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By Digital Photography School, on April 6th, 2011%
Recent versions of Photoshop have an automatic Red Eye Removal tool. But what do you do when that tool fails as it does all too often with people, and always with pets? Here’s one technique that I like to use. I’m going to illustrate it on a pet photo featuring “green eye”, but the same trick works on people with red eye, too. 1. Zoom in on the eye of your subject 2. Get your Paintbrush (Keyboard shortcut B) 3. Set your foreground color to black 4. In the options bar, set the brush mode to Color, opacity 100% By painting with the brush in this mode, we will desaturate the area that we paint. 5. Using a small brush with a medium-soft edge, paint the mis-colored part of the eye to desaturate it. Since all we are doing is desaturating, this leaves the highlight and other gradients that reveal the shape of the eye intact. If we simply painted black we would destroy these details that make the eye look realistic. After desaturating, all we need to do is darken the pupil. 6. Get the Burn tool 7. In the options bar, select Midtones, Exposure 20% 8. Paint gradually in the pupil to burn (darken) the Midtones By restricting our burn to the Midtones, we avoid destroying the highlight in the eye or darkening that natural rim around the eye. We only affect the middle gray that was originally colored red or green. 9. Darken the pupil to a reasonably dark gray (not pure black), and you’re done! Of course, this technique won’t work in every case, because there are a lot of different types of “red eye” in people and animals, but it’s usually my first go-to method for tough cases. To see a free video which includes this and several more techniques for difficult cases, visit SteeleTraining.com. About the Author : Phil Steele is the founder of SteeleTraining.com where you‚Äôll find free tutorials on photography, Photoshop, Lightroom and more. This article is based on an excerpt from his video training course “Photoshop Basics for Photographers” . Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Photoshop: Red Eye Fix for Difficult Cases in People and Pets
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Photoshop: Red Eye Fix for Difficult Cases in People and Pets
By Digital Photography School, on April 5th, 2011%
Photographing a large group of people can be something of a challenge – in this video Jared from Fro Knows Photo shares how he approached it (including how he post processed the shot and how he’d approach it differently next time). Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Photographing a Large Group of People… With the Fro
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Photographing a Large Group of People… With the Fro
By Digital Photography School, on April 5th, 2011%
A Guest post by Saul Molloy from Shotslot . Image by Romain Ballez All the whistles and bells of the modern camera should, at least in theory, make crafting great images an easier and more straightforward process than it used to be – with all these exposure modes, focussing tools, picture styles and the like, camera manufacturers would like you to believe that it’s just a matter of squeezing the shutter and hey presto you’re Bailey. Certainly getting the tricky business of exposure right has become more straightforward for the technologically challenged – you really don’t need to know much to get some passable snapshots but what about if you want to take your photography further? Photography is so very different an activity from that of even ten years ago. Good modern photographers need to be able to do so much more than compose and frame a shot, and whilst the traditional skills required for messing around with chemicals in a darkroom are waning, a whole set of new techniques are needed if you want to develop your photography to a really high standard. Here’s what I think are five key ways to make your photography shine: 1. Know Your Software Hone your ‘developing’ skills to where you can take an image and get the very best out of it in your digital darkroom. This is a vital capability whether you want to be primarily a ‘photographer’ or an ‘image-maker’ and allows you to take greater control over your work so it’s the very best that it can be. This means choosing a solid piece of editing software and learning how to use it to its full potential. It doesn’t mean buy the most expensive thing and learn that – you have to choose something that best suits your interests and needs. Be prepared to change your mind. 2. Get the Basics Right You need to know composition, exposure and how to utilise your camera to get the most out of it. It doesn’t matter much what camera you’re using, if you don’t really know how to point it then you’re going to struggle to get anything good out of it. Know your manual and what your camera can (and can’t) do. Study and understand phenomena like depth of field, focal planes and shutter speeds. This stuff can get geeky and bit dull at times but it will help you to understand how to produce a particular effect or look when you start to frame in your mind what you want an image to look like in its final form. 3. Be Flexible It’s easy to get stuck in a rut taking the same kind of shots and processing them in the same way over and over again. Or just adopting one set of tools and failing to implement new ones as and when they become available. Developing your work means that you do need to develop the way you work. This means being conscious of issues such as workflow and how they impact on your ability to produce good images. Just like the dodo, if you fail to evolve you fail to survive in that will you fail to keep your interest in photography in general but you also need to be able to innovate and change if you’re really going to produce some impressive images. 4. Study Others’ Work Art rarely develops in isolation, the work of other people can be key in helping you to develop your style, hone your skills and increase your knowledge. Spend time every day looking at the work of others, thinking about how they created a specific look or effect and work out how you could replicate it. An important tool for the modern photographer is networking with other photographers on-line or in real life. On-line communities such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr are a great way to get your work ‘out there’ but are an even better resource for inspiration and discussion. They even allow you to engage in collaborative projects which will boost your skills and experience substantially. In real life, you should check out your local camera club or photo-walk group. Interacting with other photographers in the flesh is a great way to learn new things and increase your engagement with photography overall, it might give you access to new shooting opportunities and equipment and will certainly challenge the way you see your own photography. 5. Practice You can read all the books, internet sites or magazine articles you like but there’s no substitute for actually picking up your camera and using it. Passion for photography comes from the feeling of having created something unique and interesting with your camera – be that a single image, a small portfolio or an entire body of work. There is just no substitute for picking your camera up and pointing it at things in earnest and ideally, you should be using your camera as a portal to show others something you yourself passionate about. Having the ability to show something you love in a new and visually exciting way onlycomes with practice and thus practice is the thing that more that anything else will make your photographs stand out from the crowd. Go do that now! See more of Saul Molloy’s work at Shotslot . Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . 5 Key Skills for the Modern Photographer
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5 Key Skills for the Modern Photographer
By Digital Photography School, on April 4th, 2011%
Thanks to everyone who purchased our brand new eBook Captivating Color in its first two weeks. As early bird buyers you all went into the draw to win a 16GB iPad 2. We’ve seen many readers buy the eBook over the last 14 days and the reviews of it have been very positive – thanks everyone for your feedback. The winner was – Kathy L. (I’ve kept her surname private). I’ve just drawn the winner and sent them an email with details of their win. Thanks again to everyone for your support in this eBook launch. For those of you yet to get your copy – you can do so here ! Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . The Winner of the iPad is…
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The Winner of the iPad is…
By Digital Photography School, on April 4th, 2011%
