Exposure « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘Exposure’

How to Add Vintage Frame Overlays Using Alien Skin Exposure X

20 Mar

Here is a quick and snazzy tip on adding some cool retro and vintage frame overlays to your photographs, including polaroids and borders, using Alien Skin Exposure X. It’s easy as pie, and takes seconds! Unlike Photoshop, adding frames in Exposure X does not require masking, or the use of layers.

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0007

But first… why add frames?

You may be going for a certain look and want your images to stand out.
You may want to use your images in scrapbooks and blogs that have a specific theme.
You might just be feeling super creative and want to do something different.

Whatever your reason, it’s a fun experiment, and of course, highly dependent on your taste.

Here’s how to add a frame

Open Alien Skin Exposure X (the latest version is 10, but previous versions work just the same). Click the + icon on the top left corner of the window to add folders from your computer. Choose the folder you want to add, and double click. You may notice that when you open the folder, your images will be initially displayed as a Grid as shown on the second photo below.

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0000

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0008

Click Fit on the upper right corner of the window and you will see (as shown on the first photo) that your chosen image is enlarged, but you can still see the rest of the set, in the thumbnails just below. Once you have your image, look on the right panel, and bring up the Overlays option by clicking on the arrow. Tick the border, then click on the box showing the overlay and a pop up window, giving you a variety of overlay options, comes up. You can scroll through these options to find the overlay you want to use.

You can work on each photo individually or select all using Cmd/Ctrl + A, and your chosen settings will be applied to all the images. TypeCmd/Ctrl + D to deselect, and click on one photo to work on it individually. Don’t forget to use the Overall Intensity slider on the top right corner of the window, it works like the opacity slider in Photoshop. You also have a selection of view options that allow you to see the various before and after splits, as shown on the image below. In this case, the left half of the photo has the overlay and the right half shows the original. This is helpful in gauging the intensity of the overlay applied, and its effect on the original image.

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0001

After you have applied your frames on each image, you now need to export them. Select all the images using Cmd/Ctrl + A, then either go to the Exposure bar File menu and select Export, or simply typeCmd/Ctrl + E, and you can export your new images to a folder you designate. I suggest that you keep the suggested file suffix, or change it to something of your choice, so you know these are the new files with the Exposure edits, should you want to keep them in the same folder. You will still have your original images in tact and untouched, in case you want to revisit them later.

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0002

Here are the images that I used in this tutorial, with the added frames using Alien Skin Exposure X.

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0006

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0005

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0002

adding-vintage-frames-tutorial-alien-skin-exposure_0004

I hope you enjoyed this quick tip. Have fun experimenting with frames as well as other special effects. Do share any other quick tips on adding vintage frames in the comments below.

This week on dPS we are featuring articles on special effects. Check out the others that have already been published here:

How to Photograph the Full Band of the Milky Way
Fire Spinning with Steel Wool – A Special Effects Tutorial
Special Effect – How to Create Multiple Flash Exposures in a Single Frame
Stacking Light Trails for Night Photography Special Effects
26 Unique Special Effects Photos to Spark Your Creativity
Weekly Photography Challenge – Special Effects
Tips for Shooting Through Objects to Create a Special Effect

googletag.cmd.push(function() {
tablet_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_tab-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78623” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );

googletag.cmd.push(function() {
mobile_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_mob-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78158” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );

The post How to Add Vintage Frame Overlays Using Alien Skin Exposure X by Lily Sawyer appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Exposure: Get it Right in Camera or Fix it Later?

16 Mar

Recently, I received a very interesting question from a dPS reader about exposure. The question was, “How much does it matter about getting the exposure right when the photo is taken, as opposed to fixing it later in Lightroom?” It is a really interesting question, and it became even more interesting to me the more I thought about it.

Options for achieving the best exposure

Let’s start off by looking at the possibilities here. There a few different ways you can approach this, and they each have their advantages:

#1 Get it right in camera:

The first way is to make absolutely sure you get it right in camera, without resorting to post-processing software, unless you absolutely have to. Historically, this is the way it was done, largely because changing exposure levels was much more difficult than it is today with digital photography. Any professional photographer worth their weight in salt, would tell you to get it right in camera.

Even today, however, there is still a lot to recommend this strategy. If you don’t use post-processing software, then obviously this is the only answer for you. Further, if you are someone that takes a lot of pictures, and do not want to spend all your time editing them, then this approach still has merit as well. There is just something that feels right about getting it correct in camera. It also avoids surprises later.

