Tales of this Knucklehead Photographer

Last month I was approached by my good friend and fellow photographer Ann Torrence to take an outdoor portrait of her for her soon to be released book. She wanted a natural looking image to be used in the About the Author section of the book. We needed to take the picture before April 18th. The reason for the timing of the session was that Ann was preparing to embark on a Colorado River rafting expedition and would be cutting her hair extremely short the next day (and by extremely short, I mean BUZZ CUT short!) and wanted her portrait to portray her with her hair at a normal length.

After a bit of discussion, we opted for taking the image along Highway 89 (the subject of Ann's book) in downtown Salt Lake City. I envisioned an image with her standing in the middle of the street with the background showing the highway (State Street in Salt Lake City) leading up to the capitol building. Ann's idea was a picture of her along the highway with the Salt Lake City City-County building in the background. We shot both versions and had planned to let blog readers vote on which one would be used in the book.

Now for the Knucklehead part.

After our short streetside photo session, I re-packed my gear and we hopped into my car for the short ride back to Pictureline to drop Ann off (we left her car there). I then went about my normal routine for the rest of the day with my gear stowed in the trunk of my Saab - forgetting all about Ann's images.

My standard routine after a shoot is to copy the images from the memory card to my redundant external harddrives. In this case, I got busy for the remainder of the day and did not do so (big mistake #1).

The next morning I had a portrait session scheduled in the studio with one of my models Kylee. When she arrived we chatted a bit about the images we were going to shoot while I finished prepping my gear. Without a bit of hesitation while we were talking I grabbed my 5DmkII and instinctively formatted the card (big mistake #2). Now had I remembered that Ann's images on that card I could have pulled the card immediately and used another card (big mistake #3). Instead, I went on with the shoot not even remembering the Highway 89 outing from the day before.


Kylee's portrait from the next morning session

Later that afternoon when copying the images from the day's shoot I had what can best described as a Panic Moment. We've all had them. It is the moment that you realize that you've made a major blunder and suddenly the temperature in the room increases what feels like 20 degrees. It was at this moment that I remembered Ann's pics were on the freshly formatted card I used for Kylee's shoot. It was at near the same moment when I realized that Ann was also sporting a new Buzz cut in preparation for her trip and a re-shoot was out of the question for at least 3-4 months.

Trying not to overreact, I remembered that I had previously purchased software to rescue a corrupt memory card. The software is DataRescue's PhotoRescue and I blogged about it back in 2007. Even though my memory card was not corrupted, I decided to give the software a run to see what it could find on the card. The good news was that it found and recovered about half of the images from the shoot. Even better, the ones it recovered were the pose/background shots that Ann preferred.

Disaster avoided!

Last week Ann telephoned to tell me about her trip. It was at this time that I came clean with her about our photoshoot and my knuckleaded move. I'm happy to say that I have never heard her laugh as hard as she did when she heard the story. Whew!

In light of this, we have instituted a new policy for the staff at Legacy One Photography (umm, that's only me). Before any cards are formatted the photographer will take a moment and review the images on said card.

Now if anyone wants to make me feel better, take a moment and share one of your Knucklead stories in the comments. If I don't see any I guess I will go on thinking I'm the only one who does these things :)

Photographing Children - Some of What I've Learned

Anyone who has spent much time photographing children will probably agree with me when I say that there is a special place in heaven for photographers that specialize in taking pictures of children. Taking pictures of youngsters can be one of the most rewarding tasks, but it can also be one of the most frustrating.

Specializing in stock photography gives me the freedom to photograph a wide range of subjects, but one subject that seems to be frequently revisited is children. While I don't count myself as an expert child photographer, I have learned a few things along the way that I thought I'd share in today's post.

GET ON THEIR LEVEL

The feature image of cute little Saylor on the top of this page is a perfect example of this. While doing the studio portrait session she was acting a little bit shy and put her head down on the floor. When I saw this, I quickly got down adjacent to her to capture the scene. By putting my camera literally on the floor, I was able to create a viewpoint that few adults (grandparents etc.) in her life will ever see of her.

One thing I would have liked to do different on this shot was to have quickly dropped my lights to a lower position. The height of the lightstands eliminated any catchlights in her eyes. However, if I had taken the time to adjust the lights I could have missed the shot - which brings me to my next point:

BE READY

Kids, and especially babies, can change moods in what seems like a microsecond. The photographer can come into the shoot with a distinct plan on what and how they want to shoot and an upset child can quickly derail it.



This image of baby Chloe is an example of this. The plan for the session was to create newborn images for the birth announcement. Unfortunately, Chloe didn't get the memo. She wanted no part of being anywhere but in mom or dad's arms. During the shoot she became extremely unhappy being in front of the lights with mom. To help soothe her, dad took her into his arms and stepped just out of the frame. Seeing this tender scene I quickly spun a softbox around and took the picture. The spontaneous un-planned image became the final shot for the announcement.

EXAGGERATE

Similar to the first tip of getting on their level, I like to also exaggerate parts of a scene when photographing children. This might involve an extreme wide angle close-up shot, over-the-top laughing or like in this example shooting from a very high angle.



For this stock image, which is one of my top sellers, I stood on a step ladder to create the look. When looking at the image the viewer doesn't get the impression that it was taken from nearly 9 feet up, just an exaggerated perception that these are little girls.

INVOLVE THINGS FROM EVERYDAY LIFE

In addition to the simple backgrounds that seem to typify my studio work, I like to do environmental portraits of children. For me this means shooting images of them involving things from their everyday life. Toys, pets, in their room, etc.



Here is an example of including a pet in the image. While having a rambunctious golden retriever in a portrait can be a challenge (note that he didn't even look at me!), the inclusion adds another element to the image and can be especially meaningful to the family.

KEEP IT SHORT

Especially with babies, keep the session short. Don't worry about capturing numerous shots, but try and get one or two keepers. I know that when I've tried to keep shooting to get "that one shot" after the child has become bored/tired/upset with the experience, it seems to do nothing more than frustrate me, the subject and the parents.



In a studio session of Chloe (a few months after her newborn pic above), this image of the happy little girl is literally one of only two shots she smiled in and it was taken right at the beginning of the shoot. Shortly after this was taken, she decided that she wanted no part of what we (her parents and I) had planned for her. We could have stopped after 5 exposures and already had our best for the day.

ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS (PARENTS)

When photographing children it is a parent's instinct to want to help the photographer make the child smile. This can be a frustrating thing for the photographer. Inevitably, the parent can help get a great expression but in it the child is looking off to the side and not at the camera. My recommendation is to graciously talk with mom and dad before shooting and explain that you can get better results if they are off to the side and out of the child's sight.

These are just a few of the things that come to mind when I think about photographing children. I would love to learn what other photographers do to create great kid photos. If you've got something you'd like to add, please chime in with a comment or two.

Headshot on White

One of my favorite models, Kylee, needed a simple headshot for an application so she came by the studio on Saturday so I could shoot it. This gave me an opportunity to work in the studio environment for one of the first times with the two White Lighting monolights with large octaboxes that I recently added to my lighting setup.

By using the lighting setup diagrammed below, I was able to create a portrait isolated on a pure white background without the need for additional background adjustment or "cutting out" in Photoshop. The addition of the two octaboxes (36" and 48") to my existing three softbox inventory has greatly increased my versatility in the studio. Additionally, I really like the round(ish) catchlights from these lights compared to the rectangular shaped catchlights I get with my large softboxes.



Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/100 second, f/8, ISO 100

Using On Camera Flash for a Quick Outdoor Portrait

One of my quick-and-easy methods of shooting outdoor portraits is to position the subject with the sun at their back and then fill in their faces with an on camera flash. While this method of lighting is probably considered somewhat remedial for many experienced photographers, it is a technique that I get asked about on a fairly regular basis.

For this portrait of Bret and Jarica, I waited until the setting sun was just above a nearby building (the Federal Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City) and the shade line was closing in on the bench they were sitting on. By waiting for the last few minutes of sunlight, the background was almost entirely in shade. I positioned the bench so that the sunlight would provide a rimlight around Bret and splash a small amount onto his face.

Once I had the subjects in position, I adjusted the flash compensation of my on-board flash (Canon 580EX II) to fill in the shade with a natural looking light. I accomplished this with a minus 1 f/stop setting relative to the natural light. The camera was set to A/V (aperture priority) setting with the lens wide open at f/4.

When I have an assistant with me I will frequently shoot a portrait like this with reflector light to fill in the faces. However, on an evening like this one where I was working alone, a strobe created fill light serves as a nice substitute.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/400 second, f/4, ISO 400

Recapping the Budget Studio Lighting Mini-Clinic

Last night's Photowalking Utah mini-clinic at the Salt Lake City library was a great success. Even though the event didn't feature any walking (unless you count the trek up to the 4th floor), it turned out to be our most attended event to date with 86 photographers participating. The theme of the clinic was "How to Get Great Studio Lighting Results for Under $250". In the session I showed how to create nice studio portraits using some of the absolute lowest price lighting available.



I really enjoy sharing my somewhat limited photography knowledge with others and doing this through the Photowalking Utah group has become a nice venue for teaching and learning. Even though the internet provides an abundance of free information for photographers to learn from, there is just something about getting several dozen like-minded folks together that increases the ability to share and learn.



As a follow-up to the session, I want to take a few moments and share some of the simple setups I demoed along with some links to el-cheapo budget lighting equipment.



I began with a balanced two-light setup. This is my absolute least favorite setup and one that I rarely (if ever) use. This is the lighting arrangement that I was trained to use back in the eighties during my days as a school picture photographer (eek!).



After showing this setup, I made a quick change to the lighting arrangement to give a key-light with on-axis fill. Unlike the previous balanced setup, on this configuration I set the key light at 1.5 f/stops more powerful than the fill light. This is an extremely simple yet useful setup that I was taught by my friend Kenneth Linge. I use a variation of this quite frequently.



After these two initial setups, I showed several more ways to create different feels by moving the lights around. While all of the arrangements can be classified as rather simple, they can serve as a nice starting point for a photographer new to using off-camera studio lights.



Here is a setup using a shoot-through umbrella for the key (or main) light and a small softbox for the hair light. The top image of Diane in today's post was shot at the clinic using this arrangement.



Another variation of the previous setup involved bringing in a reflector to add light to the darker side of the model's face. Unlike the diagram below which shows a $50 reflector, in keeping with the budget theme of the night I used a $1 piece of white foam board.



One of the last setups I demonstrated involved using a single light above and behind the model. I then used two of the $1 white boards taped together to create a V-Card held under the model's face to reflect light back onto her face. This gave a nice rim-light combined with a very soft light on her face.



For the demonstration I used a pair of probably the cheapest mono-lights available - Adorama Budget 100 Studio Monolights. They can be picked up for around $50 each. LINK



I'm really thankful for having the opportunity to facilitate classes like this. If the turnout at last night's event is any indication, I expect we will see a great turnout for tomorrow's Studio Lighting Photowalk. It promises to be a lot of fun!

p.s. Big props go out to Diane for being such a patient model and not minding that my shots of her were scrutinized in front of everyone on the projector screen :)

My New Year's Resolution: Using a Monopod

image by Scott Jarvie

One of my photography resolutions for the new year was to use a monopod for the majority of my shooting. The reason is quite simple: to create sharper images.

Two photographers whose work I greatly admire, Kenneth Linge and Yuri Arcurs, use a monopod the majority of the time. Kenneth (international award winning wedding/portrait photographer) uses his mostly while shooting outdoor portraits with a 70-200 lens using available light, and Yuri (one of the top selling stock photographers in the world) uses his for all his commercial work. The final thing that pushed me over the edge to begin using this piece of equipment was this video that Yuri posted on his blog:



The statement that Yuri makes in the video that you don't want to be throwing out your #1 pick when selecting images because of blur hit home with me. Having absolute perfect focus on stock photography is critical, and I have had to often discard an image because of slight camera shake.


Kenneth Linge using his monopod

One thing that has happened since I have begun with the monopod is that I have received numerous requests about the equipment I am using. My setup is very similar to the one Yuri describes in the video. The great part is that I already had most of the pieces and only had to add the relatively inexpensive monopod to complete my kit. And guess what? My mother knew what I wanted thanks to Michelle and I found it under the tree on Christmas morning (Thanks mom!).

Here are the pieces I have assembled for my setup:

Monopod: Manfrotto 334B Automatic Monopod
Head: Manfrotto 488RC2 Ball Head
Bracket: Custom Brackets QRS-H2 rotating bracket

For the bracket, I use the QRS-H2 which normally has a flash mount. I have removed the mount (simple to do using an allen wrench) for everyday use. The reason I use this bracket versus the more compact Digital PRO-SV is twofold. The first reason is that I already had this bracket (hey, I saved +$200), and the second reason is that I can attach the flash mounting arm if I am shooting in a scenario where I need the strobe.

I have now used this setup for a half-dozen shoots and must say that it is becoming a very natural part of my work. I find that after a rather brief adjustment period, I don't feel as though it is an inconvenience at all to use. In fact, I think it has made it easier for me to shoot. And the final result, I have absolutely noticed that I have discarded fewer images, both in-studio and outdoors, for camera shake.

Digital Pinhole Camera Follow-up

After last week's blog post about my daughter's Digital Pinhole Camera science project, I received numerous requests to see the actual camera she built. So we did a quick photo-shoot this morning to show you her creation.

The design is very simple and straightforward, a box with a pinhole in it. She began with a leftover Christmas gift box. The next step was to paint the interior flat black and attach a piece of white paper in the back to act as a screen to display the pinhole image. After doing this, she covered the whole box in aluminum foil tape to ensure that it didn't have any light leaks.



