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How to Create a Dynamic Light Painting Portrait

27 Apr

Do you want a bit of action and dynamism in your portrait photography? Using your strobe to light your model in a portrait, while combining this with medium to long exposure can give you amazing results! A light painting portrait is a fun technique that you can play around with, and the equipment you need does not have to be too advanced. An entry-level DSLR camera will work well for this type of photography.

So in this article, I’ll break it down for you, explain what it is and how to do it.

How to Create a Dynamic Light Painting Portrait

Why not create your light painting portrait with some steel wool!? NOTE: Please take safety precautions when doing fire spinning!

What is light painting?

Light painting is the movement of light within your scene, captured using a long exposure. Broadly speaking, there are three types of light painting.

Light painting with light trails – This means the camera stays still, and you move the light around in front of the camera during a long exposure. Photographing traffic light trails is a form of light painting, but the traffic is moving for you.
Light painting an object – In this case, you’re not pointing your light source at the camera, rather you’re going to light up an object by shining a flashlight at it during a long exposure.
Kinetic light painting – This type of light painting uses a light source that doesn’t move, and you move your camera to create the light painting. Examples of this type of light painting are the zoom burst or camera rotation.

The zoom burst can make for a dramatic portrait when used in the right place.

Using your flash in conjunction with light painting

So if light painting involves moving the light source or moving the camera during a long exposure, how will you be able to get a sharp portrait? The answer is you’re going to be using a two-part exposure.

A flash will be used for the portrait, and the second part will be a long exposure involving some form of light painting. Your light painting portrait can be achieved in a single exposure or frame. There are times when using more than one exposure is better, and blending the images in post-processing. However, for this guide, we are looking at doing this in a single exposure.

Adjust your camera to full manual mode.
The ambient light in the room you are in must allow you to expose for half a second or longer (it should be dim).
The background should contain a light source, or you can’t light paint.
Adjust your shutter speed to the amount of time you will need for light painting. This will depend on the type of light painting you intend to do.
Now use your aperture to adjust the exposure value to be at around -1.
Have your flash set to manual mode as well. The strength of your flash unit will determine how much power you will need to use to get the correct light, so adjust depending on your unit. The proximity of your model to the flash will also be a factor in setting the strength. The aim is to freeze them, without blowing out (overexposing) their face.
Now that you’re ready with your settings you can take your photo. Check your results and vary the strength of the strobe, and the length of the exposure accordingly.

Make some magic with your light painting portrait! The desert in Mongolia was pitch black, this was ideal as there was no ambient light.

Different light painting techniques

As mentioned above, there are several different types of light painting. Now you’re going to see how those can be applied to a light painting portrait.

Camera rotation – This means rotating the camera after you have used flash to “freeze” the model. In order for you to get a good effect aim for around half a second exposure. Unless you have the equipment to mount your camera on a pivot this will be done handheld, so you will need a smooth motion.
Zoom burst – In order to make this effect, you will need a lens that is capable of changing focal length manually. The technique is similar in that you will expose for around half a second after the initial flash. Using a tripod isn’t necessary, but it will improve your results as the light lines will be straight. Typically you will want to zoom out during the exposure, though you can experiment with zooming in as well.
Camera shake – Once again an exposure of around half a second is best for this. After the flash has fired, move the camera around in a random way to make a more dynamic background. This technique can work well at a nightclub to give a sense of energy to the photo.
Light painting – In this type of photo, the camera must be mounted on a tripod, and you’ll likely expose for one second or even longer. Avoid area’s where there is a lot of ambient light, especially if that shines onto your model. Your model will need to stay completely motionless throughout the exposure, as you light paint through the scene. The longer the exposure the more difficult it will be to keep the model sharp, so avoid overly long exposure.

This light painting used a pixelstick to create the light.

Now go out and try a light painting portrait yourself!

So there you have it, this is how to make a dynamic light painting portrait! This is a fun technique to use while on a night out, or you can use it in a much more staged setting. Your friends will likely be impressed by the results, as it shows them in a vibrant energetic photo.

Have you ever tried to take light painting portraits like this? What was your experience? Please share your photos and experience both past and present in the comments section below. As always it’s great to get community engagement.

This was a stage portrait, using apartment building lights in the background for the zoomed light.

This can be a great technique to use in a night club, as it will add energy.

This photo used some camera rotation to achieve the result.

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Tips for Light Painting and Some Common Pitfalls to Avoid

18 Apr

In this article, I will focus on light painting objects in night scenes during a single long exposure (rather than multiple exposures combined in Photoshop) and some of the pitfalls I have experienced. I hope you will gain an understanding of how different light sources, intensity, and warmth can illuminate your foreground elements in a balanced way to provide a creative twist to your shot.

A beautiful night sky filled with stars is often laced with compelling foreground elements that can provide context and intrigue to your shots. You have likely seen many examples of these things in other people’s work such as a saguaro cactus under The Milky Way in the middle of the desert, a homestead cabin in the middle of an old pasture, or a boat floating on a still lake.

This single exposure captures The Milky Way over a field of yellow wildflowers in central Minnesota. I used light painting to emphasize the flowers which were an important part of the scene.