#2 Rely on Lightroom:

At the opposite end of the spectrum, is the idea that you should not worry about exposure so much while shooting, and instead get it right in Lightroom. When I say “not worry about it so much,” of course I do not mean you should just haphazardly twist dials to any exposure setting and blast away. Obviously, you need to get the exposure somewhat close to what you want. In addition, you cannot let your highlights get blown out, or your shadows turn pure black. But programs like Lightroom and Photoshop give you a lot of flexibility to deal with exposure settings later. As long as you get it close when you are shooting, you can take your time in front of a computer and get it exactly right.

#3 Do both:

Then, of course, there is a median way. You can try very hard to get the exposure exactly right in camera, and then tweak it later in Lightroom, when you are in front of your computer. In this approach, basically you are just always trying to get it right. You are taking advantage of all your tools. You may get it right in camera, which avoids time in front of the computer later, and avoids any surprises. If not, you can take your time and tweak it later.

LR-controls-Graphic

To me, as I thought about it, the median way seemed like the right answer, I expect it did to you too. Except the more I thought about it, the more I realized I don’t really do that.

My approach to exposure

Instead, I tend more toward the “don’t worry about exposure so much” end of the spectrum. I tend to just get it close, knowing that I am going to fix it later in Lightroom. Am I just being lazy in the field? Maybe, but I don’t think so.

It is just that when I am out shooting, I am usually trying to focus all my attention on composition. I think that is ultimately what matters in creating great photos. For me at least, that topic requires virtually all my mental energy. You have everything from your choice of subject, to how you will be placing things within the frame, to the perspective you want to use, to making everything balance, etc. That’s not to mention shape, leading lines, and other compositional elements. There is just so much to think about. Therefore, the more I can eliminate distractions from anything but composition, the better. I try to keep exposure from intruding on that process too much when I am out shooting.

Further, this approach toward exposure just lends itself to my way of shooting. I’m not someone that sets up on a tripod and stays in one place for a long time. It seems like I’m always on the move, chasing the next shot. My time spent on each shot is pretty limited. Further, while I take a lot of pictures, I edit very few of them, so I don’t mind spending whatever time is necessary, tweaking exposures in Lightroom. I often bracket my pictures as well, which gives me a little leeway for my exposure settings, and means I won’t have an unpleasant surprise later.

Sometimes you are set up on a tripod facing a static scene with unchanging light – which means you can spend all the time you want making sure you have the exposure the way you want it.

Anyway, thinking about how my approach toward photography as a whole affected how I approach exposure, made me realize that your particular method or style of photography probably has a lot to do with your approach to exposure.

Which should you do?

So, how should you approach exposure – by getting it right in camera, or relying more on Lightroom? There is no right answer here, as far as I can tell. As mentioned above, I believe it depends a lot on how you approach photography.

For example, a street shooter who is always on the move, trying to capture fleeting emotions, might not have time to devote toward getting the exposure exactly right. On the other hand, someone who spends a lot of time in one place may have the time. There are a lot of other factors as well.

. . . and other times you have only a second to get a shot before conditions change or your subject walks away - in which case you might spend very little time thinking about exposure and just tweak it in Lightroom.

Other times you have only a second to get a shot before conditions change or your subject walks away – in which case you might spend very little time thinking about exposure and can tweak it in Lightroom later.

Therefore, I’ve started a little list of factors that would tend to put you in one camp or the other. Check it out and see which apply to you:

Factors that lean toward getting it right in camera:

You often stay in one place, and have sufficient time in the field to tweak exposure settings.
Your subject is fairly static.
You do not have post-processing software or just do not like to use it.
You shoot in high volume and the time needed to tweak exposure settings would be too much.

Factors that lean toward increased reliance on Lightroom

You are a consistent user of post-processing software to enhance your pictures.
You bracket your pictures.
Your subject is moving or the moment fleeting.
You do not edit large volumes of pictures.

Did I miss some factors? Do you have a different take? If so, let me know in the comments below, and tell me – which camp are you in?

The post Exposure: Get it Right in Camera or Fix it Later? by Jim Hamel appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Getting Started with Long Exposure in Fashion Photography

03 Mar

Editor’s note: Once you try to use long exposure in fashion photography, you’re likely to do it again and again. Not only can it bring outstanding results in terms of originality of your images, but it’s also a great way to add a funny bone to your portrait sessions and thus, get more natural, sincere model looks. In this post, Continue Reading

The post Getting Started with Long Exposure in Fashion Photography appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

How to Use Exposure Compensation to Take Control of Your Exposure

15 Feb

Chicago-River-2016-01-02 You don’t have to shoot in Manual mode to take complete control over the exposure process.

