[Photography] Camera Angles in Photography: A Quick Way to Enhance Your Shots

The post Camera Angles in Photography: A Quick Way to Enhance Your Shots appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Want to add interest and variety to your photos? Then try working with different camera angles! It’s an easy compositional technique to use – you simply need to move your camera in different directions – and it’ll make a huge difference.

But what photography angles are best? How do you decide on the right camera angle for each situation? That’s where this article comes in handy.

Below, I share five angles that pretty much always get great results. I explain how to use them, when they look best, and I offer some tips and tricks to take your images to the next level. I conclude with a practical experiment, in which I photograph a scene from a few different angles to show you exactly what angle adjustments can do for your photos.

Ready to become a picture angle master? Let’s dive right in.

The five essential photography angles

Technically, there are an infinite number of angles to choose from – but I recommend you learn just five. They can act as your angle bread and butter, and while you’re free to improvise angles on your own, these are tried-and-tested options that are practically guaranteed to work.

If you can commit these five angles to memory, then you’ll be ready to handle nearly any situation. And if you use a variety of angles consistently, the quality of your photos will go through the roof.

1. Bird’s-eye view

The bird’s-eye view angle is simple in theory, but often difficult to pull off.

You get high above your subject, then shoot downward to achieve a photo like this:

I chose a bird’s eye view for this photo of our sleeping baby.

Now, a bird’s-eye view perspective often looks great. For one, it shows the viewer a completely new angle (after all, most people don’t normally spend their time looking down from high up!). And it features plenty of subject detail, as the camera won’t be obstructed by trees, people walking by, and so on.

Plus, a bird’s-eye view angle lets you show your subject in its environment, which can add interest and even narrative.

This photography angle is also a great way to create graphic compositions, as the overhead perspective often flattens the scene, emphasizing lines, shapes, and (especially) shadows. That’s one of the reasons it’s such a popular method of doing food and still-life flat lays (like the one pictured below!).

However, achieving a bird’s-eye angle can be difficult. You can use stairs, balconies, and ladders to get high above your subject, but if you need to capture an entire scene and there are no good vantage points, you’re often out of luck. In landscape photography, for instance, often the only way to get a bird’s-eye perspective is with a drone, and these present problems of their own (e.g., they’re expensive, they’re heavy, and battery life is very limited).

So when you’re shooting scenes that easily allow you to capture that high-angle view, go for it! Otherwise, use your other angles, such as:

2. The high angle

A high angle isn’t as extreme as a bird’s-eye view. Instead, you just need to identify your subject, then get a few inches or feet above it.

Fortunately, this angle is generally easy to pull off – you mostly just need to stand up or, at most, raise your camera above your head – and the result is very cool, like the photographer is looming large over a small subject. In fact, a high angle often makes your subject look smaller or more vulnerable, like an adult looking down at a child:

It’s a great way to photograph kids, and I also recommend a high angle when photographing pets (especially dogs).

Note that a subtly higher angle is often useful in serious portrait photography, as it adds dynamism and often has a slimming effect.

3. Face to face

The face-to-face angle is done at your subject’s eye level. (If you’re photographing a flower, it’s on the level of the flower’s head; if you’re photographing a landscape, it’s generally a few feet off the ground.)

The effect is often highly engaging and helps to establish a personal connection between the person in your photo and the person viewing it.

This angle is a great way to help the viewer access the small world of a subject. It works great with children:

And it’s also great for standard portraits.

It’s a popular angle among many nature photographers, too. Wildlife and bird photographers constantly work on a level with their subject, and you’ll often see flower photographers lying in the dirt, attempting to achieve that perfect face-to-face perspective.

My recommendation is to make sure you get as close to eye level as you can, even if it feels uncomfortable. You may need to kneel, or even lie down, to get the best effect.

4. The low angle

As you might expect, the low-angle shot is achieved by getting below the subject’s eye level and shooting upward. It’s not a hugely popular angle because of its difficulty – you often need to get down in the dirt – but the results are often worth the effort.

You see, as you get down lower, you make the subject appear larger. This often adds a looming feeling to your photos, and it’s great for emphasizing toughness, as is the case with this shark:

You can also use a low angle to make a scene look big, vast, and even epic. Landscape photographers love to use a low-angle effect to emphasize small foreground elements that then lead the viewer’s eye toward a stunning background.

