Photography « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography

20 Apr

The post How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Shreyas Yadav.

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography Featured image

Before you select a lens for wildlife photography, first ask yourself – what are you passionate about photographing? Do you love exploring the forest and chasing big cats on a wildlife safari? Perhaps you love photographing birds flying around? Maybe you love to explore reptiles and amphibians?

After you have figured out what you are passionate about, think about how many of those subjects are available and whether you can access that location. For example, if I am passionate about exploring forests full of tigers, leopards, and elephants, I have to see if those subjects – and the location – are accessible to me at least once a month.

Alternatively, if I am passionate about colorful birds, I have to check if I can access those locations at least once a month.

If you can access the location and subject of your choice, you are lucky. It will make your lens selection an easy decision. Since you will be using that lens every month, it makes complete sense to own the glass.

Baya Weaver Bird in flight — Homecoming : Baya Weaver Bird in Flight

On the other hand, if you love birds and African Big five. If you live away from Africa, then it is better to buy a lens that is perfect for birds – which you are more likely to shoot every weekend. Whereas, you may only visit Africa once every three years. Hence, think about it before you purchase a lens.

The most crucial factor is the budget. How much cash you can allocate to the lens. Keep aside some money for the camera body, accessories, and most importantly for travel, as wildlife photography involves a considerable amount of travel. While travel is sometimes hectic and a bit expensive, it is an awesome experience!

Key factors to consider while selecting the lens for wildlife photography

To summarise, below are the key factors to consider while selecting the lens for wildlife photography:

Personal liking
Subject availability
Location accessibility
Budget

Technical factors to consider when choosing the best lens for wildlife photography

Let’s start with the technical factors you should consider while choosing the best lens for wildlife photography.

Focal length range
Maximum aperture
Focusing speed
Controls and ergonomics
Compatibility with Teleconverters
Weather sealing
Low light performance

Tiger in a river — The King – Power, Dominance, Calmness and Royal presence

1. Focal length range

The range of focal lengths is essential to photographing wildlife images. You need longer focal lengths to photograph birds and mammals. For photographing birds, you need a focal length of at least 400 mm. And it can go up to 600 or even 800 mm.

If you are photographing mammals, the required focal length is from 200mm up to 600 mm. The longer the focal length, the better reach you will have.

However, there are exceptions in some of the cases.

When you want to show wildlife in its habitat or if you can approach the wildlife at a close distance, you can use shorter focal lengths, such as 12mm or 14mm.

But in most of the wildlife cases, there will be a distance between you and the wildlife you photograph. Hence longer focal lengths are useful.

2. Maximum aperture

Lens aperture determines how much light passes through the lens to the camera’s sensor. Larger apertures help to capture maximum light.

Large aperture lenses focus faster than smaller aperture lenses too.

In wildlife photography, the action is fast, so to capture fast action, you need a quicker focusing lens. Hence, it’s preferable to use a lens with a large aperture in Wildlife photography.

The maximum aperture can be f/2.8 and f/4. The lenses with a fast aperture (smaller number) can focus fast.

Image quality, depth of field, and sharpness are superb for lenses with a faster aperture.

Select the lens with an aperture value of f/2.8 or f/4. The smallest aperture you can go up to is f/5.6. Try not to choose lenses slower than f/5.6.

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography - Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS — Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS

3. Focusing speed

Focusing speed is critical for wildlife and bird photography.

The best lens should focus fast and accurately and should be able to focus precisely – even in the low light as well.

Focusing speed is mainly dependent on the maximum aperture and lens construction.

While looking at the lens construction, we will not be able to figure out the focusing speed. But, based on the maximum aperture number, we can get an idea of lens focusing speed.

A lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or f/4 focuses fast and accurate.

In general, a fixed focal length lens performs better than a zoom lens because of less moving glass elements. (There are exceptions. Some of the zoom lenses focus fast; we will discuss it later in this article)

4. Controls and ergonomics

Controls and ergonomics determine how you can handle and use the lens.

Lens zooming and manual focus rings should be smooth and accurate.

The lens should zoom with optimized ring rotation, so you don’t have to rotate the zoom ring by 360 degrees.

Autofocus and manual override (A/M or M/A) is a great feature. It means you can autofocus the lens. Further, to fine-tune the focus, you can manually focus it.

Vibration reduction/image stabilization helps to compensate for any camera movement. This feature helps to capture a sharp image at low shutter speed.

The weight of the lens is a significant factor in choosing the lens too. Less weight is always preferred because you can carry the lens while hiking or traveling. Similarly, smaller size lenses are right for traveling and packing.

Most of the wildlife and bird photography lenses are a bit heavy and bigger. Of course, there are exceptions. Some of the lenses are equally great in terms of image quality at a much lower weight and size. But the price of those lenses is higher. We will evaluate those lenses as well in the next sections.

5. Compatibility with teleconverters

As you will be using the lens for many years, compatibility with a teleconverter is essential.
The lens should be compatible (in terms of Autofocus performance such as accuracy and speed) with the teleconverter.

Teleconverters help to expand the range of the lens. For example, a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens with a 2X converter will be 140-400mm f/5.6. It doubles the focal range of the lens and reduces the maximum aperture of the lens from f/2.8 to f/5.6.

For any lens brand, generally, there are 1.4X, 1.7X, and 2X teleconverters. If the lens is compatible with all 3 teleconverters, it’s excellent! But at least it should be compatible with either one of the teleconverters.

If your lens is compatible with teleconverters, you will be able to extend the focal length of the lens.

6. Weather sealing

The right lens for wildlife photography should be able to take beatings from outdoor weather.

The lens should withstand against rain drizzle, temperature extremes (both hot and cold temperatures), and dust.

Weather sealing should be good enough to stop raindrops and dust from entering into the lens.

The weather sealing of the lens depends on lens construction, protruding lens elements, type of seals at zoom/focus ring, and at the camera mount.

With that said, while photographing outdoors, take care. It is always better to clean the lens after each photography trip. Cleaning of lens contacts, lens mounts, front elements, zoom/focusing rings, and protruding parts is good enough.

Black and white photo of an elephant walking — A graceful walk of a Tusker

7. Low light performance

Low light focusing performance is dependent on the lens and camera as well. Both camera and lens play an essential role in low light focusing.

Most of the wildlife action happens during early dawn and late dusk. During this edge of day, light conditions are poor.

Good lenses should be fast and accurate enough to focus in low light.

A lens’s low light performance depends on the maximum aperture and moving glass elements. Larger apertures of f/2.8 or f/4 and less moving glass elements mean the lens focuses fast. (Assuming your camera is having excellent low light autofocus performance.)