When you use shooting modes other than Manual, the camera will set at least one of the three exposure controls (shutter speed, aperture, and/or ISO) for you. However, your camera provides you with an override called exposure compensation. It gives you the ability to change the camera’s exposure values from something other than what the camera automatically sets for you. In this article, I will show you how to use it to get the exposure you want every time.

When should you use Exposure Compensation?

First, let’s back up and talk about when you might want to use exposure compensation. You may wonder why you’d want to change anything, if your camera is already determining the proper exposure level.

The first reason is that your camera’s meter can be fooled by some of the conditions you face. The meter operates by looking at the tones in its view, then averaging them out. Basically, the manufacturers have determined that most scenes will average out to a middle grey tone, often referred to as 18% grey. Therefore, if the tones in your frame are darker than this middle grey tone, the meter will show that there is not enough light for a proper exposure, and therefore the meter thinks your picture will be underexposed. Conversely, if the tones in your frame are lighter than middle grey, the meter will show that there is too much light for a proper exposure and it thinks your photo will be overexposed. A lot of the time the camera meter is right, but sometimes it is not.

Some situations are supposed to be brighter than middle grey. A classic example is a photograph taken of a snowy scene. Your camera’s meter will assume that all that white snowy scene should be grey, and will therefore choose exposure settings that underexpose the image. Obviously you don’t want that. Here is an example, the picture to the left was taken strictly by the camera’s meter, and the picture to the right overexposed by one stop according to the camera’s meter:

A snowy scene frequently confuses your camera’s meter. To the left, is a shot taken at normal exposure. To the right, is one taken after adding in a stop of exposure compensation (overexposure).

Another example is night photography, where the darkness of the scene should result in dark tones in your picture. The camera’s meter won’t recognize this though, and will tell you to brighten up the picture. Using exposure compensation will allow you to take control, and set a proper exposure.

As an example, check out the pictures below. In the picture on the left, taken at normal exposure as per the camera’s meter, it brightened the night scene and it looks a little washed out. To the right is an underexposed (according to the meter) image that more closely resembles the actual conditions of the scene.

Night-Comp

The camera’s meter (and even the histogram) tells you that the normal exposure is correct (see below). But the reason the camera thinks the normal exposure is correct, is that it that the average of the tones closely approximates middle grey. However, the underexposed image actually more closely captures the reality of the situation.

Histogram-Comp

Another reason you may want to use exposure compensation is that you simply don’t like the “correct” exposure. You may want to darken the scene to add some mood or drama, or you may want to brighten things up. Photography is ultimately an artistic endeavor, and is highly subjective, so exposure compensation gives you a tool to put that to work.

Finally, if you subscribe to the theory that you should expose to the right, exposure compensation will allow you to do so in camera modes other than Manual. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, expose to the right means that you slightly overexpose your images so that most of the tones appear on the right side of the histogram (without clipping anything). You later reduce the tones in post-processing and this can sometimes result in slightly better image quality. The overexposure happens by using exposure compensation.

How Exposure Compensation Works

Now that you know what exposure compensation is, how do you use it? In most cases, your camera will have a little button with a +/- on it. That is the button you press to change the exposure compensation. While pressing that button, turn the main dial of your camera right or left (by main dial, I am referring to the dial on the top right of your camera, usually next to the shutter release button). That will change the exposure compensation. Turning the dial one way will reduce the exposure, and the other way increases it. Each click of the dial will usually change exposure settings by 1/3 of a stop.

PlusMinusButton

If you have a higher-end DSLR, then your camera will have a second dial or wheel on the back of the camera. Those cameras will usually not have the +/- button, but that second dial will be used to change the exposure compensation settings. The advantage is that you can just turn that dial with your right thumb without needing to press any buttons.

Wheel

Exposure Compensation in Different Camera Modes

So what does exposure compensation actually do? You know that it changes the exposure, but how does it do so? By changing the aperture? Or the shutter speed? Or both?

