Dec 3, 2015

[Photography] 10 Tips for Taking Stunning Winter Portraits of Your Kids

Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean we can only shoot indoors. It may be cold (and rainy if you’re in London) most days, but when the winter sun shows its face, it fills the earth with a beautiful warm glow, especially late in the day. This bring us to what is known as the golden hour – typically about an hour before sunset. The further you are from the equator, the more time you would need, in my case about 1 – 1.5 hours, before sunset.

Winter portrait1

Here are my 10 top tips on how to get stunning winter portraits of your own kids:

#1 Choose the right day and time

Choose a sunny day and plan to get to your shooting location a good hour or so before sunset.

#2 Dress them warmly and make it fun

Wrap your children up nice and toasty so they won’t complain. Tell them you are taking them out for one hour to the park or the playground (or your chosen location) but that you would like to take a few photos of them before you get to the actual promised site. The easiest for us was the playground, as we have to walk about 10 minutes from the entrance to the park to get to there. It is a good idea to choose a halfway point to stop.

Winter portrait3

#3 Have warm beverages during or after the session

Either bring a snack or warm drinks in a thermos (keep it light and simple though), promise to take them for a nice warm drink in a nearby cafe after your little trip to the playground, or make them hot chocolates when you get home (whatever works for you).

#4 Find the good light and start shooting

Halfway to the playground, your kids would already have been having fun running and chasing each other. Remind them of the photos you want to take, and show them the light is so beautiful and perfect. Ask for their suggestions where you could stop and take some nice picture. Make sure there is light coming from one side, but that they are fully in the shade of a tree (open shade) to avoid hotspots and mottled faces.

Winter portrait2

#5 Be fast

Keep it quick! Kids get bored if you take too long so just aim for a few portraits. Ask them to stand, cuddle and tickle, or make each other laugh, swap places, do their own poses and click away like nobody’s business.

Techie tips: If shooting in semi-automatic mode, choose a wide aperture or set it to Aperture Priority (and choose a large aperture, small f-number) so you get the blurry background effect. Always focus on the child’s eyes if possible.

Winter portrait5

#6 Use backlight to your advantage

Shoot with the kids backlit. The best time to do this is during the golden hour. The sun is low, the sky is a reddish blue and the light is softer, more diffused, and indirect.

Shooting backlit is really quite a difficult technique which requires some mastering. This is when the sun or light source is in front of your camera, and behind your subject. The late sun gives stunning soft light, that illuminates your child’s hair or clothing like it has just been kissed by the sun.

Winter portrait4

You would also need either a really wide aperture, a flash, or a reflector to bring light back into your child’s face. A reflector can be a large white/silver/gold sheet that you angle towards their face, to bounce the light back into it. Or, you can choose a location with a natural reflector such as a white, or light coloured wall, facing the sunset and position your child in front of it, at an angle, so that part of their face gets the reflected light. I suggest a wide aperture for portraits as that helps give a nice glow to the skin, spot metered, and focused on the eyes.

#7 Go for lens flare

This is really quite difficult as you don’t want to be looking straight at the sun. When you see the sun’s rays streaming through the viewfinder of your camera, that’s a sure sign that you are capturing flare. Flare floods your camera with light and everything else becomes a muddy, hazy silhouette. So try to get only a very small bit of flare right at the top or side of the viewfinder, and you will still get some good details, rather than a completely hazy image, devoid of any definition or detail.

Winter portrait6

#8 Embrace the imperfections

From personal experience, my imperfections, mistakes, and lack of skills fuel creativity. So don’t be afraid to make mistakes and have imperfections; they are a blessing. Use them and learn from them.

Winter portrait7

#9 Capture some scene details after the portraits are done

When the portraits are done, capture some contextual details such as the sky, trees, plants, grass, flowers, etc. Years down the line, when you look back at these photographs, details will help you remember the mood, the time, and the emotions of that day. Now that there’s no need to rush and the kids are playing, take your time and choose which details grab you, and take your breath away.

Techie tips: Don’t forget to change your aperture when shooting the sky and trees to a much smaller one, in this case around f/5.6 or smaller. I find that while you can shoot wide opened it is more prone to have chromatic aberration than if you shoot at a smaller aperture. Really, it’s personal preference, but this is what I recommend.

Winter portrait10

#10 Last but definitely not least, reward and celebrate

Promise your kids not just the playground, but extra treats like snacks and hot drinks, and even a small surprise. It reinforces having a photoshoot as a positive experience, and ends it on a happy note. Then top it with a movie night at home!