The next step was to create the lens. For this, I cut out a piece of an aluminum soda can with scissors and she carefully punched a hole in it with a needle. This small piece of metal (approx 2x2") was then placed over a hole that she cut in the front of the box and sealed with more foil tape.



After putting the lens in place, I helped her cut a hole next to the pinhole to be able to attach a digital camera body and lens. After cutting the hole, she lined it with a rubber gasket that we made out of an old bicycle tube. The camera was placed at a slight angle to be able to capture the pinhole image projected on the back of the box. After mounting the DSLR to the box, she put foil tape around the opening to seal off any light leaks.

Once the camera was complete, she then went to work testing it out. I helped her by providing an exposure starting point, which was 30 seconds at ISO 3200 with the DSLR lens wide open at f/4. Working with a classmate, they worked on bracketing their exposure times to find out which would give the best result.



One thing she learned in testing the camera was that the viewfinder of the DSLR had to be covered. Light was entering the box through the viewfinder during the beginning of the exposure and causing problems. One other recommendation that I would add is that a sharper image could be obtained by using a smaller aperture on the DSLR, but she liked having the relatively shorter exposure times with the digital camera set wide-open.

I have to admit that I had a lot of fun helping with this project. The final results were much better than I expected when she started.

One final thing that needs to be noted is the website that she found when researching the project. The page located at ScienceBuddies.org helped her with her design of the project:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Photo_p005.shtml

The Canon 24-105, 5D Mark II and Sharp Image Results

When it comes to making a quality photograph, focus is near the top of the list for requirements. Like any rule, there are always exceptions but the general reaction for the human mind when looking at an out of focus image is that something is not right and it feels uncomfortable.

In stock photography, sharp focus is even more important and is an absolute necessity. While a portrait can get by being a bit "soft", in the ultra-competitive world of stock images this just won't fliy.

With this being said, I have to say that I have been blown away at the sharpness results I am receiving with my current camera/lens combo. The 5D Mark II paired with the 24-105 f/4L IS lens have proved to be a great duo. I was pleased with the focus I was able to achieve with the lens on the original 5D, but the results I get now are even better.

I have read on the Internet and heard from some photographers that the 24-105 is not a great lens as far as sharpness is concerned. No less than the self-proclaimed "World's Top Selling Microstock Photographer" Yuri Arcurs stated recently on his blog that this lens is not sharp enough below f/9 for stock photography. This has not been my experience.

Today's sample image is from a recent stock shoot I did in my studio. The enlarged portion of the shot is a 100% crop of Emily's right eye. Since I needed a narrow depth-of-field to sufficiently blur the text on the book, I used a near wide-open aperture of 4.5. Note the detail in the eyelashes and the skin below the eye. Also notice that this was not an extreme close-up image, but a fairly wide head/shoulders capture. This eye is definitely sharp enough for my needs.

One more thing to add is the technique I use to achieve focus. Since the majority of my photography involves pre-set models and not rapid-fire shooting, I don't need an ultra-fast focus system. I have my 5D bodies set for a "center only" focus point. When shooting, I put this point on the line between color and white on the model's near eye and lock in focus. Once I have this focus, I recompose and release the shutter. I have also taken to using a monopod in nearly all my shooting to further minimize the effect of camera-shake on the image.

The combination of this technique, a 5D Mark II and the 24-105 f/4L serve me well. What about you? What techniques/equipment do you find works best?

Photoshop Tip: Blend a B&W Layer to add Edginess

Since the majority of my photo editing is for my stock portfolio, I tend to be rather vanilla with my editing. By that I mean that I keep my images pretty true to how they were shot. For uses outside of stock however, a friend of mine recently showed me a quick way to add edginess to an image by blending layers.

I will be the first person to tell you that I am no master of layer blending in Photoshop (I will defer that title to Ann Torrence, her knowledge on the subject is amazing!), but I really like the look that this effect creates.

In today's before/after image, I opened one of my shots from last weekend in Photoshop. The sample on the left is unedited other than the RAW conversion. On the other image (right side), I only added this simple process in Photoshop:

1. Create a copy of the original layer above itself
2. Desaturate the new layer (apple-shift-U on a Mac)
3. Set the blending of the new layer to 'Overlay'

If you want to further tweak the settings, try different blending modes (soft light, hard light, etc.) and play around with opacity.

And that's it. A quick and fairly easy way to add a more dramatic look to an image.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 100

Quick Tip: An ID Tag for Your Camera

Here's a quick and easy tip that could pay for itself a thousand times over.

While at a recent Photwalking Utah event, I noticed that photographer Ann Torrence had a small ID tag attached to her camera. When I asked her about it, she told me that it was a tag designed to put the owner information on pet collars in case the animal is lost. I immediately thought "What a great idea!".

I made a trip to my local PETCO store and used their machine to have a tag made for each of my cameras. I opted for the smallest version (about the size of a penny) and it is completely out of the way on the camera body. The total cost to label my gear: $12.

Now, let's just hope that if my camera is ever lost that the person who finds it is honest (fingers crossed).

Create Friendly Backgrounds with a Wide Aperture

One of the easiest tips I give beginning photographers that are looking to improve the look of their portrait shots is to shoot at the widest possible aperture. This means the lowest f/ number on the lens. In doing so, what could be a boring or distracting background translates into a nice smooth surface helping to accentuate the subject.

For today's example image, I photographed Brenda on the streets of Seattle during last weekend's shoot. I spotted a surface with a great blue reflection that would help enhance Brenda's eyes. By shooting wide open (f/4 in this case), I was able to smooth the harsh circles in the background into an interesting design. Using a long focal length lens helped to further add to the effect.

When shooting outdoors using reflector lighting (like in today's image), I set my camera on AV (Aperture Value) Auto mode and leave the lens aperture wide open. Doing this lets the camera determine the appropriate shutter speed and frees me up to concentrate on composition.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 200

Creating a photo with a pure white background

Love it or hate it, a popular style of shooting in stock photography is the photographing of models or objects against a pure white background. By pure white I mean a background with absolutely NO detail, RBG values of 255,255,255 - Nothing!

There are an abundance of ways to create this look from simply cutting out the subject in Photoshop to doing it entirely 'in camera'. I prefer to go for the latter method.

For today's featured image of Michelle holding a weight, I relied on a studio setup to create the majority of the 'pure white background' in camera and then finished off the look in post-processing. To setup the shot, I placed two monolights shooting through white umbrellas onto the background of white seamless paper.



I set the monolights so that the exposure on the background was in the range between f/11 and f/16. For me, using lights of different power it took a small bit of adjustment to get it right.

The next step was to place Michelle in front of the white background at a distance that would give a nice rimlight from the background reflection but not overpower her. Since this photo was for a stock purpose I allowed the light to reflect a bit aggressively onto the left side of her face. Had this been for a portrait, I would have adjusted differently to eliminate this.

I lit Michelle with a combination of a large softbox and a reflector. The exposure metering for her was f/8. This is what I set my camera on. By doing so, I had a background that was sufficiently over-exposed but not so much that it caused excessive blow-back which can lead to problems like lens flare, blown edges and such.

In post-processing, I shoot RAW so the first step is to convert the RAW file in AdobeCameraRaw (ACR). My default setting in ACR is to show pure white highlights as red and pure black lowlights as blue. As can be seen in the screenshot, my shot came close to having a pure white background with very little adjustment.



Now, with the majority of the work done, I open the image to complete editing in Photoshop. I know from what I saw in ACR that I will have a few areas to clean up to guarantee a pure white background.

After opening the image in Photoshop, the first thing I do is create a temporary Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and pull the brightness slider all the way to the left. What this does is show me the areas that I have to finish cleaning up to get the desired white background. Any area that is not absolute white (255,255,255) will be immediately apparent.



To clean up these areas, I will use one of a couple methods. If it is an easy spot in a corner or two, I will simply create a new layer and paint the area(s) white. If it requires a bit more finesse because it's around the model (like this image), I will use a levels adjustment layer along with some vector masking. Once I get the background how I want it, I then delete the temporary Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer that I created.

After creating my white background, I then go on to complete my processing including other steps like facial retouching, whitening eyes and teeth, sharpening, etc.

As you can see by this example, the easiest way to create the background and my preferred method is to do as much as possible in camera. In doing so, the Photoshop work required for a series of images is minimized and this dramatically drops the time needed sitting in front of the Mac.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/8, ISO 100

Photographing for stock with the end user in mind

When I plan a stock photo shoot, I always think about how designers/advertisers/editors can use the images I create in their work. Chances are, if I can't think of multiple uses for an image then it won't end up selling very well. This is sometimes hard to come to grips with. Early on in my stock shooting, I had some pretty artsy shots that I really liked and thought would be big sellers. To my surprise and disappointment, many of these images ended up not selling at all.

Today's image is an example of shooting with the end use in mind. Since the passing and implementation of California's new cellphone usage law on July 1st (link), I figured that there would be a need for fresh images portraying cellphone use while driving. With this in mind, I took one of my models to an empty parking lot earlier this month and photographed several scenes of her using a cellphone while driving.

In this case it worked. This morning I awoke to find one of my preset Google Alerts had located multiple uses of my image of a driver texting. The Christian Science Monitor provides content for television station websites throughout the country and for their story on texting-while-driving they purchased this image from my iStockphoto portfolio.

As John "Hannibal" Smith said, "I love it when a plan comes together".

Cross Lighting In Studio

I spent some time yesterday with a couple young men in the studio. My goal going in was to shoot them with serious expressions against a dark background.

In today's image of Ryan taken during the session, I used a cross lighting type setup (diagram below). The arrangement consisted of a of a softbox camera left lighting the model's right side and a second softbox on the opposite side of the model lighting his back and left side.



I like the results achieved. If I were to do the shoot again, I would lower the power on the back light a small amount. Even though the detail was retained on the side of Ryan's face in the original image, I lost detail and blew out the highlights a bit in processing.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

Stock Photos: Part of a Bigger Picture

One hurdle that photographers often encounter when selling stock photos is that (in many cases) their image will become part of a bigger project. Unlike portrait and fine-art photography where the photographer creates a final product, stock photos are frequently incorporated into a larger design.

One change I had to make to my workflow was to minimize the post-processing I did on images that would be included in my stock portfolios. Initially this was difficult, since I felt the images needed a bit more punch. I am now comfortable with the process and always think about the "bigger design picture" when processing my stock images.

Todays image is a perfect example of this. Designer John Kicksee uses stock images in his designs of book covers. For the cover of Aces High, John incorporated my image of a crime scene victim into the design.



When looking at the original image, you can see the vast amount of changes he made to it for inclusion into the final piece. In addition to a crop and horizontal flip, John took a lot of effort to transform the photo into pseudo-artwork. The final product is incredibly better than it would have been if he had used my photo un-edited.

This is just one more thing to consider when shooting, editing and ultimately selling stock photos.

Brittanie in Black & White

During last week's stock photo shoot with Brittanie I took a small detour and captured a few portraits for non-stock use. This is one of the images. In this shot, I wanted to shoot her in a non-classical type of pose. The goal was to have everything but her skin blend into the background. Here is a diagram of the two-light setup used.



What this diagram doesn't show is the large gobo between the key light (on the right) and the background used to eliminate light spill. Additionally, I placed a 3x4' piece of black acrylic in front of Brittanie to use as a table and to add a subtle reflection to the bottom of the shot.

I'm pleased with the result, especially the lighting on her face which converted very nicely into black & white. If I were to shoot this again, I would use one additional light as a low-power hairlight to add a slight bit of separation between her shoulders and the background.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

Using a Slow Shutter Speed for Effect

Back when I first began using an SLR camera, one of the first rules that I learned was to maintain a fast enough shutter speed to eliminate blur when shooting handheld. The formula that my high school photography teacher (Mr. Cresop, I wonder where he is now) taught was to use the lens focal length to determine the shutter speed (for example, for a 50mm lens the minimum shutter speed would be 1/50 second). This advice is still good to use today. Even with things like image stabilization, a fast shutter speed equates a sharper image.

On occasion though, a longer shutter speed can add an interesting blur to the image. In today's image, my friend Kenneth Linge borrowed my camera to demonstrate this recently in downtown Salt Lake City. He had the model stand very still while photographing her as a couple guys walked past. The relatively long shutter speed of 1/10 second gave a nice motion blur to the onlookers. By bracing himself on a lamp pole, he was able to minimize the camera movement and keep the model acceptably sharp.

This is another example of when breaking the "rules" of photography can work in the photographer's favor.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/10 second, f/25, ISO 160

Traveling Light: My 2 Speedlight Portrait Setup

I have recently added a second speedlight to my out-of-the-studio kit with the plan of being able to travel a bit lighter and more efficient. In the past I would bring along a monoilght for off-camera lighting at events, but now the second speedlight negates that need.

Today's portrait of Pastor Steve at last weekend's wedding shoot was captured with this two-speedlight setup. I had a Canon 580EXII on my camera with a 430EX on a lightstand with an umbrella to the right. The two strobes communicated with each other via IR. I set the on-camera strobe at -2/3 f/stop to serve as a fill light and set the off-camera strobe at +1/3 f/stop to be my main light. I then put my camera on manual with an exposure of 1/60 second at f/5.6. The TTL (through-the-lens) function of the speedlights managed their power output.

As you can see from the image, this setup worked well. The biggest advantage over using a monolight was that I didn't have to re-meter anytime I moved the off-camera light. The TTL adjusted the power output to my exposure. I could move the off-camera light back for larger groups and in for individuals without worrying about exposure changes. And, unlike my monolights, I was able to operate cord-free since the lights are battery powered.

