[Photography] Composition Tips for Drawing the Viewer’s Eye Through Your Photographs

There are many different elements of photography that can affect how the viewer perceives an image. The more you learn to understand how various elements affect an image, the more you can learn to take control of them. Great photography doesn’t happen by chance, it’s crafted and pieced together. If you follow these composition tips they will have you do just that.

One of the most important elements of photography to understand is how the viewer’s eye is drawn through the image. You may think that when you view a photograph you see the whole picture as one. In one sense this is true, as you can absorb much of an image in a millisecond. At the same time, your eye moves through an image in a way that you’re usually completely unaware of.

The reason why it’s important to understand this concept is that if an image has a natural path for the eye to follow and a strong subject to focus on, it’s far more satisfying. An image that’s too busy and doesn’t have a clear subject isn’t as appealing and the viewer will not linger long.

As the photographer, you can be intentional about how you craft your image so that the viewer’s eye moves through it the way you want.

The Human Eye

Our eyes are bombarded by so many different sights every day that we have to be selective about what we look at and what we ignore. This is usually a subconscious decision that happens as our brains try to filter the information that is passed from our retinas. Much study has been done into what visual elements draw our attention, which is super helpful for those of us that create visual art.

Brightness

Controlling the brightness of various parts of your image is one of the most powerful ways to control the viewer’s eye. You can use this to your advantage in a couple of ways.

Including or adding brightness to areas of an image is a great way to draw the viewer’s eye to that element. The other side of this is to limit brightness or darken areas of an image where you don’t want to draw attention.

How you add or subtract brightness to an image will depend a lot on your subject. If you have control of the light you can take control with the way you light the image. Even if you don’t have control of the light you may still be able to manipulate it somehow with neutral density filters or by framing the image differently.

Whatever your subject, you can always control brightness in post-production. Learning to dodge and burn is one of the most valuable skills you can have for controlling light in your photography. Even something as simple as a vignette can have a dramatic effect.

Contrast

Areas of high-contrast draw the eye more than anything else.

A dull, flat image with no contrast has very little visual appeal. If you really want to draw the attention of your viewers to a certain element of an image, try to find a way to add contrast to the element, or to the area surrounding it.

There are many ways to do this. For example, you can overexpose the background to make it contrast with the foreground subject. Alternatively, you can underexpose the foreground to make a silhouette which contrasts with the background.

Again, you can also use post-processing techniques to further control contrast in your image to draw the eye. Adding contrast to areas where you want to draw attention, and removing contrast from areas that you don’t want to distract the viewer can go a long way to drawing the eye.

You can do this using basic tools in Lightroom like the Contrast and Clarity sliders. Control the areas you want to add or subtract contrast from others with the local adjustment tools.

Color

You’re probably aware of how powerful color can be in controlling the mood of an image. The feel of an image with bright colors is very different from an image with muted, desaturated colors.

But what you may not know is that the human eye is strongly attracted to bright colors. Have ever seen the old “selective color” images that convert an image to black and white while leaving one element in color? Fortunately, the trend is long-dead, but it shows how powerful color can be at drawing the eye.

Adding color to an image isn’t always easy. You may be able to color elements of an image with colored gels if using flash.

Subtracting color from an image is often even more important if it’s distracting to the viewer. This is often the case when photographing people. Colorful clothing draws the eye away from the more subtle skin colors of faces. This is why portrait photographers often tell their subjects to wear plain black or white clothing.

Adding and subtracting color in post-production isn’t difficult, but takes practice and restraint. It’s easy to overdo it. You can do a lot with the local adjustment tools and the Vibrance/Saturation sliders in Lightroom. Remember, when it comes to adjusting the color or saturation of a photo, less is more, especially when skin tones are involved.

Sharpness

Have you ever noticed how a blurry image is very unpleasant to look at? Even if it’s only a little bit out of focus, your eye will detect it.

The human eye’s instinct is to adjust focus until what it’s looking at appears sharp. If it can’t find something sharp to rest on, you won’t like what you’re looking at.

You can use this to your advantage in your photography. You probably know that a shallow depth-of-field when photographing portraits creates a very pleasing look. This is because the eye is naturally drawn to the sharp face of the subject while avoiding the other elements that are out of focus. The most obvious way to control focus is using large apertures and a small depth-of-field, but it isn’t the only way.