Now you are aware of what technical factors to look for, let’s learn what types of lenses are available for Wildlife photography.

Different lens types for wildlife photography

Prime Lenses ( Fixed focal length )
Telephoto zoom lens
Micro 4/3rd format lens
Micro Lens

3 oriental white eye birds sitting on a branch — Oriental White Eye Birds

1. Prime lenses

A prime lens has a fixed focal length.

Prime lenses are best for birds and wildlife at a distance.

Because of fewer moving glass elements and maximum aperture, autofocus performance is excellent.

Image quality, sharpness, low light capability, and focus response is excellent for a prime lens. Prime lenses are compatible with teleconverters too.

One caveat is, if the wildlife approaches closer to you, you cannot zoom out and take the picture. Instead, you are stuck with a fixed focal length. In this case, you may want to take a portrait/close up image.

Compositional flexibility is limited when using prime lenses.

Prime lenses are higher in price and can be a bit heavier as compared to zoom lenses.

However, buying the best prime lens is the most significant investment you can make in your photography. These lenses last more than a decade and keep making beautiful images.

Out of your budget, try to spend the maximum amount of money on buying the best prime lens.

Some of the best prime lenses are:

Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4E PF ED VR
Nikon AF-S 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II
Nikon AF-S 500mm f/4E FL ED VR
Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR
Sony FE 600mm F4 GM OSS
Canon EF300mm f/4L IS USM
Canon EF300mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM
Canon EF600mm f/4L IS II USM
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L USM

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography - Red munia sitting on grass — Red Munia

2. Telephoto zoom lens

A telephoto zoom lens is a variable focal length lens. You can change the focal length of the lens by rotating the zoom ring on the lens.

Telephoto zoom lenses are best for birds and wildlife at long and short distances.

As compared to prime lenses (fixed focal length), Zoom lenses have more moving glass elements. This affects the focus performance.

However, there are exceptions.

Some of the Telephoto zoom lenses are as fast as prime lenses. We will see which of those lenses are in this article.

Telephoto zoom lenses are compatible with teleconverters. However, teleconverter compatibility is limited. Telephoto zoom lenses are fully compatible with some of the teleconverters, while only partially compatible with other teleconverters.

When choosing a telephoto zoom lens, check the teleconverter compatibility as well.

The main advantage of a zoom lens over a prime lens is variable focal length. Variable focal length helps in photographing farther as well as closer objects. Zoom lenses give freedom in image composition as well.

The size and weight of zoom lenses are relatively manageable as compared to that of prime lenses. Most of the zoom lenses are hand-holdable and travel-friendly.

While selecting the telephoto zoom lens, look out for aperture numbers such as f/2.8 and f/4 (for particular lens you can go up to f/5.6). Try to get the largest possible aperture for the telephoto zoom lens. This helps in autofocus performance, low light capability, Image sharpness, and smooth bokeh.

Some of the best Telephoto zoom lenses are:

NIKKOR AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR
NIKKOR AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR
NIKKOR AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR
NIKKOR AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
NIKKOR AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR
NIKKOR AF-S 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II
Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS
Super telephoto Zoom 100-400mm G Master lens
Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography - Green vine snake — Raindrops and Green Vine Snake

3. Micro Lens

Micro-lenses are a prime lens (fixed focal length).

If insects, snakes, butterflies, or small creatures are your interest, then micro lenses are for you.

The most popular lenses among the photographers are 105mm f/2.8, 180mm f/2.8 and 90mm f/2.8. Among all 105mm f/2.8 lenses are the right balance of image quality, range, size, weight, and price.

Here are recommended micro-lenses from popular brands:

Nikon 105mm f/2.8
Canon 100mm f/2.8

There are additional micro-lenses from third party brands such as Sigma and Tamron.

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography - sunbird in flight — Sunbird in Flight

4. Micro 4/3rd Format lens

Micro 4/3rd format lenses are a bit different. The cameras with the Micro 4/3rd system have a smaller sensor size.

For example, a full-frame 100mm lens will become 150mm (1.5 X) on the crop sensor (small camera sensor body). Whereas on the micro 4/3rd system cameras, a 100mm lens will become 200mm (2 X).

Micro 4/3rd systems have their benefits such as size, compactness, weather sealing, and convenience. With a small sensor, as compared to a full-frame sensor, there is a compromise in terms of image quality and dynamic range. Lenses for the Micro 4/3rd system are built well. The quality of the glass, weather sealing, and ergonomics are excellent too.

In wildlife photography, weather conditions will be hostile. You have to hike along with your gear. Size and weather resistance of the equipment matters.

Hence specifically for wildlife, photography Micro 4/3rds is an excellent and unique option to consider.

Some of the best micro 4/3rds lenses for wildlife photography are:

Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm F2.8 PRO
Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 300mm F4.0 IS PRO

How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography - elephant in the wilderness — Elephant Scape

Process for selecting the best lens for wildlife photography

As you are now aware of what type of lenses are available for wildlife photography, let’s look into the process of lens selection.

These steps will help you to select the best lens for wildlife photography.

Identify your photography requirement

Find out what your area of interest is and identify what you want to photograph. You may want to photograph birds or big animals or small creatures. The key is to find out your objects of interest.

Evaluate the lens

Once you have found out what do you love photographing the most, select the lens accordingly. For example, if you love photographing birds, then select a telephoto (prime lens). If you like photographing butterflies, insects, and snakes, then select a micro-lens.

Rent the lens

Before you buy the lens, rent it. Also, try renting similar options in the lens. For example, if you are looking for a telephoto (prime) lens for birds, then rent and use the lenses such as 600mm f/4, 500mm f/4, and 400mm f/2.8 and see which lens you find comfortable while using.

If you want to photograph wild animals, try using lenses such as 70-200 f/2.8, 300mm f/4, and 200-500 f/5.6. By using the lens, you will be able to evaluate it better.

Buy the lens

Once you have evaluated and tried the lens, it is time to buy the lens. Generally, there is no discount for good lenses. Also, it is better to buy the new lens as you are going to use the lens for a long time (likely, more than a decade). Once you buy the lens, make sure all the functions work correctly.

Make sure you have a lens warranty in place, and you are good to go!

Now it’s your turn

What is your favorite object? Which lens have you selected?

If you have any questions regarding lens selection for wildlife photography, please let us know in the comments below.

The post How to Choose the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Shreyas Yadav.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Slideshow: 6th annual Fine Art Photography Awards winners and finalists

20 Apr

6th annual Fine Art Photography Awards winners and finalists

Last week, winners and finalists of the 6th annual Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) were announced. Dutch portrait artist Ewa Cwikla won $ 3,000 in prize money and the title of Professional Fine Art Photographer of the Year for her photo ‘Candy Smoke.’ Greek photographer Ioanna Natsikou was declared Amateur Fine Art Photographer of the Year. She received $ 2,000 in prize money for her series ‘Interlude in the Blue.’

