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Apr 4, 2024

[Photography] How to Edit Corporate Headshots in Lightroom

The post How to Edit Corporate Headshots in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Tim Sullivan.

When it comes to making people look their best in corporate headshot photography, you should certainly start with lighting, exposure, and composition. However, even if you’re on top of your headshot photography game, there are plenty of small adjustments you can make in the editing process that’ll make your photos (and your clients!) look far more professional.

To start, it’s important to recognize that, on the day of the shoot, a lot of things will be out of your control. This is true whether you’re a complete newbie – or a seasoned pro.

Take a booking I had recently. It was scheduled for a Friday afternoon, and it happened to follow a full week of annual strategy meetings. All the head honchos were dead tired, and looking good for photos was the last thing on their to-do list. After a week of deciding the future of their company, a lot of them looked a little….less than fresh. Dehydration, bags under the eyes, and coffee-stained teeth were starting to appear – because we’re human and that’s what happens. And although I knew that soft light would help, I also knew that cameras are rather unforgiving of the sleep-deprived.

This is an extreme example, but there are always minor aesthetic problems that you’ll face as a headshot photographer. Fortunately, in every case, post-processing can come to the rescue. It’ll make you feel better about your photos, and it’ll make your subjects feel better about themselves. Although most of my corporate headshot clients know that post-production doesn’t mean they’ll end up as Heidi Klum, they do appreciate just a smidge of help once the photos are loaded up.

Corporate touch-ups are about making the subject look as fresh as can be. However, a post-processing workflow doesn’t need to take hours. I like to keep my post-processing efficient, effective, and easy – so I can get the photos off my computer and onto my clients’ desks as quickly as possible. Below, I explain how I edit my corporate headshots in Lightroom, using the streamlined workflow I’ve developed over the years. Specifically, I explain how you can take an unprocessed photo like this:

How to edit corporate headshots in Lightroom

And, with a bit of editing, get a result like this:

(Note: While I certainly recommend Lightroom for your own post-processing needs, you can easily recreate my headshot editing workflow in Photoshop, Capture One, ON1 Photo RAW, and more.)

The Lightroom workflow I use for corporate headshots

The workflow I’m about to show you will suit a variety of corporate clients. But I’m going to use a single example photo from a professional photoshoot I did a few years back; that way, you can see my approach in action.

Let’s start with the shot straight out of camera:

This particular company wanted to feature their employees in their native work environment, so the office became the background, which eliminated the need to bring a backdrop. I lit the subject with window light, an octabox, and a reflector, and I shot the image with a 50mm lens.

(Normally, I’d grab my 85mm for corporate work, but we were out of town and didn’t have our full complement of gear with us. The 50mm did the job just fine, however!)

Step 1: Make basic exposure, white balance, and compositional adjustments

As soon as I pull up an image in Lightroom, I start by considering some simple adjustments:

Cropping, lens corrections, exposure, and white balance.

Not all of these adjustments are needed in every case, but it’s always worth thinking about each one before moving on. Here, I need to crop the reflector out of the frame, as it’s intruding on the left-hand side. If you look carefully at the vertical lines on the right-hand side, you’ll notice some barrel distortion caused by my lens (the wall is curving slightly inward). Fortunately, this is easy to fix by checking the Enable Profile Corrections box in Lightroom’s Lens Corrections panel.

I’m happy with the white balance in this image, but I do want to boost the exposure – the unedited file is a little dark – while also dropping the Highlights slider to prevent the brightest parts of the image from getting out of hand.

After making those adjustments, here’s how the headshot looks:

Hopefully, you’ll agree with me that it’s much improved. Those minor tweaks refined the composition while making the scene feel tonally balanced. However, there’s still more work to be done:

Step 2: Make local adjustments

Local adjustments are targeted to a specific part of the image, and while you can spend hours carefully retouching your subjects’ features, the changes I make are subtle.

In truth, the best way to get some of these effects is to have the client get a great night’s rest and stay hydrated, but as I said at the beginning of this article, that’s mostly out of your control. And again, these adjustments aren’t meant to turn anyone into an airbrushed masterpiece; they’re designed to give your corporate clients a small boost.

Before we dive in, let’s review some local adjustment keyword shortcuts to help you speed things up:

Adjustment Brush keyboard shortcuts

Press H to hide or show the pin you’re using. This is helpful when the pin is in the way and you want it to disappear.
Press O to hide or show a mask overlay of the Brush’s effect; you can also check the Show Selected Mask Overlay option in the Masking panel. This is helpful so you can see exactly what areas you’re affecting. (Repeatedly tapping Shift+O will run through the overlay colors: white, black, red, and green).
Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z (Mac OS) to undo your most recent adjustment.
Hold Alt to turn the Brush into an Eraser. This will help you clean up any minor mistakes you make while adding adjustments.

Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are the local adjustments I make to my corporate headshots (and in this order, too):

1. Soften Skin

This helps clear up pores and deals with any blemishes. These are the settings I add to my Adjustment Brush in Lightroom:

Clarity: -50
Sharpness: -10
Contrast: +5
Highlights: +15 (to counteract the loss of highlights that comes from decreasing the Clarity slider)

I brush over the subject’s entire face with the exception of the eyes, eyebrows, and lips. Since I like to use a green mask overlay, when I’m finished, my subject’s face is fully Hulkified:

As mentioned in the previous section, you can change the color of the mask overlay by tapping Shift+O. These days, red is the default, but I use green as it’s nice and easy to see.

If you make a mistake while softening the skin and go over any of the areas you don’t want to target, just use the Alt key to turn the Brush into an eraser, then paint the mask away.

