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Re.photos: This website lets anyone create and share then-and-now photos

04 Jan

If you’re both a photography fan and history buff, then you might want to check out a platform called re.photos. The website/social network, which launched a couple of months ago, allows anyone to share interactive then-and-now images—so-called “rephotography”—that compare a modern version of a location or subject with an older image of the same spot.

Re.photos is the brainchild of retired computer science professor Oliver Vornberger, and it’s extremely easy to use. Users simply upload both a before and an after photo, then place markers on a few points on the images so that the system knows how to align them.

Speaking to PetaPixel in November, Vornberger said that a student of his is working on improving the platform’s algorithm so that manually placing markers isn’t necessary. Eventually, the whole system should be as easy as uploading a before and after picture, and letting the website do the rest of the work.

In addition to automatically aligning images—taking the hard work out of creating these comparisons manually—re.photos serves as an exploration platform for finding rephotography from other users. Rephotography created by users can be searched using descriptions, username, titles, tags such as date or location, and category such as interior, nature, and people.

To check out the platform for yourself, or upload a few before and afters of your own, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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5 Tips to Getting the Most out of a Photography Conference

04 Jan

One of the best ways to rapidly improve your photography skills and broaden your photographic community is to attend a photography conference. But, if you’ve never been to a conference before, just the idea of going can be intimidating. The rewards are great though, so read on for five tips that will help you select the right photography conference for your needs plus get the absolute most out of it once you get there.

Tip #1: Know your goals

Before you plunk down your deposit, evaluate your own specific goals for attending the photography conference. First, think about what you want to learn when you are at the conference. Obviously, if you’re a wildlife photographer and the conference focuses solely on street photography, it’s probably not right for you. But, if the conference offers many different learning options, you’ll need to do some investigating before you decide whether or not to attend.

Photography Conference Tips - northern Nevada landscape

I’m primarily a wildlife and nature photographer so when I evaluate a conference, I look for courses that will support my goals. I want to become a better landscape photographer too so I look for classes that will help me do that as well. Canon 7D Mark II, 24-105 II @ 70mm, f/11, 1/400th, ISO 100, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

The instructors

Start by checking out the bios and websites of the instructors. Ask yourself if they are making images that inspire you. Do their images look like the images that you aspire to make yourself? Read their blogs and watch their videos too to get a good idea of whether their teaching style suits your learning style. If you find a few instructors that are simpatico, check out their courses at the conference.

I signed up for a Photoshop course at AdobeMax with Glyn Dewis but, since I didn’t know much about him, I looked up his website and read his About page first. Turns out he was an excellent instructor.

The course offerings

Now, review the course offerings. Is there content that you need to learn? Most photographers want to improve their existing skill set, whether that’s learning how to make better-exposed images or how to mask in Photoshop.

Does the conference offer courses at the right skill level for you? If you’re not sure, reach out to either the instructors or the conference organizers.

Photography Conference Tips - Course description

I use Lightroom and Photoshop in my work often so discovering how two different photographers use these tools felt like a course that would teach me a great deal. Plus, Julieanne Kost is my photography hero!

Learning new things

Learning new things is important too so look at courses that are completely out of the box for you.

If you’re a wildlife life photographer and you invest your time in a 90-minute course on street photography, you might be surprised at how that affects your work the next time you head out on an African safari. It can help you get “unstuck” if you’re mired in a creative rut.

After the class, you might even be inspired to continue learning street photography.

When I attend a photography conference, my goal is to improve skills I already have but also to learn new things. At AdobeMax I did a bit of both, with courses on public speaking and Photoshop.

Tip #2: Networking

A huge reason to go to a photography conference is to expand your photography community. One thing I really love is that I can connect with people I’ve only ever met online. Meeting “live” at a conference is almost like a reunion. Of course, you can make new friends too, plus you can meet expert instructors in person.

Big conferences versus small ones

When you’re evaluating a conference, if networking is a big part of why you’re attending, definitely reach out to past conference attendees to gauge their experiences. At a 12,000-person conference like AdobeMax, it’s not as easy to hob knob and make new friends.

At a smaller, 400-person conference like Out of Chicago, making new friends is a snap. You’ll be in the same courses with the same people over and over. You’ll probably be best friends and be planning a photography trip together before the weekend even ends.

Photography Conference Tips - OOC community

The Out of Chicago Community page has over 1000 members. That makes it easy to reach out to people to ask if the conference would be a good fit for you. Most photography conferences have similar social media community pages.

Instructor accessibility

Likewise, at a huge conference, the instructors might not be so accessible for you to chat with, except at special times. And at those special times, since 12,000 people are waiting to speak with them, it will be a mob scene rather than a cozy tête-à-tête.

At a smaller conference, your instructors will probably be eating lunch right next to you. Bigger conferences draw bigger names though. So while you might not make as many personal one-on-one connections, it might be worth it if you’re going to learn from someone you hold in extremely high esteem.

Tip #3: Take advantage of every opportunity

In addition to seminars and hands-on courses, most photography conferences offer opening and closing keynote speeches. Big-name photographers or well-known industry experts usually give these talks. You might think of these things as “free” – just regular stuff included in your conference that everyone gets – but don’t think that way.

Often the keynote speeches are the best parts of the conference. The opening keynote sets the stage for the week and lays out all of your opportunities for learning. The closing keynote caps the week with a review of what you did learn, and a reminder to go out and practice it.

AdobeMax didn’t offer any photo walks while I was there. So instead, I photographed the expo hall one morning while the light was amazing. Canon 5DIV, 24-105 II @ 31mm. 1/100, f/14, ISO 640, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

Photo Walks

Another great add-on is photo walks. They help combine learning and networking into one fun outing. As you can imagine though, these are more prevalent in smaller conferences than large ones. Herding 12,000 attendees with cameras around the Vegas Strip doesn’t typically make for very good picture-taking.

On the other hand, 400 attendees walking through the Chicago Loop is a drop in the bucket. If photo walks are important to you, check into smaller, regional conferences. Either way, don’t skip these if they’re offered at the conference you’re attending.

Vendors

Every conference has a vendor or exhibition area where you can check out the latest and greatest gear and technology. Make sure you plan time into your schedule to visit this area. I usually grab a quick lunch on the go and use the 90-minute lunch period checking out all the different booths.

Photography Conference Tips - Interactive

Just outside the AdobeMax vendor area, there were lots of interactive activities for creatives, like this “chalkboard.” Canon 5DIV, 24-105 II @ 24mm, f/6.3, 1/100th, ISO 640, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

At small conferences, you’re more likely to be able to rent a piece of gear for the day and test it out on a photo walk. Sometimes vendors offer discounts and even have product on hand that you can buy and take home with you.

At a large conference, you probably won’t be able to do more than review the gear at the vendor booth and talk to the rep. However, at a large conference, the vendor area often has a carnival-like feel to it, with interactive creative and technology exhibits set up to draw you in.

