For a photographer, skills in family portraits are are essential and are usually the bread and butter for up and coming photographers. Looking at the history of photography, one of the first popular uses the camera was not for abstract art, or photographing the family pet, but for photographing people and their families. Because of the expense and difficulty of each photo taken, they became masters at getting things right the first time and being able to fit in as many people as possible into the frame. In order to hone in on the small things that make a difference in this classic and often overlooked form of photography, I have come up with my five DO’s and five DONT’s of Family Portraits. I’ve also included a few examples from portrait sessions we have done.

Family Portraits DO’S

1) Do squish your groups together

Most likely, even though they are family they won’t be getting close enough. Maybe it’s an American personal space thing, but it’s always been an issue for me and having everyone in tight truly makes a difference in the tone of the picture. When families are physically close, it emits a warmth and visually shows what families should be like…close. Even if you are photographing the Adam’s family, when you get everyone rubbing shoulders they look like a model family and the overall composition is more finished than a typical snapshot. As a starter, try having people stand at slight angles with shoulders overlapping. Also, consider the age of your family. If Grandma is present, make sure you have a chair for her. If grandma and grandpa are both there, you’ll will need two chairs.

2) Do coordinate clothing

Before you meet with your family you should guide them in a wardrobe choice. Ultimately it is up to them and their families style to choose what they wear but simply reminding them to possibly overlap in a color scheme, avoid extreme colors, prints and logos on their clothing can make a big difference. This will give you an easier time post production, and you will have both options in color and black and white. As I said, it’s their picture and their choice, but a casual recommendation from a professional is usually appreciated.

3) Do check the screen for blinking

Shooting and shooting is OK for one or two people, but in a larger group it can be hit and miss and you may miss that one photo where everyone has their eyes open. I used to think “Hey, its digital. I’ll use the rapid fire method and surely I’ll get one right.” After a few sessions of transplanting eyes from one photo to another in Photoshop, I’ve changed my methods. You can get away with a weak smile but if someone looks like they are sleeping or on drugs in their first family portrait in 10 years, the customer may not be too happy. With experience you learn to quickly scan across everyone’s eyes in an instant.

4) Try and be funny to get some genuine smiles

A few cheesy jokes work surprisingly well to break the tension. A typical photographer joke might be saying “Ok, I need everyone to get in focus.” Or asking everyone to strike their best glamor pose. Other ways to get a smile is to get them doing something they don’t normally do. Have them try jumping, running, human pyramids or whatever comes to mind. If you have a one-liner you’ve used SUCCESSFULLY, or a creative and fun pose, sound off in the comments for the rest of us.

5.) Do try and blur the background

Choose the largest aperture setting you can, while still keeping everyone sharp. An aperture of 2.8 might make the trees and shrubbery look silky smooth, but it might make Uncle Bob at the end of the line look fuzzy. This is especially a problem when everyone is standing on different focal planes. The solution is often to shoot a few clicks smaller than the lenses widest aperture, then use the preview screen and zoom button on your camera to make sure everyone is looking good. Then adjust and continue. If you’re really serious about this, I’ve even heard of photographers setting out cups length-wise on a picnic table to estimate the distances you start to loose focus. Seems extreme to me, just don’t forget about Uncle Bob.

Family Portraits DON’TS

1.) Don’t forget to check ALL your basic camera settings before clicking away

ISO (go as low as possible), Image Size (RAW, fine), Exposure Compensation, Metering etc. It would be sad to get to the end of a great session and realize you didn’t change the low quality settings from the last time you used your camera shooting Garbage Pal Kids you planned on selling on Ebay. Of course in-door and out-door settings will differ as will naturally lit an artificially lit.

2.) Don’t let your subjects tilt their heads into each other

This is fine for your everyday Joe at the family Bar-b-que, but not a paid photographer. Subjects tend to think they will fit into the picture better if they tilt and lower their heads. Funny thing is, I’ve even caught myself doing this when I was being photographed. Watch for it and avoid it. There is always the lovey-dovey pose where they intentionally lean heads in, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

3.) Don’t sound insecure

Don’t say things like “This isn’t working.” Rephrase it into a positive, “Great, lets try a few more positions.” The more you tell them the pictures are looking great the better looking the pictures will get. Think high fashion cliche’s like, “Love it,” “Your beautiful,” “What a great one.” If you act like you have never seen such great photos the energy will give you just what your looking for and they will show confidence in their smiles.

4/5.) These last two may seem to contradict each other so I want to put them together. 4.) Don’t let Mom run the show. 5.) Don’t be afraid to let Mom, Dad, and kids come up with ideas and posing.

First about Mom. We all remember the drill, no running, no jumping, no dirt, and pretty much no fun until after the pictures. If you do this you can get a treat on the way home. This is probably the best way to ruin family picture day for the rest of every 8 year old’s life. Besides the fact that it is almost impossible to control what 8 year old’s do, it makes for bad portrait sessions. If you are sensing a strong arm from Mother, make sure to get the squeaky clean formals done right off the bat. They are easy and traditional. After that let mom know that you’ve got it covered and now you want to have fun with the kids. Let them be kids, let them wrestle and play and capture them at their best. Once in awhile you will find families that are more relaxed. They may have seen fun family photos of their friends and want do do some in a similar fashion. Take their suggestions without letting them think you have none of your own and work them in. Often they will turn out great and they’ll feel like they had a little more to do with the pictures than just a pretty face.

