as a photographer’s eye. Good luck, happy shooting, and please come and share your results in the comments below.

The post 7 Style Tricks to Steal from Other Artists by Janice Gill appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

December 11, 2017
Review of K&F Concept KF-885 Speedlight

A few weeks back I received the K&F Concept KF-885 Speedlight to test out and review. Now before I get into the review for this flash, I have to say that I have been a Canon photographer ever since I started my business in 2010. Even before I was photographing for clients, I always gravitated towards Canon gear just because I have consistently had great results with this brand. My very first film camera Canon AE-1 is still in my gear bag and continues to give me stellar results!

I completely understand and acknowledge that branded gear does tend to be expensive and is not in everyone’s budget, especially for those just starting out on their photographic journey. Having said that, there are some great companies with comparable gear in terms of quality and performance. In fact, sometimes, the quality and results are even better than their branded counterparts. This just goes to show that the skill and experience of the user makes a good photograph and not necessarily the gear you use.

For this review, I used the K&F Concept KF-885 Speedlight on a couple of different assignments – for wedding reception photos and an outdoor portrait session. I have to say that I was very happy with the results from this flash.

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I have used my Canon external flash for the past four years and found the K&F Concept flash very comparable to the Canon 600 EX-RT version in terms of performance, look, and feel. Definitely worth looking into if you are in the market for an external flash for your photography needs.

#1 – Specs, Look and Feel of the KF-885

the K&F Concept KF-885 Speedlight looks very similar to the Canon 600EX-RT external flash. In fact, when I compared the two side by side, they looked almost identical in terms of size, weight, and the accessories that were included in the package.

The KF-885 flash has a slightly bigger monitor display compared to the Canon but having used the Canon brand, I had no trouble figuring out the menu options. In fact, I almost felt that the K&F Concept flash menu options were simpler and easier to figure out. The flash also comes with a built-in reflect board and a built-in wide diffuser to enlarge the shooting range.

The flash on the left is from K&C Concept and the flash on the right is from Canon. They both come with a flash case, a base stand, and a plain white diffuser cap.

The flash on the left is from K&C Concept and the flash on the right is from Canon. As you can see, they are almost identical in size and weight.

The flash on the left is from K&C Concept and the flash on the right is from Canon. The two flashes look almost identical to each other.

The flash on the left is from K&C Concept and the flash on the right is from Canon. The cosmetic difference is in the shoe mount for the flash. The K&C Concept one has a circular dial to tighten the flash to the camera shoe mount whereas the Canon one has a lever that is moved from left to right to lock in the flash to the camera body.

#2 Display Screen and Menu Options

The K&F Concept KF-885 speedlight has similar menu options to the Canon external flash. The On/Off button turns the flash on and off. The Mode button is to select auto and manual controls, multi-modes, and wireless modes (master/slave mode operation).

The circular set of five buttons is used to adjust the power of the flash when used in manual mode. The flash head also has a vertical rotation angle of 7-90 degrees and horizontal rotation angle of 0-180 degrees.

#3 Usage

Being used to my Canon 600 EX-RT flash in manual and ETTL mode, I was able to quickly adjust to the K&C Concept KF-885. I also used both flashes for a couple of photos by setting the Canon flash as the master and the K&C Concept flash as the slave. The two flashes communicated with each other and I was able to use setups of both on-camera and off-camera flashes seamlessly.

An indoor wedding portrait session made easy with the K&C Concept KF-885 External Flash

The K&C Concept Flash handled poorly lit wedding reception areas quite beautifully.

Summary

Overall, I was very impressed with the K&F Concept KF-885 Speedlight. At a price point of $ 86, that is significantly less than its branded counterpart. This is a great option for someone who is looking to add an external flash to their gear kit but doesn’t want to spend a lot of money.

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The post Review of K&F Concept KF-885 Speedlight by Karthika Gupta appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

December 11, 2017
Tips for Planning and Capturing a Creative Portrait
There is saying, in the photography world, that an image can be taken in a hundred different ways. This is especially true, as you have probably already noticed when capturing portraits.