You could try playing with slower shutter speeds and motion blur. Panning with a moving subject and a slow shutter speed can blur the background while keeping the subject acceptably sharp.

You can also add blur in post-production. Moving the Clarity slider to the left will soften the selected elements that you don’t want to draw attention to. You can also add sharpness to selected areas, but be careful about trying to save an out-of-focus image by increasing sharpness (it doesn’t work!).

Take Control

As you learn these composition tips that can guide your viewers, you can start to take control of the process. Adding and subtracting these elements from your images can have a significant effect on how visually pleasing they are. Take some time to think about what you want your viewers to look at and then ask yourself what you can do to make that happen.

Although the way you process your images is very useful, try to think about controlling these elements in-camera first. It isn’t always possible, but taking control over the brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness in-camera will give you better images to work with in post-production. Also, trying to save an image by pushing Lightroom sliders to their extremes usually isn’t a good idea.

As you get more intentional about what you add and subtract from your photography, you’ll start producing more engaging images. Your photography will also become more appealing to the viewer and yourself.

The post Composition Tips for Drawing the Viewer’s Eye Through Your Photographs appeared first on Digital Photography School.

it's from Digital Photography School https://ift.tt/2MFnJGZ
via Rowan Sims

[Photography] Review of the Iforway PowerElf Outdoor Mini Power Station

As digital photographers, we all know the importance of being able to charge our gear. This is simple if you primarily work out of your home or a studio, but can get a lot more complex if you’re traveling or you are off the grid. So when Iforway offered to send me their outdoor mini power station, PowerElf, for review I jumped at the chance to test it out over the course of a Montana road trip and several camping excursions.

Description from the Manufacturer

Technical Specifications

• Large Capacity Power Station (173Wh/46800mAh)
• IP64 Waterproof shell
• 3 Ways of recharging the station (wall outlet, solar, 12V cigarette plug)
• Compact Size (2.65 lbs/ 1.2 kg)
• 45W type-C port
• 2 USB ports
• DC Output Port & DC Cigarette Port (up to 10A)
• 10 Layers of Power Protection
• LED Flashlight

Power Capacity Illustrations

• Macbook – 3 charges
• iPhone 7 – 16 charges
• DSLR camera – 4+ charges
• Bluetooth Speaker – 12+ hours
• DJI Mavic air drone – 4 charges
• GoPro – 20+ charges
• iPad – 4 charges
• Portable Freezer/Cooler Mini Fridge – 3+ hours

My Experience

I think the Iforway PowerElf is a good tool for photographers, but there are a couple of things that I’d like to clarify in regards to its features right off the bat.

First, though the Iforway PowerElf is rechargeable (via a wall outlet, solar power, or a 12V car charger), this item does not ship with the equipment necessary to charge via the latter two methods.

If you wish to recharge the PowerElf via solar power, you’ll need to spend about another $150 to purchase a solar charging pad. If you want to recharge the PowerElf via your car’s cigarette lighter, you’ll need to purchase a separate adapter (around $10) if you don’t already own one.

In the Field

With that out of the way, I can tell you that I’ve used the heck out of the Iforway PowerElf in the past month.

I’ve used it to charge my iPhone at the lake, and to charge Kindles during a 12 hour road trip. Family members who use CPAP machines and I chatted about how this product could potentially give them more freedom to travel off the grid without compromising their health. I’ve charged camera batteries using the cigarette lighter (I already owned an adapter) while at the beach for a week.

Likewise, I’ve used it to top off a laptop in order to do a quick photo edit on the go. Because it has a weather resistant outer shell, I felt comfortable bringing it along for all the outdoor activities that the Pacific Northwest has to offer without worrying about it damaging my devices.

Though the integrated LED flashlight wasn’t a big selling point for me initially, I was surprised how much we reached for it when we’ve been out and about.

The flashlight has several different modes (solid white light, blinking white light, solid red light, and blinking red light) that make it useful for everything from walking back to a campsite at night to digging through my camera bag while practicing astrophotography.

I think of the red light functions more as safety measures and thankfully haven’t had to use them yet, though it’s comforting to know that they’re there if I need them.

The Bottom Line

If you’re anything like me, whether or not you ultimately purchase an item you’re interested in often comes down to price. At the Indiegogo launch price of $159 (regularly $219), the Iforway PowerElf is one of the more expensive power banks on the market.

If you’re primarily looking for a portable way to charge your phone, you’d probably be better served by purchasing a 32800mAh power bank for around $50 on Amazon. However, if you’re looking for a power bank that allows you to charge a wide variety of devices, has the potential to be recharged via solar power, and can withstand being out in the elements, the Iforway PowerElf may be a great tool for you to have in your arsenal!

Overall, I’d give it four out of five stars.

The post Review of the Iforway PowerElf Outdoor Mini Power Station appeared first on Digital Photography School.

it's from Digital Photography School https://ift.tt/2N7VAIa
via Meredith Clark

[Photography] 7 Tips to Get the Best Out of a Model Shoot

Many photographers want to have a human being in their shot. They may ask friends or family to pose for them or may engage the services of a model, either paid or a TFP (trade for prints) engagement. If you have not spent any time in front of the camera yourself, then understanding the specific challenges of doing the work of a model is difficult.

My advice is to spend some time in front of the camera yourself, either posing for another photographer or doing some form of self-portrait work. This isn’t for you to learn about how to specifically pose a model for certain styles of photography (although this is absolutely necessary) but instead for you to understand what it is like to BE a model.

However, if you don’t opt for that valuable learning experience, take note of these tips instead:

Top Tips to Get the Best out of a Model Shoot

#1 – COMMUNICATE

Most people feel really nervous and uncomfortable in front of a camera. Even an experienced model cannot read your mind and does not know what your intentions are. So before you get started, sit down with the person and talk them through the plans for the shoot.

Explain your concept, share your goals, sketch out how you want the poses to look, and what mood or expressions you are after. One major mistake a lot of photographers make is to treat their model like a living statue, only there to be posed and take direction, and they forget that model is actually a person.

By discussing everything at the beginning, you give the person some structure, context, and understanding of the situation, which helps them be less nervous. It also gives them an opportunity to engage with the process, they may even have ideas of their own which could improve on what you initially had planned.

Making it a cooperative situation builds trust and engagement, lowers barriers, helps relax the model and hopefully give you a better outcome. Constant reassurance and feedback throughout the shoot are also important to keep them motivated.

#2 – COMFORT

Many model shoots often involve the model dressed in clothing that is not always suitable for the environment. When you are standing still in a cold wind wearing a bathing suit, it’s really hard to give off a relaxed summery vibe.

Be aware of the environment and temperature your person is modeling in, make sure they are as comfortable as they can be in the situation. If you have to do a nude shoot, try and do it in a warm heated room instead of outside. It’s really hard to look relaxed when you are cold and shivering.

Discuss your model’s strength and endurance with them in relation to the poses you are doing. Then schedule regular breaks and stick to the schedule. Posing can be quite physically demanding as many poses are quite unnatural to hold for extended lengths of time. Be aware of getting into the zone and shooting for too long and not allowing the model to take a break.

#3 – ENVIRONMENT

As well as the comfort of the model, consider the environment in which you are shooting. Is it inside and private? Is it outside and open to the public? Are they expected to get changed in the back of a car or are there some facilities nearby?

What can you do to make the model feel comfortable in the environment? Would they like some music playing to help get into the right mood? Is there a private space for them to go have a break? Blankets and hot drinks and somewhere to sit down away from the camera?

Perhaps it’s a hot sunny day and they need a break away from the heat and the sun? Have they been standing in front of hot studio lights and been constantly flashed while wearing sky-high heels?

Can they bring along a friend for support and encouragement? Are they able to feel relaxed and engaged and safe while they are working in front of the camera?

#4 – EXPLAIN THE POSE

The way people naturally stand generally looks less than ideal when a shot is taken. Double chins become triple ones, elbows and knees are all awkward, hands on hips or arms crossed in front of the chest, etc., feel comfortable and natural to do, but don’t look so good.

The kinds of things you need to do to your body to get a pose that looks good can be quite uncomfortable to do and hold for long enough to get several shots. The classic “turtleneck” where you push the head forward to get separation at the jawline feels really odd.

So take the time to explain and demonstrate the pose to the person. Give them a chance to experiment and figure out how to get the hang of it. Usually, you will need them to do several things at once – stand in a certain way, tilt the shoulders, put the arms in position, move the head to the right angle, have the hair doing something, etc.

Demonstrate each pose and explain to them why it matters. If you show them the “before” and “after” they will generally understand and be more inclined to make the effort because they can see the difference.