Even though this setup works well, I think that in the future I will add one more Speedlight to add even more versatility.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

I Dream In Color (guest post by Jeremy Hall)

Today's image was created by Jeremy Hall. Jeremy is a friend of mine that I met through Photowalking Utah. I saw this image on Jeremy's Flickr photostream and asked him to write about how he created it.

By Jeremy Hall

I have some great friends and co-workers that step in as my models when I have ideas for new shoots. Good people. Kattie is a beautiful girl working in our customer service department that has very photogenic eyes and an appreciation for taking good photos. I have had in my mind some ideas for taking a series of photos of just eyes or tightly composed face shots, and she was willing to be my first victim.

After taking a series of shots, angles and lighting adjustments I went to work in Lightroom seeing what I had to work with. Lately I have been spending a lot of time trying to learn new development techniques in Photoshop, so when I take photos I tend to view them as a canvas ready to be brought to life. This is not to say I don’t try to get a perfect image out of the camera without processing, but the processing has been my interest of late. There is so much to learn and evolve in photography that I love!

One thing I especially enjoy about photography is the willingness of most other photogs to share their knowledge. Sure, there are some “secret sauce” business things that tend to stay protected; but when it comes to creating beautiful art, most are willing to help along those of us earlier in the learning process. With that in mind, I am always happy to share what I know to help others learn like I am.

Here are some notes of what I did with this image:

1. Shot normally with single soft box and model facing light at slight angle

2. Slightly underexposed in Lightroom to maintain shadow detail.

3. Photoshop channel mix layer for high key b&w conversion with selective mask to avoid eyes. For the b&w I just play with the sliders until I achieve the look I am going for that best enhances the photo.

4. Same eye selection (control/cmd click the previous adjustment layer thumbnail to reselect) for saturation and curves

5. Several dodge & burn layers for enhanced high key and knocking out aspect of background and face I didn't want.

That’s really it. I did a crop based on how I wanted to display the image and some additional selective sharpening once the image was downsized. My preferred technique for a final sharpening is to create a duplicate of the background layer, apply the sharpening that best fits the important areas of the image, then apply a layer mask to hide all of the sharpening and then paint back on with a soft brush where I want the sharpening applied.

For comparison I have created this before and after image.



Thanks for the invite on the guest post, and I always appreciate visitors and comments over on my site at www.whatsgottastay.com and on my Flickr stream!

Setting the Background in Stock Photography

One of the most enjoyable times for me to photograph is when I am doing a stock shoot on location. I like the challenge provided by setting up a realistic looking scene in a new place. An important item to remember when setting up a scene is not only to focus on the main subject, but plan the background as well.

In today's shot of Holly at the health club, I placed Tyler in the background doing curls with a dumbbell to better communicate the theme. Combining this model placement and a shallow depth-of-field not only adds depth to the image but increases the 'realism' of the shot.

Another example of this technique is demonstrated in last month's laboratory photo shoot. By placing models Ron and Julie working on the bench behind Michelle, the scene becomes more interesting.



One drawback to adding background people is a bit of complication to the lighting. In the health club shoot I set a low-power monolight aimed specifically at the background model(s). I set the exposure for this light at approximately half f/stop below the subject exposure. I wanted them to pop, but not overpower the main subject.

This technique can be utilized in recreational photography as well. By paying attention to the background and either adding or removing people, the impact of a shot can be greatly increased.

View these images in my stock portfolio: Health Club - Laboratory

Muted Color

One effect that I use occasionally on portraits is Muted Color. This treatment can help to give an antique feel to the image similar to sepia-tone while still retaining color.

The young couple in today's image wanted an old-fashioned look to their engagement photos. Their initial thought was to go with black & white or sepia-tone. However, upon seeing the muted color version it immediately became their favorite.

There are several methods available to create this look. The method I use is simple and straightforward. I process the original RAW image in three ways: color, sepia-tone and cross-processed (I use Linge's Photoshop Actions for the sepia and cross-processed effect). I then create a Photoshop layer of each version of the file. Once I have the three layers, I use the color layer as my base and blend the other two layers over it, adjusting the transparency until I get my desired result.

If you have a process you use to create a similar effect, please share it.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 100

Rule of Thirds - Revisited

Today's simple scenery image of a lone pine tree against a blue sky is a perfect chance to revisit a previous post from last year concerning the Rule of Thirds. Have a great weekend!

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/200 second, f/8, ISO 100


from April 1, 2007:

One of the first things to get emphasized to novice photographers by those who claim to be more knowledgeable is to "Follow the rule of thirds". While this is sound advice, the phrase can be confusing. Let's take a few moments and simplify this "Rule" so that we all can use it when making captures regardless of our experience.

Simply put, the Rule of Thirds is a tool to use when composing a photograph. The way I like to instruct it is this: Place four evenly spaced imaginary lines on your image, 2 horizontal and 2 vertical. I have even further simplified it to some (mainly children) by suggesting that they imagine a "tic-tac-toe" board over the photo. Once you can picture the lines, place your subject very near a line and, if possible, arrange the main focal point of the subject where two of the lines intersect. In doing so, you increase the odds that you will create a photo that is visually appealing to how the human mind interprets the image.



For today's image (above) I took one of my favorite hawk photos and added yellow lines to help illustrate the process. When composing the photo I placed the bird on the right most vertical line. The main focal point of the bird is the eyes and beak, but I found that if I placed them on an intersection the photo was a bit bottom heavy. Instead, I placed the bird's body where the two nearest lines meet. Doing so creates a pleasing composition since the birds head is close enough to an intersection to take advantage of the rule. Had I taken the same photo and composed it differently by placing the bird in the center of the image, the result would not be as pleasing.

Since I'm on the subject of image composition, the image above demonstrates another "Rule" that can be followed to make a shot more pleasing. In most situations it is desired to have the subject looking toward the center of the image. If the bird were looking to the right rather than the left, the photo would not be as pleasing to the viewer's eye. In fact, to many people it would just "feel uncomfortable". The same can be said for motion. If the photo is of a subject in motion, compose it so it is moving toward the image's center.

Lastly, remember the old phrase "Rules are made to be broken". There are plenty of times when a more pleasing image can be created by breaking the Rule of Thirds rather than following it. Try using this rule as a guideline and see if your work improves.

Photoshop Tip: An Alternative to Brightness/Contrast

When editing my images in Photoshop, I always begin with a couple simple adjustment steps before venturing into the more advanced edits. Since I shoot most of my shots around 1/3 f/stop underexposed (to preserve highlights), the first simple editing step I do is an adjustment to the brightness/contrast of the image. But guess what? I don't use the brightness/contrast adjustment to do this. I use LEVELS.

By using the LEVELS adjustment, I am able to fine tune the brightness of the image while causing very little damage. This is extremely important in my stock images since they have to go through a rigorous inspection process to be included in my portfolio. Here are the simple steps I use:

1. Create a new LEVELS adjust layer.

2. Slide the upper clipping adjustment (red circle below) down until it is just above the upper end of the histogram.

3. Slide the lower clipping adjustment (blue circle below) up until it is just below the lower end of the histogram.

4. Inspect image and fine tune the adjustments as needed

As you can see in today's featured image, the sample on the right 'pops' quite a bit more than the original on the left. This was done strictly using the levels adjustment. Once I complete this step, I then go on and finish my editing of the image.

If you haven't tried adjusting brightness/contrast this way, give it a shot and see how well it works for you.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4.5, ISO 50

50mm f/1.8 lens - Put One In Your Bag

I frequently receive email questions from photographers that have upgraded to a digital SLR camera. One of the most often asked questions is about additional lenses they should add to their kit. The lens I recommend more than any other is the 50mm f/1.8. This lens can be had for under $100 (Canon) and is a great addition to any photographer's gear bag. The inexpensive little lens offers numerous advantages including:

- One to two f/stops faster than a standard 'kit' lens
- Very narrow depth-of-field for a great blurred background
- Extremely compact and lightweight

The Canon version of the lens feels very cheap light due to its plastic build. Don't let this deter you. The optics are very good, especially considering the low price.

Today's image of Kenneth during a video presentation at one of his classes was taken with this lens. The combination of the fast lens speed and a high ISO made the shot possible.

Here are links to the lens for Canon & Nikon:

Canon 50mm f/1.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

Of course, if price is no object you can do what my scientist friend did (you know who you are) and cough up some real cash for a Canon 50mm f/1.2 :)

Canon 5D, Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens - 1/20 second, f/1.8, ISO 800

Private Jet Photo Shoot

(Rock Star models Andrew and Alyssa)

I spent this past Saturday afternoon doing a stock photo shoot in a private jet. Through a friend, I made contact with a pilot last month and he was able to get me access to one of the corporate jets he flies. I must say, it was pretty cool.

I got word on the Thursday prior that we would have use of the jet on Saturday, so I had to scramble to assemble the models and props for the shoot. Normally I like to schedule shoots a few weeks in advance, but due to the irregular schedule of the plane's use this was not possible.

When planning the shoot, the three scenes I sought to capture were corporate executives, young rock stars and wealthy jet-setters. Doing the multiple scenes required several different models. Ultimately, six were available (on the short notice) for the shoot.


(The lighting setup on the outside of the Cessna Citation)

The lighting for the scene was pretty straightforward. I wanted to create a look that made it appear that the plane was flying. To do so, very bright windows were the key. I placed large softboxes on both sides of the plane to light the windows, then used a small softbox above and behind my camera position for fill light. All of the lights were synced with Pocketwizard radios.

The final result of this lighting setup worked well. The images portray a natural looking directional light similar to what you would see in an airplane at altitude.


(Corporate executive model Ron)

The biggest hurdle in doing the shoot was the cold weather and wind. The hangar that we used as a staging area was un-heated. Thankfully, Kevin from the airport provided a space heater to keep the models warm between shots. The plane itself was also not heated (it was powered down) and the door had to stay open for the light's power cables.

(Yours truly on the job)

All in all, it was a successful and fun shoot which will yield a few dozen images for my stock portfolio. Big time thanks go out to all of the models (Michelle, Dale, Ron, Andrew, Jenna & Alyssa) and especially to my new pilot friend Matt. Thank you all! Without people like you I could not do what I do.

Reflector Lighting in Mid-Day Sun

Pro photographer and instructor Kenneth Linge had another of his Photographing People clinics this past Saturday in Salt Lake City. I was privileged enough to be invited again to help out and photograph during the class. Kenneth is a master at using mid-day sunshine with a reflector to create stunning portraits.

I took the above photo of Lindsey in direct overhead sunshine in the parking lot of the hotel the seminar was held at. The lighting was provided by a single silver reflector positioned by Kenneth. The combination of the warm light on the face with the cool background bokeh created a pleasant portrait.

Here is an overview of the scene as captured by my favorite videographer Jeremy Hall.



It is always rewarding to be able to capture a nice portrait such as this in an environment that many photographers would consider inhospitable to portrait work.

On a somewhat related side note, I processed this image in under 5 minutes using Kenneth's Photoshop Actions. I will be providing more information on these actions in the near future.

On the web:

Kenneth Linge
Jeremy Hall

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/800 second, f/4, ISO 100

Calling Photoshoppers - My Version

It was great to see the response to the Calling Photoshoppers project we featured this week (original post). I received a few suggestions that I give a shot at editing the image, so I spent a few minutes with it this morning. Here is my version.

I didn't keep a detailed list of my editing steps (like the others did so well), but I will touch on a few highlights.

- Cropped and leveled
- Removed rock (thanks Brian)
- Blended two versions of the images, one sepia and one color
- Warmed up and softened using an action
- Brightened faces
- Vignette

My goal was to create a sepia image with a subtle color on the couple (especially the jeans and her top). Similar to others, I sought to create an old-fashioned feel to the image.

So, how'd I do?

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/250 second, f/5, ISO 100

Calling Photoshoppers - The Results

Last week I put out a call for Photoshop users who would like to put their skills to work on one of my images (original post). I received a very nice response and selected the first five to participate.

I have since received the four edited images (one person was unable to complete the assignment). In addition to doing a great job applying their Photoshop chops to the image, they each wrote a narrative on what they did and why they did it. It is very interesting for me to see the different style and approach each artist took.

Each person was provided with an unedited JPG and RAW image (shown above) of the couple walking on abandoned railroad tracks. The only guideline given was that they could do whatever they wanted. Here are their results in no particular order.

ANN TORRENCE



Technically

In short - two Adobe Camera Raw interpretations of the same image,
over and under exposed. The diffusion is simulated by copying the
over-exposed image, blurring it, and using the Screen mode.

The under-exposed ACR conversion is blended with Multipy at a partial
opacity to bring back the dark zones. A Curves Adjustment Layer
introduces the Cross Processing look; search on-line for many cross
processing curve examples to download. One more thought: edit in 16-
bit mode when making dramatic shifts and expect a spiky histogram.
Down-sampling to 8-bit will smooth much of the spikiness out.
Cropped to 8x10, light sharpening for Rich to resize and sharpen for
printing.

Artistically

I imagined this couple would like one image from their engagement
session styled for fashion. I wanted to give them an image that they
will like now, their kids will laugh at on their 25th wedding
anniversary, and treasure on their 50th.

I liked the pose, motion and expressions, and how the color of her
shirt pops out of the image. But their beautiful skin and hair tones
get lost in the muddy colors of the tree leaves. And the unfocused
weeds at the bottom of the image have to go (Rich was smart to keep
the camera plane parallel to the couple, and allow some room in the
composition for cropping.)