Have you done any winter portraits of your kids? Please share your images and any other tips you have in the comments below.

The post 10 Tips for Taking Stunning Winter Portraits of Your Kids by Lily Sawyer appeared first on Digital Photography School.



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Dec 2, 2015

[Photography] Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies

When I first got my digital camera, words like Aperture and ISO were foreign to me, and it took me a couple of weeks of reading and studying a lot before the lightbulb turned on in my head. You might be feeling a little confused, and you may even feel like you will never get your camera out of Auto mode, because it’s just too hard to understand.

exposure-triangle.jpg

So, if you are unfamiliar with your camera, or just starting out, you might appreciate a little explanation of the basics. Sometimes reading about these things in slightly different words helps something new to click each time.

Introducing the Exposure Triangle: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

These three things work together to expose your picture perfectly, and after experimenting for a while, you may even find that you can use your knowledge of these three things to manipulate your picture for different effects.

APERTURE

The aperture or f-stop is how wide open your lens is. Imagine a hole: if it’s open just a teeny bit, there won’t be very much light coming through. If it’s a big hole, lots of light will come through. The tricky thing with aperture is that often confusing numbering system.

  • SMALL numbers (like f/1.8) = wide open aperture (large opening).
  • BIG numbers (like f/22) = small aperture (teeny opening).

That confused the heck out of me at first, but now it’s second nature. It will become second nature to you too, after some practice!

Another thing that can be affected by aperture is depth of field, or how much of your picture is in sharp focus. A wide open aperture (small number) will make less in focus, and a closed down aperture (big number) will make more in focus. Let’s look at some photos that demonstrate depth of field:

aperture-1

With the aperture set to f/3.5 on the left, you have a blurrier background (my favorite). Also notice that the shutter speed (1/640th) is fairly HIGH, we’ll get to this later.

aperture-2

A little bit smaller aperture (bigger number), makes the background come into focus a bit more, and the shutter speed is slowed down.

aperture-3

See what I mean? If you want to play around with Aperture, try putting your camera in Aperture Priority mode (A on Nikon, Av on Canon – if you have a different camera, check your manual).

Now, remember that all three parts work together? You probably started seeing how if you noticed the shutter speed changing with each of those different aperture values in the pictures above.

SHUTTER SPEED

The shutter speed is how fast the shutter opens and closes. If the shutter is open longer, more light is let into the camera. If it opens and closes really fast, less light is let in.

If you have a wide open aperture, your shutter speed will need to be faster, because you’re already letting a lot of light in the lens opening. If your aperture is small, your shutter will need to move slower, so there is more time for light to get to the sensor.

If you want to freeze the action, or hand-hold your camera, then a faster shutter speed is needed. If you want to create blur, then you need a slower shutter speed. For example:

Shutter-Speed

The vehicle in the photo on the left was driving past my house quite fast, but since I had the shutter speed set to 1/2000th of a second, it froze the action. It looks like the vehicle could be sitting still in the middle of the road.

The truck on the right is a blur going past, but everything else is still. 1/10th of a second was slow enough to blur the truck as it sped past. Notice the f-stop. Since the shutter was open for so long, the opening in the lens needed to be smaller to balance the exposure.

Try putting your camera in Shutter Priority mode (S on Nikon, Tv (time value) on Canon) to experiment with different shutter speeds. As you play with these different priority modes, notice what the camera chooses for the rest of your settings. The more you pay attention to these things, the more knowledge you’ll have to be able to set everything yourself in the future.

Okay, so now you’re probably asking, how does ISO fit into all of this?

ISO

The ISO is your camera’s mood. It can be all uptight and picky, or it can be easy-going and laid back. If you have the ISO set to a low number (100) your camera will want light, and plenty of it, because it’s going to take a smooth, crisp picture, and this requires perfect conditions. If you have your ISO set to a high number (3200) it can handle low light, because it’s not going to work as hard – a noisy (grainy) picture is good enough for Mr. High ISO.

So, how does this apply to your photography? Let’s say you wanted to take a picture in the evening, and you don’t want to use a flash. Just bump the ISO up, and it will allow you to have a faster shutter speed, or a smaller aperture (bigger number) and still accept the light conditions to expose correctly. Or, if you’re taking pictures at a sporting event, and you want to make sure you catch that action, but the light isn’t great, bump the ISO up. Or you may even want that moody grainy effect (it can be really cool)!

If you ever get frustrated because there’s just not enough light, and your pictures are blurry because the shutter speed isn’t fast enough, and you’re about to scream – just remember to bump the ISO. You could also leave this on Auto, but I usually don’t. My camera always seems to choose a higher ISO than I feel it needs. However, don’t forget to put it back down after you’re done. You don’t want to take a whole bunch of photos in the middle of the day at a 3200 ISO because you forgot to change it after your evening indoor party photos the night before.

Here’s a little demonstration:

ISO3200clock

ISO 3200

The photo above was taken in a very dimly lit room. Notice the digital noise?Notice the crispness of the photo below?

ISO100clock

ISO 100

 

Conclusion

Well, that’s the exposure triangle in a nutshell. I hope this helped, especially if these three exposure factors have been confusing to you in the past. Please ask any questions in the comments, and I’ll answer them the best I can.

The post Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies by Melinda Smith appeared first on Digital Photography School.



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[Photography] 6 Tips for Using ISO Effectively With Your Camera

Taken at ISO 800 (shutter speed of 30 seconds and aperture at f/8.0)

Taken at ISO 800 (shutter speed of 30 seconds and aperture at f/8.0)

ISO has long been called the third corner of the exposure triangle, but was it really? In the film days you couldn’t even change your ISO, except by changing your film. In the early days of digital, you could change your ISO after each shot, which was a definite improvement. But, if you dared to increase the ISO, your picture would probably end up with a lot of digital noise in it. The reality is that most of us were confined to a very narrow range of ISO values when making our exposures.

Times have changed though. Newer cameras offer a lot more flexibility when it comes to ISO. First of all, they are capable of taking pictures at higher ISOs. Cameras now will routinely shoot at ISO 25,600 (and higher), which was almost unheard of just five or six years ago. Secondly, when newer cameras do shoot at higher ISOs, they produce less digital noise. Check out this chart from DxO Mark showing the ability of cameras to shoot at higher ISOs without being ruined by noise:

DxO-aging-chart

The chart shows the maximum useable ISO for given cameras introduced over the last 12 years. Notice how the dots are higher on the chart the further you go to the right.  The newer cameras are to the right of the graph and the tests show that they can shoot at higher ISO values with less digital noise.

In addition, seemingly mindful of the desire of photographers to change their ISO more frequently, camera manufacturers have made it easier to change ISO on the fly. Some, like Fujifilm, have even put ISO on par with shutter speed and aperture by giving ISO its own dial. As a result, it is easier to change the ISO and it truly has status as an equal partner in the exposure triangle.

Even beyond cameras, however, we now have a much greater ability to remove digital noise from our pictures. Much of this improvement is thanks to Lightroom. With a quick slider adjustment, we can eliminate much digital noise from our pictures, without making them blurry. Further, if you have a severe noise problem, there are dedicated plug-ins like Noiseware and Photo Ninja, designed to reduce noise in your pictures, which have continued to improve.

As a result of all of this, you have a lot more flexibility when it comes to ISO. But how does this really impact your photography? And where should you set your ISO in different situations?

If you are just getting started, you might be bewildered by the numbers, or perhaps don’t even know where to start. If you have been shooting for a long time, you may be locked into some habits that were engrained before all these changes in technology. Either way, here are some tips to help you put ISO to work, to improve your photography.

Tip 1: Start with ISO 200

If you have been shooting for a long time, you might be in the habit of keeping your ISO at 100 to keep noise out of your pictures. As mentioned above, given the state of camera technology, this was a prudent practice. Now, however, there is almost no discernible difference between a shot taken at ISO 200 and ISO 100 in most cameras. You may as well use ISO 200 as a default to give yourself an extra stop of light. It will result in better pictures. How so? In one of two ways:

  • It will allow you to use a faster shutter speed, which will make your photos sharper if you are hand holding
    AND/OR
  • It will allow you to use a larger aperture to increase your depth of field

By using ISO 200 instead of 100, you will enjoy a little extra flexibility in your exposure settings, without an increase in digital noise. It is pretty much a case of something for nothing.

Tip 2: Use ISO 400 for clouds or dusk

Do not hesitate to move the ISO up to 400 (or even higher depending on your camera) when the need arises. If you are outdoors and there are any clouds, or if the sun is starting to move toward the horizon, go ahead and move to ISO 400. You will find there is very little increase in digital noise in most cameras at this level.

Even though this was a bright, sunny day, the need for a super-fast shutter speed meant that I needed to increase my ISO to 400 to get this shot.

Even though this was a bright, sunny day, the need for a super-fast shutter speed meant that I needed to increase my ISO to 400 to get this shot. Exposure info: 1/8000th, f/2.8, at ISO 400

Tip 3: Crank it up to stop the action

Previously, you faced a dilemma when trying to stop the action. Should you:

  1. Increase the ISO and risk having the picture ruined by noise, or
  2. Keep the ISO low and risk having the picture ruined by blur because of the slower shutter speed you would be forced to use?

Obviously, neither choice was ideal. But now, with better cameras and noise reduction tools, there is no reason not to increase your ISO when you are photographing action (assuming you are not trying to blur it). In that case, start by moving the ISO up to 800.

Tip 4: Start with ISO 1600 indoors

As soon as you move indoors, increase your ISO to 1600 if there is reasonably good light. Move it even higher if the lighting is poor. There is a lot less light indoors, even though it often doesn’t look that way to you (your eyes adjust very quickly).

It was not possible to use a tripod in the Opera Garnier in Paris. Hence, ISO 3200 for this picture (actually pictures, since it is many pictures stitched together)

It was not possible to use a tripod in the Opera Garnier in Paris. Hence, ISO 3200 for this picture (actually pictures, since it is many pictures stitched together)

Note: If you have, and can use a tripod then keep your ISO lower if possible (there is no moving subject).

Tip 5: Don’t be afraid to use 6400

I was recently trying to take pictures of a high school play, featuring my daughter. I faced a toxic combination of extremely low light, and a moving subject (flash was not allowed). I had a pretty fast lens, opened all the way up to f/2.8. To keep the subject from being blurred, I needed to use a shutter speed of at least 1/400th of a second. To get a proper exposure, I required ISO 6400. I used it, and then gave it a dose of Lightroom noise reduction later, to get the following picture.

Hannah-Play

Exposure info: 1/500th, f/2.8, at ISO 6400

Perfect? No. But if I had hedged at all, it would have been blurred and completely ruined. The point is that ISO 6400 might not get you perfection, but it will get you a shot, when the alternative is no shot at all.

Tip 6: The same applies for higher ISOs

Nobody wants to use very high ISO values. But when you’re faced with the choice of a shot at ISO 6400 or 12,800 (which will probably have a noise problem), versus a blurry shot from using too slow of a shutter speed, take the noisy picture every time. You have some hope of curing a noisy picture in Lightroom. You have no hope of fixing a blurry subject.

This was shot through a window from inside the Louvre, and using a tripod was not possible. Since I was hand holding, I needed to use ISO 3200. I didn't like using an ISO that high, but it beats not getting the shot at all (or having it blurry from too slow of a shutter speed)

This was shot through a window from inside the Louvre, and using a tripod was not possible. Since I was hand holding, I needed to use ISO 3200. I didn’t like using an ISO that high, but it beats not getting the shot at all (or having it blurry from too slow of a shutter speed). Exposure info: 1/8th, f/4, at ISO 3200

Conclusion

I recognize that, in a sense, this entire article could be summarized as: It is okay to increase your ISO. There is more to it than that though, and that is particularly true if you are just starting out, or getting used to a new camera. I have used hard values in this article to give you default numbers, for some different scenarios. That said, of course, every situation you will face as a photographer is different. Just use these as starting points and adjust from there. In time you will get your own starting points.

Further, your use of ISO will depend on your camera as well. Obviously, newer and more expensive cameras have better low-light performance. How does yours stack up? You can check the DxO Mark rating to start. The best thing to do is to test your camera, which is easily done by taking the exact same picture at different ISO values (while adjusting shutter speed to keep the exposure the same) and then comparing them on your monitor (at 100%). Having done so, you will be well poised to use ISO to improve your pictures.

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Dec 1, 2015

[Photography] dPS Writer’s Favorite: Sigma 24-105mm F4 Lens

24-105mm-f4-dg-os-hsm-a-635-e73

Image: Sigma Photo

Perhaps you’ve heard of Sigma’s Art series of lenses? After years spent making relatively mediocre lenses, the Japanese manufacturer has stepped up their game to create some beautiful gems that outshine the lenses made by the camera companies themselves.

The 50mm f/1.4 and the 35mm f/1.4 were both on my list, but I seem to have ended up with the Sigma 24-105mm f/4 Art lens, and while my artistic conscience might try to persuade me of the superiority of prime lenses, it’s currently my favourite.

Zoom versus Prime Lenses

The prime lenses I like are big and heavy, because of the large maximum aperture. Assuming that my assistant carried them everywhere and could change them instantly, I might be less keen on the versatility of the Sigma. But that’s not the case, and often a zoom is the better choice. Zoom lenses used to be too much of a compromise. The Sigma 24-105mm lens compromises just enough, and delivers a lot. It’s a slow lens at f/4, but the optical stabilization is good, and the high ISO capabilities of current cameras means that I’ve never felt too limited by this. It’s certainly a compromise compared to a prime, but at f/8, I bet you couldn’t tell the difference. The bokeh for this zoom, necessarily a matter of personal taste, and not as amazing as some of the prime lenses, is good enough too.

Sigma 24-105mm lens

Bokeh at f/4, 105mm

But I want Nikon/Canon, I want the best…

Canon has an equivalent 24-105mm f/4 lens from their premium L-series. It’s a versatile lens, and I know several professional photographers who use it almost exclusively. I use Nikon, but I’ve seen comparisons that demonstrate that optically, the Sigma Art series lens is sharper. The Canon is weather-sealed though, which the Sigma is not. Nikon has a 24-120mm lens that isn’t as sharp as the Sigma either. If image quality is what you want most, the Sigma is the best among the three lenses. Of course, both Nikon and Canon make 24-70mm lenses that are sharper, though at the expense of the longer telephoto reach.

Sigma 24-105mm lens

We photographers love our lenses

Why choose the 24-105mm focal length over a 24-70mm?

Forgetting prime lenses, the main competition for my affections were the Nikon 24-70mm and the Tamron 24-70mm lenses. There’s also a Tokina 24-70mm available that I didn’t consider. I decided against the Nikon because it doesn’t have optical stabilization (OS). While the larger f/2.8 aperture is attractive, it doesn’t make as much difference in low light for static subjects as the OS on the Sigma. Moreover, the stabilization is useful for on-the-go filming too. The Tamron however, has the larger f/2.8 aperture and is also stabilized.

I chose the Sigma lens because of the longer reach. 70mm, for me, is not as flattering for headshot portraits as the 85-105mm focal lengths that the Sigma provides. I find I use the extra reach quite often. On the other end, 24mm seems to be wide enough for the majority of situations on a full-frame body. If I need a larger field of view, or shallower depth of field, I can often stitch multiple photos together.

Sigma 24-105mm lens

That 105mm short telephoto is useful

Space for a whinge

It’s not a perfect lens, and there are a few omissions that I’d like to have a moan about to help round out the My Favourite Lens angle. While the lens is sharp, it does have noticeable distortion and a fair bit of vignetting too, especially at larger apertures. This is an issue that I’m happy to accept because the RAW photo conversion software does a good job of correcting these flaws.

The bigger issue is the lack of weather sealing, which I’d have happily paid a bit more for. It makes you think twice when photographing in the rain or by the sea. The thoughts are usually, “I wonder if the lens will survive this?” and, “I wonder if I’ll buy the Nikon if it doesn’t?”. Showers aside, the lack of weather sealing does mean that the lens attracts more dust – it veritably sucks it up, and distributes it liberally amongst its inner optics, safe from my lens cleaning cloth. The build quality is good, but not as solid as the Canon L-series lens, for example, and after some abuse, the focal length numbers on mine wore off as they are not etched into the lens. Sigma were good about fixing this though.

Sigma 24-105mm lens

Distortion and Vignetting even At 62mm, f/8

Conclusion

I’ve tested a huge number of lenses, and also read pretty much most of reviews of the others, to keep up to date. I chose to buy the Sigma 24-105mm f/4 OS, and it lives on my camera pretty consistently. It’s photographed a range of genres from landscapes, to portraits, and fashion, and the image quality has been good.

As photographers, there’s a tendency to fuss over MTF charts and such like; but having the right focal length available immediately is far more important, and as for overall sharpness and rendering compared to primes, it’s usually only experienced photographers who, occasionally, may notice the difference.

DSC_2741

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[Photography] How to Understand and Use Lightroom’s Loupe Info Overlay

Lightroom Loupe Info Overlay intro image

The Lightroom Loupe Info Overlay feature provides valuable information about your photos. Used intelligently it can help you find your photos, and can even help you improve your photography skills. I’ll explain what it is, how to enable and disable it, how to configure it, and some reasons why the Loupe Info Overlay is such a valuable feature.

What is the Loupe Info Overlay?

Loupe Info Overlay is a small text overlay which appears in the top left corner of your images in the Develop module inside Lightroom, and when you are viewing images in Loupe view in the Library module. The Loupe Info Overlay confuses many first time Lightroom users when they turn it on, often accidentally, and then struggle to turn it off again.

What Lightroom Loupe info overlay looks like

Turning the Overlay Off and On

To view the Loupe Info Overlay you must be viewing an image in the Develop module, or in the Library module in Loupe (or single image) view. To display the Loupe Info Overlay, tap the I (i) key on your keyboard. Tap the i key repeatedly (but slowly so you can see what you are doing) to rotate through the three options for the Loupe Info Overlay.

They are: (1) Loupe Info Overlay off; (2) Loupe Info 1; and (3) Loupe Info 2. You will see that there are two different overlays which can be separately configured to show a range of information about your images.

The three states of the Lightroom Loupe Info Overlay

You can also display the Loupe Info Overlay using the Lightroom menus: choose View > Loupe Info and then select Info 1 or Info 2 to display one of the two overlay options. If Show Info Overlay is selected then selecting it again will hide the Loupe Info Overlay.

How to turn the Loupe Info Overlay on and off

Each Info Overlay is comprised of three lines of information, and you can select only one piece of information from a list of options for each line. The defaults for the Loupe Info Overlays are:

Loupe Info Overlay 1:

  • File Name and Copy Name
  • Capture Date/ Time
  • Crop Dimensions

Loupe Info Overlay 2:

  • File Name and Copy Name
  • Exposure and ISO
  • Lens Setting

Default settings for the Loupe Info Overlay

These items can be changed if you select View > View Options, and in the Library Module click the Loupe View tab. Select the Show Info Overlay checkbox and then choose the Info Overlay to show from the dropdown list – it’s a good idea to show the one you are going to change so you can see what it looks like and if the information you are seeing is what you want to see.

To change the information that appears in any of the three lines of the Info Overlay click the appropriate dropdown list – there are three for Loupe Info 1 and three for Loupe Info 2, all in the order they appear on your screen.

Some settings for the lines of information in the Loupe info overlay

From any of the lists you can select None to turn that line off so nothing displays there, or choose from any of the options on the list. These include a range of file name options, Common Attributes (whether the image is flagged, rated, has a label, or is a virtual copy), the crop dimensions and megapixels.

Also in the list are various items which are extracted from the image metadata such as Copyright, Title, Creator, and Common Photo Settings which include Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, the Lens, and the Focal Length. These are also available as individual options so, if you don’t want to see all that detail, you can choose to see Exposure Time, ISO, F-stop, Exposure Bias, Exposure Program, Metering Mode, or Camera + Lens Settings.

More settings for the Loupe info overlay

Of the options available, Common Photo Settings is a good one to use if you want to see a lot of information about each shot.

How the Loupe Info Overlay can make you a better photographer

If you plan to use the information from the Loupe Info Overlay to improve your photography, then consider setting the options for one of the Loupe Info Overlays to include Common Photo Settings, Exposure Program and, for example, Metering Mode. This will give you valuable insight into your camera settings at the time you took each shot.

Suggested settings for loupe info overlay that can help you troubleshoot problem shots

I use the Info Overlay to help photographers who are having issues with their photos. If you set the Loupe Info Overlay to show the camera settings you can determine why, for example, an image is out of focus, too light, or too dark. An out of focus shot may be caused by a shutter speed that is too slow, so that the subject or camera has moved while the shot is being captured. Being able to see the shutter speed will help you determine if it is the reason your photos aren’t sharp.

If you are shooting in manual mode and the shots are too dark (underexposed) it may be that you’re using too fast a shutter speed, too small an aperture, or a combination of both. An overly light (overexposed) image can be caused by too large an aperture, too slow a shutter speed, or both. Displaying aperture, shutter speed and ISO may help you troubleshoot your exposure issues.

Overexposed and underexposed images can also be caused by an incorrect exposure compensation setting. It’s not uncommon for a beginner photographer to set an exposure compensation value without realizing the impact of what they have done. If you set the Loupe Info Overlay to display Exposure Bias you can see if exposure compensation is the cause of incorrect exposure.

The Loupe Info Overlay is a useful tool which can display a wealth of information, some of which can help you troubleshoot problems you are having with your photos.

Now it’s over to you: do you use the Lightroom Info Overlay and, if so, what information do you set it to display and why?

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