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Lightroom Moon Editing Tips for Awesome Moon Photos
The post Lightroom Moon Editing Tips for Awesome Moon Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

One of the most fascinating photos you can take is a crystal-clear shot of the full moon. Pictures like this don’t require a lot of fancy gear, but you do have to be in the right place at the right time. To make matters even more tricky, you only have a handful of opportunities each year to even attempt a moon shot. Getting a picture is just the beginning, though. If you want to make your shot stand out, it helps to follow these simple Lightroom moon editing tips.

Nikon D500, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8, 200mm, 1/200 second, f/4.8, ISO 640.

Shoot in RAW

The benefits of RAW over lossy formats like JPG are well documented. While there are certainly times where JPG is useful, RAW is essential when taking shots of the moon. You need all the editing leeway you can get to adjust colors, exposure, and other parameters.

For example, the photo below might not look like much, but it’s fairly typical of the types of moon shots most people would get with some basic camera gear. I shot this with a crop-sensor camera, which is much more common than expensive full-frame models. I also only zoomed to 200mm, and a lot of kit zoom lenses can easily reach this far.

This is straight out the camera with no postprocessing applied. Nikon D500, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8, 200mm, 1/200 second, f/5.6, ISO 720.

At first glance, it probably looks like there’s not much that I can do here. The moon is overexposed and a little blurry. It’s way too small, and the power lines cut right through the frame. Also, the sky has a weird blue tint to it that’s a bit unnatural.

However, hope is not lost! Thanks to the power of RAW files, and a little bit of editing prowess in Lightroom, this photo can be turned into a frame-worthy image.

Crop

Back in the early days of digital photography, people often debated the importance of megapixels. A common, though incorrect perception was that more megapixels equal better photos. While that is not necessarily true, having a higher megapixel count does allow you to have significant room for cropping, which is great when your subject is far away – 239,000 miles, to be exact.

Most cameras today have upwards of 20 megapixels, which gives you a huge amount of freedom to crop your photos. If you don’t have a huge telephoto zoom lens to zoom into individual moon craters, use Lightroom instead. Crop your image until it’s nice and tight with the moon right in the center.

Go ahead and crop your photo. If you have a modern camera you have plenty of leeway.

In this example, I cropped the image tight enough to get rid of everything but the moon and the sky. Gone are the power lines and trees, and what’s left is just the moon in all its glory. Even cropped in this much, the resulting image is 4.3 megapixels – more than enough to get an 8×10″ print made.

There’s still a lot of work to do, but cropping already helped a great deal.

White Balance

At this point the picture is better, but still has a long way to go.

The next step is to adjust the white balance. The reason I recommend doing this after you crop your moon photo is that it helps you focus on just the important part of the image. If you adjust the white balance before cropping, you might be focusing your edits on parts of the image that you discard after cropping.

There’s no right or wrong way to adjust the white balance on a moon photo. It all depends on how you want the final image to look and what you want your viewers to feel when they see it. If you want a starting point, here are two options I recommend.
1. Use the Daylight preset
2. Use the Eyedropper and click on the moon.
Both of these produce vastly different results. You can also play around with the sliders until you get a look that you like. One thing to remember is that the moon itself produces no light. It’s just a ball of rock falling through the sky. The light you see is sunlight reflecting off the surface, which is why some people prefer to use a white balance suited for sunlight. The choice is yours, though, and you can set the white balance however you want.

Another option is to combine the best of both worlds. Click the eyedropper tool on the moon, but then use the Brush tool to change the white balance of the moon. This will give you rich, deep blues for the sky but a yellow tint for the moon. However, this can be a little tricky. If not done right, you will see a weird color halo around the moon. So just make sure to use the Brush tool as precisely as possible.

You can use the Brush tool to change the white balance of the moon, but not the rest of the image if you choose.

Exposure adjustments

Nailing the exposure when shooting the moon is tricky. It’s a giant bright ball against a dark sky, which means a lot of the conventional rules don’t apply. I usually prefer to under-expose the moon and then adjust it in Lightroom. That way you preserve your highlights, but even if your picture is a little overexposed you can still salvage it if you shoot in RAW.

In this example, my shot is overexposed by about one stop. To fix it, I entered a -0.75 value in the Exposure slider in the Basic panel. This darkens everything: the moon and the sky. If you want the sky to stay the same level of brightness but just adjust the moon, use the Highlights slider. Drag it left to lower the exposure of the brightest portions of your image – in this case, the moon.

Raise or lowering the exposure in Lightroom to get just the right appearance.

Adjusting the exposure isn’t one of the most mind-blowing moon editing tips, but it’s an essential step in the process of getting your final shot to look good.

Texture and Sharpening

When you take a picture of the moon, you have to contend with all sorts of variables that can lead to a soft or fuzzy appearance. From earth, we see the moon through miles of atmosphere, which often contains dust and other particles. Your lens might not be tack-sharp either, especially if you got your zoom lens as part of a camera kit. Lightroom can help fix these issues with a few simple sliders.

Normally, I would recommend starting with the Sharpening slider, but not when shooting the moon. In this case, you want to bring out the moon’s texture and surface details, so the texture slider is a great place to start. You can find it at the bottom of the Basic panel. Alternatively, you can use the Brush tool to adjust the texture if you want a little more precision in your editing.

Raising the texture slider makes the surface look clear and crisp. I used a value of +80 which is a bit extreme, but I wanted to illustrate the impact of the Texture slider.

The Sharpening slider is great for fine-tuning your image after adjusting the texture. However, I do not recommend using the Clarity slider. That will result in a false, unnatural look with moon shots and can show some unwanted noise in the sky as well.

Final touches

At this point, you have several options to polish your image. While you can use any number of editing tools, some that I recommend trying are:
- Adding a vignette
- Use the Brush tool to reduce noise in the sky
- Adjust the tone curve to have a very slight S-shape
- Raise and lower the blue saturation
- Convert your picture to Black and White. Click “Black and White” in the top-right corner of the Basic panel
Final moon shot. I added a vignette and brushed some noise reduction in the sky.

When it comes to moon editing tips, the sky is quite literally the limit. These should be enough to get you started, but I recommend spending time just experimenting with some of the sliders in Lightroom to see what you can do.

Nikon D7100, 200mm, f/8, 1/180 second, ISO 640. I used the editing tips in this article to process this shot.

What about you? DO you have any other moon editing tips you’d like to share? Do you have any favorite shots of the moon? Share your favorites in the comments below!