Cross-processing refers to an old-school color film technque of
processing slide film as if it were color negative or vice versa. It
gives a characteristic color shift and contrast transformation to the
film, and has been used a lot in fashion photography. Another tool
fashion photographers might use is a diffusion filter. Since Rich
didn't use one on his lens, I faked one. I wanted to use both ideas;
retaining a full range of brightness called upon a bit of Photoshop.

BRIAN AUER



Technically

I processed the RAW file using Adobe Camera Raw 4.3.1. I left the white balance as shot, and I started with the “Auto” adjustment for the exposure settings. I tweaked a few minor things, then I got started in Photoshop CS3. Once in Photoshop, I applied a curves adjustment layer to increase contrast. Then I converted to black and white using the Channel Mixer adjustment layer at 34% red, 66% green, and 0% blue. I set the blending mode of this adjustment layer to “Overlay” and dropped the opacity to 80%. Then I desaturated the image using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer by dropping the Saturation slider to -35. The final adjustment step was a Photo Filter adjustment layer using an LBA Warming Filter at a density of 35%. Then I cropped the image (see why in the next section). And finally, the rock in the foreground was a little off for me, so I cloned it out. No sharpening was applied.

Artistically

I felt the scene had a lot of potential and I knew I wanted the image to have a kind of timeless and carefree look and feel to it. The adjustment layers got the overall mood where I wanted it, but the composition was off for me. I loved the slight tilt in the image, but the upper half of the scene wasn’t working for me – the background was too dark on the left and too light on the right. It added too much tension and took away from the “carefree” feeling I wanted. So I played around with different crops and I finally landed on a 3:2 aspect that cut off just below the cuff of the white shirt on the left arm. To me, this was the most interesting part of the image (no offense to the models… or Rich for that matter). The photo was suddenly more timeless and relatable. It wasn’t about the two specific people in the photo -- it was about the carefree feeling of walking down the old tracks on a sunny summer afternoon, hand-in-hand with the person you love.

RICHARD MILES



Technically

My first step was to eliminate some of the empty space around the couple, so I cropped the image to bring the couple forward. I then tilted the image to take away the linear power that the original had, and also in hopes adding a more visual element to the picture. Overall, I felt the image had too much space around it, and was too much on the straight and upright!

Artistically

I bumped the contrast a little! I also played with different levels of contrast and decided that since the couple are wearing jeans containing pattern and texture , to bring out that element and use that as a unifier that this is a "couple"!

I then added a soften glow to the shot, and then layered a sepia toned layer on top. I took a black paint brush at around 2% opacity and painted over the whole image to achieve that black/sepia combo and add a little warmth and hopes of a romantic flair.

TIM MILLER

ARTISTICALLY

I looked at the photo and it seemed to be a pretty candid shot snapped mid action, but when I thought about it from the perspective of the couple, there was obviously going to be some memories associated with the event. It was obviously a staged candid shot. The railway tracks and the way they were dressed and walking holding hands suggested that a photographer had set this shot up for them – maybe as a anniversary special photo occasion or something. So while wild fantasies of photo shopping an old fashioned steam train in behind them to make them look as if they were in danger crossed my mind (in fact I even found some suitable photos) I didn’t attempt this. Instead I reasoned that the couple would be interested in framing this photo on their wall as a memory of this event or time in their lives. So I created two different looks and borders that would lend themselves to printing on canvas or photo paper and framing with a nice frame.

TECHNICALLY

Shot 1 – the sepia image. First I tightened the shot by cropping substantially. I then copied this onto a larger white canvas to create a large margin. I then changed the image to black and white using a gradient adjustment layer and then added a colour adjustment layer of sepia. I then created a slightly larger selection in the background and filled this with black to give the old time real photo look of the black edges and sepia tone. I then added the text at the bottom. This would look good in an old wooden frame – probably 2-3 inches in width in an old fashioned style.

Shot 2 – the soft edges. Once again I tightened the shot by cropping the extraneous material. I then create a border inside the edge and feathered this by 170 pixels. I then selected the inverse and deleted to create the soft edges. This would look good on a matt photo paper and framed in a thin metal frame, gold or maybe silver.

____________

And there you have it. I would again like to personally thank each participant for taking the time and energy to be involved in this little project. Based on the response, we will be doing this again in the future.

Use Wide Angle Lens Distortion for a Creative Portrait

One of the fun poses I like to do when working with a model is a close-in wide angle shot taken from above the subject. The distortion created by a wide angle lens causes the subject's head to appear oversized with a small body filling the remainder of the frame. For further exaggeration of the face, I get as close to the model as possible while still maintaining focus. To be able to get over top the model, I keep a small ladder in the studio for this purpose.

On both the shot of the menacing looking gunman (above) and the little bride (below), I used my all-purpose 24-105 f/4L lens on a Canon 5D. Since the 5D has a full-frame sensor eliminating the crop-factor, I get a true 24mm in the widest focal length causing the large head effect to work nicely.

One of the lenses on my future-purchase list is the Canon 17-40 f/4L. This lens will give me even more versatility in creating this type of portrait.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

A Camera, Kids and an Empty Bowling Alley

I spent the snowy Friday morning before Christmas at a local bowling center with a few kids doing a photo shoot for my iStockphoto portfolio. The kids had a great time getting to do some bowling while modeling. This shoot had been planned for quite a while since the date was a school holiday. What we didn't expect was for it to be the snowiest morning of the season. To my surprise, all of our models braved the weather and made it to the shoot on time.

Most of the shots involved the kids hanging out in the bowler's seating area, although I did do a few shots of kids bowling (above). In this overview image below, you can get an idea of the lighting setup used. Three large softboxes and a 5x7' monolight lit diffusion screen created a sizable 'set' to shoot within.



It was very cool to have a whole bowling alley to ourselves. Of course, the raging blizzard outside did help contribute to the emptiness of the location. Special thanks go to my friend Harley who supplied some equipment, assisted on the shoot, and took the overview shot.

Woodworking Shop Photo Shoot

This past weekend I did a stock photo shoot at my brother-in-law's custom furniture shot. During the weekdays the shop is a hotbed of activity, but on this particular Saturday afternoon it was nearly empty and a great time to put together a set of images for my portfolio.

The goal for the shoot was to capture a craftsman at work using the various tools and equipment in the shop. I wanted the shots to look realistic and not staged. Tyler, my brother-in-law, made a great model working the equipment as we made our way around the large shop.

The lighting setup consisted of three lights. The main light was a 24x36" softbox while fill light was provided by a 36" umbrella. Both of these modifiers were mounted on 600 wattsecond monolights. I also used a single monolight for illuminating the background when necessary. A picture tells a better story, so here is an overview of one of the shots:

The main light was placed at a fairly sharp angle to give shadow and definition to the subject. The detail in Tyler's left arm in today's featured image is a good example of this result.

We were in an out of the shop in about 90 minutes and were able to produce 48 final images (from the nearly 200 shots taken) all of which were accepted into my iStock inventory. I generally love doing these location stock shoots and this one was no exception. The complete set from the shoot can be viewed here.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/9, ISO 100

Working Within a Color Family

It's a snowy Saturday morning here in Utah and my 9:00 am photo shoot just got postponed, so I thought I would spend a few minutes and break down a wintery image for today's post.

One thing that I have been working on improving in my photography is my use of color themes within a photo. When capturing this image (from a recent wintertime stock series), I concentrated on keeping the color tone similar in each element of the shot. With Michelle's strikingly dark eyes (yeah, I'm a bit biased) and wanting to create a warm result to go with the hot cup of chocolate, working with brown tones was a natural choice.

My first thought when putting together the composition was to use a dark brown cup for the cocoa. After a bit of thought I opted for white to have the cup provide a subtle similarity to the brown/white of her eyes. Secondly, Michelle's jacket was too dark in the original, so I had her wrap in a tan fleece that I happened to have in studio to give separation between her hair and jacket on the left.

One improvement that I wish I would have done is to move the cup a short distance to the right. I find the clipping of the cup's handle on the left a bit disconcerting.

As you can tell by the large catchlights in the eyes, the lighting setup was very simple. I used a 24x36" softbox positioned vertically to the left of camera. I purposely wanted to create the dark shadow area on the right, so the light was placed at a fairly sharp angle with no fill (light or reflector) on the opposite side. The 600ws light was turned to a minimum power setting to allow me to shoot at f/5 creating a narrow depth of field. To further narrow the depth of field, I shot with the lens at its most telephoto setting of 105mm (I stood on a stepladder to get enough distance).

Well, that's enough rambling for today. I'm now off to brave the Greatest Snow on Earth.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/5, ISO 100

(Junior) Executive Lighting

One of the many photography blogs I follow is that of Colorado photographer David Tejada. David specializes in annual report photography and has a blog that details many of his assignments. The great part about the blog is that he frequently posts video overviews of his shoots.

One of his recent videos was a time-lapse presentation of an assignment doing corporate headshots. In the video, he places a large softbox directly to the right side aiming across the front of of the subject and then fills the opposite side with a reflector. Here is the video:



I really liked the result of the simple lighting setup and though I used a similar setup in my previous photographic life, I hadn't done so in many years - until recently.

Today's image of a young man in business attire is from a recent stock session in which I used this lighting arrangement. I opted for a complete black background to make the Junior Executive stand out in his white shirt and power tie. One other shoot that I used a variation of this lighting on was another stock shoot of a young man in a graduation cap and gown.

As you can see, this lighting setup is extremely simple and very effective. It definitely works well in both my stock and portrait work.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/10, ISO 100

I Bought This Expensive Camera, But My Pictures Look BLAH!

"I bought this expensive camera, but my pictures look Blah!" I have heard a variation of this expression many times. It usually comes from people who have recently upgraded to a digital SLR camera. With Christmas coming and many more photographers hoping to find a box of Digital SLR goodness under a tree, let me state my opinion on this subject as a cold, hard fact:

If you use a digital SLR camera, your images WILL require editing!

Unlike their inexpensive point-and-shoot cousins, digital SLR cameras are aimed at the more experienced photographer. These shooters are the type that don't want the camera to do all the thinking for them. The camera's job is to record the scene accurately at a high level of quality. It is essentially creating a digital negative which then needs to be developed.

Here is the unedited file* straight from the camera of today's photo of a newlywed couple on railroad tracks.

Notice how blah the file is. The colors are drab, the contrast is low, the whole scene is rather dark and unsharp. In keeping with the film vernacular, this file is my "digital negative". Like any negative, it needs developing. Today, we do this in our digital darkroom - photo editing software.

For my stock portfolio images, I do the bare minimum of editing. This is done intentionally to leave the final editing to the buyer, usually a graphic designer. But even my bare minimum consists of several steps.

- Cropping (if necessary)
- Adjusting exposure (I shoot at -1/3 f/stop to preserve highlights)
- Tightening Levels
- Adjusting Vibrance and Saturation
- Sharpening (using the High Pass Filter method)

For portrait and client work, I do much more editing. This includes:

- re-touching
- softening
- saturation
- color adjustment
- dodging & burning
- vignetting

and so on...

Some of this work is done with Photoshop actions (it is no secret that I am a big fan of Kenneth Linge's actions). I would never want a client to receive an image that I have not edited - period.

If you are shooting a digital SLR, think of it this way: You capture the image with the camera, you develop the image with the software. A little bit of work with an editing program goes a long way in removing the BLAH.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/1000 second, f/4, ISO 160

* - This image was shot in RAW mode and converted to JPG with Adobe Camera Raw (added 11/29/07)

Where do You go to better your photography?

(Instructor Kenneth Linge teaching students on the streets of Salt Lake City - 11/03/2007)

Years ago I sat in a training seminar where the facilitator stated that we are either "Green and Growing or Brown and Dying". He was not talking about photography, but I believe this statement easily carries into this discipline. One common thing I have heard from many great photographers over the years is that they are constantly looking for ways to improve their work. These might be classes, books, magazines, seminars, or whatever works for them - but the common thread I hear is that these photogs all want to remain Green and Growing.

One way I do this is to read a lot on the Internet. I thought that I followed a fairly large amount of RSS feeds on photography until I read Brian Auer's post this week listing the 87 Photography Feeds (of which I am humbled to have been included) that he follows on a daily basis. This got me wondering if I am doing enough to remain growing in my craft.

There is obviously a pent up demand for good photography training. One just has to see the growth of David Hobby's immensely popular Strobist website or live training events such as those taught by my friend Kenneth Linge (pictured above) to verify this. With the Internet there seems to be an immense amount of training resources (mostly free) out there equaled only by the demand for it.

My question for you photographers reading this:

Where do you go to learn how to improve your photography?

I would love to hear what resources (websites, books, speakers, etc.) you use to improve your game. Please take a moment and speak up in the comments about your faves. After reading Brian's list of 87 feeds, I feel like I should be adding a few more to my reader.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 100

Photoshop Tip: An Alternative to Unsharp Mask

Earlier this week, I mentioned my recipe for having a high percentage of my photographs accepted into my portfolio on istockphoto.com. One of the key ingredients to my system is NOT using the popular UNSHARP MASK filter in Photoshop for sharpening. While this filter does a nice job for sharpening images to be printed, I find that it can be detrimental to the quality of stock photos which get inspected with a fine-tooth-comb before begin accepted.

The alternative method I use for sharpening is the HIGH PASS FILTER method. This method provides good sharpening while minimizing image degradation. Here are the steps:

1. Create a COPY of the layer you wish to sharpen

2. Select FILTER, OTHER, HIGH PASS

3. Set the radius to 4 PIXELS (then click okay)

4. Change the blending options of the new layer (by double-clicking on the layer) to SOFT LIGHT for mild sharpening or OVERLAY for stronger sharpening

It's a very simple method for clean sharpening of photos. To make it even easier, I have recorded the steps as an action that I can run with the press of one function key.