2. Diminish lines

I use this edit to soften any shadows created by wrinkles and smile lines, Here are the settings I apply with my Brush:

Contrast: -30
Shadows: +15
Clarity: -50
Sharpness: -10

Note that I keep the Brush small and soft as I paint across any lines on the person’s face:

Let’s look at the before and after of what we have so far (focusing on the local adjustments):

You’ll see that the skin is more even throughout, and the deep shadows of the lines are reduced and softened (but not removed completely). Remember, the goal is to freshen, not to make the subject look like a plastic doll.

Next up, let’s get those eyes popping a little more. This is easy to overdo, so be judicious.

3. Brighten the eyes

Slight adjustments to your subject’s eyes will make them look more lifelike and animated. I like to start by brightening up the entire eye with these Brush settings:

Exposure: +0.2
Contrast: +10
Clarity: +10

As you can see, I’ve applied the mask to both eyes, taking care to cover the whites, the irises, and the pupils:

4. Enhance the iris

Once I’ve brightened up the eyes more generally, I like to focus on just the colorful part of the eye: the iris. I’ll generally add a bit of positive exposure and a touch of saturation, as well as a few other minor adjustments to help the irises stand out:

Exposure: +0.40
Contrast: +20
Highlights: +35
Clarity: +5
Saturation: +20

Let’s check back in with another before-and-after comparison:

It’s subtle, but there’s just enough pop around the eyes without it being overdone.

5. Whiten the teeth

It’s time to make your subject’s dentist proud! This is another adjustment you’ll need to be careful not to overdo, and the specifics will depend on your subject’s teeth, but here’s what generally works for me:

Temp: -25 (adding blue gets rid of any yellow in the teeth!)
Exposure: +0.25
Saturation: -20

I carefully paint over the enamel while avoiding the lips and gums:

6. Define the hair and eyelashes

Now for the final touch, where I give a bit of definition to the hair and eyelashes. Here are the settings I like to apply:

Contrast: +10
Highlights: +20
Shadows: -10
Clarity: +30
Saturation: +10
Sharpness: +30

I’ll paint over my subject’s hair and eyelashes, and I’m careful not to accidentally enhance their skin – though I don’t worry too much about brushing every single bit of hair:

Wrapping up

That’s pretty much all I do to enhance my corporate headshots! Let’s take a final look at the before-and-after images after I’ve made my local adjustments:

And here’s the photo that was delivered to the client:

All of these changes are delicate. When done right, they’re almost imperceptible.

Remember: Retouching your corporate headshots doesn’t need to be an hours-long endeavor. Your clients don’t need to be on the cover of Vogue – they need a no-fuss photo that’s LinkedIn-ready and that shows them at their best.

With the small edits I shared above, you can ensure that your headshot clients are satisfied by your work, and keep your portfolio looking polished!

Portrait Photography

The post How to Edit Corporate Headshots in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Tim Sullivan.

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Apr 3, 2024

[Photography] The iPhone App That’ll Revolutionize Your Photography: Snap Pro Camera

The post The iPhone App That’ll Revolutionize Your Photography: Snap Pro Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Use Snap Pro Camera for amazing iPhone photos

Let’s face the facts: Carrying around a “serious” camera can be frustratingly inconvenient. DSLRs, and even more compact mirrorless models, are big, bulky, and conspicuous. (If you’ve ever tried to take your dedicated camera on vacation, or even just on a day trip, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.)

One solution is to turn to the camera that lives in your pocket: your smartphone. A smartphone camera offers a slew of benefits; not only is it accessible at every moment of the day, but it’s discreet, integrates seamlessly with editing apps, and captures surprisingly high-quality photos.

However, even the latest and greatest smartphone cameras are limited, and for photographers looking to capture eye-catching, portfolio-worthy images, this can be a dealbreaker. Consider the native iPhone camera app: Sure, it lets you tweak a few basic settings, and depending on your iPhone model, it provides access to a variety of lenses and filters, but here’s what it doesn’t offer:

Manual focusing
Shutter speed adjustments
ISO adjustments
White balance adjustments
RAW capture (this feature has been added to certain iPhone Pro models, but it’s still not available on most iPhones)

In other words, the iPhone native camera app doesn’t let you do all the things that, as a passionate photographer in pursuit of top-notch images, you should almost certainly be doing. Fortunately, if you like the convenience of iPhone photography but also want manual control over your camera, you have another option: You can ditch your iPhone’s native camera software for a third-party camera app, the kind that’ll let you reach your full potential as an iPhone photographer.

That’s where MIOPS’s Snap Pro Camera app comes in.

Snap Pro Camera gives you DSLR-like control over the iPhone’s camera, plus it boasts a slew of amazing modes for creative photography, such as Motion Blur, Light Trail, Crowd Removal, and more. It’s also remarkably intuitive; even if you’ve never used a manual camera app before, I doubt it’ll take you more than five minutes to learn your way around the interface. (It took me ten, only because I was having too much fun experimenting with the long-exposure modes!)

Bottom line:

Whether you’re a hobbyist photographer hoping to capture stunning shots with your iPhone or you’re a professional shooter looking to transform your iPhone into a fully functioning camera, Snap Pro Camera is one app you won’t want to miss. Below, I take a closer look at Snap Pro Camera’s unique features so you can understand just how revolutionary MIOPS’s app really is – and why it’s the only camera app you’ll ever need!