The competition received 4,300 entries from 89 countries across 20 categories including abstract, architecture, night photography, and travel. Winners and nominees were selected by a panel of international judges including Marietta Varga, Per Schorn, Simon Åslund, Julien Palast, Ekaterina Busygina, Per Kasch, Dainius Sciuka, Aleksei Boiko, and Salvatore Matarazzo.

FAPA is now accepting entries for their 7th annual competition. In the spirit of discovering emerging talent, per the organization’s press release, it is open to professional and amateur photographers from all countries. This year’s full professional winners gallery and full amateur winners gallery are currently available to view on FAPA’s official site.

Grand Prize, Professional Fine Art Photographer of the Year: ‘Candy Smoke’ by Ewa Cwikla

Artist statement:

Amateur Fine Art Photographer of the Year: ‘Interlude in Blue (Series)’ by Ioanna Natsikou

Artist Statement: ‘Interlude in Blue’ is a body of work that portrays the female figure in personal spaces enclosed in a world of silence and desire, touching upon themes of loneliness, isolation and alienation.

Through the repetitive process of ‘iteration,’ the viewer can see all these phenomenologically identical, yet different unidentified female characters unfold; an attempt to puzzle out, discover and understand the enigma and the complexity of identity; how many different personas can I/we be on the ‘stage’ of everyday life?

This series seeks to engage the viewer in a private world of reverie and self-absorption.

1st Place Winner, Professional Category, Abstract: Micro Images of Teepee Canyon Agate (Series) by Randy Fullbright

Artist Statement: These images are an exploration of the varied and incredible patterns In Tepee Canyon Agate from South Dakota USA using a 10 power microscope objective and focus stacking to gain depth of field. I have always been amazed by the patterns in agate that are not visible to the human eye. When I discovered Micro Photography it opened up an entirely new range of possibilities and discoveries with my photography.

1st Place Winner, Professional Category, Architecture: ‘Building Constructs (Series)’ by Tom Leighton

Artist Statement: In my ‘Building Constructs’ series of work, my intention is to focus in on individual buildings, their architectural form and defining features, accentuating these elements through distortion and manipulation. This allows a freedom from concern for logistics and practicality, but the images are nevertheless a tribute to the minds that go into creating functioning superstructures, a celebration of the boundaries being pushed by the evermore gravity-defying architecture of the world.

1st Place Winner, Professional Category, Wildlife/Animals: ‘Rays of Light’ by Nadia Aly

Artist Statement: Rays of Light showcases the astonishing annual aggregation of mobula rays off the coat of Baja Mexico.

1st Place Winner, Professional Category, Fashion: ‘The Fire Within (Series)’ by Tonya Polskaya

Artist Statement: ‘The fire within’ is a story about emotions penetrating physical structure and setting blood vessels aflame. It is about adaptation to one’s self and the new habitat. The flame is a metaphor of purification and rebirth, and ascendance to one’s true self.

Professional Nominee, Photojournalism: ‘Under High Tension (Series)’ by Alexandra Berger

Artist Statement: The intention behind this series is not to show crime or poverty, this is obvious. The idea behind these photos is to generate empathy and understanding for people in other life situations and to break down prejudices against others.The series shows the daily life of a family living illegally in the electromagnetic field of overhead power lines in Playa del Carmen / Mexico.

Flor and Romero, originally from Chiapas, have arrived 5 years ago, together with their 6 sons to ‘Las Torres’ a squatter settlement under high voltage towers in Playa del Carmen / Mexico. It is an area that has been invaded by 700 families in the right-of-way of the overhead electric power lines and spreads over 10 km. The series shows moments of their lives under this ‘charged’ circumstances.

A life in a legal blackhole which makes it one of the most dangerous parts of the city, neither police nor ambulances dare to enter. Due to the Mexican law, that forbids housing under the electromagnetic field of the high voltage cables, the government doesn’t provide basic requirements, like water, electricity and a sewerage system.

Giving up is not an option.

Professional Nominee, Travel: ‘Way Back’ by Tuan Nguyen Tan

Artist Statement: The Cham girl is returning home with herds of sheep in Ninh Thuan, Vietnam.

2nd Place Winner, Amateur Category, Abstract: ‘Mar De Plástico’ by Agustin Busselo Ortega

Artist Statement: The presence of plastic in the sea represents a serious problem in our habitat. The purpose of this photography is to represent the sea through plastic sheets, but from a creative point of view.

Amateur Nominee, Fine Art: ‘Poetry of Death Valley (Series)’ by Marek Boguszak

Artist Statement: Poetry of rocks and sand in Death Valley.

2nd Place Winner, Amateur Category, Landscape: ‘The Girl on the Icelandic Horse’ by Lars Roed

Artist Statement: The sun had set in the Wadden Sea. Suddenly out of nowhere the girl came on the Icelandic horse and rode out into the sea where there was low tide. Beautiful picture with insight into the infinitely changing moods and expressions of the Wadden Sea in Denmark.

Amateur Nominee, Nature: ‘Tears of the Nature (Series)’ by Anna Kropf

Artist Statement: The magic influence of the Water in the Nature.

3rd Place Winner, Amateur Category, Night Photography: ‘Rushing (Series)’ by Dominique Weiss

Artist Statement: Dominique created this series out of her passion for the dramatic landscapes of the Swiss alps. To her understanding, it is crucial to persevere this region that gives
us air to breathe, water to nourish our bodies and beauty to caress our souls.

Rushing portrays the speed with which our competitive society is racing through their lives.
In rush we are barely able to hear our surroundings.
In rush we are barely able to see what is in front of us.
In rush we are barely able to comprehend what our behavior causes.
Rushing not only blurs our sight, but all of our senses.
We are numbly rushing into an unknown future…

For this series Dominique travelled across Switzerland portraying dramatic landscape scenes to encourage people to see beyond their accelerated every day life routines. She suggests it is time to implement more harmony into our lives and respectfully treat them as one of our most important relationships.

1st Place Winner, Amateur Category, Street Photography: ‘The Pursuit of Being and Belonging (Series)’ by Manuel Martins

Artist Statement: Hi, my name is Manuel Martins, I’m a 27 years old Portuguese national living in Lisbon. With my street photography I like to create beautiful, surreal or even puzzling constructs, that have reality, it’s scenarios from our daily lives and light and it’s absence as prime matters. Along with this I also try to distill who I am, my life experiences, my feelings and perceptions of reality into the photograph itself.