If you haven't tried sharpening this way, give it a shot and see how well it works for you.

Additional Note (Added on 15 November)

In response to a comment about this method causing an undesired "HALO" effect, let me add a clarification (that I should have included originally). This method is intended to be used on FULL RESOLUTION images of 8+ megapixels. Using it without tweaking the 'RADIUS' on smaller images will give an undesired result.

Play Around with White Balance for a Different Mood

One way to quickly add a different mood to your photographs is to adjust your camera's white balance setting. Most digital cameras, even inexpensive point-and-shoot models, have the ability to make this adjustment. The resulting change in color tone can have a nice effect on the final image.

To create the subtle blue tone in today's image of a foggy valley, I used a Tungsten light setting for my white balance. In doing so, the warm golden hues that the camera would have captured in this morning scene (with the white balance set on AUTO) transform into the cool blue tones displayed here.

Most digital cameras offer pre-set selections for white balance. These often include: AUTO, TUNGSTEN, DAYLIGHT, FLUORESCENT, FLASH, OVERCAST, and SHADE. The more advanced camera will allow you to set a custom white balance by dialing in the specific measurement you want.

One more way to make this change is open to photographers that shoot with their camera in RAW mode. By using this setting, the camera doesn't convert the image to the desired white balance. This allows the photographer to make the adjustment in their digital darkroom. The advantage of this method is the ability to fine-tune the final product.

Adjusting white balance is another example of a quick change that can have a nice impact on your photos.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/50 second, f/22, ISO 100

Biker Dave

GOAL

Capture a stern looking biker with moody lighting to create a "bad dude" feel to the final image.

Camera equipment: Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens

Lighting equipment: Two Canon Speedlites (a 430EX and a 580EX), hot-shoe extension, two Lightsphere modifiers, one lightstand

For the shoot, I placed the 430EX in slave mode on the lightstand above and to the camera right. I then hand held the 580EX (using the hot-shoe extension) to the lower left of the camera. I set the hand held flash at -1 f/stop to allow the overhead unit to be the main light. By holding the second (fill) light in my hand, I was able to quickly make adjustments on the fly as needed.

Final thoughts: I am pleased with the images. The whole shoot took less than 15 minutes, which is a good thing since it was right at 100 degrees out and Dave was cooking in his leathers.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/8, ISO 100

Someone to Watch Over Me

I took this photograph last week on a ridge overlooking Lehi, Utah. I found the location a few days earlier and thought it would make a nice location to try some long exposure night shots. Even though I am not entirely pleased with how this image turned out, I thought it was worth sharing how it was done.

The shadowy figure looking over the city was created entirely in camera with a simple technique. I set the exposure for a shutter speed of ten seconds and put the camera into self-timer mode. I started the timer and took a stance in front of the camera standing as still as possible. Once I heard the shutter open, I counted to five and then quickly exited the frame. The result is the transparent outline of my body in the image.

This technique is similar to the way I created the Weeping Angels image last year (though I like that result MUCH better).

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 10 seconds, f/4, ISO 100

Using Flash in Daylight

Today's image of a car (my trusty Saab) sitting on a forest road is an example of using flash during daylight to enhance your photos. When I first took this shot, the car appeared very dull since it was sitting in a shadowy area. The fix: add a strobe.

My goal with the exposure (after adding the strobe) was to make the car stand out, but not make it look artificially lit. To accomplish this, I adjusted the strobe to a power setting of one f/stop below the ambient exposure. This balanced setting lit the highly reflective car with just enough highlights to draw the attention I desired.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 100

Details, Details, Details

One thing that can separate a good photo from a great one is the details. This is an area that I have worked on improving yet still find that I have "Doh!" moments from time to time. Today's image of a formal dining room is one such example.

When arranging the lighting for this wonderful room, I completely missed that the window blind on the left is positioned differently than the other two. It is not too noticeable on the window, but the difference in reflection on the hardwood floor kills the shot. If I were to shoot this room again, I would adjust all three blinds so they give the same amount of reflection on the floor. In fact I would probably shoot it twice, once with bright reflections (like the right two windows) and once with dull reflections (like the left window).

One easy tip for catching details when photographing is to make a quick pass around the composition with your eyes prior to shooting. I like to think of the scene like a clock dial and quickly scan the shot beginning at 12:00 and moving clockwise around the frame. When photographing people, a quick scan around the outline of their body (especially the head) will alert you to any details that need correcting.

How about you? What do you do in your photography to catch the little details?

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/20 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

For Stunning Blue Sky Photos - Polarize!

I get asked occasionally how I create such a strong blue color in the sky of many of my outdoor photos and if it is created in Photoshop. The quick answer is: Nope, not in Photoshop but by using a Circular Polarizer filter.

A quick web search for this type of filter comes up with many explanations of what it does. Here's one:

Produces deeper colored blue skies, which at the same time creates a striking contrast with white clouds. Minimizes light reflections from glass and water. Reduces glare from non-metallic surfaces. Provides a general color saturation to both cool and warm tones. Can be used in extremely bright light situations to reduce the amount of light entering the camera; this enables more selective depth of field control. (source: Cokin)

In addition to the added color boost, the filter drops approximately two f/stops from the exposure. This works well in place of a ND (Neutral Density) filter for times when I want to limit the ambient light for a longer shutter speed or less depth-of-field.

When shooting in sunlight with the Circular Polarizer filter, placing the sun at around a 90 degree angle to the camera lens creates the optimal effect.

Today's image of a sunflower against the sky is an example of this technique. While the blue and yellow color of the scene was pleasing without the filter, its addition really made them "POP!".

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/100 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

Take Your Photography Off-Level

One of the rules I follow when photographing, especially landscapes, is to make sure that the shot is level. There are few things that can visually throw an image off quicker than a slanted horizon. When editing my photos, I painstakingly use Photoshop's Lens Correction filter to ensure the shot is level.

There are times, however, when throwing a shot off-level can work in creating an artistic element to the photo. Today's image of an LCD projector is an example of this technique. By shooting the subject at a close distance and an angle, the resulting diagonal lines add a bit of pizazz to what could be an otherwise boring shot. Give it a try.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/14, ISO 100

Backlit with Sun

Here's a quick tip for creating a dramatic portrait: Use the sun as your backlight.

I made this capture of Dean in downtown Salt Lake City by placing the setting sun at his back and then providing subtle fill light with a reflector. It can be a bit tricky to line up your camera and subject to avoid lens flare, but when done correctly it can provide nice results. On this shot, I particularly like the glowing outline around his body.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/1600 second, f/4.5, ISO 200

Photographing Babies? Get Down!

Here's a quick and easy tip for photographing babies: Get Down!

By placing yourself at eye level with your subject you will create a much more natural and pleasing capture. As an added bonus, the child will likely be more interested in what you're doing and you will have a much higher chance of capturing a great expression.

Today's image of Christian is an example of this technique. During a church barbecue at a local park I noticed him crawling around in the grass and got down on his level. He immediately became curious of what I was doing and began watching every move I made. It was then fairly easy to capture a nice expression.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 100

It Had to Happen: A Corrupt Memory Card

Michelle and I spent Monday evening in downtown Salt Lake City photographing recent bride Militia. The evening was beautiful and we were able to capture some nice images of Milita using tungsten lighting.

The first step when I return from a shoot is to download the contents of the memory card to my Mac. On Monday night, this was when I realized I had a problem. When I went to open the card in the Mac Finder (similar to File Explorer for you Windows users), the Finder would immediately close. After having this happen a couple of times I quickly became worried. I ejected the card and placed it back into my camera. When I attempted to view the images on the camera, I received an error. Uh oh!

Thankfully, at this point I recalled a blog post last month by photographer Thomas Hawk recounting an eerily similar experience. I took a quick trip to Google and found the post (read it here). In the post Thomas details his use of DATARESCUE's PhotoRescue program to recover the contents of his card. I followed the link he provided and downloaded the program.

I like stories with happy endings and this one is no exception. The program worked flawlessly and was able to recover the complete contents of my memory card. It even showed me the recovered images before requiring me to purchase it, so I knew it would work before handing over the $29 purchase price. This is definitely a program that any serious photographer should have in their kit.

In recap, here are the steps Thomas gives when encountering a corrupt memory card:

1. Don't panic. Like I said. You will probably be able to get the shots back. Don't let it ruin whatever you are doing or shooting.
2. Once you know that you need to recover photos from a card stop using that card immediately. Don't try to reformat it. Don't reuse it. Put it away and wait until you get home where you can try recovery. If you do keep shooting with the card you might overwrite some of the data and be unable to recover some of your photos.
3. When you get home run DataRescue's PhotoRescue. You can download and run this software for free on your memory card.
4. If PhotoRescue can recover your images they will show you the thumbnails of the images. At this point you will need to buy the software if you want to use it to actually recover your images. The software cost's $29 but usually this is a small price to pay to have all of your images back.
   

Today's featured image is a capture from the Monday night shoot. Militia was lit using two handheld tungsten lights. By setting the camera's manual white balance control to the temperature of the tungsten light, a natural (read: un-photoshopped) purple hue fell over the rest of the scene.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 250

Adding Depth to Photos with a Blurred Foreground

A simple way to add depth to photos is to use a combination of narrow depth-of-field and foreground objects. The resulting blurred foreground draws increased attention onto the subject of the photo, creating a more appealing image.

Today's capture of Michelle rock climbing is a use of this technique. I shot this with my lens wide open at f/4 (at 105mm) to create the narrowest possible focus point. I then framed Michelle between the blurred foreground and distant background. The resulting natural frame draws the viewer's focus onto Michelle's face.

If I had shot the same photo at a smaller aperture, the foreground rocks would be more in focus. These rocks would then become a distraction and hurt, rather than help, the composition.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 250

Reflector Lighting for Portraits

One way to photograph potraits with a soft natural light while still maintaining lighting control is to use a reflector. I have used reflectors in my photography for some time but learned how to really put them to use when I attended the Wedding School with Kenneth Linge earlier this month.

On today's image of Tazzy the Papillon I used this method of lighting. To set up the shot, I placed Tazzy with the early evening sunlight over her right shoulder. The sun at this angle provided a nice hair ear light. The main light for the shot was then provided by a reflector being held to the right of and slightly below the camera. This placement gave a natural light focused on the dog's face and brightened up the eyes with large catchlights.

One difficulty in using reflectors is positioning them. My daughter (and sometimes assistant) Elisabeth helped me by holding the reflector. The constant movement of Tazzy provided a bit of a challenge in keeping the light on her face, but Elisabeth kept up nicely.

At a relatively inexpensive price, adding a reflector to your kit is a great way to increase your photographic lighting options.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/320 second, f/4, ISO 100

The Wedding School with Kenneth Linge

I spent the past three days attending The Wedding School taught by renowned international wedding photographer Kenneth Linge. My wife enrolled me in the class as a gift for our recent wedding anniversary.

The one word that I kept hearing repeated from the students (myself included) was "AMAZING". Kenneth freely shared with his students the techniques he developed over 30+ years as a fashion and wedding photographer in both Europe and the United States. During the class Kenneth co-taught with his wife Marylyn, and together they made a fantastic team. In an industry where so many people are reluctant to show their secrets, it was refreshing to see a photographer willing to share his photographic "recipes" to improve other's work. Even though the class was primarily aimed at wedding photography, the techniques learned can be applied to any portrait work.

I would definitely recommend the class for any working pro or advanced amateur looking to step up their photography. For more information, check out the Linge's seminars on the web:

www.kennethlinge.com/seminars

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 800

A Man, a Motorcycle & Two Speedlights

I did a photoshoot last night of my friend Dave on his motorcycle. I wanted an industrial looking setting and I found it in an alleyway between two buildings near my office.

The lighting setup consisted of two Canon Speedlites - a 430EX and a 580EX. For this shot, the 430EX was used as the main light. It was placed on a lightstand above and to the left (camera right) of the model. The fill light was provided by the 580EX with a diffuser. I held this light in my left hand a couple of feet away and below the camera. An f-stop of f/11 was used to darken the background. This was shot just after 8:00 pm and the ambient light was still fairly bright (f/4 or so) so setting the strobes to f/11 underexposed the background by around 3 stops.

The final result is very near to what I envisioned for the shot. The harsh lighting adds nicely to the dramatic look of the stern faced biker. The two Speedlite setup worked very well and was easy to set up.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/11, ISO 100

Removing Dust on the Sensor of a Digital SLR

Shooting with a digital SLR camera provides a lot of benefits over non SLR models, but the increased functionality comes at a price - sensor dust. Since an SLR camera is an open system (one that allows users to change lenses) the probability of dust entering the camera is nearly unavoidable. Learning to deal with dust is a part of owning a digital SLR.

After I made the move from film to digital, the discovery of dust on my camera's sensor was a major shock. But now after a couple years of shooting digital and dozens of sensor cleans, I now look at it as just a minor annoyance.

There are two types of digital SLR shooters - those that have dust on their sensor and those that will have dust on their sensor. I believe that every photographer should learn how to handle it. Here are the steps I take with my cameras.

To see if you have dust, stop your camera down to its smallest aperture (usually f/22-32) and take a shot against a blank scene (blue sky works well). The dust will show up as dark blotches. The photo above shows numerous dust spots that I recently had on my Canon 5D. Keep in mind that these spots will only show up on photos taken with smaller apertures and they can easily be removed in post-processing, so you don't have to obsess over cleaning them daily.