The answer is that it depends on what mode you have your camera in. I will explain what is going on for each of the camera modes:

Aperture Priority Mode – In Aperture Priority mode, exposure compensation changes the shutter speed. Remember that in this mode, you set the aperture and the camera sets a corresponding shutter speed. If you change the Aperture, your camera just sets another corresponding shutter speed, and there is no change in the exposure level. Exposure compensation gives you the ability to change the shutter speed (and the overall exposure value) while staying at the same aperture you originally set.

Shutter Priority – In Shutter Priority mode, exposure compensation changes the size of your aperture. It is basically the reverse of Aperture Priority mode. You set a shutter speed, and the camera sets a corresponding aperture. Exposure compensation therefore changes the exposure by allowing you to change that aperture size.

Program – In Program mode (P on your mode dial), exposure compensation changes the shutter speed. At least that’s what happened on the cameras I tested. It is possible that yours works differently, or that you can change it in the menu. As with so many things, this is a good excuse to pull out your camera’s user manual and go through it.

What about Manual and Automatic modes? These don’t have exposure compensation. In Manual mode, the camera does not set an exposure value for you in the first place, you set everything yourself. Whenever you change the aperture or the shutter speed, you are changing the exposure value. In Automatic mode, there is no exposure compensation because you have no control over exposure – the camera does everything for you. That is one of the reasons why you should never use this mode.

Here we see the back of the camera before and after applying one stop of exposure compensation. In the example to the left, the camera shows a normal exposure with a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second. In the example to the right, the shutter speed is reduced by 1 stop to 1/1000 of a second, and the meter reading reflects that.

Exposure Bracketing

While talking about exposure compensation, there is a related topic that you might find useful as well. It is Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB, or just bracketing). It is where you set your camera to take multiple pictures in a row with the first at normal exposure, the next one(s) underexposed, and the final one(s) overexposed (if you have Canon it may look more like this: underexposed>normal>overexposed, you can also change the order on a Nikon if you go to your menu settings).

When you enable the feature in your camera’s menu, you set the amount of under and overexposure. The camera will take three to five pictures in rapid succession (depending on your camera, if you shoot Canon you have to also set your drive mode to high speed burst). In a way, this accomplishes the same thing as exposure compensation, because you are dialling in a certain amount of underexposure or overexposure.

Bracket

Why would you want to do this? Several reasons. Usually it comes into play when there is a wide divergence of tones in the image. Using a little blending later, you can use the brightest tones from the underexposed image and the darkest tones from the overexposed image. In addition, if you are ever going to use any high dynamic range processing on your images, you should have multiple images to work with. Finally, you might just think of it as “exposure insurance” for important shots to make sure that you have nailed the exposure.

Conclusion

We all want to be able to take complete control over the exposure process, but not all of us want to work in Manual mode. When you work in a mode like Aperture Priority mode, the camera offers you a lot of benefits – speed being the main one. By adding exposure compensation to your process, you can get the speed of other modes, along with the control of manual.

If you haven’t used exposure compensation before, give it a try. If you are familiar with it, chime in below with your own tips and experiences.

The post How to Use Exposure Compensation to Take Control of Your Exposure by Jim Hamel appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

6 Mistakes to Avoid in Long Exposure Photography

13 Jan

Do you want to get better at creating long exposure photos? Long exposure photography is famous for tranquil and serene landscape shots, but when engaging in this type of photography there are many pitfalls that can ruin your shots. Below you will find a list of 6 common mistakes and how to avoid them. Shaken and Blurred Photos Even though Continue Reading

The post 6 Mistakes to Avoid in Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Alien Skin releases non-destructive photo editor Exposure X

11 Dec

Alien Skin has launched Exposure X, its non-destructive photo editor and film emulation software for Mac OS X and Windows. Exposure X is the successor to Exposure 7, and functions as both a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop as well as a standalone editor. Features include a revamped user interface, RAW image editing, and an import system that doesn’t use a catalog file.

Plans to release Exposure X were announced weeks ago. As promised, the software combines simplified design with non-destructive editing tools for organizing, editing, processing, and storing photos. Exposure X doesn’t use a catalog file, instead opening photos directly from the source folder. The interface, meanwhile, does away with separate modules, presenting a full set of tools at all times, according to Alien Skin. Analog looks can be applied to images, including Kodachrome, Lo-Fi, Daguerreotypes, and more.

Exposure X is a free upgrade for Exposure 7 owners and $ 99 USD for those with other Exposure versions. The software is $ 149 USD for new customers.