By nature I’m an introverted and shy person, and for those same reasons, I’ve never been able to fully understand society and find my place in it. That changed though, on the first time I picked up a camera and found street photography. This series then, ‘The pursuit of being and belonging,’ is my homage to street photography and what it means to me.

Because when I’m out, slowly walking the pavement step by step, I not only pursue photographs, but also a way of belonging in our world, by being there with the camera on my hand, to tell my story and to show the hidden gems of our day-to-day world, those that many manage to disregard and so hopefully, bring some magic back to the viewer’s lives.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Instaproofs Review: An All-In-One Platform to Sell Your Photography Online

19 Apr

The post Instaproofs Review: An All-In-One Platform to Sell Your Photography Online appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.

Looking for a better way to share and sell your photos online? Then Instaproofs might be the right solution for you.

Whether you do in-person sales or online, Instaproofs can help you organize your sessions, sell products and prints, and even help with contracts. Read more about the platform in today’s article review.

Instaproofs Review: An All-In-One Platform to Sell Your Photography Online

What is Instaproofs?

Instaproofs is a subscription-based platform online that helps photographers use online galleries to sell products, prints, and digitals to their clients worldwide.

They have been around for 15 years and over time have improved their platform to offer beautifully-designed galleries, easy user-friendly cart systems, and create more avenues for photographers to earn more after completing their work.

They are similar to other services like Pixieset and require a monthly subscription. Although, they do have a free plan available for those who use online galleries for in-person sales and can work within the 3GB limit.

Here are the current monthly options for Instaproofs that you can choose from:

Key features

The key features that Instaproofs offers are:

Online gallery platform and shopping cart with custom pricing and products
Cloud storage
Contacts and invoicing
Mobile apps
Digital delivery
Reports
Multi-lingual
Marketing tools and email tracking
Managed accounts for multiple users
Migration services from previous online gallery service (extra charge for this $ 3 per gallery).
Lab fulfillment services
Watermarking
Quick payments through Stripe

The service also offers a 14-day free trial so you can poke around and see if it’s right for you and your business.

In-Depth Review

Galleries

These three the are the biggest features that Instaproofs provides. Whether you are a digital delivery photographer or focus more on prints, there are endless features that you can take advantage of to get you more sales.

The online galleries support high-resolution images up to 50MB per image making sure that you’re able to offer your clients the best image quality available for their images. You’re also able to upload smaller resolution images if you’re looking to present the images during in-person sales. This can save you storage space the monthly plan.

The galleries also have the option of choosing the image you want to be featured for the entire gallery as well as category featured images which can be different. You’re also able to upload the HTML code for a video slideshow if you’ve created one – all to captivate your clients right from the start.

When setting up your galleries, you have all the options in the same window so that you can set up the purchase minimum, slideshow music, whether you want the photos to display mostly horizontal or vertical, choose a price list for the gallery, and categories.

Currently, they’ve added the option to upload to multiple categories simultaneously for faster uploads making it easier to organize and categorize the images for your clients.

Adding custom links and music to the slideshows is also a great way to engage your clients during the selling process. Another great plugin: Direct uploading from Aperture, Lightroom, or FTP applications.

Not into selling digitals? You don’t have to. The galleries offer the photographer to have a minimum purchase amount, offer only web-sized digitals or only watermarked digital images.

You have full control over how you want to set up each individual gallery. You can give your clients permission to hide images, download all, or none, and a customized link. You can also have guests who enter the link to only be able to purchase images and not download at all. Each gallery is personalized as much or as little as you want.

From the galleries, you’re able to create mobile apps that hold 50 images from a particular gallery. You can also make one without a pre-existing gallery, where the client can save the mobile app onto their smartphone and have 50 images to view and share on the go! Especially useful to do sneak peeks/previews.

Shopping cart and selling

Instaproofs’ motto is “Sell more prints” and that is exactly what they aim for. More than a digital delivery service, they make it really user friendly for photographers to set up price sheets, sales, coupons, and products to the storefront for clients to purchase.

You can also choose to create add-ons so that you can maximize the sale. Rather than just selling a print, you can also add on the frame and offer your clients more value for their purchases.

When creating the shopping cart, you can also use lab pricing and a certain markup percentage to make it easier to set pricing. This can be really useful for beginner photographers who are getting into selling products and don’t really know how to go about pricing their prints and products.

From the cart, you can activate whether you’ll want to sell prints in black and white and/or sepia. This is a preference and each photographer can set up the cart as they wish.

There are many features to the shopping cart that gives the photographer full control of what to sell, how many, bulk pricing, options for black and white or sepia, cropping to help clients crop properly, lab fulfillment, pricing sheets, discounts, sales, coupons, promotions, and much more.

It’s a complete selling platform for you and user friendly for your clients. You will need a Stripe account in order to activate the storefront in order to get paid.

Contracts and invoicing

Instaproofs have added contracts and invoicing to their services and allows photographers to create their own contracts or use a pre-made template.

Choose templates for weddings, portraits, model releases for both adults and minors, independent contractor agreement (freelance work or similar) or you can make your own.

Just fill in the fields and required information, then choose to save a draft or finalize and send it to your client for signature.

Right from the contracts window, you are also able to create an invoice for your client by filling in the information fields for the invoice.

You can also choose an online gallery for the invoice in the event that you’ve already made a gallery.

Choose to attach the contract to the invoice, add an auto-reminder, and save your invoices as templates for future use.

Reports

Another great feature for photographers is to get reports of what you’re selling, products most purchased, email deliveries, and much more. This can be really great to see how your business is doing year to year.

Pros and cons

The biggest pro for signing up with Instaproofs is the number of features it offers photographers all from the same platform. Meaning, you don’t have to use different services to send gallery invites, emails including cart and expiration reminders.

The service allows photographers to ultimately customize the entire interface from adding your logo to the galleries, custom links, custom products, and print options, add-ons, and pricing sheets.

Instaproofs also has a referral program that gives existing users the opportunity to get more storage (2gb per referral) when a photographer signs up and says you sent them. It’s a great incentive if you’re a satisfied customer.

The con may be the price and limited galleries in the free and basic options.

There is also a commission fee for the free option and limited cloud storage.

We’ve rounded other top services so you can compare them and determine which is best for your business.

Instaproofs leads in cloud storage in the bottom level monthly subscriptions but doesn’t offer an unlimited version for companies with a higher volume. Which is a big con if you’re a multi-photographer studio that needs unlimited galleries and storage space for high resolution selling and viewing.

Also, it’s important to note that Instaproofs isn’t an online archiving site and so if you’re looking for a service that backs up your digital files, you might want to look elsewhere. It’s primarily for uploading client photos and selling photo products.