I use a few different items to clean my camera sensors. My kit consists of a manual bulb type blower along with sensor cleaning swabs & fluid.



The first step I take in cleaning is to set my camera into "SENSOR CLEANING" mode. This is a menu function that opens the shutter and locks the mirror up allowing access to the sensor. Since moving these out of the way uses power, be sure to have a sufficiently charged battery before starting.



Once I have the camera in cleaning mode, I remove the lens and blow off the sensor with the bulb blower. I do this with the lens opening aiming down to allow the dust to exit. Take care to not touch anything inside the camera with the tip of the blower. If I only have a few dust spots, this will frequently be the only step necessary since the blowing air will dislodge the dust.



To remove stubborn dust spots, I use the sensor cleaning solution with a swab. This is the most effective method for me. I put a few drops of solution on the swab and make two passes across the sensor - once in each direction. I use very little pressure on the swab. It is very imperative to only use a swab once on each side to avoid re-contaminating the sensor with previously removed dust.



Note that most camera manufacturers state in their user manual that you are to never touch the sensor with anything and using this method can risk voiding your warranty. However, if you took your camera in to be professionally cleaned this is probably the method they will use.

Sensor dust is part of the price we pay for shooting with the great digital SLRs that are available today. The internet is full of stories of photographers obsessing about every little speck of dust. Don't be like these shooters and let it consume you. Learn how to clean your own sensor when needed and spend your time worrying about the next great photo instead of a microscopic piece of dirt.

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Lighting a Historic Room - Part II

Today's image is another room from the SugarHouse mansion that I recently photographed. The purpose of the shoot was to assist an organization in documenting the historic building.

My goal in lighting this room was to show outside detail in the windows while evenly lighting the interior. To accomplish this I placed a Canon 430EX speedlite behind the floral arrangement aimed toward the back wall. The speedlite was diffused with a Lightsphere and set to 1/2 power. I then used two monolights diffused with white umbrellas in the corners to the left and right of the camera.

While the lighting setup was fairly simple on this shot, the tricky part was eliminating reflections in the three windows. Since the windows are each at different angles, the placement of the lights left little room for error. Nearly every reflection was avoided, save for a slight one on the right window.

Another challenge with this room was the bookcases above the windows. I wanted to provide enough light to show depth in the openings but still leaving them somewhat dark. The placement of the monolights in the corners achieved this. I had to raise the lights a bit higher than I initially wanted (creating more noticeable shadows), but the trade off was worth it.

Of all the rooms I shot that day, this one was my favorite. I love the curved wall and the custom woodwork.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/15 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

Lighting a Historic Room

I was asked recently to assist in documenting a historic home in Sugar House, Utah through photography. The large home is over 120 years old and was originally built by a gold miner from Park City. Even though the home is currently used as an office, the decor is very reminiscent of an early 20th century home.

When capturing the interior, my goal was to light the rooms in a way to show the detail and accentuate the features without making it appear that strobes were used. With my friend Harley's assistance, we used multiple lights to create the look.

This formal sitting room was lit with four lights. We placed a radio triggered strobe in the lamp on the right to make it appear like the lamp was lighting the room. There is a second radio triggered strobe in the back-left corner. To light the foreground we placed two lights with umbrella diffusers in the near corners.

I am fairly pleased with the result. There are a couple of shadows I would have liked to remove, but overall the lighting is fairly even and natural looking.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/15 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

Using a Strobe in Daylight

One thing I do to make my daytime captures pop a bit is use a strobe. When I do this, my goal is to add to the presentation of the subject while avoiding an unnatural appearance.

Today's featured photo of a resting swan is an example of this technique. I came across this swan recently while driving to a client's home. It was just after lunch and the sun was directly overhead creating harsh shadows. The bird was relaxing in the shade of a tree with spots of sun peaking through while the pond in the background was in full sunlight.

To get the shot I put on the longest lens I had with me (70-200 w/ 1.4x extender) and attached a strobe (Canon 430EX) to my camera. My purpose in using the strobe was threefold:

1. Fill in the shadows to create more even lighting
2. Create a Catchlight in the bird's eye
3. Add separation between the subject and the background.

To achieve these effects without making the shot seem unnaturally lit, I dialed the strobe's power setting to -1/3 f-stop from the camera's metered exposure. Doing this allowed the natural light to combine with the strobe's artificial light, creating a natural appearance to the subject while accomplishing the three objectives. The setting of -1/3 worked on this scene, but I sometimes use more or less power from the strobe on other scenes depending on the light.

Using a strobe in daylight, especially bright sunny days, can greatly enhance your shots. Play around with your flash's power settings and see what works for you.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L with 1.4x extender - 1/100 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

How Slow Can You Shoot Handheld?

One of the quickest ways to ruin a good shot is to use too slow of a shutter speed in relation to your lens' focal length. A fast shutter speed is not only useful in capturing action shots, but it also will eliminate camera shake blur in your photo. We all love a long lens, but with that length comes the potential for blurry shots. When you are using a telephoto lens, every little bit of movement of the camera gets magnified many times over in the viewfinder.

Back in my 35mm film SLR days, I used the simple rule of placing "1/" over my lens' focal length to determine my slowest shutter speed to safely shoot handheld. For example, if I was using a 200mm lens, the slowest I would set my shutter speed to is 1/200 second. But now that we are in the digital age with cameras that have "crop factors" of 1.5 or 1.6, we have to amend this rule a bit. If you are shooting with one of these cameras, simply take your lens' focal length and multiply it by 1.5 and then convert it to a shutter speed. So now that 200mm lens needs a shutter speed of 1/300 of a second or faster to safely shoot handheld.

Over time, many photographers develop a steady hold and can amend their handheld shutter speeds to allow for less shake of the camera. I find now that I can safely handhold a shot at one to two f/ stops longer of a shutter speed than this equation recommends. Today's image of a Red Panda taken at Utah's Hogle Zoo is an example. I handheld this shot with a shutter speed of 1/50 second and a focal length of 280mm. While the image is not as "tack sharp" as I would like, it is definitely usable.

Like most rules in photography, this one is not set in stone. Feel free to experiment with combinations of shutter speed and lens length. I believe that it is better to have a slightly blurry photo (due to camera shake) than to not have taken one at all.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens with 1.4x extender - 1/50 second, f/5.6, ISO 160

Her Favorite Socks

Today's capture was a fun one to shoot. What you are looking at is my youngest daughter's favorite pair of socks.

To create this shot, I had Sarah stand on a seamless roll of white backdrop paper with her pant legs rolled up. To isolate her feet against the white background, I lit the scene with three lights.

First, I placed a softbox as the main light directly above the camera. This served to provide even lighting to bring out the color of the socks while creating a slight shadow below the feet. I then placed a light (diffused with a white umbrella) on each side of the subject feet. These lights were aimed at the backdrop behind the feet. This worked to completely overexpose the background creating the pure white.

In post-processing I bumped the brightness a bit using a 'LEVELS' adjustment layer in Photoshop to ensure the background was completely white. Finally, to remove the legs I simply painted over them with a white brush, leaving just the socks.

I like how the socks (with Sarah's feet still in them) take on a strange appearance when her legs are removed. It's almost a bit creepy.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/60 second, f/10, ISO 100

Want Greater Photographic Flexibility? - Shoot RAW

One of the choices that face digital photographers is the format in which to save their images. Most advanced digital cameras offer several choices of format to choose from. A typical selection would be something like this:

- Small .JPG
- Medium .JPG
- Large .JPG
- RAW

Today I am going to talk a bit about the last selection on the list - RAW. A RAW image is essentially the unprocessed capture taken directly from the camera's sensor. When the camera captures an image in the JPG format, the on-camera software processes the file before saving it. This processing includes such things as contrast, color saturation, sharpening, etc. The RAW image has had very little, if any, processing applied. Hence, the name RAW. It is essentially a digital negative, ready to be developed.

"Why would you not want the camera to improve the pictures you've taken?" I've been asked. The simple answer is that many photographers (myself included) prefer not to have the camera make the image enhancements. Instead, they opt to do it themselves on the computer. Also, the RAW format allows for much greater latitude in adjustment that can be applied.

For an example of this adjustment latitude, I walked into the field behind my home and purposely made a capture that was +2 f/stops overexposed. I set my camera to record both a JPG and a RAW image simultaneously. This would allow me the opportunity to edit two identical exposures, one RAW and one JPG, and compare the results.

Here is the unedited (other than a small crop) JPG, straight from the camera:



As you can see, the image is pretty much blown out with a very bland look to it. The highlights are completely washed out. If you were to look at the histogram (more on this in another post) of the photo, it would look like a ski ramp.

For my first go at salvaging this overexposed image, I used the JPG version. I used Photoshop's BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST tool along with the magical SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT tool to attempt to bring the levels into shape. I also worked on the color with a SATURATION layer and did a bit of sharpening. Here is the result I achieved with the JPG:



The result is not too bad. It could be used in a pinch, though it is not an image I would be pleased with.

I then took the RAW version of the capture and began editing it. The first thing I did was to open it with Photoshop's Adobe Camera RAW tool. This nifty interface allowed me to fine-tune the image's color and exposure before opening it in Photoshop proper. Once in Photoshop, I adjusted the Curves, Saturation & Levels using adjustment layers. After a brief period of editing this is the result I achieved:



I feel that this image looks much better than the edited JPG version. Other than the section on the top/left of the wooden post, there is very little "blown out" area within the shot. This edited photo is much more pleasing. Also, it took much less effort in editing to achieve this.

Finally, still not being satisfied with the capture, I went a bit further. To complete the editing, I converted the image to black & white and added a sepia tint to it along with a bit of vignetting. The final result is the capture at the top of the page.

For me, making the switch to RAW was a no-brainer. Once I got over the initial learning curve of the extra steps required in editing, I fell in love with the greater control I received in editing. Today, if I shoot in JPG I simply don't feel comfortable. I would much rather have the control and latitude offered by Shooting RAW.

Looking for more information on the RAW file format? Here is a link to the entry on Wikipedia: RAW image format - Wikipedia

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/25 second, f/4, ISO 320

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Give Me The Key!

Sometimes a simple photo has the ability to tell a story. This is what I sought to do with today's capture. For the photograph, I visualized someone receiving the key to a new house (I do work in real estate after all).

To set up the photo I hung the keyring from the ceiling with a piece of white thread in front of a white paper backdrop. I lit the key and hand with a small softbox placed to the right of the camera. I then placed a second strobe (un-diffused) behind the subject aimed at the backdrop. To create the near-absolute white, I set the backdrop light to 2 f/stops over the exposure of the hand and key.

In post-processing, I used the clone tool (in Photoshop) to remove the thread and make the key appear to be either floating or falling. I then did a bit of color manipulation to change the hue of the keyring to red and increase the saturation.

I am pleased with the final result. I've now got a shot I can use in my real estate advertising and add to my growing Stock Photography portfolio.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/11, ISO 50

Through the Viewfinder Photography

A commenter on one of my photos on Flickr suggested that I should apply a TTV Layer to this capture of an old mill I took in Salt Lake City. I read the comment and then had to admit that I didn't know what TTV photography was. A quick trip to Google and I discovered that TTV stands for "Through the Viewfinder". Here is a definition found on a Flickr group dedicated to the art:

"Through the Viewfinder photography is defined as taking a picture of any subject through the viewfinder of any camera with another camera."

The technique intrigued me. But since I didn't have the option of re-taking the photo of the mill through an old camera's viewfinder, I sought to re-create the effect in Photoshop. After a bit more searching via Flickr, I found another group - this one dedicated to images that can be used as layers to create this technique.

Once I had the viewfinder image, the rest was fairly simple. I used Photoshop's MOVE tool to drag the viewfinder image onto my original photo. I then adjusted the new viewfinder layer's blending mode to MULTIPLY. This allowed the layer with the mill photo to appear as though it is being seen through the viewfinder layer.

I am not too sure of the usefulness of this type of image, but I do think it adds a nostalgic quality to the photograph.

Making a Photo 'Stock Ready'

One of the things that can be time consuming to a photographer that is venturing into the world of Stock Photography is the required genericness of their work. What I mean by this is that most stock photo agencies will not accept photos that have identifiable logos, artwork, names, etc. in them. The photos need to be generic.

Take today's capture for example. I shot this picture of my daughter exhibiting her best snotty adolescent face with a bass guitar in her lap. In order to add this image to my iStock Portfolio and offer it for sale I needed to remove the stickers from the guitar since they are someone else's trademarked artwork. To accomplish the removal I used the Clone Tool in Photoshop. Here is the modified image:

Sometimes removing logos is quick & easy and sometimes it is difficult & tedious. For example, last month I created a stock image of a cowboy revolver and holster in a rustic setting. When composing the shot I was careful to not show logos and names - or so I thought. When it came time to edit the photograph I realized that the manufacturer's name was visible on nearly all of the ammunition in the gunbelt. I then had to painstakingly remove the writing on the numerous rounds of ammo.

The easiest way to remove the infringing name/logo is to simply not have it in the shot in the first place. The more stock work I shoot, the more I attempt to save editing time by avoiding the inclusion of trademarked info. While it is frequently unavoidable, many times a few seconds of rearranging when shooting can save vast amounts of time editing.

Reader Question: Getting Rid of 'Creepy Eyes'

Frequent blog reader Michelle from the What's Up Michelle blog dropped me an email yesterday with a question. I asker her if she'd mind if I answered publicly and she gave me the go ahead.

"The camera I use is a Canon A540, digital. When I take photos of my dogs, I get the eye shine. How can I take some candid photos in normal lighting / every day setting, without getting the glowing eyes, which is kinda creepy."