Portrait photography is probably the most popular genre, within the realm of the diverse world that is the art of photography. People take portraits so frequently, snapping selfies or photos of their loved ones, with mobile phones or cameras. In any case, this is pretty much what portrait photography is all about, capturing people’s faces.

However, as photographers, you will always be striving for higher excellence, whatever the style of your photography. It’s a natural cause, this is one of the reasons why photography is artistry. The drive for capturing better images, in the field of portrait photography, will eventually lead you to a higher dimension where you won’t be satisfied with just capturing a face, but rather the soul of your subject.

Lonely young and beautiful woman seating in a bar, next to a piano and a bottle of champagne, of 1920s time period. The woman is dressed in 1920s black evening dress and Gatsby-style diadem on her hair, there is a large old rusted window in the background where blue evening light invades the scene.

This dimension in photography is where creativity lay hidden. It waits to be unleashed by forces such as knowledge and the inspiration gathered along the way, as you were growing as a photographer. So let’s embark on a quest which will help you harvest the power of creativity in photographing portraits and escape the ordinary.

In the list below, you’ll learn the main ingredients that will help you harvest this creative force and take you to another level with your portrait photography.

Equipment

Know the equipment you work with well. This is the baseline from where you need to start. Technical knowledge may not seem connected to art at first, but let’s examine the image below.

Self-portrait with creative lighting involving a continuous light and a studio strobe.

This image was captured with a single exposure and there weren’t any alterations applied to it in Photoshop. A second curtain flash technique with slow shutter speed created the effect here. Camera White Balance was set to tungsten and the key light colored with CTO – to balance the colors with gels.

Surely you have noticed how technical knowledge and art correlate. Be it your camera settings, lens, or strobe lights, the more you know about your equipment the more options you’ll end up having to explore in bringing your artwork to realization.

Selecting the right faces, exploring your model’s hidden potential

Most photographers create their best work by working on personal projects. When working on a personal project, you’ll have the full control to choose the model sitting in front of your camera – you are the Art Director.

There are faces full of potential, although they are not faces of professional models (it could be people you see in the public transport or the streets), revealing great characters and features. You need to be able to see this potential and invite such people for a portrait photo session.

Keep in mind that although a person looks great, he or she may not feel comfortable sitting and posing for you at first. This will obviously affect the overall quality and purpose of the photo session.

Remember, as a photographer, it’s your job to bring a good vibe and mood to the set, in order to help your model relax and being able to explore his/her best features.

Low key portrait of a black man wearing glasses and a black leather jacket, having his hands and fingers very close to his face.

In the first image above, is a man who booked a personal creative portrait session. It took four hours of working with him in order to reach a point where he was finally in the right part of his own creative universe, feeling free and exploring himself. He had never had such an experience before and was feeling quite nervous and shy at first.

The second image below is a good representation of working with a great character.

Portrait capturing a model dressed in WWII pilot outfit holding Cuban cigar in his mouth. The creative look of this portrait has been achieved by the use of multiple strobe lights.

Lighting

Light is the very reason why photography exists. Think about light, study light – how it spreads, how it bounces, how it is reflected, its specularity, etc. There is so much to light. Light is what will be rendering the reality in front of you, by reflecting and bouncing back into your camera lens.

Light has a quality which is defined by the source, intensity, size, and color temperature of the light. The best part is that you have full access to controlling any of this. Main sources of light for photographers are:
- Ambient light
- Strobe light
- Continuous light
But as you move on to the next topic, you’ll see that there is much more to light than just being available in some form.

Photographic studio setup for a portrait session, the image features Bowens strobes, a white backdrop and light modifiers.

In the image, above, can be seeing a studio strobe lighting setup for a portrait session. Some characters may require really complex lighting in order to capture their personalities. Others just require one or two light sources – it will be up to you as an artist to determine this.

Low key portrait of a man with a ginger beard and leather jacket, the scene features dramatic and creative strobe lighting.

The portrait above was photographed with only two strobe lights – portraying very well how the most appropriate lighting was selected to illuminate and capture the mood and personality of the person. While for the image below involved the use of six strobe lights.