Tip #4: Conference bonuses

There will almost always be a party and often that party will include free food, drinks, and entertainment so go! It’s a bonus. Don’t skip it. Remember, if you’re goal is to network, the party is where you’ll meet fellow photographers and instructors.

Bring your camera

While night-time concert photography isn’t even remotely one of my fortes, I had a blast photographing this band at the AdobeMax Bash. Canon 5DIV, 24-105 II @ 105mm, f/5, 1/320th, ISO 8000, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

That party – and probably a good bit of the conference – will be a blast to photograph so bring your camera. A lot of people won’t. Some people will bring them, but will never take them out of their camera bags. You, on the other hand, should keep your camera in hand and happily shoot away.

Even if you’re a wildlife photographer, and the images won’t go into your portfolio, making images of the conference will help you solidify everything you’ve learned over the course of the weekend.

Photograpjy Conference Tips - dragon's breath

Serving up dragon’s breath dessert at the Adobe Max Bash. Canon 5DIV, 24-105 II @ 24mm, f/4.5, 1/320th, ISO 10,000, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

Swag

Hopefully, it doesn’t surprise you that you will get swag (free stuff!) at a photography conference. There might be a raffle or contest where you can win big door prizes – like lenses, tablets, and cameras. There will surely be a bag of goodies handed to you when you check in.

Most often you’ll get a reusable bag containing a sample pack of printer paper, a tee shirt, stickers, magnets, lens cleaning cloths, candy, water bottles, and lots of flyers. Now I know it’s tempting to just pitch most of it but before you do, review it all. There will be coupons and promo codes and it’s possible that there might be one for 20% off the business cards you always order or a BOGO (buy one get one) for your favorite ink or fine art paper.

A notebook and pen, courtesy of Adobe, in my AdobeMax swag bag.

Tip #5: Maximizing your trip

This is pretty much my favorite part of going to a photography conference. Most of them are only three or four days but there’s no rule that you can’t play hooky from work a bit longer. I recommend that you pick a conference near a cool destination. After the conference ends, stay in the area a few more days and put everything you learned to practice.

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away

Photography Conference Tips - wild horses

Wild mare and foal in the Onaqui Mountains in Utah. Canon 5DIV, 100-400 II @ 400mm, f/10, 1/60th, ISO 200, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

After the AdobeMax conference in Vegas this past October, I headed off on a week-long wild horse photography road trip. I drove through Nevada, all the way to Utah, meeting half a dozen friends along the way, and flew home from Salt Lake City.

No surprise that for me that maximizing the conference was about heading off to photograph wild horses! For you, it might be photographing the Vegas Strip at night, or creating panoramas of the nearby Grand Canyon.

Which photography conferences are your favorites?

While AdobeMax was pretty amazing, my favorite is still the Out of Chicago Summer Conference. Of course, I’m biased since the conference is run by some of my good friends.

Chicago has so much beautiful architecture, it’s perfect for magical photo walks. Canon 5DIII with 24-105 @ 24mm, f/8, 1/125th, ISO 250, handheld, stylized in Lightroom.

Which photography conferences are your favorites? Please take a minute and list the conference name in the comment section, and why you recommend it so that other photographers can benefit from your experience.

The post 5 Tips to Getting the Most out of a Photography Conference by Lara Joy Brynildssen appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises

03 Jan

Here are four steps to rebooting your creativity and desire to do more photography with some 15-minute simple exercises.

Have you lost your photography mojo?

I get it, you’ve been at work all day, and it’s been stressful. Maybe there are kids to look after and dinner to cook as well. Perhaps a dog to take for a run or a family dinner to attend. There are all kinds of reasons why you don’t have the time or energy to pick up your camera and shoot.

How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises

When we don’t want to do something, we focus on all the reasons why it’s too hard – it takes too long to drive somewhere, the light is wrong, it’s raining, the battery is flat and so on. It’s easy to tell ourselves a story that allows us to talk our way out of doing something, especially when there aren’t any major consequences. Don’t get up early in the morning and miss the spectacular sunrise? Life goes on.

How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises

But the longer you leave your camera sitting in its bag gathering dust, the easier it becomes to talk yourself out of picking it up again. Months or even years go by. Maybe you think about it now and then and feel a niggling guilt or just sad.

Well, there is good news. With a small amount of effort, you can take steps to reboot your creativity and enthusiasm for photography again.

How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises

A shiny copper coin on a piece of black cardboard and a macro lens. Simple as (of course I have a macro lens!) can be.

Four Simple Steps

So here are the four simple steps I promised earlier.

Step One – PREPARE

Get your gear out, clean it, and charge the batteries. Check that it’s all still working and present. Wipe the memory cards clean.

Do everything you need to do in order to have your gear in peak working condition so you can grab it and go. The trick here is to remove the first mental block stopping you from shooting. If your gear is all prepped, then you don’t have anything stopping you there.

A marble I found walking on the beach on a piece of white fabric. Shot on a craft table in my spare room with natural window light.

Step Two – ASSEMBLE

Keep it simple and find some space at home where you can shoot. Work with objects you have at hand. Put together a small still life studio, maybe using window light or a flash, whatever you have nearby.

An assortment of props that I have assembled for my still life photography. Note the neutral color tones and mostly matte finish. That piece of slate gets used a lot.

By keeping it close to home and working with what you have close at hand, this removes the mental block about having to go out, needing to take the time, or spending more money. Making a small still life studio doesn’t need much, a neutral background and a base surface, some light and shadow and you are done.

A bunch of white stock, wrapped in white fabric, with a window draped in a white curtain in the background. Simple and cheap and you can use white fabric for so many things.

Having something quick and easy to put together (maybe a couple of sheets of white cardboard or foam core) that you can easily store out of the way reduces the resistance to setting up a shoot. Even better if you can leave it set up for a few days while working on this project.

My studio is a craft table, covered in white cotton, a window draped in white fabric, and neutral walls.

Step Three – TAKE 15 minutes

No one has enough time in the day, there are always things to do, places to be, demands on our time. However, for this exercise, I challenge you to give yourself a calendar appointment every day for a week. When you get home from work, instead of sitting down in front of the TV, or immersing yourself in social media or whatever it is you do to chill out, instead make a date with your camera.

If you have done Step One and Two, you have everything you need in place but the hardest is Step Three. Give yourself permission to take just 15 minutes out of your day and shoot. This length of time is long enough to be able to create some images but not so long it will interfere with your day too much. Let’s face it, by the time you make yourself a coffee and drink it, that probably takes just as long.

A wooden board and scoop and some chocolate chips. Yum!

Here is the really critical thing – IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT! In fact, it will be really hard for the first couple of days. The point of this exercise is for you to have your camera in your hands again, and to get you shooting something, anything.

Half a lemon on a wooden board and a macro lens. Simple and clean and vibrant yellow.

Step Four – PERSEVERE

If it has been a while since you’ve done any photography, you will probably find this quite hard. Shooting still life isn’t everyone’s cup of tea either but it is the simplest combination of factors to get you up and going. Maybe you decide to shoot the same item in different ways or using different lighting. It doesn’t matter. No one else needs to ever see these images, you just need to do it.

Pomegranate on my favorite slate slab. Gorgeous color, via the window in my studio. My studio is a spare bedroom.

Maybe you decide to shoot all the different kinds of cutlery and utensils in the house. You could do close-ups of labels on wine bottles. Maybe you have some smooth white eggs and one brown freckled one. Or maybe you make up a bowl of ice cream and pour chocolate sauce and sprinkles on it.

Your cat or dog is asleep in the sun and you do close-ups of their noses or paws. Maybe your kids are building something random with Lego. Maybe there are some flowers in the garden or some stones found on the footpath. If you have a macro lens or setting you can experiment with things up close and abstract. Maybe you go for a walk around the block or to the park instead.

Eggs in a crate with a feather that came along for the ride on a table draped in white linen.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter so long as you take the time to point your camera at it and take time to do it every day for a week – seven days.

By setting yourself both an achievable goal and a reasonable limit, it is easier to trick your brain into saying, “Okay we can do this” instead of thinking,”Oh this is just too hard”.

I found this gorgeous lime green viburnum out on a walk. The house owner kindly let me pick a bunch to take home when I asked nicely.

Summary

The point of this exercise is simple, get your camera in your hands and get in the habit of shooting again. More importantly, it also helps overcome the mental blocks you put in place when you think something is too hard or will take too long. This puts some structure in place and makes it easy for you to allocate a small achievable time slot every day to just shoot, and not care about the outcome. Just the fact you are shooting is what’s really important.

It doesn’t really matter if you follow the framework laid out here, or do something completely different, so long as you take some time every day for a period and commit to picking up your camera and shooting.

How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises

Perhaps it helps you to share your process with a friend or via social media. You might choose to set a goal of posting one image a day for a week and let your friends know so that if you miss a day they can hold you accountable.

However you do it, in whatever way works for you, go through the steps, and set yourself up to be as prepared as possible. Make the commitment in your mind of “just 15 minutes” and see what happens…I bet you spend a lot longer and have more fun than you expect.

Once you overcome the inertia of sitting on the sofa, the challenge and fun of creating a composition in a small time frame begins to bubble up again.

How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises

A couple of years ago I undertook a 21 Days of Creativity course, which laid out steps to remove distractions from our lives, prepare both our physical and mental spaces, clean out the cobwebs and make creating a fun and easy thing to do, rather than a chore. This “15 Minutes A Day” exercise was the most valuable step I got out of the course. I shot every day for a month, as after the first week I was enjoying the challenge too much to let it go. Plus the added bonus of making some really good and fun images, several of which I have included in this article.

Once you have done the preparation, got your gear sorted, and a space to work in, the only thing you have to do, is pick up your camera and shoot. Just for 15 minutes.

Go on, give it a try, I dare you.

I shot dandelions for about two weeks. Every day I had the challenge of shooting the same tiny subject in new and interesting ways.

The post How to Reboot Your Creativity with 15-Minute Exercises by Stacey Hill appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Google Camera mod brings Pixel 2 portrait mode to older devices

03 Jan

Portrait Mode on the Google Pixel 2

Google’s Pixel 2 comes with one of the best-rated smartphone cameras in the world, and is one of very few single-lens devices to offer a background-blurring, fake bokeh portrait mode. Unlike dual-lens setups, the camera uses machine learning and neural networking to generate a foreground-background segmentation on both front and rear cameras. On the rear, the Pixel 2 also uses depth data from the image sensor’s dual-pixel technology for this task.

Thanks to Charles Chow, developer of the Camera NX Google camera mod, the feature is now also available to users of the original Google Pixel as well as the Nexus 5X and 6P smartphones. Portrait mode was included in version 7.3 of the Camera NX app but, due to a lack of dual-pixel technology on older Google Android smartphones, uses the exclusively software-based approach of the Pixel 2’s front camera.

The developer says the functionality has so far only been tested on the Nexus 5X, although it should work on Nexus 6P and first generation Pixel phones as well. If you want to try Camera NX and the new Portrait Mode you can find all technical details and download links in Charles’ article on Chromloop.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Rock n Roll unveils handcrafted leather ‘Hendrix’ camera straps

03 Jan

Rock n Roll straps has launched The Hendrix Straps, a product line containing three handcrafted leather camera straps composed of between 52 and 64 individual leather pieces. The company bills its camera straps as ideal for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, explaining that the leather is supple enough to wrap around a wrist in addition to draping around one’s neck.

The Hendrix camera strap features leather components that have been cut, threaded, and then stitched by hand, a process that takes more than two hours, according to Rock n Roll. Each strap is 24mm / 0.9in wide with two length options—100cm / 39in and 125cm / 49in—and three color options—Black, Red Dot Special Edition, and Cigar Brown.

The 100cm Hendrix strap (any color) is €120.00 (~$ 145 USD) excl. VAT, while the 125cm strap is €130.00 (~$ 156 USD) excl. VAT.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Camera Comparison of 3 Popular Nikon Models: D750 – D7100 – D5100

03 Jan

No matter which stage you are into the world of DSLR photography, often the big question comes. Which camera do you buy to start or progress your photography journey and get those creative juices flowing?

In this article, I will compare three widely popular Nikon cameras (the Nikon D750 24 MP FX body – $ 1499, Nikon D7100 24 MP DX body – $ 724, and the Nikon D5100 16 MP DX body – $ 189) of different capability levels and price points. It will give you practical insight into their image quality by using them in real-world shooting scenarios (landscape/social events/sports) that you may want to cover in your photography.

According to statistics from explorecams.com, these three cameras (as of 11 September 2017) rank in Nikon photo-count: D7100 first, D750 second, D5100 sixth. So indeed these are cameras trusted and used by Nikon shooters the world over.

This article is not a photography theory, camera specs, best settings, lenses, or camera technical reviews. There are excellent web resources for that and I do fully encourage you to check these out, both here on dPS and other sites. This comparison will give you real-life examples to see which camera may suit your needs, expectations, and wallet better.

All scenarios will have the following structure:

A description of the scene
Gear and settings used to ensure comparability
The output photographs
Summary

Landscape Scenario

The Scene

Most probably you will find yourself at some point outside, camera at hand, wanting to capture the beauty that you see around you. In southern Greece, the picturesque village of Planiteros, with its flowing streams and huge sycamore trees, is the perfect setting for our first scenario.

Gear and Settings

Reasonable companions to this type of photography are a wide angle lens, a tripod, and a remote. The Tokina 12-28 f/4 lens, the Sirui T-025X carbon fiber tripod and the Nikon ML-L3 remote were used. Using the Tokina, which is compatible with both full frame or FX (D750) and crop sensor or DX cameras (D7100 / D5100) allowed photographs of very similar focal lengths to be taken for comparison.