Our commercial photographer spotlights continue with travel photographer Julien Capmeil. Julien’s work has appeared in numerous publications including GQ, Mens Journal, Oprah, Japanese Vogue, German Vanity Fair and an impressively long list of Conde Nast Traveler covers and editorials. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Julien now calls New York City home. What was your first camera and what interested you about photography? It was a Pentax K1000, a great startup workhorse. The camera itself was so novel at the time. I mean you had your standard Nikon’s and Canon’s then, but this was totally workable and it ran me through the basics of photography. It’s kind of amazing how far photography has come in such a short amount of time. If someone has a desire to be a photographer they don’t have to sit there and spend $50 making a contact sheet anymore, or film and darkroom costs. A lot of the expenses are removed, so the entry barrier is much lower. And I think that’s a good thing. The fact I couldn’t draw annoyed the hell out of me so photography was the next best thing. I still wish I could draw though! A friend of mine was taking a photo class and he was going into a theatre to take a photo of a show that was going on, and it had a cinematic feel and it was so easy to see it all come together (as supposed to drawing) and it was a way to speak visually, but still in a manner I could do and interpret. With photography you’re given a technique and an ability to communicate with people on different levels and that’s great. How long have you been working as a professional photographer? How did you make the transition to full-time? I would say it has been about 7 years. I was a full time assistant for a great friend and mentor, it was such an amazing job that it was hard to leave. In the end I started door knocking just to test the water and the work trickled in. Eventually I had my foot enough through the door that it was time to leave assisting behind. Thankfully it was a fairly fluid transition considering. The woman I was working for, did a couple stories for Conde Nast Traveler, and she told me to go see them. It was almost like having the door opened for me, I showed my book to a few magazines and the Photo Director at Conde Nast Traveler said she’s like to use me. And it just goes from one job to another and builds like that. It was a slow process, but I don’t think you want it to go fast. You want to absorb everything and make sure you’re doing a good job and learning from each one, getting better. You don’t want to overload right away. Take us through an average day or week. What’s your routine, or non-routine? It really depends on the week, there is no average unfortunately. Seeing as so much of my work is location based I am either away shooting or back in the office editing, billing and catching up on all the loose ends. It makes things quite bi-polar to be honest. It’s usually a little too much of one thing haha. But that’s travel photography. I think it’s different as more of a studio based photographer, but most of my planning is done on the fly. I’ll get a brief outline of the story and what I’m doing and then it’s piecing it together. If it’s a story with luxury you have to figure out how to get all those elements together to work with the journalist. Where do you find inspiration? What’s your creative process? I find NY endlessly inspiring, from riding the subway and looking at the human diversity to the abundance of art, new and old, that is available for public viewing. The city helps recharge your creative batteries in a way. I find a lot of inspiration in landscapes and people. Just seeing how they actually live and get by and really live happily with so little. In comparison with us so many people have nothing, but they welcome you in to their house openly. And just how they present themselves. I went to South Africa and they just have these amazing aesthetics, but really minimal, and it let’s you appreciate what we have. The discrepancies in how people live across the world are huge. For example, in Varanasi, India there is this crush of humanity. Just stuffed to capacity and people are living blissfully. It’s remarkable to see how happy people are in these overcrowded conditions. The spectrum of people is amazing. You travel around the world quite a bit. Do you enjoy jet setting and working in different countries? I really enjoy it! What appeals to me most is the discovery of a new place or culture and interaction with locals. Everyone is willing to open their doors, share their secret spots and introduce you to someone “You just have to meet.” There are always challenges but somehow they make the experience richer and the images more memorable for me. You would never know what went into getting the shot sometimes but that is part of the fun. What are you looking for in travel imagery? What helps tell the story of a location? That really depends on the tone of a story. I think you can interpret a location in so many different ways. Time really only allows me to pick up the main threads that are appropriate to the writing and readership of the magazine, which is a shame because often there are other equally interesting elements that I am not able to cover. For instance I did a story in New Zealand that was a wine story. And all you’re really capturing is that, even though there is so much else in the area, but that’s the job you’re there to shoot and the story you have to tell. Some times you feel there are other stories left untold. You have to interpret what you see and at the same time capture what the journalist is writing and get what the readership is expecting. Do you think the printed magazine will ever disappear? What should photographers look for in the future? That is a tough question, I think print will always retain its allure and magazines pride themselves on their printed issues. That said the digital world opens up so many interesting user experiences that creative publishers and advertisers want to capitalize on. Conde Nast has been very forward thinking in their approach to digital media, developing Apps for many of their magazines, broadening content and allowing readers to optimize their digital devices. So I can see the two co-existing for a while and readers benefiting by being able to flip through their glossy magazines and then delve deeper on their iPads. I imagine that video content will become more important to magazines, the ability to embed it will give stories another layer of interest and photographers another medium to express themselves. How can our readers better their own photography? Without sounding cliché, I would say keep on shooting, experiment and more importantly critique your own photos. Identify the ones that you like and try to understand where their appeal comes from; is it the composition, the subject, the light? By continually examining your work you will nurture a style and improve your eye. I think so often people will take the same photo. It’s the idea of changing your crop or angle, shoot however you want first, look at it, and then just do something different while keeping the subject the same. Change your perspective. Then look again and do that critique. I think people just shoot, shoot, shoot, then pick the best of that one image from the same perspective. I think it’s better to change your perspective and find a really different but unique shot. I haven’t done a lot of workshops personally, but I think that would help people different levels. The main thing is to find something that will pull you up. To shoot something you wouldn’t normally shoot. Any secret principles to success? What does it take to make it as a photographer? I do not think there are any secrets and no set path. You don’t necessarily have to study nor assist, though in my opinion both give you invaluable experience and nurture your creativity. Regardless there are so many factors but determination and tenacity are definitely high on the list. The desire to produce work and the courage to show it to people are what sets photographers apart. So keep on shooting and keep on sharing your work. Where can we hear more from you or see more of your work? Feel free to look at my website www.juliencapmeil.com or pick up a current issue of Conde Nast Traveler, they actually published two of my stories in the same issue which is a first for me. Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Julien Capmeil: Photographer Spotlight
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Julien Capmeil: Photographer Spotlight
By Digital Photography School, on April 2nd, 2011%