Conclusion

Instaproofs has a lot of features that aren’t just bells and whistles. Many of the top photographers like Jonathan Canlas, Laura Murray, and Abby Grace use Instaproofs for their own businesses.

Having an all-in-one platform for both product-based photographers and digital format photographers, with customization in all of their features, gives you a great advantage in generating more sales and offering a beautiful and easy to use interface for your clients to view, enjoy, share, and buy their images.

With a 14 day free trial, you can try it out yourself and see if it’s the right service for you and your photography business.

The post Instaproofs Review: An All-In-One Platform to Sell Your Photography Online appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

LitraTorch 2.0 Review – LED Lighting for Photography and Video

18 Apr

The post LitraTorch 2.0 Review – LED Lighting for Photography and Video appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

LED lights are fantastic for both photography and videography, but they tend to be large and cumbersome to use on-camera. This is where the LitraTorch 2.0 steps in. Released in late 2018, this second iteration of the popular LitraTorch promises “studio lighting in your pocket.” How does it actually perform? Read this LitraToch 2.0 review to find out!

LitraTorch 2_GoPro Hero 8 — LitraTorch mounted to a GoPro using the included cold shoe mount adapter.

Specs

Truly compact at 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches
16 LEDs – double the original version of 8 LEDs in version 1
3 brightness levels (100, 450, and 800 lm) + stroboscope (blinking light) mode
Color temperature is 5700 Kelvin (bright, cool and neutral color)
Optional filters to change the color cast
Simple One-Touch Operation – just one button to cycle through the brightness settings
Standard Micro-USB charge port with charging cable
Waterproof up to 20m/60 ft
US$ 89.99

What’s in the box?

Each LitraTorch 2.0 comes with a white silicone diffuser, belt clip, GoPro mount, 1/4 inch tripod cold shoe mount, and a USB charging cable.

Recommended extra accessories

These items are not included with the LitraTorch 2.0, but you can purchase them to enhance its functionality:

a carrying case
battery brick (the LitraTorch can be charged via micro USB and is usable while charging)
LitraTorch filters and accessories (more on those below)

Pros

1. Solid construction

The LitraTorch 2.0 is not only a strong LED light, but it is also built tough to withstand extreme conditions. It is made of a waterproof aluminum body (up to 60 feet or 20 meters) and drop-proof. With its solid build and compact size of 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches, this light is the perfect compliment to action cameras like the GoPro. But it can also work well with other DSLR or mirrorless cameras, or by itself.

2. Strong light with 3 brightness modes

The LitraTorch 2.0 is packed with 16 LED lights, double the amount in the original LitraTorch. There are 3 brightness levels with outputs of 100, 450, and 800 lumens, and a stroboscope (blinking light) mode. Thanks to the positioning of the LED lights, there is a very even light spread with no center hot spot.

Color temperature is 5700 Kelvin (bright, cool and neutral color). The only way to change the color cast is to use optional filters that are available as an add-on.

LitraTorch 2 Best waterproof LED video Light — 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800 with ambient light only.

3. Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery

The LitraTorch 2.0 is powered by a built-in battery that can be recharged via micro USB. Fortunately, the light can work while it is charging. The battery lasts for about 7 hours on strobe, 4 hours on level 1, 70 min on level 2, and 35 min on level 3.

4. Flexible mounting options

Also built-into the LitraTorch 2.0 are two holes that accept 1/4 inch tripod screws. When used with the included 1/4 tripod screw cold shoe mount, this makes it easy to mount the light to the cold shoe or hot shoe of a camera or cage. The back end of the LitraTorch also has a built-in magnet for fast and easy attachment to magnetic surfaces.

LitraTorch 2_Red Gel — You aren’t restricted to using the LitraTorch on a camera only. You can also mount it to something like this Joby Telepod Mobile.

5. Optional light shaping accessories to customize your light output

By itself, the LitraTorch and its dimmable settings are great as a key light, fill light, or hair light. However, there are optional accessories that you can purchase to further customize the way you shape light.

6. Barn doors

While the wide spread of the LitraTorch 2.0’s 16 LED lights is great for an even light spread, sometimes you want a more targeted light. This is where the optional barn doors can be helpful if you want the light to illuminate a specific part of your frame. The barn doors include a white diffuser and fold down flat when not in use.

Best waterproof LED video light — 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800 with LitraTorch 2.0 on brightness Level 1 with the barn doors wide open.

7. Colored filter set

The LitraTorch 2.0 outputs a clean and neutral 5700k light, but it doesn’t offer any color options unless you add these colored filters.

This optional filter set includes 5 filter frames that you can use individually or stacked on top of each other. There are 3 sets of tungsten 4600k filters, 3 sets of tungsten 3200k filters, 1 white diffused filter, and 1 each of red, yellow, blue, and green filters.

While helpful and easy to use, these filters are small and easy to lose, so keep an extra eye on them!

LitraTorch Color Gels and Barn Doors — Optional LitraTorch lighting accessories include barn doors (top left) and colored gel filters.

Cons

The LitraTorch is pretty simple and straightforward, but there are a few things that could be improved.

1. Micro-USB charging port

While I appreciate the ability to charge the light via micro-USB, I wish this was USB-C instead since that charges faster, and most of my gear uses USB-C.

2. Built-in battery that can’t be replaced

The main downside to having a built-in battery is that you cannot replace it. Once the LitraTorch 2.0 is drained, you have to pause to recharge it and do not have the option of swapping in a fresh battery. On the bright side, the light still works while it is charging.

LitraTorch 2_Back — The back end of the LitraTorch 2.0 has a 1/4 inch thread and it is also a magnetic surface.

3. Does not come with a carrying case

When you buy the LitraTorch 2.0 by itself, it comes with a handful of small accessories, including a belt clip, which is really useful. However, there’s no carrying case, so you can easily lose these smaller pieces like the tripod and GoPro mount. If you get this light and plan to use a lot of small accessories with it, be sure to get a carrying case.

In conclusion

As a compact, high quality LED light, the LitraTorch 2.0 does not disappoint. It is easy to use with several dimming options and a plethora of light shaping tools to increase the usefulness of this light. But it can also be used by itself to light up any situation.

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly, high-quality compact light, this might be it!

Video

The post LitraTorch 2.0 Review – LED Lighting for Photography and Video appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Weekly Photography Challenge – Window Views

18 Apr

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Window Views appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Since we are all stuck indoors, this week’s photography challenge topic is the WINDOW VIEWS!

You might want to do a full interior scene with the view as a partial element, or you may like to shoot with the window itself in the frame. Alternatively, you may just want to do a photo of your view from an open window, with no hint of the window in sight.