Nikon D5100, capable of handling this situation?

Aiming to give a slightly softer flow rendition of the stream, while maintaining ample depth of field, a longer exposure time and a narrower aperture were desirable. For all three cameras, sensible vibration reducing technique was applied for this type of shooting vision. Mounting the camera on a tripod, using a remote to trigger the shutter, and activating mirror lockup (available on D750 and D7100) or exposure delay (on the D5100, as mirror lockup is not available) are solid steps to getting a good quality landscape photo.

Aperture Priority mode (set at f/8), Matrix Metering, Auto WB, single autofocus mode (AF-S), single point focus, autofocusing on the same point using live view and using the base ISO for each camera (100 for the D750 and D7100, and ISO 200 for the D5100), were the settings applied to extract the best possible quality files from each sensor. Raw files were processed in Lightroom (LR) to produce similar JPGs.

The Landscape Photographs

Look at the photographs below and try to guess which camera produced which picture. The answer comes right after the photographs.

LAND Nikon D750 Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

LAND Nikon D5100 Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

LAND Nikon D7100 Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

Answer: 1) D750 (top), 2) D5100 (middle), 3) D7100 (bottom).

Summary Landscape

If you could not find an edge between one photo over another that makes two of us. I would be glad to hang 12×16″ print from any of them on my wall. Proper technique in this scenario is more important than the camera used and it creates a level playing field for all sensors.

Social Events Scenario

The Scene

Gatherings with friends and family are occasions where you want to grab a candid moment or the ambiance shot that will serve as a memento for many years. Good friends Nikos and Athina were kind enough to invite me and my wife over to their place for a glass of wine. This was the perfect occasion to compare the three cameras in a usual social setting.

Gear and Settings

Contrary to the landscape scenario’s contemplative and slower pace of shooting, social gatherings usually lend themselves more to a handheld, run and gun shooting style. So no particular gear other than the Tokina 12-28 f/4 lens was used here. While this is not a usual focal length for shooting indoors with people, when used from a sensible distance and towards the wider end it can serve the comparison between the three cameras.

Nikon D7100

Aperture Priority mode (at f/4), Matrix Metering, Auto WB, single autofocus mode (AF-S), single point focus, focusing through the viewfinder and using Auto ISO with no High ISO Noise Reduction applied, were the settings used to extract the best possible quality files from each camera.

Using Auto ISO has to do with my individual shooting style. In this scenario, it is actually the same as using ISO 1600 for D5100 and D7100 and ISO 3200 for D750. These are, in my experience, the highest ISO levels that each camera can handle (especially for straight out of camera JPGs) before noise becomes too obtrusive.

Both the out of camera JPGs and those made following similar processing of raw files in Lightroom are provided in the next section.

The Social Event Photographs

Let’s start with the camera JPGs. Which camera produced which photo will come right after both sets of pictures (camera JPGs and LR processed JPGs).

And here are the LR processed counterparts in the same order.

Answer: 1) D7100 (top), 2) D750 (middle), 3) D5100 (bottom).

Summary Social Events

Again, as in the landscape scenario, you would be hard-pressed to find a winner here. Less than perfect focusing (front or back focus) or camera shake (due to a slow shutter speed) have a lot more impact than the camera model in such shooting environments (e.g. the domestic indoor lighting here).

Sports Scenario

The Scene

Photographing movements, be it your loved ones playing in the backyard or shooting any sport, can generate highly dynamic, catchy, and memorable photographs. Usually, I play football with my friends once a week. For the sake of this article, I put my football gear aside and grabbed my photo kit to shoot the sports scenario.

Gear and Settings

Depending on the sport and the venue, different lenses can be employed in your gear arsenal. The consensus seems to be that a telephoto zoom is an invaluable piece of kit for sports in general. A Tamron 70-300 f/4-5.6 lens was used for this test, as it is compatible with both FX and DX cameras. A Sirui P-224SR Carbon Fiber Monopod and a Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Tripod Head were used to create the support platform.

Hand holding a DSLR camera with a lens attached is achievable for periods of time. However, when shooting sports, perhaps for hours, and consistently following the action as it unfolds requires more support. This monopod and head combination is working very well for me.

Nikon D750 really excels in this situation.

Usually, sports photography lends its self to shutter priority mode. Select at least a 1/500th of a second. Then take it up from there to freeze action as needed (unless panning is used, where perhaps even 1/60th or slower may be sufficient).

Unfortunately, in the available light conditions of this scenario, not even 1/20th was attainable with any of the three camera-lens combinations, while using reasonable ISOs as discussed before. To somewhat combat this, a minimum of ISO 3200 was used for all cameras. This pushed the limits of acceptable noise, but bought a few more precious tenths of seconds of speed.

With this important point in mind, Aperture Priority mode (varying between f/4 and f/5.6 across the zoom range), Matrix Metering, Auto WB, continuous autofocus mode (AF-C), Dynamic-area AF mode (d9 for comparability), autofocusing through the viewfinder and no High ISO Noise Reduction, were the settings used to extract the best possible quality files from each camera.

Both out of camera JPGs and JPGs following similar processing of raw files in Lightroom are shared in the next section.

Finally, to showcase how high ISO performance has evolved over the years, I will include a bonus JPG with Hi-2 (ISO 51,200) straight out of camera from the D750 (only cropped and lens profiled in Lightroom).

The photographs

First up the camera JPGs, then the LR processed ones. Which is which is shown at the end after both sets:

SPORTS Nikon D7100 CAM Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

SPORTS Nikon D5100 CAM Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

SPORTS Nikon D750 CAM Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

And here are the LR processed counterparts in the same order.

SPORTS Nikon D7100 LR Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

SPORTS Nikon D5100 LR Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

SPORTS Nikon D750 LR Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

Answer: 1) D7100 (top), 2) D5100 (middle), 3) D750 (bottom).

The bonus ISO 51,200 file from the D750.

SPORTS Nikon D750 CAM HI 2 Nikon Camera Comparison of Three Popular Models: D750 - D7100 - D5100

Summary sports

Shooting sports is indeed a completely different animal. Gear that will get perfectly adequate photos in normal situations (e.g. nature and social situations as above) simply will not be enough for sports. It is not an accident that you see big glass and pro bodies used in sporting venues the world over.

Having said that, it is possible with any of the three cameras discussed here to get some usable shots by capturing the peak of the athletes’ movement. My learning is also that increasing ISO even well above 3200 may be sensible for all these cameras. The higher shutter speed benefit offsets the increased noise.

The key differentiator between the three Nikon cameras is not the quality of the keeper photos. It is the vast superiority of the D750’s autofocus system, frame rate and ISO performance that will allow you to create a lot more keepers, long after the other two bodies have given up trying.

Conclusion and proposals

You went through a lot of info here. Now it is time to make some sense of it. I will hopefully help by offering my insights following this Nikon camera comparison and my few years of trying to decipher photography principles and gear choices.