Via: Alien Skin

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies

03 Dec

When I first got my digital camera, words like Aperture and ISO were foreign to me, and it took me a couple of weeks of reading and studying a lot before the lightbulb turned on in my head. You might be feeling a little confused, and you may even feel like you will never get your camera out of Auto mode, because it’s just too hard to understand.

So, if you are unfamiliar with your camera, or just starting out, you might appreciate a little explanation of the basics. Sometimes reading about these things in slightly different words helps something new to click each time.

Introducing the Exposure Triangle: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

These three things work together to expose your picture perfectly, and after experimenting for a while, you may even find that you can use your knowledge of these three things to manipulate your picture for different effects.

APERTURE

The aperture or f-stop is how wide open your lens is. Imagine a hole: if it’s open just a teeny bit, there won’t be very much light coming through. If it’s a big hole, lots of light will come through. The tricky thing with aperture is that often confusing numbering system.

SMALL numbers (like f/1.8) = wide open aperture (large opening).
BIG numbers (like f/22) = small aperture (teeny opening).

That confused the heck out of me at first, but now it’s second nature. It will become second nature to you too, after some practice!

Another thing that can be affected by aperture is depth of field, or how much of your picture is in sharp focus. A wide open aperture (small number) will make less in focus, and a closed down aperture (big number) will make more in focus. Let’s look at some photos that demonstrate depth of field:

aperture-1

With the aperture set to f/3.5 on the left, you have a blurrier background (my favorite). Also notice that the shutter speed (1/640th) is fairly HIGH, we’ll get to this later.

aperture-2

A little bit smaller aperture (bigger number), makes the background come into focus a bit more, and the shutter speed is slowed down.

aperture-3

See what I mean? If you want to play around with Aperture, try putting your camera in Aperture Priority mode (A on Nikon, Av on Canon – if you have a different camera, check your manual).

Now, remember that all three parts work together? You probably started seeing how if you noticed the shutter speed changing with each of those different aperture values in the pictures above.

SHUTTER SPEED

The shutter speed is how fast the shutter opens and closes. If the shutter is open longer, more light is let into the camera. If it opens and closes really fast, less light is let in.

If you have a wide open aperture, your shutter speed will need to be faster, because you’re already letting a lot of light in the lens opening. If your aperture is small, your shutter will need to move slower, so there is more time for light to get to the sensor.

If you want to freeze the action, or hand-hold your camera, then a faster shutter speed is needed. If you want to create blur, then you need a slower shutter speed. For example:

Shutter-Speed

The vehicle in the photo on the left was driving past my house quite fast, but since I had the shutter speed set to 1/2000th of a second, it froze the action. It looks like the vehicle could be sitting still in the middle of the road.

The truck on the right is a blur going past, but everything else is still. 1/10th of a second was slow enough to blur the truck as it sped past. Notice the f-stop. Since the shutter was open for so long, the opening in the lens needed to be smaller to balance the exposure.

Try putting your camera in Shutter Priority mode (S on Nikon, Tv (time value) on Canon) to experiment with different shutter speeds. As you play with these different priority modes, notice what the camera chooses for the rest of your settings. The more you pay attention to these things, the more knowledge you’ll have to be able to set everything yourself in the future.

Okay, so now you’re probably asking, how does ISO fit into all of this?

ISO

The ISO is your camera’s mood. It can be all uptight and picky, or it can be easy-going and laid back. If you have the ISO set to a low number (100) your camera will want light, and plenty of it, because it’s going to take a smooth, crisp picture, and this requires perfect conditions. If you have your ISO set to a high number (3200) it can handle low light, because it’s not going to work as hard – a noisy (grainy) picture is good enough for Mr. High ISO.

So, how does this apply to your photography? Let’s say you wanted to take a picture in the evening, and you don’t want to use a flash. Just bump the ISO up, and it will allow you to have a faster shutter speed, or a smaller aperture (bigger number) and still accept the light conditions to expose correctly. Or, if you’re taking pictures at a sporting event, and you want to make sure you catch that action, but the light isn’t great, bump the ISO up. Or you may even want that moody grainy effect (it can be really cool)!

If you ever get frustrated because there’s just not enough light, and your pictures are blurry because the shutter speed isn’t fast enough, and you’re about to scream – just remember to bump the ISO. You could also leave this on Auto, but I usually don’t. My camera always seems to choose a higher ISO than I feel it needs. However, don’t forget to put it back down after you’re done. You don’t want to take a whole bunch of photos in the middle of the day at a 3200 ISO because you forgot to change it after your evening indoor party photos the night before.