If you choose to do the full interior with the window view, you may need to play with bracketing your exposures and HDR in editing to get an even exposure for the interior and the view.

So, check out these pics to give you some ideas, have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.

Tips for photographing the WINDOW VIEWS

Tips for Shooting Cityscapes Through a Window at Blue Hour

Tips for Minimizing Reflections When Photographing Through Windows

Tips for Photographing Real Estate Interiors

How to Photograph a Real Estate Interior or Property

A Guide to Creating Stunning HDR Images

How to Use Bracketing to get Your Best Shot – 3 Different Methods

6 Types of Bracketing Your Camera Can Do and How to Use Them

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSWindowViews to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Window Views appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Slideshow: Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition 2020 winners and shortlisted images

17 Apr

Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition 2020 winners and shortlisted images

The World Photography Organisation has announced this year’s category winners and shortlisted entries in the Open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards, 2020. The annual Open competition, now in its 13th year, recognizes the best single images captured in 2019. Judged by Gisela Kayser, Managing and Artistic Director for Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus e.V. in Berlin, more than 100 photographs were shortlisted across 10 categories.

‘To have my image make the shortlist of this prestigious contest is an incredible honor, especially when it was selected from such a huge number of entries from around the world. I am over the moon to have my work recognized. Congratulations to all the shortlisted and winning photographers for their amazing work,’ Marc Le Cornu tells DPReview about his recognition in the Motion category.

Each category winner will receive a set of Sony’s latest digital imaging equipment and compete for the Open Photographer of the Year title. The overall winner will be announced on June 9th and be awarded a $ 5,000 USD cash prize along with recognition on the World Photography Organization and Sony’s online social accounts.

The ten category winners are:

Architecture
Rosaria Sabrina Pantano (Italy) for ‘Emotional Geography’

Creative
Suxing Zhang (China) for ‘Knot’

Culture
Antoine Veling (Australia) for ‘Mark 5:28’

Landscape
Craig McGowan (Australia) for ‘Ice Reflections’ – who was also a finalist for the International Landscape Photographer of the Year

Motion
Alec Connah (United Kingdom) for ‘Going Down!’

Natural World & Wildlife
Guofei Li (China) for ‘Tai Chi Diagram’

Portraiture
Tom Oldham (United Kingdom) for ‘Black Francis’

Still Life
Jorge Reynal (Argentina) for ‘A Plastic Ocean’

Street Photography
Santiago Mesa (Colombia) for ‘Colombia Resiste’

Travel
Adrian Guerin (Australia) for ‘Riding a Saharan Freight Train’

Due to the current pandemic, this year’s Sony World Photography Awards 2020 exhibition has been cancelled. The World Photography Organisation has launched the Stay Connected page to keep photographers inspired with educational resources. They will also recognize the work of past and current competition winners and finalists across their various online channels.

Open Competition, Travel, Winner: ‘Riding a Saharan Freight Train’ by Adrian Guerin (Australia)

Artist Statement: At 2.5km long, the iron-ore train in Mauritania is one of the longest trains in the world. It covers over 700km on its journey from the coastal town of Nouadhibou to the Saharan wilderness of Zouérat. More than 200 carriages are loaded with rocks in Zouérat, before the train begins its long journey back to Nouadhibou. I rode the train in both directions in July 2019.

On the first leg of the journey I learnt that in order to photograph the full length of the train I needed to stand on the rocks for height, position myself in a rear carriage to get the full view, and keep the sun behind me. Alas, none of this was possible until the morning of day three, at which point I had almost given up.

This shot was taken as I balanced on my toes atop a mountain of rocks, trying to remain steady as the train jolted from side to side.

Open Competition, Street Photography, Winner: ‘Colombia Resiste’ by Santiago Mesa (Columbia)

Artist Statement: In recent years, a number of protests have broken out across Latin America. Reasons for this unrest range from a proposed end to fuel subsidies in Ecuador to a rise in metro fares in Chile, and feelings of inequality and a general lack of opportunity in Colombia. In Medellín, north-western Colombia, workers and street vendors were taking part in a march when the Medellin riot squad dispersed them.

Open Competition, Still Life, Winner: ‘A Plastic Ocean’ by Jorge Reynal (Argentina)

Artist Statement: Each year, eight million tons of plastic end up in our oceans – equivalent to emptying a garbage truck into the water every minute. This is my protest against pollution.

In my language (Spanish), we use the words ‘Naturaleza Muerta’ to refer to still life, which ironically translates as ‘Dead Nature.’

Open Competition, Natural World & Wildlife, Winner: ‘Tai Chi Diagram’ by Guofei Li (China)

Artist Statement: These cheetahs had just eaten an antelope, and were licking the bloodstains off each other’s faces. It’s a very rare posture, and one that reminded me of the traditional Chinese Tai Chi diagram. The picture was taken in Botswana in January 2019.

Open Competition, Portraiture, Winner: ‘Black Francis’ by Tom Oldham (United Kingdom)

Artist Statement: Photographers for MOJO Magazine enjoy a rare degree of freedom and trust with what is usually an open brief. This allows us to capture our own experience with very high profile musicians. However, when photographing famous singers, we are often painfully aware of how many times the sitter has, well, sat.

I like to acknowledge this and asked Charles (aka Black Francis) to show me the level of frustration photoshoots can generate. He offered up this perfect gesture of exasperation, and the image ran as the lead portrait for the feature.

Open Competition, Motion, Winner: ‘Going Down!’ by Alec Connah (United Kingdom)

Artist Statement: Despite measuring 125 metres high, it took the four cooling towers of Ironbridge Power Station in Shropshire, England, just 10 seconds to be demolished on 6 December 2019. The towers had been a feature of the landscape for 50 years, but were brought down as part of a new development on the site.

The demolition had been a long time coming – the towers were close to a river, railway line and protected woodland, so their destruction had to be precise. This picture was taken from my garden, which is on the hillside opposite the site.

Open Competition, Creative, Winner: ‘Knot’ by Suxing Zhang (China)

Artist Statement: This picture is from my series ‘Hua,’ which means flower in Chinese. Flowers are often used as metaphors for life and eroticism in art. Hua explores the commonalities and connections between flowers and the feminine – in particular, emotional vulnerability and sensitivity. Qualities such as calmness, and emotions such as uncertainty, fear, anxiety, and loneliness are translated into conceptual and artistic forms.

In Knot, I use a combination of light and texture to create strong visuals that heighten the senses. I like to use symbolic and metaphoric ingredients in my work, which I hope allows the audience to blend their own subjectivity with the objectivity of the photograph, leading to different interpretations and emotions.

Open Competition, Culture, Winner: ‘Mark 5:28’ by Antoine Veling (Australia)

Artist Statement: When audience members were invited on stage to dance at an Iggy Pop concert in Sydney Opera House, Australia, on 17 April 2019, it showed the warm welcome Aussies extend to overseas artists who travel long distances to reach them.

A woman’s outstretched arm lunges to touch Iggy. He seems unaware of her approach as the crowd presses around him. One of Iggy’s assistants, Jos (in the grey checked shirt) tries to make some space around Iggy. The scene is reminiscent of a passage from the Bible: ‘Because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”’ (Mark 5:25-34, line 28).

The image has been likened to religious paintings by Caravaggio, and his chiaroscuro technique. It went crazy on social media, making 40,000 people, including Iggy Pop, very happy.

Open Competition, Architecture, Winner: ‘Emotional Geometry’ by Rosaria Sabrina Pantano (Italy)

Artist Statement: Having returned to Sicily for the holidays, myself and a group of friends visited Fiumara d’Arte, an open museum showcasing sculptures made by contemporary artists, located along the banks of the Tusa River. Among these works is 38° Parallelo by Mauro Staccioli – a pyramid that stands at the exact point where the geographical coordinates touch the 38th parallel.

Open Competition, Motion, Shortlist: ‘NEOM Spin’ by Marc Le Cornu (United Kingdom)

Artist Statement: This image was taken during a commission to capture the area of NEOM in Saudi Arabia as part of a project for the NEOM tourism team. Our captain asked for a photo of his vessel, and I happily obliged! The golden hour light was catching the boat and its wake, and the patterns on the water looked incredible from above.

Marc elaborated a bit more for DPReview: ‘The inspiration for the shot came from our transport driver who requested a photo of his boat. I couldn’t just give him a standard photo, so I asked him to maneuver the boat in a circle whilst I captured the shot by DJI Inspire 2 drone from above. The light was perfect for giving a lovely, rich, warm feel to the image as it caught the boat’s wake and the boat itself, and the patterns left in the water from the boat’s wake created the final striking image.’

Open Competition, Natural World & Wildlife, Shortlist: ‘A Fever of Cownose Rays’ by Alex Kydd (Australia)

Artist Statement: A rare encounter with a fever of cownose rays on the Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. The rays were circling and rubbing together in a behavior that is not fully understood. They were spiraling up and down the water column for approximately 20 minutes, at which point they disappeared.

Undeterred by my presence, they continued to focus on each other while I documented the encounter. There have been few reports of cownose rays in the Ningaloo Reef region in recent years. The image was taken while free-diving – it was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

Open Competition, Landscape, Shortlist: ‘Come on In’ by Kai Hornung (Germany)

Artist Statement: A small path in the ancient forests of the Anaga Mountains in Tenerife, Spain. The clouds hung inside the moss-covered trees, creating a spooky atmosphere. When I arrived at this spot, I was smiling while setting up my tripod – I just knew I was about to take one of my best images of that tour, if not one of my best pictures of 2019.

Open Competition, Creative, Shortlist: ‘Fractals and Flowers’ by David Swindler (United States)

Artist Statement: The Badlands of Utah, USA, are fascinating to explore and photograph. We had a really prolific wildflower bloom last year, which only happens every decade or so. The yellow flowers added a nice accent to the erosion lines and patterns in the ground. These patterns reminded me of fractal mathematics.

Open Competition, Culture, Shortlist: ‘Colourful Catrina’ by Sergio Carrasco (Mexico)

Artist Statement: My wife dressed as a Catrina – one of the most recognizable symbols of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.

Open Competition, Street Photography, Shortlist: ‘Back Home’ by Liu Jon (China)

Artist Statement: After a downpour, there is often a moment of beauty. Here, a zebra crossing, an umbrella and a lone figure combine to make a colorful composition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

How to Use Photography to Teach Your Children Maths, English, Physics and More!

14 Apr

The post How to Use Photography to Teach Your Children Maths, English, Physics and More! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

It is certainly a weird time right now. We are all suddenly expected to become teachers due to the current lockdowns. While we all have different skills, we are all full of knowledge about photography. You may be wondering, how you can use photography to teach your children during this difficult time.

It’s actually easier than you think! Moreover, it can give your children a passion for learning during this difficult time.

A small boy photographing with the camera up to his eye. Using photography to teach your children can cover a multitude of subjects. — Photography is a powerful teaching tool that can be linked to many subjects.

Where to start?

I first want to give you some more general points about homeschooling during these times.

In a classroom, your child will be one of many. They do not have a teacher over their shoulder the whole lesson, so try not to hover. Set them a task and let them explore.

It’s hard to do as we always want to see our children happy, but sometimes you just need to let them make mistakes.

When using photography to teach your children, it can be easy to take the camera and do it for them. However, this does two things:

It means they don’t learn anything for themselves
It can make them feel stupid or incapable.

Remember when you first started with photography. I know I made several mistakes, as I am sure you did. When I finally figured out my mistake and got the result I wanted, I felt a great sense of achievement.

The only way for your child to feel this same sense of achievement is to let your child fail and figure things out for themselves. Failing is one of the best tools for learning. It gives them a great sense of satisfaction when they succeed.

So let’s take a look at some of the key subjects and how you can use photography to teach your children.

Maths

Maths is usually the most dreaded of all subjects. The best way to use photography to teach your children maths is by using the exposure triangle.

The exposure triangle uses equations, which is a key skill in maths. Unsure of using manual exposure yourself? Why not learn along with your child. This demonstrates to them that learning is a lifelong skill.

Start by explaining that every time you double your shutter speed, it equals one stop of light. Conversely, every time you double your ISO it equals one stop of light. So, if you double one, you need to double the other. If you halve one, you need to halve the other.

To start, take a correctly exposed photo. Then challenge your child to alter the shutter speed and ISO but to keep the correct exposure.

To demonstrate this, take a photo at ISO 400 and make a note of the shutter speed. You can then explain that when you halve your ISO you also have to halve your shutter speed. You can make this harder by giving them a high ISO (say 1600) and ask them to keep the exposure with an ISO of 100.

You can also give these questions on paper, then take them out into the real world.

Example Question.

Jack takes a photograph. His camera gives him the correct exposure at ISO 400 and a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second. If Jack wants to change his shutter speed to 1/100th second, what ISO value does he need?

You can then make things more complex by adding aperture. This is a great way to show how equations work in a practical environment.

Using exposure is a great way to use photography to teach your children. — Two images, same exposure, different ISO. Halving the ISO also means halving the shutter speed. It’s all just balancing the equation.

Science/physics

For this, you will need a flash for your camera to demonstrate.

There is an inverse square law and how it affects photography. The inverse square law states:

The intensity of an effect such as illumination or gravitational force changes in inverse proportion to the square of the distance from the source.

