Photography Tips Guide

Archive for the ‘Photography Tips and Tutorials’ Category

One of the tips in Darren’s 12 Ways to Add Randomness and Creativity to Your Photography is to shoot in infrared. Check out 20 stunning infrared photographs on Imagekind.com below.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

20 Stunning Infrared Photographs

Weekly Assignment

Whether the weather was warm and sunny or rainy and frightful, we saw all kinds of it in our Weather assignment this week. It seemed like everyone had some weather to show off, which made our choices difficult. But we were still able to pick some favorites. Our winner this week was MatthewBotos‘ Foggy Sunrise. What we liked about this shot was that it almost looked like Mars rising in the sky with the red ball of fire. This contrasted nicely with the fog which just barely illuminated the landscape really bringing the attention to the red sunrise. Our first runner up was DigiCosmicAngel’s rainy diptych. You can almost feel the desire to get out of the house or in this case, the desire to go out and enjoy the rain after months of dry, sunny weather. Our final runner up was another black and white rain shot, but one by Ram-Z. We liked the shot because of it’s simplicity and effectiveness. It shows that you don’t need to have drama to create a well done weather shot. It was also very nicely timed with the frozen water drop.

As kids in the northern hemisphere are heading back to school, we decided to make this week’s assignment School Days. So whether you have kids in school, kids starting school, or no kids at all, show us what school days mean to you. As usual, we have a few rules for those who want to participate in the mini contest. First, your photo must have been taken between 26 August - 9 September 2009. Second, your post needs to contain “Assignment: School Days” and the date that the photo was taken. If it doesn’t have both of these things we will not include it in the judging. And last, your EXIF should be intact and it’s useful if you can include some of the main points such as the camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Next week’s assignment will be “Seven Deadly Sins” so lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride are all eligible for the next assignment. Stretch your imagination and show us how you would interpret one of these sins.

Hot Threads

• Objection to being photographed: When photographing people in public there is always the risk that they may not want to be photographed. Depending on your country there may be various laws that govern photographing people without their consent, but that aside, how do you do when people don’t want to be photographed, especially if they confront you?
• You know you’re getting into photography…: There are certain signs that you’re really getting into photography. Like when you spend more time looking at the photographer’s gear than looking at the bride or when you go to movies to look at the lighting rather than to watch the movie. So what are those things that make you think that photography may be becoming just a little too important?
• Slightly different light painting (still life): One of our forum members not only shared an excellent explanation of a lighting technique this week, but also shared a link to a video explaining the technique. Instead of using speedlights or constant light to light a subject, this post explains how to use light to paint the subject to create depth and shadow in just the way you want it.
• Hyperfocal or Point in distance: Hyperfocal distance is a way to determine how much of your subject will be in focus. It’s often mentioned along with landscapes, but can also be used on other subjects. But how many of us understand hyperfocal distance and even more importantly, how many of us actually use it?
• What would you do: As the weekend rolls around again, it gives us all another chance to play with editing a photo in our weekly post-processing thread. So whether you’re a novice or an expert, or just interested in learning a little more about the post-processing aspect of photography, come drop by the thread and try your hand at editing this week’s photo.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (30 Aug - 5 Sept ‘09)

Has the recession ended? It depends on whom you ask, but good luck finding someone without an agenda before giving you an answer. To play things safe, I’m gonna keep pinching my Lincolns and continue to be prudent with my camera gear purchases (and recommendations). Last week we talked about how to make your portable flash units compete with even expensive studio strobes and soft-boxes. With a bag of tricks, you can really make a couple of flashes perform wonders.

This shouldn’t be news to avid DPS readers. In that article I introduced a new set of products called Speedlight Pro Kits. It seems their reception has been good as they are now on back order at MPEX. We’ll I’m here to tell you they aren’t the only solid product in town. In fact, there really is only one other kit I’d recommend you pack regularly, it goes by the name, Honl.

What are the Honl products?

David Honl is a well-known photographer who turned a need into a product and then offered it to the rest of us. Already this appeals to me and should to you too. If a product truly has its genesis from a photographer, chances are it may solve a need of your own. Or many. What Honl offers are snoots, grids, gobos and my favorite gels, all reasonably priced and all well made.

When my set arrived in the mail, I was impressed before I even pulled out my camera. It came with a sweet nylon zip-up bag with clip. I have most everything they sell and it all fits nicely into the bag. Honi must know how chaotic and unorganized my gear gets.