Here’s a little demonstration:

ISO 3200

The photo above was taken in a very dimly lit room. Notice the digital noise?Notice the crispness of the photo below?

ISO 100

Conclusion

Well, that’s the exposure triangle in a nutshell. I hope this helped, especially if these three exposure factors have been confusing to you in the past. Please ask any questions in the comments, and I’ll answer them the best I can.

The post Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies by Melinda Smith appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Alien Skin Exposure X ‘nondestructive’ photo editor to launch by year’s end

24 Nov

Alien Skin Software plans to release a new ‘nondestructive’ photo editing application called Exposure X by the end of the year. Exposure X will include several changes over Exposure 7, including improvements to the user interface, file management tools, and new keyboard shortcuts. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

3 Tips for Waterfall Photography Beyond Just Using a Long Exposure

30 Oct

JacksonFalls-3

Of course, shutter speed plays an essential role in creating silky smooth waterfall photographs, but does it get a little too much attention in tutorial articles? I think so.

In this article you’ll learn about three other key elements to creating a successful silky smooth waterfall photograph, and when you put it all together, all you’ll need to do next is find a waterfall to photograph.

ISO 100 | 62mm | f/16 | 1/3

Composing waterfall photographs

Like many landscape photographs, composition plays a huge role in whether or not the final photograph you capture is more than just a snapshot. Even if you nail the shutter speed, have perfect lighting, and just the right amount of depth of field, a poorly composed image will still fall flat.

In the video below I take you through the thought process behind a waterfall photography session I went on last year. I try to drive home the point that getting the best composition of a scene involves more than just moving the camera, but also includes thinking about why the choices you make matter to the photograph itself.

When composing a waterfall scene you’ll have to take into account not just the waterfall itself, but the direction of water flow, the rocks and debris that make up the foreground, the trees in the background, and everything in-between. Next time you’re photographing a waterfall, try just moving the camera around, get high, get low, pay attention to what you see through the viewfinder, and take as many different photographs as you have time for.

Importance of light in waterfall photography

As with most photographs, light is key in setting a tone or mode of the scene, however with waterfalls it can arguably be even more important.

Not only does light determine the mood of the scene you’re photographing, but it may downright determine whether or not you can get a slow enough shutter speed on your camera for the silky smooth water that you want to create. On top of that, you’ve got to absolutely watch out for photographing on a sunny day or this might happen – look at all those hot spots!

ISO 100 | 11mm | f/11 | 0.5 sec

There’s no amount of highlight recovery or post production magic that will bring this image back, and give it a more refined tone. The light simply makes the photograph feel harsh, and while the snapshot showcases the falls, it does little to make the photograph interesting.

Due to the nature of waterfalls often being off the beaten path, and being dangerous to get to, it can be difficult to photograph at sunrise or sunset if you’re not a seasoned hiker. Therefore, as a second best option, I’d highly recommend planning your waterfall adventures for cloudy day. At the very least this will reduce the occurrence of hot spots on the water, and at best it will give you a few extra stops of shutter speed to work with if you need it.

ISO 100 | 11mm | f/14 | 0.4 secs

Don’t forget about water flow

When it comes to creating the silky smooth waterfall effect, the amount of water actually flowing through the waterfall plays an important role in the end result. A powerful current has more movement to it than a small stream, and as a result this high flow waterfall may not require an exposure as long to achieve the desired result.

Take a look at the following two photographs, they are from the same waterfall one year apart. the first image is during a drought resulting in a waterfall that had almost no water flowing over it, while the second image was taken after Hurricane Irene came through the area dropping more than 10 inches (25cm) of rain in some locations. As you can see, the two images offer quite a different view of this waterfall.

ISO 100 | 11mm | f/11 | 5 seconds

ISO 100 | 11mm | f/11 | 0.5 secs

In most cases it’s probably better to photograph smaller waterfalls with a light flow of water when you’re looking to create the silky smooth waterfall effect, as it tends to work best with those. Often, high flow waterfalls, will simply overpower the look that you’re trying to achieve, and as a result are often better photographed at a faster shutter speed in order to freeze the motion, and showcase their power.

Overall, waterfall photography is a lot of fun, the experience of hiking to the waterfall is often just as rewarding as the photographs themselves, so be sure to enjoy the entire experience.