I am positive you can think of foreground elements in your personal environment. Although silhouettes of those foreground elements can provide you with stunning imagery, you may consider using light painting techniques to emphasize the foreground elements of your shot.

What is light painting?

Light painting is a night photography technique where you use a light source to illuminate an object (in other words you “paint it”). The digital camera era has made light painting much more common as it is easier to check and compensate for your exposure of the shot. Because light painting provides so many creative options there are many forms it can take.

In order to do light painting, you will need to carry a little bit of extra equipment and have some basic knowledge about your camera’s manual settings. A grasp of these basic camera settings will increase the enjoyment of your night out by helping you make beautiful imagery.

Camera Settings

Manual Mode will be necessary to shoot your long exposures. You should be aware of how to switch to Manual Mode and then adjust your aperture and shutter speed. For night photography, you will want to use a large aperture (e.g., f/2.8) and slow shutter speeds of often 5 seconds or more.

ISO changes will be necessary in order for your camera to pick up the most amount of light possible. I recommend beginning at ISO 800 and then adjusting accordingly as you learn about your particular scene and shooting conditions. It is important to remember that a really high ISO will require you to post-process out digital “noise” and each camera model has a range of ISO values it can shoot at before it will become very grainy.

White Balance adjustment is critical to shooting at night and for light painting. Look in your camera’s manual or play with your camera settings to ensure you can access manual White Balance and you can create lower or higher White Balance values. White Balance is measured in Kelvin and most cameras will represent it with “K” after the White Balance value (e.g. 4500K).

I bounced the light off the snow to light this shot because direct light caused the totem to become too bright and out of balance.

Equipment

An appropriate light source is necessary to do light painting. You should consider bringing multiple light sources that have both wide and narrow beams as well as multiple color temperatures. You may consider things such as a headlamp, cell phone, flashlight, or professional lighting as these have different beam widths and intensities.

To determine the warmth of your light source, check the box as it may tell you the temperature rating. For instance, many lightbulbs from the store will say 4500K on the side of them. Some professional lighting sources will allow you to adjust both the temperature and intensity of the light, so you may consider those as you progress and become more proficient at light painting.

Beyond the camera and a light source, a tripod is the next most important thing you can bring when shooting long exposures. Ensure your tripod can remain stable for long (up to several minutes occasionally) exposures.

A friend is a great addition to a night of light painting! Your friend can help sidelight objects while you take the photos, provide for creative solutions to problems, and keep you safe as you move around in the dark.

I use this LED light panel which allows me to control the light intensity and color.

Basic Light Painting Techniques

Each night has unique conditions that need to be accounted for, but I like to begin each night with a familiar set of steps. Set your camera up on a tripod and take a few test shots. I usually start at f/2.0, ISO 800, 10-15 seconds, and 4500K.

From those base settings, you can experiment with ISO, shutter speed, and set a White Balance that looks good to you. Once you have the settings for the scene right, set up a composition you like and which ties together the necessary foreground elements. Begin your exposure then use a light source to paint the foreground in front of you.

This image of the Aurora Borealis captures the beauty of the boreal forest and the subtle aurora behind it. I used standard settings (ISO 2000, f/2.2, 20 seconds) and a light panel to make this image.

Selecting a light source is important. Its qualities will determine how it can be used. There are three considerations you should think about:

What is the intensity of the light?
How wide is the beam?
What is the color temperature of the light?

Keeping these things in mind will help you immensely when you go out to shoot. A wide beam can help you light close objects while a more focused beam can light a more distant one. I often use a professional light panel because it gives me control over the beam intensity, width, and warmth.

A good light source will help you get over the pitfalls identified below.

Pitfall #1: Not matching the color balance

When I first began doing light painting, I had a really hard time matching the color of my light and the context of my scene. Your camera will key in on bright objects in the shot such as the moon, a street lamp, or the Aurora Borealis which will become the dominant temperature in the shot.

Keep this in mind as you take your test shots because you will need to adjust your White Balance according to those light sources. If the White Balance of your light source is adjustable set it to the same as the camera. If you cannot control the temperature of your light source (e.g., a cell phone) then consider adjusting the White Balance of your camera to match the light source. You will know the light source and camera are calibrated together properly when the color of your foreground elements look natural (neutral) to your eye.

I’ve provided some examples of images below which came out well and some that did not (according to my eye) due to incorrect White Balance calibration. You should be able to spot images demonstrating the matching warmth pitfall that we just reviewed. I’ve left some thoughts in the captions of the images to reflect on each further.

It is not too hard to diagnose what’s wrong with this image – I did not properly calibrate the temperature of my camera and light source. The light source is too cold compared to my camera’s settings.

The calibration of camera and light source were close on this one, but the temperature was a bit too cold on the light source as evidenced by the bluish tinge to the tree on the left.

A good match! I was able to use the white of the American Flag to calibrate the light source and camera to get good colors from both the flag and the aurora.

This is a good match on the color balance. There were a moon and aurora on this night, so I only used a headlamp to softly light this sled dog that appears to be watching the aurora.

Pitfall #2: Not balancing the light in your scene

Choosing the right beam width and intensity will help you balance the lighting of the foreground elements to the rest of the scene. A digital camera set at ISO 800 or above is incredibly sensitive to light and it is very easy to “blow out” a shot by overexposing the foreground elements. Here are a few tips to help balance the light in your scene.

