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How to Avoid and Reduce Noise in Your Images

18 Sep

Reducing noise in your images can make a huge difference to their quality

We have all seen it in our images, that uneven grainy look that makes our images look a little unappealing. In the days of film, noise was called grain and it looked better (even the word grain sounded better) but the digital equivalent of noise can often make a good image look bad. The first question we need to answer is:

What is noise?

Generally speaking, noise is defined as aberrant pixels. That means pixels that are not representing the colour, or the exposure of the scene correctly. The next question is:

When does noise happen?

Noise is introduced into your images when you shoot a long exposure image or shoot at a high ISO setting. Does mean you should never go over ISO 100 or do long exposures? No, there are times that you may need, or even want, to shoot in those conditions. Landscape photographers shoot in low light all the time. The important things to know are; how to avoid getting too much noise in your image and, how to deal with it in your post-production.

Let’s deal with how you can get less noise in your images first.

1. Reduce noise in-camera:

Shoot at lower ISO settings

If your camera is three years old or newer, the ISO functionality will be great. You shouldn’t see too much noise creeping into your images, even up to ISO 1000. However, there might still be some noise at the higher ISO numbers, so be aware of your exposure. Shooting at a lower ISO means you will have less noise in your image. Higher ISO settings tell your camera’s sensor to group pixels together to capture more light. This grouping effect can make your image look gritty and noisy.

So, how do you avoid shooting at a high ISO? If possible, open your aperture to its widest setting i.e. f/2.8. If you are shooting in low light, use a tripod if possible, or you could use a flash. If none of these options give you the correct exposure, then you will need to push the ISO up higher. Also, do some test shots to find out at what level the ISO settings on your camera start to degrade image quality. For many years I shot on a Nikon D80 and I knew that anything above ISO 500 was really difficult to use afterwards. This was because the noise became difficult to remove, even in third party software, and if it was removed, the image looked like a watercolour painting as a result of over processing of the noise. So I got to know the limits of my camera and worked within those constraints.

Shoot in RAW format

I know you may feel daunted by shooting in RAW, but you don’t need to be. RAW is a great way to get the best out of your images, so be sure to use it. You don’t have to shoot RAW all the time, but when you notice that the light is becoming a little too dark, switch over to RAW. The reason is that JPEG images already have compression applied to them. This means that there is already some noise, and what is known as JPEG artefacts, in the image. If you are using a high ISO with JPEG files, the noise can become even worse. Also, in post-production, you have much more flexibility removing noise, and increasing exposure, with a RAW file than a JPEG.

Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw has some powerful noise reduction tools

Check your exposure

When digital cameras first hit the market, they were really bad at rendering highlights correctly. Many photographers (myself included) would slightly underexpose the images in order to retain detail in the highlights. This meant that the shadow areas were really dark and when you tried to pull them up in Photoshop, the noise would become evident. This has been largely sorted out now and the new generation of digital sensors does a great job of handling highlights and shadows. As a result, you can expose correctly without fear of having noise in the shadows, or problems in the highlights. In fact, you can now overexpose slightly so that the shadows are a little brighter than normal and then you can pull the highlights down in Photoshop. I have been doing this for a while now and it is amazing how much detail the new sensors can capture in the highlights. Be careful not to overexpose too much, watch that you don’t clip the highlights as the details may then be lost for good.

Be careful when doing long exposures

Long exposures make some of the most dramatic images, but if the exposure is too long, the sensor of the camera can begin to heat up and the pixels will render incorrect colours and exposure. You can still do long exposures, but again, be aware of how you camera handles the long exposure time. Does the image look too grainy? Test it out and experiment to see where your camera begins to struggle. Then make sure that you don’t shoot a long exposure for longer than whatever works on your camera. The key point here is to know the limits of your gear and shoot within those limits. This will ensure great images and easy image editing.

Long exposure images can accentuate noise in a scene

Use in-camera noise reduction

In most cameras there will be a function called High ISO Noise Reduction or Long Exposure Noise Reduction. It’s a good idea to turn this on if you are shooting at a high ISO or doing long exposures. The reason is that after the image has been shot, the camera will analyse the image and look for any pixels that are incorrectly rendered. It will then fix the pixels that are not properly rendered. This takes some time, usually as long as the exposure time. So if you shot an image that was 30 seconds long, the camera will do an analysis and correction that will take up to 30 seconds. This may become impractical if you are doing 10 minute exposures, but it is worth doing on shorter exposures. If you have the time, do it on the very long exposures too, as it can improve the image quality.

Use in camera noise reduction for long exposures and lowlight images

2. Fixing noise in Lightroom or Photoshop:

Once you have captured your image, you will want to open it up in Lightroom or Photoshop to see how it looks. It is a good idea to zoom your image to 100% to see the actual details of the noise in the image. When you make any adjustments, be sure to zoom in to 100% (1:1 in Lightroom), but also zoom out to see the full image to make sure that the whole thing looks good.

Noise reduction workflow in Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw

The controls in Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw are pretty much the same, so below is a quick overview of what each slider does and how to use them. In Lightroom you will find the Noise reduction tools in the Develop module and in Camera Raw you will find it as the third tab on right hand side of the screen, it is the Detail tab.

The sliders do the following:

The noise reduction sliders in Photoshop Camera Raw, are identical in Lightroom

Luminance

Reduces luminance noise which is noise coming from over or underexposed pixels, this can be quite prevalent in long exposures.

Luminance Detail

Controls the luminance noise threshold. This is good for noisy photos. Higher values preserve more detail but can produce noisier results. Lower values produce cleaner results but also remove some detail.

Luminance Contrast

Controls the luminance contrast; useful for noisy photos. Higher values preserve contrast but can produce noisy blotches or mottling. Lower values produce smoother results but can also have less contrast.

Colour

Reduces color noise. This is often noticed in the underexposed shadow areas of an image.

