Check the Background of Your Shots Before Shooting

Those who follow me on Instagram (follow me at darrenrowse) will have seen this one already but I thought it’d be a fun one to share again – to make a point.

Check the backgrounds of your shots before shooting!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Check the Background of Your Shots Before Shooting

Lessons Learned in a Columbian Orphanage

It has always been a dream of mine to work at an orphanage.

I know. It’s a little bit random, and not exactly typical for an American girl. But it’s true: working at an orphanage was my earliest dream job. I think I was 9 years old. I don’t remember what put the idea in my mind, but it was that time I told my mom that I wanted to work at an orphanage.

Sometimes ideas and dreams in life seem incredibly random. I remember being younger and wondering if I would ever be able to use all the gifts and live all the dreams that I had. I knew from an early age that I was a visionary – not a dreamer, because I actually could break down my dreams into goals and set out to accomplish them with gusto.

In March I saw the fulfillment of many dreams coming together.

I think that many photographers feel similarly as I do: We want to make a difference in the world through our art. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make this difference. Sometimes we make it through the images we take. Sometimes we make it through relationship building. Sometimes we make it through investing and bettering lives. I think it’s different for everyone, but for the most part, we have a desire to bring beauty and hope to the world. Somehow we know that we can do this through photography.

Through much planning, many prayers, dozens of emails, and a handful of willing individuals, photography made a difference in the lives of hundreds of children in Colombia.

I took 4 photographers with me. We had all different backgrounds and talents. One was a technical guru. One was a wedding photographer. One was a sweet portrait photographer. One had dreams of becoming a missions photojournalist. We all came together to teach photography to Colombian Children.

We brought 10 cameras with us. We started in a public school. Every day over the next week, we taught “english” classes via the platform of photography. One day was composition. One day was rule of thirds. One day was perspective. Having classes of 30-35 kids, we organized rotations of 3. One group would hear a photo lesson, while one group would hear a photo story, and the last group would go practice. We only had 8 minutes per rotation, and realized our goal was ambitious. But somehow it happened. 200 Colombian children who never would have had photography lessons were able to hear a few explanations and tips, and practice using a camera with their friends. It was an incredible experience.

The next week we moved on to an orphanage in a remote part of Colombia outside Bogata. We had half days with 13 kids rather than 35 minutes with 30 kids like at the school. During this time we were able to invest one on one. Even though there was a language barrier, we quickly learned the correct photographic terms in Spanish. As the kids took photos, we used hand motions and expression to coach them along, pointing out interesting subjects or helping them improve. At the end of the days, we gave them something priceless: Their own photos printed via a portable printer that we brought for that very purpose.

Right before I went on the trip, a friend of mine told me that she had gone to South America once and worked in an orphanage for a little bit of time. While there, she learned that photo’s are one of the most priceless possessions for the orphans. These kids have next to nothing, but photos are pieces of art that they have attached memories of indescribable worth. I am still speechless to think that we could give these kids something so simple, that would mean so very much to them.

Each of us promised to write to these kids every month, to send photos of projects we were working on and of us in action. We hope that our investment can bless these kids, who really do have no one.

I can’t even tell you how astonished I was at the untapped creativity in some of these kids. They took the simple lessons we gave them and put so much heart into their assignments. Looking back, I marvel that these kids may not have ever discovered the creativity within them had they not been given cameras to discover that imagination.

I tell you this story not because I am anything out of the ordinary: I tell you this because I hope you can gain some inspiration to believe in yourself and what you can bring to the world also. If every photographer I know can use their gifts to reach those in need, the world really can become a more beautiful place.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Lessons Learned in a Columbian Orphanage

5 Tips for Controlling Natural Light

A Post by Mitchell Kanashkevich – author of our brand new eBook, Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool.

In the post “Are you practicing these 5 Tips for Natural Light” I discussed 5 things which I consider to be the core ideas behind working with natural light effectively. In this post it’s time to discuss some of the specific ways in which we can control natural light or rather, control the impact that natural light has on the scene which we frame within the camera viewfinder.

1. Wait

As I mentioned in the past post, the characteristics of natural light always change. Shooting the same scene or subject through different parts of the day or in different weather conditions can lead to completely different images. Waiting is the first, the easiest (as far as effort goes), but at the same time, potentially most frustrating thing that we can do in our quest to control light.

The wait can last for a few minutes, for example for the clouds in the sky to part, a few hours, for the sun to start setting, or, for weeks, for particular weather conditions.