A broad beam will help evenly light an entire scene and a narrow beam can light specific aspects of the scene. I have provided thoughts and examples below about when my light source width was appropriate and when it was incorrect.
If you have close foreground elements consider bouncing your light source. I often use reflective surfaces like snow to indirectly light the foreground through bouncing. If you cannot bounce the light, try side lighting or lighting the object from behind.
You can decrease the exposure by closing down the aperture. I have found increasing the aperture (say from f/2.0 to f/4.0) and increasing the exposure time make it dramatically easier to create a balance of light in the scene.
It stands to reason that if you paint an object for a long time with the light it will show up brighter. You will find that duration is critical when light painting and often less is more. Try light painting the object in a short burst of one half, to one second of light and see if it adequately lights the object.

Blowout! I was light painting these autumn aspens to capture the fall colors with the Aurora Borealis. However, my beam was too narrow for the work I wanted to do.

A small beam allowed me to light up this “old man’s beard” hanging from spruce trees in Southeast Alaska. A wide beam would not have worked here as it would have lit the entire scene.

Here I wanted to capture the glacier face and the aurora together so I placed my light panel behind a block of ice. This masked it from direct view and allowed me to bounce the light off the snow.

A passing car provided the lighting for this shot, and I liked the warmth of the light a lot! The broad beam was most appropriate here.

Food for Thought and Wrapping Up

I hope this article can help you get over a couple of the steep learning curves of light painting. Remember, any light source at your disposal can be used to light your scene and each may have its own unique benefits. Experiment with headlamps, cell phones, car headlights, and professional lighting sources to see what each can provide to the shot.

I hope you enjoy your night out! As I always like to say, “Pixels are cheap”, so make lots of them as you learn light painting.

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Video: How to find the best natural light for portraits

18 Apr

How do you find good quality natural light while walking out and about? It’s not always easy, but if you know where to look and what to look for, you can almost always find the perfect light for a portrait. At least that’s what London-based photographer and YouTuber Sean Tucker believes, and he’s created a helpful tutorial for his series ‘Good Light’ that explains what it is you should look for in natural light to make the most of a scene for an impromptu portrait session.

In the six-minute video, Tucker and his friend Sarah hit the streets of London in search for a backdrop for their photo shoot. As tends to be the case with so many street shoots, the pair end up in an alley, where Tucker sets up shop to explain the benefits of this particular scene and why it provides good natural light for the portrait he’s trying to capture.

Tucker hows how the buildings on either side of the alley not only provide good leading lines, but also serve as black flags of sort, helping give depth to the subject by making the natural light more directional. After a few shots, he noticed a problem though: panda eyes. To fix this, Tucker uses a simple white grocery bag his subject had on hand as a reflector. A bit primitive, but as his final image shows, it did the trick.

Photo by Sean Tucker

To wrap up the video, Tucker shows how he went about editing the image in Lightroom CC on his iPad—itself a helpful tutorial for those of us who frequently edit images on-the-go for sharing on social media and beyond.

Watch the full video for yourself up top, and then head on over to Tucker’s YouTube Channel to see more from his popular “Good Light” series. You can also find him on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or read his DPReview Photo Story of the Week.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

13 Apr

Your camera can’t see the light and tones as well as you can. Cameras have not yet been developed to a stage where they can record a tonal range in a single, unmanipulated image as broad as you can see with your eyes.

Portrait of a senior woman being made by a photographer - Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

Our brains are constantly evaluating the light and making adjustments dynamically so you get to see far more detail in the brightest and darkest areas of whatever you are looking at, as well as in the mid-tones. Understanding this difference between what you see and what your camera records will help you to become a more creative photographer, (and save you time post-processing your photos.)

Different Types of Light

Basically light can be hard or soft, direct or diffused. Direct light, usually from a relatively small light source, creates a hard-edged shadow, like on a sunny day. Light that is diffused, like you experience when the sun is behind a cloud, makes soft shadows or virtually no shadows at all.

Woman selling fresh fruit at a market in Chiang Mai - Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

Hard light – characterized by high contrast, hard edges, and lots of texture and detail.

Unloading produce at a market in Chiang Mai, Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

Soft light is characterized by gentle or no shadows, lower contrast, and less texture and detail.

Light will have various other qualities as well depending on the time of day, season, atmospheric conditions, and geographic location. Light can be warm and have a golden tone, mostly in the mornings and evenings. It can also be cold and have a bluish tone, often in city streets where buildings block the sun or on heavily overcast days.

Different Tonal Ranges

Typically with soft light, you have a narrower tonal range (lower contrast). In conditions with soft light, your camera will be more capable of producing images with detail in the shadows and also the highlights, if you expose your photos well.

Tricycle Taxi Rider in Chiang Mai, Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

Soft Light

With hard light, the tonal range between the brightest and darkest parts of an image can be far more extreme. Your camera may not be capable of recording detail in the highlights and in the darkest parts of your image, in a single frame (I am not concerned with HDR or other manipulations here).

Street scene in Thailand with tricycle taxis and traffic - Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

Hard Light

As you learn to see light and understand the type of light in which you are photographing, you will get a feel for it and become more creative and more precise technically with your photography.