Colour Detail

Controls the colour noise threshold. Higher values protect thin, detailed color edges but can result in color specking. Lower values remove color speckles but can result in colour bleeding.

Colour Smoothness

This slider controls the smoothness of the colours in the image. This is useful if you still have some unusual colour noise in your image after you have made all your adjustments above. Use this to finish off the noise reduction workflow.

Conclusion

There are no standard settings here that will work for every image. You will need to slide each adjustment around until you find the desired result and see how the changes interact with each other. I tend to slide Luminance and Colour to about 50 and then work from there, I slide each slider up and down, carefully watching how this is affecting the image. Once I am happy with the adjustment, I then move onto the next slider until I am done. I do this while I am zoomed into the image at 100% and after each change, I zoom out to see the effect it is having on the overall image. This may sound a little tedious, but if this is done properly, you will be able to eliminate most of the unsightly noise in just about any image. Practice is also important here, try this on as many images as you can and pretty soon you will be able to predict the effect of each changes.

Do you have any other experiences or tips for noise avoidance and removal? Please share in the comments below.

The post How to Avoid and Reduce Noise in Your Images by Barry J Brady appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Sneaky Ways to Avoid Camera Theft

26 Aug

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3

The greatest days are full of fun photo ops, not bad guys creepin’ on your turf. Protect your gear!

Cover your phonecam in junky camouflage and trick those thieves into stealing something else less cool, like a stack of old CDs.

Go “normcore” and try carrying your fancy camera in a something less fancy, like a tote bag covered in cats.

Sometimes all you need are confusion tactics … like a picture of a bright pink donut on your fancy camera lens.

Learn Three Tricks For Outsmarting Camera Snatchers

(…)
Read the rest of Sneaky Ways to Avoid Camera Theft (237 words)

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Avoid These 10 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Image Quality

08 Jul

Central Park South.

How many times have you captured an amazing image only to view it on your computer, or as a print, and realize that you screwed something up along the way.

Unfortunately, the only way to stop doing a lot of these easy-to-make mistakes is to have an image ruined by them. Once you screw up an image you’ll quickly learn not to make the same mistake again.

Here are the most frequent ways I see photographers ruining their images. Avoid these 10 mistakes that can ruin your images

1. Leaving Image Stabilization on when using a tripod

Everyone learns this tip too late. Image stabilizers (in your lens) usually make your images sharper by reducing camera shake. However, when your camera is on a tripod and perfectly still, the motor can actually cause shake! I know a few of you are shaking your head right now as I did when I learned this. If you couldn’t figure out why your tripod images weren’t perfectly sharp, this is usually the reason, although a strong wind or touching the tripod or camera while shooting can do this as well.

2. Not using a fast enough shutter speed

Lego Girl, SoHo.

Unless you are on a tripod, to achieve a sharp shot your shutter speed needs to be at least 1 over your focal length. So if you are shooting at 50mm your shutter speed needs to be at least 1/50th of a second (and I like to add a little leeway to that to be safe). If you are on a cropped sensor, remember that a 50mm lens might be the equivalent of an 80mm or 100mm view, so make sure to adjust for that.

For moving subjects, 1/320th of a second is my ideal speed to freeze motion. For fast moving objects such as cars or sports, I prefer an even faster shutter speed.

Be especially careful when shooting on Aperture Priority mode or in the auto settings, because it is easy for the camera to set the shutter speed to a setting that will introduce blur into your image without you noticing. For this reason I frequently like to shoot in Shutter Priority mode.

3. Not focusing exactly on the most important object, especially when shooting with a large aperture

If you are shooting with a small aperture, such as f/8 and above, you will often have leeway, but especially when shooting with a large aperture (like f/2), you need to make sure that the most important element in the image is the sharpest. If this is not the case, it might not always be noticeable on the monitor, but it will show up when you make a print.

This is especially important when doing portraiture. Missing the sharpness on the eyes often means ruining the image.

Be especially careful when the element you are focusing on is small, because it will be very easy for the camera to focus on the area behind it instead. This is a mistake that is frequently made by newer photographers. In these tricky situations you need to pay attention to whether the autofocus is picking up the small element.

4. Not raising your ISO up higher when needed

In situations where the light is not strong and you need a fast shutter speed and a large aperture, don’t be afraid to raise your ISO. I see too many people afraid to go above ISO 200. I use ISOs of 800, 1600 and even 3200 a significant amount. Many digital cameras, especially ones made within the last four years, can handle these ISOs. Yes it will add noise to your photos, but in many cases you will notice that despite the noise, the technical quality of your images will be better. Noise can look very pleasing, especially on the newer digital cameras.

Mobile Office, Midtown. ISO 3200

5. Moving while you shoot

This is my biggest pet peeve, by far. I am normally a very calm person, but when I see this it makes me want to grab the photographer and shake them silly. I see so many people that take photos without breaking their stride. Stop your motion every time you take a shot, if even for a second! Keep your hands still! It’s not difficult. Respect every image that you take enough to stop and think about it for a second, and your images will ultimately respect you when they turn out well in print. Sorry, that is the end of my rant for the day.

6. Over-sharpening

Be careful of over-sharpening your photos. I see this happen all too often. Particularly with high resolution cameras with the right settings, your images often will only need a minimal amount of sharpness. If you overdo the sharpness it will actually have the reverse effect, making your image look fake or as if it was blown up to a larger size.

Couple in Snowstorm, Central Park

7. Resizing your images after you sharpen them

Sharpening should be the last step after you have sized the image to your final print size. If you sharpen your image and then resize them it will negatively affect the quality of your photo.