Weekly Assignment Last week you showed us The Marketplace and the places that you shop, whether they are Wal-Marts, tiny corer stores or open air markets. One of the important things with these assignments is that the challenge is to take your shots beyond snapshots and to show your subject in an interesting way. There were a few people who really did that this week, starting with our winner, lisapenzone Coffee at Whole Foods. The repetition of the coffee barrels catches the eye, and it makes it clear that it’s part of a market of some sort. Then we had a tie for second and third place, so in no particular order, let’s start with lowanglealta . This was a very nice composition that made good use of how the two fruits were set up next to each other. It might not be as clear that it’s a market, but the shot still catches your eye, and the sheer number of lemons and limes indicate that it’s likely to be a store rather than someone’s home. And last, but not least, Draycat ’s Tokyo Marketplace. This shot really does capture the hustle and bustle of an open marketplace. It also tells a bit of a story because we weren’t quite sure if he was tossing someone something or telling someone a price. Overall, this shot worked well because it was clear exactly who was the subject of the photo. Well done everyone! If you didn’t see your photo up here, keep trying, there’s always next week! We saw the places that you shop last week, this week we want to see the places you work with our latest assignment, The Workplace . Do you spend your days at a desk or outdoors? Do you work from home or are you at an office or somewhere else? How do you get there? Give us a peek into your life and let us see what you do. As always, a quick reminder of the rules. First, your photo must have been taken between 23 March – 6 April 2011. Second, your post in the assignment thread must include the words “The Workplace” and the date the photo was taken. If either of these is missing your photo won’t be included in the mini-contest judging. Finally, your EXIF should be intact, and it’s useful if you can include some of the main points such as camera, lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. Our next assignment focuses on home with Homelife: Chores . Sometimes our work is never done, so we move from our workplace to our home and the household chores we all have to do. They may be messy, boring, or even enjoyable, but they need to be done, so why not photograph the mundane parts of life? You can start shooting now, but check the forums next week in order to post in the assignment. Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (27 Mar – 2 Apr ‘11)
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This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (27 Mar – 2 Apr ‘11)
By Digital Photography School, on April 2nd, 2011%
There are two streams of photography that receive far more attention from practitioners than their substance would indicate: macro and wild life. It seems to me that many photographers either want to move in magnified steps towards a minuscule mosquito… or to take tiny, timid steps towards a terrifying tiger. George Lepp is a well-known US outdoor and nature photographer and his images have appeared in National Wildlife, Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker. His initial message neatly covers both macro and wildlife in recommending an approach to shooting a butterfly: “Successful butterfly capture requires advance preparation and practice …. Most of the optional automatic functions on your camera are not useful for this type of photography…” The structure of the book rests on stories from the field that give enormous help and advice on how to “bring ‘em back alive.” Like his anecdote of how a “big bull elephant walked directly towards our vehicle and allowed a full-frame shot at the zoom lens’ maximum range of 400mm.” The message here is that sometimes the best way is to let the wildlife come to you. Incredibly, technique even comes in to play when the subject co-operates: “I knew I wanted a vertical panorama of an entire giraffe but it was difficult to find a co-operative subject.” Fortunately a big giraffe stood motionless while Lepp took seven horizontal shots to comprise a vertical panorama, printable at near life size. He uses every trick in the book, even to hiring animal handlers: “Martin’s cats were trained to run for food [so at his suggestion] we worked with the cats in some new ways: they would pose for portraits, snarl and jump…” For the casual reader keen on animals in the wild, the book is an excellent read in its own right and, cleverly and simultaneously, uses anecdotes blended with tall tales and true to tutor the budding wild life photographer. Information and advice on which lens to use, shutter speed and lens aperture is interwoven into the tales. The pictures are of course magnificent. Author : G and KV Lepp. Publisher : Lark Books. Length : 208 pages. ISBN : 978 1 60059 632 2. Price : Get a price on Wildlife Photography: Stories from the Field (where it is currently 37% off) Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Wildlife Photography Stories from the Field [Book Review]
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Wildlife Photography Stories from the Field [Book Review]
By Digital Photography School, on April 1st, 2011%
This week your photographic challenge is to do some ‘Street Photography’. Image by ‘an Untrained Eye’/Tom I know some of you just went into a cold sweat thinking about the idea of going out in public to photograph strangers – but let me say up front you can interpret this any way that you like and need not make it Street Photography with a people focus at all. There are many other alternatives. For example you might like to head out on the street you live to photograph an urban landscape, or you might want to photograph some of the houses and buildings you find, or you might photograph a quirky sign or bill board…. really anything can go. Just take a walk like we talked about earlier today and see what you can find . Better still – take a friend and do the challenge together. A few tutorials that may come in handy: 20 Quick Street Photography Tips 10 Tips for the Aspiring Street Photographer Photographing Urban Landscapes Once you’ve taken your ‘Street Photography’ Photos – choose your best 1-2, upload them to your favourite photo sharing site either share a link to them even better – embed them in the comments using the our new tool to do so . If you tag your photos on Flickr, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSSTREET to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun. Also – don’t forget to check out some of the great shots posted in last weeks Contrasting Colors challenge – there were some great shots submitted. Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Street Photography: Weekly Photography Challenge
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Street Photography: Weekly Photography Challenge
By Digital Photography School, on April 1st, 2011%
Park Bench Here is a simple exercise you can do anywhere that will help develop your photographic eye. Take your camera with just one lens and go for a walk (of course any point and shoot camera will do the trick too). While walking down the street, at the park or even in the wilderness, make a point to stop randomly and find something to photograph within 10 or 15 feet (3 to 5 m) from where you are standing. Better yet, if you are walking with a non photographer, ask him or her to tell you when to stop. Look up and down, look all around you and take your time to find something interesting to photograph. It can be a scene in the street happening just in front of you, an architectural detail, the manhole cover on which you are standing or an insect on a flower. If you are using a DSLR limit yourself to one lens but experiment with a different lens each time to make the exercise more interesting. The point is to learn to make the ordinary look extraordinary. Try different angles, a shallow depth of field, etc. Or try some magic in the digital darkroom later! Another idea is to get children involved in this exercise. A perfect way to get them to walk and introduce them to photography at the same time. Their discoveries might surprise you! This exercise can also be helpful if you are planning to start a 365 day project. Here are a few examples of pictures taken during this simple exercise. I like details, in architecture or in nature and I also like to shoot with a very shallow depth of field. The goal of this exercise is not to produce fine art photographs. Consider it as a photo assignment with no pressure and see what happens. The possibilities are endless, just remember to have fun. Please post some of your results in the comments! Rusty wall Back alley Peeling paint on old park bench Detail of dead tree stump Moss on tree stump Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . A Simple Exercise to Train your Photographic Eye
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A Simple Exercise to Train your Photographic Eye
By Digital Photography School, on March 31st, 2011%
