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Video: How to make an HDR image using Microsoft Excel… seriously

Photographers have many different kinds of software for producing high dynamic range images, but Microsoft Excel probably doesn’t make your list of photo editing apps. Well… be prepared to change your mind.

On the off chance you don’t know what Microsoft Excel is, it’s a spreadsheet application that’s primarily used for business application. But in May of last year, Columbia University computer science student Kevin Chen showed that is was also capable of producing an HDR photo using some complicated math and a couple dozen GBs of RAM.

Before coming to Columbia, Chen worked as an intern at Apple, working on camera technology. It was that experience—understanding the math behind digital photography in general and high dynamic range imagery specifically—that allowed him to implement the “system of linear equations” that is typically used in HDR imaging.

After turning the original photo grayscale, and using each cell in Excel as a different “pixel”, he was able to implement this math (and zoom way out) to reveal his final product. Here is the color before and grayscale after:

Sure, you probably don’t want to make Excel your primary HDR processing software. But Chen’s presentation reveals something that is easy to lose sight of when you’re processing digital files and working with photographs: as far as your computer is concerned, it’s all pixel values and math.

Check out the full presentation up top, and then head over to Chen’s website if you want to know more about the young computer scientist.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

January 22, 2018
The ‘Chairpod’ is a chair-tripod hybrid that’s either ridiculous or brilliant

Photos via DC Watch

Sometimes an idea is so crazy, it might just be brilliant—what might be described as “wonderfully weird.” The upcoming Chairpod by Japanese tripod manufacturer Velbon might be one of those inventions… or it might just be weird. We haven’t decided yet, so we’ll leave that judgement up to you.

Originally reported on by Japanese site DC Watch (translated version here), the Chairpod HY 127 is a hybrid between a tripod and a three-legged folding chair that was originally exhibited at CP+ 2017 (how did we miss that!?). One of the legs, in this case, has a standard tripod camera mount on the top that can be extended out to bring the camera level with your face. At max length, it’s reportedly 117 centimeters tall, or about 3.8 feet, without the optional extension rod. And if you won’t want to use it sitting down, it turns into an odd sort of monopod.

According to DC Watch, the Chairpod will be released through major retail chains in Japan “in late January”, and the publication expects it to cost about 19,850 Yen (~$ 179 USD). No word yet on whether or not this quirky masterpiece will make it to the US or European markets.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

January 22, 2018
Review of the Tenba BYOB Camera Insert
Is the perfect camera bag still eluding you? If so, Tenba has a great DIY option worth checking out. Dubbed the Tenba BYOB Camera Insert, it invites you to actually Bring Your Own Bag while still protecting your camera gear. Here’s more about what fits in the insert, plus pros and cons about using it as your new camera bag.

What is it?

The Tenba BYOB Camera Insert is a padded shell meant to carry and protect camera gear while being carried inside another non-camera bag. It consists of a soft yet durable outer shell that easily molds to fit the shape of other bags, such as suitcases, handbags, and backpacks. Unzip the insert and you’ll find padded interior dividers that can easily be configured to hold gear of all shapes and sizes.

On the outside, there’s a handle for carrying the insert as-is if desired. Or you can purchase the BYOB Packlite Bundle, which includes a BYOB Camera Insert and an easily storable Packlite bag. The optional bag is rather thin, yet very durable and easily expands to hold the Camera Insert, or compresses to a size that will fit in your pocket.

There’s a range of sizes available for the BYOB Camera Insert, with the smallest being the BYOB 7 (best for inserting into a purse or handbag). The largest is the BYOB 13, which is big enough to hold a DSLR with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens attached, plus 2-3 additional lenses. In this case, I’m testing out the BYOB 10 with the Packlite bag included.

The Good

Solid Build

Even though Tenba doesn’t really refer to the BYOB Camera Insert as a camera bag, it really can function as one. This insert is very well built and feels very solid and durable. Pockets line the exterior of this bag, with two flexible mesh accessory pockets on the ends. There’s even a solid top handle to help with removing the Camera Insert from another bag or to carry the Camera Insert on its own.