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Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Family Portraits Do’s and Don’ts

There have been some great articles and interest lately on long exposures so I thought I would put together a hodgepodge of techniques and then turn it over to DPS readers to see what they can come up with. I’ve broken this slow shutter shoot-out into 3 categories. When you submit your photograph, do it under one of these styles. I’ve thrown in a few of my own as examples into the article just to give you an idea. Get a tripod, set your cameras to shutter priority and fire away.

1. Light Painting:

Digital Photography School Forum member Sodaman420 couldn’t have done a better job introducing the technique of Light Painting. His video is posted here. Light is what makes up your photos. Perhaps too often we limit ourselves to the normal diffused lighting we are used to seeing. Locking your camera down on a tripod and setting it for a slow shutter speed allows you to manually get some movement on the lights in your scene. Experiment with flashlights, rope lights, candles or anything handy. In the picture here I had a friend sit perfectly still in a completely dark room. I set the shutter to be roughly the time it would take me to walk around his chair holding a candle (8 seconds). His face was entirely lit by candlelight. Since I was moving too quickly to get in the shot, all you see is the floating flame. I know, it turned out a little demonic, but unintentionally. This is just to get your ideas flowing.

2. Capturing Movement:

Blur isn’t always a bad thing, especially when it captures the movement occurring in a photo. Photoshop even includes a filter called “motion blur” to recreate this effect if you missed it while taking the photograph. Find a scene that could appropriately benefit from motion blur and experiment. In this photo, I used a shutter speed just slow enough to get the movement of the carousel, but fast enough to not record my handheld camera jitters or the movement of the kids in the foreground (1/20 second). It would have been nice to have a tripod, but since one wasn’t available I had to fire off a few shots until I got one without camera shake.

3. Turning Darkness into Day:

I recently talked about this on my blog, but on a good moon lit night, it’s fun to create the illusion of photographs being taken in daylight but with the added effects that come with slow shutter speeds. This is a photography I took in Hawaii around 10pm on a dark night. The moon was out in full, so by letting my camera soak in the light for about 30 seconds, the colors start to appear in full vibrancy. When I took this shot, because it was so dark, I had no idea someone was sitting out on the rocks star gazing. If you live near the ocean, I love the dreamy look it gives to the moving water, rendering the waves almost like low-lying clouds.

Share Your Slow Shutter Speed Shots

Have you played with slow shutter speeds? We’d love to see what you’ve done. Head over to our forums and share some of your shots in the Share Your Shots section.

Further Reading on Shutter Speed

• Introduction to Shutter Speed
• Understanding Shutter Speed
• 15 Stunning Images Using Blur to Portray Movement
• How to Control Aperture and Shutter Speed on an Entry Level Point and Shoot Digital Camera
• How to capture Motion Blur in Photography

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Slow Shutter Shoot-Out – 3 Slow Shutter Speed Techniques

20mm, f/1.7 -- Shallow dof, smooth blurring. Minimum Focus Distance: 0.66' (0.2m)

Since deciding to become a “pro” photographer specializing in weddings and portraits some years back, I have always been keenly aware of industry developments in the photographic field.  Primarily I kept my ear to the ground to what the big players like Canon and Nikon were doing.  I made the financial commitment to Nikon, but both were leading the pack in new developments.  Somehow, amidst all the hustle and bustle, I had been ignoring the 4/3rds movement that was starting by the likes of Olympus and Panasonic.  I had come across various announcements and brushed them off for another low-end product that couldn’t compete with my high-end gear. But, as a frequent traveler, who also likes packing light, my wife and I have been in the market for a more compact camera, but we’re also spoiled with our DSLRs.  I felt I was between a rock and a hard place.  I couldn’t bear the thought of pushing the shutter release button, then counting to 10 as my perfect composure fell apart before my eyes and then seeing my camera finally flash.  Then looking at the final image in all its grainy glory and wishing I had lugged my heavy D700 and lens assortment along just for that missed shot.

Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1.  Before our recent excursion to Ireland, my brother was debating on whether to buy one of my older Nikon bodies (D200) or spring for one of the new micro 4/3rds mirror-less cameras.  I gave him my two cents but he went for the Panasonic and brought it along.  Fortunately for me, this meant I had less gear to lug around.  For those not familiar with this type of camera, a little explanation is in order.

60 Second Long Exposure - Low Noise - f/4.5 - ISO100

What’s 4/3rds?

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 is the third camera in Panasonic’s Lumix G-series, using the Micro Four Thirds System. This latest model in the Lumix range from Panasonic is said to be the world’s smallest and lightest digital interchangeable lens system camera with a built-in flash capability. Although the Panasonic Lumix GF1 is small, it still offers many advanced features such as its extensive advanced settings and high definition video recording capability.  They achieve its small size with one simple trick– remove the mirror used to bounce the image up into the viewfinder.  The sensor size for the Four Thirds bodies is stuck somewhere between the minuscule point and shoot sensors and the larger APS-C sensors.  It is, in fact, the same size sensor that Olympus uses in their larger 4/3 DSLR line. Since sensor size is often a major factor in image noise, this sensor should compare closer to a DSLR than your typical compact cameras, but with lenses much smaller than a beefy full frame camera.  Same goes for depth of field.  It will perform better than a compact (shallower depth of field possible) but not as well as a full frame DSLR.  So if the promises are to be believed, this new standard should equate to smaller and lighter cameras, along with smaller and cheaper lenses that perform nearly as well as your typical SLR.  I know.  I was skeptical too.

f/16, 1/60sec, ISO100

The 20mm Lens

I can say however, after using the viewfinder-less camera for over a week, shooting in all types of situations, I have a new friend in cameras.  The GF1 was released in September of 2009.  Panasonic gave two options for lenses, a standard 14-45mm kit lens or the now cult classic 20mm 1.7 “pancake” lens.  The latter is the lens I’d recommend.  It makes the camera small enough to slip into your pocket, but versatile enough to shoot in the most demanding light situations.  Having a normal range prime (a 40mm equivalent on a DSLR) will take you back to the days when photographers had to move their feet to get a great composition instead of just rotating a zoom ring.  It really makes photography fun.  I couldn’t agree more with the in-depth review given by DP Review, “The Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH is a lens that we’ve been looking forward to seeing for real ever since Panasonic first showed a mock-up back at Photokina ’08. The good news is that it’s been well worth the wait – the 20mm is an excellent lens, especially considering its tiny size. It does well in all aspects of our studio tests, and produces fine images in a wide range of situations while also focusing quickly, silently and decisively. On compact Micro Four Thirds bodies such as the E-P1 and GF1, it offers impressive image quality and low-light capability in a package significantly smaller and more discreet than any DSLR system. The last few years have seen Panasonic rapidly improving its cameras; the 20mm F1.7 sees the company flexing its muscles in the field of lens design and showing it means business here too. We’re unashamed fans of fast primes, and it’s great to see Panasonic providing one relatively early in the development of Micro Four Thirds.”  The guys over at DP Review have also given an incredible review of the GF1 body here if you need some technical comparisons.

Another long exposure example. This image was actually taken around 11pm with a 60 second expsure at f/4. Full moon gave color to the scene.

I was surprised to hear this reviewer from Wired say he’s also willing to leave his trusty DSLR behind.  This excellent review notes that you can also use your legacy lenses with an adapter if you’re willing to give up automatic focusing. Adapters are available for almost all lens mounts to be used on any micro 4/3 body, so that Canon “L” glass can still be useful, even if you aren’t lugging around your 5D Mark II.

So with that background, here are a few of my personal impressions.

Things I liked:

• Size.  I like carrying this around and I don’t scare people off when I pull it out.

• Historgram and Live info before you take the shot.  The f-stop and shutter settings are uniquely displayed live on the screen.  As one reviewer put it, “Some are bothered by the lack of a built in viewfinder, but I find the different perspective refreshing – and adds some unique capabilities you don’t get with an SLR like a live histogram, full brightness depth of field preview, live black and white and crop. For some reason it just feels like a creative tool instead of another piece of electronics.”

• Dedicated movie button.  This is just a convenience god-send.  No more switching dials or digging into menus to capture a short clip on the spot, or forgetting you are in movie mode when you try and take a picture for that matter.

• Did I mention size

Things I didn’t like:

• No viewfinder. In bright sun this will be an issue.  The optional electronic viewfinder seems to be lacking in resolution.

• So far, very limited lens choices.  The Pancake 20mm lens is gold though.  Large aperture lenses and primes are lacking.

• Movie mode, although nice that it is HD quality, had focusing issues.  Better to focus the camera and then leave it in manual to avoid focus searching (unless your subject is moving around a lot).

Summary:
I’ll be buying a micro 4/3 camera as soon as my budget allows it.  Perhaps by then there will be even more models to choose from.  In the mean time, if you’re in the market, take a look at what’s available.  Olympus just released the Olympus E-PL1 Pen Camera for $599.  It is the lowest cost Micro Four Thirds camera currently available and comes in many stylish colors!

To see other articles by Chas, click the author link below.

f/8, 1/250sec, ISO100

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

My experience with a micro-4/3rds camera – (Panasonic GF1 Review)

As with most talents, there are some foundations and rules on which you should build. Once you have mastered these rules, you can start breaking them to expand your creative repertoire, venturing beyond your old stomping grounds.  After all, breaking rules can be the best part of art; this is where you find your unique style as an artist. 

So if you’re just starting out, or you want a refresher on some important foundational guidelines, follow along and see what I think are four basic tips of digital photography to master before heading out into the great unknown.

(Too much headroom)

(closer crop)

Rule #1: Composition

Composition carries a lot of baggage.  I’m going to make it simple and narrow it down to a few aspects I consider important.

Portraits and headroom: One of the most common mistakes I see photographers make is the misuse of headroom. 

The bottom line is, don’t leave a lot of space between the top of the subject’s head and the top of the frame.  Avoid the tendency to put faces square in the middle of your viewfinder where your focus brackets may be. 

In order to capture the emotions of the face, start by getting in as close as you can.  At times you may even chop off the tops of a few heads.  Unless the sky is particularly amazing or the trees more fantastic than your average set of trees, don’t try and force getting the surroundings into your image.  Generally the background should not be more prominent than the subject. 

Right are two family portraits I shot.  The image I gave the client has minimal dead space above the head and is cropped in so you can really see the emotions in their face.  The other has too much background.

Candids and framing: If you’re a wedding photographer or photo-journalist, you’ll find yourself trying to get balanced pictures that seem polished, but in fact were taken quickly. In these situations, you can’t pause the action to create nice compositions.  Not being in control of the environment, you must always scan your surroundings and move your feet in order to frame your images in interesting ways. 

Try to find lines that will draw the eye to the subject.  Use windows and doorframes, pews, people and even occasionally swords.  Not too long ago I helped shoot a military wedding and was able to get some nice compositions using these techniques.  As the couple left the chapel I noticed their silhouette nicely framed by the door and fired off a few shots.  Adding some contrast and a B&W filter, exaggerated the effect.  The other image with the traditional military arch set itself up for a nice composition.  I just made sure I was behind and inside the doorway to get the right framing.

Through the distorting glass: Use your lens to distort relative sizes and perspectives.  Most commonly, I use my wide-angle lens to essentially blow-up the things closest to me as the photographer.    

A typical shot shown below is with the larger-than-life bride’s bouquet.  I usually crouch low below the bride and have her point her flowers right into the lens.  Don’t be afraid to tuck the subject away in the corner of the frame and even have them out of focus. 

There will be plenty of other standard shots; these are the creative fun ones.  The other example shown here uses the wide angle to exaggerate the length of the couple’s vintage ride.  It’s often a pain to constantly switch lenses.  Try keeping your wide glass mounted on a second camera or with a second photographer.

Note: It doesn’t all have to be done at the time of shooting.  In post-production, start experimenting with the crop and straighten tools.  Most image editing packages are non-destructive so try a few versions of an image and then get a second opinion.

For more tips on composition check out this DPS article.

Rule #2: Learn about your Camera

(Automatic Settings)

(Dragging the shutter)

What are all those buttons and dials anyways?  Those buttons and dials can manipulate your photos drastically in ways you may not realize.  Try to wean yourself off shooting in auto-mode.  Start by playing with aperture or shutter priority and pay attention to how the camera balances the exposure.  When you feel like you have a handle on things, have a go at manual. 

Like I said above, you have to know the rules, not so you can follow them but so you can know when to break them. 

For example, I frequently use a technique called “dragging the shutter”.  This effect requires some manual tweaking and is best achieved outside of your automatic modes.  Dragging the shutter allows you to control how much ambient light you let in while still using your flash to pop and freeze the subject.  

Below are two otherwise identical photos.  One used the camera’s automatic flash settings, the other was a manual drag.  Note the ambient hues the sensor soaked in.  Look for an upcoming article to more fully explain this technique.  If you have a photo you took with unique manual settings, share it in the comments.

Here is a good primer on some basic settings and what they can do for you.

Rule #3: Follow the Light

As photographers, we rely completely on light.  I loved this DPS article “Photograph the light, not the land.”  You could insert any word for land, and it would still hold true.  

Creating your own artificial light, or getting good results with available light is a critical skill.  Lighting can drastically change the outcome of otherwise similar images.  Light at 12 noon can be perfect for landscape photography but too harsh for a portrait.  If you aren’t thinking about the light and it’s effect to your image, you’re only doing half your job as photographer.

For portrait work, I try to plan for late afternoon before sunset.  If possible, I avoid portraits on sunny, cloudless days.  They result in lots of blinking and the shadows exaggerate the subject’s features.  Flash photography is a must for some types shooting.  My general rule is, use it only when you have to.  Others may use it in almost all situations.  Share your thoughts below.

(Natural light with a little fill flash)

For a good primer on shooting with available light check out this great article.

Rule #4: Explore the Industry

If you’re reading this post then you’re already doing this, so hats off to you.  Study the photography of others and compare it to your own. 

Do your pictures grab you like their images do?  Is your contrast high enough? Are your colors vivid enough?  Are you focusing in the right places and using proper depth of field? 

Flipping through photography and travel magazines can be a good reference.  Never stop searching and trying to mimic the positive things you see in other’s photography. Here are some of my favorite sites: Strobist, Lens Culture, DP Challenge, Pology, and of course my own photography blog.

Conclusion:

Any one of these tips alone (or together) won’t be the key to great photography.  It’s not just about following all the rules or breaking them here and there.  It’s about developing a style.  You can’t please everyone all the time.  Strive to satisfy your desire to be creative; there are enough personalities out there looking for what you’ve got.

What would you Add?

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

4 Digital Photography Tips for the Year Ahead

It used to be one could get by with just Photoshop and your own folder management and manual organization system, but for photographers who routinely have days with photographs numbering in the hundreds or thousands, a good work flow application is now essential.  Fortunately, this demand supports a good number of competing programs that are all struggling for a piece of the pro-photo pie.  Two of the well known apps in this category are Adobe’s Lightroom and Apple’s Aperture.  Having used both, I don’t think there will ever be a TKO and a clear winner.  Instead, I hope to see both continue to push each other in new directions.  In this spirit, I was very excited to see Apple release its long awaited version 3 of Aperture, with many of the features I’ve been hoping for.  Here is a quick review of my favorite new features and what apple has to say about them.  Watch for an upcoming article detailing my hands-on experience.

Major Improvements

Non-destructive Brushes:

I’ve been waiting for this one!  This is one of the areas they are playing catch-up to Lightroom.  Prior to this version, Aperture users were left with plug-ins such as Viveza. The polarizing brush and skin smoothing brush seem promising.

Make nondestructive image enhancements to specific areas of any photo using new adjustment brushes. Use brush strokes to modify — brush in or brush away — most of the standard image adjustments available in the Adjustments inspector. You can control the size, softness, and strength of each brush with intuitive sliders.  Blend adjustments more easily — and achieve more realistic results — by taking advantage of the feathering tool available for each imaging adjustment brush.  Turn on the Detect Edges option, and Aperture will detect hard edges as you brush, making it easier to brush adjustments into specific areas of a photo.  Deepen color, and darken shadow areas and mid-tones, without affecting the black and white points in an image using the new Polarize brush. Use the new Skin Smoothing brush to apply a gentle blur effect, creating smoother-looking skin.

GPS support and Face Recognition:

Not a killer feature, but it will be fun for some.  Lots can be done with “Faces and Places” not mentioned here.

Aperture 3 automatically detects faces in photos when you import them. It then compares the faces and finds similar ones (similar to iPhoto).  You can then view faces by project, album, or folder.  Click the Facebook button to publish selected photos directly to your Facebook account. People named using the Faces feature are automatically tagged with Facebook names, and published albums can be automatically updated as you add, remove, or edit photos.

Places allows you to organize photos based on where they were taken, using GPS data embedded in photos when you took them or location data added in Aperture.  See where you took your photos on an interactive Google map displayed in Aperture. Choose from terrain and road maps or view satellite images with or without labels.  Import GPS locations for the photos you take with your GPS-enabled iPhone directly into Aperture.

Multiple Instances of Adjustments:

Nice! You aren’t limited to global adjustments any longer.

Apply multiple adjustments of a single type to different parts of an image by creating multiple adjustment bricks for each adjustment. For example, set one Levels adjustment to create the perfect sky. Then add another Levels adjustment brick to selectively perfect skin tones. To add a new instance of an adjustment, choose the Add New option from the Action pop-up menu in each adjustment brick.

Adjustment presets with live previews:

The live previews are a huge time saver when you don’t know what direction to take an image.  It’s also nice to have some common presets available as well as being able to create your own.

If you use a combination of adjustments frequently, save it as a preset. Then apply the preset to individual images or a batch of images. Aperture 3 includes dozens of ready-to-use presets, and you can easily create your own and export them for use by others.   The Presets pop-up menu in the Adjustments inspector displays a preview of each preset applied to your image, allowing you to assess the effect of the preset before you apply it.

Advanced Sideshows:

Apple is so good at building multi-media apps, it’s nice to see them finally bringing in these features to Aperture.  I’ve gone through so many slide-show making apps, hopefully this will end now that I can do it in version 3.

In Aperture, you can now export slideshows in a number of predefined formats, including YouTube, iPhone, Apple TV, HD, and 1080p. You can also specify a custom size and frame rate, and export slideshows using either the H.264 or MPEG-4 codec.  Using the Classic and Ken Burns themes, you can choose from a dozen transitions, including Dissolve, Fade through Black, and Fade through White.  Besides including a main audio track in a slideshow (such as background music), you can add a secondary audio track, such as a voiceover or narration, to create a true layered soundtrack.

Cures tool: (With brushes)

Meticulous pros know how huge this is.  Others may find the basic adjustments sufficient.  The extended range is a nice bonus.

Use the new Curves tool to adjust exposure and tweak color. Curve adjustments can be applied to luminance, RGB, or individual color channels. You can set the black, white, and midtone points, as well as place custom points along the curve using a target tool. All Curves adjustments can be brushed in or brushed away as needed to achieve desired results. Because the Curves tool supports the “extended range” data sometimes available in RAW images, you can set the Range control in Curves to Extended in order to see the “out of range” highlight or shadow data that you may be able to recover.

Summary

Fashionably late.  Although they are playing catch-up in some areas, they are breaking new ground in others.  I think this update will keep Aperture as a top contender for a while.  The biggest challenge they face is boosting the performance, as this is quite a memory and resource hog.  They need to be better at updating their camera raw support as well.

Free 30 day trial.  Price: $199 or $99 upgrade from previous versions.

Note: Amazon currently have Aperture 3 available for pre-order at $189 and $94.99 for the upgrade.

For videos of the new Aperture in action, check out Apple’s videos here: Pros with Aperture.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Aperture 3 – Fashionably late, or a dollar short?

The debate still rages regarding what effects you can achieve digitally in post production and which ones you have to get from specialized glass.  Tools like Photoshop have certainly come a long way in their various blurring and sharpening algorithms as well as many other techniques that were previously only possible to do in camera or the darkroom.  Purists however, will tell you that if you want creamy bokeh, nice blurred backgrounds, tack sharp images, tilt-shifted images or natural looking selective focus, it all comes down to what lens you are using.  For this reason, companies like Lensbaby are enjoying more success than ever before.  I’ve been familiar with their products for awhile, but when I saw their new Lensbaby lineup I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one to see what that baby was capable of.

First things first.  The Lensbaby is not your all-purpose lens.  In fact, for those photographers who prefer edge to edge sharpness and clarity, I recommend staying away from these products all together.  If you’re a control freak, again, stay away.  This lens is about getting a raw and vintage look, one that may look like someone spilled water on your prints or touched your lens with a greasy finger or bumped you in the middle of pushing the shutter.  Throw in the fact that there is no digital aperture control and no auto-focus and you might wonder why anyone would use this lens at all.  However, that is like asking why paint when you can photograph, or why write when you can film.  These lenses let you step beyond the normal bounds of photography and create unique shots you may not have expected or would have been otherwise impossible.  And the best part is you did it the old fashioned way–in your camera and not your computer.  Once you know it’s application, you’ll fall in love with this lens.

Currently the Lensbaby lineup consists of three products: the Muse, the Composer and the Control Freak.  Along with these are four optic lenses that drop inside for different effects.  All three of the lenses work on the same basic principle of pivoting your lens in relation to the camera’s sensor via a ball-and-socket joint. This creates a sweet spot of focus while blurring and skewing other areas of the image even though they are the same distance from your lens. 

Think about that for a second.  Depth of field principles dictate that everything in the same focal plane will be in the same focus. This lens bends this rule literally by bending the light entering your camera, creating extreme spherical and chromatic distortions that you can control.  What’s really cool is, similar to pinhole cameras and those of yesteryear, these lenses are completely analog.  There is no communication going on between the lens and your camera.  No focusing, no aperture control, no VER or any of that fancy stuff.  In fact, the aperture can only be set by dropping a magnetic disk in front of the lens with holes cut out in various sizes.  How cool is that?  You get to handle your apertures and see their relationship with one another.  Included are discs for f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, with f/2 being the default.  Keep in mind that the larger the aperture, the smaller the sweet spot that will be in focus, and vice-versa.  If you want to get really crazy, try using the star and heart shaped apertures or even order a blank to custom cut your own.

I won’t go into the drop-in optics too much, but they are designed to recreate effects such as old Holga cameras, pinhole cameras and plastic lenses. Their website has a cool page that lets you view the same image taken with each of the different optics and apertures.  Very cool.

Field results
I prefer the Composer for its ease of use.  The first time I took this lens out, it was for a family photo shoot in a park.  I wasn’t sure how the results would be, so I only took it on my spare camera body.  Thank goodness.  From about 15 shots I took with it, only 3 or 4 were up to my standards.  The other 11 amounted to user error in one way or another.  It’s been ages since I shot in manual focus mode, and I felt somewhat out of practice.  In addition, controlling the sweet spot added to the difficulty mostly because this was my first go at it.  Subsequent shots have improved steadily and I’m starting to break myself from reliance on my camera.  I also found that its much easier to get your feet wet with this lens when shooting still objects and landscapes.  Below are a few examples.

The lens seems to have roughly a 50mm equivalent, perfect for many situations.  They also have a few screw-on lens adapters that give you telephoto or wide results as well.  I tried the 0.42x Super Wide Angle Converter and highly recommend it.  It opened up the lens to 21mm and creates a macro-esque features allowing focus as close as 2.75 inces; perfect for flowers, rings and other objects that would benefit from the unique selective focus of this lens.  If you’re going to buy the lensbaby, buy this adapter.  Here are a few of the results all taken from our second outing with this lens.

Bottom line

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars.  Price as tested: Lens $270, Wide adapter $75.  A bit pricey, but what isn’t with this hobby?

Recommend for:

• Photographers that want to get more artistic vintage shots and push themselves into new areas of the art.
• Photographers looking for a unique images that stand out from those in a field of ever increasing competitors.
• Photographers that buy the latest gadgets to be the cool kid on the block.

Not recommended for:

• Photographers just starting to build their lens collection.
• Photographers who do little more than portrait work.
• Photographers who avoid fully manual settings.

The Lensbaby is available in several different lens mounts: Canon EF (EOS), Nikon F, Minolta Maxxum/Sony Alpha, Pentax K, Olympus Four Thirds System.  Check out the lensbaby website for video tutorials from other professions using their products and the stunning results you can achieve.  As a bonus, here is a short video entirely with a Canon and a Lensbaby.

Grab one for yourself at Amazon

• Lensbaby The Composer for Canon EF mount
• Lensbaby The Composer for Nikon F mount
• Lensbaby The Composer for Olympus four thirds mount
• Lensbaby The Composer for Pentax K mount
• Lensbaby The Composer for Sony Alpha mount

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Lensbaby Composer (Review)

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

What are the Honl products?

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

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

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

The Gel Kits

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

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

Conclusion

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

Below is a quick demo of what they sell. They are available at Amazon for around $144. The US distributer is ExpoImaging. Their site has more information and different kit combination options as well.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Honl Photo Speed System (Review)

I don’t need to be the one to tell you the economy is going down the crapper, and when it comes to buying new gear, my list is getting a good purging.  With that in mind, when I find products that aren’t over priced simply because photographers are used to forking out the cash, I get excited.  David Hobby is one of my photography heroes.  As a Baltimore newspaper photo-journalist, I give him credit for jump-starting the “strobist” movement that now allows photographers to get stunning results with minimal equipment investment, which often involves raiding your kitchen cupboards and tool shed for DIY supplies.  To him I also give credit for this products discovery (and maybe even its existence).

With simple light modifiers and a few standard camera strobes (flashes), you can often hang with the best Profoto or Alien Bee setups.  Of course those have their place too if you have the money to go there.  As other articles on DPS have articulated, one of the first steps to creative lighting is to get the light source away from your camera body.  The flexibility one gains is obvious.  The second step is learning to control your off-camera light, entering the wide world of light modification.  This includes such accessories as grid spots, rings, diffusers, snoots, gels and reflectors just to name a few.  Previously these were not typically made for the portable flash units you probably already own.  The strobist movement is changing that.

The Prokit 4

At the heart of the SpeedLight’s genius is the 3 fold flexible reflector with snaps along its edges.  Put together, two of these reflectors connect to form a small 4-sided box with overhanging tabs with snaps on the sides of a decent sized opening perfect for grids, gels and diffusers.  The Prokit 4 comes with 4 of these reflectors (good for two boxes), a nice white diffuser, and a honeycomb grid insert as well.  What I love about the SpeedLight kits is that they don’t sacrifice what you gain from using portable flash units in the first place, being portable.  Each product conveniently snaps together to form its shape and just as easily disassembles to lie flat and compact as illustrated in the assembled and disassembled photos below.

Also in this kit you’ll notice two snoots with two different grid inserts.  With these products, you can have any combination of a bare reflector, reflector with grid, reflector with diffuser, bare snoot, snoot with tight grid, snoot with large grid.  But wait there’s more.  Once you master what comes in the box, check out the SpeedLight site for white and black barn door add-ons as well as large gel inserts.  Below is a video that does a better job than I could in explaining how everything fits together.  One side note– with most of these products you’ll want to use a sto-fen type diffuser that snaps on the flash itself to spread the light and fill the inside of the reflectors.

Prokit 6

So what happens if you snap three reflectors together instead of just two?  You get a cool little hexagon soft box.  They’ve conveniently packaged that together as Prokit 6.  The advantage of this setup is of course the larger diffused surface area, which, especially when close to your subject, creates a softer light.  The flat diffuser that snaps on to the face of this setup even has a semi-porous metallic reflector to avoid having the light concentrated at the center of the box.  From my testing, it seemed to work as designed.  When I used this up close to the subject, and when I say close, I mean having an assistant holding it as close to the subjects face as I could with out it being in the frame, it created a very flattering, evenly lit look.  I’m convinced it will have a permanent place in my bag.

Testing

I never like reading reviews that fail to show the product in action.  To illustrate what these SpeedLights can do for you even on an extremely bright day, I took them out for a little experimentation.  Below you will see two shots.  The first is taken with the camera doing all the metering and using Mother Nature as the primary light source.  What I don’t like about this image is the flatness of the subject’s features and that the background is brighter than the subject.  The lighting isn’t very interesting making the image bland overall.  The second image is taken with the square reflector and diffuser attachment stage left with the camera set to manual.  With the camera in manual, I now have the ability to under expose my backgrounds, giving the illusion that the picture was shot at dusk or in low light.  I can then bounce as much or as little light onto the subject to get the desired skin exposure.  No Photoshop processing was done to the final image.

If you have ever had a difficult time getting a good shot of someone with a blue sky and gorgeous fluffy clouds in the background, this same technique applies.  Expose for the sky, and then use a flash to brighten the subject.  Unmodified however, the small light source on your camera may not be the most flattering, thus the need for these small reflectors.  The example I have here is bit over done, but you get the idea.  In short, using your flash off camera with even a small diffuser can dramatically improve your outdoor portraits as long as you aren’t too far from your subjects.

Here is another example from the same shoot that shows more of the subject’s body and more background.  The final image was de-saturated a bit in post.

In this next example, I brought an R4 along on an engagement session.  I discovered that with this new accessory, I could even place the flash on the ground giving the flash enough angle to properly cover the couple while providing a natural looking vignette/spotlight effect.  It was fun playing with different light positions, and I have admit that anything I have that the average customer isn’t familiar with gives our photo sessions an extra flare of professionalism.  (On the down side, a park ranger came up and asked for a site permit stating that our equipment was too professional looking for average use.)

You don’t have to judge the R4 or the R6 on just my photos though.  Here is a list of some flickr users with great results and uses as well.  If you end up picking up a set, don’t forget to come back to this article and share your results with us.

Conclusion

After playing with all the different accessories and attachments, I can recommend these products without hesitation.  I plan on using them regularly for both indoor studio work, and outdoor shoots as well.  That is something I can’t say for much of my gear.  So how many kits do you need?  Take a look at this behind-the-scenes video of some pros in action using a myriad of every Speedlight product and more strobes than I can count.  So the answer is, there probably isn’t a limit beyond your wallet.  (BTW, from the looks of it, they have since refined their products which no longer use the yellow flash inserts and have better hexagonal diffusers now as well.)  4.5 out of 5 stars.

The current U.S. distributer is midwest photo exchange.  Prices range from $50 up to $125 depending.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

SpeedLight ProKit Review

Right off the bat, let me say that if you want to get serious about macro (close-up) photography this isn’t the best solution. There are good reasons that lenses are engineered specifically with that type of photography in mind. The downside is of coarse, those specialized lenses come with a price. At only $9 I highly recommend this as a starting point or way of experimenting with macro photography. A surprising secondary benefit I didn’t expect when first using this adapter were the insights it gives you into the relationships of depth of field and aperture. So lets begin.

Protecting the Lens

If you haven’t used one before, it will seem strange mounting your lens in reverse. Once mounted, you see some of the guts of your lens that are normally not exposed. All of the pins the lens uses to talk with the camera are visible as well as the internal glass element that moves in and out when focusing.

Unfortunately, leaving the lens on in reverse can potentially let dust inside your lens. I highly recommend you use the lens protector cap that comes with your lens to protect it while not shooting. If you plan on using the lens in reverse often, you can buy a bayonet-to-standard filter thread adapter. This lets you screw on a UV type or other filter to keep nature’s elements away from your lens.

You Lose the Camera’s Brain so Use Your Own

If you haven’t already deduced it, seeing that the pins are now facing out, the camera has no way of communicating with the lens electronically. What does this mean to you? You are going to lose all the cozy automatic features of your camera. No auto-focus since there is no talking going back and forth. In fact, with the lens mounted backwards, your primary means of focusing is going to be moving the camera, which will be just inches from your subject, back and forth until the area you want sharp is in focus. No auto aperture either. I’m guessing that many of you have always adjusted the aperture of your lenses electronically. Say good bye to that and say hello to that manual aperture ring you may have never touched before.

Old manual focus lenses work well here regardless of make. Lenses without an aperture ring such as Nikon G-series and Canon EF lenses may not work. Remember that normally the camera keeps the aperture open so you can look through the viewfinder and see what you are taking a picture of. Just before you take a picture, it stops it down to the appropriate size. Now the camera now has no way to open the aperture for your viewfinder viewing pleasure. This leads us to the next point.