8. Not using the correct color space: ProPhoto RGB > Adobe RGB > sRGB

You should always keep your digital photo in the largest colorspace possible. While digital printers cannot yet print all of the colors in ProPhoto RGB, and many printing services prefer you to send them your files in Adobe RGB. When processing my RAW images to Tiff files I always convert them to the ProPhoto colorspace because it is the largest. Why not save your files with the most amount of color information possible? Many cameras will allow you to set this in the settings.

However, did you know the sRGB is the best colorspace to show your images on the web? Yes, when printing your images it is best to keep them in ProPhoto or Adobe RGB, but when rendering them for viewing over the web, convert them to sRGB.

When you convert an image to a different colorspace, always make sure to do it as a copy of the original image. If you convert a ProPhoto image to sRGB and save it, you will not be able to retrieve that color information if you then convert it back to ProPhoto.

Bow Bridge in Fall, sRGB.

Bow Bridge in Fall, Adobe RGB. A subtle but noticeable difference.

9. Not using exposure compensation (+/-)

When shooting in overly light or dark situations in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority mode, the light will fool the camera’s sensor. For instance, if you photograph in a dark alleyway, your camera’s sensor will try to overly brighten the scene, while if you capture an image with a lot of bright sky or white snow, the camera will try to overly darken the scene.

This is where your exposure compensation comes in. It is a vital tool for any photographer, especially in tricky lighting situations.

10. Not resetting your camera

Take a look at your camera settings at the beginning of the day and frequently throughout a day of shooting. Some of the most common settings to forget to reset are a high ISO from the night before, your exposure compensation, your white balance setting, and checking your autofocus switch.

Final thoughts

A few final notes that must be mentioned. With digital images, you can always fix many problems later in post-production. However, there is still no substitute for getting the image perfect in camera. Processing is necessary in some way for every digital image, but the more extreme, the more you can damage the quality of your images.

It is tough to notice the effects of many of these mistakes when viewing the images on the web or on a monitor, but when you zoom in close to the details or make a print, especially a print of a decent size, these effects with be very noticeable.

The post Avoid These 10 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Image Quality by James Maher appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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5 Disastrous Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Photography Business

02 Jul

While starting a photography business, people don’t always understand how to turn their hobby into a full-time job properly. Most newbie photographers make the same mistakes when starting out that they wish to go back and change. Knowing about these mistakes in advance could help you to avoid them. As they say, “wise men learn by other men’s mistakes; fools Continue Reading

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5 Not-So-Obvious Mistakes Photographers Make When Starting a Business and How You Can Avoid Them

29 Jun

By plantoo47

When starting your photography business it’s easy to get caught up in how good your portfolio looks, buying new equipment, or how many followers you have on social media. While these tasks are important, you risk overlooking some crucial numbers that will help you to hold yourself accountable and succeed as a result.

Large corporations have whole departments tracking data to help their CEO’s make better business decisions. So why is this completely overlooked in one-person businesses?

In this article you will learn the Five not-so-obvious mistakes photographers make when starting a business. I will also give you some handy tips on how you can avoid these mistakes in the future.

Mistake #1 – Not knowing your income goal

One of the most common mistakes you can make as a freelance photographer is not setting any targets around how much money you want to make. I think we can all agree that it is an amazing feeling to be able to earn enough money to support yourself.

An effective way to grow your income is to first be aware of how much you’re currently earning so that you can figure out how much you want to earn in the future. Have a good solid brainstorming session about the next 12 months and really ask yourself, “How much do I want to realistically earn this year?”

By Simon Cunningham

Making a million dollars a year photographing would be fantastic, but you have to be realistic about your financial goals. You don’t want to set a figure that is so high that you feel discouraged. You also don’t want to set a figure that undervalues your talent. You want to choose a figure that makes you feel a little stretched but is still achievable with some hard work.

A good place to start is to look at how much income you made in the last year, and then add 30% on top of this amount to calculate how much you’d like to make in the next year. For example, if you earned $ 15,000 last year, your goal this year should be $ 19,500 ($ 15,000 x 1.3).

If you don’t have any income records from last year, just choose a figure that you feel comfortable with, and that is attainable.
After you’ve worked out your target income for the year, the next thing to do is calculate your average fee. You can calculate this by dividing your total income by the number of sales (clients) you had over the last year.

So now that we know what your target income and average fee is, we can move on to calculate the number of photo sessions required to reach your target income goal.

By Historias Visuales

Mistake #2 – Not knowing how many photo sessions you need to do

The number of sessions that you need to do in the next 12 months is dependent on your target income and average fee. For example, to make $ 20,000, you will need to do 40 sessions within the next 12 months to reach your income goals. This is calculated by dividing your income goal of $ 20,000 by your average fee, which in this example is $ 500.

Your required number of sessions may feel daunting at first. It’s important to break it down into smaller increments so that you can visualize these amounts so it appears more attainable, so 40 sessions for the year turns into 3.3 sessions per month. This is calculated by dividing 40 sessions by 12 months.

When you’re setting your income goal, think about how much time you want to take off for the year. You need to give yourself leeway for traveling, illness, recovery, planning and so forth. Just because you’re a business owner doesn’t mean you don’t need
to have time off like the rest of the world.

Going back to the example, the number of sessions required is 3.3 per month. Let’s round this down to three sessions to make things cleaner. This means you need to do 0.75 sessions per week.

By Korry Benneth

If you’re not comfortable with the volume, you could tweak your targets. For example, if you were to get more skilled at charging higher fees, we could set your average fee to $ 1000 instead of $ 500. How would this impact your volume? Well $ 20,000 divided by $ 1000 is 20. That’s 20 less photo sessions you have to do for the year, which equals out to just 1.6 sessions per month or only one photo session every couple of weeks.

So the next question is, should you focus on doing more sessions, or should you learn how to effectively increase your fees? The choice is ultimately up to you, but this example illustrates the importance of knowing your numbers so you can make the necessary adjustments in your business that will help you succeed.

