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dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

27 Jun

In this, the next installment of our dPS ultimate guides, learn what you need to know to get started doing night photography.

Introduction

Tower Bridge - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Tower Bridge, London. Exposure: shutter speed 2.6 seconds, aperture f/5.6, ISO 100.

Night photography immediately solves a huge problem that you confront constantly in photography. That problem is being faced with ordinary scenes that just aren’t very interesting. If you take a picture of a building or a standard street scene during the day, it can be sort of dull. We are all used to seeing shots taken in the middle of the day. That same scene – shot at night – can be a really interesting photograph though.

The actual taking of pictures at night might seem a little bit like magic if you are just getting started. Even those who have been shooting a while may wonder how to get a proper exposure and focus in the dark. Although photographing in the dark certainly has its challenges, in some ways, it is actually easier than photography during the day.

So let’s take a quick look at the essentials of night photography. In particular, we’ll cover the gear you need, how to expose your photos, how to focus at night, great subject matter, and some post-processing tips. Hopefully, this will help open up the world of night photography to you.

What to Bring for Night Photography

Alpine - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Breckenridge, Colorado – Exposure: shutter speed 15 seconds, aperture f/2.8, ISO 3200.

First, let’s talk about what you will need in terms of equipment for doing night photography. The good news is that you will not need much in the way of extra gear. Besides your standard camera and lens, the only thing you will absolutely need is a tripod. The darkness means that your camera needs to use a long shutter speed to gather enough light for a proper exposure (more about that in a second). So you need to be able to hold your camera steady and a tripod is the best choice for that.

Another helpful item for keeping the camera steady is a remote shutter release. I highly recommend that you get one – and the corded ones are very cheap (under $ 10). You can spend a lot on an intervalometer if the extra features will benefit you, but you don’t need that for standard shooting at night.

If you don’t have a remote or find yourself without one on occasion, you can use your camera’s 2-second timer to take the picture so that you don’t touch the camera during the exposure.

Miami - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Miami, Florida – Exposure: shutter speed 0.3 seconds, aperture f/2.8, ISO 200.

Although not necessary, here are some additional items to consider having on hand for your night photography:

A flashlight: This will come in handy in a myriad of ways. It will help you with finding your camera controls if you don’t know them cold. It will help you set up your tripod and deal with straps and other attachments. Finally, a flashlight will also help you find things in your camera bag. Just keep a small one (or a headlamp) handy.
Lens hood: At night you will have bright lights coming at you from different directions – such as street lights and neon lights. Using a lens hood will help keep flares to a minimum.
Extra batteries: The long exposures you take at night will drain your camera battery at an alarming rate. You may also be using Live View, which drains them even faster. So does cold weather. Therefore, night photography always calls for spare batteries. Don’t take any chances here – a dead battery means your night is over.

If you are going to capture the night sky, you’ll need to be on top of weather conditions. In addition to your standard weather apps, be sure to add an app to your phone that will help you see where the moon, constellations, and Milky Way (if visible) will be. If you don’t already have apps you are using (there are several), I recommend PhotoPills and Star Walk 2.

Exposures for Night Photography

Pigeon Point - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, California. Exposure: shutter speed of 6 seconds, aperture f/5.6, ISO 1600.

The biggest difference between daytime and night photography is the exposure values you will need to use. The darkness changes everything. Don’t worry though, once you have your camera on a tripod, it is actually not that difficult to get the proper exposure in most cases.

Let’s back up and cover things that you might already know. Your camera’s exposure is a result of three controls (the exposure triangle) – shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Because of the darkness, you need to let more light into the camera, and you can only do so by affecting one of these three controls. We’ll cover how to do that for each of them now.

Toledo Overlook - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Toledo, Spain – Exposure: shutter speed 8 seconds, aperture f/8, ISO 200.

Shutter Speed

During the day, you will typically use shutter speeds that are a small fraction of a second. At night, however, the camera will use shutter speeds that are longer than one second – sometimes significantly longer. Think of it this way: because it is dark, the camera needs a longer period of time to gather light for a proper exposure.

The shutter will now be open for a longer period of time, so the camera needs to be held steady or the picture will move during the exposure process, causing your image to be blurry. That is why a tripod is required equipment at night. You can leave the shutter open as long as you want, as long as the camera is steady and does not move at all.

Millenium and St Paul - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Millennium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London – Exposure: shutter speed 4 seconds, aperture f/5.6, ISO 400.

Aperture

The aperture is the opening in the lens that lets light into the camera. The size of the aperture determines the amount of light being let into the camera for a given shutter speed, and it also affects the depth of field.

For the most part, there is no difference between how you will use the aperture at night versus how you use it during the day. The only difference is that the camera will struggle to get enough light for a proper exposure, so a small aperture will often require ridiculously long shutter speeds. In addition, the background is usually black, so you don’t need to worry as much about achieving a wide depth of field.

Both of these factors (needing more light, and not needing a wide depth of field) tend to mitigate toward using larger apertures at night.

Top Of Rock - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

When you are shooting a scene like this where everything is far away, you don’t need a wide depth of field. Hence you can get away with a larger aperture. New York, New York – Exposure: shutter speed 0.3 seconds, aperture f/4.0, ISO 400.

ISO

The third exposure control, ISO, is a measurement of the sensitivity to light of your digital sensor. Higher ISO values make your digital sensor more sensitive to light and thereby allow you to use a shorter shutter speed or a smaller aperture.

But, there is no free lunch here, and using higher ISOs will result in more digital noise in your pictures. Since dark areas of your picture tend to show more digital noise than lighter areas, it is often a problem with night photos. Therefore, resist the temptation to crank up the ISO at night if you can help it.

Since you will be using a tripod, you can usually avoid the need to use a high ISO. In other words, the tripod allows you to use a longer shutter speed, and that long exposure allows more light into the camera such that you don’t need to use a high ISO. However, in those cases where you cannot use a tripod or you have a moving subject, you will need to increase the ISO.

Path - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

I needed the foreground sharp in this image, so these exposure settings are brighter than the typical night sky shot, which you will learn more about shortly. Shutter speed 30 seconds, aperture f/2.8, ISO 3200.

That is certainly bad news, but the silver lining is that cameras are getting better and better at handling higher ISOs without showing much digital noise. In addition, post-processing software continues to improve at noise reduction, so you should be able to remove the digital noise later.

A Starting Point for Proper Exposure

It might seem a little silly for me to even try to give you some night photography default exposure settings, but that is what I’m going to do anyway in an effort to get you started.

Let’s say you are in Aperture Priority mode, which is what I find a lot of people use. If you are still using an automatic mode, give Aperture Priority a try, as it is still semi-automatic (meaning the camera will set the shutter speed for you to create a correct exposure), but you get to set the Aperture and ISO.

Brooklyn Bridge -

So, let’s talk about the aperture setting first. Start by setting your aperture to f/5.6, which is a fairly moderate choice that lets in a healthy amount of light. It won’t give you as much depth of field as you might like, but remember that you typically don’t need an extremely deep depth of field since the background will be black.

Next, set your ISO. Start at about 400, which is high enough that you won’t have to use an extremely long shutter speed. At the same time, most cameras can shoot at ISO 400 without digital noise becoming a problem.

After that, just see where the shutter speed ends up when you line up your shot. I’m assuming you are using a tripod for this example, by the way. You know the shutter speed is going to be long – probably a few seconds. I have tried to keep the other settings such that you won’t be standing in one spot for a minute or more while the camera creates the exposure.

Chicago River - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Chicago River – Exposure: shutter speed 30 seconds, aperture f/13, ISO 200.

That’s not to say you should never do that. Depending on the scene and subject, you might want your shutter speed to be measured in minutes – but it is not the norm.

If you don’t have a tripod, your options are limited. In fact, there is only one option, and that is to open up the aperture all the way, crank up the ISO to at least 1600 (probably 3200 or 6400), and then use whatever shutter speed the camera sets.

Even with a wide aperture and high ISO, the shutter speed is likely to be long enough that camera shake will still be an issue.

Exposing the Night Sky Photo

West Lakes

There is one specific exposure setting I can tell you right now because it is often the same. It is the exposure settings for photographing the night sky. Your exposure settings will be:

Shutter speed: 15 seconds.
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 6400

This is not set in stone, and you’ll notice that my night sky photos add a little exposure to these settings, but it is a good starting point. But what if your lens doesn’t open up to f/2.8? Then you have to just increase the ISO or the shutter speed by the corresponding amount.

For example, if your lens’s maximum aperture is f/3.5 – which is the case with many kit lenses – you’ll need to find another 2/3 of a stop of light. Either add that to the ISO, the shutter speed or just increase both by one click (remember one click of your dials is 1/3 of a stop).

Milky Way Big Bend Texas - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Big Bend National Park, Texas. Okay, the exposure settings don’t have to be exactly the same. I wanted this brighter to accentuate the Milky Way. Shutter speed was 13 seconds, aperture f/2.8, ISO 6400.

You might be tempted to lengthen your shutter speed a lot on the premise that you are using a tripod. After all, that would seem like a good way to reduce your ISO to control digital noise and also to use a smaller aperture so you don’t have such a narrow depth of field. Don’t do it!

The stars in the sky are moving (okay, it is really the earth’s rotation, but they appear to be moving across the sky). If you lengthen your shutter speed too much, the stars will have little trails which appear as a blur in your shot. You may not see it until you get the pictures home and look at them on the computer screen, but it will be there and will ruin the shot.

Big Bend Night - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Big Bend National Park, Texas. Look closely at this picture and you will see little star trails. This was the result of using a longer shutter speed than I mentioned above. Shutter speed 165 seconds, aperture: f/4.0, ISO 1600.

For more in night photography exposure, please read Tips for Getting Proper Exposure for Night Photography.

Circulo de Bellas Artes

Picking a Subject for Night Photography

Now that you have the right gear and know how to expose your photos at night, you have to pick a good subject for night photography. For the most part, that is no different than what you do during the day. A good subject is a good subject. Still, things will look different at night.