How to get started with Snap Pro Camera

Snap Pro Camera is easy to use, even for complete beginners. You start by downloading the app from the App Store; then, once it’s up and running, you’ll see this sleek interface:

As with the native iPhone camera app, you simply tap the image preview window to set focus. You can also change the image exposure by swiping upward or downward.

Along the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the shutter button (and if you like, you can go ahead and take your first photo by giving it a tap!). To the left of the shutter button is the Gallery, where you can access the images you’ve already taken. There’s also an icon indicating the exposure mode that your camera is using. By default, the exposure mode is set to A (or Auto), but you can switch this to M (or Manual), as I discuss in the next section.

To the right of the shutter button, you can access advanced exposure and composition tools by tapping on the frame icon:

And by tapping on the filter icon, you can access some cool Filters – such as Chrome, Noir, and Sepia Tone – that allow you to capture photos with different creative effects. (Note: When you select a filter, it’s not just applied to the image file after you press the shutter button; it’s applied to the image preview, too, so you can see how the filter will affect your photo in advance!)

Above the shutter button, you’ll find a row of camera settings, which I’ll explore more in the next section. (If the icons aren’t visible, you’ll need to press the exposure mode icon next to the shutter button.)

You should also see a few standard camera controls: the buttons to switch between different focal lengths, as well as the button to toggle between the rear and front-facing cameras:

Finally, at the top of the screen, you’ll encounter one more row of options. On the left, you can adjust your shooting mode:

And it’s here, in this shooting mode menu, that a lot of the fun happens. By default, Snap Pro Camera is set to Photo mode, which is good for general photography. However, the app also offers modes for creative and low-light photography, timelapse photography, and even tilt-shift videos.

Now, as you switch between the different shooting modes, the settings options across the top of the screen will change. With Photo mode selected, you can tweak the camera’s aspect ratio, file format, and burst settings:

But if you switch to Light Trail mode, for example, an exposure length setting appears:

That’s really about it – easy, right? You can tweak settings and switch modes as needed, but once you’re familiar with the main menus and icons, it’ll be easy to take advantage of the app’s class-leading capabilities.

And in the next few sections, I explain how you can use specific modes and settings to achieve amazing results.

Snap Pro Camera’s impressive manual controls

If you want to capture portfolio-worthy iPhone photos, you’re going to need to take control of your camera exposure settings. Fortunately, that’s one of the areas where Snap Pro Camera shines.

By default, the exposure mode will be set to Auto, and you’ll see an A:

Tap the A, however, and the exposure mode will switch to Manual. With Manual mode active, you can tap the row of icons above the shutter button to adjust:

The shutter speed
The ISO
The white balance
The focus point

In other words, instead of letting your iPhone make all the settings decisions for you – which often results in images that are blurry, grainy, or spoiled by color casts – you can make these decisions yourself and get results that are much, much better.

If you’re familiar with standard camera settings, you already know how revolutionary this is. But in case you haven’t worked with manual controls before, here are just a few cases where you can independently adjust your iPhone’s camera settings to get the kind of photos you envisioned:

If you’re photographing action, you can manually boost the shutter speed to 1/500s or above. That way, you can ensure that your subjects remain sharp, even if they’re in motion.
If you’re shooting landscapes, cityscapes, or architecture in low light, you can put your iPhone on a tripod, set the ISO to its base value, then choose a slow shutter speed that gives a good exposure. That way, your shots include plenty of detail – but you don’t have to worry about high-ISO noise ruining your files.
If you’re photographing small subjects – such as flowers, insects, or even grains of sand – you can get in close, then use the manual focus slider to carefully select the ideal point of focus. (Why is this necessary? When working at high magnifications, your iPhone’s autofocusing capabilities deteriorate, and you’ll struggle to capture sharp shots – unless you have access to manual focusing tools!)
If you’re photographing portraits, but you notice your images are looking unnaturally yellow or blue, you can manually tweak the white balance setting until the colors are accurate.

These DSLR-like controls offer so much potential for serious photography. No longer will you need to rely on your iPhone to determine the “right” settings for each photo; you’ll finally be free to make the tweaks needed for consistently great images.

(Plus, if you use both your iPhone and a dedicated camera, you can transition back and forth without missing a beat, simply because the settings are so similar!)

Snap Pro Camera’s sophisticated manual controls don’t stop there. As I mentioned above, the app offers advanced exposure and composition controls, where you can:

Turn on composition grids, including the Golden Triangles overlay, to help improve your framing
Activate the Tiltmeter to ensure your images are always level (this is a huge deal if you like to photograph landscapes or cityscapes!)
Turn on a histogram overlay so you can consistently avoid over- or underexposure

You even get access to a Zebra Stripes feature, which overlays red and blue stripes across overexposed and underexposed areas of your image:

As well as a Focus Peaking feature, which helps you consistently nail focus by outlining the portions of your frame that are sharp:

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the new RAW Photo shooting mode, which allows you to photograph in RAW instead of HEIF or JPG. RAW files contain far more image data than HEIF and JPG files, and, as a result, you can use a RAW editing app to recover overexposed highlights, bring back underexposed shadows, tweak the colors for artistic effects, and more.

Most of these features are nowhere to be found in the native iPhone camera app. But download Snap Pro Camera, and you’ll gain access to all of these settings – so that your iPhone photos are sharper, better composed, and better exposed than ever before.

Snap Pro Camera’s amazing long-exposure shooting modes

Snap Pro Camera’s manual controls are outstanding, and they certainly make the app a worthwhile download for anyone hoping to capture high-quality photos.

But it’s the creative shooting modes that take the app to a whole new level.