And you can use a low angle to make more vulnerable subjects appear bigger; I often use it to photograph kids:

One tip: When pursuing a low angle, you’ll get the most noticeable effects if you shoot with a wide-angle lens – so be sure to shoot at around 35mm or wider.

5. Bug’s-eye view

The bug’s-eye view angle, also known as the worm’s-eye view angle, works just the way it sounds:

You get down as low as you can and look straight up toward your subject.

This angle is certainly unusual; viewers rarely experience such a point of view, so it adds an interesting and creative perspective to the resulting photos.

Unfortunately, a bug’s-eye view isn’t so easy to achieve. It’s often impossible to shoot from below a subject (e.g., this is rarely an option for landscape photographers) – but when you can use a bug’s eye view, the effect is quite striking.

Try capturing your children this way when at the local playground. You can also use the bug’s-eye angle for interesting architectural shots, especially when shooting building interiors.

How to use photography angles: a practical example

As I mentioned at the start of this article, it’s usually a good idea to capture more than one angle when you photograph a scene. This will push your creativity, help you explore new perspectives, and provide you with more views to tell the story.

These next photos demonstrate how I captured one scene from three different angles.

I was photographing my daughter on a country road, and in this first photo, I used a higher angle to show her and the mud puddle behind her:

Then I used a face-to-face angle to show her emotions:

Finally, I got down low to make the moment bigger and to emphasize the excitement she felt while having fun in the mud puddle:

Camera angles in photography: final words

Well, there you have it:

Five camera angles you can use to improve your photos.

Really, as long as you know these five camera angles and practice them occasionally, you’ll be able to get unstuck any time you’re uninspired or find that your photos are boring or predictable.

So commit them to memory! And have fun.

Now over to you:

Which of these picture angles do you like best? Which do you plan to try first? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Camera Angles in Photography: A Quick Way to Enhance Your Shots appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

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[Photography] A Practical Guide to the Lightroom Histogram

The post A Practical Guide to the Lightroom Histogram appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Andrew S. Gibson.

If you want to achieve the best results when editing in Lightroom, you must master the histogram.

But what actually is the Lightroom histogram? What does it show? And how does it work?

In this article, I explain everything you need to know, including:

• What the Lightroom histogram displays
• How you can use the histogram to identify (and fix) clipped highlights and shadows
• How you can use the histogram to determine ideal exposure and contrast levels
• A simple, step-by-step method of incorporating the histogram into your editing workflow

So if you’re ready to start enhancing your photos with a bit of histogram knowledge, then let’s dive right in, starting with the basics:

What is the Lightroom histogram?

The Lightroom histogram is a graphical representation of the tones and colors in a photo. It offers a fast, precise way to check each image for exposure and contrast issues.

You see, every image features a range of tones, from the deepest blacks to the brightest whites. The histogram simply displays these different tones as peaks:

The rightmost portion of the histogram represents the brightest part of an image, while the leftmost portion of the histogram represents the darkest part of an image. The areas in the center of the histogram, then, represent the midtones of an image.

So if an image features lots of bright areas, you’ll see peaks at the right end; if an image features lots of dark areas, you’ll see peaks at the left end; if an image features lots of midtones, you’ll see peaks in the center. Quickly glance at a histogram, and you’ll gain a rough sense of how light – or dark – an image appears. Make sense?

Note that the Lightroom histogram is found in two places:

At the top of the right-hand panel in the Library module, and at the top of the right-hand panel in the Develop module. You can easily check an image histogram when managing your files in the Library module, and you can also reference the histogram when applying edits in the Develop module.

While the Lightroom histogram is a relatively simple tool, it’s actually hugely helpful, as you’ll see in the next section:

What does the Lightroom histogram tell you?

The Lightroom histogram indicates three useful image characteristics:

• Image clipping
• Image exposure
• Image contrast

Let’s take a look at each item in turn:

Image clipping

Clipping refers to a loss of detail at the extreme ends of an image file. For instance, if you dramatically overexpose an image, you may lose detail in – that is, clip – the brightest parts of the file, such as the sky.

Or if you dramatically underexpose an image, you may clip the darkest parts of the file, such as heavy shadows.

Clipping is a problem, as images tend to look best when detail is present in every tonal area. Fortunately, if you can identify clipping and you haven’t messed up your exposure too badly, you can often recover clipped details by adjusting your Lightroom exposure sliders.

Of course, before you can recover clipped details, you need to determine whether clipping is present, which you can do via the Lightroom histogram.