Let me introduce you to some of the things I like to photograph at night. Hopefully, these will give you some ideas, which you can take in your own directions.

The Night Sky

If you are out in the countryside, you need nothing more than a clear night to get a great photo. Moonless, clear nights are the best. If you can happen to catch the Milky Way (usually possible from March through October, and best from May to September), all the better.

Check out an app called Star Walk 2 to help you get a handle on the timing of these things. If you can add an interesting foreground to the shot, even better.

Museums and Public Buildings

Louvre - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

The Louvre, Paris. I was forced to hand-hold this shot (it was taken from inside the Louvre), so I really had to crank the ISO and open up the aperture. Shutter speed 1/8th of a second, aperture f/4.0, ISO 3200.

Well-lit buildings are an obvious choice for a nighttime subject. You almost can’t go wrong here. Although the concept is obvious, when executed well the result can still be great. You can also use this as a starting point for your night photography. You will have additional ideas as you stand there waiting for your pictures to expose.

Fountains

Buckingham Fountain - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Buckingham Fountain, Chicago – Exposure: shutter speed 10 seconds, aperture f/18, ISO 100.

Perhaps my favorite nighttime subjects are fountains. Many times they are lit with different colors as well, adding additional interest. The long shutter speeds you use at night make the fountain appear to be flowing.

Bridges

Brooklyn Bridge Park - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Brooklyn Bridge, New York – Exposure: shutter speed 15 seconds, aperture f/11, ISO 200.

It seems like every city or town has a bridge. It may not be the Golden Gate Bridge, but there will likely be a bridge and it will be well lit at night, which makes it an interesting subject. Plus the long exposure time you use for night photography will cause the water under the bridge to blur, and the traffic to appear as streaking lights.

Streetlights

Pay close attention to streetlights when you are doing night photography. They can be useful in a lot of different contexts. They can add a point of interest to it otherwise blank area of the picture. If there are multiple lights, they can create a nice leading line into your picture.

Washington Monument - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Washington, D.C. For this shot, I wanted the twinkle or starburst effect from the streetlights, so I used a smaller aperture. Exposure: shutter speed 8 seconds, aperture f/16, ISO 800.

Car Light Trails

Dallas Streaking Lights - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Dallas, Texas – Exposure: shutter speed 20 seconds, aperture f/16, ISO 100.

A really fun thing to include in your night photos is streaking light trails from moving cars. These are created when a car or other vehicle drives through the frame while you have the shutter open. The camera picks up the lights, but since the car has gone all the way through the frame while you had the shutter open, it shows up in your picture as streaks of lights.

Try to time your pictures so that vehicles move all the way across the frame while you have the shutter open. Read: How to Create Dynamic Photos of Car Light Trails for more tips on this technique.

Reflections

St Paul mirror - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Reflections in London, U.K. – Exposure: shutter speed 1.3 seconds, aperture f/8, ISO 200.

A benefit of the longer shutter speeds you will be using at night is that reflections show up better on the surfaces of water. This is obviously true on ponds and lakes. But it is also true for puddles. After a rain can be a great time for night photography.

Overlooks and Vistas

Let’s end with overlooks and vistas. Some of the best night photography I have ever seen are nighttime views of cities. You can often get great skyline shots. Be careful though – a great view often does not translate into a great picture. Make sure you have an interesting foreground and/or a strong center of interest in the picture.

Downtown from Manhattan Bridge - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

New York City from the Manhattan Bridge – Exposure: shutter speed 10 seconds, aperture f/8, ISO 200.

When picking subjects for night photography, it is important to note that things will not look the same to the camera as they do to you. Take some test shots whenever possible. If the idea of a long exposure test shot seems tedious due to the wait time, crank up the ISO for purposes of your tests which will allow you to use a short shutter speed. When you go to take the final picture you can reduce the ISO and increase the shutter speed by a corresponding amount.

Nashville night - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Nashville via drone – Exposure: shutter speed ½ a second, aperture f/5.6, ISO 310.

Focusing

One final difficulty you will face in night photography is that it is often tricky to focus your camera. That is because most cameras focus by detecting contrast. If the scene is too dark, there is no contrast for the camera to pick up. There are a few things you can do to get your camera to focus though.

The first is to focus on a bright light in the picture. A streetlight works well for this. Try focusing on the edge of the light (between the bright part and the black background), which will give you the necessary contrast. Be sure you are focusing the same distance away as where want your final picture to be focused. Once you have the focus set, recompose your picture and press the shutter button to take the picture.

Capital Clouds - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. – Exposure: shutter speed 30 seconds, aperture f/16, ISO 400.

Another trick to allow you to use your autofocus is to break out the flashlight and shine it on the thing that you want your camera to focus on. If it is close enough, the flashlight should provide sufficient light for your camera to focus.

Finally, if none of that works, you will need to manually focus your lens. Just put the camera in Live View and look at the LCD as you compose the picture (zooming in if possible) to see if your picture is in focus.

Henry Street nYC - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Henry Street, New York – Exposure: shutter speed 1/13th second, aperture f/5.6, ISO 3200.

Processing Your Night Photos

You can make your night photos look a lot better with a minor amount of post-processing. Of course, given all the different types of night shots you may face, giving specific editing advice here is difficult. Still, there are a few general things you might want to consider.

Lincoln Memorial - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. Another benefit of night photography is that you get to take pictures of memorials without any people in your shot. Exposure: shutter speed 6 seconds, aperture f/11, ISO 200.

Highlights

The first thing to consider is how to handle the highlights. Given the nature of night photography, you are doing to be dealing with some really dark areas, and some really bright areas. Many times those highlights will be slightly blown out. Even if they aren’t completely blown out, they are still bright enough that they would look better toned down a bit.

It wasn’t too long ago that this might have required using HDR (high dynamic range) software, but not anymore. Most RAW editors can bring back the highlights a bit (assuming you’ve’ shot in RAW format).

If you use Lightroom or Photoshop (Adobe Camera Raw or ACR), all you need to do is find the Highlights slider and pull it to the left a bit. That will decrease those highlights. As an added benefit, it will often make those same highlights appear a bit more colorful.

Westminster Bridge - https://digital-photography-school.com/?s=HDR

Westminster Bridge, London. Here I used a 5-second exposure to capture the lights of the bus passing by. Shutter speed 5 seconds, aperture f/8, ISO 200.

Shadows and Blacks

Now you have to deal with the dark areas of your photo. There will be parts you want to brighten, but at the same time, you should allow the darkest parts of the photo to go pure black. There is no point in attempting to preserve detail in a black sky.

To accomplish both of these goals, I have another quick move for you. Pull up on the Shadows slider, and then pull down on the Blacks slider. Areas of detail you want brighter will benefit from the increase in the Shadows, but you will maintain contrast by pushing down the Blacks.

Tabernacle - https://digital-photography-school.com/?s=HDR

Salt Lake City, Utah. In this shot, I needed a wide depth of field to keep both the fountain in the foreground and the Tabernacle building in the background sharp. I used a long exposure, which also created a flowing effect to the water, but I still had to raise the ISO a bit. Shutter speed 6 seconds, aperture f/16, ISO 400.

Sharpening

Sharpen your night photos the same as you would any others, but you will likely need to deal with digital noise more than you are used to. If the whole picture is noisy, then give it a global noise reduction. In Lightroom and ACR, there is a Noise Reduction section in the Detail panel, and you just pull up on the Luminance slider to the right.

You might just need to reduce noise in specific sections of your photo though. Noise often manifests itself in the darkest areas of your image. In that case, apply a local adjustment. If you are using Lightroom or ACR, use the Adjustment Brush, paint where you want the noise decreased, and increase the Noise slider. That should take care of it.

You have to watch noise reduction though. Applying too much of it will reduce detail in your photo. That’s why you don’t want to apply a global adjustment if you don’t have to. If you have a serious noise problem and want to fix it without sacrificing detail, there are some plug-ins that are truly wonderful. I use Noiseware and I am often shocked at what a good job it does of reducing noise but preserving detail. Other good products are Noise Ninja and Dfine by Nik.

Golden Gate Bridge - dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography

The Golden Gate Bridge from the Sausalito side – Exposure: shutter speed 30 seconds, aperture f/6.3, ISO 200.

Read more on noise reduction in my article here: Good, Better, and Best Noise Reduction Techniques

Getting Started with Night Photography

Night photography is a great way to get really interesting and unusual pictures. It is also a great time to go shoot since it is not during business hours (you’ll be off work) and others will be asleep (notably spouses and children).

Rockefeller Center

Hopefully, this guide will help you get started with night photography. As you get ready for your next outing, just remember a few things:

The only additional items that are necessary for night photography are a tripod and remote shutter release. Some other helpful items are a flashlight, a lens hood, and an extra battery.
For exposure, start with moderate ISO (around 400) and aperture (around f/5.6-8) and see where that puts your shutter speed. Adjust from there with an eye toward getting the shutter speed (exposure time) you want.
Pick a subject that lends itself to night photography. Remember that things look very different at night, so take some test shots.
Focus your camera by finding or creating areas of contrast and setting the autofocus on those areas. When necessary, switch to manual focus.
When you get home, edit your images as you wish, but you might try decreasing the Highlights, increasing the Shadows, and pulling down the Blacks slightly.

Brooklyn Bridge Park

If you have these things straight, you should end up with some impressive night photos. Good luck!

The post dPS Ultimate Guide to Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

21 Jun

Photographing flowers is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding types of photography around. Yet it can be surprisingly difficult, even for more seasoned photographers. Getting strong flower images often requires new settings, new lighting, and new gear, not to mention a new approach to your subjects.

flower photography macro abstract - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

In this article, you will learn the ins-and-outs of flower photography. Starting off with a discussion of flower photography gear and camera settings. Then moving into flower photography lighting, focusing primarily on the best types of natural light. Finally, you’ll get few guidelines for strong flower photography compositions.

Gear

There are a few types of flower photography gear to think about: cameras, lenses, and accessories (such as flashes and tripods).

flower macro photography abstract red tulip - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

1 – Cameras

My camera recommendation is straightforward: the best cameras for photographing flowers are DSLRs. They offer great flexibility in terms of settings and have a huge array of excellent lenses available.