Lots of Space

I used the BYOB 10, which was advertised to carry a “DSLR or Mirrorless Camera with 2-4 lenses.” At first glance, it looked like a large DSLR, such as my Canon 5D Mark III, would be a challenge since the BYOB appears very slim and narrow. It turns out that the BYOB has quite a bit of depth, allowing it to carry its suggested load, and then some. I appreciated the inclusion of flexible padded dividers that made it easy to pad stacked lenses to take full advantage of available space.

With the Tenba BYOB 10, I was able to pack the following camera kits. In the case of the Canon kits, it was definitely a tight fit, but the zipper did close all the way in both cases. For the Sony kit, I still had room to spare.

Canon Kit #1 (tight fit)
- Canon 6D (with camera body cap, no lens attached)
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8
Canon Kit #2 (tight fit)
- Canon 5D Mark III (with camera body cap, no lens attached)
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
- Canon 580 EXII Speedlight
Sony Kit (with room to spare)
- Sony a6300 with 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 attached
- Sony 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3
- Sony 20mm f/2.8
- Rokinon 12mm f/2
- Small bag of spare batteries
Truly Flexible Bag Options

The Tenba BYOB is efficient at packing and protecting your gear while also maintaining a slim profile. This makes the camera insert truly flexible, as it snugly fits into a wide variety of bags. I appreciated this for several reasons.

First, it was nice to not be restricted to having to carry a typical camera bag. I could literally choose ANY large bag I had and convert it into a camera bag. This is especially handy if you want to fly under the radar with a bag that is not so obviously a camera bag.

Second, the BYOB addresses the constant problem of being limited by the amount of baggage you can typically take with you when traveling. Usually, the two-bag carry-on restriction for airline travel means that at least one bag needs to be your camera bag. With the BYOB Camera Insert, you can easily turn your dedicated camera bag into a more multi-purpose bag that can hold additional items.

What the BYOB 10 Fits into

The list of what bags you can stuff the BYOB Camera Insert into will vary based on the specific size of your bag. During my tests, I was able to stick my BYOB 10 into the following bags, each with room to spare:
- ThinkTank Airport Takeoff Rolling Camera Bag
- InCase DSLR Pro Pack
- Clark and Mayfield Stafford Leather Laptop Tote Bag
- A medium-sized women’s handbag
- A Poler drawstring backpack
What Could Be Improved

All in all, the BYOB Camera Insert is a very simple concept that is executed well. Thus, it’s hard to find too many points for improvement.

The one thing I’d say is that the optional Packlite bag could use some improvements in terms of aesthetics. It is made of a thin water-resistant fabric that packs down to an incredibly small size, but at the cost of the bag appearing very wrinkled when unfolded. As a result, this Packlite bag is great to use if you really need it, but it won’t earn you many compliments.

Over to You

What do you think of Tenba’s BYOB concept? Would you try it out for yourself, or do you have another camera bag that you’re dedicated to? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Review of the Tenba BYOB Camera Insert by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 22, 2018
Using Layers and Foreground Interest for Better Landscape Photography

Have you ever been travelling, come upon a breathtaking vista, and taken a photograph only to find your representation to be a poor record of the view you remember? Welcome to the wonderful world of landscape photography! Capturing that breathtaking view in a photograph is not quite as easy as it looks.

Luckily, with a few simple strategies, you can significantly improve chances of getting better images. Read on and follow these tips for using layers and foreground to take your photos to the next level.

Do your images capture what you saw?

As is the case with any type of photography, great subjects (people or places) always help make better photographs. However, just because a vista is spectacular or the light is gorgeous does not guarantee that your photographs will turn out that way.

Why? What is going on?

The problem

Basically, the problem lies in creating composition from the vistas as they are presented. Many tourist views are interesting because of scale or the unusual nature of the location. To make a good image you need to create interest and capture that sense of scale. As you travel through scenic areas around the world, those locations that are the easiest to access don’t necessarily make the best landscape photographs. Being high or adjacent to the road may create a great viewpoint but it often doesn’t lend itself to a great two-dimensional representation (photography) of a three-dimensional object (the world and the view in front of you).

Going one step further, many beginners will look at landscape images from other photographers and instinctively like some and not others. They will often have difficulty articulating why they prefer one image over another. Understanding composition and layering will help you make more interesting images and get a better appreciation of why you enjoy certain landscape photographs.

