[Photography] Weekly Photography Challenge – Dappled Light

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Dappled Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week’s photography challenge topic is DAPPLED LIGHT!

Bruno van der Kraan

Dappled light creates some wonderful looks in an image. Go out and take images with dappled light – think light reflecting through the curtains onto the wall on a sunny afternoon, speckles of light hitting leaves in a forest, a street scene where light plays on footpaths, walls, and people.

They can be color, black and white, moody or bright. Just so long as they include dappled light! You get the picture!

Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Annie Spratt

Nick West

the beatboy.

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.

Tips for Shooting DAPPLED LIGHT

An Easy Hack for Shooting into the Sun and Processing the Images

There is No Bad Light for Street Photography

How to Photograph Against the Sun for Stunning Images

How to See and Photograph Light – 6 Tips to Help you Take Better Photos

Tips for Better Forest Photography

8 Quick Tips to Produce Better Forest Photography

 

Weekly Photography Challenge – DAPPLED LIGHT

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSdappledlight to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Dappled Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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[Photography] How to Shoot a Self Portrait to Support your Brand Identity

The post How to Shoot a Self Portrait to Support your Brand Identity appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

Personal branding has become more and more important over the last few years. As photographers, we often carefully curate the image that we present to the world, even as amateurs. Our brand and image are usually closely linked to the kind of photographs we shoot.

Photographers will often carefully curate the look of their website. They’ll spend hours contemplating the images and text that they use to express their photographic hopes and dreams. They want their websites and online portfolios to give people an insight into their creative working process and the kind of photos that they intend to take.

I often start with natural light when shooting self-portraits. It’s how I prefer to shoot most of the time!

And yet, I often look at the ‘about me’ page on a photographers website, portfolio page, or social media, and front and center is a photograph of them taken by someone else. The image on your “about me” page, or your portfolio profile picture, is a great piece of marketing real estate. You can use this space to express yourself and tell a story. So why let someone else take that photo?

So what’s the solution? Shoot a self portrait! Put your own work in that valuable space, and express yourself and your photographic style clearly and coherently – even on your “about me” page.

What is a brand identity?

Now more than ever, photographers are the face of their brand. Almost everywhere you go on the internet, you’ll have the option to upload an ‘avatar’ image that represents you in digital format. This avatar image is a space to tell the world something about you and your photography.

A brand identity is the way you present your work to the world. It’s the visual and textual elements that differentiate you from other people in the minds of your audience. Since photographers are usually the main (and often only) person in the creative process when it comes to image-making, they are often the embodiment of their brand.

A single large beauty dish for this portrait reflects one of my usual lighting styles.

Generally, for a photographer, their brand identity will be heavily tied up with their style in which they usually work. A photographer who creates beautiful fine art portraits inspired by the Old Masters may have a brand identity that embodies timelessness, heritage, and classical values. On the other hand, someone creating cutting edge contemporary portraits may embody qualities such as innovation, diversity, and courage.

The key is to get your values into the images you’re shooting. You’ll probably find it happens naturally once you’ve been shooting a while and have developed a style. However, creating a self-portrait for your “about me” page and avatars is a good time to brainstorm what your work is about. The challenge is to see if you can capture these ideas in a single shot.

Got a fear of shooting self-portraits?

Self-portraits are hard. They’re hard technically, creatively, and emotionally. It’s no surprise really that photographers often shy away from self-portraiture. Portraits can be hard enough to get right when you’re shooting other people, let alone when you’re photographing yourself!

Experimental tricks like this shallow depth of field combined with fairy lights can add an artistic side to a self-portrait while covering up any perceived flaws in the way we look.

That aside, a self-portrait or two is also a great way to improve your skills, try new things, and make sure that the entirety of your personal branding works together coherently. You are likely to be your most patient subject, and if you set aside a day to create your self-portrait then you have time to get it exactly right – even if you’re trying something new.

Go light on the retouching. When you’re working on a self-portrait in post-processing, it’s easy to be super-critical of everything you don’t like about yourself. Stick to your usual workflow and only retouch as much as you normally would.

Start simple

If all else fails, start like you would any other portrait. If you’d usually start with a simple two-light headshot in your studio, then give that a go first. Review your images and then make adjustments. Once you’ve found a shot that works then try something a bit different. You might find a completely new direction for your work!