Which DSLR camera should you use? Especially if you are a beginner, it matters little. Most DSLRs allow for outstanding quality images, whether marketed for professionals or consumers.

Mirrorless cameras are another option. However, the macro lens line-up is still fairly limited. So at least for the time being, I’d go with a DSLR.

clematis flower - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

I took this clematis photograph using a DSLR and a dedicated macro lens.

2 – Lenses

First, take note: It is possible to get good images of flowers using any lens, macro or non-macro, wide-angle or telephoto. I have taken some of my best flower images using a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

flower photography macro abstract poppy - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

I took this poppy image with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

On the other hand, the higher your lens’s magnification capabilities, the more opportunities you’ll have. You can make intimate and detailed images of flowers. You can also experiment with more abstract photography techniques.

This is why I generally recommend a dedicated macro lens for flower photography. Such a lens usually offers life-size magnification, pin-sharp images, and excellent bokeh. Some of these are available for a decent price, and I have written previously about choosing the perfect macro lens.

flower photography macro yellow - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

This image was taken using a dedicated macro lens.

Another option is to use a regular lens (often a telephoto lens) plus extension tubes. Extension tubes are a cheap way of reducing your lens’s minimum focusing distance, therefore allowing for you to shoot at higher magnifications. The primary downside to extension tubes is flexibility.

When mounted between your camera and lens, extension tubes greatly decrease your maximum focusing distance, preventing you from quickly changing your point of focus. That is, with extension tubes mounted, you cannot take images of distant objects; you are restricted to only subjects within a few feet.

A third way of doing inexpensive flower photography is to freelens. By detaching the lens and placing it in front of the camera body, you can increase magnification (while also generating some interesting effects). I often do this with my Canon 50mm lens and backup body, because there is a risk of getting dust in the sensor.

pink coneflower - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

I used freelensing to photograph this coneflower.

3 – Artificial Lighting

Flower photographers often like to use artificial lighting (e.g., flashes or ringlights). These can be both bulky and costly. I prefer natural lighting, but a flash can be especially useful in situations when the natural light isn’t ideal; for instance, bright, midday sun.

4 – Tripods

Flower photographers rarely leave home without a tripod. This is where I’m going to break with the prevailing opinion and say – you don’t need a tripod.

Let me qualify that statement. You don’t necessarily need a tripod for photographing flowers. You can shoot all kinds of pleasing flower images while handholding your camera. But there are certain techniques that do require a tripod. I will discuss those below.

white flowers - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

I photographed these aster flowers without a tripod.

Camera Settings

Flower photographers generally aim for one of two looks: sharp throughout the frame or shallow focus.

Sharp throughout the frame requires a very narrow aperture, especially at higher magnifications, often at f/16 or beyond. This is where a tripod is necessary, as this is difficult to do without one. It may also require special techniques (i.e., focus stacking) in order to prevent the diffraction that comes from higher apertures.

flower photography macro dahlia - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

An example of a “sharp throughout the frame” look.

However, my personal preference is shallow-focus macro photography. This requires no extra equipment, no flashes, and no tripod. Instead, you use a wide aperture (in the f/2.8-f/7.1 range) to render a small portion of the flower in focus.

The rest of the image is blown out of focus which can produce unique and stunning effects.

flower photography macro daisy abstract shallow focus - A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers

This daisy photograph is an example of my preferred type of flower photography with only a small part of the subject in focus.

In both cases, it is the aperture that is important. The shutter speed and ISO should be adjusted in response to the aperture (though I wouldn’t recommend dropping your shutter speed below 1/160th or so unless you have very steady hands or some form of image stabilization).

Lighting

I am going to primarily discuss natural light for photographing flowers. This is not because artificial light in flower photography is useless, but because I think it’s much more enjoyable to experiment with the light that’s available.

My first piece of lighting advice is to shoot on overcast days. When the sky is cloudy, the light becomes diffused. The flower will be evenly lit, and the soft light makes colorful petals pop.

tulip flower photography abstract macro - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

This tulip abstract was taken on an overcast day, which produced deeply saturated colors.

My second piece of lighting advice is to shoot in the morning or evening when the sunlight is golden. This prevents strong sunlight from falling on the flower and can generate some outstanding images.

flower photography macro evening light - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

This image was taken in the evening when the light was soft and golden.

I also like to shoot in the shade with the sun behind me, so that the bright sunlight is falling behind the flower (but not on it directly). One way to ensure this lighting is to find a flower that is in the shadow of a tree. Another is to cast the shadow yourself, by using your head, arm, or even your camera bag.

flower photography macro hyacinth - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

I cast a shadow over this grape hyacinth, in order to avoid the direct light of the sun.

Composition

A final aspect of flower photography to consider is the composition. This may seem daunting for the beginner, but there are a few simple compositional guidelines that will help you take better flower photographs instantly.

flower photography macro abstract - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

Fill the frame with your subject

In flower photography, you rarely want to have a lot of empty space in your frame. More empty space means more opportunities for distraction, for confusion, and for loss of impact. So instead of leaving space around the flower, move in closer to fill the frame as much as you can.

flower photography macro tulip - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

The more colorful, the better

When photographing flowers, you often have a whole palette of colors right in front of you. Use it to your advantage!

Put color in the background by placing another flower behind your main subject. Add color to the foreground by shooting through several other flowers.

macro photography flower colorful abstract - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

Keep things clean

In flower photography (or any type of photography, really), it’s important to have a point of emphasis (or a focal point). This can be the edge of a petal, the flower itself, the flower plus its environment, but regardless, you must ensure that the viewer’s eye is drawn to this spot.

One of the easiest ways to guarantee a strong point of focus is simply to have little else but that point of focus. I hope this sounds simple because it is. Hence, before taking a photograph, rid your potential composition of all distracting elements. This includes out-of-focus stems, as well as bright colors or dark spots in the background that don’t fit the image as a whole.

Think simplify.

macro photography flower abstract rose - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

The eye immediately focuses on this rose stamen.

Conclusion

By following this guide, you should be on your way to becoming an excellent flower photographer. While there are a number of elements to consider—gear, settings, lighting, and composition—I feel confident that you’ll be taking strong flower photographs in no time.

Any questions about photographing flowers? Let’s discuss them in the comments!

macro photography flower colorful abstract - A Beginner’s Guide to Photographing Flowers

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Drone buying guide updated with a new top pick

16 Jun

We’ve updated our Best Drones buying guide and there’s a new winner (hint: it’s made by DJI). Find out which model was our favorite and learn more about all of your choices in our updated guide.

Read Best Drones buying guide

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Buying Guide: The best waterproof cameras

11 Jun

Last updated: June 11, 2018

Whether you want a compact camera for a trip to the beach or ski resort – or maybe just something that the kids won’t break – there are plenty of waterproof, rugged cameras available at a variety of price-points.

All of the cameras in our group are waterproof, freezeproof and dustproof, while a few are also crushproof. With the exception of the SeaLife DC2000, the cameras have zoom lenses in the 4X-5X range, while the DC2000 has a fixed, 31mm equiv. prime. The DC2000 is also unique in having the only 1″-type sensor in the group, which should give it a big leg up on the other cameras in this market segment, which use 1/2.3″ sensors. The Nikon W100 comes in even smaller with a 1/3.1″ sensor equivalent to what’s in a smartphone.

Our pick: Olympus Tough TG-5

Olympus has made many of our favorite rugged cameras and that tradition continues with the TG-5. Naturally, it can dive deep, freeze, be dropped or be crushed without skipping a beat. It also has a cool tracking mode that keeps a log of your location and altitude during your travels. Olympus has created a number of useful accessories for the TG-5, including fisheye and telephoto adapters and a ring flash.

While the TG-5’s image quality will never match a camera with a larger sensor, such as the SeaLife DC2000, it’s still very good. Having Raw support is a big deal, allowing you to adjust contrast and remove color casts in underwater photos. Performance is generally snappy (notably burst shooting speeds,) battery life is excellent and 4K video looks good.

Downsides are few; The control dial is poorly placed, there’s no shutter priority mode, the video record button is too flush with the body and the screen scratches way too easily. Overall, though, the TG-5 is the best rugged camera in this class.

Also consider: SeaLife DC2000

If you want better image quality and don’t mind having a fixed focal length lens, the SeaLife DC2000 is well worth considering. On its own the DC2000 can go 18m / 60ft underwater and with its included housing^* those numbers increase to 60m / 200ft. The DC2000 has a 1″-type, 20 Megapixel sensor and a 31mm equiv. F1.8 lens. Image quality is markedly better than the rest of the cameras in the group, and Raw support lets you get the most of it the sensor.

What you won’t find on the DC2000 is GPS, super-close macro mode or 4K video. Battery life is relatively poor, as well. But if you’re a diver who wants to ‘focus’ on image quality, the DC2000 is easily the best in the group.

* You can purchase the camera without the housing directly through SeaLife

While we haven’t completed full reviews of the cameras in this group, the summaries below give you a good idea about their feature sets and how they perform.

Our pick: Olympus Tough TG-5
Also consider: SeaLife DC2000
Fujifilm FinePix XP130
Nikon Coolpix W100
Nikon Coolpix W300
Panasonic Lumix DC-TS7 (FT7)
Ricoh WG-50

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ON1 Photo RAW 2018 – A Beginner’s Guide

29 May

When people start photography, or even after they have been doing it for a while, they find a time when they want to start learning how to do some processing on their computer. Then they are faced with a heap of options. There are so many choices and trying to work out which one to choose can be hard. One option that is becoming very popular is ON1 Photo Raw 2018.

You can buy the software outright, so you don’t need to worry about any monthly subscription costs like others are offering. It is easy to learn and you will find that ON1 can likely do everything you need to do. One of the best aspects is the community of photographers around the program as well.

On1 Photo RAW 2018 - A Beginner’s Guide - textured image

Having fun with layers and the textures.