While we are at the mercy of mother-nature when waiting for a particular kind of natural light to shoot in, we can reduce some of the frustrations and be better prepared to take advantage of whatever light we are dealt. We can do this by checking weather reports before going to places, observing light-effecting weather phenomena in those places and understanding what might cause certain conditions such as fog or even a sand-storm.

The image above came to be because I observed the weather phenomena in the area that I photographed prior to the shoot, and, because I waited. Mornings in this part of Romania at this time of year regularly brought fog, which had a dramatic reaction to the light of the rising sun. The fog would dissolve before the sun made its full ascent, so the most dramatic photograph could be made during the early stages of the sun’s ascent. I waited, came back to this place at the right moment and got the image you see. The smoke from the chimneys was a bonus.

2. Diffuse light

We don’t diffuse natural light at its source—the sun. The first and the simplest way to diffuse it is through the way we position ourselves and/or our subjects in relation to the sun. For example, we can ask our subject to move (or place it, if it’s an inanimate object) into the shade or indoors, or we can simply look for subjects who are already in the shade or indoors—this will give us considerably diffused natural light to work with.

The image above was taken in the middle of a bright sunny day. The direct light from the sun was very harsh and not appropriate for the particular image I wanted to make, so, to diffuse it I asked the subjects to move into the shade created by the walls of their home.

We can also diffuse light with human-made diffusers, which are usually large pieces of satin stretched over a frame. The effect is the same, but the diffuser is portable. Pulling curtains over windows is another perfect example of diffusing natural light.

One downside with diffusing natural light this way is that we can’t really do much in the case that we have a large subject, like a tall building or a mountain range. In such cases, there’s nothing we can do, but wait for nature to diffuse light for us, with clouds for example.

3. Direct light

We direct natural light in a similar manner to how we diffuse it—by moving ourselves and/or our subjects in relation to the light-source, which in this case might be the sun, if we’re outdoors and in the open, but it can also be an opening like a window, when indoors.

A perfect example of directing light outdoors in the open is when we end up with a silhouette image, as in the case above. You position the subject between yourself and the sun, hence you direct the light from behind the subject or back-light it.

The great thing about natural light, is that there are virtually countless ways to direct it in this manner, depending on the position of the sun or the light source (if indoors) and of course on the position of yourself and your subject.

Notice how there’s a kind of a bright outline around the grandmother and the cow in the above photograph. This too is because of the way I directed light or in other words because of my position in relation to the light-source (the sun in the beginning of its descent) and the subject. I made a conscious choice to get to a spot where the sun would illuminate the grandmother from a particular angle – a little from behind and a little to the side. This is what caused the bright outlines.

This next photograph is a perfect example of directing light when indoors. The easiest way to do this is by positioning the subject fairly close to the light-source, which in this case was a narrow door. As you can see, the results can be pretty dramatic, particularly if the interior is fairly dark and the only light-source is the one near your subject. In such circumstances light helps us create a progression of light-dark tones, which results in a sort of sculpting effect, the subject’s features look defined and there’s a sense of volume.

As is the case with diffusing natural light, we are limited when directing it too. We can ask a subject to move, but we can’t for example move mountains around. However, we do have some control. With transportation and some prior planning we can move ourselves around the mountains and at a particular angle in relation to the light, hence, we can still position ourselves in a way which is favorable for our photographic purposes.

4. Reflect light

We can reflect light in a few different ways. Human-made reflectors with special reflective surfaces (sometimes different colored) are the easiest to reflect light with. I used one of those for the above image to give it some life, because in some cases, the diffused light can make everything look a little bland and flat.

The human-made reflector “works” by reflecting the light off of it and directing it towards the subject. For a more pronounced effect it’s best to have the subject in diffused light (as was the case in the example image) in the shade or indoors and to have the reflector reflecting fairly bright sun rays. The closer the reflector is to the subject, the stronger the light from it. For the image above I had a friend who was holding the reflector step about fifteen feet away from the subject. He then found a spot where the rays of the sun would fall on the reflector and directed them back towards the subject from the side.

Almost anything flat and relatively bright can become a reflector, to various degrees – snow, water, even bright sand.

5. Look for situations with multiple light sources

These situations occur in interior spaces, whether man-made or natural (e.g. a cave). In these cases, windows or other openings act as the light-sources, and, if there are a couple or a few of them, we can essentially end up with multiple light-sources.