The simplest method to check for clipping is to just look at the histogram. If peaks are pressing up against the leftmost edge of the graph, then you’re probably dealing with shadow clipping, and if peaks are pressing up against the rightmost edge of the graph, then you’re probably dealing with highlight clipping.

But it’s always a good idea to get confirmation. Simply click the Show Shadow Clipping and Show Highlight Clipping triangular icons at the top of the histogram (circled below):

(Alternatively, hit the J key on your keyboard.)

Then check your image. If shadow clipping is present, you’ll see areas marked in blue:

And if highlight clipping is present, you’ll see areas marked in red:

At this point, you might boost the Shadows slider to recover clipped shadow detail, and you might drop the Highlights slider to recover clipped highlight detail. When editing images in Lightroom, I highly recommend you keep these clipping indicators on – and that you check the histogram frequently. You never know what adjustment might send your tones over the edge!

Here, I dropped the Highlights slider to -100, and the detail came right back into the sky:

Image exposure

The Lightroom histogram can also indicate whether your image is over- or underexposed.

You see, a well-exposed image tends to produce a relatively centered histogram, one with tones spread across the graph:

But if you look at the histogram and see a clear skew – where the tones are pushed to the right or the left – it’s a sign that your image is poorly exposed. Here’s an example of a skewed histogram that indicates potential underexposure:

A look at the photo confirms the histogram is correct. The image is far too dark and needs some serious exposure correction:

You should be careful, however. While a skewed histogram generally does indicate a problematic exposure, certain images feature a natural tonal imbalance; in such cases, a perfect exposure will produce a skewed histogram.

For instance, if you’re photographing a black cat against dark carpet, you should see a histogram like the one below, as the image contains no light tones:

And if you’re photographing a polar bear against snow, you should get the opposite: a heavy skew toward the right edge of the histogram and no peaks along the left end of the graph.

So do check your histogram for bad exposures, but also check your image and evaluate its tonal range. Only then should you adjust the exposure by moving the Lightroom Tone sliders.

For the underexposed image I shared above, a boost of the Exposure slider improved the shot dramatically:

Image contrast

While most photographers use the histogram to determine clipping and overall exposure issues, you can use the histogram a third way:

To identify images in need of a contrast boost.

You see, a low-contrast image features a limited tonal range. Most low-contrast shots consist of midtones (with little-to-no highlight and shadow presence), though you can also find low-contrast photos that consist of highlights and midtones or midtones and shadows.

These low-contrast images feature a compressed histogram, where the peaks bunch together and fail to span the entire graph:

This often occurs in flat light, when photographing on overcast days or in strong shade. The histogram displayed above belongs to this image, which was taken during very cloudy conditions:

Now, low-contrast images aren’t necessarily bad. You can sometimes use a low-contrast edit to create a faded, even ethereal, effect.

But more contrast will help your photos pop, so unless you have a specific reason to keep your shots low contrast, I recommend you respond to a compressed histogram by boosting the Contrast slider and/or adjusting the Blacks and Whites sliders.

That’s what I did for my image, and the result is far better:

How to use the Lightroom histogram: a step-by-step workflow

In this section, I explain how to use the histogram to quickly enhance your photos.

Step 1: Check for highlight and shadow clipping

The Lightroom histogram lets you quickly check files for highlight and shadow clipping.

So open an image in the Develop module, then tap the Show Highlight Clipping and Show Shadow Clipping icons:

Take a look at your image. Is there any highlight clipping? (This will be indicated by a red overlay.)

If so, head over to the Highlights slider and reduce the value until the clipping disappears.

Then look for shadow clipping, indicated by a blue overlay. If clipping is present, boost the Shadows slider until the lost detail is recovered.

Step 2: Check the overall exposure

Once you’ve eliminated clipping, it’s time to deal with any general exposure issues.

Check out your histogram. Is it well balanced? Or does it seem to indicate over- or underexposure?

If it does seem well balanced – especially when taking into account the image’s content – then you can move on to the next step. However, if the exposure appears to be inappropriately skewed, then find the Exposure slider and drag it to the right (to boost the exposure) or to the left (to drop the exposure).

As you work, keep an eye on your histogram. And make sure you keep the clipping indicators activated; that way, if you do start to clip details, you can quickly back off your exposure adjustments (or you can add a Shadows or Highlights adjustment to compensate).

Step 3: Check image contrast

At this point, I’d recommend observing your image. How does it look? Is it well exposed? And if so, does it look sufficiently punchy?

Then check your histogram once more, looking for the compression that’s characteristic of low-contrast photos.

If you do notice a compressed, low-contrast histogram, then I’d suggest increasing the Contrast slider to see how it affects your shot.

If you like the effect, then leave it; if you prefer a low-contrast effect, then double-click to reset the Contrast slider.

By the way, if you find the Contrast slider too heavy-handed, you do have another option: You can decrease the Blacks slider while increasing the Whites slider. This is a nice way to add some weight to the image extremes, and it’ll give you a bit more control than the standard Contrast slider.

A guide to the Lightroom histogram: final words

Well, there you have it:

Everything you need to know about the histogram in Lightroom!

Just remember what I’ve shared, and your images will turn out great.

The post A Practical Guide to the Lightroom Histogram appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Andrew S. Gibson.

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[Photography] Lens Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Lens’s Sharpest Aperture

The post Lens Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Lens’s Sharpest Aperture appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Dena Haines.

Are you tired of blurry images? Are you looking to capture consistently sharp photos, no matter your lens type?

There’s a simple solution: You need to find your lens’s sharpest aperture, also known as your lens’s sweet spot.

In this article, I share several methods of determining this ideal aperture. I also discuss additional reasons why your photos might be blurry (so you can deal with any and all issues right from the get-go).

By the time you’re done reading, you’ll know how to capture tack-sharp photos with every one of your lenses.

Let’s dive right in!

What is a lens sweet spot?

A lens sweet spot refers to the aperture at which a lens is sharpest.

You see, as you move throughout a lens’s aperture range, image sharpness changes. A lens is rarely tack-sharp throughout its entire range; instead, there’s generally an ideal aperture at which the lens produces outstanding results.

(Why? The answer is a bit technical, but it has to do with various optical aberrations and issues, such as spherical aberration and diffraction.)

Take a look at the two clock images below. Do you see how the image on the left is slightly softer than the image on the right? That’s because my lens’s sweet spot is f/9, not f/3.5!

Bottom line:

Every lens has an optimal aperture, a sweet spot at which images display top-notch sharpness. Of course, some lenses do remain relatively sharp as you adjust the aperture, but even the best lenses are slightly sharper around their sweet spot. The opposite is true, as well: while a low-priced kit lens probably won’t offer mindblowing sharpess at any aperture, it will improve when set to its optimal aperture.

Should you always use your lens’s sweet spot?

Using your lens’s sharpest aperture can significantly improve your images, but it’s important to know when a sweet spot is useful – and when it’s best ignored.

If your goal is to capture maximum detail – you’re doing landscape or product photography, for example – then shooting at your lens’s sweet spot can make a big difference. This is especially true if you plan to crop your photos (as sharper images will stand up better to significant cropping).

It’s also important to maximize sharpness if you plan to print your photos large (because an enlarged image will often reveal your lens’s optical flaws).

However, extreme sharpness is far less important if you only ever plan to share your photos on social media or even on a portfolio website. Standard web file sizes don’t offer enough detail to really evaluate lens sharpness. Yes, it’s possible to see image blur in a web file, but such issues are generally due to photography technique, not lens optics.

Also, certain types of photography actually encourage blur; here, maximizing image sharpness can actually be detrimental. I’m talking about genres such as portrait photography, where a bit of softness can give your subject a beautiful glow and de-emphasize wrinkles and blemishes. Soft-focus macro photography, too, can benefit from a bit of blur, which can help create interesting artistic effects.

Finally, lens sweet spots tend to sit around f/8, but in certain situations, you’ll want to widen your aperture to f/4, f/2.8, or even f/1.4. Perhaps you need a wide aperture to shoot in low light, or you’re after a beautiful shallow depth of field effect. When you encounter such scenarios, you’ll need to think hard about whether lens sharpness is worth the tradeoff – or whether it’s worth sacrificing lens sharpness to achieve some other effect. Photography is often about compromise and sacrifice, and sharpness, while nice, isn’t the only thing that matters.

So before spending time obsessing over sharpness, ask yourself: How important is sharpness to me? Do I need to crop? Do I need to print large? Do I need maximum detail? Do I want a shallow depth of field? And depending on your answers, determine the right way to proceed.

How to find your lens’s sharpest aperture: two methods

In this section, I offer two ways you can identify your lens’s sweet spot. The first is a simple calculation that relies on a rule of thumb, while the second is more involved (and more accurate).

Go two stops beyond the maximum aperture

Every lens features a maximum aperture, the widest f-stop value it’s capable of achieving.

And while the lens’s maximum aperture tends to be relatively blurry, you can often reach the sweet spot by narrowing the maximum aperture by two stops.

So start by identifying your lens’s maximum aperture. (This is generally listed in the name of the lens; it’s also generally printed on the side and/or end of the lens.)

Note that all prime lenses feature a single maximum aperture, such as f/2.8 or f/4. But some zoom lenses, especially kit lenses and other zooms designed for beginners, will feature a variable maximum aperture. In such cases, the maximum aperture will change depending on the lens focal length. The listed maximum aperture range corresponds to the maximum aperture at the lens’s widest focal length and the maximum aperture at the lens’s narrowest focal length.

For instance, my Canon 18-55mm zoom lens has a variable maximum aperture of f/3.5 to f/5.6. At 18mm, the maximum aperture is f/3.5; at 55mm, the maximum aperture is f/5.6. You can see this range indicated on the front of the lens:

Once you’ve determined your lens’s maximum aperture, simply count down by two stops. You can use this chart, which counts by 1/3rd stops:

• f/1.2
• f/1.4
• f/1.8
• f/2
• f/2.2
• f/2.4
• f/2.8
• f/3.2
• f/3.5
• f/4
• f/4.5
• f/5
• f/5.6
• f/6.3
• f/7.1
• f/8
• f/9
• f/10
• f/11
• f/13
• f/14
• f/16

So count six steps from your lens’s maximum aperture to find its sweet spot. On my 18-55mm lens, the widest aperture is f/3.5. By counting down six steps (two full stops), I get a sweet spot of f/7.1.

This is a decent approximation of a lens sweet spot. And you can bank on your calculated sweet spot, plus a stop or so around the sweet spot, achieving very nice sharpness.

But if you really want to maximize detail, you can get a more accurate result with a test:

Do a careful sharpness test

Lens sharpness tests are easy to conduct, especially if you’re simply looking to determine the sharpest aperture.

First, mount your camera and lens setup on a sturdy tripod.

Next, place a simple subject about five to eight feet in front of your lens. If possible, select a subject that includes words (for instance, a person holding a newspaper). If you want to get really precise, then purchase a lens test chart, tack it to a wall, and shoot that.

For my test, I had my daughter hold a cup with writing on the side:

Set your camera to Aperture Priority mode, dial in your camera’s base ISO, then set your lens to its maximum aperture. Before shooting, be sure your camera is using its two-second timer (you don’t want any camera shake ruining the test results!).

Make sure to set your camera to Aperture Priority mode before shooting!

Finally, begin taking photos. Capture a few shots at each aperture (three photos is generally good). Then narrow the aperture slightly and continue. Work through the lens’s entire aperture range.

When you’re done, pull up the images on your computer and zoom in to 100%. Compare the images. Which look the sharpest? If you’re struggling to tell, you can always zoom in further. Pay particular attention to any text in the images, as that’s where softness will often be most visible.

By the way, be sure to check both the center and the edges of your files. Lenses tend to lose sharpness as you move out from the center of the frame, and it’s important to understand how aperture affects edge sharpness, too.

Eventually, you’ll determine the sharpest aperture. Be sure to commit this number to memory (and write it down, just in case!). The next time you need to produce tack-sharp images, it can be your go-to aperture setting.

Why are my images still blurry?

If you’ve identified your lens’s sharpest aperture but you’re still getting blurry images, then you’re likely dealing with one of a few possible issues.

First, you might be using poor technique; make sure you’re shooting at a low ISO and using a fast shutter speed. Mount your camera on a tripod to decrease camera shake even further. When you do handhold, be sure to keep your elbows tucked in tight and your hands steady. Also, make sure your camera is focusing in the right spot.

Second, your lens may simply be blurry at all apertures. This is rare, but it can happen, especially if you’ve purchased a very cheap lens (or you’ve received a bad lens copy). If possible, try a different lens on the same camera. If the issue is instantly resolved, it’s a sign that you should invest in a new lens.

How to find your lens’s sharpest aperture: final words

Now that you know your lens’s sweet spot, you’re ready to capture some tack-sharp shots.

So get out with your camera and start shooting! Be sure to review your results afterward; that way, you can see how much your image sharpness has improved.

Now over to you:

What is your lens’s sweet spot? How did you figure it out? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Lens Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Lens’s Sharpest Aperture appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Dena Haines.

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