Start with small easy pose setups to allow them to relax and master the basics before going on to the more complicated poses. That is unless you have a really experienced model who is on your wavelength, in which case, go nuts.

#5 – HANDS

Generally, when people are being asked to do something new and difficult, they concentrate on the hard stuff so much that they forget about the unnecessary stuff around the edges. One of those things is their hands, and they can often end up being floppy uninteresting things stuck on the ends of the arms.

Bad hands can completely ruin an otherwise good shot. So pay attention to what their hands are doing, because the model may not know that they need to with them.

#6 – MAKE THEM LOOK GOOD

A lot of fashion photography styles use really artificial poses that look terribly uncomfortable to do. They don’t generally look achievable or attractive to the viewer either, but it appears to be the style of the moment. That might be your desired outcome and I hope you end up with some amazing shots.

However, one of the great things you can do when working with a model is to make them look good in front of the camera in a way they never have before. A lot of that is because people usually don’t know how to pose well in front of a camera. Creating images that make them look good means they then feel good about what is happening.

Being able to offer them some copies they can be proud to show people afterward is an added bonus. If they leave the session feeling valued and positive about the experience, they will be more likely to say yes if you ask them to model for you again.

#7 – ENGAGE THE EMOTIONS

Using a model as a living breathing mannequin is one way to have a model pose for you. For some types of photography that impassive detached style of posing is desired. However, if you want to truly engage the viewer, having some emotion present in the image is more effective.

Really good models can project a range of different emotions, that is what good professional models do and why they get paid the big bucks. Not everyone gets the option of working with models of that caliber every day, so when working with a less experienced model you may need to coach them around the emotional projection.

Asking your model to try and feel a particular emotion can be a challenge for them to do on top of all the posing you are asking. So this is a more advanced step that you may not always achieve.

Talk them through the concept of the shoot – is it a soft spring morning and they are enjoying a walk on the beach in the sun? Are they a cool crisp corporate executive about to give a high-level presentation? A couple of friends enjoy cocktails and nibbles on a summers evening? Help them get into the right headspace to project a feeling or emotion to fully express the pose they are doing.

Sometimes allowing them to move during the shoot or move into the final desired pose can add an extra level of engagement. Both the body and the brain are fully involved in communicating the external expression of the pose.

Conclusion

To get someone to stand still and look fantastic while doing it, allowing you to take an amazing photo actually requires a lot of work behind the scenes first. When working with a model, remembering that they are a living breathing person is important, they are not just a thing that’s there for you to manipulate into the desired position.

Taking care of your model, providing them with an environment and a situation where they can relax and be comfortable while working in front of the camera is important. Someone who is happy and enjoying their modeling experience is far more likely to provide you with great photos, than someone cold, stiff, miserable and uncomfortable (unless that is the look you are after).

Help them be a good model. Communicate, listen to their feedback, support them and you should both reap the benefits with some memorable images and hopefully a fun experience as well.

The post 7 Tips to Get the Best Out of a Model Shoot appeared first on Digital Photography School.

it's from Digital Photography School https://ift.tt/2C6JrPq
via Stacey Hill

[Photography] How to Find Your Best Photos Using Compare View In Lightroom Classic CC

To compare your images in Lightroom, you can either use Survey View or Compare View. In this article, I will focus on Compare View in Lightroom Classic CC.

Comparing images allows you to choose the very best image or images to edit in the Develop Module. Compare View is used to compare two similar images, whereas Survey View is useful for comparing a series of similar photos to narrow down your favorite choices.

I personally use Compare View often because as a still life photographer, I am often filtering through many images that are very similar to each other. Compare View allows you to do this efficiently. Grid View in the Library Module is where you can find and utilize Compare View.

Using Compare View

With the images of the Brussels sprouts below, my goal was to select the best composition. Although the pictures look really similar, some of them are better than others in terms of the placement of the knife and the Brussels sprouts, and how they lead the eye through the frame. I wanted the cut Brussels sprout to fall in one of the focal points according to the Phi Grid, and the other small pieces to look random and well balanced.

This is how some of the unedited images look in Grid View.

To compare your images, start in Grid View. The keyboard shortcut to get to Grid View is G.

Then enter  C to go to Compare View. You can also hit the X/Y icon on the left-hand side of the toolbar.

