Commercial photography can be a tedious process. Oftentimes, a single finished image can be comprised of over 30 photographs. The process of blending all these photographs together ensures that every part of the product is lit perfectly. This is especially useful when photographing objects as large as a Volvo semi-truck. Commercial photographer Tim Bjorn has done just this. Take a look:
Bjorn emphasizes the importance of not moving the camera during photo-shoots of such large scale. This is done, Bjorn says, by finding the perfect angle. “That is the key element, no motion at the camera.” This way, the editing features can easily be done on the computer.
To make sure each element of the truck was lit perfectly, each segment of the truck was lit individually. The contrast is controlled by moving the lights closer or further away from the truck as needed. Bjorn combined 27 frames, each with different lighting positions, to produce the finished product.
Final product after the photos were combined
The editing software promoted and used in this video is Capture One which is made by Phase One.
Fairs are a great place to take “Character shots” with all of the different costumes and characters found there, such as this Renaissance Fair maiden.
It has been “many” years since I used to shoot portrait portfolios for Hollywood hopefuls, but many of the tricks I learned back then I have used ever since when shooting every thing from people to bugs. Even if you never do a model shoot, all of the tips in this list will help you in just about any situation you come across. In fact, using them on your friends first will give you great practice if you ever do shoot any models, and your friends will be even more impressed with the images you do of them.
#1 Probably one of the best types of portraits are the ones that deal with the subjects’ own personal interests, such as hobbies. These can be done at their home if you know the person, or if you should both have the same interests they can use the items you work with at your home. Any subject of interest can be used even if you just make one up. All that is needed is that the model looks like they are engaged in doing something of interest. Even a person sitting in a state of meditation can make a great image in the right environment.
#2 The second most important thing to consider after #1 is the background that you take the shot in front of. There is no end to what you can use here, and a lot of the times all you really need to do is look at what is around you. Try to find a background color that does not match the persons cloths or they will be lost in it. Don’t use something that has a strong contrast to their cloths unless that is the effect you are after. Soft colors that compliment the person and their cloths will work best. You can even make your own background with a dyed bed sheet, or just find a nicely painted wall to shoot in front of.
#3 When it comes to portraits there are really just two types; candid and posed. I like the candid best, as those have more of a personal feeling to them. They are also 10-times easier than having to deal with what all it takes to set up a posed shot. For this work I like to use a medium telephoto lens, (105mm) so that I can give plenty of breathing room between the subject and myself. That also gives you more room to crop with, more depth of field control, and if you use a flash, it will be easier to balance the light.
#4 Keep your subject busy while you are composing and shooting, by giving them something to do like using props, which can include another person, such as a child, or you could have them work on a hobby project, such as their garden. These types of props can also offer other things you will need to make a good shot, like a good background, and plenty of room to work in. You can even shoot the person as they try something new for the first time. These types of shots though, usually require a faster shutter speed to keep things sharp.
#5 Character shots are one of my favorites, and I think the one type of portrait with the most feeling to them. “Characters” come in all forms, real or made-up. Maybe you are going to shoot an actor friend, so get them to put on one of their stage costumes, or if you have a girlfriend who sews, just have them model their own designs. You both win in that case.
#6 At times you may have a chance to shoot at places other than your normal ones, and at work or play makes two great alternatives. Work place portraits are usually called environmental portraits because they are taken in the environment the person works in. Many of these can make super images when done in dramatic locations. People at play can be just as good, and when done right can end up looking like pro sports shots.
#7 Most of the time we only think of portraits as being of the face, but other parts of the body, especially the hands, can tell just as much of a story, if not more, than a face can. Especially hands at work or play. For young hands use some toys as props, and for old weathered hands, use tools or some other object that also looks weathered, like an antique object. Don’t just think hands though, because even bare callused feet that look like they have never worn a shoe can work.
You may have noticed that many of these items can come together in the same settings, and all you need to do is recognize them so that you can then use them to make better portraits.
#8 When on a trip, taking portraits of people in their native dress could be some of the best images you bring back. There can be two ways of doing this. First you can ask the person permission to take their picture, and then use a medium length lens so that you do not crowd them any. Or if you cannot ask for permission, use a long lens to shoot them from a distance where they may not see you doing it, and maybe get some better candid shots that way. Always look for people in their native dress though, or else they may just end up looking like another tourist. – Always ask permission whenever possible though.
#9 Kids are always a great portrait subject no matter if they are the center of interest, or not. Kids at play are always a winning image, and two playing together is even better. Just about any toy will work as long as it is one they like to play with. Don’t miss out on good images of them when they are asleep, because kids are the only people that look good even when asleep. If you won’t wake them up, this is also another good time to add a stuffed animal prop. We all see pictures of kids in the tub, but most of the time we do not think of taking our own pictures of them there.
#10 No matter what you shoot, or where you shoot it, you will most often need to think about adding some light to the subject in one way or the other. The easiest way to do that if you are outdoors, is to just use some white item, such as a paper plate, as a reflector, and paper plates can just be thrown away when you are done with them. The shinier the surface, the more light that it will put on the subject. You can find pro type reflectors in most photo stores, but get one that folds into a smaller size for carrying and storage. They also come in shades like silver, and a gold one will warm up your images at the same time.
#11 One great portrait effect can be had just by remembering that you don’t need to see a face to know who the person is, as when they are in silhouette. These do take some extra thought in creating, as you need to really get the lighting “right-on” but if all else fails just go outside at sunset and place the person in front of it. Just expose for the sky area a bit away from the sun and the person will then automatically come out as a silhouette. These kinds of shots also make for great romantic images such as a couple at a beach at sunset.
#12 Special effects are a nice touch to add to a portrait to make them stand out even more, and they do not have to be elaborate ones either. A simple soft focus filter on the lens is a nice start, or if you have Photoshop, there are tons of filter effects to use from simple to high-tech. You can also use a special film, like infrared, for another effect, but that one takes a lot of extra work, and you can get about the same look with a program like Photoshop.
#13 When you get tired of shooting all of your friends, you could think about looking for local models who are pursuing a modeling career. This can easily be done just by placing an ad in a community paper and offer free prints for the models time. Local collages are another great place to find willing models. Most of them are also willing to “trade” for services. You could even possibly work something out for their signed release of their images.
Again, many of these tricks for better portraits will work together, and as you use one of them, you will think of others. Just practice how to use them together. These are not the only tricks to making good/great portraits, just the ones to get you started. As you learn more about photography in general you will see how other tricks, used with other subjects, can also be used for portraits, and vise versa.
One last thing to remember when shooting strangers is that you must get a release from them if you ever want to use those images in any commercial manor, commercial meaning, making any kind of a profit from them.
They contain unique information on how to beyond the rules of conventional portraiture with creative ideas and guidelines for developing your own unique style.
A lens cap keeper can save you a lot of hassle and ensure the protection of your camera lens. Learn what its design is and how it works. You will certainly be amazed how functional this creative solution is.
You need the cap to keep the lens protected from scratching and from different kinds of harmful environmental effects. However, the cap can easily get lost when you are using the camera. This can happen easily, especially if you are totally focused on catching the moment for the perfect picture and absorbed in taking pictures for hours.
Lens Cap Keeper
The lens cap keeper allows you to keep the camera and the lens cap together. How does it achieve this? The keeper consists of a disc the back side of which is covered with adhesive. The front side is connected to an elastic loop via a thin elastic strap. You simply attach the adhesive-backed disc to the lens cap while the loop goes over the lens barrel.
That way, when you remove the cap, it will virtually hang under the lens barrel. The string is relatively short so the cap will not interfere with your activity when you are taking pictures. The loop that goes around the barrel will not affect your ability to focus the lens. It will stay at the back side of the barrel right next to the main body of the camera. Once you are done with this task, you can readily put the cap back.
The lens cap keeper can be the most useful camera accessory you have ever got. However, you have to choose the right item in order to get the best results. It is important for the back side of the disc to be covered with powerful adhesive that will not dry out quickly. If you have a heavier lens cap, you may want to try out the product to see whether it will work.
The loop of the lens cap keeper should fit the lens barrel perfectly. It is best to get a product with a smaller elastic loop to ensure that it will not be too loose when going over the barrel. It is essential for the loop to be tight. Otherwise, it may move around the barrel and interfere with picture taking. It may fall off the barrel. In this case, you might lose the cap together with the keeper. Generally, most models have loops designed to fit all standard camera lens barrels. However, you should consider testing the item just to be on the safe side.
About the Author:
If you’d like to learn more visit this page on lens cap keepers. I hope you’ve found this article informative and enjoyable to read. Good luck.
*DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. It’s a type of camera used exclusively for photography in the past. In 2008 Canon starting adding a video mode to their DSLR cameras. They had no idea the phenomenon that it would bring.
DSLRs have huge sensors (the mechanism that converts light to video) and way more, cheaper, high quality lenses (also referred to as “glass”). These factors give DSLR cameras very sharp imagery as well as a very shallow depth of field. Depth of field or DOF, refers to the focus of the image or video. A deep DOF is when the foreground and the background of an image are both in focus. You see this commonly in landscape shots.
Example Video Filmed Primarily with Canon 5D Mark II’s and Canon Rebel T2i’s:
Shallow Dof is when one part of the image is in focus while the rest is not. For example, imagine a romance movie. About 3/4 of the way through the film, the man and woman run to one another and kiss in the rain. On a close-up of them kissing, you’d see them in focus, with the background out of focus. You see it all the time in the movies, almost always used during back and forth dialogue when 2 actors are talking. This is a very sought after look by video professionals and before DSLR video was extremely expensive to achieve. DSLR cameras achieve this look for a fifth of the price.
I started my videography career with a Sony VX-2000. It’s an older little Sony prosumer standard-def camcorder. After I mastered that I was ready to upgrade to a Hi-def camera, but I didn’t have much money and good cameras are very expensive. I saw the quality that DSLRs are capable of and I became very interested. The Canon 60D was in my price range and I bought it. It came with a 18-135mm EF-S lens. It shot 1080i and 720p at 24, 30 and 60fps (frames per second). It was a good camera and I really liked it. However I got the opportunity to upgrade to the Mercedes Benz of DSLRs…. The Canon 5D Mark II. I also got it with a 24-105mm canon L-series lens. It shoots beautiful, crystal clear, filmlike video and I love it. Now here are the pros and cons
What’s great about DSLRs for video, and the reason they are so popular, is the filmlike quality with the shallow depth of field you can obtain for a much, much lower price. For example, experts often compare the canon 5d mark II to the Red One camera, which costs $25k. Now of course the Red One is a nicer camera, it shoots at 2k resolution, but it’s $25,000, the canon 5d mark II is $2,500 and the quality is comparable. For Internet and DVD purposes, the quality is negligible. In theatre it would be obvious, but what your video looks like in movie theatres is not relevant to most. Anyway the point is the quality for the price is incredible.
Now here’s the cons. No matter how awesome the video quality is, it doesn’t change the fact that DSLRs are built for still photography and only recently started offering video. This means that they have crude audio capabilities. No manual audio gain controls without hacks or patches, no xlr (high quality audio input), the built in mic is too low quality to use, also it’s small and without a handle so it’s difficult to operate smoothly and it doesn’t have a controlled zoom.
All these cons have workarounds but it’s a more difficult process than with a regular video camera and it costs money. Even with these costly extras DSLR cameras are still worth the money but the ease of use and time it takes to balance out the shortcomings depend entirely on you. You absolutely have to get a stabilizing rig for smooth shooting off the shoulder, otherwise your footage will be too shaky. These rigs average around $500 with the higher quality ones around $2,000. You can do what some people do and build your own rig or order the components separately and assemble it yourself. I’m going to do an entire post dedicated to choosing or building a rig and once it’s complete I’ll insert a link to it here.
Because the DSLR has poor audio capabilities, what most people do is buy a portable audio recorder to capture audio separately from the camera. You plug your mic in use that to digitally record your audio. Thats a great way to get high quality audio, the problem is, since the video and audio are not being recorded by the same device, you’ll need to sync these in post. You can do this manually using the a clapper or snap etc. but there is a much simpler solution which is a program called plural eyes. Plural eyes will automatically sync your video to your audio in your timeline. It does this by lining up the separately recorded audio waveforms to the audio waveforms recorded by your low quality built in camera mic. It’s not always perfect but if you’re getting decent audio from your camera then it works quickly and effectively. There’s also a sister program called dual eyes that will automatically sync all the video files to all the audio files outside of your editing application.
In conclusion, DSLRs give you excellent quality for the price. However, you’ll need to decide for yourself whether or not the shortcomings of shooting with a photography camera are acceptable to you as a video creator.
I hope this article outlining the pros and cons of shooting video with a DSLR has been helpful to you…
About the Author:
For more information regarding videography or editing, please visit The Video Genius. Lowell Brillante, Videographer and Digital Editor based in Charlotte NC.
Quitting your job to travel the world is, in itself, a daunting task. Quitting your job to travel the world to take over 25,000 photographs is quite another. Yet, Kien Lam, did just that. Lam managed to sort through all the photographs and condense them down to a moving five minute time lapse video of his journey around the world. What sets Lam’s time lapse apart from others is the equipment he used. He didn’t tote around a pricey DSLR and dolly. The only camera equipment Lam brought with him was the compact Lumix GF-1 and a flimsy, off-brand tripod. Check the video out here:
Lam used two lenses during production, a 20mm f/1.7 and 14-45mm f/3.5-4.5. He credits the success of his time-lapse to the lightweight camera.
“I don’t think I would have shot as often and gotten as many scenes if I had to carry around a backpack with my DSLR and a big enough tripod to support it,” Lam said. No dolly was used, as pans were created in post. Lam manually triggered the shutter speed at intervals ranging “anywhere between a few seconds to a minute in between shots. This meant I might have captured 3 minutes of time flow and sometimes up to an hour.”
For post production, Lam edited the photographs, added effects, and created the time lapse using Adobe Lightroom, Adobe After Effects and Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Lam took over 25,000 frames on his trek through 17 different countries, 10,000 of those being time lapse footage. Of those 10,000, Lam selected 6237 of them to create this work of art.
When Nik Software released Snapseed for the iPad it got quite a lot of attention. I’m one of those rare people who doesn’t use an iPad for content creation. My iPad essentially serves only two purposes…
1. To show off my portfolio
2. To consume data
I wasn’t all that interested in fixing photos on my iPad. But my laptop? That’s a different story. So when I heard that Snapseed was available for my Mac laptop, I went to the App Store, plunked down my $19.95 and started playing.
While most serious photographers I know (me included) like Nik ColorEfex Pro, Snapseed is much less expensive and frankly aimed at just having a little fun. That doesn’t mean you can’t do real photo work with it. You can. It’s just that it’s not meant to be a replacement for something like Photoshop.
Here are some of the key features:
* Tune Image—Quickly correct photos shot in difficult lighting situations, create depth and vibrancy with Ambience, or adjust White Balance, Saturation, Contrast and more
*Auto Correct—Automatically analyzes your photo and adjusts color and exposure, or you can use the sliders to add or reduce the enhancements
*Control Points—Make precise selections and enhancements in seconds with Nik Software’s revolutionary U Point technology
*Tilt-Shift—Creates a narrow in-focus area designed to simulate depth of field, common in a Miniature Scene look
*Details—Enhances details with traditional sharpening as well as Nik Software’s unique
Structure control found in the professional Nik Software product line
*Crop & Straighten—Rotate or straighten with simple slider controls and select from a variety of standard aspect ratios while cropping
*Grunge—Explore styles and textures without limits and give photos a totally unique look
*Drama—Add custom effects to a photo which range from subtle enhancements of textures to wildly creative and artistic effects
*Vintage—Nine unique nostalgic films, plus controls like saturation, textures and vignettes make any photo look like a vintage color film photo from the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s
*Frames—Add unique borders to photos by choosing styles and textures
*Black and White—Give photos a classic look with this darkroom-inspired filter. Select styles, grain, vignettes, and more for a perfectly nostalgic look
*Sharing—Share photos on Facebook and Flickr, email photos, and print them using your home printer
Some of my favorite tools are Grunge, Vintage, Tilt & Shift and Drama – all of which give photos a cool look very quickly. It is a simple workflow. You just drag your photo into Snapseed, make your adjustments, apply filters, export, etc.
One thing that would make Snapseed better is if it could export directly from Aperture or Lightroom, etc. Now you have to export the image from your editing application then drag it into Snapseed. It’s no big deal but it would be nice if it had better connection with other apps.
Snapseed supports:
• Mac OS 10.6.6 and 10.7.2
• Requires 64-bit processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or later
• JPEG, TIFF (in RGB color mode), and RAW file formats
It’s a very versatile program that is fun and easy to use. Within minutes of opening the program you’ll be an expert. Everyone from casual shutterbugs to serious shooters will enjoy Snapseed and at $19.95 it’s a no brainer.
Highly addictive and highly recommended.
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Probably the most difficult and dangerous job in photography is that of a war photographer. Getty Photographer John Moore is no stranger to working in conflict zones having been on assignments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In early 2011 he was assigned to Cairo to cover to growing uprising against President Mubarak. He arrived at the height of the violence, with loyalists attacking both protestors and journalists alike. Such was the danger the night he arrived, John was advised to go outside so he took to photographing the extra ordinary scenes unfolding from his hotel vantage point:
The following morning he attaches himself to the protesters, combining safety in numbers with some unique opportunities to create compelling images of the uprising, often showing the diversity of those protesting. John found himself inspired by the enthusiasm and hospitality of the protestors. He was in Tahir Square when Mubarak addressed the nation and captured the palatable sense of disappointment and anger of the protestors when the president refused to step down. By using a combination of wide shots showing all the protesters and closing in on individuals, John has created a powerful story to compliment the unfolding events.
Despite immense difficulties of photographic and exuberant and joyful crowd John also captured the moment Mubarak finally did resign, the joy in the faces of the Egyptian people has been beautifully recorded.
His work completed in Egypt, John flies out to Bahrain where a fledgling uprising has started. Although allowed into the country, his photographic equipment is confiscated by customs, perhaps fearing the potentially damaging images appearing in the worlds press. Undaunted he takes a taxi to the city center and buys a basic DSLR kit with lens and hits the streets to capture the ensuing violence. His shots are a prime example of how a good photographer can capture great images on any equipment, as well as a demonstration of his commitment to the job.
War and Documentary Photography by John Moore
Bahrain proved to be a more challenging and violent uprising than Egypt with the use of tear gas and live rounds featuring daily. From the film he appears to avoid showing the shock and horror images that we have become used to, and although he captures the violence, he also focuses on the human aspect of the unfolding story, the grief and despair or protestors and relatives.
His next assignment was in his own words one of the toughest he has ever encountered, the Libyan conflict. Joining other journalists in Benghazi John embeds himself with the rebels, journeying in convoy daily up to the front line. Being a much more arms based conflict with two heavily armed opponents, he has concentrated on capturing powerful images of a high intensity military conflict, combining the composition of a photographer’s eye with the intensity of war. As the rebel forces were pushed back they became worried that foreign journalists were giving away the rebels positions and became hostile towards them. John took this as a cue to leave, exiting from the eastern city of Benghazi. He took with him a compelling record of the three of the bloodiest uprisings in the Arab Spring, incredible images of a historic moment in the Middle East.
In this article we’ll cover photography tips for overcoming the photo doldrums with water as icy streams, freezing rain, icicles and snowflakes:
#1 – Icy Streams: A quietly running stream won’t make “tenacious grace” but after it thinly freezes over, it may sculpt the underside of the ice with the gently running water and any air bubbles that get trapped there. The resulting patterns can be very photogenic.
"Ice Flow" captured by Daniel P. Woods (Click Image to See More From Daniel P. Woods)
#2 – Freezing Rain: A special instance of ice is freezing rain. Look for interesting things – grasses, leaves, branches and twigs, etc encased in it. Exposure can be tricky with the reflected light, so bracket your exposures!
#3 – Icicles: Spikes of ice formed when ice or snow is melted by sunlight or some other heat source, and the resulting melted water runs or drips into an area where the temperature is below the freezing point, causing the water to refreeze. Over time continued water runoff/dripping causes the icicle to grow. Icicles can be found under roof edges of buildings and on branches and twigs, etc. Whether solitary or in groups, they can be very photogenic when back or side lit or hanging against a dark background.
#4 – Snowflakes: You take these pictures outside by catching the flakes on a towel, then transferring the flakes with a short plastic stick to a microscope slide, then placing the slide on a somewhat larger piece of glass which is suspended about 6″ above a sheet of colored poster board, then shoot straight down with a macro-focusing lens. For more sophisticated tools and techniques, just do an online search using “snowflake photos.”
"Catching a Snowflake" captured by Deb Buchanan (Click Image to See More From Deb Buchanan)
Self-Assignments For Above Photography Tips:
Choose the projects that interest you most. Follow the photography tips conscientiously. Re-shoot when you aren’t satisfied. Do it til you are satisfied. It’ll take all your patience and passion. Your skills and eye will improve with the practice. Shoot especially in early and late light. Use a tripod as much as possible. Edit your results relentlessly. Pin small samples on the wall for a few days to study before making final prints for wall art.
Photography Tip #1 – Icy Streams: Locate a quietly running stream in freezing weather and it will probably form smooth ice on top. The underside of the ice will be etched by the running water and any air bubbles in it, creating lines and patterns. Shoot straight down on it for an overall sharp picture.
Photography Tip #2 – Freezing Rain: When a heavy freezing rain falls, the problem becomes one of too many interesting things to shoot! Take your time and look around to find something really outstanding, more or less by itself, with a dark or strongly colored background and shoot it.
Photography Tip #3 – Icicles: In freezing weather check out the eaves troughs around rooftops of houses and heated garages, looking for icicles. Try, if possible, to find them around eye level or slightly lower so you can keep the entire icicle(s) sharp top to bottom when you take your pictures.
"Icicles" captured by Nathaniel (Click Image to See More From Nathaniel)
Photography Tip #4 – Snowflakes: Set up your snowflake “studio” and proceed to get a couple of flakes together on your microscope slide. Place the slide above a piece of medium-dark blue poster board, and then shoot straight down on the flakes.
In the final article of this set we’ll consider photography tips for overcoming the photo doldrums with two more of water’s cold season photo op’s: snow scenes and snow storms.
About the Author:
John Maxymuik authored this article which is 1 of a set of 6 on “Photography Tips For the Photo Doldrums” providing tips to break the grip of the photo doldrums using the “ideal photo subject”. To see examples of photography that made use of the “ideal photo subject” go to his fine art photography website at: http://ambienceimages.net.
For further training on capturing water motion and macro shots, PictureCorrect suggests this best-selling educational eBook: Trick Photography and Special Effects
DISCLAIMER: This post isn’t intended to be definitive – we’re not claiming this is the ONLY way or even the BEST way to accomplish this task in Photoshop or any other post-prodcessing program. We’re merely offering it as A way you might accomplish this task. These tips are free, offered only because they might be helpful to someone.
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