When you double the distance between a light source and a subject, the amount of light falls off by 3/4. This also means that the greater the distance between the light and the subject, the less harsh the fall off of light across it.

The most fun way to demonstrate this is to show what happens when you change the distance between a flash and subject, and the impact on the light fall off.

Start by placing the flash close to the subject (say 30cm) then move the flash about 1.5 meters from the background.

When the flash is close, any background will be almost black, but when further away, the exposure on the background and the subject will be almost identical.

For more science-based work, give your child a shiny or reflective object to light. Light travels in a straight line, so getting them to change the position of the light or object means reflections can be minimized or enhanced.

A photography of a mannequin lit by a single flash. This demonstrates the inverse square law as the background is black. — Teach the inverse square law by changing the flash-to-subject distance to show how light falls off over distance.

History

This can be done in a variety of ways. They can research a specific photographer from history or research a time period (e.g., the 60s) through photography. Get them to look for similarities in the works and create a presentation or written report on this. Try using our Lessons From the Masters Series for this.

They should also be encouraged to create history by recording their experiences in this time. The possibilities here are endless, including creating a Vlog (you don’t need to upload it to YouTube if you don’t want to), creating a photo story, writing a journal, etc.

We are living through a major historical event, get your children to record it.

Design and technology

Get your children to create a backdrop for a photoshoot. Get them to choose a toy or give them a household object such as hand soap and create a backdrop for this.

You can keep the brief as open or closed as possible. You could get them to build something only using a set of equipment given to them. Or let them create something from whatever they can find. If you have access to a tool shed, you can get creative with scrap wood, etc. This can then be used for the next lesson.

Making a backdrop will involve physics and maths skills (forces and measurements respectively).

See more DIY projects here.

Graphic products and graphic design

Use the backdrop your child has built to create an image that will become an advertising campaign for a project.

You can teach them how to edit a photo. From here, you can then get them to use the image in a poster to promote the product they have photographed. Not only does this involve graphic skills, you can involve English skills by encouraging them come up with the slogan and blurb for the product.

This also has a nice crossover into ICT in terms of using the software for designing and editing the photographs.

A poster of an American Football with the Text DPS Sports Equip, Stay Fit, Feel Good. — Taking Images and making them into a poster is great for developing graphics & ICT skills

English

Although not strictly photography, a great way to involve English in using photography to teach your children is to make a film. This means writing a script, which teaches them about formatting work. It also gets them to think creatively and produce an original piece of writing.

You can extend this to include art by getting them to storyboard the project. Then push it into design and technology by creating a set.

If you have access to lights, you can even get them to light the scene and look at how placing the light in different positions creates a different mood. This can then lead to talking about low-key lighting and high-key lighting. This also involves physics in terms of light direction and the inverse square law.

A short film script excerpt on a white background — The next Hollywood BlockBuster has to start somewhere.

Art

The most obvious way of doing this is getting your children to take photographs, but it is easy for this to lack structure. To make sure this is more learning-based, you can give them a brief.

Give them a household object and get them to photograph it in an unusual or abstract way. If you want to make this more game-based, get them to take photographs of 5 household objects of their choosing and then present them to you and see if you can guess what they are.

For a more traditional photographic approach, you can give your child a theme to photograph. You can use our weekly challenges to give them the theme if you are stuck for ideas.

When complete, sit down and critique the images together. You can use this to explain things such as composition.

If you want to go more into theory, you can teach them about the rule of thirds. Get them to look at photographs and see if they can see this within them.

The easiest way is to use a grid in something like PowerPoint that you can overlay onto different images. They can then use this to identify patterns in images they like or that you give them to study. You can also use this for things such as leading lines, foreground interest and so on.

Art fits in perfectly for photography, but to make sure it aids learning, all you need to add is a little structure.

An abstract representation of blinds shot on an iPhone — Shot on an iPhone, this is an abstract representation of Venetian Blinds. Did you guess what it was?

Equipment

Obviously, you can give your kids your camera, but if you don’t feel comfortable with this, for most of these lessons, you can use a camera phone or the camera on a tablet. Many of the images in this article are iPhone images.

The lighting you use also doesn’t need to be some beautiful color-balanced LED panels. An angel-poise lamp works brilliantly, or even a simple torch will do the job.

For the sections on the exposure triangle, you will need access to a camera with full manual controls. In fact, you can possibly use a manual camera phone app in a pinch.

In terms of software, there is GIMP, which is free for photo editing. Also, Affinity Software is doing a 90-day free trial on all their software during this time.

Over to you

Hopefully, I have given you a few ideas on how you can use photography to teach your children during this difficult time. It gives some activities to try and maybe work that they find more interesting than sitting at a desk writing away.

Remember, homeschooling is very different from being taught in a classroom. There is no expectation of getting it perfect. You are doing your best in a bad situation, and that is all anyone can ask. The same applies to your children; they are finding homeschooling every bit as weird as you are.

Stay safe.

The post How to Use Photography to Teach Your Children Maths, English, Physics and More! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Landscape Editing Techniques for Fine Art Photography Using Lightroom

12 Apr

The post Landscape Editing Techniques for Fine Art Photography Using Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video from the photographer, Marvin Grey, you’ll learn some fine art landscape editing techniques in Lightroom that will give you the opportunity to experiment with your landscapes to give them a whole new look and feel.

While the results may not be for everyone, the techniques he uses will teach you some valuable Lightroom editing techniques that you can use in other editing scenarios.

And what better time to tackle and play with our catalogs of landscape photos and learn some new landscape editing techniques while we are at home!

Feel free to share your results with us in the comments below.

Tips for photographing the LIVING ROOM

Reverse Mounting Your Prime Lenses for Affordable Macro Photography

Reverse Lens Macro: How to use it as a Great Learning Tool

How to Turn a Photography Technique into a Series

Reverse Lens Macro – How to Make Macro Photos with “Backward Thinking”

3 Tips for Photographing Mixed Lighting in Interiors

How I Shot and Edited a Series of iPhone Images

6 Helpful Tips for Doing Interior Architecture Photography

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Living Room appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Lensrentals wants to know if the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted your professional photography work

11 Apr

Our friends over at Lensrentals has created a survey to help determine what kind of impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the livelihood of professional photographers and to better learn how Lensrentals can assist the photography community.

We’re pleased to support Lensrentals in their effort to gather this information and if you’re a professional photographer, below is a link where you can participate:

Lensrentals Survey

As a disclaimer, the survey starts out by asking whether or not you’re a professional photographer; if you answer no, the survey will immediately end. In keep the integrity of the data intact, we ask that you refrain from taking the survey if you do not earn an income from photography.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized