This week, Bryan Esler kicked things off by showcasing how to take long exposures on your phone, while Ken Lee gave us five tips for night photographers. Jeremy Gray walked us through focus stacking for landscapes, Julie Powell showed us six photography projects to do from home and Vanelli explained how to remove shine from a portrait.
The major pros and cons of focus stacking for landscapes - When you think about focus stacking, your mind likely goes to macro photography. When photographing close-ups, you can use focus stacking to create a tack-sharp image from front to back. This is especially important when doing macro work, because the depth of field is so thin that it’s impossible in most cases to get the entire subject in focus using only a single image. However, focus stacking has utility outside of macro photography. It is a technique I use frequently when photographing landscapes. The primary subject of a landscape shot may often be in the distance, but there can be portions of the image much closer to the lens. For example, consider an image of a distant mountain with vegetation or rocks in the foreground. I want foreground elements as part of my composition, but I can’t focus simultaneously on the background and the foreground. In some cases, I may need only two or three images at different focal distances to create a final image that is sharp from the closest element to the one furthest away. The advantages of focus stacking for landscape photography Focus stacking in the context of landscape photography provides you the same advantages of focus stacking in macro photography. You can combine images captured at different focal distances to produce a sharper final image. Why not just stop down your lens when shooting landscapes? I sometimes do this but there is a major disadvantage to this approach. When you stop down your lens too far, you introduce noticeable diffraction into the captured image. This means that instead of capturing an entire scene sharply, you introduce more softness to the image. By utilizing focus stacking in landscape photography, you can ensure that the entire frame is not only sharp, but very sharp. The disadvantages of focus stacking for landscape photography Using a focus stacking technique for landscape imagery is not always the best option. For starters, you must have a tripod or other very stable shooting foundation for it to be a viable choice. Further, not every camera includes built-in focus stacking tools, so your camera and lens must allow for precise manual focusing. Doing focus bracketing manually can be time consuming and tedious. It results in capturing fewer compositions, which can be especially problematic when working in fleeting light. Even if your camera can focus bracket, capturing multiple frames takes a while and it uses more of your memory card space. Speaking of time and memory, saving many raw image files for focus stacking on your computer takes up more space and focus stacking software is resource intensive. If you are manually stacking your images using layer masks in Photoshop, as I sometimes do with simpler situations, that takes quite a bit of time as well. Summary When you want a sharp image from the closest object to the furthest away, there is no substitute for focus stacking. No amount of stopping down your lens or utilizing hyperfocal distance can match the results, especially when making large prints. The result comes with different and more stringent requirements on your capture technique and your time. Focus stacking is not the ideal technique for every landscape photograph. However, it is a very useful one to have in your arsenal.
Six photography projects to do from home - Going a bit stir crazy in self-isolation? Looking for some fun activities to burn through the hours? How about trying your hand at some of these, especially if they are out of your comfort zone. If you normally photograph landscapes or people, these might just be the fun diversion you are looking for, and there is no need to leave the house. Bokeh I wrote an article last Christmas on adding some cheer to your images with bokeh, but it doesn’t have to be Christmas to have a little fun with some bokeh. Grab some Christmas lights or that brass wire with tiny LEDs glued on (everyone seems to have that these days) and really have some fun. Water droplets This is loads of fun and there are different variations to try. Grab a teacup and saucer, and mix some cornflour into some milk (to thicken it up a bit). Fill the teacup to the top, then drop ice cubes into the cup and capture the action with your camera. You will want a fairly fast shutter speed at least 1/1250s or slightly faster, so using a speed light to help capture the shots is advantageous. You could also use colored water in a tall glass, or using an eyedropper or syringe drop liquid into a bowl of color water. Alternatively, if you have an old fish tank, you can place it on black matting (rubber if available, but not shiny) and fill it with water, drop random vegetables, old tech, soft drink cans, toys…whatever you can find and catch the action. Be warned that this can be VERY messy, but it’s loads of fun. Still life lifestyle shoot Still life isn’t for everybody, but how about more of a lifestyle editorial style shoot? Take a look in your bathroom or laundry. Does it belong in Home Beautiful or Renovator’s Delight magazines? Perhaps neither, but look at things a little differently. Stage a shoot in there. Have you done some home renovations? Why not set up an editorial style shoot and cover that — make it a fun post for social media and show off your handiwork? If you still think you would like to try your hand at some more traditional still life, I’ve written a few posts, but this one might help you get started, or even this one, too. Food photography If you’re anything like me, food seems to be something we are all going. So instead of eating it, try shooting it. Make some cookies or your favorite dish and instead of eating it, grab your camera. Clear some space on the kitchen bench and use natural light if available and work on your food photography skills. Not sure about staging, light, etc. I wrote a post here to get you started and here to give you some great food prop ideas. Flowers in ice This is great fun but needs some prep and some patience. Get some flowers from the garden and place in a takeaway food container (or similar) and fill with water, then place in the freezer for at least 24 hours. Roses are great but experiment with a few different types — some flowers handling freezing better than others. Place on a white or light colored plate (something flat is good) and capture the results as the ice block melts and the flower emerges. If you get really impatient you can place under warm lights or use a hairdryer to speed up the process a bit. Macro Grab your macro lens and head out into the garden, set yourself a theme and capture some macro magic! What about “new life” to celebrate spring? Or autumn colors, leaves or flowers … whatever takes your fancy. Don’t have a garden? How about kitchen items? Utensils and such. I wrote a post about that recently, too. Don’t tackle these all at once. Set aside a project a day and really get involved in the setup, the shoot, the cleanup and the edit. Maybe even involve the kids if they are going stir crazy too. Mind you if you have kids there is a whole other set of options with models, perhaps only too happy to dress up and play along as well.
What causes shine on a portrait and how to fix it - A beautiful portrait is easily ruined with excessive shine on the subject’s forehead, usually caused by a beauty dish. Knowing where to position the beauty dish will fix this problem. Here’s how to fix shine on a portrait before or after the photo is taken. How to position a beauty dish to avoid shine When I first started using a beauty dish — like many — my subjects had a horrible shine on their foreheads. At first, I thought the subject just had oily skin, which caused the shine. It wasn’t until I positioned the beauty dish very close to the subject — causing the shine to spread nicely across the subject — that I realized I was using the beauty dish wrong all this time. I was using it as a traditional softbox. You know, up high a few feet in front of the subject on a 45-degree angle. Using a beauty dish like this caused it to be a small light source that produced harsh light causing the unflattering shine. Once I positioned the beauty dish very close to the subject, the excessive shine problem was solved. Using Luminar to fix shine on a portrait This is a very easy fix. Select the AI Skin Enhancement tool from the Portrait tools. Check Remove Skin Defects to remove any blemishes, and adjust the Amount slider until the subject’s skin looks nice. Now, adjust the Shine Removal slider until the shine magically disappears. It’s that simple. How to fix excessive shine If there is excessive shine, add a New Adjustment Layer from the Layers tool and apply the Skin Enhance tool again. Adjust the Shine Removal slider until the shine disappears. So the next time you photograph a subject with a beauty dish, make sure you position the beauty dish as close to the subject as possible. If unwanted shines appear, try your best to fix it while you are shooting. If the problem persists, know you can easily fix it in Luminar with by adjusting a single slider. Don’t have Luminar 4 yet? Click here to get our bundle of free Looks, skies and online training — and save 42% off the retail price!
Five tips all night photographers should know - Night photography has its own quirks and needs. After all, you’re photographing in the dark, maybe not the most normal thing to do. I decided I would avoid the more obvious sort of tips, such as “know how to operate your camera in the dark” or “understand how to shoot in manual,” and get to physical sorts of tips that can help immensely. Let’s dive in. 1. Gaffer’s tape Let’s start off with one that every night photographer could use — gaffer’s tape. Yeah. This all-purpose tape is used by gaffers in film and TV production. The gaffer is the chief lighting technician and is typically the head electrician. They need to use tape that is strong but doesn’t leave a residue. This is where we come in. We can use this for all sorts of purposes, so it’s always great to have gaffer’s tape in your bag. Break something? Tape it together. If you break part of your tripod, such as the ball head, you can tape your camera to the tripod. Need to keep something in place, such as a prop or piece of equipment? Gaffer’s tape to the rescue. With some old cameras that don’t have a self-timer and you are missing your external intervalometer, you can even tape a pebble to the shutter button to hold it down. Need to tape down your focus ring on your lens so you can keep the same focus while moving around? Yes, gaffer’s tape. Too much light coming into your room when you need to sleep late? Tape a blanket over the window. Want to use some tape to find things easier? I use orange gaffer’s tape (among other things … see below). All this and more — gaffer’s tape is indispensable. 2. Velcro your intervalometer Do you have an external intervalometer? If so, use hook and loop fasteners to “Velcro” your intervalometer to the leg of your tripod. This allows you to keep it up high without either dangling and swaying from your camera or dragging in the dirt when you are operating down low. 3. Working in pitch-black indoors I photograph a lot of abandoned places. Many of these places are indoors, so even if there’s a full moon overhead, it’s likely very dark. I’ve photographed abandoned mining houses, penitentiaries, tunnels, factories, and more indoors. They’re completely pitch black, quite often. A great tip is to take dim electric tea lights or even a headlamp, or really, anything that creates a dim light that illuminates the room. Place this anywhere, and then get to work. You can see what you are doing and see the room, but the light is dim enough that it doesn’t adversely affect your light painting of the room. This is also nice because I don’t blow out my eyes, but it’s just bright enough that I can see what I am doing. I also use a red LED headlamp so I don’t blow out my vision as well. 4. Find your belongings at night I use both reflective tape and glow-in-the-dark tape for finding my equipment at night. I have both kinds of tape wrapped around my tripod legs and my ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight. Why do I use both? Glow-in-the-dark tape works almost all the time, and 99% of the time, this is enough to find the equipment. But in those cases where it is too dim or it didn’t get enough light to activate it, I also have reflective tape that alternates red and white so if I need to, I can shine a flashlight around and have this reflect back. I prefer not to do this because I like to work in the dark, but also because I might ruin my exposure if I inadvertently shine my flashlight into the camera lens. For other things that are dark, I sometimes use orange gaffer tape so that it is a little more visible. 5. Kneepads I kneel on a lot of surfaces that are sort of rough, whether it is rocks, sand with sharp little rocks or abandoned locations. I also climb around sometimes. In those instances, it’s really nice to have kneepads to go a little easier on the knees. I have knee braces that have pads in the front so they provide a little bit of support for going down hills or bending a lot. This is really nice when I am photographing for 6-8 hours, especially during a cold evening.
Mobile Mondays: Capturing a long exposure on your phone - As we’re out and about, we might not always have our cameras with us. But that shouldn’t stop us from capturing something we find inspiring. Lauri Novak had a great piece a couple of weeks ago about keeping your phone ready for photography. And it’s true — having your phone on you is a great way to capture something that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. I use it often while I’m flying, capturing the city lights below or a beautiful sunset in the clouds. But did you know that you can easily capture a long exposure on your phone, too? Check out some of the techniques below to get started. Adobe Lightroom Lightroom is by far my favorite photo app for my iPhone, as it lets me control all the usual functions that would be available to me on my regular camera. Things like ISO, shutter speed, white balance and more. Available as a technology preview for iOS users, you can use the Lightroom mobile app to capture a long exposure up to five seconds. It’s great for some creativity outdoors or around the house, and the results are stellar! To turn on this technology preview, click the gear icon in the upper right corner, and click “Technology Previews.” Once you have the technology preview activated, it’s as simple as going to your camera in Lightroom. There, choose LONG from the camera options, and adjust the settings as necessary. You can select from a half second all the way up to five seconds in length. You can also adjust settings like image stabilization, white balance and more. Adobe’s Pei Ketron walks through the process below. How does it work? Well, Lightroom captures several images and then blends them together for a long exposure effect. So while it’s not a true long exposure, it captures a similar view of what you might see with your real camera. I played around with this over the weekend and captured the shots you see below around my neighborhood and condo. Long exposures aren’t just for water or sky — they can offer a creative view of everyday objects, too! Other apps to use There are a few other apps that let you control your shutter speed in a more traditional fashion. Depending on your phone, you might have the ability to take long exposures right through the stock photo app. This is typically under a “Pro” mode. If you don’t have that as an option, check out Camera FV-5, for $3.95 on the Play Store, which lets you take long exposures up to 30 seconds. Manual Camera is also a good bet, for $2.99. If you’re an iOS user who wants a traditional long exposure, check out Slow Shutter Cam for $1.99. Or if you want more manual controls for all types of photos, Camera+ 2 is a great option, for $3.99. Gear to check out In order to get a tack-sharp image, you’re going to need to stabilize your phone. If you already have a tripod or Platypod, it’s pretty cheap to pick up a phone mount. The Oben ASPTA-20 is a great sturdy mount. The Magnus STA-100B is a great and affordable choice, too. You can also get an all-in-one solution, like the Fotopro UFO2, Manfrotto PIXI or Joby GripTight ONE GorillaPod Stand. Whether you need a small tripod, an all-in-one solution or just an adapter, be sure to check out our Mobile Tripod Solutions page on B&H for more recommendations.