Now, I don’t have enough space to delve into each and every shooting mode – that would take a whole book! – but I do want to spend some time exploring two of my favorites: Motion Blur and Light Trail.

The Motion Blur mode

Capturing beautiful long-exposure photos is tough, especially on a smartphone. Even on the newest iPhones, there’s no reliable way to capture images with silky-smooth water, streaking clouds, ethereal skies, and other artistic effects – not in the native camera app, anyway!

Once again, however, Snap Pro Camera comes to the rescue. When you select Motion Blur from the shooting mode menu, you can extend the exposure time to 10 seconds, 20 seconds, and beyond, which means that you suddenly have the opportunity to create breathtaking long-exposure landscape images using only your phone.

What’s especially revolutionary about the Motion Blur mode is that you can use it in all types of lighting. With Motion Blur, you can capture all the classic long-exposure shots – evening seascapes with waves rolling up the beach, nighttime street scenes as people blur past, boats streaking across the ocean at dawn – but you can also create motion blur photos even when the sun is high in the sky.

In other words, you don’t have to wait for twilight to capture long-exposure landscape photos. If you come across a waterfall in bright light, you’re not stuck capturing a shot with sharp water droplets. Instead, thanks to Motion Blur mode, you can frame the scene, choose a longer exposure time, and capture an amazing long-exposure shot!

This isn’t just impressive for an iPhone camera app; it’s beyond anything offered on today’s flagship camera models. To capture motion blur in bright light, photographers using conventional cameras are forced to buy neutral density filters, which are highly inflexible, difficult to work with, and expensive. But with Snap Pro Camera, you can capture motion-blur effects whenever you like!

And I should emphasize:

The Motion Blur shooting mode isn’t only for photographing landscapes. You can also use it to capture people, cars, animals, and more – as long as you can include a moving subject in the frame, it can be rendered with artistic blur effects!

The Light Trail mode

At the risk of stating the obvious, light trails are ridiculously stunning. We’ve all spent time admiring a cityscape or landscape image that features a dimly lit scene accented by beautiful streaks of light from car headlights. But can you really use your iPhone to capture light trail photos of your own?

With Snap Pro Camera’s Light Trail mode, you can! As the name suggests, Light Trail mode is great for photographing light trails (though you can also use it to create photos that include cool light-painting effects).

Now, light trail photos require bright light sources that are on the move, and for the best results, you’ll want to find a vantage point that offers a solid view of your moving lights. For that reason, I often recommend doing light trail photography from a bridge or a balcony overlooking a high-traffic road – the high vantage point will make for a compelling composition, and the vehicles will provide plenty of light sources. Additionally, you’ll want to shoot after the sun goes down. Otherwise, the cars won’t have their lights on (and even if the lights are on, they’ll be overpowered by the ambient lighting).

Once you find a good scene, get in position, then just spend a few moments watching the flow of traffic. Think about your exposure, and try to evaluate how quickly the cars are moving through the scene. If you choose an exposure that’s too short, you’ll only capture partial light trails – but if you choose an exposure that’s too long, the light trails might overwhelm the rest of the shot.

Once you’re ready, activate the Light Trail shooting mode, and make sure your camera is as stable as possible. Check that the previewed image looks reasonably bright on your iPhone screen, then select an exposure time, bearing in mind the considerations I mentioned above.

Finally, wait until cars are about to enter the scene, press the shutter button, and watch as your iPhone creates a light trail photo!

If your first results don’t look how you imagined, don’t give up – light trail photography is pretty hit-and-miss, even for experienced shooters. Keep taking photos, keep adjusting the exposure time, and pretty soon, you’ll end up with a winner!

Want to elevate your iPhone photos? Snap Pro Camera is a no-brainer!

If you’ve made it this far, then you know just how impressive the Snap Pro Camera app actually is – and how it can transform your iPhone into a photographic powerhouse.

Not only does Snap Pro Camera offer the kind of manual controls required for serious photography, but its long-exposure shooting modes are unprecedented. Thanks to Motion Blur, you can capture artistic long-exposure effects in broad daylight, while the Light Trail mode lets you create the kind of portfolio-worthy shots that you never thought possible.

And when it comes to camera settings and shooting modes, this article barely scratched the surface. Snap Pro Camera is chock-full of additional tools to take your iPhone photography to the next level, such as Crowd Removal (which lets you capture people-free shots of busy scenes) and Low Light (which makes it easy to capture high-quality files in the darkest environments).

So if you’re serious about improving your iPhone photography, head over to the App Store and download Snap Pro Camera. Try out a few of the shooting modes. And be prepared to be amazed!

Then, once you’ve spent some time testing the app, come back to this article. What do you like most about the app? How do you plan to use it to improve your iPhone photos? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!

MIOPS is a paid partner of dPS.

The post The iPhone App That’ll Revolutionize Your Photography: Snap Pro Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Apr 2, 2024

[Photography] How to Get the Most Out of Your Camera Bag

The post How to Get the Most Out of Your Camera Bag appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Berk.

As a photographer who regularly travels, one of my biggest quests isn’t the search for the perfect shot – it’s the search for the perfect camera bag. If you’ve ever purchased a camera bag (or two, or ten), then I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about.

With every bag or backpack I’ve ever owned, the internal dividers never seem to fit my gear perfectly. They create compartments that are either too small to hold my lenses or so large that my lenses constantly shift around. The result tends to be a lot of wasted space in the bag, gear that’s not totally secure, and gut-wrenching decisions over which lenses to leave behind.