In his early years, author Paul Comon was taught that good composition “is the elimination of all unnecessary elements.’ Seems so simple doesn’t it! The sad truth is that the more you learn the more you will eventually have to unlearn. There are rules and there are rules! Beginners at photography will be told “follow the rule of thirds.” And the sad truth is that following this advice on placing elements of a picture within the frame will often lead to dull and dreary pictures. More simply stated: a single subject should never be centred in the frame. Then author Comon wins my absolute attention when he states that photographers who divide the picture areas into thirds do better than those who don’t …”but there is an even more pleasing solution.” Fibonacci numbers! Intrigued? There’s much more in the book as it investigates the framing of an image to account for colour, depth, lines of force and symmetry. The topics of film vs digital, colour vs B&W, original capture and print sizes, along with the triangle versus rectangle versus square versus circle versus oval are discussed in detail. Then Comon gets into lines: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, intersecting, oblique, curved etc. Here’s an example: The oblique line (when used in a composition) can lead the eye into a picture, especially when it enters from the bottom of the frame … but the oblique line should never enter from a corner. And lighting is considered, with its effect on a composition: a bright sun is ideal for scenics but can often be too contrasty for close-ups. Camera-mounted flash creates undesirable conditions, Comon advises, creating shadows that surround the subject. Tip: use bounce flash whenever possible. The images in the book are stunning. On page 19 for example is a rhythmic composition of female Asian drummers that I would have given my eye teeth to have taken, dazzling not only in the effect of its diagonal layout but with the added zing of rich colour. Quite possibly, the best book on composition that I have ever read. The lessons in its pages are worth gold! Author : PR Comon. Distributor : Capricorn Link. Length : 160 pages. ISBN : 978 1 60059 703 9. Price : Get a price on the Fundamentals of Photo Composition (where it is currently 25% off) Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Fundamentals of Photo Composition [Book Review]
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Fundamentals of Photo Composition [Book Review]
By Digital Photography School, on March 31st, 2011%
A Guest Post by Photo Book Girl . Since jumping into the world of digital photography – like most folks, I rarely ever printed out my photos anymore. Slipping photos into plastic sleeves had long lost its charm and my photos gathered virtual dust, hidden away in some long forgotten folder. My poor mother lamented that she never saw any family photos, and squinting at a tiny LCD screen wasn’t very satisfying. Hence, my first foray into digital photo books back in 2005 was of a family trip to Hong Kong – a gift to my mother, motivated by my never-ending quest to make my mother happy. Some 50 books later, I suppose you can say I’m seriously hooked (and so is Mom!) If you haven’t made a photo book online yet, the advantages of digital photo books over traditional slip-in album are numerous: Digital photos books tend to be much lighter in weight. Mine take up less than a fourth of the space of my traditional albums; Digital photo books are easily duplicated, making them great to give as personalized gifts for the entire family; Creativity is limitless – you can create a very clean composition of photos – portfolio-style or utilize a variety of themes, embellishments and borders for a scrapbook-look; You can share and even sell your creations online, allowing you to test the market without the expense of printing mass copies; With the number of companies providing online print services increasing every day, so have the options – from affordable $8.00 softcover books, to higher-end flush mounts and premium pro options for $250.00 or more. Here’s some tips on how to get started: Narrow down the photos you plan to use to a manageable number so it doesn’t become overwhelming and you don’t waste time uploading photos you aren’t going to use. For a 20-page photo book, I average anywhere from 1 to 5 photos per page (assuming a standard 11″ x 8.5″ sized book), so 80 to 100 photos should provide a good selection from which to choose; Edit your photos using your own photo-editing software. The editing tools provided with most free book software are not very sophisticated, and are generally limited to the basics such as converting to black and white, rotating and brightening; If in doubt, err on the side of brighter. In my experience, photos tend to print darker than on screen. (Calibrating your monitor and obtaining printer profiles from the printer can also be very helpful.) Duplicate and save all the photos you plan to use in a single folder for easy upload; For a quick and easy book, most companies have preset themes, easy drag and drop templates and also “one-click” options that automatically place your photos for you; For complete customization, use your own design software such as Adobe Photoshop, Aperture 3, or Adobe InDesign (free trials are available for download at the company’s sites). However, having your own software isn’t necessary to make a customized and professional-looking book. Look for a photo book company that allows you to edit and create your own templates. < The author is the blogger behind Photo Book Girl – a resource for finding the best photo book companies, the latest photo book deals and helpful tips on designing your own photo book. For more tips, check out her ongoing series: “ How to Make Your Own Digital Photo Book “. Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . How to Make Your Own Digital Photo Book
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How to Make Your Own Digital Photo Book
By Digital Photography School, on March 30th, 2011%
In this post Nyani Quarmyne talks about getting the shot – catching that moment in a show that captures the essence of a performer and the emotion they’re expressing. Much of what I’ve seen written on concert photography centers on gear and the technical aspects of shooting (there are a number of good tips on this site). Of course, gear and technical know-how are important, and I’ll touch on a couple of salient points. But there are other equally important, more esoteric concepts at the heart of stage photography. 1. Get the Exposure Right Stage lighting can be tricky, so you have to get your exposure right or you’ll wind up with beautifully composed, crap shots. Evaluative metering can’t be relied on in the high-contrast and variable lighting conditions that are typically found on a concert stage. Spot metering off your subject or a mid-tone can be useful, but when you have bright lights in the background it can result in a correctly exposed subject and ugly blown highlights in the background. The optimal exposure is often something of a compromise, so I personally prefer to leave the camera set to evaluative/ matrix metering and then get a feel for how much over- or under-exposure is needed for different parts of the stage through estimation and some trial and error. With practice you’ll begin to guesstimate the right settings. You’ll generally be shooting wide open, except when you may need to stop down to get multiple subjects at different distances from the camera in focus, so often it’s your shutter speed and ISO that you’ll be playing with. Once you have a sense of how much over- or under-exposure is needed, you can vary your aperture/ ISO/ shutter speed relationship while keeping the optimal exposure in mind. For example, say you’re getting sharp, correctly exposed images of a guitarist at 125th/s, f/2.8 @ ISO200. Then a singer joins him in the frame. You need a little more depth of field to keep them both in focus, so you leave the shutter speed as it is to keep your shots sharp, stop down two stops to f/5.6 to increase the depth of field, and raise the ISO two stops from ISO200 to ISO800. Your exposure is identical, but now you have the depth of field you need. Just remember to revaluate your exposure when shooting a different area of the stage, or when the lighting conditions change. A camera that allows for clean high-ISO images is a huge advantage as higher ISO settings allow you to keep your shutter speed relatively high, reducing camera shake and better allowing you to freeze action. 2. Use your Histogram! The viewfinder preview is too small to give you a sufficiently detailed view of over- and under-exposed areas of your image. The highlights view will show you where you’ve lost highlight detail, but it doesn’t show you what you may have inadvertently sacrificed in the shadows. So if you don’t already, learn to use your histogram – it’s an invaluable tool for evaluating exposure, particularly in tricky lighting conditions. I have my camera set up so that pressing the centre button on the 4-way navigator flashes up a full screen histogram. That way I can use my preview to check sharpness and focus, and then push the centre button to do a quick histogram check before I go back to shooting. Don’t obsess over checking your shots – if you’re looking at your screen you’re missing what’s happening on stage. Do enough checks to fine tune your settings for a given set of lighting conditions, and then focus on shooting. 3. Watch the Performers Now that you’ve got your exposure sorted, watch the performers. No, I mean really watch the performers. Analyse their performance. How do they move on the stage? Where are their favourite places to stand? What are their idiosyncrasies? Facial expressions? Favourite postures? Signature moves? How do they express emotion? It doesn’t take a long – just watch for a while once a band has hit its stride and you’ll begin to see that each performer has little habitual movements, facial expressions, individual quirks, that are unique. Identifying these is key to capturing the individuality and expressiveness of a singer or player. If you have the opportunity to watch several performances by the same artist you may also find that there are events that happen at particular points in a set – pyrotechnics, a leap off a speaker stack, entry of a stage prop – and you can plan for these, too. 4. Anticipate Once you know what you’re looking for, anticipate it. If you’ve noticed that a guitarist bends a certain way during emotional moments in his solos, anticipate it, compose for it, and be ready when the moment comes. If a singer leans away from the mike a certain way during soulful pauses between song lines, pre-visualise your shot, get set up for it, and execute it when the elements come together. Of course, you also have to be ready to react instantly to capture a spontaneous moment. 