Using Light to Fit the Mood

If you want to create a gentle portrait with soft, relaxing tones you will not just need your subject to be in the right mood, but you will need the lighting to fit with the mood as well. A soft, diffused light will help you reach your goal whereas trying to create this style of portrait outdoors in the middle of a bright sunny day will be far more difficult.

Portrait of a young Kayan girl - Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

Soft light here allows for detail in all areas of the image and for a flattering portrait of the girl.

Sometimes working with soft light can be challenging if it is just too flat and dull and offers very little tonal range in your subject. In these situations, I will look to add some alternative light source from a flash or reflector to add a more dynamic look to my photos.

Hard light can make for more dramatic pictures. Using the contrast range so parts of your composition are isolated, either because they are too bright or too dark for your camera to record, is often an effective method towards producing more creative photographs.

Close up of a Hmong woman hand sewing - Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

The hard light here highlights the hands making the background completely black.

Carefully Control Your Exposures

Taking control of your exposure so you are only rendering the detail in the highlights and allowing the shadow areas to show little or no detail, is a great technique to learn. Alternatively, in hard light situations, you can set your exposure for the dark areas of your composition and you will lose detail in the highlights.

Photographers who are more technically oriented and believe you must have an evenly exposed image with no loss of detail may struggle with this concept.

Buddhist monks walking in the morning, Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

When you have a concept for a photograph (or series of photographs) you want to make, creating the photos in the best lighting will have a significant impact on your results. Choosing the optimum lighting to create the feeling you want to capture in your photo brings a greater depth to your pictures and more feeling of connection with those who view them.

Concerning yourself primarily with technical details will not have the same effect in many cases.

Getting Creative With Light

Lighting can be a bit of a dilemma if it does not fit the mood or scenario you are wanting to photograph. Pushing yourself to create interesting, captivating images even when you are faced with adverse lighting conditions is a great challenge to embrace and will help you grow as a photographer.

Street festival in Mae Hong Son - Tips for Learning How to See the Light and Take Better Photos

I used some off-camera flash here because the ambient light was very flat.

Pay attention to the light wherever you are, even if you don’t have a camera with you, just see light. Think about it. Consider the qualities of light and how they will affect the photos you take.

Will the light help you or hinder you in creating the style of photographs you want to make?

Buddhist monk lighting a candle taken during a Chiang Mai Photo Workshop

Learn to See Light

If the light is not right for what you want to achieve in your photos you will need to make changes by adding light, from a flash or reflector or another additional light source. Sometimes even just changing your point of view in relation to your subject will have a significant influence on the mood and look of the lighting. For example, using backlighting instead of front or side lighting.

The more you can learn to see the light and understand how it will affect your images, the more creative you can become with your camera. There are some additional tips in the video below to help you see the light.

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Tiny micro-camera sensor is self-powered by light

13 Apr

University of Michigan engineers Euisik Yoon and Sung-Yun Park have developed a nearly microscopic image sensor that doesn’t require an external source of power. Measuring less than a millimeter across, this prototype camera could be placed just about anywhere – it only requires a light source to harvest energy. The technology is detailed in a study recently published in IEEE Xplore.

This isn’t the first self-powered image sensor project, however earlier explorations of the technology had limitations. One previous example involved embedding photovoltaics into a sensor for harvesting the energy to power it, which reduced the amount of light available to produce the image.

When put to the test, the sensor was able to capture 15 images per second

The prototype created by Yoon and Park differs, instead sensing the image and harvesting energy simultaneously without reducing the sensing area. This is made possible by placing a second diode, which acts as a photovoltaic, beneath the photodetector. When exposed to daylight, some photons pass through the initial photodetector diode, where they then reach the second diode and are converted into electricity to power the sensor.

With this arrangement, the sensor’s pixel area is almost fully dedicated to capturing the image while the “waste” photons are grabbed to power the camera. When put to the test, the sensor was able to capture 15 images per second at the quality shown below.

The number of frames that can be captured per second depends on the amount of available light. Full, sunny daylight at 60k lux provided enough power to capture 15 frames per second, though normal daylight at 20k to 30k lux produced enough energy for half that rate at 7.5 frames per second.

Eventually, as IEEE Spectrum notes, the proof-of-concept prototype could be refined to improve its efficiency in lower lighting conditions. The engineers could also choose to embed other components, such as a tiny wireless transceiver, to create a complete wireless camera capable of being placed and operated nearly anywhere.

Via: TechCrunch

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Shedding Light on the Histogram – 8 Rumors and the Real Facts About this Graph

05 Apr

There have been dozens of articles and many videos published about the purpose and interpretation of the histogram in post-production. It serves a purpose in both the camera capture and post-production processes.

Tons of pulp has been generated about this tiny graph clarifying the general purpose of the histogram. But there is still much to be learned about this graph. This article will clarify some issues while focusing mainly on post-production concerns.

Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

The individual RGB values are dominant in this image. Only the cracks in the sidewalk and spots of white in the cement cause the spikes on the outside edges of the graph.

Some articles I’ve read portray the histogram as the Holy Grail of digital photography and even describe an ideal histogram shape. Others describe the histogram as an accurate revelation of image health, sort of like a digital EKG. Still, others downplay the value of the statistical feedback completely and totally miss its primary purpose. Listed below are actual quotes from tutorials and articles about the histogram.