Now, I do have a lot of gear; when I travel, I generally like to carry a full-frame camera body, a flash, a set of 4×5 glass filters, a 14-24mm lens, a 16-35mm lens, a 24-120mm lens, an 80-400mm lens, a 105mm macro lens, and a 24mm f/1.4 lens. (Yes, I know there are redundancies, but each lens has a clear purpose!)

Depending on the type of photography you like to do, you may not carry quite so much. However, a poorly packed camera bag is still a problem you can – and likely will – face.

So what’s the solution? Below, I explain my approach to optimizing my camera bag space – and I offer a step-by-step process for packing your camera bag more effectively.

My simple method for effectively packing my camera gear, explained

ThinkTank Airport Takeoff, backpack, roller bag, camera bag, photography, travel, — Here’s what my camera bag looked like before I figured out a good solution. As you can see, there’s plenty of wasted space and two compartments (in the upper left corner) that I can’t fit a lens in. My 80-400mm lens had to be left out, too.

When I was first trying to figure out how to pack my camera bag effectively, I thought the solution might be to get rid of the dividers, as they seemed to be causing most (or all?) of my problems.

Of course, I couldn’t just remove the dividers and let my gear roll around. I needed a way to pad my equipment – bags get swung around, put down, picked up, and banged into. The gear moves inside it, and without that padding, it’ll eventually suffer damage.

One option I tried for padding my precious cameras and lenses was wraps. There are several brands that make wraps specifically for camera gear; these come in varying sizes to fit different pieces of equipment. Here’s one of my camera bags – a ThinkTank Airport model – with the dividers completely removed and the wraps added:

Completely removing the dividers from the ThinkTank Airport takeoff allowed me to fit everything I wanted, with plenty of room to spare. — Completely removing the dividers from the ThinkTank Airport bag allowed me to fit everything I wanted with plenty of room to spare.

The problem was, however, that when I went to rewrap my cameras and lenses, it took too much time. If you’re a photographer who uses just one or two main lenses, you don’t often switch equipment, and/or you work in a slower-paced environment, maybe it could work, but it wasn’t right for me. Plus, I didn’t love the wraps I tried, so I eventually went back to the dividers.

A few years went by, and I begrudgingly continued to use my dividers. But I recently took a few trips where I just couldn’t get the dividers configured properly, and I had to choose something to leave behind. Usually, it meant going without a lens I thought I wouldn’t need – yet in the end, I always ended up wishing I had brought the lens along. As you can probably imagine, this sucked.

Eventually, I’d had enough. I went to my local camera store, and I considered the problem again. This time, I found myself staring at neoprene lens pouches. Neoprene pouches provide padding and come in various sizes to fit each lens in my kit, but they’re not too snug, and they’re not overly large, either.

I played around with the pouches, and I found that I could position lenses and cameras in the bag against each other. The neoprene is generally 4-5mm thick, so two pouches side by side have about as much thickness as the velcro dividers and therefore provide adequate support.

So I purchased enough neoprene pouches, and I pulled all of the velcro dividers out of my backpack. From there, I found I could fit everything pretty nicely, including my 80-400mm lens.

However, I did notice that, after wearing the backpack while hiking, my gear didn’t always hold its position – the items tended to settle to the bottom, which made it difficult to find things when I opened it. I put on my problem-solving hat, went back to the drawing board, and I finally settled on a hybrid solution that works extremely well.

At the bottom of the backpack, I place my 80-400mm lens with no pouch. Then I add a full-width divider, which runs across the length of the backpack to protect the 80-400mm lens.

Next, I add three lenses in neoprene pouches. Above that, I add a second full-width divider, which leaves me with a large compartment for my remaining lenses (in neoprene pouches), as well as my filters and some smaller accessories like lens cloths. On one side of the large compartment, I use a smaller velcro divider to house my camera.

Here’s the entire setup in action:

camera bag, getting the most from your bag, travel, photography, lenspouch, lowepro protactic 450 aw — This is my other camera backpack, the LowePro ProTactic 450 AW. I use two dividers to support the lenses and keep them from shifting in transit, and eliminating the middle dividers allow me to fit gear more snugly.

I recognize that you likely don’t have the same gear as I do. But I think this general approach – where you use some, but not all, of your camera bag’s dividers, and you place any neighboring lenses in neoprene pouches – can work for a whole lot of people.

If you think my approach could benefit you, here’s how I recommend you configure and pack your camera bags:

How to optimize your camera backpack

Using this method to pack your entire gear bag is pretty easy. Here’s the four-step process:

First, determine which lenses you’ll want to store in neoprene pouches and which lenses you’ll keep in their own compartments. This will depend on the equipment you have, but your shorter and medium-sized lenses are good candidates for pouches, while your longest lenses can likely fit in their own compartments.
Second, measure each lens you plan to store in a pouch, then order your pouches. You’ll want to ensure the pouch interiors are about a half-inch larger than the lens. (I use the LensCoat Lens Pouches.) The beauty of the pouches is that if I decide to remove a lens from the bag, it will still be protected from bumps and drops.
Third, consider whether your camera needs a neoprene pouch. Depending on how you arrange things, this might be necessary. (I use the LensCoat Body Bag pouches for cameras). Choose the one that best fits your camera.
Finally, remove all but the full-width dividers in your camera bag, taking care to fill full-width compartments with either long lenses or multiple shorter lenses (with their pouches on). Consider where you might fit accessories, and if you run into space issues, you can always remove additional dividers or add sectional dividers back if needed.