Take a look at the image above, the man is back-lit and has the bright outline around his head, but at the same time, he is illuminated enough from the front for us to see detail in his face and body. This is because the light is coming through two light-sources, the window behind him and the door towards which he is walking (not in frame).

A similar scenario is taking place in the next image (above). The main light-source is the window to the left of the frame. It creates a progression of light-dark tones, hence making the subjects look sculpted (same way as when directing light). There is however another light-source here, a window which is right behind me, with curtains were pulled over it. The curtains diffuse the light, but the source is still strong enough to act as a fill-light.

Final words

Now that you are familiar with some of the ways in which we can control natural light’s impact on the scene we plan to photograph, go out and experiment. Feel free to post links to the images you end up with.

Learn more about how to see and utilize Natural Light in your photography with Mitchell’s eBook Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool (currently 25% off).

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

5 Tips for Controlling Natural Light

Instagram and its Impact on the World of Photography

A Guest Post by Guy Prives.

If you were not on a hot-air balloon for a journey around the world or in a Tibetan monastery on a pilgrimage yet have experienced these images on Facebook then it’s likely you’ve already been exposed to Instagram.

“Instagram” the photo-sharing application, recently bought by Facebook, allows participants to shoot, edit and share photos with users of the application through the personal world of each one of us. The network allows us to react and give feedback in the form of “Likes” and comments.

I have lived in the world of photography for several years and keep a close eye on every new and innovative discovery in this field. It is this reason I was exposed to this application at an early stage; more than a year ago now. After just a brief observation I fell in love with it and started to upload not only photographs I had taken with my own cell phone but also many pictures that I had taken with my camera. I like to share my work and images that reflect my personal life with my friends both of which increase in number as time goes on.

When I started using this application, Instagram was still in its initial stages. Most of the network members were from the Far East where such applications are highly developed due to tech savvy culture and high standards of technological and cellular industries. I set myself a goal; to succeed to make my photos appear within the most popular collection of images and if an image did not managed to get there I would define it as a failure.

After a long period in which the application was not so popular I put it on the shelf and abandoned it. Only a few months passed and I found that in that short space of time the application had gained dramatically in popularity. I decided this was the time to come back and share my photos on it.

I must admit, although I am a professional photographer, I sin very often, taking photos directly from my iPhone because I feel too lazy to get my professional camera out of the bag/home.

Instagram led to a very interesting phenomenon that could possibly change the world of photography from one end to another. Almost suddenly people who seldom took pictures of their daily life encounters, began to photograph the world around them on a daily basis, increasing and discovering a love for photography. Some have gone even further and consequently decided to study photography.

A question that been asked by my colleagues was:

“What direction is the photographic world going in?”.

“Is this phenomenon, which has brought the art and culture of photography to the forefront and to places and people who were not originally exposed to it, turning its initial audience into amateur photographers urgently and suddenly into millions of pseudo photographers a positive or negative phenomenon?”

“Is the photographic world that previously wasn’t charming to hundreds of millions of people suddenly the hot topic? Does that, therefore, leave dust to creep into other areas?”

“Has the way the hobby has progressed so dramatically to assistant photography moved it closer to an individual art genre or turned it to a banal category of its own?

It’s clear to all of us that the world is moving towards one direction. Technological developments that come up frequently will continue to surprise us in the coming years. The result of the current development in the form of the Instagram has helped the field of photography reach tens of millions of new people. Every one of us has a never-ending creativity and a different perspective which we see around us. Although most of these application users tend to take photos with their cell phones and not with professional cameras, the processing and editing applications available can surprise us with high quality images as an automatic process that has a final professional finish.

Maybe my opinion is different from the professionals that surround me in everyday life but my opinion is clear; I believe Instagram is a blessing although in a different way from what I initially thought. In the end it serves the purpose for which I and my fellow photographers get up in the morning with a smile on our face. That reason is this; Instagram provides amateur photographers with the tool to share their art with others while receiving additional tools for developing creativity and observation to detail. Additionally even I, as a photographer, leave the house sometimes without my big camera which makes my dependence on my mobile phone endless. The fact that it incorporates a high quality camera allows me to be constantly sharp as if I’m at work and looking for new frames each time my eyes espy a new “strip” during my daily life.

In addition to his big sister; the Facebook network, Instagram as a social network gives us the opportunity to meet new people and see the world through the eyes of others who live in different, new, interesting places and learn about their culture. The network allows us to follow a guy from New York and see the Big Apple in an entirely different and cultural way from how it is usually projected. We can keep track of people from different countries and see that life in a certain place is not the way we assume or are led to believe. Even the way we see our country can be dynamically challenged when it is reflected in the eyes of another person with different opinions, views and artistic vision.