The post 3 Tips for Waterfall Photography Beyond Just Using a Long Exposure by John Davenport appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

How to Improve Your Long Exposure with Photo Stacking

06 Oct

Recently long exposure photography has been quite popular, mainly in the landscape photography arena. One of the reasons (among the others) is that through a long exposure it is possible to visualize a scene with much more softness and harmony in respect to a standard exposure.

Thanks to the rapid evolution of digital cameras, we are now able to take really long exposures without getting so much digital noise, due to sensor overheating. Moreover, the improvements in neutral density filter quality allow us to take pictures with almost no color cast, and no decrease in sharpness.

Venezia by Luca Libralato: stacking of 3 x 260s exposures for a total of 780s (13 minutes)

If you love long exposure photography and you would like to push the exposure time to the edge, this technique of long exposure photo stacking is for you.

Here is the quick explanation of the Long Exposure Stacking technique: by taking several pictures (usually at least 30 seconds each for the purpose of this technique) you can blend them to get a result the equivalent of a long exposure photo with a total exposure time equal (or almost equal) to the sum of the single exposure frames.

This technique is mostly useful, and recommended for landscape photography, but some of the benefits may also be used in other types of photography, where you need maximum quality with several minutes of exposure. The step by step guide will be focused on landscape photography.

The advantages of using this approach are several:

Increase the total exposure time.
Reduce digital noise and hot pixels (shorter exposure pictures have less digital noise and hot pixels).
Reduce vignetting (you will be using a lower ND power per shot with this technique, resulting in less vignetting).
Minimize the risk of wasting time and photos (tripod shocks, sudden light change, etc.).
Possibility to decide later on the strength of the long exposure effect.

Manarola by Luca Libralato: stacking of 3 x 260 second exposures for a total of 780 seconds (13 minutes)

The disadvantages are:

You don’t have a single exposure and this is something which some competitions/contests rules don’t like.
Some post-processing skills are required to blend the several exposures.
If you are a purist – you may not like this technique.

When this technique should be used:

If you want to push the exposure time to some really high values.
If your camera sensor is adding a lot of digital noise due to overheating.
If you are not sure about the final result of a very long exposure. Since this techniques is based on the sum of several short exposures, you can easily decide later how long the final exposure shall be (check also here for a similar approach: Long Exposure Photography Without a Tripod).
With hostile ambient/weather conditions, you can use this technique to minimize the risk of wasting exposure time.
If you want to maximize the probability to not miss the right moment in a fast changing light (the right moment can last few seconds, if you are exposing for several minutes, you can miss it for wrong exposure time for example).

Before going over the explanation of the technique, there are at least a couple of required skills you should have (apart from the basics for taking pictures with your camera):

How to perform standard long exposure photography: you can check this awesome tutorial by Francesco Gola to improve your long exposure skills: Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography.
Basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop or similar photographic software which allows you to work on images using layers.

Let’s get on with the fun part: the implementation of Long Exposure Stacking!

The Magic Of Punta Aderci by Luca Libralato: stacking of 2 x 260 second exposures for a total of 520 seconds (8:40 min)

Step 1: Gear

The photographic gear needed for this technique is luckily the same gear needed for taking long exposure photos. So if you are already familiar with long exposure photography, you are set. Otherwise here is a short list of all the tools:

Digital Camera (which allows long exposure) + Lens (which allows you to mount neutral density filters)
Tripod
Remote trigger (optional, but suggested)
Neutral density filters (optional if you shoot when it’s dark)

For further details about taking long exposure photography, you can check the related resources listed at the bottom of the article.

Step 2: Plan the shot

Never hit the shutter without having properly planned the photo. Of course there are a lot of variables involved, but planning can really play the most important part in a good photo. Do not underestimate the power of accurately planning a landscape photo – because luck can help you once, but planning your photography consistently, will increase the probability that you’ll be ready when the right conditions are present.

Rips Of Darkness by Luca Libralato: stacking of 5 x 120 second exposures for a total of 600 seconds (10 minutes)

Step 3: Take the shots

Once you have planned your photo and you are on location, you should then decide the two most important things in any photo (at least this kind of photo): composition and exposure (supposing you are taking landscape photography, depth of field should not be a variable in most cases). Composition is up to your taste, while exposure is a complex matter and depends upon different factors.

First thing every landscape photographer usually does before taking any picture, is metering the light to decide the exposure time. The final exposure time depends on several factors, such as strength of the wind, the movement of the clouds, water flow, and so on. The question at this point is, “How long shall I expose for?”.