The solutions

The best way to understand these concepts is to break your image down into a few simple pieces when approaching a scene you want to photograph, and then put them all together in the final photograph. Let’s start with scene scouting and composition before you worry about your camera settings.

Choose your subject

As part of your location scouting, before you set up to take an image, take some time to think about what you are looking at before you are ready take your camera out of the bag. Decide on the subject matter you are interested in making into a photograph. Figure out what part of it you found interesting – it could be something close, like a lake, or something far away, like a mountain.

Shoot when the light is best

Next, try to make sure you are taking the image when the sun is low in the sky. This is not always an option when you are travelling and it is raining or you only have time during the middle of the day. The wrong time of day (i.e. midday) will significantly limit the impact of your photographs. It is almost always essential to shoot landscape images during golden hour (right after sunrise or just before sunset).

The only exceptions are when the sky is overcast or if you are in the mountains. If the sky is overcast it will extend your shooting time but simultaneously makes getting good images harder because the sky is not interesting.

When you are in a mountain range, the mountains are often big enough to interfere with the lighting on your subject as shadows from mountains will get in the way. This means you have to shoot later in the day. In general, shooting during the golden hour will create interesting shadows and great quality of light.

Think in terms of layers

Once you have your subject selected and have picked an appropriate time of day, the next step is to think about layers. Add an object(s) of interest in front of your subject, and include it in the composition of your image. This will often mean using your feet to get into a better position.

What is meant by layering composition or objects of interest?

Good landscape photos have layers or objects in the foreground (close to you), middle ground (medium distance from the camera), and background (farthest away). This will help prevent your images from looking flat. These layers form elements that draw the viewer’s eyes and create depth in your photo.

It’s even better if the foreground leads into the background (maybe a river or a line of trees). Some objects, like people, can create a sense of scale. This is particularly important when you are looking at large vistas. For example, a massive cliff will provide no sense of scale without someone or something of a recognizable size in the field of view.

What makes a good foreground layer?

What kinds of things can you use to create these layered elements? For the background, distant mountains or hills can do the track. For the middle layer, look for tree lines, intermediate distance hills, clusters of objects, rivers, or lakes. If you have open water such as a lake in the foreground, lowering your perspective, may allow you to see a reflection of your subject that can create additional interest.

Finally, for the front layer, any isolated object in the foreground can function for this purpose. It could be a rock, a cluster of grass, or even a person. The object in the foreground creates weight and balances the image. These should all be placed in the field of view to divide up your image and create interest. You get extra credit for atmospheric effects like fog, mist or haze. Remember you can introduce a subject in the foreground, or get lower to the ground to make something small look bigger.

Get ready to shoot

Okay, now that you have scouted your subject, planned your layers, and have positioned yourself you can grab your camera. Choose a lens that gives an appropriate field of view, remembering that really wide angle lenses don’t necessarily work for distant objects in landscapes because they tend to make them appear very small.

Compose your image well

With your camera and lens selection in hand, you need to compose the image in your frame. It is easiest to remember and implement the Rule of Thirds with layers at the thirds. Most modern cameras can be configured to have a grid with lines that divide the screen into nine squares (two horizontal lines and two vertical lines). Where these lines intersect is where you should put the objects(s) of interest, or the layers.

For example, placing the horizon on one of these lines is great. Having the sunrise positioned on one of the intersections of the lines is even better. If the sky is really interesting, put the horizon on the bottom third so the sky fills the top two thirds. If the ground is the most interesting, position the sky so that it is only the top third.

Remember you can also shoot landscapes in portrait orientation if that helps the composition. Some people don’t want to follow things like the rule of thirds, but until your photographs are regularly turning out as you want them, it is a good general approach.

Camera settings

In general, for each type of landscape there will be preferred camera settings that will make your photographs really pop. Don’t set your camera at its widest aperture for landscape photographs. You want to try to get as much of the subject of interest in focus. Using a smaller aperture will help, but don’t go too far or you will start introducing diffraction effects.

Use the hyperfocal distance of your aperture to your advantage and make sure you are focusing on an element in the middle ground. This will get all of your background in focus and much of your foreground too, especially if you are using a f-stop in the range of f/8 – f/11.