5. Compose for Form People, instruments, objects on stage and even the glow of stage lights create shapes and lines in the frame. The beautiful lines of a guitar, for example, generally look better from some angles than others, as do the combined lines of the guitar and its player. Try and see the shapes that the elements in your viewfinder create and use them in your compositions. Take into account things like whether a singer holds the mike in their right hand or left, whether a guitarist is playing a right- or left-handed guitar, and then move around to position yourself to get the right angles for your shots. Work with the stage lights – move around and use them to rim light, sidelight or silhouette your subject. If there’s a background light flaring into your lens, see if you can make the flare work for you. 6. Watch for Foreground Clutter One of the challenges of concert photography is the clutter that is generally found on a concert stage – microphones and their stands, monitor speakers, amplifiers, cables, and even roving videographers. Clutter detracts from your shots. Try and position yourself to get shots that are as clear of such distractions as possible. In particular, watch for microphones that obscure a singer’s face (their mouth in particular), and watch for the shadows microphones cast too. In general, avoid standing directly in front of a singer as more often than not you’ll end up with a microphone where their mouth should be. Drummers are particularly tricky to get clean shots of, as they are surrounded by all kinds of ‘hardware’ and are usually also far back on the stage. Try and get shots of them from the side if you can. 7. Watch for Background Clutter Too! Perth photographer Rob Miller likes to say, “Forget about the subject, it’s the background that makes your photo.” Of course he doesn’t mean that literally, but a fantastic moment captured against a messy background will ultimately be a messy shot, while a fantastic moment captured against a fantastic background will be a fantastic shot. Watch out for elements of the background that you want to avoid, like stage scaffolds, lighting rigs and even other performers, and try to compose for those that you can use to your advantage. Remember that on a well lit stage you can use the glow of stage lights, or even the lights themselves, as your background. If there’s nothing going on in the background, if possible, try and set your exposure so that your subject is correctly exposed but the background collapses to black. Fast lenses help with background clutter, too, as not only do they allow you to make the most of what light you have available, but the shallow depth of field produced by a wide aperture helps to blur out background distractions. Accordingly, I rely primarily on a 70-200 f/2.8, a 50mm f/1.4 for very low light and for close shots in small venues or to take in more of the stage, and occasionally a 17-35mm f/2.8 for close work and for stage, crowd and venue shots. 8. Be Nice Remember that while you are trying to get a job done, everyone else is trying to enjoy a show that they have paid to see. Be nice. Think about the people behind you – get your shots, but try not to block anyone’s view for too long. If you’re in a crowd and need to get right in someone’s face for a moment to get a shot, do so politely. I often find that if you’re nice to people they’ll actually help you get the shots you need by encouraging other people to let you get to where you need to be. I try to avoid the use of flash as it’s distracting for performers and annoying for the people around you (and often also not allowed). Flash can also look unnatural, as it typically casts light of a different colour to the stage lights onto your subject. The exception to the no flash rule is when I need to lift shadows over a performer’s eyes, for example when someone is wearing a hat. I also ensure that the autofocus assist beam on my camera is off so that it’s not poking performers in the eye, and I turn my viewfinder preview off so it’s not a blinking distraction to people around me. (This also stops people craning over your shoulders to check out your business.) It’s a simple matter to press “Play” every now and then when you need to check a shot. If your camera allows, create a custom settings profile so you can set your camera the way you want it with a couple of button pushes, rather than having to go wandering through the menus every time you need to get set up. 9. Show Your Appreciation Anyone on a stage likes to know they’re being appreciated. Show your appreciation. You don’t have to jump up and down and scream (it’s difficult to take steady shots while jumping and screaming…), but make eye contact, show your appreciation with a smile, give a nod of thanks when a performer looks down your lens. Sometimes you’ll find a little appreciation earns you your own little mini performance, when a performer heads over to where you’re standing, looks down the barrel of your lens and pulls some moves just for you. Nyani is a Ghanaian/ Filipino/ Australian photographer spending 2009 travelling around North America with his family working on a personal project. Find his work on his website and blog at www.nqphotography.com , and follow the family’s travels at www.YearInAmerica.net . Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Rock Concert Photography – 9 Tips on How to Get The Shot
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Rock Concert Photography – 9 Tips on How to Get The Shot
By Digital Photography School, on March 30th, 2011%
A Guest post by Phil Steele from SteeleTraining.com The Curves Eyedropper technique provides a fast way to simultaneously correct color and fix exposure problems in your photo all at once. That’s a lot of benefit for just a few clicks. Here’s how it works. 1. Open a photo that you think needs correcting. Our example photo suffers from a blue-green color cast, and it is also a bit “washed out” i.e., lacking contrast. 2. Create a Curves Adjustment Layer by clicking on the Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers Palette, and then choosing Curves from the drop-down menu. 3. Near the bottom of the Curves Dialog, you will see a row of three eyedroppers. From left to right they are used to set the Black Point, the Gray Point, and the White Point. 4. Ideally you should set specific color values for each of these droppers (although you can skip this step and try it with the default values if you like). Double-click on the Black dropper to open its settings, and in the R,G,B values enter 20, 20, 20. For the Gray dropper: 128, 128, 128. For the white dropper: 240, 240, 240. Now we will simply click once in the image with each of the three droppers to correct color and contrast all at once! 5. Click on the black dropper to select it. Your cursor now looks like the dropper. Click the dropper once in the darkest part of your image. You are telling Photoshop “This spot should be black.” In our example image, this is the hair beside the model’s head. 6. Now click on the White Point dropper to select it. Click with the White dropper in the lightest part of your image. You are telling Photoshop, “This spot should be white.” 7. Now comes the tricky part. You need to use the Gray dropper to select a spot in your image that should be Neutral Gray. This does NOT mean a gray that is exactly halfway between white and black. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the gray be neutral in color (i.e., its RGB values should be equal). It could be a very dark gray, or a very light gray, so long as it is neutral. Perhaps it does not not look neutral in your photo due to a color cast, but you know it should be neutral in reality. This can be challenging, unless you have an object in your photo that you know should be gray. For example, in our photo, there is concrete near the model that I know is gray in reality. Click and I’m done. The shadow on a white object can also make a good neutral gray. But what if you don’t have a gray object or a white object in your photo? There are various tricks for trying to find neutral gray numerically (such as using the Info Palette and looking for pixels with near-equal RGB values) but these suffer from the flaw that a neutral gray in your image may be already skewed by a color cast. Picking such a point will simply introduce a different color cast. In the end, sometimes the best you can do is pick points by trial and error that seem like good candidates for Neutral Gray, and just see what happens to the image. If it gets worse, Undo it. When you hit one that satisfies you, you are done. TIP: There is one trick for finding Neutral Gray in portraits that comes in handy when you don’t have any gray objects in the surroundings. You can sometimes pick on the whites of the eyes to find your Neutral Gray point. This doesn’t always work (some people’s eyes are whiter than others), but when it does, it can be a life-saver! In our example photo, one click on the white of the model’s eye perfectly corrects the color in the entire image! Her skin is warmed up and the blue-green color cast is gone. After you correct the color, you may want to tug up on the RGB line in the Curves graph to brighten the overall image. Compare the before and after photos, and it’s remarkable what Photoshop can do with three little clicks! You can watch a video version of this tutorial at www.SteeleTraining.com. About the Author : Phil Steele is the founder of SteeleTraining.com where you’ll find free tutorials on photography, Photoshop, Lightroom and more. This article is based on an excerpt from his video training course “Photoshop Basics for Photographers” . Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Color Correction with the Curves Eyedropper in Photoshop