Mistake #3 – Not knowing how many inquiries you need

Inquiries are the first point of contact you have with potential clients. Your main goal when you receive an inquiry is to convert it into a booking.

Measuring the number of required inquiries in your photography business can be a little challenging as some of the people that contact you initially don’t end up booking for various reasons. So as a rule of thumb I like to use a 50% conversion rate. This means that to get three bookings for the month, you need to get at least six inquiries.

As you can see, generating inquiries is easily one of the most important steps in the sales process. When it comes down to it, if you want to achieve your goal of $ 20,000, you need to generate six inquiries per month with an average fee of $ 500. Once again, you will only know this if you are aware of the important numbers in your business, which I’m sure, most of your competition is overlooking.

Mistake #4 – Not knowing how many bookings you need

Converting enquires into bookings is another often overlooked part of the photography sales process. Not only do you get the opportunity for income now, it gives you an opportunity to book future business through referrals.

By Ken Teegardin

The number of bookings required in your business should match the number of sessions required. So if you need to do three photo sessions per month, then you also need to book three clients per month.

Obviously the bookings you get today could help get you more sessions in the future. However, I have found that these numbers tend to correct themselves if you focus on getting your target bookings each and every month. So if you’re not doing enough sessions, you have to revisit your bookings and see how you can increase your inquiries.

Mistake #5 – Not having a method of keeping track of your numbers

Hopefully by now you have a better understanding of the relationship between different targets in your photography business. It is clear that more inquiries lead to more bookings, which lead to more sessions, which ultimately leads to more income.

It’s all well and good to be aware of the numbers, but to make significant change in your photography business requires you to hold yourself accountable and ensure that you’re following through on your goals. There are a couple ways you can do this.

One way is to draw a table in your notebook that displays each target for the month. You then record a dash next to the target when you get it done. So if you have a target of three sessions for the month, every time you do a session you draw a dash next to this target. You can also break this down into weeks if that makes it easier for you to update.

By Wendy House

You could also track your numbers by drawing up your targets on a whiteboard in your home office or studio. This is an excellent idea as you’re constantly looking at it.

Another way to do this is to create a spreadsheet. I know a lot of creative professionals cringe when they hear the word “spreadsheet”. However I encourage you to push through your barriers and use a spreadsheet to track your numbers.

The advantage of a spreadsheet is that it does all the work for you. All you have to do is input your progress and the spreadsheet can tell you how you’re doing. I can just hear what you’re saying at the moment. “Michael, this sounds great, but how do I actually create this spreadsheet you’re talking about?” I thought you might ask, so I’ve prepared a spreadsheet for you to download for you to use in your business. I initially created this spreadsheet for my partner’s photography business to track her numbers, and it really helped change her mindset in her business.

Before using my tool she couldn’t tell me what percentage of inquiries were converting into bookings. After she started tracking her numbers, she felt empowered and knew exactly how her business was going at any given time. Sometimes it was a pleasant surprise to know that she smashed her targets, other times she knew that she had to find ways to generate more business.

You don’t have to look at your numbers daily. I recommend updating your numbers at the end of each week. I also suggest that at the end of each month you send your numbers to an accountability partner. Knowing that you have to submit your numbers will only motivate you more. Choose someone you trust and you’re comfortable enough with to share your goals. This could be your spouse, sibling, good friend or business buddy. Sometimes all you need is some encouraging words to keep you focused in your business.

Bonus mistake #6 – Not tracking your expenses

It can be somewhat soothing to plan and think about how much money you’re going to make. Having said that, it’s just as important to understand how you’re spending your income.

Lots of new and even seasoned professional photographers overlook this highly important step. Reducing your costs is another method of making more money so you can spend it on more important things, like a new lens or a holiday.

By Jorge Franganillo

So how can you go about tracking your expenses? Well it’s quite simple, use accounting software. There are many accounting solutions on the market that are both free and paid. Personally, I recommend going with Wave (because it’s free) or Xero (because it’s awesome). Both systems allow you to automatically pull your transactions from your business account bank statement directly into your accounting software. This means you don’t have to spend hours entering your expenses. Pretty cool huh?

Most photographers get overwhelmed when they think of financial management. But investing time in this area will do wonders for your business.

By far the most important feature of accounting software, is the ability to create reports that allow you to see where, and how much, money you are spending in your business. From there you can make necessary adjustments to cut back on your costs.

By M.Kemal

Bringing clarity to your business

The whole purpose of this article is to bring clarity into your business. A lot of photographers like yourself start a business because you want to earn a living doing something that you enjoy. But you soon come to realize that making a living and growing your business is not easy. It can be overwhelming thinking about how you’re going to get through tomorrow’s to-do list while keeping all of your existing clients happy. This overwhelming feeling often leads to “fog brain” and prevents you from having clarity in your business.

Being aware of your numbers will ultimately help you make better decisions. Instead of spending one hour on Facebook today, you could spend that time contacting potential referral partners for your business.

At the end of the day, activities that generate more inquiries are much more important than getting bogged down with emails, packaging, social media, design and other administrative activities, especially when trying to reach higher income targets. Get someone else to do those things so you can focus on what’s important: servicing your clients, doing sessions, finalizing bookings and generating so you can fund the lifestyle that you want and deserve.

For more photography business tips read these articles:

The Ultimate Guide to Going Pro as a Photographer
How to Calculate Your Cost of Doing Business – And Other Necessary Numbers
5 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Photography Business
30 Things you Should Know to Help you Start a Photography Business

The post 5 Not-So-Obvious Mistakes Photographers Make When Starting a Business and How You Can Avoid Them by Michael Ofei appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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How to Avoid Blurry Photos by Choosing the Right Autofocus Mode

09 Apr

Sometimes the light is perfect, the moment is right, but when you get home you find out that your photo is blurry. Arrgh!