So it fits my “it must be compact” rule to be included on my photo outings. Beyond it’s compactness, I also appreciate that it is all made from industrial strength nylon. The same material your camera bag is probably made from. That includes the wrap-around snoot. No plastic to get bent out of shape in your bag, just heavy-duty fabric that can be easily stored. His 8″ snoot is also one of the longer snoots I’ve seen as well. The gobo is simple yet nice. To me a gobo usually refers to a plate with a shape cutout placed in front of a light source. The image is then projected wherever the light shines (think Batman). Honl uses the term to describe its velcro reflector card. One side is white, the other is black. I guess the name works since it is blocking portions the light. Not much else to say about it. When you need it, you’ll know.

The Gel Kits

Where Honl really shines in my opinion is the gels. There are two gel kits each priced at $29, a color corrective kit, and a color effect kit. Once you have the velcro strap system, you could then go to any theater lighting store and choose from thousands of colors and with a little DIY work, make your own gels with velcro and all. I have both kits and each one comes with 5 different colors 2 each for a total of 10 gels. Awesome! You can either roll them up with a rubber band or keep them in the ziploc they come in. Seriously though, if you haven’t ventured into the world of colored light mods, Honl is where you should start.

In this video David Honl shows us the gels, a snoot and a gobo in action. Watching it really makes me want to start experimenting more with light colorization. Imagine the same image with standard flash colors. Yikes.

Conclusion

If you already have grids and snoots, there is going to be some overlap you should consider before buying. The Speedlight Kit for example has similar pieces. What I like about Honl is their simple velcro system and the easy on-off gels. Although I recommend all their products, I especially recommend the two gel kits.

Below is a quick demo of what they sell. They are available at Amazon for around $144

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

Honl Photo Speed System (Review)

Weekly Assignment

This week we completed the Album Cover assignment. In picking the winners this week, we kept a few things in mind. First, we looked at how well the photo fit a CD cover (square shots). Next, we looked at how well text would fit on there or if the text had been used effectively. There were cases where poor typography brought down the quality of an otherwise good image. With those thoughts in mind, our winner this week was schmelly’s “Beach Birds”. The colours seemed almost hyper-real, but the overall image was funny and clever and worked well given that the birds looked like they really were singing. Our first runner up was Gobra’s “Ravioli Tails”. Although the image really didn’t seem to have much to do with music, we kept coming back to it. With the way the girl is looking out of the frame it creates an engaging image and it had an excellent use of text. And last, but not least, wasPamSav’s “Another Place”. The cover was simple and effective and she was inspired by U2’s album “No Line on the Horizon”. Congrats to this week’s winners, and everyone else, keep trying! We love seeing such great entries in the competition.

We also started our Mixing Elements assignment. For this assignment, your photo needs to show two or more of the basic elements of earth, air, fire, or water (not just one). In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, your photo needs to have been taken between 5 – 18 August 2009, the EXIF should be intact, and it’s helpful if you can include the main points. In addition, your post must include the words “Assignment: Mixing Elements” and the date that the photo was taken. Next week’s assignment is “Two for One”. We want to see two images of the same subject with one key setting changed (e.g. shutter speed, aperture, focal length, etc). How does it effect your image? Do you like one better than the other? You may be surprised with how much one little change can make in your image.

Hot Threads

• Removal of Barbed Wire: Sometimes post-processing threads really stand out. And this is one of those. In this thread, Usuqa shows us how he removed barbed wire from a picture of horses though a lot of cloning.
• Canon 50mm f/1.2, f/1.4 or f/1.8: Threads about the various 50mm lenses out there have been popular this week. One forum user has been having problems using his 50mm f/1.2 while another is trying to make a decision about whether to get a 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8. Whether you’re an avid nifty fifty user or you’re just trying to make a decision about one, these threads may be useful to you.
• Portraits for families who are in the service: Regardless of politics, this is another opportunity for photographers to get out and donate some of their time. This thread links to a group that gets photographers to take free family portraits during the month of September of families who have a loved one overseas. If you’re interested come check out the thread.
• What picture are you most proud of?: If there was only one photo that you took that you could show people, what would it be? What is the image that you are most proud of? Come share it in this thread and see the other photos that members of DPS are also proud of.
• What Would You Do: Another weekend means it’s time for another week of our post-processing thread where you get to edit a photo from another forum member. Whether you’re new to post-processing or you can create an image that looks right out of a camera, you’re welcome to join in this thread to practice your post-processing skills.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (9-15 Aug ‘09)

The following post is from Australian photographer Neil Creek who is running a photo studio in The Melbourne Anime Festival convention on the 21st-23rd of this month, and is developing his blog as a resource for the passionate photographer.