I cannot reach an unequivocal answer as to whether Instagram is contributing or will contribute to the photography field. The fact that this field is in the headlines these days, thanks to this application, makes my colleagues and me very happy and there is a feeling that, at last, a reality that I had hoped for, for years of my life has come completely naturally into the home of others.

Look for me at Instagram @guyprives

Guy Prives is a photographer based in Tel Aviv, Israel and teaching photography at Galitz School of photography. Guy discovered his love of photography during a long trip to South America, and now this passion to capture the moment with a click of the camera has been with him ever since. Check out more of his work at his website.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Instagram and its Impact on the World of Photography

How to Use a 10-stop ND Filter to Take Long Exposure Sunset Images

The following tutorial was submitted in our forum by Chris Gin.

I used my B+W 10-stop the other day to do some long exposures at sunset and thought I’d write up the steps I took to get the shot.

Firstly for those of you who aren’t familiar with this type of filter, it’s basically a very strong neutral density (ND) filter which reduces the amount of light hitting the camera’s sensor by about 1000 times. ND filters are very common but they are typically only 3-stops in strength (reducing the amount of light by 8 times) so a 10-stop one is quite extreme.

The first thing I did was find a suitable composition as I would for any shot. I wanted to achieve the misty water look so I found some rocks with water washing over them and composed my shot. Note it’s vital to use a tripod with these shots due to the long exposures.

Once I had the shot composed the next step is to work out what exposure will be needed. At this point I usually take a test shot without the ND filter and then multiply the shutter speed by 1000. e.g. if using aperture priority, ISO 100, f/11, the shutter speed is 1/50, then the required shutter speed with filter would be 20 seconds (.02 * 1000).

In this case however I was a bit lazy and decided to just put the filter on and take some test shots to work out the exposure.

As it was nearly sunset, I also needed to use a graduated neutral density (GND) filter to balance the exposure between the sky and foreground. Positioning the GND filter when also using a 10-stop ND filter is difficult because it’s hard to see anything with the ND filter on. Luckily my Canon 7D’s LiveView allows me to ‘see through’ the ND filter so I used this when positioning the GND. My 40D didn’t allow me to do this so I had to position the GND filter on first, take it off the camera (while still in its holder), screw the ND filter on, and then put the GND filter back on. A bit time-consuming as you can imagine and so much easier using LiveView!

Here’s the first shot I took.

?

ISO 200, f/9, 30 seconds

Not bad, but a little underexposed (you can see the rocks are too dark). The settings I used were just based on experience from previous shots I’d taken using the filter. There’s also a bit of vignetting caused by stacking filters on a wide angle lens. Larger GND filters can avoid this but since I only have Cokin P-sized ones I decided to zoom in slightly (11mm vs 10mm) to minimize vignetting.

This is the final shot I took and the one I think I will keep:

ISO 400, f/9, 60 seconds

Since the sun was lower in the sky I needed an even longer exposure. I decided to use ISO 400 to keep the exposure down to 60 seconds. Sometimes noise can be a problem at higher ISOs but my 7D handles ISO400 just fine.

Note the only processing done on the above shots is converting from RAW to JPG and applying camera’s Landscape picture style. Other processing steps I would take include straightening of horizon, local exposure adjustments if needed, white balance, sharpening, noise reduction etc.

I hope you found this tutorial useful. You can view more of my photos on my website, on my Flickr page, or on Facebook.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

How to Use a 10-stop ND Filter to Take Long Exposure Sunset Images

Are You Practicing these 5 Natural Lighting Tips?

A Post by Mitchell Kanashkevich – author of our brand new eBook, Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool.

Natural light is the most important and powerful tool available to photographers, and it is free to everybody in the world. Understanding how natural light works and how to work with it effectively is one of the key ways in which all of us can improve our photography without spending more money on fancy photographic equipment. In this blog post I’ve outlined five tips which I believe to be most vital to improving the way we work with natural light and in turn improving our photography.

Before getting to the tips I want to draw attention to one very important fact. We take photos to communicate visually. With our photographs we aim to tell stories or to convey a mood, an atmosphere—what it was like to be at a place or with a certain person. This fact is very important to keep in mind because it helps us put everything in perspective. It helps us realize that ultimately our use of natural light is nothing more and nothing less than one of the means to communicate visually.

1. Be Aware that Characteristics of Natural Light Change

The characteristics of natural light change due to the time of day, because of the weather and due to various other circumstances. You can essentially say that there are different kinds of light. The different kinds of light will make the same scene will look quite different, as you can see in the photographs above, which were taken during different times of day (left – twilight, middle – sunrise, right – middle of the day).

To the photographer this means that if a scene doesn’t look the way you’d like it to look at the time of day or in the weather you initially see it, you may have a chance to capture it looking entirely different at another time, in another kind of light.

2. Don’t Look at Natural Light in terms of “Good” or “Bad”

Many of us are virtually indoctrinated with the idea that light during the golden-hour is “good” or even the best kind of light to photograph in. The harsh light around midday is generally considered to be the worst kind of light. In reality, this way of looking at light can be very limiting creatively.

The golden-hour light makes everything look beautiful and magical because of its soft and golden tinting qualities. The image above is a great example of the golden-hour light beautifying a scene. But, what if we want to create an image which isn’t about the beauty of a place or a person? Golden-hour light might not be appropriate in such a situation.

The above image is a good example of when the harsh light around midday might be the preferred kind of light. With this photograph I primarily wanted to communicate what it’s like to be working in a harsh, sun-bleached environment. I wanted to say something about the hardship of manual labor. If the image were shot during the golden-hour, the scene may have been beautified and romanticized and the message may have very possibly been lost. In the harsh midday light, the hard shadows and the bleached colors helped me communicate exactly what I wanted to.

In conclusion my advice is to look at the different types of natural light as tools in a tool-set. None of the “tools” are good or bad, just right or wrong for what you’re trying to communicate.

3. Obsess with Observing Light

Observe light in your everyday life—how it interacts with everything around you, with particles of dust, water, observe how is changes when you move from place to place, how it casts shadows. Observe how the photographers you respect use light in their work. The aim is to educate yourself, to train your eyes to recognize different lighting scenarios and eventually to be able to predict when some of the more elusive lighting scenarios might occur.

The photograph above came to materialize because I had observed similar lighting scenarios before. I knew that narrow light sources and smoke can create dramatic looking light-beams, when the light illuminates the smoke at a certain angle. In this situation the sun was setting, hence it was illuminating the smoke at just the right angle for the “light-beam-effect.” I had a narrow light source, the doorway, which I was able to make even more narrow by asking my friend to block most of it, hence accentuating the effect.

4. Experiment and Photograph just for the Sake of seeing how Everything will Translate Through the Viewfinder

No matter how much you observe natural light or how many tips you read about it, to truly make the most of it photographically, you need to take photos.

Experimenting doesn’t necessarily lead to masterpieces, but it does help you understand how light works in a very practical sense. With digital cameras there is absolutely no reason to hold back frames. If you see an interesting lighting scenario and you’re wondering how it would look in an image—photograph it! That’s exactly what I did with the above frame. I saw that the scene was backlit, but at the same time light was coming from behind me. The first thought that entered my mind was “I wonder how this might turn out?” I experimented, made a few exposures and ended up with what I consider a strong image.

5. Expose with Post-Processing in Mind

No matter how good our cameras are, we will not be able to capture the entire tonal range created by some of the more challenging lighting situations, without the aid of post-processing software such as Adobe Lightroom.

To make the most of such situations it’s important to expose in a way where you give yourself a chance to capture maximum detail. This might mean under- or over-exposing certain elements in a scene. Let me explain using an example.

You can see in the first image above that the faces of the men are looking dark, they are under-exposed. This is the image that came straight from the camera and my decision to under-expose was very deliberate. Exposing properly for the faces would result in extremely over-exposed clouds. In this case I would likely be unable to bring out the detail in those over-exposed clouds and they would become large, white blotches. On the other hand I knew that I could brighten the faces of the men and bring out the necessary details in Lightroom with a simple tweak of the Fill Light/Shadows slider.

Exposing with post-processing in mind is a bit of a mental battle. You constantly have to ask yourself: Which element is more important to the image? What are the details which I can afford to lose and which are those which I can’t? Ultimately there might be situations where details cannot be preserved by under- or over-exposing and until the photographic technology gets better, that is just something we have to live with.

Some Final Words

As I already mentioned, no matter how much we read about photography, to become a better photographer—nothing beats actually making photos. The best way of improving and bettering your understanding of natural light is to keep the above mentioned tips in mind and to photograph as much as you can, in as many different lighting scenarios as possible.