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Color Correction with the Curves Eyedropper in Photoshop
By Digital Photography School, on March 30th, 2011%
Thanks to everyone who entered our recent competition to win one of 3 Fundamentals of Photography Courses from New York Institute of Photography. We had over 1000 entries and it was a tough choice for NYIP to choose the winners as so many people put great entries together. The response was so overwhelming that NYIP have decided to offer a special $100 discount or free shipping (depending where in the world you are) to all who enroll in the Fundamentals of Photography Course. You can see details of this and a message from them below. But first – the 3 Winners have each just been emailed with details of their win and are: Joe CatWalker Heather A Message from the New York Institute of Photography In reading through the hundreds of responses that we got from this post, it was fascinating to see all of the reasons people wish to take our Fundamentals of Digital Photography course. Some responses told stories of life long photographers who were looking to improve their skills in the digital world and others were from teachers or parents wishing to learn more so that they could pass on the information to others. We hope that those of you who did not win will continue to consider the New York Institute of Photography for your educational needs. In fact, many of you seem to already be too advanced for the Short Course and may want to look into the Complete Course in Professional Photography where you can learn more about the business of photography. Thank you all for the kinds words about NYIP and for participating in the giveaway conversation. The sheer number of responses was inspiring. Thanks to DPS for hosting the great contest. And a special congratulations to the winners, I am sure we’ll be hearing from you soon. Because the response was so great, we’d like to extend a limited-time special discount offer on our Fundamentals of Digital Photography Course. If you are in the US and Canada, enroll online at nyip.com/enroll and use the offer code 2F1 to save $100. If you are outside the US and Canada, use the offer code 1FF1 to get free shipping. Thank you all! Thanks again to everyone who entered and to NYIP for their sponsorship of this competition! Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . And Winners of the NYIP Photography Course Are….
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And Winners of the NYIP Photography Course Are….
By Digital Photography School, on March 29th, 2011%
Since launching our Captivating Color eBook last week I’ve had a few questions from readers on the topic of color, its importance and why we created a whole eBook on a topic like this. I thought there was no better person to ask than the eBook’s author – Mitchell Kanashkevich. Mitchell, why did you decide to write a whole eBook to color? The main reason is that there’s a real lack of understanding when it comes to color. Generally people just don’t realize how important it is. I find this to be the case with even with some of the more experienced photographers. If they have a great grasp of everything, except for color, their images ultimately still fall apart, they don’t quite have the intended impact or the maximum impact. It can be extremely frustrating when you feel you did everything right, but the image still doesn’t grab you, doesn’t captivate or engage you emotionally. I wrote the eBook in large part to help those who already understand some of the photography basics to get to the next level, but also to make those who are just starting out aware, right from the beginning of how important color is. So why exactly is color important? There are two main reasons. Color can help tell us stories (visually) and it can be used to communicate on an emotional level. The emotion part is what I find really, really important. I would go so far as to say that color is the primary factor responsible for making a photo feel exciting, lively, mysterious or perhaps melancholic or a little sombre. Looking at the image at the top of the page, you can see that something as simple as clothes on a line against a wall can look dramatic and feel exciting, just because of color. It’s true, emotions can be a vital part of photography, please expand a little on this topic. Emotions are vital. Most people would agree that when looking at photographs they’re not particularly concerned if a photo has been composed in a clever way, but everyone responds when the image makes them feel something. That color plays part in evoking emotions is not a new idea, if you look into other fields – interior decorators for example put great emphasis on color, if you watch most high production movies carefully, you’ll notice that a lot of them have stylized scenes, the color in those scenes is of a certain tint that’s very evocative of emotions and moods. If you search the internet, people are even talking about healing with color. So it is ultimately very significant, but as I say, a lot of folks do not understand it and are not aware of it. Could it be because we don’t think that we can control color in any way? For example, we can’t change the colors in a landscape when we are making the shot; can we? We can actually do a number of things to control color. With the landscape example you mention we can control color indirectly, if we understand how it works. You see, the colors in that landscape won’t stay the same, they will change depending on time of day, on the lighting conditions. Light is one factor that changes color tremendously, if we understand how it does that, we essentially gain some control over how the color in our landscape photo will look. Obviously it’s not the same amount of control as we’d have if we were to paint that landscape, but it can still have a huge impact. The strong presence of golden yellow in the image above for example, is only there because I shot this scene at a particular time of day, during the magic/golden hour, when light tends to give colors this magical, golden tint. You could say that I indirectly controlled color by deciding when to shoot, under what light. You mention that there are a number of things we can do to control color. What are some of the others? Composition – we can obviously frame certain colors in and others out, we can find angles from where colors look like patterns. If we have any control over the shoot, we can have models/subjects change costumes or we can re-arrange still life objects. Then of course there’s the post processing stage, where we can really do a lot of color manipulation, down to the most minute detail, depending on what we are trying to achieve. Ok, we can control color, but other than the emotional side of things; why would we want to control it? Well, as I mentioned, emotions do play a huge part in determining whether an image is basically good or not, but it’s also about using color to tell stories. Visual story-telling (which is what we do with photography) is all about drawing attention to what’s important to the story and keeping our gaze there, color helps with that a lot. As you can see in the image above, the bright colored part of the frame is where our gaze goes immediately, it’s like I’m saying “Look, the lamp and the man are where the story is!” The rest of the colors in the image are fairly subdued and much darker, so we don’t really notice those until later and that’s fine, because the main part of the story is not there. On the other hand, if there was a bright color which didn’t have purpose within the story, it would confuse the viewer. There are ultimately quite a few things to keep in mind about color and visual story-telling, there’s a lot that we can do to make our stories more powerful and clear and that’s what I discuss at length in the eBook. What would you say is the number one mistake that people make, when it comes to color? Thinking that more is better or not realizing that