Here is a beginner’s guide to help you find your way through ON1 Photo RAW 2018 and give you the confidence to start working on your photos. You can download the program from their website.

There is a 30-day free trial available to see if you like it before buying, which of course you will. You can also just pay for it which isn’t very expensive either. Finally, if you do purchase it you will have the peace of mind knowing it is backed by a 30-day money back guarantee.

Browse Module

This is where you start when you open the program. Here you can find all your folders that contain your images. This is where you should start exploring what is possible inside ON1 Photo RAW. You can’t break anything and it is good to see what is available.

Hover over all the menu items along the top of the main window. You will see File, Edit, Album, etc., each of those has different options. While you may not use many of them at first, it is always good to know what is there. It will help you understand what is available and if you watch the many ON1 videos you will understand what they are saying and how easy it is to learn.

In the Browse module. Hover along the top to see what is in each of the menus.

On1 Photo RAW 2018 - A Beginner’s Guide - photo of a marina

An image with only basic adjustments made to it using ON1 Photo RAW 2018.

The most important thing to do is to find where your photos are located. Then click on Browse and look below. You may have to go searching, but just use the same process that you would if you were looking for them on your computer.

Again, it’s simple. Just point Browse to where your photos are located for them to appear. You don’t have to import photos to start working. You can add folders, subfolders, albums and smart albums (collections) so that they are easier to find in the future as well.

In Browse, you can see all your folders and subfolders.

Now it is time to pick a photo. Once you have one selected, double-click on it, press Enter, or you can just go to the side panel on the right, go to Develop, and your image will open there. Watch the short video below on the Browse module.

Develop

In this module, you can start to make changes to your images. This is where you can begin the process of creating the image that you had in your head when you took it. This is also where the first steps in raw processing will occur if you are shooting raw files.

Overall Settings

In Develop you can make many of the most common adjustments. Most images need something, whether that is changing the exposure, or perhaps bringing out the shadows, and you can do it all in the Develop module. If you’re just starting out with editing, the Tone and Color Mode is a good place to begin. From there you can make many adjustments to your image that will help make it look a lot better.

Overall Settings is where you can make most of the adjustments you will need to do.

You should play with all the sliders to see what they each can do. Don’t worry about going too far, nothing is fixed, and you can undo everything. In the photography industry, we call that non-destructive editing. You aren’t doing anything to your image that is permanent.

When using the sliders you don’t have to click on the actual pointer, just click anywhere you want and the pointer will catch up to you. You can slide along underneath it as well.

You will make the changes by using the sliders in the appropriate panels.

Go to the Extremes

Another reason for going too far is that it can help you work out where you need to be with your image. Take the slider to the max, and then you bring it back to where you think it should be. As you do this, you will start to understand what each slider is for and how you can use it. Don’t forget to try it in both directions.

Take the sliders to the extreme, see how far you can go. Don’t forget to bring them back.

Resetting or Undoing

If you want to go back to where you were at the start simply go to the top of the section (where the heading is) for example, Tone and Color. On the right, you will see a half-circle with an arrow. Click on that and everything will be reset.

Press the icon in the top right of the adjustments window to reset everything you have done.

For individual sliders, if you would like to reset just one, double-click on the name of the slider.

You can see in this section you can also change the white balance, vibrancy, and saturation. You can add structure to the image, though this should always be applied with caution. Many people think it will help sharpen their image, but if the image is not sharp already structure will not do that. What it does do, is give your sharp lines more definition.

This is the section where you can change the color aspects of your images, like White Balance.

There are a couple of other settings used for portraits. If you are doing photos with people you should try them out and see how they work with your images.

Lens Corrections

Most lenses affect your images and it is in the Lens Correction area of ON1 Photo RAW that you can correct that. Most of the time the software can detect your lens is, but if you use an unusual lens then you may have to add its profile or tell the program which lens was used. You don’t have to do this, but if you are using a wide-angle lens then it can be good to apply this setting.

Lens Correction is where you can fix the distortion that your lens can cause.

Details

The Details section is where you can reduce noise in your photos and do some sharpening. Both need to be used with caution. Overdoing it can cause unwanted halos and give your images a weird harsh texture.

As with the other sections, you should play around with all the sliders to see what they each do. Some will seem to make a difference, while others will look like they’ve done nothing. To really see what they do try enlarging the image to 100 or 200 percent. Some of them only work on individual pixels.

Details is the area where you can sharpen your image and reduce the noise in it.

Along the top of Details, you can see a default, low, high, and other options. These are like presets that you can use, or you can set your own and save it.

On1 Photo RAW 2018 - A Beginner’s Guide - pink flower

Using Detail to help reduce noise and sharpen the image.

Show More

Under Overall Settings, you will see a button that says Show More, click it. More adjustments will then be shown. If you select one a new window will appear under the others. Scroll down so you can make the necessary changes. Like many of the other settings try them all to see what you can do.

Under Overall Settings, you will see Show More. You will be given more options for adjustments to your image.

Local Adjustments

If you would like to make adjustments to particular areas of your image only, then this is the place for you to do so. Local Adjustments allows you to target parts of your images as opposed to global edits that apply to the entire image.

Local Adjustments is next to the Overall Settings tab.

If you decide that you want to make a certain part of the image darker or lighter (or add vibrance or detail) then choose Add Layer and a brush will come up. The brush has feathering which you can change to suit your image. The solid circle in the middle is how big the solid part will be and the dotted line around the outside is how far the feathering will go. To change that you can do it along the top, click on Feather, and move left or right to change the size.

The brush comes with feathering and it is good to know how to adjust it.

Along the top is where you change the brush settings.

Choose a setting that will make a big a difference for your image, like lighten or darken. Brush it over the area you want to change, this is how to make your selection. This is a good way to figure out and select the area that you want to edit or adjust.

In Local Adjustments, you can make the selection of the part of the image you want to work on.

Once you have the area you want to adjust selected, you can change the settings however you want. Undo the lighten or darken, go to the adjustments in that window and make the changes you really want. You can add as many layers as you want to make lots of changes to different parts of your image.

Experiment with this. Have a go at all of them to see how they work. It is a good way to learn what is possible. When you are done testing, you can delete any unwanted layers. Click the cross in the top right corner of each one.

Tools in the Develop Module

On the left side of the program, there are some tools. Some of them you can use straight away, other tools you can only use within the Local Adjustments tab.

Straightening Your Image

One of the questions that I get asked the most is “Why are all my images crooked?” It is such a common problem and something everyone does. Part of my answer is that it is so common, that most editing software has very easy ways to correct it. ON1 Photo Raw is no different.

The first tool in the left-side panel is the Crop Tool. Click on it and then look at the top panel across the image where you will see a small level. Click on that.

To make your image level you need to click on the crop tool first, and then look for the level icon along the top.

Pick a straight line to use in your image, like the horizon, or a tall building. Click on one end of your straight line, then hold and drag down to the other end. Keep the line along the straight edge and then click at the other end. You will see the image straighten, then just press enter to apply and crop it. The image should now be level.

Click along a straight line to make the image level.

Sometimes it can take a few times to do this, so if it doesn’t look level then just undo and repeat.

The image is now level or straightened.

Making an image straight and level.

Removing things from your image

It is in the section, that you will find the tools you need to remove unwanted items from your images. The Healing Brush, the Eraser, and the Clone Stamp are all here. Again, you should play around with them to see how they each work and the effect they will have.

The tools you will use to remove unwanted things in your images.

Use Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo what you have done.

The first two options, Erase and Heal are like brushes so you can apply them to the items you want to remove.

The third one is called Fix, but you need to take a sample of the image to copy over the unwanted thing. You can do this by looking for an area that can be copied and then apply Fix to that area. Once you have selected the area press Alt or Option and a circle with a cross will appear, click on that area. Now you can release the Alt or Option key and then click on what you want to get rid of.

Using those tools to remove a duck from this image.

It might take a few attempts, so don’t be discouraged. Just make sure that what you are replacing the area with something that will match.

Presets

There are a number of presets that you can apply to your image. These are great when you first start as they can really show you what is possible with the program. You can add a preset, but each time you add a new one it will cancel out the previous one. If you want to stack presets on top of each other, simply right-click on the preset thumbnail preview, and choose Insert Preset.

On the right-side, you will see a number of new windows appear with all the adjustments that were made to help get that effect. If you study them you will start to understand how ON1 Photo RAW works and what you can apply to your own images.

ON1 Photo RAW comes with a series of presets.

As all the adjustments are there from the preset, you can also make your own changes to fine-tune the preset to your liking You might find parts of it are not exactly how you would like them.

The preset Firenza was added to this image.

When you go to Develop you can see all the presets on the left. Click on the different folders and quite a few of them will come up. You can see them applied to your image in small preview versions.

There are many different presets that you can use. You can see a small version (thumbnail) of each as a preview of how it will look applied to your image.

However, if you would like to see them a lot bigger then all you need to do is click the square in the top right corner of the window with the presets. It has four small squares inside a larger one.

Click on the four dots in the upper left corner to get bigger previews of the presets.

This will give a grid view and you can see how each one will look applied to your image. This is a much easier way to plan and choose which one to use.

The larger previews.

If you would like to see even bigger versions then simply click Ctrl or Cmd and the plus key. You can really see how the preset will look on your image. To exit, press Escape or the arrow in the top left corner.

Applying the preset to your image.

Moving on to Effects

One of the first things you will notice in the Effects Module is that there are more tools available. There are brushes and gradients that have masks attached to them. The mask will make it easier to make changes and corrections later on if you decide you don’t like them. Masks are good to use, but you do need to get used to them. It takes a bit of practice.

When you go to the Effects Mode you get a lot more tools to start using. Many come with masks.

Presets and Filters

Over where the presets were in the Develop mode, you will now find a series of Filters that can be applied to your image. As you did with the previous module, you can click on one, then the four preview thumbnails of the filters for that set on your image.

In Effects, you also get to use special filters to apply to your images.