Learn more about how to see and utilize Natural Light in your photography with Mitchell’s eBook Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool (currently 25% off).

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Are You Practicing these 5 Natural Lighting Tips?

Introduction to Night Photography

A guest post by Sam Levy, founder of citifari.

When speaking about night photography and what there is to it, the first thought is long exposure, car light trails, etc. While this is correct, there is a lot more to night photography and since we have more time for our exposure, this might mean endless fun.

The essentials: tripod, remote and gloves

It is correct to start thinking long exposure for night photography, and therefore this might seem trivial, but no need to read further if you are not ready to carry a tripod for night photography. There is no long exposure without a stable support for your camera.
Besides a good sturdy tripod, a remote control is very handy. I typically prefer the wired controls rather than infrared for two reasons:

• Battery sometimes fail and having the wired exempts you from one point on your checklist before going out
• Settings on your camera might need to be changed to turn on the infrared receiver whereas the wired control always works; you don’t want to miss out on that shot just because your camera settings were reset (on turn off or timeout)

Lastly, temperatures at night drop significantly and unless on a nice summer night, you don’t want to be taken by the cold and would prefer to be comfortably covered so that you can take all the time you want for your shots. The most important piece is your gloves. Carry them with you as you will probably be holding your (wired) remote control out for most of your shooting session. Put them on early, before being cold as the cold will last much longer after you have them on.

A few techniques

Zooming

Zooming is a simple technique that consists changing the focal length (i.e. zooming) while the shutter is open. As you are zooming in, the elements that were in the center of your picture are moving outwards (when zooming out, the elements from the corners move towards the center). In order to realize this shot properly, start from a known position with a known exposure time.

Take the basic shot and check that everything is right. For instance, in the picture of the UN headquarters, start by framing properly the building, and exposing for 4 seconds.

Think about what you want to add by zooming. Here we wanted to add the light trails and the light mark at the end. So we added 2 seconds, took the shot again and started zooming in approximately after 4 seconds (the base shot) for one second and let the lights mark on the zoomed in position for the last second.

Everything is approximate and you will have to try a couple of times before getting the desired result but plan your shot and try to envision the result before shooting and you will be amazed by the results. One more tip: position your hand on the zoom ring prior to beginning the exposure, you will avoid the camera shake when coming in contact for zooming and ensure a smooth zoom.

Light Painting

You can use a light to paint elements of the shot that you would want to brighten for your shot. Typically you will use a long shutter speed to allow yourself time to turn on the light and paint. You can experiment both with direct light on the shot or a projected light, with a flashlight, an off camera flash or any light emitting source. In the example here, we went to a 20 second exposure and made sure that the background was properly exposed. Then, with a flash light we wrote I [heart] NYC in the air.

Timing and patterns

While doing these exercises you will realize that at night timing is everything. I assumed you are also carrying a watch or a cellphone to use as stopwatch. Check what is around you and how you could take onto a shot events that are not supposed to appear together.

I believe, one of the best examples would be a traffic light. Each of the three colors alternate but a long enough exposure will make all three appear together.

For this shot, start by measuring the length of the yellow (here 3 seconds) multiply by 3 and take the closest shutter speed available on your camera (here 10 seconds). Now measure the length of the green light (here 20 seconds) and next time the light turns green, start exposing a bit before second 17 (20-3). As a result you will capture 3 seconds of green, 3 seconds of yellow and 3 seconds of red (and 1 second lost somewhere in the approximation).

Mirror Lock

This is more a tip than a technique but you will notice that your camera moves as the mirror is moving inside. Some offer the option to lock the mirror, that is, to open the shutter before the capture. Then another press on the remote will start the capture. The first few times, you will forget about the option but it is a neat feature and you will easily notice the improved sharpness of your pictures.

While you might have read about these techniques already, there is nothing better than going out and trying them yourself. We work with our guests on these techniques during our New York by Night photo tour and it is interesting to notice how many guests had heard about the techniques but had never tried them. Once they try, they are so amazed and so much in love that they want to apply them at each opportunity.

Sam Levy is the founder of citifari. citifari offers photo tours in New York City. Structured as a 2-1/2 hour practical workshop, citifari tour helps you get comfortable with your camera settings and take great shots in New York City. Connect with them at their website, on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Tumblr.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Introduction to Night Photography

Is Camera Lust Destroying Your Photography?