Over the past few months, I have been running this class to introduce readers to the fundamentals of the camera: the physics behind it all, how lenses and optics work, the mechanics of the camera and how to set and determine a photo’s exposure. I’ve tried to cover the basics of the camera, but I’m sure there are lots of questions that have gone unanswered.

Here’s What We’ve Covered Previously in this Series:

Lesson 1: Light and the Pinhole Camera
Lesson 2: Lenses and Focus
Lesson 3: Lenses, Light and Magnification
Lesson 4: Exposure and Stops
Lesson 5: Aperture
Lesson 6: Shutter
Lesson 7: ISO
Lesson 8: Light Meter

Last time I threw the floor open to readers to ask questions on the topic of “A basic course on the camera”. There were many takers, and the topics covered were a lot broader than the original topic! Rather than pick out just a handful of questions, I’ve decided to try and answer most of them with brevity and accuracy. I haven’t answered every question, and there may be better or more detailed answers to the ones I have. I encourage other readers to add their own thoughts via the comments.

I would also like to thank reader Eric Carson who offered his own answers to many of the questions submitted. You can read his thoughts in the comments on the previous post.

Below I have paraphrased each question to get to the core, but you can read each question in full by clicking on the reader’s name. You will be taken to their comment on the previous post.

Answers

Q1. Suresh: Is there a way to decrease the light getting into the camera when you’re at the minimum aperture, but want a slow shutter speed for creative effect?

A1: In these cases, you are best using a neutral density filter. It blocks light in a controlled way without affecting the colour. You can also do this to a lesser degree with a polarising filter.

Q2. Peter: How can I best shoot a couple who have very different skin tones without running into trouble?

A2: The average difference in skin tones is well within the exposure range that a DSLR can effectively capture. If you light well enough for the dark skinned individual, then the fair skinned individual should still be correctly exposed. You can tweak this with exposure compensation.

Q3. Jason Rosenberg: What’s the best way to get good sharpness, contrast and saturation in-camera?

A3: This is a complex question as each is different, but the most important factors for each are: sharpness – ensure accurate focus and eliminate motion blur with a fast shutter; contrast – avoid lens flare with a hood and keeping direct light off the lens; saturation – you are mostly at the mercy of the elements but slightly under exposing and effective use of a polarising filter can both help.

Q4. Danferno: People often say they don’t want to put a cheap UV filter on an expensive lens, because it would ruin the quality. Is that true?

A4: This is a fairly subjective question. I feel that the added two optical surfaces of the UV filter (front and back) increase the risk of flare and reduce contrast/sharpness enough to prefer not to use them.

Q5. Reznor, Peter, Shaun and Martin Barabe: A flash photography 101 series?

A5: It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to do a better job on this subject than David Hobby at http://strobist.com. I recommend reading his Lighting 101 and Lighting 102 courses.

Q6. Phil: What is meant by the terms “elements” and “groups” in lens descriptions, such as “16 elements in 12 groups”?

A6: As hinted at in Lessons 2 and 3 on lenses, the actual optics in most camera lenses is very complex. To provide accurate zoom, focusing, colour and other critical functions a series of lenses are used. Inside the bodies of DSLR lenses are a series of a few or many lenses, each piece of glass being referred to as an “element”. Sometimes, these elements are actually physically glued together into doublets, triplets or more. These are called “groups”. The elements count includes all of the lenses in any groups in the lens.

Q7. Krystle: How can I get correctly exposed photos of fast moving sports in dimly lit stadiums?

A7: This is one of the most challenging problems in photography. You’re working at the limits of the camera and lens’ abilities. You can increase the ISO as you mentioned, and opening up the aperture as wide as possible will help, but beyond that, the best thing you can do is get more light into the camera. You need a very “fast” lens to do this, with a large diameter front element. These lenses are very expensive, and are the kind you see in the media pit at sporting events. On a more accessible budget, your best alternative is to look into the possibility of adding light with a flash. This is a complex issue in itself and may be frowned upon at certain venues. I recommend reading the aforementioned Strobist.com lighting series.