Colored Fence - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

The two histograms reveal more information than you might think. The RGB graph reveals the same solid yellow and blue colors while the Luminosity graph represents the combined RGB luminosity (effectively, the grayscale equivalent values).

I’ve been adjusting images for decades; long before the graph was publicly introduced and I’ve worked with it every day since so I’d like to weigh-in on rumors and clarify some facts. Once you understand the histogram’s primary function and limitations, you’ll find it to be a solid feedback resource.

The Histogram’s Vertical Lines Defined

RUMOR #1: The histogram is a graphic blueprint of a digital image. The horizontal span represents the image’s tonal range and the vertical lines reflect the contrast of the image; the higher the vertical lines, the more contrast the picture contains.

FACT: The horizontal axis does reflect the image’s tonal range (from the darkest tones to the lightest), though the vertical lines reveal little about its contrast. Actually, the horizontal distribution is what reveals the overall contrast. Tones located mostly on the right reveal very light (or high-key) images while tones favoring the left side are darker (low-key) images.

The extreme right side wall represents white and the extreme left wall of the graph represents solid black. The highest (vertical) peak of the graph merely indicates the highest ratio of pixels containing that particular color tone as it relates to the others. The lowest vertical level on the graph indicates the tone color with the least number of pixels in the image.

The left graph represents a high-key or light toned image. The histogram on the right represents a low-key or dark toned image.

Histogram Shape

RUMOR #2: There is a preferred “mountain” shape for a histogram. The ideal shape displays a single peak beginning at the “ground” on one side, reaching upward into a bell shape near the middle, and tapering down to the ground on the other side. An ideal histogram contains information from all channels everywhere, from the left to the right in the graph.

FACT: There are as many histogram shapes as there are images. There is no such thing as a good or bad histogram and there is no such thing as an ideal histogram. Because these graphs reflect each image’s distribution of tones, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any two alike.

Only images containing mostly middle tones will actually display a true bell (mountain) shape on the histogram as in the one top left.

Clipping

RUMOR #3: The extreme left and extreme right sides of the histogram should never hit the “sidewalls” of the graph. If the left or right side hits and travels vertically up the wall, an undesirable effect called “clipping” will occur, indicating that either solid black or solid white “no-detail” areas will be visible in the image. Utilize the warning signs (The Blinkies and triangles) and avoid clipping on either tonal extremes of the graph.

FACT: Depending on whether the image is high-key (medium contrast on a pure white background) or low-key (dramatic lighting with a black background), either side of the mountain may actually resemble a tonal cliff. Real-life lighting dynamics make these wall-climbing graphs quite acceptable. Photos captured against white seamless backdrops are purposely exposed to produce dropout white backgrounds.

Jupiter Air Show - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds screaming across a very bright mid-summer South Florida sky were captured against totally white clouds. The apparent clipping shown in the histogram accurately reports the totally white clouds.

Tone Distribution

RUMOR #4: Histograms that display significant gaps on either side of the graph should be adjusted to distribute the tones more evenly. A well-shaped histogram is a happy histogram.

FACT: Real life lighting doesn’t demand that every scene contain both deep shadows and bright highlights. Images are sometimes brightened or darkened unnecessarily revealing a typical rookie editing mistake. Many times these bookend extremes establish an emotional mood that would be lost if the images were over-corrected in this manner.

Dark Green Leaves2 - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

This low-key shaded scene contains very little highlight shades at all.

Corrected Dark Green Leaves2 - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

Adjusting the image destroys the rich colors of the low-key scene.

Histogram Gaps

RUMOR #5: The silhouette of the histogram mountain should remain smooth, displaying no gaps or fissures in the mountain shape. These smooth tone transitions are necessary to maintain the photo’s full visual range. Gaps in the histogram’s silhouette indicate an interruption in the gradual tones and will result in banded or posterized stages. These gaps appear because the JPEG image is only 8-bit.

FACT: There are only 256 vertical bars presented in the Histogram. Each horizontal bar represents less than one-half of one percent (0.4%) of the total tonal range (100% / 256 = 0.390625%). Even if a photo contains a very gradual change in tones across a wide area (like an unclouded sky), your eyes will only perceive “banding” if the JPEG image has been degraded by repeated Save functions.

JPEG images contain a maximum of 256 levels (8-bits) of tone between black (solid color) and white (no color). Once JPEG files have been opened and saved a number of times, the number of tone levels can become significantly reduced and tone-banding may occur.

News Journal - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

News Journal Gappy - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

These two histograms appear quite different though the images are very similar. As you can see, “gappy” pictures rarely interrupt the flowing tones in a photo and often clarify more detail.

Full Range Images

RUMOR #6: 8-bit images (256 levels of tone/color per Grayscale/RGB channel) are required for an image to display the full range of detail contained in a high-resolution digital image.

FACT: The human eye is designed to focus on detail in a scene or image. Detail is a product of contrast, and contrast is only noticeable when adjacent colors display significant differences. For the most part, the fewer colors that are displayed, the more obvious are the differences in those colors. This sounds bad but it is actually quite beneficial. It may fly in the face of popular logic but there is a fundamental truth to be recognized. The picture with the least colors (also known as bit depth) is many times the most detailed picture.