Great question, Michelle. Camera's such as yours are designed to do much of the thinking for the photographer. This makes it easy for the novice shooter to simply aim the camera and press the shutter release without having to worry about the various settings. That's why these type of camera's are commonly referred to as "Point and Shoot".

One of the settings that the camera does automatically is the decision of when to use flash. I have noticed with many point-and-shoot models that they use the flash on nearly all shots. Since this flash is located very close to the camera's lens, its light bounces off the back of your dog's retinas to create the "creepy" look. Many advanced photographers avoid this "creepiness" by either bouncing their flash off of the ceiling or moving it away from the camera. Unfortunately, neither of these solutions is available for you. A solution I would use is to avoid using the flash for these types of shots and to manually adjust the camera's settings.

To illustrate this, I borrowed my daughter's Canon A530 which is very similar to your camera. I then called over Holly, our always willing German Shorthaired Pointer, to serve as a model (it did cost me a piece of cheese).

In the shot on the left I used the camera on the fully automatic setting. Notice how it not only created the "Creepy" eyes, but the flash also overexposed the end of Holly's nose and created a large shadow. This did not make for a very flattering photograph.

In the other shot (on the right), I put the camera in manual mode, adjusted the aperture to its widest setting to allow in maximum light and disabled the flash. Note how much more even the lighting is on Holly and how her eyes look normal. I feel that this capture looks much more natural and pleasing.

Keep in mind that this method worked in part because I had a good amount of natural light in the room. If the room had been darker it would have been more difficult to get a good result without the flash. For some more information and tips on photographing without a flash, you might refer to a post a did a few weeks back on low light shooting (here's a link).

I hope this answered your question, Michelle. If any other readers have suggestions as well, I'm sure they'll chime in.

Photography Tip: Use Leading Lines to enhance the shot

Here's a quick tip for making your photos more appealing: Leading Lines.

A leading line is a feature within a photograph, either natural or man made, that creates a line from the bottom of the shot moving upward toward the subject. The addition of this to draw the viewers eye into a photograph is a great tool.

When composing a shot, take a moment and see if there is anything that can be used as a leading line. Items like paths, long shadows, natural features and such work very well. The line should begin at or near the bottom of the shot and work its way toward the top - preferably near the main subject. Diagonal lines are sharp and dynamic while curved lines are smooth and graceful.

Today's featured capture is an example of a smooth and flowing leading line. I captured this winding mountain road just outside of Idyllwild California. While the double yellow line does not lead to a particular 'subject', it does create depth to the photo.

In another example of this technique (below), I used the natural feature of a patch of turquoise ice as a leading line. The brightly colored strip draws the viewer's focus into the lake and ultimately to the snow covered mountains.



I find that the use of leading lines improves my shots. Give it a try and see how it works for you.

Road: Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/500 second, f/10, ISO 100
Ice: Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/80 second, f/16, ISO 100

Smoking Glock

Featured today is another capture from a recent stock photography shooting session. Since a previous image I have of a smoking handgun sells fairly well on iStockphoto, I decided to add a few more similar shots to my portfolio.

The pistol in this capture is a 9mm Glock with the magazine removed and no ammunition anywhere close by (safety first!). To create the smoking effect I held the gun's open magazine well (in the grip) over two burning incense sticks and let the smoke flow up and out of the gun. The majority of the smoke exited through the barrel, but some of it came out of other openings. This helped to create the illusion of the gun having just been fired.

For lighting, I placed a softbox up and to the right of the subject. I used an umbrella diffused light set to half power to the left to add fill. This was obviously shot against a black background. The lighting worked well to accentuate the gun's features along with the smoke. Very little post-processing was required.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/8, ISO 50

The Rule of Thirds - Simplified

One of the first things to get emphasized to novice photographers by those who claim to be more knowledgeable is to "Follow the rule of thirds". While this is sound advice, the phrase can be confusing. Let's take a few moments and simplify this "Rule" so that we all can use it when making captures regardless of our experience.

Simply put, the Rule of Thirds is a tool to use when composing a photograph. The way I like to instruct it is this: Place four evenly spaced imaginary lines on your image, 2 horizontal and 2 vertical. I have even further simplified it to some (mainly children) by suggesting that they imagine a "tic-tac-toe" board over the photo. Once you can picture the lines, place your subject very near a line and, if possible, arrange the main focal point of the subject where two of the lines intersect. In doing so, you increase the odds that you will create a photo that is visually appealing to how the human mind interprets the image.

For today's image (above) I took one of my favorite hawk photos and added yellow lines to help illustrate the process. When composing the photo I placed the bird on the right most vertical line. The main focal point of the bird is the eyes and beak, but I found that if I placed them on an intersection the photo was a bit bottom heavy. Instead, I placed the bird's body where the two nearest lines meet. Doing so creates a pleasing composition since the birds head is close enough to an intersection to take advantage of the rule. Had I taken the same photo and composed it differently by placing the bird in the center of the image, the result would not be as pleasing.

Since I'm on the subject of image composition, the image above demonstrates another "Rule" that can be followed to make a shot more pleasing. In most situations it is desired to have the subject looking toward the center of the image. If the bird were looking to the right rather than the left, the photo would not be as pleasing to the viewer's eye. In fact, to many people it would just "feel uncomfortable". The same can be said for motion. If the photo is of a subject in motion, compose it so it is moving toward the image's center.

Lastly, remember the old phrase "Rules are made to be broken". There are plenty of times when a more pleasing image can be created by breaking the Rule of Thirds rather than following it. Try using this rule as a guideline and see if your work improves.

Canon 30D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/500 second, f/4, ISO 100

Lowlight Photography Tips

Many people believe that when the lights go low the best way to capture a shot is by utilizing the camera's flash. While I'm a frequent user of strobes in my photography (mainly in studio environments), my first instinct in a low-light scene is to go flashless. I find that by using available light the scene can be captured in a more dramatic fashion. Here are some tips I use in photographing in low light:

Bump That ISO Increasing the camera's ISO setting will allow you to handhold shots in lower light situations. The caveat to this is the increase of digital noise into the image. I would rather deal with noise in a sharp image than deal with a blurred shot due to camera shake. I use Neat Image noise reduction software on my high ISO shots and find that it greatly improves the images.

How Low Can You Go (with the aperture) Find your fastest lens and use it. The lower the f-stop the faster the lens. Canon sells a relatively inexpensive lens that works great in low light, the 50mm f/1.8. This lens can be picked up around $75 and will give you the freedom to shoot in much darker settings than a stock 18-55 kit lens.

Burst It Put your camera in continuous mode and shoot three to five frame bursts. By doing so you will greatly increase the chances that one of the shots has less camera shake and thus less motion blur. You will be amazed at how effective this trick can be in low light settings.

IS is What it Is....Great! Image stabilization has come on strong over the past few years. Lenses with this technology are coming down in price and can offer you much more freedom when it comes to dim shooting scenarios. In shooting with an IS lens compared to a non-IS lens, I find that I can routinely shoot 3-4 stops slower and still have good results. This equates to shooting with a shutter speed of 1/125 a second on a non-IS lens versus 1/15 or even 1/8 of a second on an IS lens, a very big improvement. Many point-and-shoot cameras are also adding this feature. My pocket sized Canon G7 has it and it is extremely helpful.

Three Legs are Better Than Two Find something to stabilize your camera on to eliminate hand shake. The old standby of a tripod is a great choice, but when one is not available look around for something else. Many photographers carry a beanbag in their kit for this very purpose. There have been numerous wonderful sunset photos taken with professional quality results by a camera resting on a beanbag atop a car hood. Another tip I have heard is to carry a few feet of cord with a loop on one end and a threaded mounting screw on the other. Use this to stabilize your camera by standing on the loop, attaching the other end of the cord to the camera's tripod mount, and then pulling it taught.

Go Wide and Get In Close By shooting with a wide angle lens you minimize the effect of camera movement on the image, thus reducing motion blur. Put away that telephoto glass when it gets dark and shoot with your widest angle lens. For many folks, the kit lens that came with their SLR will be the choice. If this is the case, don't be tempted to zoom in - keep it at 18mm.

If You Must Flash, Bounce It If you find that you absolutely must resort to using a flash, bounce that light. By bouncing your light off of a light colored ceiling or wall you will eliminate that blown out two dimensional look that straight on flash causes. Bouncing can be difficult (if not nearly impossible) with a cameras on-board flash, but it can be done with a little ingenuity. I have seen many photographers tape or rubberband a piece of white paper in front of their on-board strobe unit to diffuse and bounce the light. Give it a shot.

The image I have featured on this post was taken in a very dark church during a worship service. I used my Image Stabilized lens combined with a high ISO and slow shutter speed to capture the scene. Had I made this same shot with a flash, the band in the background would be completely dark and all I would have had was a blown out shot of a bald guy raising his hand. By choosing to go strobe-less, it made for a much more interesting capture.

Please share any low-light photography tips you use in shooting when the lights go down.

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/25 second, f/4, ISO 1600

Creating a Cross-Processed look in Photoshop

Sometimes an "Oops!" can give you an unexpected good result. This is the case with Cross Processing.

"What is this Cross Processing you speak of?" you ask. Simply put, it is the processing of film in chemicals that are not intended for the type of film being processed. An example is developing slide film (E-6) in chemicals intended for negative film (C-41), or vice versa. I can imagine the first photographer's reaction upon discovering that he (or she) mistakenly created this process when looking at their developed film. The resulting effect that this gives an image can vary quite a bit but one common result is blown-out highlights and colors that just "aren't right".

In seeking to create a cross-processed effect in Photoshop, it took a short trip to Google. The search resulted in a couple of tutorials on the subject. The easiest instruction set I found was located at PhotshopSupport.com. The tutorial there was easy to follow and included screen shots of the Photoshop steps. I created the image of Michelle in this post using their formula. Notice the yellow-green tint to the skin tone and the bright color of the lips. The effect can be a bit surreal.

Here is another example of the process on a similar shot. On this photo, I added a film border as recommended in the tutorial to add to the effect.



And finally, here is one more example applied to an image of an old mailbox.



If you have given Cross-Processing a try (either with film or digital), please share you results - I'd love to see them.

Cross Processing Info on the Web

On Wikipedia
PhotoshopSupport.com
The Wonders of Cross-Processing

Images 1 & 2: Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/125 second, f/22, ISO 50
Image 3: Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/320 second, f/9, ISO 100

Digital Camera Sensor Sizes Explained

I recently began shooting with a Canon 5D, moving up from the 30D body that I had been using. The major difference between the 5D and the 30D is that the 5D uses a full-frame sensor as opposed to the 30D's APS-C sensor. Terms like "full-frame" and "APS-C" can be a bit confusing, so hopefully I can shed a little light on the subject with today's post.

In digital cameras there is a sensor in place where the film used to be in film cameras. The light passing through the camera's lens projects the image onto this sensor which then captures it digitally and records the image to memory. These sensors vary in size in both the number of pixels they contain (megapixels) and their physical dimension. Most digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras bear a strong physical resemblance to the 35mm SLR's we shot in decades past. But a difference between many of these cameras is the size of their sensor.

Taking Canon's DSLR line for example, several of their cameras have an APS-C sensor which is smaller than a frame of 35mm film. The 30D model (a camera I use) has this size of sensor. Since the sensor is smaller it only records a portion of the image the lens is projecting. This results in a "zoomed in" effect on the captured image. On cameras with this size sensor, a photographer has to take the focal length of their lens and multiply it by 1.6 to see what the equivalent focal length is. My new 5D body, on the other hand, has a sensor that is the same size as a 35mm frame of film and therefore the equivalent focal length of the lens remains the same.

In the image above I took two pictures from the exact same location with a 30D and a 5D. I used the same lens (Canon 24-105 f/4L IS) on both photos at a focal length of 24mm. By overlaying 100% size images on top of each other you can see how much more of the scene is captured by the 5D's full-frame sensor (the color 30D image is on top of the black & white 5D image).

Here is another example of the two images next to each other:


Top image taken with Canon 30D - Bottom image taken with Canon 5D

Notice how much more of the scene is captured with the 5D in the bottom image? The lens has a significantly greater wide-angle field of view. This is particularly helpful in landscape photography and architectural captures (not to mention my industry of real estate). The 1.6 crop factor sensor on the other hand can be a benefit when a photographer seeks added 'reach' for a lens. I recently used a 300mm lens with my 30D to photograph eagles and hawks in Farmington Utah. By putting this lens on the 1.6 crop camera, it became an equivalent of 480mm - a nice improvement.

In addition to the larger physical size of the sensor, the total amount of pixels is obviously different between the two. The 30D records an image of 3504 x 2336 pixels (8.2 megapixel) while the 5D records a 4368 x 2912 pixel (12.8 megapixel) image. This difference gives a noticeable quality boost to the 5D.

Both of these sensor types have their advantages and their applications. For the type of photography I shoot, I prefer the wide view and image quality of the 5D. The exception to this is when I need the added reach of the APS-C equipped 30D.

Which do you prefer?

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/125 second, f/16, ISO 100 &
Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/125 second, f/16, ISO 100

Free Online Mosaic Generator

Today's image is a mosaic created from an image of colored pencils I took last summer. I made it with a free tool I came across recently on the web. The tool creates a mosaic of your uploaded image from photos it retrieves from Flickr. While I'm not sure if this violates the API rules for Flickr since the photos used in the creation aren't attributed to their original photographer, it sure is cool.

Try it out for yourself at imagemosaicgenerator.click42.com.