Newest and biggest isn’t always necessary

The latest most expensive camera, with more Megapixels, is neither necessary nor is it a guarantor of getting good photographs. The 4/2011 launched DX D5100 coupled with a suitable (i.e. with built-in focus motor) lens, can create the same quality photographs in many situations as its more capable 2/2013 launched DX D7100 or the 9/2014 launched (and much more expensive) FX D750 siblings.

Solid shooting technique and basic gear (e.g. a tripod) is essential no matter which camera body is used.

In some cases, bigger is better

Higher spec bodies do offer tangible shooting benefits other than image quality. This was apparent in the sports scenario. Be it superior focus performance, internal focus motor, larger viewfinder, commander flash capability, AF fine tune, physical buttons for more functions at hand, prosumer (D7100) or semipro (D750) bodies can help you get your photography to that next level of refinement.

Consider carefully your lens purchases. Ensure the best possible compatibility in case you ever decide to move from DX to FX. A few clever purchases can give you great value-for-money FX and DX compatible lenses (hint: Tokina).

However, do rent or try out gear from friends before you commit. I cannot overstate the real-life ease-of-use factor versus any specs’ sheet excellence.

So here are my proposals to you depending on your stage in the photo journey

Just starting out. Don’t feel pressured to get an expensive high-spec body. A sensible approach may very well be to grab a dirt cheap used D5100 and an 18-200mm inexpensive used lens. See if DSLR photography suits you and your lifestyle and take it from there. Give it time and do not splash out immediately on many different lenses. Plus the D5100 can also act as a great video camera thanks to its rotating screen.

The bug has bitten you. It takes an honest discussion with yourself to see if you really need all the bells and whistles of that new body versus an early D5xxx or a D7000 model. If the answer is yes, then my proposal is to hang in there. Skip the D7100 and save the cash to spring for the D750 (new or used), unless the more recent D7xxx series have similar autofocus and ISO performance for a lower price.

You are ready to make money from your photography and turn semi-pro or even full-time pro. Congratulations! By now you have probably outgrown even the D750 for the sake of other pro FX and DX bodies. There’s not much I can offer in terms of advice here, other than a D750 can always be a light backup body, great for both stills and video.

Conclusion

Thank you for the time reading this article and see where your photography passion takes you next!

Do you have and use any of these Nikon cameras? What types of photograph do you shoot? Please share your experience in the comments below.

The post Camera Comparison of 3 Popular Nikon Models: D750 – D7100 – D5100 by Konstantinos Skourtis appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Why you should own a 135mm F2 lens

03 Jan

Image quality, weight and value for money. We have come to accept that most lenses are strong in only one or two of these three factors, that I personally focus on when researching lenses to buy. Sometimes though, we stumble upon a great lens design which is strong in all three. One of the prime examples of such a design is the “nifty fifty”—the 50mm F1.8 lens construction that many lens manufacturers provide. Another example is the 100mm (or sometimes 90mm) F2.8 macro lens. If you buy a nifty fifty or a 100mm macro lens you simply cannot go wrong—you will get a great and handy lens for your money, with great image quality.

Today I want to talk about another such lens design: The 135mm F2 lens. I use the word design, because although the available 135mm F2 lenses aren’t the exact same optical formula, they share many important traits. Perhaps you have seen the photos of masterful Russian portrait photographers such as Elena Shumilova or Anka Zhuravleva. They create a beautiful, mesmerizing dreamscape in their photos, and their secret weapon, besides an impeccable sense for aesthetics, is the 135mm F2 lens.

The moment I tried the Samyang 135mm F2 for the first time after purchasing it, I immediately felt that it was a very special lens. I took a few shots with the lens on my way home after buying it. I was blown away when I loaded the photos into my computer. I had of course heard that this lens is supposed to be very sharp, but I had never before had such a full blown “wow” experience when reviewing the sharpness of a lens.

The flawless image quality is only half the story though. Another thing that makes people go “wow” over the 135mm F2 lens design is the bokeh, which can be so creamy that distant backgrounds almost render as gradients. The 135mm F2 lens design is truly special, and in this article (and the video I made), I want to try to convince you as well.

Subject Separation

There are only a handful of foolproof strategies for making a great photograph. One of them is simplicity: A clear, simple subject that constitutes a shape, standing out and contrasting against a calm and simple background.

When you shoot a 135mm F2 lens at F2, your subject will stand out in this beautiful way, often without much work needed from you as the photographer. Just place your subject against a distant background, and half of the job is done. Even if the background is very close to your subject, somehow the optical construction in the 135mm lens will still manage to separate the background beautifully.

The Creamiest Bokeh

To achieve creamy bokeh, a lens should have a wide maximum aperture and a long focal length. One very popular lens for bokeh fiends is the Canon 85mm F1.2—it can produce extremely creamy out of focus backgrounds. But I would argue that a 135mm F2 lens produces even greater bokeh, thanks to the long focal length that compresses the background far more than the 85mm lens.

You would be hard pressed to find any other lens on a full frame camera that produces creamier bokeh. There are, of course, outliers—such as the legendary unicorn lens Canon EF 200mm F2—but that one isn’t a great alternative unless you are cool with spending $ 5,700 and carrying around something about as wieldy as a fire hydrant.

Unreal Sharpness

When I was on my way home after purchasing my first 135mm lens (the Samyang/Rokinon one) I took a few quick snapshots just to try out the lens. The first shot I ever took with this lens was of my neighbor’s cat, as it was sneaking around in a bush. When I got home and loaded the photo into Lightroom I was blown away by two things.

First of all, the background separation and the bokeh: I had photographed lots of animals in bushes before, but never before had I seen the bush melt away in the way it did with the 135mm lens.

Second of all, the incredible sharpness of the photo: I have owned many lenses, most of which I bought because they were supposed to have world-class sharpness, but the Samyang 135mm still stands out to me.

Never before (nor after) have I seen a lens with this level of sharpness wide open. Perhaps this impression of unreal sharpness is strengthened by the contrast to the extremely creamy bokeh you typically get in the same photo.

Close Focus Ability

Most of the available 135mm F2 lenses have a very short minimum focusing distance in relation to the focal length, creating a magnification ratio of around 0.2 – 0.25. This is great news if you like to photograph small things up close. These lenses go about as close as you could get without a dedicated macro lens.

Low Weight

Lenses with extreme sharpness and bokeh tend to be heavy. For example, the legendary Canon 85mm F1.2L weighs in at 1025g, and the Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art isn’t too light either at 1130g.

Sure, not all 135mm lenses are lightweight—Sigma’s new 135mm F1.8 is rather heavy at 1130g—but if you look at the Samyang 135mm F2, which is pretty much flawless optically, it weighs only 830g. And if you want autofocus, I would recommend the Canon 135mm f2.0L, which is incredibly light for its performance at just 750g.