too many colors, especially colors that don’t follow any order (e.g. not in a pattern) make for pretty disengaging, confusing, even visually unpleasant imagery. When we see something in real life, we are able to process, subtract and to filter out everything outside of what we are focusing on, including color, this way we can make sense of the world around us. With an image, the photographer is essentially the “filter” that gets rid of everything that isn’t important to the story or the emotions that the photo aims to convey. If that “filter” isn’t working effectively, if there’s a whole bunch of colors in the image, which don’t play a specific role, we end up with chaos and whatever message the photographer intended to convey is lost. Do you have anything else to say about the eBook? Who is it for? What is its ultimate aim? This eBook is a down to earth, practical, understandable look at color, without confusing technical jargon or excessive philosophy, it’s easily accessible. It covers the essentials, from the time of the shoot to adjusting color in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. There are exercises that encourage you to learn and see results by doing and there are resources to explore the topic in more depth. The eBook is for absolutely anyone and everyone who shoots color photographs and the ultimate aim of it is to help people understand why color is important and how they can use it to better convey the stories they want to tell and the feelings they had at the time of taking the photo to those who view the image. After all, isn’t that the purpose of almost any photograph, to share a story, a moment and to tell others how exciting, interesting or magical something was? See more of Mitchell’s work on his website and facebook page . Do you have your copy of Captivating Color yet? Grab your copy today along with the 25% discount and bonus eBook here . You’ll also go in the running to win an iPad 2 if you purchase before next Tuesday (5th April). Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . The Importance of Color in Photography: An Interview with Mitchell Kanashkevich
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The Importance of Color in Photography: An Interview with Mitchell Kanashkevich
By Digital Photography School, on March 29th, 2011%
A week ago today dPS launched a brand new eBook – Captivating Color: A Guide to Dramatic Color Photography . The reviews and feedback from readers have been fantastic (I’ve included some below) and so to celebrate the release of the eBook we’ve decided to run a little competition to give away a brand new iPad 2 to one lucky buyer of the eBook. Win an iPad We thought it’d be a great prize as our PDF eBooks are readable on iPads (you just upload it to your computer and then drag it into iBooks via iTunes) – plus they’re a fun tool for photographers with all of their photography related Apps and new camera feature. If you buy Captivating Color before 9am next Tuesday (Melbourne Time) you’ll be in the running to win a 16GB iPad 2 (you can choose which color) worth just under $500. If you are one of the thousands who have already bought the eBook you’re already in the draw. This is open to people world wide to enter – we’ll ship the iPad anywhere. Here’s the Offer Also to keep things neat we’re going to extend the 25% discount and bonus eBook giveaway until Tuesday also. So all in all you get: 25% off the Captivating Color eBook – worth $19.99 for just $14.99 A Bonus eBook – Seeing the Light – worth $12 (but free with this purchase) An Entry into the iPad 2 giveaway As this post goes live you have less than 7 days to take advantage of this deal – so don’t hesitate and pick up your copy of Captivating Color today here . What People are Saying about Captivating Color “After reading Captivating Color I feel as though I’m seeing the subjects I photograph in a whole new light. I now look at my older images and wish I’d had this information before.” – Jenny Raymond (via email) ” I have just bought this E-book as well and it is amazing. Love the pictures and the descriptions. Just the inspiration I needed to shoot some portraits.” – Casper Tofte (via Facebook) “What a refreshing read! It is amazing how Mitchell took something I took for granted and got me seeing it in a completely new light. My photography has been improved for every by what I learned in this eBook. – Shane Nixon (via email)” Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Buy Captivating Color for a Chance to Win an iPad 2
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Buy Captivating Color for a Chance to Win an iPad 2
By Digital Photography School, on March 28th, 2011%
So how often do you get your camera out and how many shots do you take on an average week? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll. Looking forward to seeing the results on this one. Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . How Many Photos Do You Take Per Week [POLL]
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How Many Photos Do You Take Per Week [POLL]
By Digital Photography School, on March 28th, 2011%
A very common camera repair performed today, no matter the type or manufacturer, is the replacement of the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen. At the outset of this walkthrough a few things must be stressed; a disclaimer if you will. Trying to replace an LCD without proper knowledge and experience can be very difficult and sometimes hazardous. Pulling electronics apart and seeing how they work can be fun for some, but it can easily result in further damage and far more costly repairs. Nine times out of ten, when an LCD is being replaced, it is physically broken due to damage that was likely caused by some sort of trauma (from dropping etc). Cameras are very tightly packed little pieces of technology and generally the LCD is attached to and/or part of a lot of other integral components. Because of this, there is a high probability that there are other things broken that only a trained professional can diagnose/fix easily. Also, having spare parts on hand doesn’t make economic sense for your average consumer because the costs of replacement parts for cameras are not in proportion to their selling price. Furthermore, camera repair facilities have the necessary testing, calibration and adjustment equipment to get cameras fully operational. Bottom line, if one does attempt this at home, there is very little to no margin for error. Keep in mind this is a general walkthrough NOT a repair guide, I take no responsibility for any damage to property or personal harm that may occur from anyone making use of this information. With that said… The first things first, parts and tools are necessary to doing this job right. Obviously the part needed is a replacement LCD. It has to be for that particular make and model; this ensures the connections align and it fits properly. The essential tools for “most” LCD replacements are: A set of small Phillips Head screwdrivers (preferably magnetized) A straight pair and a curved pair of ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) safe tweezers A lint free cleaning cloth (microfiber) Compressed/canned air A shallow container or a flat refrigerator magnet for screws and parts *In more complicated configurations, a few additional tools may be needed, such as a soldering iron and solder. And now for the show, replacing the LCD! Please keep in mind this is a general many camera models are more complex and will require additional disassembly in order to remove and replace the LCD. Battery and memory card are removed. Inspection for any additional accessories that might get in the way is also done. Location and unscrewing of all housing screws to remove the necessary housing cover(s). It is easy to strip out the tiny screw heads; many manufacturers “glue” the screws in place. If the LCD was damaged due to impact, the housing may have shifted, making the screws problematic to remove. Proprietary screws can also be a problematic; the screwdriver may have to be special ordered from the manufacturer. Screws may also be hidden behind stickers or panels. The cover is loose now. The LCD is either attached to the rear cover or bracketed to the main circuit of the camera. There is a very real risk of shock from this point on. DO NOT TOUCH ANY CIRCUITRY. The flash capacitor circuit on some models is located nearby and will give a painfull serious jolt if one is not careful. Flexible Printed Circuits (FPC) and wires attach buttons on the external housing to the main circuit board; pulling those out accidentally is bad. The screws securing the LCD to the rest of the camera are now removed. These are fairly easy to find but there may be additional clips or seals to watch out for. Connecting components (generally wires or FPC’s) that run from the LCD to the rest of the camera are disconnected using the appropriate set of tweezers. It will be clear whether or not a soldering iron and solder is needed at this point. Proper soldering techniques apply here. Once those connections are severed, removal of the damaged LCD is easy. The damaged LCD is discarded after any important components are removed. The new LCD