You can also select the filters on the right under Overall Settings. If you know which one you want to choose then you can just select it there. When you do make the selection you will see that a new window will open up. In there you can adjust the filter as you want it. You can change the opacity, along with other settings that are used to make the filter. You don’t have to accept everything the filter gives you, feel free to tweak the options to your liking.

Click on the four dots again to get larger previews.

Over on the right under Overall Settings and Local Adjustments, there is a button called Add Filter, click it to see a list of the ones available.

Once again, you should try them all and see how they work. Try adding several filters to the same image. If you don’t like it you can press Ctrl/Cmd+Z to remove it. Otherwise, click the cross in the top right corner.

For each filter there are windows where you can make adjustments to the filters you have applied.

Working with Layers

Layers can be scary, but once you know what they are and how to use them you will see a lot more opportunities open up for your image.

The Layers Module has a lot more tools and adjustments you can use. Plus it also gives you the added bonus of being able to apply other images and work with layers.

You can change the sky if you aren’t happy with what is there in your shot. ON1 makes this very easy with the masking brush. You can make it so that you only mask particular colors, for example, so you can remove just that one and show the image that is below.

To replace your sky or to add textures you have to be able to work with layers and learn about blending them. It can be very hard to grasp at the beginning, but if you keep experimenting you will figure it out.

Here you can see the effect of several textures added and blended to completely change the look of the image.

Resizing Images

This is where you can resize your images depending on what you are going to do with them. For most of us, that is probably going to mean doing images for Social Media. However, there are a lot of other options available so you can prepare your images for printing or whatever you need.

If you want big prints, Resize uses Genuine Fractals® technology to enlarge your images.

Resize is where you can get your image ready for social media or printing.

The ON1 RAW Community

If you really want to go to this level then consider watching the many videos available on their YouTube channel or on their website under product training. ON1 also has a great community (called ON1 Plus Pro, which is $ 149 annually, regular price) and always includes the latest edition of ON1 Photo RAW as a perpetual license. Or you can buy the lower priced standard membership, ON1 Plus, for just $ 49.99 per year without the upgrade to the next version of ON1 Photo RAW. ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is available for $ 119.99 for new customers and an upgrade price of $ 99.99 for previous owners.

The entire community is always happy to help you learn. The membership also includes different coaches, themes, and topics each month to teach to the Plus community. Some of the names coming to ON1 Plus this year include Matt Kloskowski, Tamara Lackey, Don Komarechka, Colin Smith, Hudson Henry, Colby Brown, James Brandon, Jim Welninski, and Dan Harlacher the Product Director.

You will find many videos that take you through the more complicated parts of the program step by step. Dan has a great voice and is a great instructor. They are all really good.

Editing Your Photos

Whether you are a beginner or more advanced user, ON1 Photo RAW will have what you need. It isn’t a hard program to learn, especially with all the added support that ON1 offers. If you are a very beginner then it is the perfect place to start and grow into.

Disclaimer: ON1 is a dPS advertising partner.

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Product Photography: The Ultimate Guide

25 May

Product photography is one of the more technical types of photography. Whether I decide to shoot natural light or create in my studio, I need to be aware of and control everything in the area. Lighting, product position, depth of field, image stabilization, and the brand itself all come together in a product shoot. So what are the first things Continue Reading

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ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners

15 May

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 was released recently and it has a lot of options included in a single software program. It offers a combination of features covered by the likes of Lightroom, Bridge, and Photoshop in one setup at a competitive price.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners

Depending on your skill level, it caters to beginner through to advanced users. This new 2018 version combines previously standalone programs into one with some new features added. Development for future versions is also underway, so it’s an option that is undergoing improvement.

For the purposes of this article, I will be using Lightroom and Photoshop as the basis for comparison as those are the tools I currently use.

Let’s work through the usual steps that this software would be used for, from the point of view of a beginner photographer and someone new to the software as well.

Setting up the program
Basic layout
Import images
Raw image editing
Edit mode with layers, etc.
General comments

1. Setup and Install

Setup and installation are fairly standard. You are required to set up an account as part of the install process (I tried to skip out of it but it canceled the Install when I did) which then requires an extra registration step with an email confirmation. However, once that is done there are no other impediments to using or starting up the program.

It does allow you to choose which drive/directory/folder you want to install it into as well if you want to use a non-standard install path.

2. Basic Layout

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners

Basic layout when the software first opens.

This is the default setup upon opening up the program. It’s set to view the Pictures Library and is in Manage Mode. The modes are on the right-hand side at the top of the screen and take you to the different functions available. The Modes we will be looking at in detail are Manage, Photos, View, Develop and Edit in this article.

Catalog tab where you can view images which have been rated or labeled or by other categories.

On the left-hand side under the File menu, are three tabs. First is the Folders tab which is the default file structure. Next is the Catalog tab which appears to allow you to view/sort images that have been rated with numbers or colors. It did pick up the color labels I had previously applied to images within Lightroom, which was interesting.

By going back to the Folder tab to select the folder and bring up the images, you can then go back into Catalog. If you select an image you are then able to rate it with a number or color.

Manage mode with a folder of images loaded up for viewing.

View and Manage Modes

Back in the Folders tab in Manage Mode, if you select an image it comes up with EXIF data and a histogram in the bottom left panel. The right-hand panel pops up with all the metadata and also allows you to rate the image there as well.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners

Photos mode offers three different ways to view your images. In the bottom right-hand corner it has three numbers; 7, 31, and 365 – these allow you to sort by week, month or year. The above image shows the images sorted by year. You can scroll visually through all your images.

While you can move easily between Photos and Manage Modes. But if you want to go to View mode you have to click on an image within Photos Mode to open it. Double-clicking on an image in Photos mode will automatically open it in View Mode.

view mode - ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners

View Mode default layout.

View Mode is similar to Adobe Bridge, where you have a filmstrip to view images at the bottom and some basic edit functions on a toolbar on the left just above the thumbnails.

Given that at this point in time no image editing has happened, and the tools are basic automated functions, you may not want to do anything here.

Develop Mode

Develop Mode default layout with the editing panel on the left

Develop Mode is the Raw Editor. It is laid out very similar to Lightroom except the edit panel is on the left. However, it can be customized and moved to the right if you prefer.

Edit Mode

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners - develop mode

Edit mode with workspace modified slightly – the Layers panel is on the right

Edit Mode is the advanced edit functionality. This is where you find layers, masks, text, and other features generally found in Photoshop. The tool palette on the left-hand side originally went along the top of the image but I moved it.

The 365 mode offers options for subscription licensing which is probably not relevant if you bought the perpetual license.

The Dashboard Mode

Dashboard Mode default layout.

The Dashboard Mode offers interesting ways of interrogating your database for information – how many files you have, what camera is used most often. It doesn’t appear to be editable beyond the data it provides so you can’t find out things like your most commonly used lens focal lengths or apertures.

The last mode is a Message Center. I had no messages to view.

In summary – there are three different ways to view your images, a raw editor, an advanced editor and other functions of less relevance.

3. Importing Images

As I have been a Lightroom user since LR3, I have several years of images already stored on my computer. I store my image files on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) so I was interested to see if they would be found and accessible, as some programs have issues with NAS functionality.

The good news is ACDSee happily found the images on my NAS and I was impressed at how quickly it loaded them up for preview. It was significantly faster than LR usually imports images and loads previews.

Manage Mode showing the network with the NAS folders viewable.

Therefore doing an image import test was also necessary.

File > Import >From Device found my CF card plugged into my computer and an Import Panel allowed a preview of the images, selection of images, destination choice, and file renaming. Again the image preview was very quick.

Import image panel in ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018.

On clicking Import, a light grey box opened up in the bottom right-hand corner, with a progress bar and it flicked through all the images as it was importing them. I imported 28 images and it took less than a minute.

Once it’s finished you are asked if you want to view the imported images. Clicking Yes takes you to the image folder for viewing all the images.

4. Raw Image Editing in Develop Mode

Unedited RAW file.

Develop Mode is laid out very much like Lightroom. The editing panel by default is on the left-hand side but I moved it over to the right as that is my preference. The histogram is visible with the different elements of it in different colors, but you can’t click on them and move/edit them within the histogram itself.

The main edit panel is Tune, and the others are Detail (sharpness, noise reduction), Geometry (perspective, lens corrections, and crop) and Repair (Heal and Clone).

It’s not entirely obvious but the white bits with the triangle out the bottom are the sliders, and you move them to make your adjustments. You can also change the numbers or click on the arrows. It does not appear to reset to zero if you double click on the bar as the whole bar is active.

Image after edits applied.

The above image has been edited with the settings visible, plus a few other panels. In general, I found it a bit more aggressive than LR would be in comparison so if you prefer a more subtle approach, be delicate with your application of the sliders.

The main blueberry in my image had a mark on the front so I decided to test out the Heal function. While it was a bit slow to apply and appeared to do it in stages, I was quite surprised at how well it worked. Upon viewing at 100%, there are some blue color blotches that would look a bit unnatural if this image was printed, but to the casual glance (or online viewing) it’s not obvious this image had been healed. A much better job than my LR6 can do.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 Guide for Beginners - heal tool

Image before Heal applied and scratch visible – viewed at 100%

Image after several brush strokes of Heal applied – viewed at 100%.

I also experimented with other things in the Develop Mode. There is an option to copy and paste settings between images, you can apply a vignette, and tweak its settings.

To save the image there are several options. Done opens up a dialog box to Save or Save As like a standard file-save function in Windows. Save gives you a drop-down box to Save As, Save a Copy, or Export.

The Export option opens up this window which allows you to choose things like destination, change the name, format, and size. Similar to the standard Export functionality in Lightroom.

Export images panel.

5. Edit Mode – Layers and other options

Edit mode with an image open for editing.

Edit Mode is where you can do the kind of editing for which Photoshop is often used. It has support for Layers, Masks, Adjustment Layers, Text, etc. I moved a few panels around to make the workspace more familiar but otherwise, the above screenshot shows the basic Edit Mode setting.

One of the new features of Edit Mode is the Actions – which seem to be a combination of LR Presets and PS Actions. They are only available in Edit Mode under Tools. There are several different categories and a Preview Browser offers an idea of what the final outcome will be.

