Last night I got the bug to try something I’d seen before – the classic Christmas-y look with a score of music and a shallow depth of field. It was straightforward enough and after putting a piece of sheet music on the piano, and trying it that way, wasn’t getting the drop off in depth-of -field as I had hoped for. So, I took a different approach and put the music sheet flat on a table, knowing the dof would drop off that way, with the foreground out of focus and receding off in the background too.
So, the second one came out okay, but the plain background of the table didn’t really work all that well…it needed something else – Christmas lights! So, I got an extra garland that wasn’t used in the house and threw that down, encircling the paper. But something was still missing…a little color. What goes with green and white? Red! Enter a blanket strategically placed underneath it all to add a touch of color. So, took a few shots, and liked it, but the shadows seemed kind of muted, and the lights were getting a little blown out. Hmmm…could I be dreaming of an HDR Christmas?
An HDR Christmas
The fact that the little star burst off the one light happened was purely incidental, but I think helped the overall composition. How about the reading audience? What are your thoughts? Does it work? Need something else? What about your own holiday-themed work? Feel free to share thoughts, feedback, samples and such in the comments!
In other Friday news, CB now has a Facebook fan page, so if you get a minute – stop by the Facebook page and sign up. I’ll be sharing more photos, tips, tricks, and such there in the weeks to come as well, and you won’t know unless you’re a “fan”! For those of you getting your news from the feed, the direct link to the Facebook page is here.
Don’t forget, the December Giveaway is also still underway – over $400 of super cool prizes including software, books, prints, and papers! Just a cornucopia of prizes, all waiting to be given away for free! Just enter your photo at the Flickr thread: December Giveaway. The theme this month is GIVING. Interpret however you like and good luck to all. The rest of the contest details are here.
That’s about it for this Friday – have a great weekend everyone! Going on a sunrise shoot in the mountains tomorrow wit the Meetup group here in Denver, so it is going to be an early riser for me tomorrow. Start time of 4am! More on that next week! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here on Monday!
The latest episode of Learning Digital Photography is now live and ready for your download and listening pleasure. As always, there’s news, interviews, and listener questions and answers – and this time it’s a theme of Treats, Travel and Tips. I had the pleasure of bringing Andie Smith back to the blog/podcast and we actually had a chance to sit down and really chew the fat on a lot of stuff.
That’s it for today – make sure you go grab the podcast from either the folks at PLM or via the iTunes feed. I’ve now added a page (check the top header) where you can go grab them if you forget… 🙂
Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
A few days late, but the year-end giveaway is quite exciting as there is just a ton of good stuff going into this giveaway. Here’s the inside skinny on what the winner is going to walk away with in December:
A free copy of the “Within the Frame”, the wildly successful and great book donated by David DuChemin!
A free copy of “Visionmongers”, the latest book from none other than David Duchemin!
A free copy of Photomatix, the software known for its HDR processing, donated by the folks over at HDRSoft!
A free 16″x20″ gallery wrap of a print of your choice, printed (and donated) by the folks over at MPix!
and as if that is not enough, the folks at Red River Paper have also expressed interest in joining the gievaway frenzy, so it looks like there will be a paper bundle in the mix too – (more details on the bundle specifics as those come in!)
With over $400 in free stuff, this is surely going to generate a lot of interest, so this go around, the guidelines are a little stricter than normal. Here they are:
Limit of one photo entry per person.
Also, please make sure your photos are taken during the month of December. I know – there’s a few days missing, so it’s less than a full month to shoot, but the theme is somewhat appropriate…more on that in a minute. Just remember, no archives!
The longest side of your image should be no larger than 800px or shorter than 600px. Don’t confuse this with a 800×600 aspect ratio – the second side of the photo can be any length you want – just make sure the longest side is no larger than 800px and no shorter than 600px. All entries should be posted in the Flickr Contest Thread.
All entries must be live before midnight December 31st.
So, the theme is all that remains. Since it’s a season of holidays far and wide, we’re going to go with the theme of:
GIVING
That’s it – interpret however you like. Just tie in that theme somehow, and enter your best photo in the Flickr thread. Good luck all, and may the best shot win! Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow! Many thanks to David DuChemin, Mpix, HDRSoft, and Red River Paper for their generous contributions. Now, let’s wow them with some amazing photography!