Extreme value for the money

While there are certainly pricey 135mm F2 lenses out there (such as the aforementioned Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art, or the Carl Zeiss 135mm) there are a couple that give you extreme value for the money. When you buy a lens with fantastic sharpness and image quality at all apertures, you typically expect it to cost $ 1,200 on up. But like a glitch in the matrix, an anomaly that shouldn’t exist, you can get the Samyang/Rokinon 135mm for as little as $ 430 brand new. The only downside with that lens is that it is manual focus, which might not be suitable for photographing sports or children. Otherwise this lens is absolutely incredible.

If you want autofocus and great value for money, buy the Canon 135mm, as it has almost the image quality of the Samyang, and you can get it for under $ 1,000 new. The Canon is about as sharp as the Samyang, but it has some very slight chromatic aberration. I would recommend buying it used if you want to save some money, with the added benefit that you can re-sell it at the same price as you bought it for, effectively giving you the opportunity to “rent it” for free.

Which One to Buy?

If you want the best value possible for your money, and can survive without autofocus, buy the Samyang. If you must have autofocus, and care about weight, buy the Canon. If you want the best possible image quality, and you must have autofocus, and you don’t care if it is a bit heavy (maybe you need it for studio use), buy the Sigma. Include the Carl Zeiss in your research though, it might be an interesting lens for you, even if it is a bit pricey for what you get. If you are a Nikon user, of course have a look at the Nikon AF Nikkor 135mm f/2D DC and compare it to the other lenses mentioned in this article.

Whatever lens you pick in the end, you will make a great purchase. All of them are extremely sharp and produce mouth-watering bokeh, and all of them are reasonably priced for what you get. I have only owned my 135mm for less then a year, but already it is one of my top three most used and most fun lenses.

Micael Widell is a photography enthusiast based in Stockholm, Sweden. He loves photography, and runs a YouTube channel with tutorials, lens reviews and photography inspiration. You can also find him as @mwroll on Instagram and 500px.

This article was originally published on Micael’s blog, and is being republished in full with express permission.

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Take a look inside Hasselblad’s camera factory in Sweden

02 Jan

Take a look inside Hasselblad’s camera factory in Sweden

Hasselblad’s factory is located in Gothenburg – Sweden’s second largest city. The company has operated in Gothenburg since 1841, but it only became a camera manufacturer in 1941. Today’s HQ, down the river from the city centre, is where the company makes both the H-series cameras and the newer X1D mirrorless model.

During a recent visit I was shown around the factory and was lucky enough to get permission to photograph the production line in detail. They knew I was coming so any secret stuff was tucked away safely out of sight, but it was just as interesting speaking to the staff and finding out about the components of the cameras, what they do and seeing how they are made.

There were three things that really struck me about the factory. The first is that it is a lot smaller than other similar plants I’ve visited in the past. I was escorted almost all the time I was there, but there was no reception desk where I had to sign in, and I didn’t even have to wear a visitor’s badge – I guess because everyone knows everyone else and strangers stand out. The company employs 180 people worldwide, with only 40 people at the factory – and 30 of them working in production.

The second thing that caught my interest is the number of components that have been designed to be used in both H6D and X1D, thus making manufacturing more efficient. The third is the hand-made nature of the products. I’m used to factories powered by robots and automation, but this was a world of hand-tools and humans.

Click through this article for a tour.

The factory floor

This is the main area of the assembly line where the H6D and X1D are produced. I had expected to see the processes in a linear fashion from start to finish, but actually it seems different components are assembled as they are needed and each worker performs a range of tasks. This photo doesn’t show the whole factory, as there is an R&D area that I couldn’t go into, but this is where the current shipping products are put together. Hasselblad designs all the components itself but has most of them made by external suppliers, mostly from Sweden.

In this picture an X1D’s audio system is being tested in the foreground, and to the left a H6D body is being put together. In the distance, shutter units are being made.

Making the shutters

The shutter units start with a moulded ring of plastic onto which the components are attached. The company makes two sizes of shutter unit, both of which can be used in HC and XCD lenses for the H cameras and the X1D. The smaller, a 20mm shutter, uses one piezo-electric motor to open and close the iris, while the 28mm version has two.

A detailed shot of shutter unit, mid-assembly.

Making the shutters

So far the XCD lenses have only used the 20mm unit, but I’m told future lenses will use the larger one as well. The upcoming fast 80mm XCD lens will be a candidate for the larger shutter as its maximum aperture will be wider than f/2.

Measuring tension

The worker assembling the shutter units tests the tension of the shutter release mechanisms with her thumbs, as over time she has come to know what the right tension feels like. Once she thinks she has it right she tests each switch with a meter to verify her instincts.

After hand-testing the shutter release tension, the technician checks with a measuring tool.

Building the iris

Each blade of the lens iris is riveted by hand. It is then cleaned and attached to the main shutter mechanism.

Testing shutter accuracy

Each shutter unit is tested for accuracy and consistency of performance using a collimator and a device that measures the shape and size of the iris opening. Each aperture setting is tested multiple times, as is each shutter speed. If the unit isn’t up to scratch the operator on the testing desk either fixes it or sends it back a stage for investigation.

This shows a short sequence from a shutter accuracy test, measuring the shutter opening time and iris size. Other long term tests are carried out about once a week, and involve a shutter unit being put in a machine that triggers it for days on end. I was told the shutter life of Hasselblad lenses is quoted as over 1 million actuations.

H6D handgrips

The day I was at the plant, handgrips for the H6D were being made. There’s quite a lot of circuitry to fit into a small space.

50MP back for the A6D aerial camera

Here is the back of an A6D aerial camera being assembled. The main parts that go into the back are the 50MP sensor unit, the processing board and the control board. I was amazed that the company uses 32GB micro SD cards in these backs, but was told the calibration and firmware files the back uses are very big.

The ribbon cables and the boards are all connected by hand and fitted into the back during a delicate, pains-taking process.

Tilt and shift adapter

Here’s a HTS 1.5 tilt and shift adapter being put together. The adapter provides ‘large format’ movements for six of the company’s H system lenses. It allows up to 18mm of shift in both directions and 10° of tilt, while multiplying the focal length by approx. 1.5x because of its thickness.

Tilt and shift adapter

Again, the device is assembled by hand, with each screw being secured in place with thread-locking glue.

Assembling the auxiliary shutter

Between the mirror box and the sensor of the H series cameras there’s an auxiliary shutter that has to be sprung with exactly the right tension. Again this shutter unit is assembled by hand from a number of small components and then tested by touch while the tension is adjusted.

The man working at this station told me he needed the tension to be about 0.9 Newtons, and then tested the one he had just made to find he was only 0.02 N out. He said it took a few months of continuous manufacturing for him to be able to get the tension right by touch.

Adding the AF module and shutter mechanism

The aluminum chassis of the H6D is made at a foundry not far from the factory and has remained very much the same since the original H1. The final assembly of the body looks very complicated, as there is a mass of ribbon cable to fit between the boards, as well as the auxiliary shutter, the mirror mechanisms and the AF module. The chassis, the steel mount and the body shell are all made in Sweden.