Q8. Raheel: What are recommended settings and techniques for capturing lightning?

A8: At night or in the evening, set to f8 or thereabouts, 100ISO, use a remote shutter release and tripod. Focus on the most remote thing in your scene and open the shutter. Wait for a lightning strike, and then close the shutter. If there is any light about, you may need to limit yourself to 30second or shorter photos. If you capture any lightning look at the result and if the bolt is too bright, or dark, close or open your aperture respectively. If the sky is too light or dark, decrease or increase your shutter time respectively.

Daylight lightning is much harder to capture as you are limited to far shorter exposure times to prevent blowing out the photo. Try using a narrow aperture, a neutral density filter or polarising filter. In both situations, day or night, keep taking photos constantly as long as the lightning is around.

Q9. Renj: I am experiencing severe flaring on one side of my photos, why and how can I prevent it?

A9: Usually problems with flaring are as a result of shooting with a very bright object in, or just outside the edge of the frame. Try and shade the lens to prevent flaring. However in your case, since the flaring is consistent and from the same position in each shot, it sounds to me more like you may have a light leak in your camera. Check it for damage, and make sure the lens is correctly mounted. If you still have problems, take the camera and example photos to a camera repair store.

Q10. Carrie Alfaro: I have some photos taken with low resolution. They look terrible when printed. How can I increase the resolution to improve them?

A10: I’m afraid that once the images are in low resolution there is nothing you can do to increase the resolution. You may be able to upscale and sharpen the images slightly in image processing software, but they’ll never be as good as images taken at high resolution to start with. I recommend using the highest resolution your camera can take. You can always downsize images that are too big. You can’t really do the reverse.

Q11. Robert: What are the best settings to photograph the moon?

A11: It depends on the phase of the moon, the clarity of the air and other factors, but I have had success shooting with settings similar to the following: f11, 1/200sec, ISO100. Zoom in as far as you can, put the camera on a tripod and use a self timer or remote shutter to minimise the effect of camera shake. Take your photo, look at the result and adjust. I’d recommend increasing your shutter speed if it is too bright, and opening your aperture if it is too dark, up to about f8. Beyond f8, I’d recommend increasing the ISO.

Q12. Karese: What is the best way to photograph objects in display cases or museum displays behind glass and in low light?

A12: You may not have the option to try all these suggestions in a busy museum, but try and do what you can. To shoot with low light and no artificial light, put the camera on a tripod and use longer exposures. To avoid reflections, hold a large black sheet or card behind the camera from where you can see the reflections coming. A polarising lens may also help to reduce reflections.

Q13. Dave Williams: I would like some advice on flash sync speed.

A13: I’m sorry Dave, but flash sync speed is a topic I’m not familiar enough with to give you decisive answers. I would recommend you search for an answer to your questions at http://strobist.com My apologies for not being able to offer more help than that.

Q14. Ajith: My lens says the aperture is f4-5.6, yet I can set the aperture to f11. How is this possible?

A14: The aperture range described on your lens is not the range of apertures that your lens is able to use. Rather it is the range of maximum aperture settings it can use at various zoom lengths. Zoom lenses offer a range of focal lengths, but changing the focal length usually also changes the aperture. At longer focal lengths, zoom lenses are typically not able to achieve as wide an aperture setting as they are at shorter focal lengths. Your lens can go to f4 when it is at its widest and 5.6 when it is at its longest. Some very expensive high-end lenses are able to achieve a long focal range, with maintaining a fixed aperture, such as the popular 70-200mm f2.8.

In Conclusion

This post concludes the Photography 101 series, A Basic Course on the Camera. I hope that you have enjoyed the lessons, and now have a better understanding of how your camera works, why it’s important to learn about the camera, and are already seeing an improvement in your photography as a result.

If you have enjoyed the series and want more, fear not, this is not the last you will see of Photo 101. I am working on a secret project related to Photo 101, and hopefully will be able to reveal it to you all soon. Keep watching Digital Photography School for news.

Going forward I would like to start a new series in the near future, Photography 102 – A Basic Course on Taking Photos. In this course I plan to look at photographic technique, and applying the lessons we have learned in Photography 101. It will be a more practical course, and will aim to help you improve your photography by providing instructions, tips and techniques for a variety of real-world settings.

Until then, class dismissed!

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Photo 101: Answer Time