P.S. Just a little reminder that the blog is still taking donations to not only help offset the cost of maintenance, but also now to help pay the bills – the “curveballs” referenced the other day was an abrupt notice that my position was being terminated. So, please help to keep things alive and online through the holiday season! I am going to try to get some extra special content out there for everyone so you can also get some use out of this feeble old mind for any donations (or purchases…) but no guarantees there yet. (Special thanks to Rob Jones from Towner Jones Photography who has already donated very generously to the cause though…)
With the November giveaway deadline behind us, it was time to look at all the submissions and pick a winner from the set of entries. Without further ado, the winner of the November Contest/Giveaway is:
Winter Wonderland
The theme for the contest was “Winter” and though it was a little early for this, Yvonne took her creativity to new levels by doing some rather unique post processing on an image and it worked! It looks like she converted this to black and white or added an infrared filter of some kind. Not sure what exactly she did, but it sure gave me shivers when I looked at it, so, congratulations to Yvonne for your creative vision, and for winning the November giveaway. If you see this before I get a chance to find you, send me an email to claim your prizes. I’ll be sending Yvonne a $25 gift card to B&H Photo, a DVD for the Best of Photoshop User TV, Season 11, and a book from Matthew Bamberg. Be sure to stop by Yvonne’s photo stream on Flickr, and her website for more wonderful photos and to congratulate her.
Thanks to the folks at NAPP for the DVD, to Matthew Bamberg for contributing a copy of his book, and for everyone who participated. I know it was challenging as many people noted that it wasn’t very “wintery” in their area yet. Hopefully though, Yvonne’s creativity showed us that you can create wonderful winter-like scenes any time of year – you just need to post process a little.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the December giveaway this Friday, while recovering from your turkey-induced tryptophan slumbers! Believe it or not, tomorrow is not going to ne a no-blog day – something special is scheduled for your reading enjoyment. Regardless, have a Happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! Don’t forget those cameras, and keep on shooting!
In episode #34 of Learning Digital Photography, we look at the subject of low light photography. In these shooting circumstances, you often need to drop your shutter speed pretty low, while shooting with apertures that are relatively open, and high ISO’s in order to get the scene with enough light. Whether you are shooting night photography, concert photography, or foggy weather, these are all things to look at and think about.
To help shed some light on the subject (get it? 🙂 ), we talked to Becky Thomas (aka BecThomasPhoto on Twitter) on the show. A great conversation, and lots was covered so be sure you give it a listen. Thanks to Bec for her time – it was a lot of fun. Make sure you stop over to her site as well for a great dose of inspiration.
Photo News
Panasonic Sound System NW-10
Facebook Automated Photo Tagging (Face Detection)
Price Cuts on Photo Storage from Google ($4096 for 16 TB)
Photo Technical Tips
Pros and cons of increasing ISO
Pros and cons of opening your aperture
Pros and cons of slowing the shutter
Listener Questions and Answers
Camera Prices/Lines – What camera should you get?
Difference between a Lightroom catalog versus photo backups
We always are striving to make our images more compelling – to bring the viewer in closer, and to connect better wit our audience. I have had people ask me pretty much the same thing, but in may different ways and it basically comes down to the something like this: “I get the technical, but it’s the creative side of making compelling images that gets me stuck – what can you suggest?”
It’s the age-old question, and if I had all the answers, well, I’d be filthy rich! The reason this is the case is because what is compelling or inspiring for one person will be different for another, and yet another, and even a fourth or fifth person. The truth of the matter is that there is no magical silver bullet of what to do to create compelling images…but there are some things that we, as photographers, can rely on as starting points in our search for compelling captures. Here’s 5 compelling capture tips that I’ve come up with:
Color – striking colors are always noticeable. We see the world in shades, tones and nuances of color, so seek out those types of images where color is powerful. D0 this, and your chances of creating compelling captures increases exponentially!
Light – Surprise surprise! I’ve talked about light before, and it’s influence in photography (it’s all about light in photography, even the word itself translates partially as light). Find powerfully lit scenes and you’ve found a compelling moment.
Emotion – Photo journalism relies on this more than any other genre, but if you want to tell a story with your images, one way to do so is to evoke a sense of emotional connection. Bringing out the emotion in the viewer by presenting scenes that are filled with emotionally charged elements – whether it’s a controversial image of a war zone, or the passion of a mother and her unborn child, these types of scenes stay wit us for a reason, because of the emotion tied to it.