If the light is changing suddenly, or there is a strong wind which can shake your camera/tripod during exposure, you may decide to avoid really long exposures (to avoid wasting shots or missing the right light). This is where this technique comes to your rescue.

Suppose you would like to have a total of eight minutes of exposure, instead of taking one single long exposure file you can split the total exposure time into four consecutive shots of two minutes each (for example). You can freely decide the final length of each exposure and the total number of shots, just keep in mind that you should keep the gap of time between the different photos to a minimum, if you are planning to do stacking. Needless to say that you should be careful in avoiding moving the tripod and the camera between each shot of the sequence. Once you have your consecutive shots, in the next step you will understand what to do in post-processing.

Before you start shooting: make sure you focused correctly and your tripod is stable (avoid sand or uneven floors where possible).

After the shot: make sure your histogram is fine and your picture is properly exposed, or exposed to the right.

Arco Della Pace by Luca Libralato: 6 x 130 second exposures, for a total of 780 seconds (13 minutes)

Step 4: Image Stacking

You should now be at home, or in your favourite cafe/pub with your laptop, and hopefully a coffee/beer. You should have downloaded all of your shots and selected the ones you would like to stack.

The stacking process will be shown for Adobe Photoshop (almost any version supports the feature) but you can use any software of your choice, which allows the use of layers. In Photoshop there are two different methods that can be used to stack files, with the goal to merge them into a simulated longer exposure:

Load files into stack function (Files > Scripts > Load Files into Stack)
Manual stacking

4.1 Load files into a stack

With the first method the procedure is semi automated, since you just need to go to Files > Scripts > Load Files into Stack

Photoshop: Load Files into Stack

All you have to do is then select the single long exposure, flag the boxes to Automatic Align Source Images and Create Smart Object.

Photoshop: Select files and create Smart Object

Once you have a new document with the Smart Object selected, all you have to do is go to menu Edit > Smart Objects > Stack Mode > Mean. This will weigh all images embedded into the Smart Object, rendering them as a new image which similar to what you would have obtained with a single long exposure of a total time equal to the sum of the single exposure.

Photoshop: Set Stack Mode to Mean

You can check the result on the image below.

Photoshop: Result after stacking

4.2 Manual stacking

By using the second method (which I trust can be used with every software which allows layers) the blending process is manual. The rule is that you have to fine tune the opacity of each layer by decreasing it after each shot.

The mathematic rule is as follows: each shot should have an opacity equal to 1 divided by its position in the stack. Here is a table which shows the rule:

First photo (the one at the bottom) 100% (1/1)
Second photo 50% (1/2)
Third photo 33% (1/3)
Fourth photo 25% (1/4)
Fifth photo 20% (1/5)
Sixth photo 17% (1/6)
…
Nth photo 1/N

This process will exactly replicate the first method (the result will be identical to an automatic Stack in Mean mode).

Step 4: Post processing workflow

At this point, all you have to do is follow your typical post-processing workflow:

Clean dust spots, straighten the image, crop
Adjust dynamic range with other exposures (3 or 5 bracketing shots for static underexposed parts)
Adjust exposure and contrasts
Adjust colors
Add finishing touches to suit your taste
Export

Here is the final result of the example

Arco Della Pace by Luca Libralato: stacking of 6 x 130 second exposures for a total of 780 seconds (13 minutes)

Conclusions

This technique is very useful sometimes because of its flexibility. Moreover you should consider the benefit in increasing the final quality of your file because of the stacking. It has been proven that by stacking images you can benefit by reduction in random digital noise equal to the square root of the total photos used. So for example if you use four photos, you will have in static part of the photo a reduction by half of the total random digital noise, which is a great achievement especially for underexposed portions. This technique is used a lot (even if with some different variations and implications) in astrophotography or in other fields when increasing the exposure time of a single shot is not suitable.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments box below if you need help or further explanations.

Related Resources:

Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography by Francesco Gola
Long Exposure Photography Without a Tripod by Viktor Elizarov
How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night by Barry J Brady
11 Accessories for Long Exposure Photography by Scott Wyden Kivowitz
5 Tips for Better Long Exposure Landscape Photography by David Cleland
8 Tips for Long Exposure Photography by Elliot Hook
5 Tips for Getting Sharper Images When Doing Long Exposures by Kevin Choi

The post How to Improve Your Long Exposure with Photo Stacking by Luca Libralato appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography