The Weekly Wrap-up compiles interesting articles published this week on Photofocus. This week we talked about getting started with your new camera, photographing Christmas morning, macro photography tips, sharpening using Perfectly Clear Complete and more! We hope you have a great start to the new year.
Photographing lively images on Christmas morning - It’s Christmas morning and the excitement to see what’s under the tree vibrates with happy anticipation. Making memorable photos of the family opening presents is easy and a lot of fun, too. Put the camera at the fun level The most important tip I can offer for making photos of children opening presents is to get down on the floor. Put the camera at their level to get the very best expressions. If the camera is above them the photo will show the tops of their heads. That’s not as much fun and being on their level. Keep exposure settings simple This is fun photography, not work photography. High ISO and a fast shutter speed will do the job even with an aperture open almost all the way. I use continuous shooting to capture these moments. A quick burst of exposures ensures that joyful faces will be captured to enjoy in ensuing years. If the photo isn’t perfect because the shutter was too slow and the expressions are great, who cares? The photo shows the children’s excitement! Photograph the mess Most of the fun on Christmas morning is the ripping off the wrapping on presents. Capture that along with the bows and torn paper that surrounds each child. Christmas morning photos: ©Kevin Ames
Mastering sharpness with Perfectly Clear - Since I started using Perfectly Clear a couple years ago, there’s been one feature that’s continually been my go-to, no matter what the subject is that I’m photographing. Sharpness. The sharpness tools in Perfectly Clear are the most accurate and precise I’ve ever used, and it’s something I apply to all of my corporate portraits, as well as some of my landscapes and other imagery. With the latest 3.6.2 update to Perfectly Clear Complete, these tools have gotten even better, giving users more control than ever before to help sharpen their images more effectively. How does sharpness work? Other post-processing tools typically rely on a traditional Unsharpen Mask, having you change three aspects to help sharpen your image — Amount, Radius and Threshold. All three of these variables are dependent on each other, meaning you have to really pay attention to how they affect your image. Even the most experienced user can experience a halo effect or shifted colors when adjusting the sharpness of an image. With Perfectly Clear, these worries are gone. Perfectly Clear’s sharpness tools work by adjusting adjoining pixels, in a way that the human eye best recognizes changes in light. Powered by a unique algorithm, some pixels have their light increased, others have their light reduced. Doing this creates a sharper edge to the human eye. Coupled with Perfectly Clear’s powerful noise reduction capabilities, you’re left with a sharper, more realistic-looking image. This extends to other parts of your image, allowing you to control lip sharpening, eye enhancement and more. Real-world examples As I mentioned above, the sharpness in Perfectly Clear is one of my go-to tools for a lot of my portrait work. Even if there are no other adjustments I make in Perfectly Clear, I’ll send it through just to sharpen my photos a bit. It helps add that extra “wow” factor, and makes for a great-looking image. In the above before and after, play close attention to my friend, Blake’s, eyes. The catchlights are sharper, the eyebrows are crisper — in a sense the sharpness has been upped to that next level using Perfectly Clear. Let’s take a closer look at Blake’s eyes. But also check out his lips, and see how those have been slightly sharpened, too. Getting started Applying the sharpening filter in Perfectly Clear is really just as simple as opening your image, either through the Lightroom or Photoshop plug-ins, or in the standalone Perfectly Clear Complete application. From there, you can turn on the Details panel, which holds the Sharpening slider. This will have the most drastic impact in terms of sharpness goes for your image. The other two sharpening tools — Eye Enhance (found in the Eyes panel) and Lip Sharpening (found in the Face panel) will make some more subtle, finishing-type adjustments to your photograph. As I mentioned above, there are times when I just open Perfectly Clear to apply that sharpness. It gives me an extra bang for my buck. But it’s also important to not over-do it. Usually, I tend to keep my sharpening slider lower. I don’t think I’ve had a case (let alone a need) where I boost it all the way to 200. I look at it as a tool that should be used as needed. Not every photograph will need sharpening, but with portraits especially, it can certainly be effective. What about other types of photographs? Sharpening isn’t limited to portraits. I’ve used it on my landscape and architecture imagery, too. Take this photograph I took at the Muckross House in Ireland last summer. I applied some real basic sharpening, tone and color adjustments to it in Perfectly Clear. I can see the details in the grass and the building better than ever before. As you can see, Perfectly Clear can be a very powerful tool. And even if you don’t use it for all your images, running them through for sharpening alone is worth it. Don’t already have Perfectly Clear? Click here to get Perfectly Clear Complete with the Sherk Addons Bundle for just $99!