By the way: I purchased a silver Sharpie marker and some stencils from a craft store to label the outside of each pouch for easy identification. This can be helpful when you need to quickly find a specific lens and you don’t want to waste time peeking in different pouches.

lenspouch, pouch, sharpie, stencil, lens, padding, travel — Using a silver Sharpie and a stencil, I marked each pouch to identify the lens inside.

Camera backpack lens pouches — All of my lens pouches marked for easy identification.

Now it’s your turn to configure your camera backpack!

Boulder-Beach-Maine, landscape photography, camera bags, backpack, travel, photography, bags, gear

This approach to packing my camera bag has made a huge difference, and I highly recommend you try it for yourself.

Even with all my gear essentials, I find that I can fit more into the camera bag if needed, simply because I’m not limited to what the dividers will allow me to do. It’s still not the ever-elusive “perfect camera bag” that every photographer I know is searching for, but for me, it is just a bit closer.

What do you think? What is your ideal camera bag? Have you come up with any other inventive solutions to this issue? Do share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post How to Get the Most Out of Your Camera Bag appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Berk.

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[Photography] The Most Common Reasons Your Pictures Are Blurry (And How to Fix Them)

The post The Most Common Reasons Your Pictures Are Blurry (And How to Fix Them) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anne McKinnell.

Blurry photos? Here's what you should change

This article was updated in April 2024 with contributions from Anne McKinnell and Jaymes Dempsey.

“Why are my pictures blurry?” It’s a common question, especially for folks exploring photography for the first time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an easy answer.

The truth is that blurry photos are caused by many factors, so if your pictures are blurry, it’s often difficult to pinpoint the exact problem. Are you using improper handholding techniques? Do you have a defective lens? Did you choose a bad shutter speed? The list goes on. As a result, getting to a point where your files are consistently tack-sharp is, for most photographers, a goal that remains out of reach.

But while a blurry-photo problem doesn’t come with a one-size-fits-all solution, there are a handful of common reasons why your images might be blurry, each with its own simple fix.

And that’s why I wrote this article. Below, I list the 10 main reasons you might be capturing blurry photos, and while you might be familiar with some, others might come as a surprise.

So if you’re struggling to take sharp photos, here’s my recommendation:

Go through the list carefully. Don’t skip any of the sections, and make sure that you’re avoiding the common mistakes and pitfalls that I discuss. As soon as you come across an item that might be causing you problems, do whatever you can to erase it from your workflow – whether that means writing yourself a note that you keep in your camera bag, changing the default settings in your camera menu, or investing in new gear.

We all hate the feeling of viewing one of our images, only to realize that it’s blurry. But if you use this list, and you make the necessary changes, I guarantee that your photos will turn out sharper than ever.

1. Your shutter speed is too slow

For anyone who handholds their camera, a too-slow shutter speed is the number one culprit of blurry photos.

The slower your shutter speed, the more likely it is that vibrations in your camera – generally caused by tiny movements in your hands and arms – will create blur. This is an issue that I see all the time, and you often don’t realize that it’s plaguing your workflow until it’s pointed out to you.

You might think you can hold your camera perfectly still for half a second, but I assure you: there are very few people in the world who can do this. Most folks can only handhold a camera down to the 1/160s to 1/80s range, so if you’re using a shutter speed below 1/80s, then blur is a real possibility.

In fact, even if your shutter speed is faster than 1/80s, and even if you’re using a good handholding technique (see below!), blur due to camera shake can still creep in. That’s because the slowest shutter speed at which you can effectively handhold your camera varies depending on the lens’s focal length, the lens’s size, and the level of magnification.

So how can you be sure that your shutter speed is fast enough to prevent blur?

Start with this rule of thumb:

Your shutter speed should be the reciprocal of your lens’s focal length.

So if you’re using a 60mm lens, your shutter speed should be 1/60s or faster. With a 200mm lens, use at least 1/200s. With a 400mm lens, use at least 1/400s.

(The longer your lens length, the more camera shake is magnified, so telephoto lenses require much faster shutter speeds.)

sharp pelican without blur — I took this photo with a 400mm lens. Therefore, according to the reciprocal rule I shared above, I would need a shutter speed of at least 1/400s to capture a sharp shot. And honestly, when shooting with a heavy 400mm lens, it’s often safer to use a shutter speed that’s even faster.

Now, while the reciprocal rule is a useful starting point, you should modify it in a few specific scenarios.

First, if you’re photographing at high magnifications, you’ll want to boost the shutter speed a few notches beyond what the reciprocal rule recommends. So if you’re photographing flower petals with a 100mm macro lens, you should ideally use a shutter speed of 1/160s to keep your images sharp. And if you push your macro lens to its absolute maximum magnification, you’ll want to raise that shutter speed further still. When I photograph flowers at 1:1 magnifications, I’ve found that I generally need around 1/200s to keep my images from blurring (and when possible, I’ll shoot at 1/250s or even 1/320s to be safe).

Second, if you’re photographing action, such as a person running across a field, your shutter speed will need to be far faster than the reciprocal rule suggests. Fast-moving subjects require shutter speeds of 1/500s, 1/1000s, or – when dealing with ultra-fast subjects, such as birds in flight – 1/2000s and above.

Third, some lenses and cameras have image stabilization technology built into them. Image stabilization usually allows you to slow your minimum shutter speed by around 3-5 stops, so if your equipment includes this technology, and you know that its image-stabilization features are active, you can often handhold a few stops slower than the reciprocal rule suggests. But you should always be cautious, and if you haven’t tested your equipment’s capabilities, I recommend taking a few extra shots just to be sure you end up with a usable image.

What is your minimum shutter speed?

In addition to the reciprocal rule, it’s important to know your own personal minimum shutter speed.

You see, we all shake a little, but some of us shake more than others. So it’s good to know at what point camera shake becomes an issue for you.

Try this exercise (and for the best results, try it with each lens you own!):

Put your camera in Shutter Priority mode and take a photo at 1/500s. Then lower your shutter speed and take another image. Keep this going until you head all the way down to 1s or so, then pull up the images on your computer. Ask yourself: When does the blur become a problem? I rarely go below 1/125s if I’m handholding my camera, even if I’m using a shorter lens. I’ve found that I can’t consistently keep my images sharp at slower shutter speeds, and I just don’t want to risk a blurry shot.

2. You’re not using a tripod

To be clear, you don’t always need a tripod to capture sharp photos. If you follow the guidelines I set out above, you can avoid blur due to camera shake, and your handheld photos will look crisp.

However, there are times when using a sufficiently fast shutter speed isn’t desirable – either because you don’t have enough light, or because you’re deliberately trying to blur something in the frame.

In these scenarios, the reciprocal rule becomes worthless. But instead of handholding your camera and hoping for the best, you need to prevent blur due to camera shake by keeping your camera steady another way.

The best option, and the one that I highly recommend, is using a tripod. It’ll keep your camera completely steady even as you dial in a shutter speed of one second or more. As long as your tripod is sturdy, you can capture photos using shutter speeds that last minutes or even hours (though if you do shoot for hours, you’ll need to watch out for other problems, such as wind and file noise).

If a tripod is too inconvenient, consider a monopod, which is a more compact, flexible option (though it won’t offer anywhere near the same level of support, so you’ll need to be careful if you drop the shutter speed below 1/20s or so).

Also, when you use a tripod, image stabilization is not necessary and may even be counterproductive, so it’s a good idea to get in the habit of turning any IS off when you put your camera on a tripod.

3. You’re using bad camera-holding technique

If you’re handholding your camera, and you feel confident that you’re using a sufficiently fast shutter speed but your files are still turning out blurry, then it’s time to consider your handholding technique. Bad technique can cause extra camera shake, which can in turn cause blur.

For the best stability, practice the official photographer position:

Stand with your feet slightly apart, one staggered forward, and firmly planted to stabilize your body right to left and back to front. Support the camera with your left hand by holding the lens from underneath, and use your right hand to grab the grip and gently press the shutter button. Tuck your elbows tight to your chest and use the viewfinder rather than the Live View screen (holding the camera to your face will help keep it steady).

Some photographers even go so far as to listen to their breathing and heartbeat, taking care to fire the shot between breaths and beats for maximum stability.

photographer handholding camera with technique to prevent blurry photos — When you’re handholding your camera, you should always practice good technique, as demonstrated in this image! Note the tucked-in elbows and the staggered feet.

4. Your aperture is too wide

The size of the aperture determines the depth of field, which is how much of the image is in focus. And this has a direct effect on the sharpness of your photo.

When a lens finds focus, it locks onto a specific distance known as the plane of focus. So if you focus at, say, 15 feet, everything 15 feet away from the camera will have maximum sharpness, and anything in front of or behind that plane will start to blur. The strength of this blur effect – that is, the speed at which sharpness falls off – depends on the aperture.

If you use a wide aperture such as f/2.8, the depth of field will be very shallow. This effect is magnified by longer focal lengths, and it’s also magnified when you shoot close-up subjects. So if you use a telephoto lens, you set the aperture to f/2.8, and you get up close, the resulting image will only have a razor-thin sliver in sharp focus. But if you use a small aperture such as f/11 or f/18, the depth of field will be larger, and more of the image will be sharp.

desert landscape — Using an aperture of f/20, I managed to keep everything in focus from foreground to background. But if I had used an f/2.8 aperture, only a sliver of the shot would have been in focus, and the rest would have turned out blurry.

Choosing the right aperture depends on the type of image you want to create. But if you are trying to get everything in the frame as sharp as possible, try using a small aperture (produced by a larger f-number such as f/11).

Note that a small aperture will let in less light, so you will need to use a slower shutter speed to compensate. See the first and second items on this list!

Also bear in mind that ultra-narrow apertures, such as f/22, will introduce blur due to diffraction – so narrowing your aperture beyond f/16 or so is often best avoided.

5. You’re not using autofocus

These days, cameras are sophisticated. So let them do what they are good at! Cameras do a fantastic job of nailing focus, both with still subjects and subjects in motion.

Is autofocus perfect? No, and later in this article, I’ll discuss a few times when manual focus is actually helpful. But generally speaking, autofocus is the way to go.

Basically, if your camera is set to manual focus, and you don’t have a solid reason to be shooting that way, I’d encourage you to switch it to autofocus. I use my camera’s AF settings most of the time, and so should you!

That said, even once you’ve set up your camera’s autofocus, you can still end up with blurry photos if you don’t use the right approach, as I explain below.

why are my pictures blurry? sharp vulture

6. You’re not focusing in the correct place

Even if you’re using the perfect handholding technique or a rock-solid tripod, if you focus in the wrong place, you’ll still end up with blurry pictures.

Focusing carefully is especially crucial when using a wide aperture (because you’ll have a razor-thin depth of field!). A slight miscalculation in the focus can throw the subject completely out of the focal plane, or give you a subject with perfectly sharp earlobes and blurry eyes.

Photographers often leave their cameras set to an auto AF-area mode – one that tells the camera to decide automatically what part of the picture should be in focus. Most of the time, modern cameras are pretty good at this, particularly if the subject is prominent in the frame. However, with more complex compositions, or with subjects that are very close to the lens, the camera can get confused and try to focus on the wrong thing.

If you’re photographing in a scenario where your camera might be struggling to choose the right focus point, then you’ll want to specify the focus point manually. To do this, switch to a single-point AF-area mode.

When you look through your viewfinder, you should see an array of little dots or squares laid over the display, like this:

These are your focus points, and they show you where in the frame the camera can lock focus. In single-point AF-area modes, you can use the camera’s direction pad to select one of these dots, and the camera will always focus on that point (and that point alone).

Note that, to tell the camera to focus, you would normally depress the shutter button halfway before pressing it the rest of the way to take the shot. This works pretty well, but cameras can be overly sensitive – if you press too lightly, the button may come unpressed and try to re-focus after you’ve already found your point of focus. If you press too hard, you might capture the shot before the focus is ready. And if you take multiple pictures in succession, your camera may try to focus again before each shot. For these reasons, you might want to give back-button focusing a try; it’s not for everyone, but it can definitely make a big difference.

One final note:

In recent years, mirrorless cameras have added some outstanding subject-specific AF-area modes. In the right scenario, these can be far more effective than the single-point AF setting I mentioned above. For instance, if you’re photographing people and your camera offers a high-quality Eye AF setting, you should definitely try it out!

So check your camera menu to see what AF options you have available, and don’t be afraid to diverge from my recommended settings – provided that you test the modes out in advance, of course!

7. You’re using the incorrect autofocus mode

There are three main autofocus modes offered by most cameras. You should be switching between these modes every time you’re faced with a new shooting situation; otherwise, you’re bound to miss shots you normally could’ve nailed.

(Note that these AF modes are not the same as the AF-area modes I discussed above. AF-area modes specify where the camera should focus, while AF modes specify how the camera should focus. It’s confusing, I know – but as long as you keep this distinction in mind, you’ll be okay.)

Here are the three AF modes and when you should use them:

Single-shot autofocus, called AF-S or One-Shot AF, tells your camera to lock focus when you half-press the shutter button, and it maintains that point of focus until the shutter button is released. Therefore, this mode should be used with still subjects. I often use my camera’s single-shot AF when photographing stationary scenes, such as landscapes, cityscapes, architectural interiors, and still-life arrangements.

Continuous autofocus, called AF-C or AI Servo AF, is designed to track movement through the frame; when you half-press the shutter button, your camera will acquire focus, but it will constantly re-acquire focus as long as the shutter button remains partially depressed. It works best when your subject is in motion, and it’s the mode I use when photographing birds in flight, wildlife running, and sports players in action.

Finally, there’s an automatic autofocus mode, called AF-A or AI Focus AF. This is likely the default setting on your camera. It reads the scene and determines which of the first two modes it should use – but while automatic AF might sound convenient, it’s pretty unpredictable, and it’s not a mode that I ever use. Feel free to try it out and see what you think, but manually switching between single-shot AF and continuous AF is my approach, and it’s what I generally recommend to anyone struggling with autofocusing issues.

cactus flower — Dealing with a stationary subject? Your camera’s single-shot AF mode is the better choice, since it’ll lock focus on your subject and won’t jump around.

8. You’re not using manual focus

While I’m a big advocate of autofocus, there is one particular time when manual focus comes in handy:

When your camera is on a tripod, and you’re using a wide aperture to achieve a very shallow depth of field.

If you want to make sure the most important thing in your frame is sharp, switch to manual focus. Then use the LCD zoom function to magnify the display by 5x or 10x. And make tiny adjustments to the focus until you get it just right.

You can also try manual focusing when shooting close-up subjects (e.g., a flower petal) or when photographing landscapes in the darkness.

9. There’s junk on or in front of your lens

A big smear on your lens is going to affect the clarity of your image.

And if you put a cheap plastic filter in front of your lens, that’ll degrade image quality, too.

So make sure your lens is clean. And make sure that all your filters are high quality. If you always shoot with a UV filter and you keep getting blurry pictures, try taking a few shots without the filter to see if the quality of the glass is negatively affecting your images.

10. You need a different lens

Beginners love to blame their blurry pictures on their optics, though a bad lens is rarely the problem.

That said, lens quality can make a difference, and you’ll occasionally find lenses that are genuinely soft. And some lenses may be sharp in the center but get blurry around the corners and edges of the image, or sharp at certain apertures but slightly fuzzy at others. Every lens has a unique character that may or may not be useful to the type of work you’re doing.

It’s also worth noting that each lens has a “sweet spot” – a certain aperture at which it performs best. This is usually in the middle of its aperture range, around f/8 or f/11.

Fixed focal length lenses are usually sharpest, though it’s not always convenient to carry around two or three lenses rather than a single, all-purpose zoom.

Anyway, if you make all the adjustments I’ve discussed above and your images are still consistently blurry, you might want to think about trying a different lens. If you’re not sure whether this could be the issue, one option is to rent a lens for a weekend and see if it makes a difference. (Alternatively, if you have a camera shop nearby, you might be able to go in and try out one of their new lenses.)

Mistakes that cause blurry pictures: final words

Well, that’s it:

The 10 most common reasons your pictures are blurry.

If you’ve been struggling with blurry photos, you hopefully now know (or can at least guess) the culprit! And you can make adjustments to get things looking sharp.

Now over to you:

Are your photos blurry? Did you figure out why? Which of these mistakes have you been making? Share your thoughts in the comments below!