Actions browser showing a preview of the effects.

To apply hit Play. The effect is applied directly to the base layer which is a bit limiting as you cannot edit the effect in any way and it is applied with quite a lot of enthusiasm. Adding a blank layer and applying to that didn’t work, which was a shame as you could have applied edits to the action layer that way.

Image after Grunge Action applied.

For comparison, I edited my image manually by adding a couple of texture layers and masked off the heavy texture with a soft brush to have a more gentle effect.

An alternative version of the image with some grunge texture layers manually added, adjusted individually, and heavy texture masked off to soften the overall outcome.

One limitation in adding texture layers manually was not being able to drag them across from an open instance of Windows Explorer, which I can do with Photoshop.

Once you’re ready to save the file you have File>Save/Save As/Save as a Copy/Export to choose from.

6. General Comments

Looking at this from a beginner’s perspective, someone new to photography and new to editing, ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 has a lot of benefits:

It’s available as a perpetual standalone license or a subscription.
It offers image management, RAW editing, and advanced editing features.
For a novice, it has all the functionality you are likely to need in one program.
Image editors are not the easiest programs to learn and use but this doesn’t make it any more complicated.
It looks familiar in comparison with other popular programs in the market.

As an advanced user of both Lightroom and Photoshop, there are a few things that I’d prefer worked differently as follows:

Visually the dark grey tone in the background is darker than I prefer and I was unable to easily find an option to change it.
When adding other images or textures, it’s easier to find them in a second monitor via Windows Explorer and drag it onto my image – this is easy to do in Photoshop but ACDSee didn’t allow it in the Develop mode, only in Layers. It does have an “Add a File as a Layer” button which is a good workaround.
In Develop Mode I was able to select a second monitor for viewing my image, but it stayed static on the original image view and didn’t reflect any of the changes I made to the image which was a bit baffling.
If you are in Edit mode and have applied Layers to the image you cannot go back into Develop mode unless you save the flatten it. Not a really a complaint, just that it works a bit differently than I was expecting.

Conclusion

The full price of ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 is $ 149.99 USD for the standalone perpetual license and there is also a free 30-day trial. It also offers a monthly (or annual) subscription which allows use on up to five devices, updates, and cloud storage as an alternative. Prices for the subscription vary depending on Personal or Business use.

At less than $ 100 USD for an upfront one-off cost, it offers an image management feature, a RAW image editor with a lot of features and functionality and advanced editing via layers, masks, adjustment layers and other extras.

For a beginner to either photography or editing, there is a lot on offer with ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018. Yes, it has some quirks and annoyances in comparison to other programs but nothing that renders it difficult to use (unless your eyesight is bad).

As a package to get a beginner started and provide everything you are likely to need, this is a competitive software solution for the general purpose user. Strong contender both on price and the fact it offers everything you are likely to need in one place, making it consistent and easy for a beginner to use and manage.

Disclaimer: ACDsee is a dPS advertising partner.

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Buying guide update: The Sony a7 III is the best camera you can buy for under $2000

09 May

The Sony a7 III impressed us in our recent in-depth review, and now that it has a final score we’ve revisited our collection of buying guides to reflect our final conclusions about the camera. The a7 III’s combination of solid image quality, versatile autofocus and impressive 4K video quality make it extremely competitive, and for those reasons we’ve selected it both as our top choice for shooting people and events, and our overall top pick under $ 2000.

Read our updated buying guide: Best Cameras for People and Events

Read our updated buying guide: Best Cameras Under $ 2000

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Creative Macro Photography – A Guide to Freelensing

22 Apr

Freelensing is one of the strongest and most underutilized tricks in the macro photographer’s toolkit. It can add diversity to a portfolio, and—when used carefully—generates some truly stunning effects. In this article, I will cover the basics of freelensing, and discuss how it can be used to enhance your macro photographs.

freelensing macro photography bokeh

What is freelensing?

Freelensing is a technique that can be used with any camera that accepts interchangeable lenses. You detach the lens from the camera and focus by tilting the lens in different directions, as well as by moving the lens closer and farther away from the camera body.

How does this change the resultant image? The plane that is in focus is no longer parallel to the sensor. The overall effect is to get both near and far objects selectively in focus, as shown in the photographs below.

By tilting my 50mm lens, I was able to selectively focus on these colorful leaves.

How to do freelensing?

First, equipment: I’ve found that macro freelensing works best with lenses in the 50mm range. Lenses much longer than that are going to be hard to focus accurately with, and lenses that are much shorter give a field of view and depth of field that is a bit too broad for macro purposes.

Note: because freelensing involves holding the lens detached from the camera, there is always the risk that you might drop something. Therefore, I like to use lenses that are on the cheaper side; the Canon 50mm f/1.8 is my go-to lens in these situations.

The camera model isn’t important, but I tend to use my backup body, as detaching the lens from the camera does increase the risk of dust and other debris getting inside and onto the sensor.

freelensing flowers macro photography

The freelensing process

Begin by putting the lens on the camera as you normally would. Turn on the camera and set it to Manual Mode. Choose whatever aperture you like; when the lens is taken off the camera, the aperture setting will be rendered irrelevant (it will be wide opened). Focus the lens on a distant object.

NOTE: With some camera makes and models, if you hold down the Depth of Field preview button while removing the lens it will lock the aperture closed to your desired setting. Test and see if your camera has this ability.

Make sure that your camera is not using Live View (as this would increase the exposure of the sensor to the outside world). Then, turn off the camera. Detach the lens, and carefully hold it in front of the camera body, just in front of the sensor. Turn the camera back on.

Example freelensing technique with a 50mm lens. The lens is pulled (slightly) away from the camera body.

At this point, the fun begins! There are a few things to consider:

First, the farther you move the lens away from your camera, the greater the magnification.

Second, tilting the lens left, right, up, and down alters the parts of the scene that are in and out of focus. It takes a bit of experimentation to get the hang of this, so don’t be afraid to take many images while honing your freelensing skills.

freelensing nature macro photography

Third, any gaps between the lens and the camera allow for light leaks. This can result in very interesting effects (but be careful not to overdo it!). To minimize light leaks, cup your hand around the lens so as to block out the light.

A note on exposure

When it comes to freelensing, your camera’s metering system is going to be nearly useless. The proper exposure depends on the size of the gap between the camera and the lens, so you will always need to drastically underexpose if you use your camera’s meter. I often take a few experimental shots, incrementally increasing the shutter speed (and checking the image on the LCD), until I reach an exposure that I like.

Freelensing for macro photographers

I’ve given a basic overview of the freelensing process above. But how can freelensing be used by macro photographers?

1. Use freelensing to create spectacular backgrounds

One of my favorite things about freelensing is that it can generate stunning backgrounds. The shifted plane of focus causes greater subject/background separation, so the bokeh can be truly impressive.

Try shooting into the light (with the subject backlit).

freelensing macro photography bokeh backlit

The setting sun (just to the right of the flower) offered some great opportunities for freelensing.

You can also work with a shaded subject and a background lit by direct sunlight.

freelensing poppy flower macro photography

The poppy was shaded, but the background was lit by the setting sun.

2. Find a point of focus

Freelensing can be an exhilarating experience, as subjects that you’ve shot a hundred times will seem brand new. However, it’s important not to get too caught up in the uniqueness of freelensing, and focus on how the effect can be best used to create strong images.

To this end, find a focal point. This might be a flower, an insect, or some leaves. Use this point of focus to anchor your shot. Ensure that you’re tilting the lens so as to render that point of focus sharp, and the rest of the scene out of focus.

freelensing daisy macro photography

3. Use freelensing to isolate a subject from clutter

Adding onto tip number two, one of the advantages of freelensing is that you can order an apparently cluttered scene with a tilt of the lens. Look for the sort of image that would have previously felt too chaotic, then tilt the lens so that only a small part is rendered in focus.

autumn leaves freelensed macro

4. Use light leaks for artistic effects

I mentioned light leaks above, and I want to emphasize their potential. When used right, light leaks can be beautiful.

I like to create small light leaks along the sides of the image by shooting backlit subjects, and by allowing a significant gap between the camera and the lens.

The effect here was created entirely through light leaks; by pulling the lens away from my camera, I was able to give this daisy image a more ethereal feeling.

5. Use freelensing for macro-level magnification

As mentioned, pulling the lens away from the camera increases your magnification. This can allow for detail-oriented macro shots without a macro lens. So experiment by increasing the distance between the camera and lens.

freelensing sunflower macro photography

In conclusion

Freelensing, while unconventional, can be an excellent addition to your toolkit. By detaching the lens from the camera body, you can create unique backgrounds and artistic light leaks while emphasizing the main subject.

With spring flowers just around the corner (hopefully!), now would be an excellent time to start practicing!

freelensing coneflower macro photography

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The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People

02 Apr

Have you ever wished that you could take better photographs of your friends and family? Do you love looking at portraits taken by professional photographers, but just aren’t sure how to replicate similar results for yourself? Have you ever felt totally overwhelmed by all the options for photography gear and need someone to help you understand what’s essential for photographing people and what isn’t?

If you found yourself nodding along to any of those questions, this guide is for you! In this dPS Ultimate Guide, we’ll walk through everything from equipment to post-processing, and give you the tools you need to photograph people with confidence!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Equipment

When it comes to photography, the best camera to use is the one you already have. Whether you’re using your cell phone, a point-and-shoot camera, a mirrorless camera, a cropped sensor camera, a full-frame camera, or an old film camera, you can take beautiful photographs of your friends and family. Essentially, don’t let the lack of “ideal equipment” get in your way. In almost every circumstance, you can combine the equipment that you already have with this guide to improve your people photography and portraits.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, in addition to your camera body and basic photography essentials like memory cards, there are a few key pieces of equipment that make photographing people much easier.

If you’re using a DSLR camera, lenses can make a huge difference in the quality of your photos. Most photographers prefer prime lenses for people photography. Although you do have to zoom with your feet, they tend to produce images that are sharper and more vibrant overall.