Finally, you should almost always use a tripod for landscape photography. This type of photography demands tack sharp images: achieve this by using a tripod.

Conclusion

Once you get used to this as an approach to your imagery, it will help you create better images and understand why you like some landscape images more than others.

Please share any additional tips you have for adding layers to your landscape photos in the comments below. Share your landscape images as well, we’d love to see them.

The post Using Layers and Foreground Interest for Better Landscape Photography by Mark C Hughes appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

January 22, 2018
Smartphone front cameras might soon be placed underneath the display

Photo by Julián Gentilezza

With smartphone displays getting larger and moving to an 18:9 (or 2:1 if you prefer) aspect ratio and display bezels shrinking at the same time, there is hardly any space left at the front of new devices for physical controls or other components.

Physical home buttons and fingerprint readers have already largely disappeared from the front and moved to the rear or edges of devices; however, moving the front camera to the rear isn’t really an option (for obvious reasons) which is why devices like the iPhone X or the Essential Phone have ended up with unsightly notches at the top of their displays.

A new patent by Samsung could offer a solution: moving the front camera and other components, such as the earpiece and proximity and ambient light sensors, underneath the screen. A camera that can see through the display would also offer an additional advantage, allowing manufacturers to place it towards the center of the screen so that the camera and the face of the person you’re talking to would be roughly in the same spot.

While Samsung’s idea definitely looks like an elegant answer to the space limitations at the front of modern smartphones, nobody has built a suitable camera yet. That said, an earlier patent that has been referenced by Samsung, Apple and LG among others, suggests using an OLED display with a very high refresh rate. The system could then activate and deactivate the screen at a very fast rate and allow for camera recording during the inactive periods.

As usual with patents, there is no way of knowing if and when the technology will make it into a production device, but the idea of a totally seam- and bezel-less display is certainly an appealing one.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

January 21, 2018
Learn about Photoshop blending modes in just 8 minutes

Confused about what all those layer blending modes do in Photoshop? Well, you don’t need to be any more. Jesus Ramirez of the Photoshop Training Channel has made an excellent short video tutorial that explains each mode in simple and easily-understood terms, so even beginners will get the picture.

His 8-minute Crash Course uses a gray tone chart over a normal photograph to show how each blending mode alters the way the chart appears. Jesus also demonstrates how different brightness values blend together, and how to use layer blending to control color density and saturation. Finally, he also explains why the modes are grouped into six sections on the drop-down menu, so you can quickly find the mode you need depending on the situation.

Check out the full video above. It’ll only cost you eight minutes of your life, and you’ll almost certainly learn something new unless you’re already a Photoshop expert.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

January 21, 2018
How to Photograph Light Trails from the Back Seat of a Car
Photographic light trails are a beautiful effect. You’ve no doubt encountered them before. Photographers perch over a vantage point and trace the trajectory of cars navigating an urban landscape using a slow shutter speed. The result renders a fluid trail tracing around the environment in a variety of shapes and colors.

Think of this project as a new take car light trails. We’ll still be recording passing light sources – but we’ll be capturing them from inside of the car instead. The result is just as striking inside as it is outside. You might have an old car or a fresh new one – it doesn’t matter! You get an impressive effect regardless.

Safety

First, a little caveat. Safety is the priority here. As we are going to shoot from the back seat of the car, you will need a pal as the driver. Do not try and take photos while driving – it can only end badly. Having a buddy as a driver will allow you to concentrate on what you are doing while the driver can focus on driving. It’s strictly a team effort.

Another safety point, try not to obscure the rear-view mirror. Hunch down a little to save the obstructing the driver’s view. For the best effect, photographing at night is ideal – so be extra aware of the limited visibility.

Equipment

What you need to do this:
- Camera
- Sturdy Tripod
- A friend
- A car
Setting up

It can be a rough ride trying to get everything set up in a moving car, so set up before hitting the road. First, clean the glass. Give your windshield and windows a good clean to avoid spending countless hours cloning out unfortunate bugs in post-production. Next, set up your tripod in the car. You’ll have to do some adjusting to get the camera level with the windshield.