This self-portrait was shot with natural light against a grey paper background. Often simple pictures can be really effective!

It’s easy to think about self-portraits in the context of a studio, but don’t limit yourself! Take your camera outside into natural light if that’s a place you enjoy taking portraits usually. You can even buy stands to hold reflectors so that you can take advantage of all the usual light modifiers that you’d use.

But if you’re going out on location to shoot self-portraits, consider taking someone with you. It’s easy to get distracted while shooting self-portraits out and about. Having an extra pair of eyes can help protect you and your equipment. You can also get your assistant to hold the reflector or a flashgun too!

And if you want to really show off what you do, consider an environmental portrait in your own studio and surrounded by your tools of the photographic trade.

Think about the context

Where is your self-portrait going to be placed? Will it be on your own website or will it be on social media?

In traditional media, you usually want to have the subject facing the viewer or looking towards the center of the book or magazine. There’s a reason for this. It helps direct the readers focus back to the content rather than off the edge of the page into the wider world. It’s a simple trick to help keep the readers’ attention where you want it.

The “about me” page on my portfolio website showing my self-portrait in relation to the text block.

You can apply this to your website too. Think about the placement of your self-portrait on the page of your website. Does it fit better on the left or the right of the “about me” text? When you’re working out your poses, keep this in mind and make sure you’re either looking straight ahead or towards the text block.

It’s possible to break the rules, of course, but make sure you shoot both options if you’re going to be adventurous!

What about the practicalities of self-portraits?

If your camera connects to a phone app that can assist with exposure and focusing, then make sure you take full advantage of that. Self-portraits used to be a lengthy process that involved sitting my mannequin on a chair in my studio to get the focus and lighting right.

Now I can see everything in real-time, including exposure and focus adjustments, using the Fujifilm Cam Remote app that connects to my camera.

Using the Fujifilm Cam Remote app to set up the lighting and exposure, and the resulting self-portrait a few minutes later. (Lighting was a single large beauty dish).

If you don’t have a camera that connects to your phone, get yourself a remote trigger and consider shooting tethered to a laptop so that you can see the images as you trigger the camera. You can look at software such as Lightroom or Capture One Pro for tethering. That way you can make small adjustments to your pose and settings as you go along to make sure that you really nail everything and create your best work.

Using a good tripod will also save you some frustration when you’re shooting portraits. Balancing the camera on a stack of books can work (believe me, I’ve done it before), but a tripod will help you compose a shot more effectively. Don’t forget to try unusual compositions too. Raising the camera up above your eye level can be very flattering while shooting from down low can create a powerful pose.

A profile self-portrait recalls the kinds of images that you often see historically on coins and medals. Don’t be afraid to experiment with unconventional poses when photographing yourself.

Keep your standards high

And lastly, be as thorough and rigorous with your standards as you would when shooting a portrait of anyone else.

Make the effort to do your hair, press your clothes, and get a great expression. Just because it’s a self-portrait it doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to be lazy and “fix it in post.”

I’d love to see how you get on with shooting your self-portrait to support your brand and expressing your values through them. Drop a comment below with the results, and don’t forget to update your avatar with your new portrait!

 

The post How to Shoot a Self Portrait to Support your Brand Identity appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

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[Photography] 6 Reasons Your Photos Might Be Lacking Sharpness

The post 6 Reasons Your Photos Might Be Lacking Sharpness appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kav Dadfar.

Capturing sharp photos needn’t be difficult. Most amateur photographers who struggle to capture sharp photos make one of the common mistakes listed below. The good news is that with a little bit of practice and knowhow, you will be able to take sharp photos most of the time. At the very least, you should accept that you will make mistakes and have blurred photos from time to time when starting out. Instead of getting frustrated, try to analyze each blurred photo to understand why it might be lacking in sharpness. In the meantime here are 6 reasons your photos might be lacking sharpness.

Reasons your photos might be lacking sharpness

1. Shutter speed too slow

Often this is the number one culprit for photos lacking sharpness. There are three potential mistakes when it comes to shutter speed. The first is simply the question of are you using a fast enough shutter speed for what you are photographing? For example, a cheetah running will need a much faster shutter speed to freeze the action. Whereas, a statue doesn’t. So the first thing you should do is understand what shutter speed you need for the subject you are shooting. As an example, you might be able to get away with something like 1/60th sec when taking a portrait. But for someone running, you will need a shutter speed of something like 1/200th sec.