Why are your pictures blurry? One obvious reason might be that your camera isn’t focused properly. Today’s cameras and autofocus lenses can help you quickly take sharp images in a wide variety of situations, provided you choose the right autofocus mode.

Here are some questions to help you diagnose any situation and choose the correct auto focus setting

Photo by Lynford Morton

Are you using the Auto-area autofocus or Single-point autofocus selection?

Who gets to decide your focus point? That’s the question you are deciding with this option. In an Auto-area autofocus, your camera decides what it should use as your focal point. It usually decides based on what looks most prominent in the viewfinder or closest to the camera. This might work when your subject is obvious and there are no potential distractions.

For more control, choose a Single-point autofocus setting. That mode allows you to choose your specific auto focus point (check your camera’s manual if you aren’t sure how to do this). After all, only you, not your camera, knows where you want to place your subject.

Is your subject moving?

Most DSLR cameras give you four basic options for autofocus settings: single, continuous, auto or manual. To help you choose the right option, ask yourself, “Is my subject moving?”

No, my subject is not moving

Photo by Lynford Morton

If your subject is not moving, choose “AF-S” for Nikon or “One Shot” for Canon. This mode locks in your focus based on the distance to your subject. As long as your subject stays at that distance, your photo will be in focus. Your subject has to be stationary for this mode to work. In fact, your camera will not take the photo if your subject is moving (or it cannot lock focus).

This mode also allows you to recompose. Let’s say the autofocus point is in the center of the frame, but you want your subject on one side or the other. Keep depressing your shutter button slightly, and focus remains sharp on your subject. Then you can move the camera slightly left or right, recomposing with your subject out of the center of the frame.

Yes, my subject is moving

By Amsterdamized

If your subject is moving, use continuous autofocus (AF-C for Nikon or AI Servo for Canon). In this mode, you place your autofocus point over your subject, and focus continues to adjust while you hold down the shutter button, keeping your subject in focus as it moves.

For example, if someone is riding a bicycle, place the AF point on your subject and slightly depress the shutter. As long as you are pressing the shutter, the autofocus will continually adjust to your subject, keeping them in focus as they move. When you are ready to take the photo, depress the shutter completely, and the camera will focus on your subject for a sharp image.

No, my subject isn’t moving, but it might

A third option merges the functionality of the single autofocus and continuous autofocus. This hybrid mode, (AF-A for Nikon or AI Focus for Canon), starts out as a single auto focus. Your camera won’t focus until you lock in on a stationary subject. Once you have your subject in focus, you can take the photo as you would in a traditional single auto focus mode.

If your subject starts moving, however, the autofocus releases and continues to track your moving subject. It gives you the best of both worlds. One note of caution, I have noticed at times, if you recompose a stationary object quickly in AF-A mode, the camera can be fooled into thinking the subject is moving and release the autofocus.

My autofocus just isn’t getting it right

You always have the option of turning off the autofocus function and choosing the Manual setting. If your camera is having trouble detecting your focus point, it might be more efficient to focus the camera yourself.

How about the opposite situation? You turned off your autofocus by accident? Every now and then, when your camera can’t seem to focus, and you don’t hear the motor searching back and forth, check to see if you selected Manual autofocus by accident. This can happen more frequently than you might think.

Other issues to consider

What if you set up your autofocus properly, and the lens still won’t focus? Try these considerations:

You might be too close. Try backing away. If you are too near the subject, it might prevent the camera from focusing properly.
Your subject might not have enough contrast. Your image needs to have some contrast for many autofocus systems to work. If you try to photograph a solid sheet of white or any single color, most autofocus systems will struggle. Why? The camera compares adjacent pixels and when one is different, it uses that point to determine its focus. If it can’t find any contrast, it can’t focus.
You might have an extremely shallow depth of field. In this case, your autofocus is working, but the depth of field is so shallow, it is hard to tell that your subject is in focus.
You have camera shake. When you depress the shutter, you move the camera. If the shutter speed is too slow, the camera picks up that movement, and it looks like a blurry photo. Make sure your shutter speed is faster than the equivalent of your focal length. For instance, if you are zoomed to 100mm, your shutter speed should be 1/100th of a second or faster to avoid camera shake.

Why is your picture blurry? If the answer is in your autofocus, your fix could be as simple as choosing the right setting.

Do you have any other autofocus tips or comments you’d like to share? Please do so below.

More tips on sharper images and focus modes:

5 Tips for Getting Sharper Images
Understand Exposure in Under 10 Minutes
Making Sharper Wildlife Photographs – [Part 1 of 2]
Making Sharper Wildlife Photographs – [Part 2 of 2]

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5 Most Common Mistakes in Wildlife Photography – and How to Avoid Them

05 Mar

Animals, especially wild ones, make such beautiful subjects that we cannot resist turning our cameras on them to capture images of these majestic creatures in their natural state.

Unlike a landscape, creatures are constantly in motion, and unlike most people, they can be pretty uncooperative when it comes to getting their picture taken. This can make for a lot of botched pictures. Here are a few tips on how to avoid some of the common pitfalls of wildlife photography.

1. A Tiny Subject

Three Brown Pelicans by Anne McKinnell

It’s tough to approach a wild animal – they are easily spooked. Because of this, many wildlife photos have more wilderness than wildlife, with the animal becoming a tiny speck in its environment. This can be effective in some situations, but for the most part you want the animal to be large enough in the frame to see the detail in its eyes. This is where a good telephoto lens can really help you out. Using a long focal length (over 200mm) will allow you to keep your distance while still filling the frame.

2. Blurry Image

Blur comes in many forms. Your entire image could be blurry due to camera shake; a problem which is magnified by the longer focal lengths needed for wildlife photography.