Photographing high school football with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, part one - Editor’s Note: We welcome Bob Panick to Photofocus. Bob is an enthusiastic amateur photographer based in the Detroit area. Bob shoots a variety of subjects including sports, landscape, nature and automotive. Bob has little to no interest in being a professional photographer and shoots for his own enjoyment. Bob learned photography back in the 70s, got away from it and came back about 10 years ago. You can check out his sports-related work at https://photos.panick.com/. I’ve had a few people asking questions on photographing football so I decided to put together a blog post on it. But first some background. I’ve been shooting high school varsity football for seven years now at the high school I graduated from back in 1977, purely for my own enjoyment. I give the yearbook images to use since they don’t have any cameras that can get good shots of the game. I also go through the images at the end of the season and print up some of the best for the team. I started shooting with a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, and I got some fairly decent images from it. When the Olympus E-M1 came out I tried shooting using the old Four-Thirds 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5. Which worked fine if there was enough light, but when it got dark f/3.5 was just too slow and I ended up going back to the Nikon. I didn’t go back to the E-M1 for sports until the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO showed up; at that point, I sold my Nikon gear and I haven’t looked back. I’m now using the E-M1 Mark II which is a big improvement on the original E-M1 for a lot of reasons I’ll get to. Lenses The workhorse for shooting football is the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens. This is equivalent to an 80-300mm field of view on full-frame cameras. Ideally, something a bit longer like the Panasonic 200mm f/2.8 would be very nice to have. But it’s a bit of an expensive lens at $3000 and lacks the flexibility of a zoom. I carry a second body which often has a 12-40mm f/2.8 — equivalent to a 24-70mm field of view. I don’t use it too often for shots of the game; if they’re close enough that I need that lens, I need to be getting out of the way. But I do use it for sideline shots. Another lens I use in the first few games while we still have some sunlight is the Olympus 300mm f/4 PRO — equivalent to a 600mm field of view. This lens is quite frankly too slow for shooting under the lights and is really too long for a lot of shots. But it does let you shoot the far side of the field and get some nice close shots. I’ve even shot with it from the corner of the field when play was 40 yards out. It’s a bit more difficult to shoot with due to the narrow-angle of view, but when you do it can give some nice shots. With practice, it gets easier and faster to acquire your target. Basic settings The E-M1 Mark II has three custom settings that can be stored. I use C3 during football season; C1 is what I use for wildlife, C2 is for HDR. Outside of sports season C3 usually ends up being High Res photography (if anyone from Olympus is reading, I can make a good argument for a dozen or more custom settings!). I’ve included my C1 settings for someone who doesn’t want to use the electronic shutter. Image type: RAW Yes, I shoot RAW. Why? The light I shoot in is crap, and I need all the help I can get to pull back the shadows, and RAW is much better at than JPEG. I also don’t have deadlines, meaning that if I get them out in a week, or even two, it’s not a big deal. If you have deadlines, I would shoot RAW + JPG, so you have the best of both worlds. Write both to slot 1 and use a fast UHS-II SD card with a 300 MB/s rating. Splitting JPEG to slot 2 will slow down the write process, and you may run into issues with filling the buffer or not being able to clear it. Shutter speed: 1/1000s For sports, you want to be at 1/1000s if at all possible. Faster is better here; that will freeze most action, except the football in flight. Quite frankly any camera and lens can shoot at 1/1000 in good bright sunlight. But if you shoot football in Michigan, the sun is usually setting, or at the end of the season has already set. High schools also don’t put a lot of money into the stadium lights so it can be quite challenging. There have been times I’ve had to drop down to 1/400 second at ISO 6400. That works, but the number of keepers will drop due to motion blur. I’ve found that above ISO 6400 the images aren’t very good, I get more keepers going to a slower shutter speed. Exposure mode: Shutter priority Some people swear by shooting in manual — that’s fine — but I’ll take shutter priority. This allows me to easily make exposure compensation adjustments on the fly. I find I’m often shooting at -0.7 EV, but that changes depending on where on the field they are playing. The zones of darkness (usually the end zones) can be a stop, sometimes two stops, darker than the middle of the field. I find I often have to change the compensation, and shooting in shutter priority makes that easy. ISO: Auto with max 6400 This is one of those cases where full-frame is definitely better. On these fields to maintain 1/1000s at f/2.8 you sometimes need to shoot at ISO 12,800 (or higher). I love my E-M1 Mark II, but I refuse to use it above 6400 ISO — I just don’t get many images