Daytona Beach Bandshell 750px - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

Daytona Beach Bandshell 15 Post 750px

The top image contains 256 levels of color per RGB channel; or up to 16,800,000,000 colors. The bottom image contains only 15 levels of color per RGB channel; only 3375 possible colors. This image uses less than 5% of the tones that are used in the top image. Don’t live or die on the issue of bit depth. It is important, but like other issues in life, more isn’t necessarily better.

There is, of course, a reasonable limit to this reduced color observation. Too few levels of color will lose the smooth transitions between colors and thus will also lose detail.

Try this exercise: open a full-range photo in Photoshop and duplicate the image on another layer. Open the Histogram (Window/Histogram). Now select Image > Adjustments > Posterize, enter the number 15 and view the image as a Preview. Watch the Histogram window as you preview the image. The graph will display only 15 vertical columns instead of 256 but the image will look pretty much the same.

The point I’m making is that “gaps” in a normally smooth histogram doesn’t necessarily indicate a visual disaster. Instead, a few gaps might just inject a little more drama in your images.

Smooth Flowing Tones

RUMOR #7: Digital captures should display the highest number of tones possible in order to preserve the smooth continuous tones.

FACT: While nature provides an extreme level of dynamic range and true continuous tone gradation, there is no such thing as “continuous tone” digital images. The word “digital” affirms this statement. Virtually all digital images are comprised of square pixels displaying individual tone values. The perception of continuous tone is an illusion.

Pixel Patch - Shedding Light on the Histogram - How to Use it in Post-Production

These blue pixels were captured from the sky of the Thunderbirds image above. The patch of sky appears as continuous tone in the original picture although the enlarged individual pixels vary quite a bit in value. The top histogram shows the combined channel luminance while the bottom shows individual RGB channel values. It’s complicated.

Exhaustive Reference

RUMOR #8: A Histogram is an exhaustive systematic and statistical accounting of all the internal colors and tones of an image, from dark to light (100% – 0%).

FACT: Each histogram does reveal the relative placement and distribution of all tones and colors, but due to its size, there is a serious limitation to its accuracy. Since editing software histograms are based on a horizontal graph only 256 pixels wide, each representation is a basic overview at best. If the full range of possible colors were truly represented by a single graph, the chart would occupy the wall of a good size room!

Both the top and bottom tonal adjustments were severe enough to create significant gaps in the histogram and to alter the shift of tones in each range, though there are no visible interruptions in the smoothness of each gradation.

Let me break down the numbers. This 256 pixel-wide graph portrays each image’s potential color range using an 8-bit (256 level) interpolation. This means that all 16.8 million possible colors are represented in a mere 256 horizontal point histogram. Tones change levels in 0.4% increments. The graph significantly exaggerates the difference between minor shifts in tonal value.

Human eyes barely perceive a half-percent (0.5%) difference between tones, which is why 256 levels in a JPEG image provides the illusion of continuous tone. This means the histogram uses less than two vertical columns to represent a single percent of change in value.

The two bottom patches are separated by only 1% in tone, though your eyes may have trouble seeing the difference. The top band shows a gradual change between the two values.

What does all this mean? Quite simply, the histogram delivers a good estimation of overall tone distribution but cannot be relied on for accurate measurement. A few gaps in the graph will rarely be visible to the human eye.

Wrap Up

The histogram is a valuable instrument intended to deliver a quick overview of the makeup and tonal shape of digital images. It was never intended to be a scary reference tool.

Learn to use the histogram to deliver interactive feedback as you work through your editing steps but appreciate the graph for the information it provides; mostly defining the distribution of tones, highlights, and shadows.

What the histogram does not show is whether the image requires internal adjustments to reveal hidden detail. That’s another topic altogether.

Push pixels around and stay focused.

The post Shedding Light on the Histogram – 8 Rumors and the Real Facts About this Graph appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Google created this rotating 16-GoPro arc to capture light field data for VR

30 Mar

Google has announced that it is experimenting with light field technology to improve its virtual reality content. The company detailed the work in a recent blog post, explaining that it has modified a GoPro Odyssey Jump camera so that it features 16 cameras mounted along a vertical arc, which is itself mounted to a 360-degree rotating platform.

According to Google, light field technology is one potential way to give users a “more realistic sense of presence” within a VR world. Light field-based content presents objects in different ways depending on the position of the user’s head and their distance from the object.

“Far-away objects shift less and light reflects off objects differently, so you get a strong cue that you’re in a 3D space,” Google explains. VR headsets with positional tracking take this to a new level by determining where the user is “located” within the virtual world.

Using its rotating Jump rig, Google is able to capture approximately 1,000 outward-facing viewpoints on a 70cm sphere, which ultimately offers a 2ft / 60cm diameter volume of light rays. The company explains how its translates that data into VR content:

To render views for the headset, rays of light are sampled from the camera positions on the surface of the sphere to construct novel views as seen from inside the sphere to match how the user moves their head. They’re aligned and compressed in a custom dataset file that’s read by special rendering software we’ve implemented as a plug-in for the Unity game engine.