My Post Processing Technique

I have received a couple of questions about my technique in processing images. To assist in showing how I do it, I thought I'd detail the steps I took in processing a photo such as the one posted yesterday. This photo was taken on the spur-of-the-moment when Michelle walked by. I was playing with a soft-box and asked her to stop and pose for the shot. I am self taught in all of my post-processing so I am sure that the 'pros' have better techniques, but this is what works for me.

ORIGINAL IMAGE

Here is the original image after doing the RAW conversion from the camera file:




STEP ONE

I use the CLONE tool to remove her necklace, earring holes, skin blemishes and background distractions.




STEP TWO

I apply noise reduction, slight sharpening (via Unsharp Mask) and crop the image.




STEP THREE

I create a new layer from the background layer. I apply 48 pixels of GAUSSIAN BLUR to the newly created layer. I blend the new layer at 35% and mask the eyes to keep them sharp.




STEP FOUR

I create a CHANNEL MIXER layer and set to monochrome (70% red, 30% blue). Adjust brightness -5




STEP FIVE

I merge my background layers, then create a duplicate of the background. I adjust brightness to -25 then mask out face (this darkens the background).




STEP SIX - COMPLETE

I merge the background layers then create a new copy of background. I apply 1.5 pixels of GAUSSIAN BLUR (smooth the skin more). I then mask out eyes to keep them sharp. Add photo filter (Sepia, 10%), Burn/dodge eye to make it more dramatic



As I said earlier, this is the process that works for me. I find as I continue to advance in post-processing that I am constantly finding new and improved techniques. If you've got some pointers, please don't hesitate to share.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L - 1/125 second, f/22, ISO 100

Pink Shoes and Photoshop

I have had this idea for a photo bouncing around (pun intended) in my head for awhile. My oldest daughter was very willing to model for the shot, especially since it involved a new pair of pink shoes.

I am generally not a huge fan of selective colorization, but in this case I like the result. There are several methods of doing this effect. The one I use most often is to convert the capture to monochrome using a [CHANNEL MIXER] layer in Photoshop. I then add a [VECTOR MASK] and paint out the area of the photograph that I want to remain in color. This is a quick and easy method that provides good results.

Here's another example of this process applied to a different shot taken at the same time:



If you've done some colorized shots, please share them with me. I'd love to see them.

Canon 30D, Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens - 1/125 second, f/2.5, ISO 100
Canon 430EX strobe with Lightsphere attached

Creating soft skin tone in Photoshop

In a comment on a post from a week ago, Charles wrote:

"I like too much this BW portrait. Could you tell me how you post-processed it to give this smooth and bright look?"

Thanks for the question Charles. The process I use in smoothing and brightening the skin is a relatively simple process. I use Photoshop CS2 for my editing, so I will detail the steps I take in that program. I believe you could easily use a similar process in Gimp, Elements or Paint Shop Pro though I haven't used these programs so I do not know for sure.

1. Select your your main layer and adjust the brightness upwards to approximately +35-45%. The image will appear washed out, but you will recover the detail in the following steps.

2. Create a copy of the main layer.

3. Select a blur option (I use Gaussian Blur) and apply it liberally to the new layer. On a large image, I use a blur radius of around 40-50 pixels.

4. On the now-blurred layer, select LAYER, LAYER STYLE, BLENDING OPTIONS (from the menu) and set the BLEND MODE. I use either MULTIPLY or OVERLAY. Now lower the OPACITY to somewhere in the 40-60% range (set it how you like the image best).

5. (Optional) Convert the image to black & white. I don't do a simple de-saturate. Instead, I create a new CHANNEL MIXER layer and check the MONOCHROME box. I can then adjust the three channels (red, green & blue) to obtain the b&w tone I desire.

6. For a final touch, I create a MASK on the top layer (the one with the blur) and mask out areas that I wish to remain crisp such as the eyes.

While I don't proclaim to be a Photoshop Guru (there are plenty of them around already), these are the steps I use in many of my black & white conversions. I find the soft tone and bright eyes create a pleasing result.

Today's image of young Christian is a good example of this process.

Canon 30D, Canon 300 f/2.8L IS - 1/50 second, f/2.8, ISO 100

How to: High Speed Splash Photography

Yesterday I posted some shots of a strawberry splashing into a drink with a brief explanation of how I did the shot (see the post here). I was really surprised at the amount of email I received asking for more information on how I created the shots. To answer these questions, here is a more detailed explanation of how I created the shots.

Lighting

I use relatively inexpensive studio lights (I purchased a two light set from Adorama for under $300). These lights are fairly low power (guide # 100) but work well on close in shots. Each of the shots was made with one light placed at approximately 85 degrees from the camera. I fire the lights with a sync cable connected to my Canon 30D. If you are using a camera that doesn't have a sync cable port (Canon Rebel for example), you can fire the lights using a hotshoe sync adapter. This relatively inexpensive piece fits on the camera hotshoe and has a place to plug your lighting into. You can also fire the lights via slave from your camera's onboard flash, but this has a tendency to adversely affect your lighting.

On the lights I use either a barndoor or a snoot attachment. This eliminates the light from splashing on the background and the camera lens.

Metering

I use a handheld meter to get a true reading of the lighting output. This step can save quite a bit of time in post processing. If you don't have a handheld meter, bracket a number of shots and then view them on your computer to determine the best exposure.



Camera

My primary camera is a Canon 30D SLR. The great part about using an SLR is the near-immediate shutter release when the button is pushed. Timing is critical in catching the splashes and having a fast acting camera is very nice. I have tried these shots with a point-n-shoot camera. It is a bit trickier to time the shots, but it can be done.

I have the camera on a tripod and use a remote cable release. I drop the strawberry with one hand and fire the camera with the other. When I have a helper (usually a daughter), I have her drop the object while I fire the camera.

I prefer to shoot these shots with a telephoto lens for two reasons. The first being that it creates a narrow depth-of-field and throws the background completely out of focus. Secondly, it keeps the camera clear of the "splash zone".

Background

For a background in these shots, I am just using a black sheet. Like a said earlier, by using the barndoor attachment on the light, I am able to keep the flash off of the background thus making it underexposed and "true black".

Props

I have used several different items in my splash shots. I have dropped cookies into milk, cream into coffee, and as we see here strawberries into strawberry lemonade. In this instance my strawberry lemonade is simply water with food coloring. I try to avoid sugary liquids due to the stickiness it causes on everything it hits (occasional camera/lens included).

Studio

My studio is rather low-tech. This shot shows a typical splash-shot setup in my garage. I have long since lost the privilege of taking these shots in the house due to the mess it creates.



Post Processing

I use Photoshop CS2 (on a Mac) for my processing. These shots required very little work. I converted the image from RAW format using Adobe Camera Raw, then cropped and applied a small amount of sharpening.

Conclusion

As you can see, this is a relatively easy type of photography to do. The fun part is to just be creative. I had one comment questioning the usefulness of these shots. I really don't have a use for them. I sell an occasional splash photo on iStockPhoto, but other then that I just consider it art.

Give it a try and see what you can create.

Strawberry Splashdown

How about a splash of RED to brighten up your Wednesday?

I made this capture of a strawberry splashing into a glass of red liquid (simulated strawberry lemonade) by placing a studio flash directly to the right and slightly above the glass of liquid. I fired the camera with one hand while dropping the strawberry with the other. The timing was a bit tricky at first, but after a few attempts it wasn't too difficult.

Tips

- Fill the glass completely to the rim to cause the splash to swell over the top.
- Use barn-doors (or a similar barrier) to block the strobe from lighting the backdrop and/or the lens.
- Use a longer lens (medium telephoto) to get your camera out of the splash zone.
- Use a cable release or remote to fire the camera (while dropping the fruit).
- Use water with food coloring for the liquid (the sugar in real beverages can leave your camera gear a bit 'sticky' if it gets splashed).

Here's another example:

Shoot away and have fun!

Equipment: Canon 30D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/250 second, f/13, ISO 100

Spontaneous Combustion

(Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 100)

What you are seeing is a capture of a lightbulb in the process of burning out. To create the shot, my friend Harley and I removed the glass enclosure of a standard household lightbulb (while leaving the innards intact) and powered it up in a pitch black room. The result was an immediate burn-out, which we were all too ready to photograph. The red hue on the smoke was added in post-processing.

Here's one more I did inverting the shot:

(Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/1000 second, f/4, ISO 100)

For detailed instructions on making a similar shot, visit DIYPhotography.net.

UPDATE: For those requesting (here and on Digg), here is the top shot with minimal adjustment (contrast, crop and noise reduction):



(Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 100)

Smokin' Photography

My previous post (available here) detailed some of my process for taking photographs of smoke. Today I thought I'd give a few more examples.




This shot titled Smokin' Sax has been rotated just past 180 degrees. When I saw the lined up spirals of smoke I immediately thought of a saxophone and attempted to line up the smoke to appear as one. As I said earlier, the color is added in processing, so I chose a gold color to further enhance the similarity to a sax.



On this one, I held a cup over the smoke stream for about 10 seconds then quickly removed the cup and took the picture. This created the curls at the top. In processing I then inverted the image to create the white background and added the rose color.




This picture of a smoking gun barrel was created by holding an unloaded (and magazine removed) Glock handgun over the incense stick and letting the smoke drift upward. The smoke worked its way through the gun and out of the barrel. I chose to leave the smoke its natural color of grayish white.




On this one, I allowed the smoke stream to calm down to just a single column and then gently placed a spoon over it. The smoke then accumulated under the spoon briefly before coming out around the edges.




Similar to the above shot, I placed the fork into the stream and allowed the utensil to disrupt the smokes flow. This one was also inverted to create the white background.




Here's the same shot as above, but without the invert.




And lastly, this shot was rotated 90 degrees clockwise to enhance the presentation. With the invert and the rotation, I felt it looked like silk blowing in the wind.

There you have it, my first few attempts at smoke shots. I used simple incense sticks that I purchased for under $5.00. For a background I used a black sheet and then placed my light source (a Canon 430EX strobe) at about an 80 degree angle. Feel free to comment with any questions or comments.

Purple Rose

UPDATE: I've posted more smoke shots on my follow-up post.

This past week, one of the readers of my blog (and frequent commenter) Genevieve from the Prairie Bluestem blog emailed me a link to an article about photographing smoke. The article was quite interesting so I decided to give it a try.

The first hurdle I had to overcome was finding incense sticks in Sandy Utah. After visiting several businesses suggested by my wife Michelle, I found some on clearance at Pier 1 Imports. Incense in hand it was time to start shooting.

To create the images I used an off camera flash positioned at a 90 degree angle to the camera and shot against a black background. I placed the incense on a stool and let the smoke drift upward into the shot. I then did various things to disrupt the air and create the patterns. Capturing the smoke required a bit of experimenting with exposure. I ended up shooting stopped down to f/22 with a shutter speed of 1/250 (the fasted my 30D can shoot and still synch the flash). I had the camera on a tripod and used a remote release to trigger the shots. Since this procedure involved the use of more than two hands, I enlisted the help of my frequents assistants Missy and Sarah (my daughters).

The only manipulation I did in Photoshop was to adjust the colour and a bit of cloning to clean up the edges. This particular shot was also inverted, causing the background to become white.

You can see some more examples of the shots on my Flickr account. Click here to view them.

and the Word was God

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1 (NIV)

Today's capture was made in an attempt to illustrate a bible passage in a photograph. After taking some low-light photos of my daughter Sarah with an iPod last week (example here), I had the idea of creating a shot depicting a glow emanating from within a Bible.

Tech Notes
To create the shot I positioned Sarah (dressed in black) on a stool in a completely dark room. The glow lighting her face was created by taping an iPod carefully to a page in the center of the bible. To add a subtle light to the exterior of the book, I placed another electronic device (this one a Gameboy) on a stool just below Sarah. The 3.2 second exposure was then tripped via remote release with the camera on a tripod.

How Much Editing?

I use Adobe PhotoShop to edit all of my photos that are presented on the web. I get asked about this quite a bit. There is a school of thought that some people hold that if you PhotoShop your photos that you are manipulating them and that this is 'cheating'. I even heard a person once refer to digital photography as digital fakery. Here are some reasons why I don't share this view.

1. I shoot my images in RAW. These images have no processing (sharpening, contrast, saturation, etc.) done to them in the camera. When viewed on the computer they tend to look dull and drab. The reason I do this is that I have a high quality digital negative with the RAW image file. I can then do the equivalent of developing the image when I convert it in PhotoShop.

2. I view the use of PhotoShop as the computer equivalent of what I used to do in the darkroom. When I am working with the image on the computer I am essentially printing the shot much as I would have done on an enlarger in the analog days. I always ask myself when editing if the edit I am doing could have been done in a darkroom. In most cases, it could be.

3. Due to the limited dynamic range of a camera's digital sensor, it is difficult to capture with a camera what you see with your eye. The human eye has a much broader dynamic range then any digital camera on the market today. Since this is the case, I use PhotoShop to present the image closer to what I saw with my eye when I captured the shot. Sometimes this involves combining multiple exposures to achieve this result. The capture I made of a full moon over the Wasatch Range is an example of this.

My goal in using PhotoShop is to edit the image in a way that when it is viewed it does not appear edited. Today's photograph of Noah is a good example of what I mean. I did the following to this shot:

- Crop unneeded area out
- Vignette edges
- Sharpen
- Reduce digital noise
- Increase color saturation
- Increase contrast
- Burn in around the edges and the bright areas on the forehead
- Dodge his right eye to brighten it

That's quite a bit of editing, but the resulting image doesn't scream PhotoShopped as much as just a beautiful golden retriever.