Choose the first image you would like to compare. This will appear in the left-hand window and is labeled Select in the upper right-hand corner. The next image in the Lightroom filmstrip appearing on the right is the Candidate.

Info Overlay

If you hit the letter I on the keyboard, you will be able to see the date and time you shot the image in the left-hand corner of the image, as well as the pixel size. If you hit the “I” key again, it will display your camera settings and lens information. Hit it for the third time and the info overlay will disappear.

File date and size.

Camera metadata and shooting information.

If you select only one photo and then switch to Compare View, Lightroom Classic CC uses that photo and either the last, previously selected photo, or an adjacent photo in the filmstrip.

When you look at your filmstrip, the white diamond in the upper right-hand corner of the image is the Selected one, whereas the black diamond is the Candidate. The Selected image is brighter as seen here (thumbnail on the left).

The difference between the Selected image and Candidate is that the Selected image will remain where it is on the left, while you can choose different photos in the Candidate window. You do this by clicking on the right or left arrow in the toolbar, or using the arrows on your keyboard.

Compare View Icons

Here is the toolbar in Lightroom’s Compare View.

Zoom

The cool thing about Compare View is that you can zoom in on your image, which you cannot do in Survey View. You can access the zoom at the bottom left of the tool panel, as shown in the photo below.

You can also use Cmd/Ctrl+ to zoom in, and Cmd/Ctrl- to zoom out. While you are zoomed in you can click on the image and drag it around to inspect it closer, to see if it’s in focus, or if there was dust on your sensor, etc.

Link Focus

The link focus icon looks like a lock. When you’re scrolling through a zoomed-in image, both of the images will move. If you click on the lock icon to “unlock” it, it will allow you to scroll around only on one of the photos.

This is good if you’re comparing images with a slightly different composition. It’s a great tool when you want to check that all of the people in a group photo have their eyes open, for example.

Sync

If you click to unlock the Link Focus tool, once you want to go back to viewing the same parts of your image at the same time, you simply need to click on the Sync button next to the zoom. This button controls the zoom sync ratio.

Swap

Use Swap to change the image that shows up in the Select window. It swaps it out with the image that is currently in the Candidate window.

Take care that when you are choosing photos in the filmstrip that you actually click on the photo itself, and not the frame. If you click on the grey part, not only are you choosing the photo as a Select but also you are choosing the photo next to it as the Candidate photo.

You can also swap photos by clicking on the images individually in the filmstrip.

Make Select 

When you click on this icon, it will move to the Select Window and use the next photo in the filmstrip as the Candidate. Swap simply reverses them.

Select Previous/Next Photo

Then you can click on the arrows to toggle through the images in the Candidate window.

Rating Images

Photographers all have their preferred way of rating their photographs, whether that be by flagging them, adding a color label, or star rating. You can do this in Compare View.

I personally find flagging is the easiest way. After I have finished going through my photos and am in the Develop Module, I will use star ratings to signify where I am in the editing process. For example, four stars need further editing, while five stars indicate that I have finished editing and exported them to the appropriate file.

I use color labels to separate my personal photos from client work and stock images. Currently, this is what is working for me. You may have a very different system.

Flag the photographs you are potentially interested in editing by hitting P, which marks it as a “pick”. To mark one as a reject (for later deletion), hit the X on your keyboard. If you keep your CAPS lock on, you can simply hit the arrow keys. You can later delete all of those rejected images in bulk.

To Sum Up

• Go to Grid View
• Choose your Select Image
  
• Choose C for Compare View
• Use the arrows to cycle through the images. Inspect them as necessary, using the Zoom and Link Focus tools as necessary. 
• Pick the images you want to keep by hitting P to flag them. Hit X for any images you want to get rid of. Rate them now if desired.

Compare View is a bit more difficult to use than Survey View. However, you can also cycle through your images very quickly, once you get the hang of it.

Take advantage of Lightroom’s powerful features to quickly filter through tons of your photos. You can immediately get rid of images that don’t work and you’ll never use, or images that are very similar but miss the mark. This will free up space and make your life a lot easier when it comes to searching for photos and going through Lightroom’s filmstrip.

The post How to Find Your Best Photos Using Compare View In Lightroom Classic CC appeared first on Digital Photography School.

it's from Digital Photography School https://ift.tt/2LLFgI8
via Darina Kopcok