The second issue is around the lens you are using. As a general rule, your shutter speed should at the least be the same as your lens focal length. So for example, if you are shooting with a 200mm lens, your shutter speed should be at least 1/200th sec. However, there is a slight caveat to this rule. Image stabilization in modern lenses is very good. It can allow you to shoot below the minimum required. But, to be safe, stick to this rule.

Lastly, how fast you need for your shutter speed also comes down to you. If you have steady hands, then you may be able to shoot sharp photos at a slower shutter speed than someone else. Test this out by photographing a scene at different shutter speeds to determine how slow you can go.

Closer inspection of this photo reveals that there is a lack of sharpness.

2. Not using the correct aperture

Your aperture determines your depth of field. This also has a major impact on the sharpness of your photo. For example, if you are photographing a landscape scene with a shallow depth of field like f/2.8, then only a small part of your scene will be sharp. Depending on where you focused, only things along that distance will be sharp. So in this scenario, where you want more of your image to be sharp, you need to use a smaller aperture (i.e., higher f/number).

For something like landscape photography, you need to use an aperture of f/8 or smaller.

3. ISO is too high

Even though modern-day DSLRs have hugely improved in the amount of noise that appears in photos at high ISOs, unfortunately, it still does affect sharpness. If you set your ISO too high, your image will begin to look soft and as a result lack sharpness. Always remember only to raise your ISO as high as you need to.

Better still, if you can, use a tripod and keep your ISO low.

This photo was taken at 6400 ISO. When zoomed in, as you can see the noise is making it feel soft.

4. Haven’t locked up mirror

A lot of amateur photographers may not be aware of this potential issue when using a tripod. Every time that you click the shutter button, the mirror inside the camera flips over to allow light to hit the sensor.

When you are using a fast shutter speed, this process doesn’t cause any problems. But when you are photographing using a long exposure where your shutter speed is very slow, when the mirror flips over, the vibrations can cause a lack of sharpness in your image. You can either use the function in your DSLR menu to “lock mirror” or shoot in live view mode for the same effect.

An example of the lack of sharpness even when using a tripod when the mirror hasn’t been locked.

5. Poor quality tripod

Just like anything else, there are good quality tripods and poor quality tripods. Of course, buying a better and more sturdy tripod might be expensive, but isn’t that a price worth paying for sharper photos?

A poor quality tripod will put your expensive equipment at risk because it may not be sturdy enough even to withstand a gust of wind. However, cheap material can also be prone to vibrations, which, in turn, can mean a lack of sharpness in your photos.

So don’t take the risk. Ideally, invest in a good quality carbon fiber tripod.

6. Not using a remote or self-timer

Even the faintest of touches can cause camera shake when photographing at long exposures. This means that even when you press the shutter button to take a photo, you are causing movement. The only way to be sure that your photos will not suffer from camera shake is to use a remote release or the self-timer on the camera. This will ensure you will not have to touch the camera when you take the photo.

By far the best way to ensure that your photos are sharp is to use a tripod. But whilst that is not always possible or convenient, by following the advice above you can still ensure that your photos will be sharp.

We hope these tips help you achieve sharper photos! Do you have any other tips to add to the reasons your photos might be lacking sharpness? Share with us in the comments!

 

The post 6 Reasons Your Photos Might Be Lacking Sharpness appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kav Dadfar.

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[Photography] Street Photography with $10 Ilford HP5 Film Camera

The post Street Photography with $10 Ilford HP5 Film Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kunal Malhotra.

Recently, I came across a very interesting and unique film camera, the Ilford HP5 Plus Single Use Film Camera. As the name says, this is a single-use disposable film camera that comes pre-loaded with Ilford ISO 400 HP5 film.

This is a medium-contrast black and white film which instantly made me purchase this $10 camera and give it a try. That’s not all; it also features a built-in flash and a large enough viewfinder.

Being a film camera, it offers a total of 27 exposures, after which the camera becomes disposable. As you would expect at this price, it is a solid plastic body. However, the coolest thing about this Ilford camera is its ‘white & green’ design, which looks quite trendy and classy. Not sure about you, but I did not dispose of the camera and have kept it with me for its design.

While I was clicking photos with this camera on the streets, at least 10 people approached me to know more about this camera.

Ease of use

The ergonomics of this camera is just like any 35mm film camera back in the days, but a lot lighter. At the top, it displays the number of remaining exposures, and next to it is the shutter release button. Interestingly, in order to trigger the flash, you have to press the button placed below the flash. Is the flash powerful enough? Well, it is decent enough for the price that we pay for this film camera.

The viewfinder is actually good in terms of visibility. Also, if you are a DSLR camera user, do keep in mind that there is a slight difference in what you see through the viewfinder and what the film captures. So you must compose your frame accordingly as the viewfinder sits above the film/lens. In case you plan to purchase this camera, kindly be cautious with the lens, as it can easily attract fingerprints or dust.

Image quality

Before I share my views about the image quality out of this $10 single-use camera, I must admit my expectations were very low. But surprisingly the images came out pretty well while doing street photography, with high contrast and good exposure control. The moment I saw the first print, I was excited to see the film-like monochrome look. For me, the grains were just what I would expect out of Ilford ISO 400 film. Nothing more, nothing less.

Obviously, we cannot compare the results out of this disposal camera with an SLR camera, but for me, it can get the job done when the situation demands. Just for fun, I might buy this single-use camera again instead of using film in my SLR camera.

I am not much aware about how to develop the film, so I had a hard time finding a good color lab in my locality. But I guess it depends on the region. If you do have multiple lab options nearby, that’s awesome.

Conclusion

If you are enthusiastic about testing cool camera gadgets, you must give this camera a try. There might be times when you do not want to carry your SLR, or are not technically sound with camera settings. This is when the Ilford HP5 single use camera can help you capture decent images. I would love to know what you guys feel about this cool camera? How did you like the image quality?

 

The post Street Photography with $10 Ilford HP5 Film Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kunal Malhotra.

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[Photography] 6 Film Photography Challenges that can Improve your Digital Photography

The post 6 Film Photography Challenges that can Improve your Digital Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Tim Gilbreath.

Film photography, as an art form, is having a huge renaissance at the moment. This resurgence in popularity has been going on for a few years now, and the reasons for its existence is many fold.

Primarily, shooting film taps into our sense of nostalgia. Those are powerful feelings, and that power can push us on to do better and ignite our desire to learn more. At first, the general consensus of the photography community was that the return of film was a hipster’s game and almost became a cliche.

Older, more experienced photographers reminded us there was a reason film had gone by the wayside when digital photography became widely used. What about all of the advancements in technology that made it easier, faster, and cheaper to take the same photos we took before?

In the end, the truth shows the mediums of film and digital sensors can, and do, coexist. An even happier truth is that not only is film photography still valid in this day and age, but its greatest purpose is also to bolster our knowledge of the craft and infinitely improve our digital picture-taking techniques and resulting images.

Let’s explore a few film photography challenges and their benefits a little further.

1. There’s no chimping after shooting a photo

“Chimping” refers to the practice of checking your display or viewfinder after every capture to see the resulting image. It seems nowadays everyone is speaking out against it. Film cameras, of course, having no digital display, didn’t have this ability. You didn’t know what the shot would look like until you developed the film.

While there are certainly advantages to this practice, such as quickly identifying an incorrect exposure or setting, it is easy to fall into a habit of methodically looking at your display and missing other opportunities to shoot. Most camera LCDs are very small. They don’t do a great job of representing details of how capture really looks.

Try adjusting the review settings in your camera and setting them to one second, or no review if that’s an option. This will simulate just shooting without spending time looking over the resulting image.

2. You are limited to 24 or 36 shots

Another limitation of shooting with a film camera is the number of exposures available to you. Depending on the film type, you could only have a couple of dozen exposures to use on a single roll. Once they were gone, they were gone – no deleting in-camera.

Shooting with a limited set of exposures compels you to slow down a bit and take your time when shooting. If you know you only have a small number of shots, you’ll definitely take more care with composition, settings, and lighting before clicking the shutter button.

Of course, this exercise can be practiced by mentally allowing yourself only 24 or 36 shots in a session, and then going back to review them after pulling them off of the camera. Did you notice an improvement in the technical aspects of the image after you had to stop “spraying and praying”?

3. You are stuck with a single ISO for a whole roll of film

In the film days, ISO wasn’t used in the same context as it is today. Now, we think of ISO as an adjustable setting on our cameras (which of course, it is). We know that raising the ISO on our DSLR or mirrorless cameras lets in more light to the sensor, at the expense of adding digital noise.

Film cameras didn’t have these adjustments, because the film you loaded dictated the ISO. To shoot indoors in a lower light situation, you’d buy and load an ISO 400 or ISO 800 film. Then, to shoot outside in the sun, you’d more likely go with ISO 100.

The caveat, of course, was once you loaded a roll of film, you were stuck with that ISO until you finished the roll.

Nowadays, we can change ISO for every shot, drastically improving the efficiency of our series of images captured in one sitting.

Try shooting with the same ISO through an entire set of images with your digital camera. Many of us will leave the ISO the same for extended periods. However, not changing it at all strengthens your knowledge and usage of the exposure triangle. You’re going to have to adjust aperture and shutter speed instead to get a properly exposed image.

4. You need to know how to use manual exposure controls

As stated above, today ISO is a setting or a dial, not a roll of film you can’t change until it’s finished. Film cameras are the perfect tool to learn the exposure triangle since most controls are manual on these devices. Some later SLR models had automatic aperture controls, but even these require a little more input than what is available on current DSLRs.

To simulate this, set your camera’s mode to “Manual,” and play around with the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture to see what happens when one or more of these are changed. What does it do to the needle in the light meter? How does that final effect change the image recorded?

Proper exposure is a game. Changing one part of the exposure triangle changes the final output. You have to find out what other settings you must alter to balance that change and produce a correctly exposed image.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on when you set your camera to Av (aperture priority) or Tv (shutter priority).

5. There is no autofocus, so you’ll need to focus manually

One of the greatest technological improvements available in DSLR cameras today involves how the user focuses on a particular point in the frame. In older SLR cameras, a manually rotating ring on the lens controlled lens focusing. It changed the distance between the lens and sensor, thereby increasing or decreasing the sharpness of the focus.

On the DSLR cameras of today, electronic autofocus systems allow the photographer to manually or automatically select focus points within the frame. Then the camera adjusts a motorized focusing mechanism within the lens to focus. This can all happen very quickly – in seconds – and greatly improved picture taking over the last couple of decades.

As wonderfully innovative as autofocus is, not using it can help us reconnect with the mechanisms of film cameras. It helps us better understand the act of focusing a lens on increasing or decreasing sharpness in an image. Thankfully, most modern lenses give you the option of disabling the autofocus system altogether and focus manually.

To do this, simply look for the autofocus switch on your lens barrel (usually a two-position switch marked AF at one end, and MF at the other), and switch it to MF (manual focus). Doing this disables your autofocus system. You’ll be required to rotate the thin ring near the end of the lens to adjust focus.

6. There are no LCD screens, menus or advanced features to help you along

As camera systems entered the digital age and became more advanced, cameras themselves started to rely less on analog controls and more on menus available on bigger LCD screens. These menus allow you to control the finer aspects of the camera. They let you dig deeper into the options available.

Of course, film cameras had no menus. They didn’t even have LCD screens. Any options that you had control of you adjusted through analog knobs and switches on the camera body. With an old Canon AE-1 Program, you couldn’t change the file format (there isn’t one) or which autofocus mode to use (of course, no autofocus). To use “Program” mode, you simply turned the aperture ring on the lens to “A,” and the camera would then set the shutter speed and aperture automatically.

Naturally, you can simulate this by ignoring your LCD screen entirely. That means no chimping images after you push the shutter button, and not adjusting any settings in the camera. Using the analog dials (if available) on your camera will, again, help strengthen your understanding of the basics of taking photos. In the long run, this can only improve your photography.

In closing

So as we’ve seen, these film photography challenges can provide many benefits to modern-day shooters, whether you have an interest in analog photography or not. So take an afternoon out with your camera, and pretend it’s an old SLR, with none of the benefits of your newer model.

Get back to the basics. Concentrate on the bare essentials needed to capture a photograph. You will come out with a better understanding of how to capture light, and a more fulfilling enjoyment of the hobby. Also, you’ll produce better pictures, and more importantly, know exactly how you captured them.

Do you shoot with film cameras? Have you tried treating your dSLR like a film camera? Share with us your thoughts on these film photography challenges in the comments below!

 

The post 6 Film Photography Challenges that can Improve your Digital Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Tim Gilbreath.

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