has a protective plastic sheet that is removed before installation. Touching it with bare hands must be avoided, potential damage could be done. It’s also in bad form to get any oils on the nice new LCD screen. Using the compressed/canned air, dust is blown out that may have settled on the new LCD or inside the camera. Care is taken to not blow dust into the wrong spots (viewfinder, lens, sensor, etc). Work in reverse; re-connection of the connections/wires and re-securing with the previously removed screws to the new LCD is done. Beware: It is very easy to bend/crack the connections. Special attention is paid to the FPCs and connections. They must be secure and seeded. Screw size is very important here. Using the wrong size can short or damage other components in the camera. Housing Cover(s) is/are re-fastened onto the camera and secured with the housing screws. Things may not line up properly at this point, something has gone wrong. It will have to be taken apart for evaluation and reassembled. Wires can bunch wrong here and there is a risk of pinching wires. The Battery and memory card are replaced and the camera is powered on. This only tests if the LCD was installed correctly. If the camera/LCD is not working there are countless other things that could be going wrong and are evaluated. As mentioned in the beginning, there is a high possibility that something else is broken and/or needed to be calibrated/adjusted. Further testing of the entire camera must be done to ensure the camera is fully operational. Just to stress again, trying these kinds of repairs at home, can be a great hobby for some, shouldn’t be taken lightly. Professional photographers always have a backup camera in case of any type of equipment malfunction; it’s not a bad idea. Kevin Gornto is a Factory Trained and Authorized Technician at C.R.I.S. Camera Services, a digital camera repair company located in Chandler, AZ. Kevin has an electronics degree that provided him with his advanced hardware knowledge and digital imaging expertise. He also enjoys writing about his technical experience and is a major contributor for the company’s camera repair blog; focused on care, maintenance and repair tips for digital cameras and imaging equipment. Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . How to Replace a Digital Camera’s LCD – a Walkthrough
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How to Replace a Digital Camera’s LCD – a Walkthrough
By Digital Photography School, on March 27th, 2011%
This camera has come quite a way since its predecessor, the GH1, appeared over a year ago and the breed is fast becoming a thoroughbred. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 Features The compact camera body has the same width as the GH1 but is overall 1.5x larger and a few grams heavier. To my mind, the camera is still enjoyably compact and, even the with 10x lens attached, little larger than some upper level, fixed lens compacts … but this ‘un is just like a DSLR but with a turret LCD finder instead of an optical pentaprism viewfinder. With this camera I again appreciated the excellent f4-5/14-140mm zoom that was used in my time with the GH1. Besides this, there is a total range of 11 lenses for this camera, including an aspheric 14mm pancake lens and a 3D optic to capture stereo pictures viewable on Panasonic Viera TVs. The GH2 depends on image stabilisation built into its OIS lenses: you can turn off the stabilizing function (button on the lens) or choose any of three modes in the viewfinder menu. Exposure options include intelligent auto, Program AE, aperture and shutter priority and manual; added to this are three custom setting, selectable via the mode dial; then there’s a bunch of scene modes (night portrait, sunset, sports, etc). The swinging LCD screen has been widened so that shooting 16:9 stills and movies is given a considerable boost … but of no help with 4:3 shooting! And it’s touch sensitive. This time around we have a Live MOS sensor capable of capturing 16.05 megapixels and shoot a maximum picture size of 4608
By Digital Photography School, on March 27th, 2011%
This is the final part of a series on Wedding Photography. Read earlier parts of the series at: Wedding Photography 101 – Part 1 Wedding Photography 101 – Part 2 Image by Deann Barrera Work with what you are given You can prepare for everything and every eventuality for a wedding, but the one thing you can’t control is the weather. The optimum conditions for a wedding shoot is a slightly overcast day; producing bright, yet even light, which will not only flatter your couple and other subjects but allow you to record as much ambient light as possible, thus lowering ISO and resulting in sharper, cleaner frames. However, as controlling the weather is out of your hands, wedding photographers must learn to adapt to shoot in any environment. Sunny day Although the guests will adore a bright blue sky and hot sunny day, the photographer may secretly be praying for cloud cover. If you are confronted with a harshly lit day, bear in mind the best light will come in the morning and evening, so it could be a good idea to set off even earlier to get the bridal prep and location images in good light and if possible leave some of the romantic couple portraits until the sun lowers in the sky. There are a few other tricks one can also use to counteract the harsh light, for starters move in closer to your subject, focus on details and if you can shade the subject in some way this will help to avoid shadows. Don’t be afraid to head in doors and position the couple next to a clean and ideally – veiled – window for softened light and even consider the use of a polarizing filter to cut out reflections and reduce contrast or flash to fill in the shadows when frames are backlight. Furthermore, you can actually create some emotive silhouettes when shooting into the sun, simply position the couple between you and the sun so they appear in completely in shadow, this may mean that you need to move lower or to the side to get the best position. Another trick is to have the sun behind you and have the couple walk away hand in hand – perfectly lit. Remember to set a white balance according to the light conditions, or even bet learn to set it manually for completely accuracy and to recover details in a blown-out white dress when this is the focus of your frame underexpose the image by a stop or two. Rainy Day Image by Liliana If it rains on your wedding day it is said to be lucky, but try telling that to a disappointed bride. As with harsh sun, there are a few ways around the rain and after a downpour it can even lend itself for naturally creating saturated colours and magnify details, which can be teased to greater effect with a polarizer – so as soon as there is a break in the shower grab your couple and quickly get those frames in the bag. This is where your pre-shoot recce pays off, as hopefully before the shoot you visited the venue and identified places where you could photography romantic portraits and the all important group shots should this situation arise. Look for large windows indoors to position your couple next to and capture some evenly lit frames. Use a flash for indoor captures, employing a diffuser to soften the harshness of the beam and also incorporate some if the ambient light. Finally if you do shoot outdoors in the rain, whilst your couple are positioned under the safety of a porch for example, use a raincover or at the least a plastic carrier bag, to protect your camera and lens and if it’s windy utilise a tripod ideally pulled down with your camera bag or a bag full of rock for extra stability. You could also ask a willing guest to hold the reflector and bounce any available light onto the couple for that extra degree of improvement. Snowy Day Image by Anna Jarske Working in snowy conditions and cold temperatures will quickly deplete your camera and flash batteries so make sure you pack a few fully-charged spares and keep them as close to your body when not in use. Whilst a snow-dappled churchyard will undoubtedly make for a beautiful setting, getting the right exposure can be a nightmare; underexpose and you’ll have a grey canvas, overexpose and you’ll lose those all important details. Take a few trial shots to correctly identify what settings work using the histogram for guidance, or bracket exposures. Always set your white balance manually before you start and it is advisable to shoot in RAW if your camera allows it as this will provide you with more scope for adjustment at the post-production stage. When you and the couple are finished shooting outdoors, have a second camera already waiting for you indoors as the one you have just been using will need to be left in a safe area by the entrance – gradually being moved into the building in stages to allow it to warm up slowly to avoid condensation. Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips . Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips , Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras . Wedding Photography 101 (Part 3)
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Wedding Photography 101 (Part 3)
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