Depth and Field and Lighting

I found it amazing to see the depth of field effects in real time and watch them change as you stopped down the aperture. So when using the reverse adapter, as you look through the eye piece and start stopping down the lens, you will see things get really dark really fast. Unless it’s a very sunny day, twist it all the way to f/16 and you’re staring into a black square. (Many digital cameras have a depth-of-field preview button that forces the aperture to the size designated giving you a similar effect.) Set at 1.4, I could look at a flower and see the razor thin focal plan move up and down the flower as I made tiny movements with the camera.

I lugged in my tripod and a few lighting stands but at the last second decided to shoot everything handheld. Shooting this way can be very difficult for a couple of reasons. First, at large apertures with a nice bright image in the viewfinder, you get a very narrow DOF. The smallest shift in your camera position changes what is in focus. It’s extremely difficult to hold the camera steady enough to get consistent shots.

On the flip side of this, some of my favorite images ended up being the more abstract one with things unintentionally out of focus. If you want a sharper image without that aforementioned razor thin focal plane, you can step down the aperture, but again, you’re faced with guessing what is in focus because you can’t see what your shooting in the dark viewfinder. A tripod would be one solution. You could open the aperture, set your focus, then stop it down to take the shot. I did this a few times without the tripod and it worked out fine.

The three pictures below show the dramatic changes that come with changing the aperture on close up images. These are all the same flower, with changes made to the f-stop. On the first image, only the tiny buds are in focus. On the second image, I moved slightly losing the focus of the buds making them essentially disappear. The last image was stopped down to f-16 to get both the buds and the pink pedals in focus.

This image is of an orchid. You can see how shallow the dof is on the first image and how different it looks in the second which was shot around f/16. All small aperture shots required me to use my flash to compensate for the loss in light. I used it in remote mode and held it in my other hand to get different lighting angles. Leaving the flash on the camera is a bad idea as it usually over shoots your tiny subject and you can’t control the light direction.

Finally here are a few other images my brother took with this same adapter in his backyard.

If you want to see the entire collection from botanical gardens, they are on blog.chaselliott.com. Like I said, I found myself liking the soft focus abstract ones and plan on mounting a few of them to frames. If you pick up the adapter, let us see some of your own work.

A few side notes

*This setup would work best in a studio environment. You could use multiple flashes and a tripod or even focusing rails to get pinpoint accurate focusing.

*With this reverse mount technique, you are no longer limited to having a single lens on your camera. A technique called “lens stacking” is popular in some circles where a lens like the 50mm is reverse mounted on the end of a zoom lens. Search around for example shots and explanations.

*You aren’t limited to reverse mounting prime lenses. In fact, you can build your own reverse mount extention tube that will work with any lens. Here are some detailed instructions.

*Reverse mounting a lens is not the only way to get cheap magnifications. If you use the Kenko extension tubes and an AF lens you can maintain metering, autofocus (both AF-s and screwdriver AF), and VR (vibration reduction). A three piece extension tube set will give you up to 6 different magnification ratios plus fine tuning with the lens helix. The reversing adapter will give just one magnification ratio.

*If you already own a nice zoom lens, look into close-up diopter lenses that screw onto the filter threads. The best ones are dual-element made by a few different manufacturers, and cost around $80 each. Some zoom lenses will even work well reversed if you reverse-mount them with the close-up lens attached. In this case, zooming simply changes magnification which is very handy for trimming the composition.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Reverse Mounting Your Prime Lenses for Affordable Macro Photography

Having a larger build, I have always disliked the straps that come with various camera bodies. I find them too short, too uncomfortable and just cheap feeling. I also dislike the having the camera model number largely displayed making me a walking billboard for Nikon. People often approached me at weddings I was shooting to discuss this feature or that and even talk about how they’ve upgraded beyond what I was using. I always smiled but wished I could focus on what I was there to document.

When I came across the R-Strap, I thought this might be the very thing I needed but didn’t know I was missing. Well, it has arrived and here is my review.

The R-Strap by BlackRapid, a Seattle based company. Being very simple and elegant in design you have to wonder why straps weren’t made this way from the beginning. Essentially, it allows you to sling your camera down to the hip level instead of having it hung around the front of your neck. My initial reaction was that it was very well built. Upon opening the package, I was impressed by the RS-4′s design. It had comfortable shoulder padding and even a small zipper to store my extra memory card or flash gels.

The stainless steel connect screw called the R2 also looked solid.

One of the reasons I was looking forward to the R-Strap was for comfort. When I photograph weddings, having the strap around my neck gets old very fast. I usually end up not even using it, only to have it get in my way as I switch from landscape to portrait shots. Not having it around my neck, I’ve also had a few close calls with guests bumping into me and almost losing my grip of the camera. All of these issues I think have been solved with my new strap. (Can you tell I’m excited about it?)

I didn’t have a wedding scheduled so I decided to walk around Old Town Alexandria in Northern Virginia and see how I felt at the end of the day. It was no problem all day. I shot a quick demo with my point and shoot while I was there which can be found below. Go easy on the video, remember I’m a photographer not an actor or cinematographer.

In the end, I was very impressed with this new system and will not be using my old strap any longer. In fact, after seeing on the Black Rapid website that two straps can now be coupled together for double camera slinging power, another R-Strap is on my long list of future purchases. The video below shows the double strap in action. 4.5 out of 5 stars. (The minus .5 is simply because with the strap connected, it’s not as easy to set my camera on a flat surface for a quick shot. I first have to unclip the strap. I know it’s a small issue.) It can be purchased at Adorama here. The older RS1 Strap is available at Amazon.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

R-Strap by BlackRapid – Camera Strap Review