How to make better macro photographs - One of the things I struggle the most with when shooting macro is getting my images tack sharp. I used to assume that since the DOF was so shallow that something has to be in focus, right? Not really a given, not very scientific and certainly not a guarantee for a tack sharp image. Here are a few things that will help you get your macro images sharp. Getting started with macro photography Use your tripod This seems like common sense but so many of us have an aversion to hauling our tripods around with us. Live and learn though and you’ll start noticing how much sharper all your images are once you start using your tripod more often and not just for macros. Note that if you have image stabilization on your camera, turn it off when using a tripod. Here is a link explaining that: “Image Stabilization: When to Use it and When to Turn it Off.” Use the live view function on your camera Using the live view helps you see exactly where you want to focus so much better and many cameras have the capability to zoom 1x, 5x and 10x magnification when shooting with live view. Zooming in allows us to really see what is in focus and if it’s in focus. I’ve actually even taken that a step further and used an eye loupe on top of the live view screen to get even closer (maybe I should just put my reading glasses on). Use a remote shutter release You can use cable, wireless or a phone app — the less interaction you have with your camera the less opportunity to move or shake it. Hold your breath Don’t move. Leave the room. Step away from your tripod. Again, the less movement in or around your camera the less movement and possibility of vibration you’ll have. Photographing macro on a budget I always hear photographers say they wish they could shoot macro but can’t afford or don’t want to buy a macro specific lens. There are other options in shooting macro that are quite inexpensive and in my opinion push you to learn a bit more than slapping on a macro lens and just shooting. Reverse Ring Adapters Reverse Ring Adapters are a very inexpensive way to give macro a try. They generally run around $12 to $20 for the standard screw on type adapters. There are higher end adapters available that will allow you to transmit the lens information to the camera and also offer magnification rations that prime macro lenses are not capable of. Macro Extension Tubes Extension tubes are another way to create macro images without an actual dedicated macro lens and can run anywhere from $20 to $200 depending on quality and whether they are manual or automatic/electronic. Telephoto zoom as macro If you already own a telephoto/zoom lens you can use it for macro type work as well by just zooming in on the detail you want to capture. Is this actually considered macro? Are the people looking at your images asking? Does it matter if you are getting the shot you want? Crop If you can’t figure out any other way to get the detail shot you want, take the image anyway. Most cameras have enough megapixels to allow you to crop in to create the image you wanted. Think outside the flower box We tend to associate macro photography with flowers. While flowers are beautiful macro subjects, there is a whole world out there waiting to be discovered close up. As always, experiment, play, ask what if, try things and most of all have fun. No matter how you capture your macro shots or with what equipment you use, capturing the details around you is all part of telling the overall story.
Wedding photography: Capturing the first dance - Wedding photographer’s don’t have the luxury of a second chance to capture a bride and groom’s first dance. Here’s how to capture a beautiful moment that will be cherished for years.
Getting started with your new camera: A for Aperture Priority - When I bought my first DSLR — a fancy Nikon D5100 — I was completely overwhelmed. I had watched a ton of YouTube videos and read the manual, but really didn’t feel like I had a deep knowledge of how to use my camera. There was one piece of advice I heard that paved the way to where I am today in my photography — to use Aperture Priority mode. Photographing in Manual mode is often preferred by professionals because it gives you complete control over the camera’s functions. But this can be confusing and oftentimes difficult to learn, which is why Aperture Priority mode can be so appealing. While I’ve since moved on to using Manual mode for a majority of my work, Aperture Priority mode bridges the gap between the Auto function on your camera and the fully Manual settings. It’s a great entry-level mode for beginners, but even pros use it when the time is right. I still use it with some of my event photography, as it allows me to keep my ISO and aperture consistent, while not having to fuss with shutter speed constantly. I know what I’m going to get out of my photographs before I even click the shutter button. What is Aperture Priority mode? Aperture Priority mode — usually signified by A or Av on your camera’s setting dial — lets you control a lot of things about your camera, including aperture, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance. What it doesn’t let you control is the shutter speed of your camera, instead automatically sets this for you based on the ISO and aperture chosen. Why start with Aperture Priority mode? Having a new camera can cause a different mix of emotions. Excitement, frustration and feeling overwhelmed are certainly not out of the ordinary! Using Aperture Priority mode gives you enough control to learn the camera, but you’re still leaving shutter speed to the camera to decide. This lets you focus and learn the aperture of your camera and ISO (which also can be set to auto) without adding another function into the mix. Once you fully understand how to use Aperture Priority mode, then you can start experimenting with Manual mode and other settings on your camera. Why not Program mode? Program mode is a great starting point too, but there’s one reason I don’t recommend it. It’s still very much like putting your camera on Auto, not giving you much control. Some cameras have flexible Program mode settings, where you can take over the “Auto” portion of Program mode, but at that point, you’re better off going with Aperture, Shutter or Manual mode from the get-go. Other reasons to use Aperture Priority mode instead of Manual While Manual mode is certainly preferred in a lot of situations, imagine this. You’re photographing a wedding, moving from room to room. The light changes in each room, meaning you have to constantly adjust things like your shutter speed. By putting your camera in Aperture Priority mode, you can focus on the shot at hand, instead of worrying about how fast your shutter speed needs to be to get the photograph in focus. The same can be said on a partly cloudy day, with fast clouds moving overhead. One second you might need to photograph at f/16 or f/8, and the next you might need to let more light in and photograph at f/2.8 or f/4. Regardless, Aperture Priority mode is a powerful tool to not only get you started with your new camera — it’s also a mode you can rely on in those trickier situations as you progress as a photographer.