This morning I did something I’m a little ashamed of. I locked myself in my office, opened up my computer and began to surf the web and look at things I knew I probably shouldn’t be looking at.

I ended up on sites that I knew would get me in trouble. Sites that could lead me down a path that I’d have a hard time explaining to my wife. Sites that make time fly and that you can spend a whole morning wasting your time on.

You know the ones – camera review sites.

I had a good case of camera lust this morning and I’m not really proud of it.

It started off innocently enough – I was simply checking in on a few of my favourite blogs (thanks Dave, Steve and Eric) but a simple comment or two about a couple of cameras from those guys and I was off on a wild ride. In the next 2 hours I looked at new mirror less cameras from Olympus, old film cameras from Contax, lenses from Leica, ND Filters, Speedlights, read detailed comparisons on Nikon and Canon’s new DSLRs and much much more.

At the end of it all I had read a lot, compared a lot, wished I had a lot but I had done absolutely nothing.

Is Camera Lust Destroying our Photography?

This might sound a little strange coming from the owner of a photography site that publishes a camera review or two a week but sometimes I think our lust for cameras and gear could be getting in the way of actually becoming better photographers.

Perhaps ‘destroying our photography’ is a little harsh – but at the very least I suspect camera lust is distracting us from photography.

A Common Comment I Hear

“If I could just upgrade to a better camera or lens my photos would be better.”

I get a lot of emails from readers who seem to put a lot of hope into a new piece of gear improving their photography.

While there’s no doubt that there is a difference in the output of one camera vs another and that not all lenses are equal – I do sometimes wonder what would happen if we put the time and energy that we put into researching gear into actually practicing our photography whether we’d see a bigger improvement.

This morning I spent a good 2 hours looking at cameras that I could have spent out with one of the cameras I already have at my disposal (and I have a few to choose from).

Use The Gear You’ve Got

I have no problem with buying new gear or upgrading your camera but I guess this post is a challenge to us all (and mainly myself) to actually keep your camera lust in check and to get out and use the gear you’ve got.

The best way to improve your photography has nothing to do with the gear you’ve got. It’s all about practice.

It’s about taking (or wearing) and using your camera. It’s about learning to see light. It’s about understanding how your camera works. It’s about experimentation and play. It’s about learning and using new techniques.

Do you find yourself distracted by Camera Lust? What advice would you give others who do too?

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Is Camera Lust Destroying Your Photography?

Keep the Best, Delete the Rest

A guest post by Lara White from PhotoMint.

It’s the one of those things that holds many photographers back. Each time you create a set of images, it’s more like a blooper reel than a best hits collection unless you cull them ruthlessly. Your image library grows and grows, each set containing hundreds of images, the best ones hiding in there somewhere amongst the slop. Sound familiar?

Culling your best work is absolutely critical to your growth as a photographer. That means getting in there and separating the wheat from the chaff” so to speak-be ruthless. It’s hard work to throw away your work, especially for an artist. But in order to learn from your mistakes and grow as a photographer, it must be done. It’s one of the very best ways to learn about your strengths and weaknesses photographically.

Why deleting is different than reviewing

Everyone looks at their work and thinks about what they like and don’t like. But until you make an actual decision about each image-is it the very best image, is it good (but not great) or was it just practice-you won’t open yourself up to the learning that comes when you actively force yourself to separate the best from the throwaways.

By making decisions about what works and what doesn’t, you begin to train your eye. As an example, let’s say you are looking at a dozen good images of a landscape, each one slightly different. By comparing and contrasting several good photos, some are better, some are worse. One image is going to be the best. And everything other image is not the best, and therefore inferior in some way.

Which one is the best, and how do you know? With this question in mind, you are forced to look at the little details in a new way. Maybe one has better exposure or slightly better composition. It might be in the details, and you have to look carefully, but that’s where you’ll find your greatness-in the little things.

Your work starts to improve

You’ll begin to see when you really “got it” and what led to that moment, understanding and learning more from the images before and after that one great shot. You’ll see what wasn’t working-was there too much sky or not enough sky? Next time, you’ll compose a little bit better. You’ll remember what you liked. You’ll spend a little less time creating images that you know won’t work.

You’ll start spending more time creating images that are better. Each time you’ll be able to duplicate a little more of what worked and spend less time on shots that don’t work.

Another benefit to editing images is that your portfolio instantly improves as you remove the uninspiring images. You don’t want the throwaways, the garbage, and the mediocre images crowding out the gems. Sift through and delete images that are unexceptional so that great images have a chance to shine. Allow none of the uninspired images to slip through. You don’t really want to show off your average work now, do you?