That said, whether you’re at a wedding or a soccer game, there are times when your subject’s distance from the camera is going to change frequently and quickly. In those instances, a zoom lens may be the best choice for photographing the special people in your life. Here are a few of the most frequently used lenses for portrait and people photography.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Prime Lenses

35 mm lens: This focal length is not great for traditional head-and-shoulders portraits, but it really shines when it comes to capturing people in the context of their surroundings.

The 35mm lens (on a crop or APS-C size sensor) is most similar to the angle of view of human eyes. So it’s a great lens to use when you want to capture what’s happening around you just as you see it. For this reason, the 35mm lens is an especially great choice for street photography as well.

50mm lens: For many photographers, the first lens they purchase after their kit lens is some variety of a 50mm lens. The price and versatility of a 50mm lens just can’t be beaten, and for a lot of photographers, having the ability to shoot at f/1.8 (or f/1.4, or f/1.2) is a huge upgrade from their kit lens.

If you’re shooting with a full-frame camera body, the 50mm lens is great for photographing families and sibling groups. If you’re shooting with a 50mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, it’s a focal length that’s great for portraits and photographing couples.

85mm lens: Most 85mm lenses are extremely versatile, allowing you to fill the entire frame with the subject’s face or backup to include their entire body without distortion. In fact, 85-105mm is known as being the ideal focal length range for portraiture because images captured within those focal lengths tend to be more flattering and have less distortion than images of people captured at other focal lengths.

Additionally, the lens compression with an 85mm lens makes it appear that the background is being pulled closer to your subject, which results in beautiful and dramatic portrait images.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Zoom Lenses

Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Art Lens: Designed for cropped sensor cameras, this lens has a range that includes many of the most popular focal lengths for photographing people. In addition, the ability to shoot at f/1.8 across all focal lengths makes this lens a powerhouse for both portraits and people photography.

70-200mm: This lens is considered to be one of the standards when it comes to wedding and event photography because of its versatility in capturing people across a variety of focal lengths. The 70-200mm focal range is especially helpful in situations where you’d like to be able to capture genuine emotion without being physically close to the people you’re photographing.

As you’re looking at different lenses for portrait and people photography, keep in mind that to achieve a nice blurred background in your portraits, you’ll often want a lens that’s capable of shooting somewhere between f/1.2 and f/2.8. You’ll notice that lenses capable of shooting at those apertures are more expensive, but this is one instance when the payoff is worth the increase in cost.

If you’re shooting on a cropped sensor camera, remember that you need to multiply the focal length of the lens you’re using by the crop factor (this number is often something like 1.5 or 1.6) to discover the functioning focal length of your lens. So, if you put a 35mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, it actually functions more like a 50mm lens.

Other Helpful Tools

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Reflectors: A 5-in-1 reflector kit will help you tackle a huge variety of lighting situations that you might encounter when photographing people. Not only is it helpful for bouncing warm or cool light on your subject, it also gives you the ability to absorb light and to fix dappled light issues when photographing one to three people.

Alternate light source: Even if you think you’ll only be photographing people outdoors in natural light, it’s a good idea to have some form of an alternative light source at your disposal, whether it’s a speedlight, ring light, or studio lights. We’ll talk more about when and how you might want to utilize different lighting sources a bit later in this guide. For now, just know that having some form of a light source will dramatically improve your versatility as a photographer.

Lighting

Photography is often described as “painting with light”. As such, it’s very important to have a good understanding of the different light sources that you may experience as a photographer and how to best use them to your advantage.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Natural Light

The most basic of all lighting types is natural light. This is as simple as it sounds – all of the light in your photograph is coming from the sun. No additional light source (like a flash) is used.

Photographing using natural light (sometimes also called available light) can mean that you’re shooting outdoors, or it can also mean that you’re shooting indoors near a large window. It can mean that you’re shooting when the sun is high in the sky, or that you’re shooting backlit portraits near sunset.

If you’re new to photography and are struggling with lighting even in natural light situations, grab a friend and try the circle trick, which is a quick and easy way to help teach yourself how to see different natural lighting situations.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Studio Lighting

Another option when it comes to lighting is to utilize studio lighting. This sounds more intimidating than it really is—studio lighting just means that you’re using a flash, stand lighting, and other artificial light sources as your primary source of light for your image.

Professional headshots are often photographed with studio lighting, as are many newborn photography sessions. The major benefit of studio lighting is that you can easily control what the light looks like and ensure consistent lighting regardless of external factors like weather. Studio lighting can also be helpful in creating high-key images with dynamic lighting and lots of contrast.

Using studio lighting does involve a different learning curve than natural light photography, and many photographers feel intimidated by it. However, learning studio lighting is a great way to achieve a solid understanding of a variety of lighting situations, and it’s absolutely worth taking a class or workshop to learn more about it.

Even if you don’t ultimately end up using studio lighting very often, it’s a valuable tool to have in your arsenal.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Combination Lighting

Many photographers utilize a combination of natural light and studio lighting—using available light when possible, and sometimes supplementing with another light source. The most common light source for beginning and intermediate photographers is probably the speedlight.

Using a speedlight in combination with a diffuser is a great way to photograph people indoors in situations where you may not always be able to pose them near a window (think birthday parties, wedding receptions, holiday gatherings, etc.). Another way to use combination lighting is to take your speedlight outdoors and use it as a fill flash for outdoor portraits.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Finding Locations and Backgrounds

When it comes to photographing people, the location and the background that is behind your subject are extremely important. Your backdrop will either enhance your final image or detract from it, so here are a few tips to help you find and choose the best possible locations to compliment your photography.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Color is King

When I’m shooting portraits, I’m most often using a 50mm or 85mm lens, and shooting with a fairly wide aperture (usually somewhere between f/1.8 and f/2.5). Typically, I’m looking for the person that I’m photographing to be in focus, with a nice creamy bokeh background behind them. Because the background is softly blurred, sometimes the color of the background can be more important than what it actually looks like to the naked eye.

A parking garage can look like a less than inspired backdrop through a 35mm lens. But if you transition to an 85mm lens, suddenly the details of the background disappear, and you’re left with a backdrop that appears to be a nice neutral gray tone in portraits. Similarly, a field of weeds can look terrible in person but translates as a creamy golden yellow background in a photograph.

As such, training yourself to consider color in addition to content when looking for potential photography locations is a great trick to have up your sleeve as a photographer.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Memories Matter

One of my favorite ways to choose a photography location is to ask the person you’re photographing to share a location that’s particularly meaningful to them.

Is there a park that their family walks to on Friday nights in the summer? Go there. Does the high school senior you’re photographing have fun memories of picking peaches at a local farm with her parents every summer? Check out that orchard. Is a family bringing home their first baby? Consider shooting at their home instead of a studio.

Choosing locations that have special meaning to the people you’re photographing is a great way to ensure that they’ll be as comfortable in front of the camera as possible, and it’s also a great way to invoke genuine positive emotion. Hearing a song on the radio can take you right back to a specific memory in your life, and so can revisiting locations that have happy memories associated with them!

Don’t be afraid to ask the person you’re photographing if there’s somewhere particularly meaningful to them that could act as the backdrop of your photo session. From the public library to grandma’s famous dahlia garden, to a family friend’s lake house, you might be surprised at what they come up with!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Utilize Geotagging

Several popular websites for photography allow you to search images that have been geotagged by zip code, city, and other identifying factors. Flickr Map is one such resource, and although it can be a real mixed bag in terms of the quantity and quality of images to sort through, it’s a great tool for visualizing what different parts of your area look like at different times of the day and different times of the year.

I wouldn’t recommend choosing a location sight unseen, but it’s a great tool for narrowing down areas that you might want to check out in person. Another option that’s just beginning to gain in popularity is Shootipedia, a location scouting website, and app that allows photographers to post images and share details about their favorite locations to shoot. Some parts of the world have lots of locations cataloged while others have very few. That said, it’s always worth a look!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Go Explore

One of the best ways to discover photography locations near you is simply to get out and explore your area. Go for a hike. Hop in the car and drive around. Print off a listing of all the local public parks, and swing by at different times of the day.

Don’t discount familiar locations either. Chances are that as you begin to look through the lens of photography, you’ll find that there are countless appropriate locations and backdrops right in your own neighborhood.

Clothing Tips and Ideas

Most people can benefit from some sort of direction regarding what to wear when being photographed. However, whether or not you (as the photographer) will be able to offer direction in terms of what to wear will vary based on lots of different factors including the type of people photography you’re doing.

For example, if you’re photographing the attendees at a birthday party or doing street photography, you won’t have as much input into clothing choices as you would if you are shooting portraits.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography
In situations where you do have some influence over what the people you’re photographing are wearing, that level of “direction” can range from you purchasing specific pieces of clothing to be worn to simply giving general advice regarding colors and patterns that are flattering on most people.

The level of your direction as a photographer will also be dependent on your personal photography style and whether you offer styled sessions or not. However, regardless of your personal style, there are a few rules of thumb that generally hold true in most instances when photographing people:

Neutral colored clothing (black, white, tan, or gray) is always a good choice.
Jewel tones are flattering to most complexions.
Avoid logos or text on clothing.
When incorporating patterns, stick to very classic patterns like plaid or polka dots.
When photographing families, it’s better to work with one color family (warm colors, cool colors, jewel tones, neutrals, etc.) than to have everyone wearing exactly the same thing.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Adding or removing jackets and/or cardigans is a great way to add some versatility to a session.
If you’re photographing more than one person together, make sure they’re not wearing exactly the same color on top, or it can be difficult to see where one person ends and another begins.
If the person being photographed isn’t comfortable in what they’re wearing, it will usually be evident in the photograph.

Most people genuinely appreciate tips and/or feedback from their photographer about what to wear. It helps them relax and feel confident in front of the camera.