Action – In the words of Joe McNally, “action trumps everything.” Action shots also connect with the viewer because it speaks to a particular moment in time more than anything else. That moment a soccer player connects their foot wit a ball, or the moment a bullet shatters a wine glass – it’s something that sparks interest in the viewer, and cannot be ignored as a source of compelling interest.
Eyes – Spoken from the rulebook of a true portraitist, when you have the faces of people or animals in an image – make sure you can see their eyes. Remember, like the old saying goes, “The eyes are the windows to the soul”, and if you want viewers to connect with an image, one of the most compelling ways to connect with a portrait is to give a hint of what’s inside, and that is almost always done through the eyes of the subject.
So, there you have it – 5 ways to create compelling images. These are, of course, adages, and there will be exceptions to these rules at times, but as a general rule of thumb, these tips can help you create compelling captures. There’s also more to it than these 5 ideas, because you know that no single person can completely encompass the ideas behind what creates compelling captures. So, I would invite you to share your own ideas for what you look to in creating those decisive moments? Is it something here? Is there something else you look to for inspiration or to capture something compelling? What captures your interest when you look at pictures? Sound off in the comments!
Don’t forget, the November contest has started and a literal bundle of prizes is at stake for some lucky participant so get your creative caps on and throw an image (or two or three) in the Flickr thread. If you don’t play, you can’t win! 🙂 Until tomorrow then, keep on shooting those compelling images. Thanks for stopping in and we’ll see you then!
With the October Contest underway where the winner will walk away with a fully licensed copy of Noise Ninja, courtesy of the folks at PictureCode, today is a great day to give everyone an idea of what makes this program one of the industry leaders. Since I have talked about the presence of noise in your images before (read that post here), re-hashing the principles of what introduces noise and the artistic benefits and image quality downsides of it in your images isn’t really needed.
Instead, here I will simply share some of the interface, and a few before and after shots here so you can get an idea of how well this software handles noise in your images. So, enjoy!
First up (after entering your license code), you’ll have a screen that looks like this:
Noise Ninja
You can see the yellow squares in the image on the right that shows the sections scanned to determine the noise profile for the image selected. On the right, a closer view of what the image will look like (or at least a close approximation) after the noise reduction is run. You see how you can make certain adjustments on one of several tabs. On this main tab, you can see the options for Image Profile, Profile Chart and radio buttons for luminance and color values, along with the reset option. I actually leave these alone most of the time.
On the second tab is where I vary my noise reduction adjustments (and I would venture to guess most people make their valuation adjustments based on the image used). Here’s the options available to you:
Noise Ninja
You can see here that many more detailed adjustments can be made to the strength, smoothness, contrast, USM amount, radius, color noise, and then checking whether you want the processing done quickly (turbo) and applying the settings to coarse noise situations. I made my adjustments to 12 for the strength, smoothness and contrast (and typically use these ones for most images with noise).
In the next tab, as shown below, you can see the noise brush, where you can apply the noise on a paint mask or an erase mask, specify the channel (luminance, chroma, or all) ad the quality of the brush trail by not only the type of edge, but also by radius and strength. (This is very handy if you want the noise reduction faded across the image so as to leave some noise behind for artistic effect! Normally I don’t make adjustments here either – but it is fun to play!) Take a look at the interface:
Noise Brush
The Actions tab, as shown next, defines how Noise Ninja operates when it’s loaded. Specifically, here is where you can tell NN wither the profile is by default configured based on EXIF data or to create a profile from the image, or to use a specific profile. This can be very handy as well if you are batch processing a lot of photos that were shot under the same or similar circumstances so that a profile doesn’t have to be loaded each and every time. The fallback, and filter policies can also be defined here as well. Here typically I leave the default settings alone as I prefer not to batch profess since my type of work is more geared toward fine art and individual edits rather than massive quantities. To each their own I guess – take a look at the interface:
Noise Ninja Actions
The next tab is the annotations tab. I almost never use this, as this is a place where you can add additional EXIF and metadata. Since I prefer to take the values from camera rather than adding my own specific notations, this tab doesn’t get any use from me – but it can be handy if you want to vary settings based on things like manufacturer, Model, FIlm type Megapixel count, ISO level, etc. A second tab lets you add even more…see the interface captures below for reference. Noise Ninja to me is isn’t about editing exif data though – it’s about noise reduction, so I skip these tabs. Take your pick:
I do occasionally reference the Image Info tab though, because some useful information can be obtained there as well. Things like the manufacturer, model, and more specifically, the ISO setting at which the image was taken. ISO settings can be an indication on the amount of noise that was introduced due to camera settings and thus, how much can be reasonably applied.
Noise Ninja Image Info
You can see that my first image, shot at ISO 3200, was subject to some pretty intense noise on the 40D. So, I ran the process, and take a look at the before and after results:
Before
Before Noise Ninja processing
Some pretty heavy noise, as expected, so let’s just look at the image after processing:
After
After Noise Ninja processing
See the difference in grain? Yeah, I was impressed too. But is it always the case? I ran another couple images through NN and got the same or similar results on other objects in my print box. (Which, by the way, is a great resource for test shots when looking into lens and gear performance on a wide variety of things like noise, white balance, macro, depth of field, and much more.) Here’s another sample crop just to show you for comparison sake:
Before NN Processing 2
and after…
After NN Processing 2
Again, some impressive results. When push comes to shove, results is where it counts in my book and PictureCode delivers at a superb value.
Now granted, there are other noise handling programs out there, and if you ask a dozen people what they use, 5 will say one, 5 will say another, and 2 will offer up another alternative. When push comes to shove, it really is up to personal preference on which one “works best”. For me, it doesn’t really matter as long as you are aware of what noise is, what it can do to an image, and how to fix it. The tool you use is up to you. I think Noise Ninja is probably recognized well enough for a reason, and the results here seem to suggest why.
The rest I’ll leave up to personal preferences, and if you would like to contribute your own thoughts, by all means, share them here in the comments or with me via email. If you want to try it – you can download a free copy from the folks at PictureCode here – or simply participate in the October Contest over at Flickr and win a copy from them for free!
That’s it for today – happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
An interesting question came cruising through the blog a few days ago. While the submitter wished to remain anonymous (I asked them if I could share the details, which I always do to encourage any and all questions)…the details of the answer follow here today. You see, what this person wanted to do was capture an image that included several challenging elements…including windy conditions, early (and late) light, moving water, and a deep need for detail from front to rear.
Without going into more detail, here’s basically what the shooter wants:
High depth of field to capture detail (which requires a high aperture setting (f16 or f11)
High shutter speed to freeze the leaf movement in the trees
Blurred water
If you know anything about the exposure triangle (which we’ve talked about here before – shutter, aperture and ISO), then you know that any hopes of blurring the water with simple exposure adjustments is almost impossible. WHile it can be done, the result will require post processing because at some point you will need to have a shutter speed where it’s long enough to blur the water. There are some steps you can take in camera though – through ND filters.
ND Filters (Neutral Density) are basically light stoppers – they cut the amount of light that hits your sensor. From anywhere by 50% to almost 100% (Check out the Wikipedia chart here for specifics). You can stack them to net a greater effect (some of the dark ones are pretty expensive).
Even with the ND filters though, the end result will be blur in the water (wanted) and blur in the trees (not wanted). So, some work is needed in your post processing. I’ll propose two ways here:
Method #1
Overlay multiple images in Photoshop – Take several bracketed exposures and overlay the parts you want of each image to show through. You can use the Mask tool to do this. The problem here is that it can be tedious and time consuming to get things just right.
Method #2
The other way would be to take one image into Photoshop and use the blur tool or some other equivalent plugin (of which there are several), where you can selectively blur the area of the photo where you want it (but always do this on a duplicate layer or duplicate copy – never do this on the originals)…
Kind of a detailed post for a Friday, but one that I thought would be worth sharing regardless. Did I miss something else? If you have any other ideas that may be helpful, feel free to sound off in the comments with them as many brains are better than one! Anyway, as we head into the weekend, there are just a few blog notes to let you know about:
The Topaz/Thinktank Contest has concluded, and I am waiting to hear from the vendors on who the lucky winner will be, so thanks in advance for your patience.