Portrait of young woman on blue background wearing a purple dress – with a creative, multiple lighting setup and approach.

Shaping the light, light modifiers

All artists use different sort of tools that help them shape the fabric of their own inspirations and bring creative ideas to life. It is the same for us photographers too.

First, there’s the light, ambient or strobe, which is the raw material you work with. But this material needs to be softened or shaped, helping you in the process of reaching deeper dimensions of your subject’s features and character.

Light shaping tools will help you define your own creative realm – the realms of Game of Shadows, Game of Highlights and Game of Midtones, where you are the master controlling and balancing what sort of reality your light will render.

Tattooed rockabilly, demon, barber holding razor blade in his dark and demonic barber shop with pinup model as his evil assistant on the background next to a bottle of Jack Daniels.

For the creation of the image above, several light shaping tools were used and some of them were even further modified in order to produce the quality of light needed in this particular situation (the image was shot at 10 am in the morning but the idea was for dark – Sweeney Todd concept)

Studio, location, and features

Another very important ingredient to the process of building unique and creative portrait images is exploring what is around you. What is available or what you can build, light and create on location or in the studio?

Although portrait images are characterized by very tightly cropped frames, around the subject’s face – attention needs to be given even to the smallest details. Such details will greatly contribute to the overall contrast within the scene you are capturing.

An example of this is when you are shooting in a studio you can use a snoot, or another light modifier, and create a spot of light or perhaps colorize your background, by placing color gels. Do not limit yourself to only thinking of the face you intend to capture, but rather on the grand scene of everything that will be captured in your composition/frame.

Following the same flow of thoughts and principles – you can turn even a simple room into a professional studio like has been done on the image below – photographed in a bedroom.

An image featuring the founder of Vialucci media, Theo X photographed on a white background.

Things even get more challenging and interesting when shooting environmental, wide-angle portraits. A location can reveal so much about the personality of your subject and also contribute greatly to the level of creative quality in your images. All you need to do when you’re at a great location is help stylize the scene, frame well (appealing creative composition), bring the strobes in and work out the best of your models.

Props, makeup, and hair

This is a very challenging step that eventually one day you’ll take, but it is also very rewarding. By reaching the point of employing props, makeup, and a hair stylist – it will be solid evidence that a line was crossed with no option of turning back. This is the stage where you’ll be seeing beyond the ordinary qualities of your subject and looking to reach a deeper dimension – a state of creative vision.

A conceptual scene of a four-handed Queen seating on a throne receiving scripts from her Demon servant, and pointing at a Victorian style globe. The scene is lit by several light sources with different colors, rendering the whole scene in a very creative and original light.

Creative portrait composite representing WWII pilot in the cockpit of his aircraft engaged in an aerial battle, with the enemy aircraft in the background.

The images above illustrate very well, the level of creativity obtained by employing props, makeup and hair into the photoshoot.

Editing and retouching

Processing or editing images has always been an integral part of the whole creative process. Although having all the advantages and power of digital technology, you shouldn’t abandon the universal rules and laws of aesthetics.

Think of retouching and editing as a process that helps you enhance the high-quality photographs you already capture and bring your creative vision to final realization. This is achieved without overdoing and diminishing the quality of your photographs.

The two images below are good examples of a photograph captured with simple lighting setup and processed just enough to clear and strengthen the subject’s appearance.

Before processing.

After processing.

Conclusion

Capturing creative images involves innovative and creative thinking – seeing things differently, thinking differently. That is why you always need to be on your own small quest for creativity, not bound only by what was covered here or elsewhere.

Come up with your own new solutions – in the process of which you only will add and improve your portrait photography.

The post Tips for Planning and Capturing a Creative Portrait by Nikolay Mirchev appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
December 11, 2017
2017 Buying Guide: Best cameras for sports and action

Are you a speed freak? Hungry to photograph anything that goes ‘zoom’? Or perhaps you just want to get Sports Illustrated-level shots of your child’s soccer game. Keep reading to find out which cameras we think are best for sports and action shooting.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

December 10, 2017