All that said, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. If you’re photographing a toddler that desperately wants to leave her fairy wings on for the photos, you might want to consider giving it a try, even if it goes against your “vision” for the photo. Clothing choice can help enhance a photo, but in most cases, genuine expression in a photo will trump clothing choice any day.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Setting Up Your Camera

This section is especially for beginning photographers. If you have been using your camera’s auto mode, and aren’t even sure where to begin in terms of photographing people it’s designed to give you some ideas to help you start taking more control over your photography and to elevate your photos of people from mere snapshots to intentionally crafted images.

Two of the most frequently used camera modes for photographing people are Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority.

Aperture Priority

When selecting the Aperture Priority mode on your camera, essentially you select the camera’s aperture, and you’re asking your camera to select the rest of your settings. You can still select your ISO if you wish, or leave it set to auto if you’d prefer that your camera choose that too.

When you select a small aperture number (f/1.8), less of your image will be in focus. When you select a large aperture number (f/8), more of your image will be in focus. If you’re wondering how to create a portrait with a nice blurry background, shooting with a very wide aperture (f/1.8) is one way to achieve that effect.

However, as you add additional people to the image, it becomes trickier to nail the focus on everyone. So one good rule of thumb when photographing small groups is to set your aperture no smaller than the number of people you’re photographing – if you’re photographing two siblings, set your aperture at f/2.0 (or higher). If you’re photographing a family of three, you may want to consider setting your aperture at f/3.0 (or higher), especially if not everyone is on the same plane.

Aperture Priority mode is a great choice for shooting portraits or small groups, wherein the people you’re photographing are not moving too much.

aperture priority portrait - The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People

Shutter Priority

Where Aperture Priority mode is great for photographing people who are largely stationary, Shutter Priority mode is great for photographing people that are on the go.

Whether you’re photographing a soccer game and want to freeze the action, capturing a family mid-tickle, or practicing street photography and want to show the blur of people bustling about, Shutter Priority is a great way to either stop action or emphasize movement in people photography!

Working with People

Photographer, aul Caponigro once said, “It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.”

Indeed, there’s a difference between taking a snapshot of a person and creating a portrait that captures the essence of who they are and what they’re about. Often, the difference comes down to the interaction between the photographer and the person being photographed.

We’ve already talked about how location and clothing are two factors that can help the people you’re photographing relax in front of the camera. In addition to those two factors, coupling gentle posing with prompts and questions designed to help the person you’re photographing relax and evoke emotion during the session can be very helpful in capturing images that look and feel genuine.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Posing

If the idea of gently posing the person that you’re photographing feels overwhelming, you may be interested in purchasing the Posing App. This particular app includes over 300 illustrations of various photography poses for men, women, children, and groups, and can be a great starting point when trying to describe to the people you’re photographing what you’d like them to do.

Keep in mind that resources like Posing App are just starting places. Don’t be afraid to modify poses, changing them slightly for variety or to better flatter the person you’re photographing.

Also look here for more posing help:

Portraits: Striking the Pose – a dPS ebook.
67 Portrait Poses (Printable) by dPS.

Prompting

Once you’ve got the person you’re photographing situated in terms of posing, the next technique in evoking emotion is to prompt them with questions or statements.

When photographing a child, this might be saying, “Show me your best lion roar!” As the photographer, you’re less interested in the roar itself and more interested in the fits of giggles that usually follow, so be ready with your camera to capture the moment!

If you’re photographing a high school senior, this might mean asking them about their plans following graduation and what they’re excited about. If you’re photographing a newly engaged couple, this might mean asking them to tell you the proposal story. When you’re photographing a wedding, this might mean asking them to practice their first dance for you.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Prompts can be sentimental, but they can also be silly. Ask a groom to whisper his favorite vegetable into his bride’s ear, and watch them both laugh hysterically. These prompting techniques allow you to connect with the person you’re photographing on a deeper level and also help evoke genuine emotion that translates to a stronger photograph.

Culling and Post-Processing

After you’ve snapped the actual photographs, you’ll want to weed out the best images and apply some sort of post-processing to them, even if only sharpening to print. If you shoot in RAW format, you’ll need some sort of software (such as Lightroom or Adobe Bridge) that can recognize RAW file types before you’ll be ready to start culling or editing your images.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Culling

Regardless of the software, most photographers use a process that either amounts to “Editing Out” or “Editing In” for culling images. If following an “Editing Out” process, you go through and deletes all the images that you do not want to edit, and processes the rest. If following an “Editing In” process, you go through and flag all the photos that you’re most interested in editing, and edit only those. This is largely a matter of preference, and neither method is better than the other.

When culling, keep in mind that no one needs 10 images with exactly the same expression, focal length, and camera angle. However, do be aware of micro-expressions, or particular mannerisms that the person you’re photographing may display, and consider including some of those images into your final cut as well. Sometimes, those are the images that capture the essence of a person, even if their eyes are squinty or their nose is a little scrunched.

Post-Processing

Whether or not to post-process images in digital photography is always the subject of much debate. Personally, as someone who started with black and white film photography, I find the debate to be a bit silly. There was little controversy about dodging and burning in the black and white darkroom to enhance a portrait, so I see little problem with doing the same in the digital medium.

There are many options available for post-processing, but the most common still seems to be Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography package, which includes Lightroom, Photoshop, and a whole collection of mobile apps to download.

Many photographers batch edit their images, using either a preset in Lightroom or an action in Photoshop. If you’re brand new to post-processing, there are a whole host of actions and presets available to purchase, including several great sets from Digital Photography School.

Keep in mind that most actions and presets are not designed to be one-click wonders. They do require tweaks and adjustments for best success, which means that having a basic understanding of Photoshop and/or Lightroom is definitely necessary when it comes to post-processing. This is one area where it’s absolutely worthwhile to check out an online course or eBook in order to understand the basics of post-processing so that you know what the actions and presets are doing, how to tweak them to your advantage, and how to eventually make your own to help you stand out from the crowd.

Marketing Yourself and Getting Paid Gigs (If You Want Them)

So, you’ve photographed a bunch of friends and family, and now people are starting to tell you that you should start your own photography business! If that’s something you’re interested in pursuing on a full-time or semi-professional basis, we’ll walk through a couple of things that can help make that happen.

Check Your Local Laws

Laws regarding small businesses vary drastically from location to location. Some places require you to have a business license and insurance before getting started. Some require you to register your business name. Others only require that you declare any income received so that you can pay appropriate taxes on it.

Because dPS has readers all over the world, the best suggestion I can give is to contact your local Small Business Association regarding what you need to do to keep your budding business on the up and up. Even if you aren’t ready to officially start your business quite yet, it’s still important to research the requirements (and whether your prospective business name is actually available) before you begin any of these other steps!

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Build Your Portfolio

If you haven’t already done so, you need to build a portfolio of your work that you can show to prospective clients to demonstrate your skill as a photographer. Many times, photographers initially build their portfolio by offering to take photos of their family and friends for free in exchange for permission to use them as part of their portfolio.

Another option for building your portfolio is to participate in workshops or photo walks that grant you permission to use the images that you take during the event as part of your portfolio. If you’re interested in photographing weddings, many photographers partner with vendors to photograph several styled sessions before they ever actually photograph a real wedding.

Build Your Brand

Once you have a portfolio that you’re ready to market, you need to have a brand! This step includes coming up with your business name, logo, watermark, a headshot of you, and often a color scheme that you’ll use throughout your online and print materials.

Build Your Web Presence

One of the next key steps to developing any level of a photography business is to build a web presence so that people can actually find you! This may include many different avenues, such as creating a website, a photography blog, a Facebook business page, and an Instagram account for your brand.

Expand Your Audience

For lots of photographers, their business starts with friends and family and gradually expands out from there as those people recommend you to their friends and family. If you can encourage your friends and family to tag your photography pages on social media as they share your images online, this can be a really great way to expand your audience and reach. Some other easy ways to expand your audience include:

Offer a rewards or incentives program for past clients who refer their friends to you.
Host a model call on Facebook.
Consider running ads on social media targeted to “friends of friends”.
Donate your photography services to a cause you care about.

The dPS Ultimate Guide to People and Portrait Photography

Conclusion

Whew! That was a whole lot of information about photographing people! Although it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the dos and don’ts of people photography, you don’t have to master everything at once!

Use the camera and the equipment you have, pick one tip from this guide, and try it out. At the end of the day, the most important part of photographing people is just to get out there and do it, as often as you can!

The post The dPS Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits and Photographing People appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Posts Tagged ‘Guide’

Introduction

What to Bring for Night Photography

Exposures for Night Photography

Shutter Speed

Aperture

ISO

A Starting Point for Proper Exposure

Exposing the Night Sky Photo

Picking a Subject for Night Photography

The Night Sky

Museums and Public Buildings

Fountains

Bridges

Streetlights

Car Light Trails

Reflections

Overlooks and Vistas

Focusing

Processing Your Night Photos

Highlights

Shadows and Blacks

Sharpening

Getting Started with Night Photography

Gear

1 – Cameras

2 – Lenses

3 – Artificial Lighting

4 – Tripods

Camera Settings

Lighting

Composition

Fill the frame with your subject

The more colorful, the better

Keep things clean

Conclusion

Our pick: Olympus Tough TG-5

Also consider: SeaLife DC2000

Browse Module

Develop

Overall Settings

Go to the Extremes

Resetting or Undoing

Lens Corrections

Details

Show More

Local Adjustments

Tools in the Develop Module

Straightening Your Image

Removing things from your image

Presets

Moving on to Effects

Presets and Filters

Working with Layers

Resizing Images

The ON1 RAW Community

Editing Your Photos

Contents

1. Setup and Install

2. Basic Layout

View and Manage Modes

Develop Mode

Edit Mode

The Dashboard Mode

3. Importing Images

4. Raw Image Editing in Develop Mode

5. Edit Mode – Layers and other options

6. General Comments

Conclusion

What is freelensing?

How to do freelensing?

The freelensing process

A note on exposure

Freelensing for macro photographers

1. Use freelensing to create spectacular backgrounds

2. Find a point of focus

3. Use freelensing to isolate a subject from clutter

4. Use light leaks for artistic effects

5. Use freelensing for macro-level magnification

In conclusion