The October Contest is now under way! We’ve got a very exciting contest from the folks at Noiseware – makers of the famous Noise Ninja software. This software is fabulous at reducing noise in your images. I’ve reviewed this in the past here on the blog, so feel free to peruse the archives for that review. Why is it exciting though? Because they are giving away TWO copies of the software – so we’re going to split this one up – one will be given away this month, and another at some yet to be determined point in the future. The thread is now up in the Flickr Community – so feel free to start sharing your images there. The theme this month: Fall
Last but not least, a question for the readership – I am putting the final touches on something new and exciting that is coming out very soon for blog readers, but I am wondering if there is enough interest in doing something else as well – a forum! I know, there’s tons of forums on the web, but I have literally connected dozens and dozens of people with similar needs and interests through the blog and podcast, and thought that CB might be in need of a community where participants and readers can share with one another. There would also be areas to discuss recent podcasts, to share websites, and other useful online resources with one another – and who knows what more. The first step though would be in setting it up – but to do that requires just a smidge of work. The question is – is there enough interest? So, sound off in the comments, let me know if you would like to see that happen!
Okay, well this post has turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated, so let me stop rambling now. Hope your weekend is great, and we’ll see you back here on Monday (hopefully with the new announcement to share)! Happy shooting and we’ll see you then!
In lieu of a software review, today instead just a couple news nuggets for you.
First up, the finalists of the $500 giveaway have been determined. These six finalists are being considered to win a pretty impressive package of stuff including a Thinktank Photo Multimedia Bag System and a complete set of the Topaz Labs Photoshop Bundle. View the finalists gallery here.
Next up, a recommendation: Even if you aren’t a subscriber to the Rangefinder Magazine (although you should be), you can read the current issue online here, (it’s a PDF download) which includes in the most recent issue an interview of none other than David Hobby, founder and author of the world-famous Strobist blog.
From Scott over at one of my favorite daily reads (Weekly Photo TIps), there is a new PBS series starting this week on National Parks. I am definitely setting the DVR for this series!
As a longtime fan of DIY-projects, this one on making a tripod for your P&S (or iPhone) out of a paperclip was just too cool to leave out of the list.
And finally, for those that just insist on getting a photo fix regularly, visit former contest winner John Dunne’s blog, My Chi to see a great dilemma as he is torn between a color and a black and white version of a sunrise scene on the Promenade (psst….I like the black and white version!)…
Well, that’s it for today, be sure to stop back tomorrow for another dose of inspiration as we hit the midway point of the week (a.k.a. hump day)! Happy shooting and we’ll see you then…
Last week’s first ever 5-day series of written work “The Five Elements of Control” featured 5 distinct ways in which you can control and increase the impact of your work. Those elements were through controlling for luminance, color, geometry, context, and composition. Hopefully, the perspective can be one many will find useful in elevating their own work. In taking the task to heart, today (my first day back after a week-long break in beautiful Cabo San Lucas), I am sharing a slideshow of some of my favorite recent shots. So, rather than suggesting others incorporate these techniques, I am trying to apply them to my own efforts as well. Here is where you get the chance to be the critic for my work, so by all means, share your thoughts, comments, feedback, and perspectives below.
In other blog and podcast notes, don’t forget, the $500 giveaway for the Thinktank Photo Multimedia Bag and Topaz Labs plugin bundle is still going on over on the Flickr site. We’re in the last week for submissions so we can wrap things up by the end of September, so time is drawing nigh! The thread to share your pictures (and the guidelines) is here for those interested. It’s a great opportunity to take advantage of some great products from Topaz Labs and Thinktank Photo (and thanks go out to the sponsors for their generous contributions)!
In case you haven’t noticed the sidebar, there are now short little audio tips being offered up courtesy of the folks over at Audioboo. The latest comes the shores of Cabo San Lucas with the peaceful waves of the Pacific crashing in the background! So, for the feed readers out there, stop on over to the blog and check out the audio tips – some hopefully good stuff there too.
Thanks also to the recording capabilities of my wife’s point-and-shoot camera, you are in for a special treat tomorrow in the form of a Quicktime video! Until then, here’s the promised stills from the trip. Happy shooting everyone and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow. (Don’t forget to let me know your thoughts and feedback in the comments!)
Mexican HarborNegative SpaceThe Power of the WavesUmbrella DotsIn Honor of EscherThrough a Window
As a little postscript, since many will ask, I did my post processing in Lightroom and Photomatix (yes, some of these are HDR images). One image did reveal a pretty heavy dust spot on my sensor, so that one did see a round-robin through Photoshop for that one speck.
