Category: Photography Tips & Tricks

Anatomy of a photo: Balvenie Scotch

By John Watson
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Several unconnected events converged to make this photo (below). First, I received a review copy of The Nikon Creative Lighting System by Mike Hagen (from rockynook and NikoniansPress publishing). A review is on the way. Second, and more importantly, I received as a gift a bottle of Balvenie Doublewood 12 year old single malt scotch.

Read on to get details of the lighting setup and what I think works and could be improved in this photo.

Balvenie Doublewood 12 Year Old

The setup

This scene was lit with two off-camera flashes. The first reflected from an umbrella directly to camera left set at -1.3 EV. The second directly behind the bottle, aimed at about a 45 degree up angle and towards the camera at 0 EV (TTL mode, normal sync). This flash was zoomed to 50mm. Both flashes were triggered wirelessly from the D90 built-in commander which did not contribute to the exposure. 98mm, 1/60s, f/5.6.

Flash setup

The good

Let’s talk about what I like in this photo and what I don’t like. First, the good. Overall, I got the effect I was going for.

… Continue reading Anatomy of a photo: Balvenie Scotch

Digital Black and White Photos

By Ray Davis
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Sometimes a photo just looks better in black and white. You know, from time to time you’ll be digitally rifling through a folder of photographs and there’ll be one or two that just don’t suit being in glorious technicolour. So what to do? Well here are a few tips:

1. Don’t write the photo off just because it doesn’t work in colour. It may look fantastic in black and white.

2. Don’t just convert to greyscale or desaturate. This will most likely look boring and low contrast. Most programs (including free ones like Picasa) have some kind of  “filtered black and white” option (in Photoshop this is the channel mixers). This allows you to select a colour filter (some programs will have more choices than others) which will let you keep much more of the detail in your photo. Play around with the different filters and see which ones work best for your photo.

3. Play with the photo in colour first. Before you convert to black and white do any corrections e.g. red eye removal, exposure, contrast etc. while the photos still in colour.

… Continue reading Digital Black and White Photos

Video: Christmas bokeh in 60 seconds

By John Watson
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(Video content may not be visible in feed readers. Click through to view.)

You’ve all seen the photos of the beautiful out of focus highlights behind some object of interest. Now you too can participate in this irresistable photographic cliché! It’s all just a simple matter of position and focus.

To achieve the effect in this video, the only thing I changed was to move the model away from the background (closer to the camera) and refocus.

For more in-depth information about depth of field and how you can control it and use its awesome power to triumph over evil, check out these articles from the Photodoto archives:

… Continue reading Video: Christmas bokeh in 60 seconds

Review: Practical HDRI

By John Watson
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Practical HDRI by Jack Howard (Rocky Nook)Practical HDRI by Jack Howard (Rocky Nook publishing) is a no-nonsense guide to high dynamic range imaging (HDRI).

Read the rest of the review and find out how you can get a free copy of this book.

You’ve seen the photos. But hopefully you haven’t let the abundance of bad examples turn you off to HDRI in general—it is a powerful technique that can help you create stunning images that can’t be captured any other way.

I like this book because the author, in a scant 168 pages, has condensed a ton of practical advice and tips into a useful and unintimidating reference. Howard writes, “It is my goal to get you ramped up in HDRI as quickly and as painlessly as possible. This book focuses on pragmatic workflows, a healthy dose of tips and tricks, and real-world advice.”

The introduction lays a solid foundation for understanding HDRI and 8 bit vs 32 bit color spaces. It’s good information and I recommend reading it if you are serious about improving your craft… but if color space geekery makes your head swim, you could safely skip ahead to other topics.

… Continue reading Review: Practical HDRI

Christmas Gift Ideas Using Your Own Photos

By Ray Davis
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If last week’s funky Christmas gift ideas weren’t enough for you and you’re still struggling for inspiration here’s a few more ideas. These one’s are things you can make with your own photos.

  • First off there’s the traditional photo book. Check out John’s screencast to see how easy that one can be to make.
  • If photo books are just a bit too traditional for you how about a pair of Keds? You can design your own shoes using photos, text, or your own designs over at Zazzle. Costs from $50 to $60 and come in lace up or slip on styles for women or kids but they don’t seem to offer any mens styles.
  • Struggling to find a gift for your teenager? Zazzle also offer custom skateboards you can add your own designs to. Starting at $60 with $1 shipping (current promotion) and Zazzle claim to have them shipped in 24 hours.
  • If you’re looking for a more family orientated gift check out the Celebrate Everyday Life Book or the Year in Review Book on Shutterfly, going a bit further than a photo book,

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Getting A Good Holiday Portrait

By Ray Davis
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Now that Thanksgiving is over and you’ve started to deflate back to your normal size it’s officially festive season. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa chances are you’ll be wanting a nice family portrait to send out to relatives and friends. If you’re planning to take this most important of photographs yourself here are a few tips to help you out:

1. Give it a little forethought. Like many things involving this festive time of year this a task that requires a little bit of thinking ahead. If you just grab the family without any warning, tell them to “say cheese!”, and press the shutter chances are you won’t get the portrait you’re after. Choose a time when everyone has at least an hour or so to spare and consider getting your subjects to wear similar coloured clothing, or bring some reindeer antlers or Santa hats along for them all to wear. Have at least a vague idea of where you want to put your subjects to pose and what kind of shots you want to get. Don’t over plan though or you’ll end up barking orders and stressing over the details and no one will have any fun.

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Thanksgiving weekend photo tips

By John Watson
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Thanksgiving is upon us once again. Like many of you, I will be spending time with my extended family, feasting, and of course taking photos. My plan of attack, photo-wise, is to skip posed shots and go light and go candid. That is, I’m bringing only one lens (the 18-105 VR kit) and a flash and I’m going to shoot lots of portraits of people doing things other than posing for photos.

I think a set of candid photographs is a much better way to capture the true spirit of a gathering than individual and group poses. But that’s me. Your mileage may vary.

Here are some tips for candid photography that you might want to try this weekend:

  • Choose a medium to wide zoom lens. That will give you the most versatility moving between the action outdoors and the action in the kitchen. Fast glass is preferable, of course, but bring what you can.
  • Use your auto-ISO setting to give you faster shutter speeds when you need it. You’re likely to be shooting indoors a lot of the time.

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Patience, a photographer’s ally

By John Watson
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I went to the beach on Sunday evening to try for some nice shots of the Huntington Beach pier at sunset. Shooting sunsets is always a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes you get beautiful, jaw-dropping colors and patterns in the sky. And sometimes it just gets dark. Around here this time of year it’s especially random because of the change in the weather. So I packed my D90 and tripod and took my chances.

Approaching the shore I could tell it was going to be a difficult day. The fog was rolling in and it was so thick I could barely see the water from Pacific Coast Highway. I almost turned around and headed home. It was disappointing. But I was already there and I know some good spots for free parking. I decided to walk down and see what I could see. I’d arrived about 45 minutes ahead of the sunset so I had some time to scope out possible compositions and exposure settings. I went through the motions.

I saw at least four groups shooting family photos that day. Two groups were doing the “white shirt and blue jeans”

… Continue reading Patience, a photographer’s ally

Photosynth

By Ray Davis
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I’ve recently come across Photosynth, I had heard of it about a year ago when it was still in its tech preview phase and then I’d forgotten about it. Which I shouldn’t have done because it really is cool. Microsoft Live Labs, who own Photosynth, call it “an entirely new visual medium.” And they’re pretty much right, it’s a very cool new way of viewing photographs. Basically it works by analyzing a set of photos and using the data to build a model of the subject, then it re-creates the environment and uses it as a canvas for the photo. Which doesn’t sound as awesome as it is so head over to Photosynth where you can play about with creating and viewing synths yourself.

National Geographic is creating synths of global landmarks like Macchu Pichu, Stonehenge, and the Pantheon which you can view on the National Geographic Magazine webiste. The BBC also has a gallery called “The Future of Photography” on their website which has collections of synths built on locations from the BBC One series “How We Built Britain”, including Trafalgar Square, Ely Cathedral, and the Scottish Parliament Building.

Oh,

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12 Steps to Understanding Your Digital SLR

By John Watson
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From wikiHow, a 12-step program for getting to know your brand new digital SLR camera:

When they were first introduced, digital SLR cameras were enormously expensive and a tool for professionals only. Since then, they have come down in price into the consumer price range. Because of this, many people buy digital SLRs without understanding how they work — and, consequently, not making the most of them. This article will guide you through the most common functions they have, and to show you how to learn to use one by experiment. The principles herein are the same for any camera; but you will probably not be able to set your shutter and aperture manually on most non-SLR cameras. Read on nonetheless.

How to Understand Your Digital SLR: 12 steps (with video) – wikiHow

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