Just keep in mind, the tripod just adds extra stability. It’s impossible to take a sharp slow shutter speed image while driving along in a fast car. But the tripod is far more stable than photographing by hand. I use a Manfrotto tripod because it’s nice and heavy to keep things a little steadier.

Sit the tripod so two legs rest against the front seats, with your camera peeking through the gap between the headrests. Be sure your camera is securely attached before heading out. You don’t want a camera bouncing around in a moving car.

Method

Once you are packed and ready, it’s time to set off. Take a few test shots on your camera. As I mentioned before, this project works best at night, otherwise, you won’t get much of a result at all – just blown out exposures. In addition, the variety of lights will be much more apparent at night, with a good mix of color and shape.

Next, try to familiarize yourself with the car’s handling so you can expect certain lumps or bumps and the car’s response. I’m not saying you have to become a car-psychic, but higher cars behave differently from one to another. The interior of a car also has an impact on how your photographs will turn out. You may have to incorporate a dashboard or interior lighting too. I chose to keep the dashboard lighting in my images to maintain the process of the photograph.

The next step is all experimentation! You’ll get an endlessly diverse result with every exposure. I recommend setting your camera to ISO 100 so you can use shutter speeds between 10 and 30 seconds. If you have a shutter release, give the B (Bulb) setting a try too. Just take a few moments to find a comfortable position. You can keep your tripod a little steadier if you brace yourself against the legs of the tripod and the front seat.

In this image, the driver is making a turn which creates the horizontal lighting effect.

You can choose to include your friend in the review mirror. Just make sure you warn them in advance and don’t obstruct their visibility for too long.

You can tell how rough this section of road was due to to the jagged lights. You can also see the illuminated settings on the dashboard. I felt that including them adds to the final image and the process leading up to each photograph.

By swiveling the camera to focus on a different area of the car you can record light sources from two angles of the frame.

On a rainy night, the windshield gets a little fogged, diffusing the lights at this interchange.

By unfocusing your camera, you can create some colorfully abstract patterns and bokeh.

Conclusion

Photographing light trails inside the car is a quick and easy way to capture a unique perspective. We know the world outside the windshield is a wonderful one, but sometimes it takes an abstract project like this one to truly bring it alive. While I’ll admit it ain’t Top Gear, it does have some pretty amazing results. I would love to see some of your results below!

The post How to Photograph Light Trails from the Back Seat of a Car by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
January 21, 2018
This is the world’s first variable graduated ND filter

Aurora Aperture has just introduced a very interesting little piece of photography gear: the world’s first variable graduated neutral density filter. Variable NDs are fairly common, as are graduated NDs, but until now nobody had thought to (or at least managed to) mix the two ideas into one.

Enter the Aurora PowerGXND: a variable hard transition graduated neutral density filter with continuously variable range of up to 5 stops (ND 0 – 1.5). Here’s a quick intro video to get you familiar with the new filter family:

And a 4K demo video that shows the filter in action:

Aurora has introduced, and is funding, this filter family through Kickstarter, where the PowerGXND is being offered in three sizes and with a variety of mounting accessories. You can get the filters in Large (105mm), Medium (82mm), or Small (62mm) sizes, which can be mounted onto a camera using either a “slim lens adapter” or a square filter holder adapter plate.

The filter also features hard stops at either end of the scale, multi-layer nano coatings to repel water, oil and dust, and a direct reading scale to help you dial in the exact stop value you’re looking for.

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To learn more about the Aurora PowerGXND, head over to the Kickstarter campaign where you can reserve your own (the project is already fully funded) for anywhere between $ 95 for the 62mm ‘slim’ kit to $ 340 for the 105mm w/ 130mm holder kit.

Press Release

Aurora Aperture Introduces World’s First Variable GND Filter Family

Irvine, California, January 15th, 2018 – Aurora Aperture Inc., a Southern California company specialized in photography filters, today has introduced the world’s first variable graduated neutral density (GND) filter family, the Aurora PowerGXND.

The PowerGXND family is an hard transition GND filter with a continuous range up to 5 stops (ND 0 – 1.5). GND filters are widely used in photography and videography for balancing a high contrast scene for proper exposure.