In landscape photography, using a tripod is a good technique to prevent camera shake, but a tripod is not as practical when photographing wildlife. Wildlife photography requires a more active shooting style – you’ll be moving around constantly – so unless you are using a lens that is too big to hold comfortably, forget the tripod. Also, because the animals are always in motion, you’ll need a fast shutter speed anyway. That leads me to the first method to combat camera shake blur: using a very fast shutter speed.

In landscape photography, you normally use a shutter speed that is at least 1/focal length of your lens. But usually that isn’t going to be fast enough when photographing wildlife because the animals are always in motion (even when they appear to be standing still). To avoid disappointment, you’ll need to use a much faster shutter speed to freeze both your own motion and the motion of the animal.

Here is my rule of thumb when photographing wildlife: if the animal appears to be still, use a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. If the animal is moving, you’ll have to adjust the shutter speed based on how fast they are moving. I suggest a minimum of 1/1,000th of a second, or faster if the animal is moving faster.

Sleeping Steller Sea Lion by Anne McKinnell

Using a lens with image stabilization will also help prevent camera shake blur. A lens with a wide maximum aperture, say f/2.8 or even f/4, will let more light in, allowing you to use a faster shutter speed. Likewise, a camera with low noise at high ISOs will let you turn up the sensitivity. All of these options will enable you to make faster exposures with better results.

Another type of blur is focus blur. This results from your camera being unable to focus, probably because your subject is moving and the AF motor gets confused. Some cameras and lenses have superior auto focus systems to others, but regardless of what you have, you can get the most out of it by setting it to continuous focus mode, usually called AF-C (Nikon) or AI Servo (Canon). This setting will track the subject’s movement in the frame and focus on it more quickly and accurately.

3. The Missed Moment

We’ve all been there. You see the perfect shot, frame it, and hit the shutter. But by the time the camera focuses and the exposure is made, the animal has moved and all you end up with is the second after the perfect shot.

There are two ways to avoid this heartbreak:

Anticipation

This is a skill that can only come with practice and a keen eye. If you can learn to see when the perfect moment is about to happen, rather than when it is happenning, you can hit the shutter right before the peak moment and cause the camera to snap at just the right time.

Orca by Anne McKinnell

Continuous Shooting

When animals are in motion, you’ll get the best chance at a good result by using continuous shooting mode (also called “drive mode” or “burst mode”). With this, you can take several images per second and choose the most successful.

Higher-end DSLRs and mirrorless cameras will have a much faster maximum shooting speed, but no matter which camera you have, there are a few things that will help get the highest continuous shooting rate.

One is a fast memory card – both SD (standard digital) and CF (compact flash) cards have a certain speed that they operate at, and a faster card will make sure that your camera doesn’t get bogged down trying to save the images.

The other is a fully-charged battery – as the juice drains, the camera can become sluggish, so it’s a good idea to keep an extra battery or two in your camera bag. For ultimate performance, you can buy a battery grip that fits on your camera. This holds two batteries at the same time for maximum speed.

4. Where Is Everyone???

Sometimes wild animals can be hard to find, and they’re not always where you want them to be. Before you can photograph them, you have to learn a few things about how to find them.

Know your animals

What types of animals live around you? Before you go out shooting, find out who they are, what they eat, when they sleep, and where they like to relax in between. If you’re photographing birds, research which ones are to be found in your area at which times of year. It’s also important to know how animals might react if, and when, they feel threatened – will they fight, or flee?

American Green Tree Frog by Anne McKinnell

Know the season

Some animals will be much more active at different times of year – particularly during autumn, as they rummage up enough food for winter, and in the spring when some animals come out of hibernation.

Camp out

I don’t mean overnight (unless you’re into that), but it’s often a very effective practice to find a popular area – probably somewhere with a source of water, food, shade or shelter – where animals like to congregate. Set your camera up on a tripod nearby, and disguise yourself among some trees or brush (some photographers go so far as to buy ,or build, a blind to hide their presence).

Be patient

Animals work on their own schedule, so don’t try to fit a shooting session in between other appointments. Great photos take time, and you must allow nature to unfold at its own pace. Many animals are easily frightened, so being quiet, still, and inconspicuous will help put them at ease.

5. Animal Attack!

We don’t call it “wildlife” for nothing – the biggest mistake you can make is accidentally getting mauled. Animals are not adjusted to polite society, and can be pretty rough customers if you catch them at the wrong time, or in the wrong way. They spend most of their waking lives foraging for food, and a spat over a meal can turn ugly, fast. Never get in the way of lunch, unless you want to take its place.

Don’t approach a wild animal directly, and if they see you, avoid looking them in the eye. This is usually a sign of aggression. If you need to get closer, keep low and move in a broad zig-zag pattern to avoid frightening the animal.

Baby Aligator by Anne McKinnell

Be aware of when mating season (or “running season”) is for the type of animal you’ll be photographing. Male mammals are full of testosterone at this time of year, and can be aggressive, violent, and very dangerous. Avoid photographing at these times. Similarly, find out when animals are likely to be giving birth and raising their young. We all know how risky it can be to get in between a mama bear and her cubs.

Whenever you’re dealing with wildlife, always remember that any creature can be dangerous when provoked, and it’s very important to treat animals and their habitat with the utmost care and respect.

For more tips on wildlife photography try these articles:

Manipulating Natural Light in Wildlife Photography
How Low Can you Go? An Illustration of Camera Angle for Wildlife Photography
Making Sharper Wildlife Photographs – [Part 1 of 2]
Making Sharper Wildlife Photographs – [Part 2 of 2]

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50 Things I Try to Avoid in Street Photography

15 Jan

street-photography-tips-03

I am a huge proponent of negative learning, that you can learn more by taking on the opposite approach. Philosopher Nassim Taleb calls this “via negativa”. It is the idea that the best way to gain “happiness” in life isn’t chasing what makes us happy, but by vehemently avoiding what makes us unhappy (a long commute to work, a horrible micro-managing boss, poisonous and negative “friends”, and an expensive house mortgage).