Demo content has been released to the public via the Steam VR app “Welcome to Light Fields.” Users will need a Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive, or Oculus Rift headset to view the content. Light field VR demo experiences include a look inside the Space Shuttle Discovery, Gamble House, and Mosaic Tile House.

To learn more, head over to the full technical post on Google’s Keyword blog.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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SLC-0L-01: Flash or Continuous, Light is Light

06 Mar

In Lighting 101, 102 and 103, we learned to control our flashes. In the Strobist Lighting Cookbook, we're expanding that approach to learn to move in a fluid way between flash and continuous light. Read more »
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How to Make a Dramatic Portrait with Light Painting Using Items Found in Your Home

28 Feb

In this article, I’ll show you how to do a fun project you can do with friends and a little light painting. You can do this, using things you likely already have in the house.

It’s always fun to experiment with different and creative ways of using light in photographs. It’s also a lot of fun to take some risks and experiment with a technique that may or may not produce good results. The reality is you can learn from every photographic experience. It doesn’t matter if the results are perfect or not. Each time you pull out a camera you create something that adds to your knowledge base and helps you to grow as a photographer.

Learning lessons

In the case of a project I did recently with light painting and live models, several lessons were learned. The first was the importance of finding enthusiastic people to assist with my projects. The second was the importance of a reflector in adding light to a photograph.

Lastly, the third lesson involved pushing the limits of human abilities. I asked my friends to hold very still for these images, sometimes in some slightly awkward poses. How much was too much for my models?

How to Make Dramatic Light Painting Effects with Items Found in Your Home

This was our final image of the evening. It took a lot of trial and error to reach this point.

The light painting project

The whole concept for the photo project was inspired by the light painting of Eric Pare. He creates dramatic images in stunning locations with the help of dancer Kim Henry. Eric uses an easily created light tube and a strong flashlight. It’s winter here in Canada, and at -30c it’s not reasonable to ask a friend to pose outside in a landscape while wearing skimpy clothing.

So using his idea of long shutter speeds, it was time to craft a different project. The goal was to create dramatic images that you could easily reproduce within your home at a fairly low cost.

The following images were created in my kitchen using a large piece of black velvet (a black sheet will also work) draped across my portable backdrop stand, a reflector, an extension cord, and a string of Christmas lights. Of course, three friends were also recruited to assist with the project. They were more than willing to participate in the fun. In the end, there were a lot of laughs, and everyone was quite dedicated to the effort to get the images correct.

A terrible grainy image but my friend was having so much fun she needed to take a quick selfie.

The Setup

Setting up was very easy. A backdrop was attached to the narrow walls of my kitchen. Black velvet is a lovely fabric for absorbing light and creating true black in photographs. I love black velvet and I’ve used it to create some very dramatic still life images and portraits in the past.

Wait until the fabric is on sale or pick remnants. The only trick to black velvet is to use a lint brush to remove white fuzzy bits. These show up quite easily in images, and it’s a pain to clone out all those little white spots.

Here we set the lights and the background. The kitchen is pretty narrow so it was a challenge to set up the backdrop. In the end, part of the backdrop was taped to the wall.

A shot from above. My friend stood on the countertop to spin the lights. As you can see they were loosely draped over the fan.

The reflector was placed just below the model’s belly button and the light was directed up towards the face.

After setting up the backdrop using tape and the cross piece from my backdrop kit, we then hung the Christmas lights from the ceiling fan.

In the original plan, we intended to turn on the fan and let it spin. It’s a good thing we realized that the lights would tangle around the fan and cause an issue. So it then became the job of one person to spin the fan 340 degrees during the exposure manually.

The Camera Gear

We used a Canon 5D Mark III mounted on a tripod and the 2-second self-timer. That allowed the person manning the fan to begin spinning the lights.

This image is getting better. It’s still soft. My exposure time wasn’t quite correct yet here.

The Procedure

It was time to establish the proper exposure for the whole project. The trick here was to balance the exposure so that there was a long enough shutter speed (exposure time) to blur the lights but we also needed to keep the models in focus.

It’s awfully hard to stay still for even just a few seconds. In fact, it’s almost impossible. After several experiments and through trial and error the final exposure used was 0.8 of a second at f/3.2 with an ISO of 100. We also used a large reflector to bounce the light back up towards the models face.

This one is a little better. I ran it through a sharpening editor to help. It’s not perfect but I love the way the lights curved around their hair.

The whole experiment required us to use two people to create the photo and one or two people as models in each shot. The photographer triggered the camera timer as well as held the reflector, while the fan operator stood on the countertop and spun the fan at the proper moment.

This image didn’t turn out as planned. You can see how important timing and communication are to this kind of project.

The Keys to Success

The keys to a successful photograph were quite simply communication and timing. The lights had to be spun at exactly the right moment, and the photographer needed to communicate timing to everyone else.

It took a lot of tries to get the whole thing correct, but in the end, we were able to produce the desired images.

The creative person in me is able to ignore the slight ghosting from motion because I love how the lights spin above and below her eyes.

The goal was to create dramatic images with a neat light painting effect. I wanted to encircle the model with light, almost as if she were standing within a light tube. There were many failed attempts.