“The Aurora PowerGXND family is the world’s first variable GND filter,” said Jeff Chen, founder and CEO of Aurora Aperture Inc. “offering a wide range of light balancing capability for both photographers and videographers. Until now users need to carry multiple fixed stop GND filters with light reduction values of one, two, and three stop with no fractional stop value. With our variable GND filters, all you need is one filter and just rotate the filter until you see the desired result, it is truly that easy.”

The Aurora PowerGXND filter is based on the innovative Aurora PowerXND variable ND filter introduced in 2016. While keeping the original thin frame profile, a new hard stop feature is added to limit the filter rotation within the minimum and maximum settings. Another new feature is a direct reading scale so users can quickly dial the filter to a stop value easily.

Designed in California by Aurora Aperture, the Aurora PowerND filters are made from Schott B 270® i Ultra-White Glass. Filter surfaces are applied with PFPE hydrophobic and oleophobic coatings to repel water, soil, and dirt. With these multi-layer nano coatings, the Aurora PowerGNXD filters are capable of answering the demands of 4k videos and modern high density sensors.

There are three sizes available, S (62mm), M (82mm), and L (105mm) to cover lens filter thread size from 37mm to 82mm. Adaption plates and square filter systems (75mm, 100mm, and 130mm) are available for using the variable GND filters on different lenses.

Availability and Pricing

The Aurora PowerND family will be available through Kickstarter starting in January

2018. Dealers and general availability will start in May 2018. List price starts from US$ 149 to $ 329, depending on filter sizes.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

January 21, 2018
Shooting K?lauea Volcano, Part 4: From a helicopter
In the first part of this series, I talked about shooting Kilauea’s lava surface-flows using a drone. In the second part, I talked about shooting the lava with a DSLR from the ground. In the third, I talked about shooting from a dedicated lava-viewing boat. I’d like to finish this series with a short article about shooting the lava from a helicopter.

I will also try to sum up the lava shooting part of my Hawaii trip, and survey how it ended up being published.

I was very excited for my lava helicopter flight. After my amazing hike to the surface flows, where I also used (and melted) my drone, and after the sail a few days before, I had already gotten many epic shots and had much less pressure to produce something exceptional. My friend and I decided to only take a (relatively) short 1-hour flight, to experience another way of shooting the lava.

There are several helicopter providers available in Big Island, and they can easily be found online. Remember to schedule your flight several days (a week is recommended) in advance to make sure you get the time slot you want. We chose a sunrise shoot.

Upon reaching the hangar, the helicopter was already stripped of its doors (nothing will come between me and the lava!) and our pilot was making his preparations. We took off quickly and were on our way to the Pu?u ???? Crater.

If you intend to take an open-door helicopter flight in Hawaii, remember to dress well. Hawaii is generally not as hot as one would think (it even snowed on the Big Island recently!), and it can get very cold up in the air on the way to the lava. I’d suggest a serious warm jacket and thick pants to be comfortable. I was a bit under-dressed, so it was a bit chilly on the way there.

Upon reaching the crater itself, I started shooting with a medium telephoto (24-70mm). This would prove the last time I used this lens in the shoot, as I quickly switched to my 70-300mm to get better details.

A lava ‘bird’ in Pu?u ???? Crater.

The wonderful details inside the crater.

The crater was nice but I quickly got bored of it. I knew the real deal was the surface flows with all their beautiful diversity. I was adamant on getting some nice abstracts and natural patterns, so I asked the pilot to leave the crater and find the flows.

Once you start shooting the surface flows, it’s endless. There is so much to choose from and you need to manage the time wisely, since the really good light is extremely short-lived. Try to get the shot and already think on what you want to get next. It’s not my ideal method of producing good shots, but in these conditions, time is a serious bottleneck and there’s just no choice.

The lava surface flows look like painted brush-strokes on the dark earth.

Technically, just like the boat shooting, remember that you’re on a moving, vibrating, flying vehicle: exposure speed should be on the high side.

I was aiming for between 1/500 and 1/1000 of a second (with the 70-300mm) and managed to expose in that range most of the time. ISO settings depend on light, but since this was early morning, I had to use ISO 3200 or 6400 most of the time, unless I was shooting into the crater (where lava was brighter) or when the sun went up a bit. In these cases I went down to ISO 1600.