I also believe strongly that one should never listen to “rules” of anything in life (especially street photography). However, below is a list of things (which has personally helped me) I avoid in street photography . Pick and choose what resonates with you, and leave the rest:

50 Things I Try to Avoid in Street Photography

“Chimping” (checking the LCD screen) after taking photos on the streets
Using more than one lens for street photography (I prefer a 35mm)
Not mixing my digital and film photos in a project
Letting the number of “favorites” or “likes” dictate whether a photo is good or not
Letting criticism affect me negatively. Rather, I try to use it to empower me to find weaknesses in my work.
Uploading a photo online publicly without having at least 3 people critique it in-person first
Spending a lot of time looking at photos online ; rather I spend more time looking at photo books
Leaving the house without a camera
Hesitating before taking a street photograph
Cluttered backgrounds
Showing my bad photos (I have tons of them)
Shooting more than one type of film at a time (Kodak Portra 400 for color, Kodak Tri-X for black and white)
Going a full day without taking a photograph
Involving myself in online debates about the definition of “street photography”
Meeting my photography friends without some new work to show them and get critique on
Charging money for my photos
Taking a photo of someone on the streets without saying “thank you” by smiling at them
Not to focus on single images. Rather, I try to focus on projects
Looking at gear review sites (when I’m bored) unless I’m serious about buying a new camera
I don’t own more than one lens for my camera (only a 35mm)
I don’t care about sharpness
I don’t like bokeh in street photography
Forgetting how lucky I am to be able to go out and take photos
Taking boring photos
Taking check-in luggage when I travel
Comparing myself to other photographers
Developing my film for at least 3 months after I shoot it
Uploading photos online until letting it “marinate” for at least 6 months to a year
Not to falling into the trap that buying a new camera will make me suddenly become more “creative” and “inspired” in my photography
I don’t mind asking for permission to take someone’s photo in the street
I don’t check comments on my photos more than once a week
Spending more time on social media, and less time out shooting on the streets
Leaving comments or critiques on other people’s photos that are shorter than 4 sentences long
Only taking photos of people
I rarely take photos of homeless people
Taking photos of street performers
Deleting photos (unless they are really nice or the photo is boring)
Taking the film out of my camera when someone asks me to
Shooting to please my critics
I ultimately don’t shoot for anybody else but myself
Making excuses when a photo doesn’t work
I don’t like photos without emotion
Recommending zoom lenses in street photography
Recommending lenses longer than 50mm for street photography
Shooting wide open on the streets (generally at f/8-f/16)
Recommending selective color or HDR for post-processing street photographs
I don’t mind “killing my babies” (photos that I think are good but really aren’t)
Shooting in bad light without a flash
Sharing more than one photo a week on social media
I don’t think you should listen to everything in this list. Rather, make your own!

Editor’s note: what things do you try and avoid when you’re doing photography of any kind? Share your list with us in the comment section below!

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Five Photography Business Mistakes to Avoid

29 Nov

A guest article by Steve McConnell

Five photography business mistakes that cost me dearly and how you can avoid them

I’ve been toying with an idea of writing an article, in which I share some ideas on how to start a successful photography business. Every time I think about writing it, I realize that I wouldn’t know what to write. I just don’t think that the entrepreneurial journey for an aspiring photographer can be boiled down to a set of step-by-step tips which can fit neatly into a blog post on photography business mistakes

There are just too many variables (business nuances, possible changes of direction, personal problems, market issues, artistic visions, industry influences, technical developments) which can be put together in an infinite amount of ways into a business strategy that may lead you to reach your goals.

However, I think that there’s a fairly universal set of potholes which are likely to derail your ambitions as a creative entrepreneur unless you steer the business ship neatly around them. It is with the aim of highlighting these potholes that I decided to write this article. I hope it enables you to put your dream together in your own unique way, while raising some red flags around things that may trip you up.

I think that it is much more useful to highlight some of the pitfalls that exist on this path, hopefully leaving you with the freedom to put your dream together in your own unique way, while raising some red flags around things that may trip you up.

Bit on my background

Let me give you some context. I started my family photography business almost two years ago. In the first year of operation I managed to grow it to a point where it became my part-time job. In this, my second year, I’ve grown it to a point where I’m working at it full-time, my fiancé works in it part-time, and I employ a part-time retoucher to help with editing.

We’re busy. However we’re far from being as stable and sure-footed as I’d like. Every dollar counts and every day a dozen priorities have to be juggled in a way that ensures the worker-bee stuff gets done and the bigger picture (no pun intended) ideas are considered, planned and executed.

What mistakes have I made that you will want to avoid?

Looking back at the business decisions I’ve made, there were some which helped us grow (niche marketing, focus on online channels, partnerships). There were also some decisions I’ve made, which held us back significantly. These are the ones I’m going to share with you in hopes that you will avoid them on your photography journey.

Mistake #1 – listening to established photographers

This may be a contentious point. Let me qualify my words here – when I say “established pros”, I mean photographers who have been in the game for 10+ years, who were around in the film era and who most likely built their business by selling big prints, renting a studio and advertising in the Yellow Pages while promoting themselves through industry partnerships.

I’ve found it immensely difficult to get advice from these folks that is relevant and works in today’s business world. The few times I have taken on their advice and steered my business in the direction they suggested, I regretted it and had to reverse those decisions.

My take on it is that many established pros suffered a business downturn in the last few years. As a result, many turned to teaching. Thing is, their downturn happened mainly because their businesses were built on principles which expired. Yet, they’re teaching those exact principles and strategies to the new generation of aspiring photographers.

I’m not saying that all established pros are not worth listening to, of course not. I’m saying that I personally should have used more discretion in evaluating their advice and rejected more of it, instead of trusting them based on the number of years they’ve been in the game.

Mistake #2 – taking too long to learn sales

A few months ago I finally admitted to myself that I suck at face-to-face sales.

My background is in marketing, which has been helpful in creating branding and business strategies to bring customers to the websites and ensure they have a great experience there, hopefully leading to a sale. But this skill has also become a crutch, because I’ve become reliant on people making their purchase online. If a potential customer called with intent to ask questions (or, God forbid, challenged me on price), I’d collapse.

I decided it was time to get comfortable talking about prices and learn how to articulate my value proposition in a way which catches people’s attention. At the end of the article I’ll share some resources that helped me.

Learning sales was important because it helped me get comfortable with customers on the phone. It changed my perspective on who I am when I answer the phone – I went from being the guy who helpfully provides information about our prices to being the guy who engages potential customers in a dialogue which aims to deliver maximum possible value to them.

photography-business-mistakes-2

Mistake #3 – underestimating the importance of customer service

I started off with the mindset of “I’m an artist. I’m here to create photos. People hire me for my photographs, not for my phone manner or for a card I might send them for Christmas.” I believed that if I focused on producing great photography, that alone would ensure my customers were happy. I did hardly any follow-up before and after the shoots, and I did little else for my customers, except shooting.

I was inspired to change my opinion about on this when I bought a new Apple laptop. It was the smallest detail that flicked the switch for me – a little plastic tab which sits under the laptop and makes lifting it out of the box easy. I’m pretty sure if I bought another brand of computer, I’d have to either jam my fingers between the device and the box to pry it out or flip the whole thing upside down and let gravity do the work.

Not so with Apple. There was a distinct sense of being taken on a journey, even before the Mac was switched on. It made me realize that my customer’s photography journey with me, starts long before a shutter is pressed.

MacBook unboxing

I made it one of business priorities to design, and constantly improve our customers’ experience at every touchpoint with the business. I want people to feel like they’re immersed in a branded experience which begins the moment they arrive at the website and continues long after the photos are delivered. I’m paying attention to things such as:

Do they know how to get here?
Do they know where to park?
Do they get a thank you note?
How does the packaging of the USB stick (on which their photos are presented) look?
Do I surprise them with some unexpected previews, letting them know that their photos are almost ready?

I want them to feel like everything is being taken care for them and no matter what goes wrong, they don’t have to worry about it.

Mistake #4 – forgetting about the winter slump

Our business had a nice surge of growth towards the end of last summer, and then it stopped. I’m not saying it just stopped growing. It literally all stopped. I forgot that people might not be as keen to be photographed in windy, chilly months as they are during the summer heat.

Being prepared for the winter slump will help you avoid a scenario in which the bottom falls out of your business and you have to hock camera (and maybe unessential body) parts on E-bay.

Mistake #5 – neglecting my friends

I’ve lived a fairly ascetic existence for the past two years. My focus has been quite single-mindedly on business. I’ve eliminated just about everything from my schedule which was not business related. I’ve hardly been out. I haven’t spent much money at all on clothes or fancy food. Working for weeks without a day off has been the norm.

It was a conscious decision and a necessary one, because I wanted to grow the business quickly. I was hungry for it and I knew that I’m the kind of person who isn’t very good at doing a number of things at once, so I couldn’t afford to be distracted. . This meant cutting ties with most of my catch-up friends (you know, the people you ‘know’, but in reality you really don’t) and not seeing some of my best friends for months and years at a time.

I don’t regret doing it, but I do regret not managing it better. For some people in my life that I do care about, I kind of fell off the radar. I was simply afraid of having a heartfelt conversation with them and telling them that I needed to disappear for a while because there’s something important I had to do.

In conclusion

I’m not entirely comfortable being in a position of dispensing advice because I don’t feel like I’ve fully cracked the code yet. In many ways, I’m living a dream I never thought possible. However, in the context of what’s possible as a creative entrepreneur, I’m still very much a beginner.

However, there are people in this world who have repeatedly created modern, lean businesses which are turning a healthy profit by creating amazing customer experiences. Let me conclude by sharing some resources that I’ve found invaluable:

Here are two resources which have helped me get comfortable on the phone with potential clients and increase my sales dramatically: S. Anthony Iannarino’s The Sales Blog and Blake Discher’s Webinar On Negotiating.

Everything Google – Moz
Sales – S. Anthony Iannarino The Sales Blog
Strategy – Fred Destin Startup Lifecycle
Starting Small – Seth Godin’s Bootstrapper’s Bible
Business Models, Lessons From Silicon Valley – Dave McClure
Kick Up The Bum: A Brief Guide To World Domination (and why that’s a good thing)

If you’re a photographer and have already set off on your entrepreneurial journey, I’d love to hear about the challenges you’ve run into.

Are you running out of time or money?
Are you not sure who your market is?
Not sure where to even start?

Those are normal issues to run into and are very much part of the journey. Please share the details in the comments below.

Editor’s note: of course the opinions expressed in this article of those of the author, based on his experience. If you have a differing opinion or addition tips to add please do so in the comments section below.

Steven McConnell is a Sydney-based entrepreneur and photographer. Together with his fiancee, he is behind two startups – Steven & Irene Photography and Arielle Careers. When he is not photographing, his focus is on empowering creatives to make a living by doing what they love. You can catch up with him on Google+.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Five Photography Business Mistakes to Avoid

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Olympus executives sentenced, avoid jail time

06 Jul

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More than a year after their arrest in February 2012 for hiding massive corporate losses dating back to the 1990s, three former Olympus executives received suspended jail terms for crimes they admitted committing. In a story marked as one of the largest frauds in Japanese history, the executives conspired to cover up approximately $ 1.5 billion in investment losses. Olympus itself was fined ¥700 million (about $ 7 million) for the actions of Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former chairman, Hideo Yamada, former auditor, and Hisashi Mori, former executive vice president.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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