The shot on the left shows the AF module of the H6D, which sits behind the main mirror. The last shot shows the chassis loaded with electronics and ready to be fitted into the body and to have the handgrip attached.

Mechanical tests for the H6D

In this picture, H6D bodies await mechanical testing and measuring. The length of the body can’t vary by more than 0.02mm in order for the autofocus to work. This machine is used to measure the position of the AF module and the AF mirror, and to match the view of the viewfinder with the sensor via the position of the mirror.

Each body is then attached to a metal block for the orientation sensor to be calibrated – a process that helps facilitate the company’s True Focus feature. This feature measures the angle the camera moves during a focus-lock-and-recompose routine, so that the added distance between the image plabe and the subject can be compensated for in the focusing.

Calibrating the H6D

In a clean room each H6D undergoes its individual calibration procedure. First the sensor and filters are checked for dust and dirt, and cleaned until they are spotless. Then the sensor is checked for dead pixels and the color characteristics, dynamic range and brightness response are measured.

Calibrating the H6D

Each camera has its own calibration program which is loaded onto the body and fired up every time the camera starts. The calibration data is saved at the factory should it ever need to be reloaded to the camera.
It takes about an hour to calibrate each body.

X1D mechanical tests

Once assembled the cameras go through a series of mechanical and systems tests to ensure they are functioning correctly. Operators take a series of pictures with each model and check the audio system, among other things.

X1D mechanical tests

The technician looking down a long dark box is checking there’s no light leaking from the side of the rear LCD panel.

Profiling X1D bodies

Color response is recorded and adjusted so that the camera will produce ‘Hasselblad Color’. As with the H6D, each X1D body has its own tailor-made calibration which is loaded to the internal memory. That’s why the cameras take a couple of seconds to start up.
Each camera takes about 700 pictures during the calibration process.

Profiling X1D bodies

Here an X1D is being calibrated, and the monitor shows the characteristics that are being checked with. As can be seen, in this example the sensor (which is CMOS, not CCD as marked) isn’t aligned within tolerances, so it will be adjusted.

Final checks and cleaning

The last part of the process involves a bright light and a high powered magnifying glass. A lady personally inspects every model that leaves the factory for dirt, dust and marks. She cleans each body very carefully, rubs and polishes, before she is satisfied and it can be boxed.

Final checks and cleaning

X1D bodies towards the end of the production and checking process, before being boxed and shipped to customers all over the world.

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Mastering and Sharing One-Click Presets in Luminar

02 Jan

One of the main strengths of Luminar by Macphun, soon to be Skylum, is how it makes a suite of professional-style editing tools available to even the most casual of photographers. It does it all with a user interface that is clean, simple, and easy to understand. In contrast to some other editing programs on the market, Luminar’s full suite of powerful tools is available through a simple approach based on applying Filters and Presets, along with more advanced options such as layers and masking.

Instead of hiding these under myriad menus and obscure tiny buttons, Luminar presents you with easy-to-understand options when choosing your edits and includes real-time previews of what your edits will look like. And much of this starts with the simple act of selecting a Preset.

Mastering and Sharing One-Click Presets in Luminar

Presets versus Filters

Before getting too deep into how to use and share one-click Presets, it’s important to understand some basic terminology related to Luminar’s use of Presets and Filters.

When you load an image into Luminar’s editing interface you are presented with two main options to edit your images: Add Filter or Apply Preset.

Filters

Filters are individual editing tools that let you perform basic adjustments such as color temperature, exposure, and white/black levels. Luminar also contains more advanced filters like color balance, texture overlay, HSL, and the Accent AI filter that uses artificial intelligence to adjust a range of parameters all with a single slider. Filters can be applied across an entire image, brushed in selectively, and used in combination with layers in a manner similar to Adobe Photoshop’s editing workflow.

Click Add Filters, then select a filter such as Saturation / Vibrance, and you will be shown a description of the Filter as well as a preview of how it would look applied to a sample image.

Presets

Due to the sheer number of filters available the options can seem overwhelming even to seasoned editors. This is where Presets come in handy, and where the brilliant simplicity of Luminar really starts to shine.

A Preset is a collection of filters specifically chosen by the developers of Luminar to produce a certain type of effect on the whole image when combined. At the bottom of the Luminar interface, you will see a row of Presets with names like Soft & Airy, Sky Enhancer, and Vivid which are good starting points when editing a variety of image types. Click the Categories button to see the filters organized as specific collections that can be useful depending on the specific types of images you are editing.

Presets are organized into specific categories, and you can also access your favorites and any custom Presets with the click of a button.

If all this talk of Presets has you feeling overwhelmed before you even start, just take a breath and know that it’s a lot simpler than it might seem especially when you actually open Luminar and start to use it. You don’t even have to use Presets at all but I have found them to be a great starting point when editing my images. It’s a nice compromise between me performing all manner of meticulous edits by hand and having Luminar do all the work for me.

Presets occupy a comfortable middle ground that allows you to have one-click access to a set of edits that will enhance your images in a heartbeat. At the same time, they still allow you to retain as much control over the individual editing parameters as you would like.

Preset walkthrough

To show how Presets work I’m going to walk you through an example step by step beginning with this image of some autumn leaves. This is the RAW file straight out of my camera with no edits applied.

Original boring unedited image. Cue sad trombone sound effect…wop wop woooop.

When you load an image into Luminar you will see it take up most of the screen except for a portion at the bottom and the right. The former is where you can select a Preset and the latter is used for applying and editing Filters.

Add Filters on the right, Presets are at the bottom.

Forget about Filters for now and just focus on the Preset options at the bottom of the screen. Each one has a name that describes the type of effect it will have on your photo. Best of all, each Preset has a mini preview of what it will actually do if you apply it to your image.

Preset previews rock!

This is one of my favorite features of Luminar, and it’s almost worth the price of the program all by itself because you can quickly scan through the many options available and choose one to instantly transform your photo with the click of a button.

The Preset panel gives you real-time previews of what each one will look like when applied to your image.

As an added bonus you can even adjust the degree to which Luminar applies a Preset by clicking on one and then dragging the slider to the left. That way if you like the effect that a Preset has on your image but find it to be a bit overdone, just lower the value a bit with the slider. You also have the option of clicking the star icon in the corner of any Preset which saves it to a list of favorites.

Use the slider to adjust the degree to which a Preset is applied.

The following image is an example of what one click on the “Warm Sunset” Preset did to transform the original picture of some dull green and yellow leaves.

The finished version, all done with a couple of clicks thanks to the Presets in Luminar.

Not too shabby, right? As a comparison, I loaded the same RAW file into Lightroom and was able to get similar results but it took a lot more time and required changing values on a dozen different sliders.

Such is the beauty of Luminar’s approach. The developers have done much of the heavy lifting so that you don’t have to, while still giving you full access to all the editing options within each of the Presets. So if you really want to do a dive deep and adjust your images on a granular level, you can.

Note: You can also add a texture overlay and save that in a custom preset as well.

Editing the Presets

If all the screenshots and arrows in this article have your head spinning, here’s a refresher of the basic Luminar workflow:

Step 1: Import an image into Luminar
Step 2: Click on a Preset
Step 3: You’re done. There is no Step Three.

However, if you would like to dive into some of the finer details of using Presets, Luminar lets you see exactly what each one does and also tweak the parameters to your liking. You can save your edits as new Presets, and even create your own Presets from scratch.

For example, the Warm Sunset Preset that I applied to the image of the leaves is really just a collection of Filters with specific adjustment values already applied. The following screenshot shows the specific filters that Warm Sunset uses, as well as the numerical values that have been dialed in by the Luminar developers.

The Warm Sunset Preset consists of three Filters, each with pre-determined values dialed in that you can change at any time if you like.

When you click on a Preset you will see all of its Filters show up on the right side of your screen, and you are free to change any of the values you want or even add new Filters to the mix. It’s an endlessly customizable editing solution that can go a long way towards giving you the professional results you have always wanted without the hassle and steep learning curve inherent in some other photo editing programs.

Creating and Sharing Presets

Even though there are dozens of Presets already built-in to Luminar, you can create your own by choosing any combination of filters, editing them to the values you want, and choosing “Save Filter Preset…” from the Filters menu.

I often find myself adding a little clarity along with some post-crop vignetting to my images (and for nature shots a bit of vividness too) so I pulled those Filters, dialed in the values for each one, and then saved it as a Preset called “Clarignette” (my attempt at making a new word).

A custom Preset I created called Clarignette, which uses the Clarity, Brilliance/Warmth, and Vignette Filters.

Custom Presets can be accessed by clicking the Categories button just above the row of Presets and choosing “User Presets.” Any Presets that you create or customize can also be shared with other users which makes this a great way to use custom Presets on multiple computers or in any type of collaborative editing environment. Choose “File > Show Presets Folder…” to see the folder on your computer where your custom Presets reside. Each one is saved as an “.lmp” file that you can copy to the Custom Preset folder on another computer or send to a friend.

Stacking Presets with Layers

One final ace up Luminar’s sleeve is its ability to let you combine filters using layers, in precisely the same way Photoshop and other image editing programs handle a layer-based non-destructive workflow.

Instead of applying a Preset directly to the image you are working with, you can click the “+ Overlay Preset” button in the lower-right corner of the Luminar workspace which adds a layer onto which your Preset edits are applied. This is exactly the same as an Adjustment Layer in Photoshop. Your Preset edits can now be applied, controlled, and adjusted independently of the image itself. Masking tools can then be used on each layer to control which parts of the image are affected by the Preset.

Note: You can also apply a mask to any of the Filters applied directly to your image as well.

I started with an image of some leaves, and created an Overlay with the Vivid Preset. Then I added a second Overlay with the B&W Preset and applied that with a radial mask so it is only affecting the outer edges of the image leaving all the color in the center.

This layer-based Preset implementation is another illustration of how Luminar takes a powerful-but-simple approach to editing. It’s not that Luminar is quantifiably better or worse than other editing programs because such an evaluation depends greatly on the individual needs, workflow, and style of the photographer. However, for users who are relatively new to photo editing and want a program that offers a simple, clean, intuitive approach with a feature-set deep enough to grow with them over time, it’s hard to beat Luminar.

Anyone who has used Instagram or other social media apps to apply image edits with the click of a Filter or Preset button will feel right at home with Luminar. As those individuals demand greater control and flexibility as they improve their skills, Luminar is right there beside them ready to meet the challenge. I really do like Luminar’s approach to editing with Presets and Filters and I think it’s a nice way to bridge the gap between amateur and professional photo editing. It’s simple enough for casual users but has a deep feature-set to cater to more demanding photographers too.

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

The post Mastering and Sharing One-Click Presets in Luminar by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

02 Jan

Popular teaching about photographic composition says to learn the rules and then break them. I prefer to encourage the people who join our photography workshops to learn the rules, understand them well and put them into practice so frequently they become second nature.

If you can apply the rules without even consciously thinking about them you will create more dynamic, interesting photographs which convey more feeling.

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

Why do we have rules?

Rules are important as they are the underlying structure of composition. Much like scales are to musicians. Much like grammar is to language.

Successful musicians have typically spent long hours going over and over the same scales until they know them so well they do not need to think about them. When we learned our first language, our “mother tongue”, we never consulted the textbooks to study the grammatical structure of the language, we just absorbed it, (most frequently from our mothers.)

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

Some people will have more difficulty learning the rules of composition and applying them effectively than others. Very much like some people can learn to play musical instruments or learn new languages easier.

I think it is because we are all creatively gifted in different ways. If you are gifted with a visual creativity you may find it easier to compose photographs than say someone who is gifted with a musical creativity and finds it easy to play the guitar or trumpet for example.

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

I do like what the famous American photographer Edward Weston had to say about learning and implementing the rules of composition:

“Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravity before going for a walk.”

I doubt any of us can recall studying the law of gravity before we learned to walk. But we certainly knew about it.

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

Know them at a subconscious level

Knowing the rules is important as they will help guide our creative thinking, but applying these rules rigidly will generally lead towards making rather static and lifeless photographs. As you learn the rules and know them so well you can incorporate them into your photographs intuitively you will find your images may take on a whole new dynamic. Very much like walking and talking, it’s good to be subconsciously aware of the rules and laws as they are there for good reason.

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

Practice constantly

Reading about and studying the rules of composition will help you gain a good understanding of them. Practicing them frequently is the most effective means of consistently integrating them into your photographs. Practice them even when you don’t have your camera with you.

Begin to see in the rule of thirds, discover leading lines and strong diagonals, look for frames and how you can use symmetry. One side effect of seeing like this will likely be that you start taking your camera everywhere with you.

Fill the frame

When I first started working in the photography department of a newspaper it was impressed upon me to “fill the frame”. This encouragement has stuck with me and I am aware, consciously or subconsciously, of wanting to effectively achieve this with every photograph I make. This was important in the newspaper in order to convey the story effectively, (and so sub-editors had less flexibility to horribly crop your photos).

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

Filling your frame does not mean that in every photo your subject must be pressed out to the edges of your viewfinder. It means however you are choosing to compose your photograph, make sure whatever is within the four corners and edges is relevant to the picture you are making.

A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition

If empty space is relevant and adds to your composition, use it well. If cropping in so tight that part of your subject is cut off makes a stronger image, then crop tight.

However you decide to compose your image, be happy with it. Don’t get hung up on the rules. But do have a solid understanding of them and explore how you like to incorporate them into the creative photographs you are making. And, if you so come up with any new rules, please do let me know!

Here’s a little video talking about this concept of composition.

The post A Fresh Look at Learning Photographic Composition by Kevin Landwer-Johan appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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