The post Lightroom Moon Editing Tips for Awesome Moon Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
June 14, 2020
How to Create a Photogram Effect with a Digital Process
The post How to Create a Photogram Effect with a Digital Process appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

One of the first photographic processes I learned was how to make a photogram. Since then, I’ve often wondered if a digital process could adequately mimic the appearance of the finished photogram aesthetic. The difference between the original and digital processes means that the results of any digital technique can’t really be called a photogram as such (I’ll call it a photogram effect). Nevertheless, there are digital processes that do hearken back to the appearance of the photogram.

In this article, I’ll walk you through my method to make a photogram effect with a digital camera, a laptop/tablet, a bit of Photoshopping, and a handful of objects.

What is a Photogram?

A photogram is a photographic image made without the use of a camera. The photogram process usually involves placing objects directly onto a photosensitive medium like photo-paper and exposing the arrangement to light. The result is a negative rendering of the objects, creating delicate studies of the interplay between light and various degrees of transparency.

The photogram technique was famously used by Man Ray in his explorations of rayographs. Other artists like László Moholy-Nagy, Pablo Picasso and Imogen Cunningham also experimented with the distinctive photogram format.

How to Create a Digital Photogram Effect

To create your photogram effect, there are a few things you will need.

You will need a:
- dark(ish) room
- tablet or laptop
- digital camera
- piece of white paper (A4 approx)
- selection of objects of different transparencies
- tripod (optional)
Setting up

Creating a photogram effect requires a little preparation. On the laptop or tablet, open a plain white image and display it full-screen. You can make a plain white image by saving an unedited white canvas from Photoshop or Paint etc and viewing it full-screen in a photo-viewer. For greater impact, turn up the brightness of your laptop or tablet screen too.

Once your laptop or tablet is displaying a plain white background, position the screen so that it lies flat and face-up on a level surface. Place the sheet of white paper over the screen.

Position an object or a selection of objects on the paper. You can arrange them as neatly or as randomly as you like – there is no hard-and-fast rule!

Once your have arranged your objects, turn off the lights, close the curtains, do what you can to darken your surroundings. You don’t need complete darkness to create a photogram effect, but working in darker conditions does make the effect a little more pronounced.

Taking the shot

Next, it’s time to start taking photographs. If you want to use a tripod, get set up so the camera is positioned squarely over the laptop or tablet.

In terms of camera settings, I set my camera to manual at f/4 at around 1/80th of a second. For this project, I set my ISO to 1600 and I also adjusted the exposure compensation to +2. These settings may differ depending on your setup. To mimic the photogram effect, you want detail in the transparent areas of an object and considerable shadows in opaque areas. It can be difficult to get the balance right first go, so don’t be afraid to experiment with your camera settings.

If you are hand-holding, aim your camera so it is square with the dimensions of the laptop or tablet screen. Set your focus and take a shot (don’t worry if some areas are out of focus, this can add to the effect).

The intriguing part about this process is that the results may not immediately grab you. The paper may look blotchy, the shadows blocky, the edges of the computer/tablet screen might be visible etc…but don’t give up! Just aim to capture detail in the transparent areas. It’s in the post-production that the photogram effect really comes to life.

A close up of one of my images before post-production. The blotchy paper, flat lighting, and blocky shadows will transform in the next step.

Post-production

Once you have shot a range of images, its time to Photoshop them. First, open an image and click on the Exposure Adjustment Layer. Set the exposure so that the background in the image is completely white. This will brighten your subject too. You can also do some cropping to eliminate any remnants of the laptop/tablet screen etc.

Next, click on the Invert Adjustment Layer to invert your image. Then, select the Black and White Adjustment Layer. The result will look something like this…

You can experiment further with your image by adjusting the Black and White Adjustment Layer settings and/or presets, or experimenting with a Curves Adjustment Layer to increase or decrease contrast.

Here are a few more examples I made by collecting plants around the local area, photographing them on my laptop screen and processing them with Photoshop:

The soft focus in this image is an effect often encountered in genuine photogram imagery

To get a blockier photogram effect, I increased the contrast of these images with the Curves Adjustment Layer

Conclusion

And there you have it! While it isn’t a genuine photogram, this photogram effect sure is reminiscent of the old analog processes I did in the darkroom.

Show us your photogram effects in the comments!

The post How to Create a Photogram Effect with a Digital Process appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Digital Photography School
June 13, 2020
Slideshow: Winners of IPA’s One-Shot ‘MOVEMENT’ competition

Slideshow: Winners of IPA’s One-Shot ‘MOVEMENT’ competition

The International Photography Awards (IPA) recently announced the winners of their One-Shot “MOVEMENT” competition. Thousands of photos were submitted from around the world for the theme, movement, around 5 categories: Street Photography, Nature, Fine Art, People, and Technology/Machine. The jury selected the following entries for top prizes:

Grand Prize Winner: ‘Wild Carrots’ by Anne Mason-Hoerter

Category Winners:

Fine Art: ‘Wild Carrots’ by Anne Mason-Hoerter
Street Photography: ‘School Run, Rwanda’ by Benjamin Buckland
Nature: ‘Wallace Flying Frog’ by Shin Leong Teo
People: ‘Rice Growers’ by Jacopo Maria Della Valle
Technology—Machine: ‘The Urban Semiconductor’ by Youngkeun Sur

‘The idea that everything moves, changes, and evolves, is such a great concept to explore through photography. It’s been inspiring to see how photographers of all levels of expertise have captured this concept in its many forms—universal, abstract, human, and machine. Even though it seems the whole planet has almost come to a standstill, through these images we see that life goes on and moves forward,’ says Hossein Farmani, Founder and President of IPA.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, IPA has matched all cash prizes awarded to winning and finalist photographers in the form of a donation to the charity of their choice. All winning and honorable mention photos can be viewed here. IPA is now accepting submissions for its Annual Photography Competition.

Grand Prize Winner + 1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Fine Art: ‘Wild Carrots’ by Anne Mason-Hoerter (Germany)

Date of Photograph: 2013

Technical Info: Nikon D70s, LeicaD-Lux, Canon scanner.

Artist Statement: Multiple scan data combined with digital camera data of a Wild Carrot, scientific name being Daucus carota. My photographic process involves first taking the plant apart and then scanning each piece. I then combine those images with images I have taken with my cameras. I wanted to reproduce the unseen movement of plants at night. There are over 50 single images and took over a month to complete.?

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Fine Art: ‘Almost Free’ by Patrizia Burra (Italy)

Date of Photograph: December 12, 2019

Technical Info: 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 50.

Artist Statement: An artistic vision of movement.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Fine Art: ‘Giant’s Causeway and Figure, Northern Ireland’ by Ugo Ricciardi (Italy)

Date of Photograph: 2018

Technical Info: 18 sec, f/11, 100 ISO. Pentax 645z camera. Long exposure with led light on a long pole.

Artist Statement: This picture, that is part of the ‘Nightscapes’ series, was taken in Northern Ireland. The Giant’s Causeway is an ancient part of the coast. Is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea.

This place, so still and immovable, is illuminated by the moving light, that is fluid and changing. Two elements in contrast, and between them there is the figure of a man, on the top of the rock.

1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Nature: ‘Wallace Flying Frog’ by Chin Leong Tao (Singapore)

Date of Photograph: November, 2018

Technical Info: 1/1250 sec, ISO 1250, f/13, Sony Alpha a6500 camera.

Artist Statement: Wallace’s Flying Frog is a moss frog found in Malaysia and western Indonesia. It is generally quite photogenic given its large size, brilliant colors and calm temperament. This is a shot taken of a specimen swimming in water, with full extension of its beautiful long legs.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Nature: ‘Flying over the Sea’ by Claudio Piccoli (Italy)

Date of Photograph: September 6, 2019

Technical Info: 1/4000s, ISO 100, f/2.8, full frame.

Artist Statement: I love to represent the dog as a super hero in my action shots. This dog and its owner were practicing disc dog in the water. It’s very difficult to do such amazing performances in these conditions, since the water brakes every movement. It was sunrise and I love the colors.

The position of the girl is really focused on her dog and the launch of the disc was perfect. It’s a shot you can repeat more than one or two times since after that the dog needs to rest. The dog remain the main subject and his position in the air is perfect and extended with the maximum tension of muscles.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Nature: ‘Surfacing’ by Jean-Christophe Girard Lemay (Canada)

Date of Photograph: March 2, 2020

Technical Info: 1/2000 sec, f/2.8 , ISO 400 , 125mm lens.

Artist Statement: Such a memorable day navigating the St. Lawrence (Quebec, Canada) on the CCGS Amundsen. A was assigned as official photographer for the scientific mission that took place on the ship, for two weeks and a half.

On the fifth day, a beluga came to visit us very closely when we were stopped at the last sampling station. I knew I saw one earlier, but very far offshore. This time, it couldn’t have been closer than; it dived right in front of our eyes, and then came out often on the other side of the boat about fifteen minutes later, each time blowing air just before it hit the surface.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, People: ‘Night Journey’ by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory (United States)

Artist Statement: ‘Night Journey’ is a photograph of the Martha Graham Company taken for our book ‘The Style of Movement’ The image is of 6 dancers performing the piece ‘Night Journey’ choreographed by Graham. The dance is based on the Greek myth of Oedipus and Jocasta with six women portraying the Greek chorus.

Martha Graham designed the dramatic costumes, which accompanied the text in our book discussing Graham’s influence on fashion design. We felt this piece worked well for the theme of ‘movement’ as the women are moving together in perfect harmony, both in their movement, and in their dynamic expression.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, People: ‘Good Sheepherd’ by F. Dilek Uyar (Turkey)

Artist Statement: The dusty and arduous journey of sheep herds in Bitlis. Sheep herds do this dusty path to reach the highlands where they graze until the middle of July after milking.

1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Street Photography: ‘School Run, Rwanda’ by Benjamin Buckland (Switzerland)

Date of Photograph: October 20, 2019

Technical Info: 1/15 sec, ISO 160, f/22, cropped sensor.

Artist Statement: I drove down here in a wild storm. South towards Lake Rweru and the deepest source of the Nile. Pools of water on the road. Hard enough that my creaking windscreen wipers couldn’t keep pace and I stopped for a while. Peering downhill at Burundi through the mist. Rain intense enough that even the usually indomitable Rwandese cyclists disappeared from the road. But like all rain here at this time of year, it was quickly over. And the cyclists were back before I knew it. Rwanda. October 2019.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Street Photography: ‘Flying Boys’ by Dimpy Bhalotia (India)

Artist Statement: This was shot in Varanasi, India.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Street Photography: ‘Momentum’ by George Stastny (Canada)

Date of Photograph: June 11, 2018

Technical Info: 1/1000 , ISO 100, f/1.8, Micro Four Thirds crop sensor.

Artist Statement: We all have a driving force that keeps us moving at a forward momentum.

1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Technology/Machine: ‘The Urban Semiconductor’ by Sur Young Ken (Republic of Korea)

Date of Photograph: January 24, 2020

Technical Info: 15 sec, f/11, ISO 64, Nikon D850 camera.

Artist Statement: We live in an age of massive and fast transmission.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Technology/Machine: ‘Porsche Type 64 Ice Race’ by Richard Seymour (United Kingdom)

Date of Photograph: February 1, 2020

Artist Statement: Tracking shot of a replica Porsche Type 64 at the 2020 GP Ice Race at Zell am See, Austria.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Technology/Machine: ‘Moonlight over the Atlantic’ by Christiaan van Heijst (Netherlands)

Date of Photograph: January 12, 2020

Technical Info: 4.0 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250, Nikon D850, 10.5mm.

Artist Statement: Full moon. About to cross 30 West, halfway a stormy Atlantic Ocean when the radiant moon ascents above the horizon. Blinding out most stars, the bright lunar spell adds a touch of magic to the world around me. Silver-painted clouds drift by while the capsule of the 747 cockpit allows me to breathe, live and appreciate this alien-like landscape. Far beyond, the gently glowing horizon marks the delicate edge of space. Almost home.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

June 13, 2020
DPReview TV: Do you still need camera filters for digital photography?
Are camera filters obsolete in the age of digital photography? Can’t we just Photoshop images? Not so fast! We take a look at four filters you still need in your camera bag.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.
- Introduction
- Polarizers
- Neutral density (ND) filters
- UV filters
- Graduated neutral density filters
- Wrap-up
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
June 13, 2020
Weekly Photography Challenge – Birds

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

This week’s weekly photography challenge – BIRDS!

Image by David Shaw

With some lockdown restrictions being eased around the world at this time, I have chosen Birds as this week’s theme.

Capture them in flight, or sitting still. Do close ups or wider shots. Make them color or black and white! The choice is yours. I look forward to seeing your shots

Photo by Jaymes Dempsey

Photo by Jaymes Dempsey

Photo by Prathap DK

Tips for photographing BIRDS

10 Must-Use Bird Photography Camera Settings for Beginners

5 Camera Settings Every Bird Photographer Should Know

A Quick Guide to Amazing Bird Photography Compositions

A Guide to Photographing Birds and Wildlife in a Wetland Area

5 Ways to Photograph Birds

How to Photograph Hummingbirds

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 #DPSbirds2020 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 – Birds appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

June 13, 2020

Adobe Photoshop Camera app released for Android and iOS, offering AI-powered ‘Lenses’

Adobe has launched its Photoshop Camera application for Android and iOS devices. The app, previewed last November, utilizes Adobe’s artificial intelligence technology, Sensei, to deliver highly-stylized and filters and camera effects in real-time as you capture images.

The Adobe Photoshop Camera app is designed to help users capture ‘gorgeous selfies, food and scenery shots, and more.’ The application includes numerous automatic image adjustment tools via a Magic Wand tool, such as portrait relighting and lens distortion correction.

The app includes different categories of ‘Lenses’, which act like filters: Portrait, Pop Art, Spectrum, filters inspired by Billie Eilish, Artful, Food, Scenery, Blue Skies and Reverie. Each Lens includes numerous filters, such as Blue Skies Lenses with different cloud formations. Users can also download additional Lenses created by various influential photographers and Instagram users.

Screenshot from Adobe Photoshop Camera app for iOS

Within the Photoshop Camera app, users can edit their captured images through a variety of basic editing tools. You can adjust shadow detail, highlight detail, clarity, vibrance, exposure, contrast, white level, black level and saturation. As mentioned earlier, there is also an automatic adjustment performed, which happens as soon as you view an image in your library. You can also tap a Photoshop Express button at the top of the display to take your image into the Photoshop Express app for additional and more in-depth adjustments.

In a hands-on with Photoshop Camera, the application worked well. The application made automatic adjustments and determined that the ‘Scenery Lens’ would be a good starting place for me to select from different filter options. I also tried out the ‘Artful’ lens, which was quickly applied to my image. In other photos, the app did a good job of picking out the sky, although unsurprisingly, its sky replacement is not as sophisticated nor as effective as what you find in Skylum’s Luminar software.

Speaking to The Verge, Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis stated the goal of Photoshop Camera is to ‘bring the magic of Photoshop directly to your camera’s viewfinder.’ When Adobe introduced Photoshop Camera last fall, it notes the app’s role in broadening the appeal and overall platform strength of Adobe Creative Cloud, its subscription-based software ecosystem. Alluding to appealing to future Creative Cloud consumers, Adobe said, ‘We are committed to investing in accessible tools like Photoshop Camera built for the next generation of consumers and creatives.’

Adobe Photoshop Camera is available as a free download with in-app purchases for Android and iOS.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

June 13, 2020

Lensrentals discovers cracked sensor mounts inside some of its Sony a7-series rental fleet

Photo credits: All photos and illustrations (except for this one), kindly provided by Lensrentals.

As promised, Lensrentals is back with part two of its flange-to-sensor measurement test, this time testing photo-centric cameras instead of cine cameras.

As Roger and his team meticulously pored over the measurements of every compatible camera they had on hand (the testing rig only had mount options for Canon, Sony and MFT cameras), they discovered a concerning percentage of Sony a7-series cameras had suffered from an unexpected and consistent failure of a key component.

Although Roger starts off his blog post with his Canon measurements, we’re going to begin with Sony, as that’s where the surprising and concerning discovery lies. In total, the Lensrentals team tested 487 various Sony full-frame and APS-C mirrorless bodies. To those concerned the in-body image stabilization (IBIS) would affect the flange-to-sensor distance, Roger has the following to say:

‘First let me mention that we asked and answered the obvious question “does the IBIS system change the flange-to-sensor distance.” We took some cameras, measured them, put a lens on, focused it on various things to run the IBIS, and measured again, about a dozen times each. Each camera had identical measurements every time.’

An overview of the flange-to-sensor distance measurements of all Sony cameras Lensrentals tested. Note the scale on all of these charts: this chart is -0.1mm to +0.1mm.

With that debate wrapped up, Roger presents the overall findings for Sony mirrorless cameras (seen above) before further dividing up the Sony camera bodies, grouping the Sony a9 and Sony APS-C cameras together and grouping all of the a7-series camera bodies together. Roger grouped the data this way because the a9 and APS-C models ‘look[ed] marvelous,’ with minimal variation, while the a7-series showed rather dramatic variations, particularly with their outliers.

This is the a7-series chart, showing the a7R III (blue), a7R IV (red) and a7 III (yellow). Note the unusual number of outliers on the very extremes of the chart.

After testing each unit, Roger pulled 28 outliers for further inspection (5.75% of the Sony cameras tested). While a few of them needed to have the lens mount screws tightened or entirely replaced to correct their flange-to-sensor distance, there were a number of units that stood out as ‘large outliers.’ Upon closer inspection, Roger and his team discovered a number of these units had a more unexpected and more serious issue: there was a fracture between the sensor mount and stabilization system.

The arrow points to a fractured sensor-to-IBIS mount inside a Sony a7-series camera.

As you can see in Lensrentals’ a7R III teardown, Sony mounts the sensors to a plastic plate that attaches to the IBIS system via three screws. In two of the ‘large outlier’ units the plastic plate the sensor is mounted to had fractured; two others had screws that had wiggled their way out; one had what appeared to be a ‘metal fatigue type fracture’ in the mount; and one had a ‘displaced fracture of the sensor frame’ that was serious enough to pop off the retaining clip.

The arrow points to the tab where the retainer clip is supposed to be secured to.

While these are all serious issues that raise concerns, Roger says he was amazed to realize ‘the cameras really didn’t show much disfunction.’ He elaborates:

‘If you had just shown me the pictures above I would have expected error messages, horrible images, something dramatic. These were renting regularly, customers were happy with them, our 64-point tech inspection was passed before and after each rental.’

Even after hours of stress testing by Lensrentals’ most experienced techs, the only complaints they had with these broken units were the same minor complaints a few renters had pointed out in the past, including ‘Seems images might be a little soft on one side,’ or ‘maybe the stabilization isn’t quite as good as it should be.’

Roger says it appears as though a single broken mount (remember, there are three screws holding the sensor to the IBIS unit) doesn’t appear to have much affect on overall operation, but suggests if two of the mounts were to break it would be likely to cause noticeable issues.

Roger says the crack in this image displaced the mount by about 0.5mm, but despite this dramatic displacement, the center of the sensor shifted much less than that.

Wonky mounts and fractured components sound scary, but in total, less than 2% of Lensrentals’ Sony camera stock was found to have lens mount issues and only 1.6% suffered from the sensor mount problem. That’s not an insignificant number of cameras given how large the rental fleet is, but considering these are rental cameras and it took hours of intense inspection of the outlier samples to notice even the smallest impact on image quality, it’s hard to say how serious the issue really is in practical terms.

Wonky mounts and fractured components sound scary, but in total, less than 2% of Lensrentals’ Sony camera stock was found to have lens mount issues and only 1.6% suffered from the sensor mount problem

Still, though, any kind of failure like this is concerning and both Roger and DPReview have contacted Sony to inform them of Lensrentals’ finding and request comment on the matter.

With the Sony camera data out of the way, it’s on to Canon cameras. Within the data, Roger discovered a few interesting tidbits. First, the flange-to-sensor distance in photo cameras doesn’t vary any more than in Canon’s cine cameras. Second, of the 11 cameras (out of 478 Canon DSLR cameras tested) that Roger pulled for closer inspection due to variations, all of them were either 5D IV or 1DX bodies, i.e., pro bodies.

A chart showing the variation of the Canon DSLR cameras Lensrentals tested, with the outliers highlighted. Again, note the scale of this graph: this chart is -0.1mm to +0.04mm.

Upon further inspection of the most affected camera bodies, Roger discovered each of them had a history of a drop or required ‘significant internal work’ after being rented out at one time or another. He also notes it makes sense these cameras are more susceptible to damage when bumped or dropped due to the tendency for these cameras to be used in harsher conditions and with longer, heavier telephoto lenses, which could more easily bend the mount ‘because force proportional to mass and all.’

Roger concludes his data with a breakdown of variation in 138 Micro Four Thirds cameras: 82 Panasonic units, 36 Olympus units and 20 Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K units.

A breakdown of the various Micro Four Thirds camer models Lensrentals tested.

Overall, the variation between units proved to be relatively minimal, with only five cameras being outliers. Of these five cameras, four had been sent back to the factory to have their sensors replaced and one had a shutter replacement. Roger notes five other Micro Four Thirds cameras also had their sensors replaced and were within the nominal variation range, so don’t assume all cameras with sensor replacements will have abnormal flange-to-sensor distance measurements.

In wrapping up, Roger concludes that while it might’ve been seemed unnecessary to measure the flange-to-sensor distance of still cameras, it proved just as useful as it was with cine cameras. The team found fixable issues in roughly 2% of its still camera fleet thanks to the testing and, in Roger’s own words, ‘To me, that’s a huge thing […] Huge enough that we need to get a second Denz tool for the photo techs since the first one is already monopolized by the video people.’

Read the full article at Lensrentals.com

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

June 12, 2020
Anonymous Camera for iOS anonymizes images to help protect the innocent

London-based startup Playground has launched a new iOS app called Anonymous Camera that, as its name suggests, anonymizes images and videos to protect the subjects featured in them. The app leverages artificial intelligence to detect and remove or blur the subjects, a process that takes place locally on the user’s device if it’s running iOS 13.0 or higher.

Because facial recognition software makes it easier than ever to identify someone featured in a video or photo, anonymizing these images to protect innocent individuals, whistleblowers and more is vitally important. Anonymous Camera aims to make this process simple for iPhone users by using facial recognition to find subjects and hide them.

The process can include blurring a face, the most traditional way to anonymous subjects, or entirely removing their bodies in cases where enhanced steps are necessary. In addition to blurring the subjects, Anonymous Camera also supports putting a solid object over the subject’s face, which would prevent blur-reversal technologies from being used, plus there’s the option of using noise to hide the subject.

Playground claims that it uses ‘state of the art’ facial recognition technology to find and blur faces regardless of angles, including in videos where the subject is moving. There is a limitation, however: the full-body anonymization feature can only be used on the iPhone XS or newer models. Other features include distorting audio to mask the subject’s voice, removing metadata from the content and splitting the screen to anonymize only the subject in an interview.

Anonymous Camera doesn’t use the cloud, instead storing and processing images locally on the device; this is a key feature that decreases the odds of unmodified images being intercepted or otherwise acquired.

According to The Verge, Anonymous Camera was designed for anonymizing videos and images of single subjects and small groups of people; when tested at a large Black Lives Matter protest, the app wasn’t able to deal with the large number of subjects, but it was never intended to do so, according to Playground.

We are very excited to launch Anonymous Camera in the App Store today. Anonymise photos and videos in real time, locally on device. All proceeds from the in-app purchase will go towards @BlackVisionsMN and @UR_Ninja.https://t.co/s1llUoThOf https://t.co/8XeoTe68nH

— Playground (@playgroundAI) June 11, 2020

Though the app could be useful for anyone who wants to protect someone’s privacy, it is pitched specifically as a tool that could be used by journalists, activists, whistleblowers and other people who are providing sensitive information, operating in oppressive regions or anyone capturing content in places that require public individuals to be blurred.

Such privacy tools are becoming increasingly popular and important. Earlier this week, encrypted messaging app Signal introduced its own built-in face-blurring feature that enables users to blur the faces of subjects featured in shared images. The tool also allows users to draw over faces or hide them with stickers.

It’s important to note that blurring alone may not be enough to protect subjects featured in content. In addition to other potential identifiers like unique tattoos or piercings, there are also forensic software tools that use machine learning to reverse the blur applied to an image, revealing the content that was hidden. Hiding the subject behind solid color or stickers may be the safer option.

Anonymous Camera is available for free now from the iOS App Store with a ‘Pro’ in-app purchase that costs $ 1.99 and offers video recording without watermarks.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

June 12, 2020
Are mechanical film cameras better than electronic?

The electronic Pentax ME Super can be picked up for a bargain price compared to the mechanical Pentax MX.
Image: Say_Cheddar

There are a lot of mechanical film camera snobs out there, and I’m one of them. There’s something about the way a mechanical camera feels, that sensation of meshing gears and tightening springs that you can feel right in your fingers, which is just magical. To me, a camera that goes ‘KA-CLACK!’ will always be superior to one that goes ‘bzzzt.’

But I also know that electronic film cameras have key advantages over mechanical cameras, and those advantages don’t always get proper recognition. In fact, I’d argue that for many photographers and many situations, electronics are better. Here’s why.

Mechanical vs. Electronic: What do we mean?

Before we begin, some quick definitions: For the sake of our discussion, an all-mechanical camera is one that has no electronics in the shutter, exposure or film-winding mechanisms. It may have a light meter, but mechanically speaking, it’s fully functional without a battery.

An all-mechanical camera is fully functional without a battery

When we talk about electronic cameras, we either mean cameras with an electronically-controlled shutter, which still have manual focusing and winding, or cameras with electric/electronic everything, including shutter, exposure control, winder, and (usually) autofocus. Some electronic cameras will work at one shutter speed (usually the flash sync speed) with no batteries; for others, no power means no pictures. (Note that some cameras, like the Canon EF and Pentax LX, use a hybrid shutter with mechanical timing for fast speeds and electronic for slow speeds.)

Some electronic cameras will work at one shutter speed (flash sync) with no batteries; for others, no power means no pictures

Got it? Good! Let’s dive in and talk about the advantages of electronics, then we’ll revisit a few of the arguments in favor of mechanicals.

Why electronic cameras are better

You’d be hard-pressed to spend more than $ 75 on an electronic Ricoh KR-10 with lens.
Image: Arapaoa Moffat

Electronic cameras have fewer moving parts than mechanical cameras.

This is one of the main reasons camera manufacturers moved to electronics in the first place: The complexity of the mechanism is greatly reduced. Mechanical cameras are clockwork marvels, filled with minuscule gears, levers, springs, cords and chains – moving parts that can wear out, disengage, clog up or break. Electronic cameras replace a lot of these intricate bits with non-moving solid-state electronics, which are simpler, more robust and generally more reliable. From the manufacturer’s perspective, electronics make the cameras cheaper to build. From the photographer’s perspective, electronics mean fewer things to go wrong.

From the manufacturer’s perspective, electronics make the cameras cheaper to build. From the photographer’s perspective, electronics mean fewer things to go wrong

Electronic cameras rarely go out of adjustment.

One of the problems with a mechanical shutter-timing mechanism is that it’s subject to wear, degraded lubrication, and temperature variations. After a while, your 1/250 shutter setting no longer delivers a 1/250 second exposure. (Hence the ‘A’ in the common CLA service – cleaning, lubrication and adjustment.) With an electronic shutter, the timing is done by solid-state bits that are not prone to such discrepancies.

That’s not to say electronic shutters are always perfect; they still have moving parts that can be affected by dirty electromagnets or dried-up lubricant. But they tend to stay pretty darn close to the mark. If a forty-year-old electronic camera is working, it’s probably working correctly – and will likely be shooting more accurate than an older mechanical camera that hasn’t been serviced.

Electronic cameras can deliver more precise exposures than mechanical cameras.

With a mechanical camera, you’re generally locked into pre-set full-stop shutter speeds – 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, etc. Same with an electronic camera in manual mode. But electronic cameras with an automatic exposure setting can take advantage of one of the key benefits of an electronic shutter: Infinitely variable speed settings. If the meter decides the ideal shutter speed is, say, 1/300 of a second, that’s how long the shutter will stay open. 1/75 sec ? No problem. 1/854 sec? Sure! They can fine-tune your exposure in a way that a mechanical camera can’t, which is especially critical if you’re shooting with slide or technical film.

The electronic Nikon FE2 sells for about half the price of the mechanical FM2.
Image: Paul1513

Electronic cameras have faster top and sync speeds than mechanical cameras.

The camera with the fastest purely mechanical shutter I know of is the Nikon FM3A, which tops out at 1/4000th of a second, but that’s atypical; most mechanical cameras stop at 1/1000 sec, and some ‘pro’ models at 1/2000 sec. So did early electronic cameras, but advances in electronics and curtain materials meant faster speeds, and many electronic cameras top out at 1/4000 or (in very high-end models) 1/8000 sec. The speed champ is the Minolta Maxxum 9, which can snap off an exposure in 1/12,000 sec.

Fast shutters are usually associated with action photography, but they are handy for casual shooters as well: If you’re running 400 speed film and the sun comes out, you can still shoot at wide apertures. Electronic shutters also give you faster flash sync speeds, typically 1/125 sec to 1/250 sec versus 1/60 sec for most mechanical shutters. Again, that’s one or two more stops of flexibility, allowing you to use a wider aperture for outdoor portraits with fill flash.

Electronic shutters also give you faster flash sync speeds, typically 1/125 sec to 1/250 sec versus 1/60 sec for most mechanical shutters

Finally, my favorite:

Electronic cameras are usually less expensive.

Electronic cameras are the bargains of the used-film-camera market. Nikon’s all-mechanical FM2 typically sells for twice as much as its electronic-shutter counterpart, the FE2. Same for the mechanical Pentax MX and the electronic ME Super.

And the more electronic you go, the better the prices get. The Nikon N8008, a “prosumer” camera one notch below the vaunted F4, sold for $ 600-$ 800 when new, but today you can buy them for $ 10-$ 50. Minolta’s excellent Maxxum/Dynax autofocus cameras of the 1990s can easily be bought for $ 20-$ 50 in good operating order with a Minolta lens – not just the low-end consumer models, but fully-featured high-end cameras as well.

Why mechanical cameras are better

We’ve covered the advantages of electronic cameras. What about the arguments in favor of mechanical cameras? Let’s discuss a few.

A Nikon ad from the 80’s showing a mix of electronic, mechanical and hybrid cameras.
Image: Nester

Mechanical cameras work without batteries.

This is true, though I’ve personally never seen it as a real advantage (although I can understand how those who have found themselves on the losing end of a dying digital camera battery would). The story I’ve heard is of a professional photographer on a once-in-a-lifetime shoot atop an icy mountain. Suddenly their camera’s battery dies – but they have a mechanical camera, so they can go right on shooting! Fine – but that’s a niche use-case. Most of us aren’t going to be shooting regularly in situations where batteries degrade fast (like extreme cold) or in places where spares aren’t easily available.

The more likely explanation for the cult of the battery-less camera is that pros mistrusted electronics when they first came out, which is a natural human reaction to anything new and unfamiliar. Within a few years, once they realized that electronics were not evil, those same professionals were relying on battery-reliant cameras like the Nikon F4/F5 and Canon EOS-1.

All-mechanical cameras are fabulous beasties and a treat to use. But manual-wind, manual-focus cameras with electronic shutters give you most of that same feel.

Besides, while it’s true a mechanical camera will work without the batteries, its meter won’t, and who wants to shoot without a meter? Sure, you can use an external meter/phone app or ‘Sunny 16’, but there’s no need for a fallback when spare batteries are cheap and easy to carry. Remember that electronic cameras that use button batteries go years on one set, and autofocus cameras that use AAs or lithium ions should give you a few dozen rolls and a warning before the batteries die. So yes, this argument is valid, but I don’t think it’s very relevant.

Mechanical cameras are more repairable.

There is some truth to this. One of the reasons older electronic cameras can fail is that their flexible printed circuit boards can crack with age. When new parts aren’t available, repair shops rely on donor cameras, which may have the same age-related issues. But not all problems with electronic cameras are insoluble – some repairs require a bit of soldering, and other failures are mechanical, not electrical, and involve the same types of issues to which mechanical cameras are prone.

Even if a given camera cannot be repaired, remember those low replacement costs. I’ve had two cameras cleaned and repaired at a cost of around $ 100 each– worth it for more expensive cameras. But if it’s my Minolta 400si or Ricoh KR-10 that breaks, for that same $ 100 I could buy 3 or 4 replacement bodies in working condition.

Mechanical cameras have more ‘soul’.

You’ll get no argument from me there. All-mechanical cameras are fabulous beasties and a treat to use. But manual-wind, manual-focus cameras with electronic shutters give you most of that same feel. And while autofocus, auto-wind cameras don’t feel the same, using them is a unique experience that I have grown to appreciate.

The mechanical Pentax MX (shown with accessory grip) is a joy to shoot with.
Image: Wikipedia

Bottom line

Mechanical cameras are great, and they have their advantages, and disadvantages. Electronic cameras, meanwhile, are the unsung heroes: They are generally cheaper to buy, more likely to give you accurate exposures, and if they aren’t always easily repairable, they are usually easily (and cheaply) replaceable. There’s a reason all camera manufacturers embraced electronics. We, as film photographers, ought to embrace them as well.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

June 12, 2020
How to Make Exciting Flash Action Photos with Second-Curtain Sync
The post How to Make Exciting Flash Action Photos with Second-Curtain Sync appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

In still photography, we can choose to blur or freeze motion. Or… we can do both! Read on to learn how.

All the excitement surrounding the latest cameras seems to center around their video capabilities. Fine, I guess. But, maybe you’re like me, a dedicated still photo shooter with no desire to make videos? I don’t need to make things move in my photos, but I do want to illustrate movement.

My options?

1) Use a long exposure/slow shutter speed causing moving things to blur creating the suggestion of movement, or

Panning with the subject, and using a slower shutter speed blurs the background, giving a sense of motion. Canon D30 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/60th sec. f/4 ISO 400.

2) Use a short shutter duration to freeze the action, capturing a moment of motion that could not have been seen with the human eye, or

A very short shutter speed will freeze action in many cases. This was lit with bright sunlight only, no flash. Canon 50D with Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. 1/8000th sec. f/3.5 ISO 400.

3) Use the very short duration of a flash to capture an even thinner slice of time freezing very fast-moving objects.

But have you considered the fourth option? How might you make flash action photos that combine the motion blur of a long shutter speed with the freezing power of flash in the same shot? Let’s explore how that works.

Motion blur + Frozen action = Flash action photos. Combining slow shutter speeds with the freezing power of a flash. Canon D30 with Canon 24-105mm f/4 lens. 1/20th sec. f/4 ISO 400. Canon 500EX flash – Second-curtain sync.

An exposure within an exposure

When you make a flash photo, you are really making two exposures in one. Open the shutter and whatever available ambient light is there streams in through the camera iris onto the sensor. How much light is controlled by two things; the size of the aperture (measured using f/stop terminology), and the duration of the exposure (controlled by the shutter speed.)

When we use a flash, the burst of light happens during that same shutter duration. Flash duration is typically much shorter than the total shutter duration and happens “within” the total exposure. Thus, an “exposure within an exposure.”

There are two exposures in one here – The ambient light creates the blur using a longer shutter speed while the flash freezes the action at the end. Canon 50D with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1-second, f/13 ISO 100. Second curtain sync flash – Canon 500EX.

Open the curtain and let the show begin

Unless you’re using a camera with a leaf shutter (rather rare anymore), your camera probably uses a focal-plane shutter. There are two “curtains” (and that’s what they are called), between the rear of the lens and the sensor.

Watch this slow-motion video of what happens during an exposure.

When the shutter button is pressed: 1) With a DSLR, the mirror swings up out of the way. 2) The first curtain goes down, exposing the sensor to light. 3) The second curtain then comes down, again blocking light from the sensor.

The total exposure duration, the time between the opening of the first curtain and the closing of the second, that is the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light and is what we control with the shutter speed setting.

Back in the outside world

Outside the camera in the real world, life goes on. If the subject or the camera moves during the exposure, the relative distance it moves during the exposure duration will be recorded as a blur.

Subjects that don’t move at all won’t blur even during a long exposure.

Fast-moving objects could move quite a bit and thus blur more unless the shutter speed is fast, the exposure duration short, and the amount of motion imperceptible during that brief period.

Enter the flash

The above describes what happens when a photo is made using only ambient light. It doesn’t matter the light source; it could be the sun, the moon, candlelight, continuous man-made lighting sources like incandescent, fluorescent, LED, flashlights, whatever. For our purposes, ambient light is whatever light exists during the entire duration of the exposure.

The flash, however, will be comparably short and happen within the duration of the exposure. Depending on output power and the type of flash used, flash duration can be very short. Take a look at the chart below illustrating the flash duration of a typical Speedlight (here a Canon 580EX).

The lower the power, the shorter the flash duration. However, less power also means less working distance.

At a 1/128th power setting, the flash duration can be as short as 1/20,000th of a second! Even fast-moving objects won’t move far during such a thin sliver of time, so they will be frozen by the flash.

Flash did the freezing here – The room was dark, so no ambient light. The shutter speed not that fast – 1/60th sec. f/25 ISO 100 (but the flash at 1/16th power had a duration of just 1/16,000 sec. so everything is totally frozen with no motion blur.

Ambient + Flash = Flash action photos

Since a photo using flash is an exposure-in-an-exposure, what if we harness the power of both ambient light and the flash to use the advantages of each?

What might we get if we used a long exposure to capture the ambient light and thus blur the moving subject and then a burst of flash to freeze it? We could get a photo that combined both motion blur and a frozen subject! We could call that a flash action photo.

Combine a long shutter speed for the blur with a 2nd-curtain sync flash to freeze the action. Canon 50D with Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 lens. 1 Second, f/5.6, ISO 100

First versus Second-Curtain Sync

The flash will be fired within the total duration of the exposure. If, say, the shutter speed is 1/125th second and the flash duration at 1/64th power is 1/14,000 second, when during that 1/125th second does the flash fire?

The default for most cameras and flashes is to have the flash fire as soon as the first curtain drops to expose the sensor. This is what is termed “first curtain” (aka front curtain) sync.” The timeline below illustrates how that works.

In a standard flash photo with the flash in ETTL mode, this will be the sequence with the default first-curtain sync:
- Shutter is pressed.
- Pre-Flash fires (Omitted if Flash is in Manual Mode).
- Camera calculates necessary flash output power needed (Only in ETTL Mode).
- First curtain drops exposing the sensor to ambient light.
- Flash fires.
- Ambient light continues for the duration of the exposure.
- Second (aka “rear”) curtain drops, covering the sensor and the exposure ends.
With most flash photos, especially things like portraits and such, the total exposure will be short enough there won’t be a noticeable difference between the portion of the exposure made with ambient light and that made with the flash. To best capture the moment, having the flash immediately fire is usually a good thing and probably one reason manufacturers make first-curtain sync the default.

So why use second-curtain sync?

We started out talking about photos that combine the blurred motion caused by a slow shutter speed with the freezing power of a flash. The problem with the default first-curtain sync that triggers the flash at the beginning of the exposure is that the frozen portion of the image happens immediately, and the blurred portion made with the remaining ambient light happens after. As the subject moves, the recorded blur will be in front of the frozen portion of the shot.

Assuming we want to make the car look like it’s traveling forward, the top shot done with second-curtain sync flash looks more natural. All settings were the same and the toy car was pushed from right to left in both cases. The top shot is second-curtain sync, the bottom shot the default, first-curtain sync.

But that looks weird

Standard convention is to see the blurred portion of action behind, not in front of the moving object. Illustrators and cartoonists know this and use motion lines (also called “sphericasia”) to help depict motion. (They also use Quimps, Plewds, Grawlixes, and a bunch of other cartoonist marks. Check out this fun read).

Sometimes as photographers, we will pan with a moving object, use a longer shutter speed, and if we pace our pan correctly, get a photo with a blurred background and the subject relatively frozen. The blur will be behind the subject, and that looks natural. But use a long shutter speed combined with a default first-curtain sync flash and…nope…that just looks weird.

Though flying at hundreds of miles per hour, this U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet can be made to look motionless with a very fast shutter speed. Canon 6D with Canon 400mm f/5.6 lens. 1/2000th sec. f/5.6 ISO 200.

This is how an illustrator or cartoonist might depict motion using “sphericasia” or motion lines.

Activate second-curtain sync

So let’s make it look right and create some flash action photos that look correct. You will need to activate second (rear) curtain sync. In some cases, this will be done on your camera. In others, you will do it on your flash. There are too many variables of camera/flash combinations for me to tell you just how to do it with your equipment, so you’ll need to get out your manuals. Look for second (sometimes called rear) curtain sync.

Left to right – This is the symbol that indicates second-curtain sync on my Canon 550EX flash. Center and right – Setting up second-curtain sync on my Canon 6D camera. Every camera/flash combination will differ, so you may need to consult your manual on how to get into second-curtain sync flash.

This is usually pretty easy. In the combo I used for this article, a Canon 6D camera with a Canon 550EX flash, it was done on the flash. Once set, I was good to go.

The same action, swinging the hatchet down into the log. was performed in both photos. All the settings were the same except, the left shot used first-curtain sync flash, while the one on the right used second-curtain sync flash.

Other considerations

You will need to experiment to determine exactly what your settings should be given the variables of amount of ambient light, distance to the subject, speed of the moving subject, and exactly the look you’re going for. There is no precise “recipe” here.

However, here are a few things that may help you get great flash action photos:
- Going full-manual with both the camera and flash will give you the most control.
- Going manual with the flash should prevent a pre-flash, which you don’t want.
- Determine what ISO and aperture you need to expose for the given ambient lighting conditions.
- Shutter speed will vary depending on the speed of your moving subject, how much blur you want, and whether you’ll be panning with the movement of the subject.
Which uses first and which second curtain sync flash? It’s hard to tell with objects like this ball. Here’s a clue – The ball was rolling away from the camera in both shots.
- You will need sufficient light on your subject to properly expose the ambient portion of the exposure. Take some test shots without the flash to see how things look.
- You will likely want to manually adjust the flash output power depending on how close you are to the subject and how much “freezing” power you want for that part of the photo. Use the aperture and ISO to control the ambient portion of the image, the shutter speed to control the amount of blur, and the flash power to control the frozen part of the image.
Another test… In both shots the ball was rolling right to left. So which uses first and which second curtain sync flash?

If you will be controlling the motion of your subject and also the camera, a remote trigger is handy. Here, I used a Yongnuo RF602 radio trigger.
- The blurred portion of your moving subject made with the ambient part of the exposure will have a translucent, “see-through” look. You will need some contrast between it and the background to help it show up. Shooting a brighter subject on a darker background helps a lot, especially as you learn the technique.
Canon 50D with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/6th sec. f/ 4.5 ISO 100 w/ second-curtain sync flash.

The key – practice!

As with so much of photography, there is no substitute for practice. Getting your camera/flash into second-curtain sync mode is the easy part.

After that, do some simple experiments such as I show, rolling a bright ball across a dark floor. That should help you grasp the concepts.

You will find that timing can be the tricky part. Know that the flash will fire at the end of the exposure, so experiment to determine where the object will be when that happens as it won’t be when you first click the shutter.

Illustrate the fast and furious action of cycle racing but still get the expression on the rider’s face with a 1/8th second shutter speed combined with second-curtain sync flash. Canon 6D with Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. 1/8th second, f/8 ISO 800.

Move up to something like the hatchet photos I show here, or maybe someone swinging a golf club or baseball bat. When you have the concepts down, head out to a sporting event or something where there’s some action, to depict like the bicycle races I show or recruit some dancers or other performers.

Canon 50D with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 2 seconds, f/5.6 ISO 100. Second-curtain sync flash with Canon 550EX flash.

Flash action photos that combine blur and a frozen subject all in one shot, will teach you the principals of ambient and flash lighting. Best of all, you can make some really cool and unique images! Gotta scoot now…have fun!

Canon 6D with Canon 24-105mm f/4 lens. 1.7 seconds, f/8 ISO 100.

The post How to Make Exciting Flash Action Photos with Second-Curtain Sync appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Digital Photography School
June 12, 2020