Contrary to my usual shooting style, I tried to put a large emphasis on abstracts. The lava creates such wonderful patterns and colors, it made sense to concentrate on those alone.

The hardening lava seemed like fabric.

Another cool thing about shooting from the air is the visibility of skylights – underground lava flows that have been partly exposed and are visible from the air.

To sum up, the helicopter shoot was a lot of fun. It’s all so easy: you don’t have to hike 8km, there are lots of opportunities, and you have total control and an infinite choice of subject matter (if the lava cooperates, of course).

We paid about $ 1,700 plus a well-deserved tip to the excellent pilot, whose hovering abilities were off the charts. Not a particularly cheap experience, but worth it to me. Remember, Hawaii is extremely far for me to reach and I wanted to make sure I made every effort to go back home with a good portfolio.

If you enjoy aerial photography and lava, I can highly recommend the heli flight in Big Island.

Series Epilogue

I was incredibly lucky in Hawaii. The surface flows outside the National Park, where I was allowed me to use the drone; the crazy eruptions before my eyes; the action and sunrise in the boat sail; every experience was fantastic. While the Big Island was just part of the trip and I took many more images in Kauai, the lava, and particularly the very first day of my trip, was definitely the main event, and for that I’m thankful.

The trip was very expensive. I knew it would be so in advance, but in the end I spent even more than I thought I would. That’s OK, but bare in mind that a visit isn’t going to come cheap, especially if you want to do all the lava shooting from a boat and a heli. That said, it was more than worth it—it was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken, a truly exhilarating experience that I will cherish forever.

The lava shots, and perhaps mainly the fact that I’d melted my drone, meant big publicity in all of the main photographic websites, which was very nice. In addition to lots of licensing deals, my images were on the front page of NatGeo.com (which more than paid for the drone repair) and also the Nat Geo international websites of about 10 countries. Stories about my shoot have been published in over 20 countries and surveyed in countless websites. I’ve been interviewed by Nat Geo and by several international photography and travel sites, as well as by Israeli news sites.

The point is, I had no idea what would come of the Hawaii trip before taking it. It could just as well be bad, with no visible surface flows or (as it is now) no lava in the Ocean Entry. It was a stroke of luck, and happily I was ready to take advantage. I’d like to encourage you to take the risks and, hopefully, you’ll get similar rewards.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.

Erez offers video tutorials discussing his images, and explaining how he achieved them.

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in locations such as southern Iceland, Northern Iceland, The Lofoten Islands, Patagonia, Greenland, Namibia and the Faroe Islands.

More in The K?lauea Series:
- Part 1: How to Melt a Drone
- Part 2: Grounded
- Part 3: At Sea
Selected Articles by Erez Marom:
- Parallelism in Landscape Photography
- Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
- Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
- On the Importance of Naming Images
- On Causality in Landscape Photography
- Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
- The Art of the Unforeground
- Whatever it Doesn’t Take
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January 21, 2018
4 Tips For Better Black and White Photos In Lightroom
Some photographers use Photoshop for converting photos to black and white, others use plugins. But what you might not know is that you can create beautiful black and white images with Lightroom. The benefit of keeping your workflow within Lightroom is that it saves you a lot of hard drive space (as the only way to send a full-quality photo file to a plugin or to Photoshop is to convert it to a 16 bit TIFF).

The tips in this article will help you create beautiful black and white photos in Lightroom without Photoshop or an extra plugin!

1. Shoot Raw

The first tip is quick and simple. You need to use the Raw format to make the most out of your camera and for Lightroom to get the best out of your photo files. JPEG files have already been developed and compressed by the camera and don’t contain the information that Lightroom needs to make a good black and white conversion.

2. Learn to use the B&W tab

The B&W tab is part of the HSL / Color / B&W panel. When you click on the B&W tab, Lightroom converts your photo to black and white. At the same time, it automatically adjusts the Black & White Mix sliders (see below) to the settings it thinks will give you the best black and white conversion.

As this is an automated process, it is quite likely that you’d like to take control and override the settings. But first, you need to know what the Black & White Mix sliders actually do. They work very simply and make the tones in your photo lighter or darker according to the underlying color.

The easiest way to explain this is with examples. The color photo below has a deep blue sky which would look great in black in white.

When you click on the B&W tab Lightroom carries out an automatic conversion. This is what the photo looks like.

And these are the Black & White Mix sliders as set by Lightroom.

Tweak it a bit

The conversion looks good, but you can take control by moving the sliders yourself to see what happens. In this example, you could move the Blue slider left to make the sky darker, which would make the conversion even more dramatic. Or you could move it right to make the sky lighter and give a softer, more subtle conversion. It’s up to you.

You can see the difference when I move the Blue slider more to the left.

Here the blue sider is at -30.

Or move it to the right and the sky gets lighter: Blue + 25

Skin tones

The next example shows how the Orange slider makes a big difference to Caucasian skin tones. Here’s a portrait converted to black and white in Lightroom, with the Black & White Mix settings as chosen automatically by Lightroom.

This is what happens when you move the Orange slider. To the left makes skin darker – to the right makes it lighter.

Orange at -31. It makes the model’s skin darker and brings out its texture. If that is not desired – move the Orange slider to the right.

Orange at 0.

Orange at +20

Experiment with the B&W Mix sliders to see the effect they have on your photos. Keep these points in mind as you do so:
- The sliders always affect the underlying colors in the photo. If it helps to see the colors in your photo so you can understand which tones are affected by which sliders, click on the Color tab in the HSL / Color / B&W panel. Click the B&W tab again to return to black and white and your settings will not be lost.
- The B&W panel is for subtle adjustments. If you move the sliders too far you’ll get strange effects like pixelation. Try not to go past +35 or -35.
- If there are people in your photos pay attention to skin tones when adjusting the Red, Orange, or Yellow sliders. Zoom into 100% to double check your adjustments haven’t done anything odd to their skin tones.
3. Apply Clarity wisely

Clarity is a powerful adjustment that increases contrast, emphasizes texture, and adds punch to your black and white photos. But it needs to be used wisely in order to avoid an overcooked look. If you are new to Lightroom this can be hard to judge at first, but a good rule of thumb is to always add a little less Clarity than you think you need.

Another tip is that Clarity may be more effective when it’s applied locally. A good example of this is a photo taken with a prime lens at a wide aperture, with the subject in sharp focus and a blurred background. In this situation, it’s best to apply Clarity to the sharp areas using a local adjustment.

Let’s look at some examples. In the first, the entire scene is sharp. You can apply Clarity globally (using the slider in the Basic panel) to photos like these. Here, I set Clarity to +80 to emphasize the texture of the metal.

In the second, I applied Clarity only to the cow’s head, but not to the blurred part of the photo, using the Adjustment Brush.

This screenshot shows the mask created by the Adjustment Brush.

4. Learn from Lightroom develop presets

Follow the tips in this article and you’ll have a good foundation for working in black and white in Lightroom. Now it’s time to get even more creative. There are lots of techniques you can use, from Tone Curve adjustments to Split Toning and manipulating contrast.

One of the best ways to learn these techniques is to download Develop Presets made by other photographers. These are helpful if you are new to black and white photography by giving you a quick and easy way to convert your photos to black and white without paying too much attention to the details.

But you can also learn a great deal from those presets by analyzing the settings used. Go into all the Develop module panels and see what the photographer has done. For example, I developed the photo below using a preset.

One of its characteristics is that there are no true black tones in the photo. This is confirmed by the gap on the left side of the histogram.

How has this been achieved? The answer is in the Tone Curve panel. The creator of the preset lifted the left-side of the Tone Curve up, which gives the effect seen in the photo.

Conclusion

Lightroom is a powerful tool for black and white conversions and you’ll be amazed at what it can do when you learn how to use it properly. The tips and techniques in this article will get you started. If you have any questions about this then please let us know in the comments!

SuperBlack Presets for Lightroom

Want to get a head start with black and white? Take a look at my SuperBlack Presets for Lightroom, developed to help photographers like you create powerful black and white photos in Lightroom.

The post 4 Tips For Better Black and White Photos In Lightroom by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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January 20, 2018