Sometimes our timing was off, and the lights did not spin around the model or got caught in her hair. Other times the lights moved too slowly and didn’t make it all the way through the image. Other times the issue was the lights themselves. Sometimes the lights spun right across the model’s eyes. I like a few of these images, but at the same time, some ran across the face in a way that was not attractive.

Have fun with it

The whole experiment was a lot of fun. It made for a great night out and some fun pics to post on social media. My friends were happy to post the pics to show their friends. As an artist and a professional photographer I also wanted to see if I could use the technique for other purposes.

Is it possible to use this technique to create some interesting fine art images or perhaps for some interesting portraits? The answer is yes! There’s a lot that can be done with this technique. It’s well worth experimenting with and seeing what kind of results can be created.

In this one, we achieved exactly what I was hoping to do. She is standing in a circle of lights.

The post How to Make a Dramatic Portrait with Light Painting Using Items Found in Your Home by Erin Fitzgibbon appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

19 Feb

Let me point out from the start, it doesn’t matter what camera you use. From a fancy DSLR to your phone you can use these lighting tools to improve your photographs.

Photography and light go hand in hand. Simply put; if there is no light, there is no photograph.

Sunrise - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

Light is so important to great photography I’m going to ask you to put your camera down for a moment and observe. Really look at the light. The color of it, the way it’s falling on people and things. What shadows are being created?

Try looking at these different times of the day:

1. Early morning before the sun rises and while it rises

The color of light - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

You’ll see the light change from a cool blue to red, orange, and yellow light in the early morning. It will shift from a soft shadowless light to one that gives shape and texture to everything it touches. If the weather is right, you’ll witness the same in reverse, going from warm to cool at the other end of the day (sunset)!

Shape texture - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

Budding photographers tend to photograph the actual sunrise or sunset. It is beautiful to be sure. Instead, try looking at what the sun is doing to the trees or the plants or a person’s face and clothing. When the sun is low in the sky it creates gorgeous shapes and textures. On a beach, look at the texture of the sand or the shape of rocks and shells scattered here and there.

2. High noon

Raccoon eyes - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

High noon is a time better left to gunslingers! This can be the worst time for photography. It is the same light you see in office spaces with overhead lighting. It will give your portraits unflattering raccoon eyes like the image above.

What are you to do then? There are two easy solutions. Turn on your flash is one possibility. The second is head into the shade outside and use window light indoors.

3. Window light

Window light is beautiful directional light. What’s directional? This means the light is coming from one direction, one source.

What we too often see is a person standing with their back to a bank of windows with their faces dark or the outdoors completely white. Instead, place your subject perpendicular to the window using the light to illuminate one side of their face. You can use window light with equally effective results whether photographing a person or an object.

Window light - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

You’ll want to try using this kind of light when the sun is not shining directly through the window. Pick a cloudy day, use a north-facing window, or shoot after the sun has moved overhead away from the window.

4. Stormy weather

The light changes as you move into and out of a storm. Watch how the color of flowers, leaves, and even cars comes to life during these times of shifting weather. You can add saturation in Photoshop to images today, but you will find it far more realistic if you can capture the saturated color you enjoy at the end of a rainfall.

After the storm - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

And don’t be shy about heading out into a snowfall or rainstorm with your camera in tow. You will discover a whole new world most folks hideaway from. You will bear witness to people and scenes not normally seen. I guarantee people will exclaim, “Wow, how did you get that shot?!”

5. The Seasons

Your observations of light will inform you of many things. I imagine you will start to see things I don’t see as well. That’s my hope. One other thing you might observe is that light changes over the course of the year too.

Fall color - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

For example, the sun’s position in the sky changes. During the summer here in southern Ontario the sun rises directly out my back door facing east. Come November, that same ball of fire is rising about 45 degrees further south or to my right. So, it is now lighting things from a very different angle than it was in June, creating different shapes and textures on objects in the same space. How cool is that!

Another piece of the lighting puzzle I’ve discovered is the light becomes clearer and sharper almost overnight moving from August to September. The muggy air of August creates a softer light because it is filled with particulate scattering the light around. As the air cools in September the air is fresher and cleaner giving us a sharper light. This is in southern Ontario, but I guarantee the same effects will occur at some time in your neck of the woods.

Brave the weather

People in these parts complain when it hits -20 Celsius. That’s the time to grab your camera and head out into the world. We get a lot of gray weather during our winters. Ninety percent of the time when it’s very cold we get crisp, clean, beautiful light with these gorgeous blue skies.

Cold morning - Exploring the Fundamentals of Light to Improve Your Photos

I recognize I’m talking about my home, but I ask you to start observing what effect the seasons and the weather have on the light in your area. Which times excite you visually? When does the color jump out at you? Perhaps you like the softer light?

Conclusion

I encourage you to observe and then explore different light to discover your preferences. If you’re excited, you will start creating stronger images you want to share.

Let’s finish with a challenge to share. It’s hard to put your photographs out there. The thing is, with whatever medium you choose to express yourself, you bring a unique vision to the world.

What is truly fantastic about photography is that seven or 70 of us can photograph the same scene, and we will typically all come up with a different perspective. When we share, we learn. My recommendation? Be yourself and share. Start by posting an image in the comments below and tell us about the light you used to create it.

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