Learning to see-perspective and composition

Perspective and composition are two key areas that I have improved over the years due to ruthlessly culling images. Each editing or culling session is a lesson in learning what separates a great image from an ordinary image.

For example, in the dessert table overview image, it’s pretty much a straight on shot of the table. It doesn’t work because it’s boring, it doesn’t entice the viewer and it doesn’t create any desire for the desserts. There is too much wall and not enough yum.

What did I do wrong in composing the image? The perspective is too high. I need to get lower, at eye level with the desserts. And in order to make the desserts appetizing, they need to seem larger than life.

Compositionally, this means that I would choose a specific dessert and allow it to take up more space in the frame. Finally, so the image doesn’t feel cluttered by too many desserts, I use a low f stop and focus only on one dessert, allowing the rest to become background.

I didn’t learn this instinctively, and I didn’t even learn it at the shoot. The dessert table overview shot actually felt more appropriate, it captured the scene truthfully and was a straightforward shot. But there is nothing unique or interesting about that image. It’s the same as anyone would take with a point and shoot.

As photographers, I believe it’s our job to say something with the images, to add something more than just what meets the eye. I learned this more in the editing room than on any shoot. The editing or culling process allows me to see what works and why. And even more important, I learn what doesn’t work.

So hopefully you are convinced of the tremendous value in editing down your work to only the best. It’s one of the fastest ways to improve the quality of your photography work. And who doesn’t want to take better images?

Lara White is a professional photographer and author. For more tips on improving the quality of your images, download PhotoMint’s free ebook: Get Published: A Guide for Wedding Photographers. For more marketing and business tips for photographers, check out PhotoMint.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Keep the Best, Delete the Rest

31 [+10] Cool Photography Tutorials, Tips, Videos, Hacks and How To’s from Around the Web

This morning I spent some time trawling through some of my favourite photography blogs to see what they’ve been posting – the array of great tutorials, videos, hacks and advice I found was amazing! What a great time we live in where we have so many great resources to draw on.

Following is a collection of 27 links and videos from around the web that I enjoyed today. Please share them with your own networks!

• Dirk Dallas Shares his Favorite Phoneography Apps, Tips and More
• Weddings: Poses for the Groom and Groomsmen
• Ian Ruhter – interview with self-taught tintype photographer on the process, stubble and journey behind making the largest wet plate print ever
• Steel Wool Light Painting Explained
• The story behind a wonderful photo of ‘The Archangle Duck’
• Where Do Images Go When You Import Them to Lightroom?
• How to Make a High Key B&W Portrait
• Working a Shot
• The World’s 25 Most Beautiful Travel Photography Destinations
• Not Your Average Prom Portraits
• Image Collection: collection of images that photographer Chip Litherland took of behind the scenes with Miami Heat in their Locker room
• It’s not a Camera… It’s a Visa
• Virtual Lighting Studio – cool new online tool!
• DIY: How to Build a CFL Based Continuous Light Source
• How to Shoot from the Hip
• The back story of a NYT front page image taken in the Oval Office
• Expose for the Sky
• How to Create a Ghostly Photo Effect
• LED Lighting for Photography
• DSLR 101: Auto Bracketing
• 4 Tips for Editing Photos in Photoshop
• The Drama of Backlighting
• A Thing or Two about Twins – Photographing Twins
• Three Pro Photographers share their workflows from shutter release to finished images

Plus some cool Photographing Videos:

Behind The Scenes with Surreal Portrait Photographer Rob Woodcox from Mike Wilkinson on Vimeo.

Also check out an interview with this photographer here.

Shoot-Out, GPP 2012 from gulf photo plus on Vimeo.

What’s Hot on dPS

And to finish up – here are the 10 posts from dPS that have had the most interest in the last couple of months.

• Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Female Subjects
• A 15 Minute Exercise to Help You Improve Your Photography in 2012
• 24 Beautiful Dawn Images
• 33 Inspirational Images that Feature Pattern and Repitition
• Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Men
• 6 Ways to Add Drama and Mystery to Your Images
• How to Shoot Through a Wire Fence
• 27 Beautiful Black and White Portraits
• 5 Tips to Transform Your Photography With Long Exposures
• 25 Dreamy Images Shot Wide Open

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

31 [+10] Cool Photography Tutorials, Tips, Videos, Hacks and How To’s from Around the Web