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[sarahgirl777]

You don't have to have an elaborate lighting set up to get a great head shot, just one light and a couple of reflectors!

Here are the steps I took to achieve the photos below, you'll also see a picture of my setup.

1. Place your subject on a stool about 8 feet from a wall. Our wall was a white wall with some silver spray paint on it.

2. For your main light, place it on a boom stand so it sits just above and to the front of the subject and just slightly to her left bouncing into a large reflective umbrella aimed at her face. We used an AB1600 at I think about 1/32 power, however if you only have a speedlight, that would work also.

3. Place a large reflector about 3 feet to the subjects right and a smaller one at about her waist level pointing up to reflect light under her chin and nose to reduce some shadows. You can even have your subject hold that reflector if you don't have a stand.

4. For this shot, your shutter speed doesn't come into play much because you're not using any ambient or natural light, so setting it somewhere around 50-125 of a sec. should be good. You will have to adjust your aperature depending on the power of your strobe to properly expose your subject. For this shot I used an aperature of f10. I was still able to through the wall out of focus because I used a little zoom (70mm) and had the subject away from the wall. I could have stood further back and zoomed in more to cause the back wall to blur even more. The distance from the wall also causes the wall to become darker. If you want it lighter you can move your subject a little closer to the wall.

Thats it! Just stand back and shoot away!




(yes it's a different model in the set up picture, but the set up was the same)

Happy Shooting!

[danuthu]

Hello everyone,

Here's a small and basic tip for beginner photographers:

On the small display of your digital camera, it's more useful to look at the Histogram rather than at the Picture Preview in order to see if you got the capture right.

When you're taking on digital photography, you're always very eager to check the preview on the DSLR camera display after every picture taken. It's absolutely normal to be excited about the image you just captured. But it's also of little real use and rather disruptive.

The camera display is inherently too small to be able to truly tell whether the picture is in focus or whether you over or under exposed parts of it. You will only be able to tell this with certainty when you see it on your much larger computer screen.

Also, capturing the story you want to convey with your picture is easier when you keep your camera pointed at the subject waiting for the right moment or taking multiple pictures without interruptions. Checking the display after each picture can be disruptive and can result in you missing the right moment.

On the other hand, the Histogram that all DSLR cameras display (when set to) can show you at a short glance if your exposure was correct. The Histogram has all the info you need about exposure in a very concise form that is easy to read in virtually no time at all. That's basically all you need to know at that moment in order to make the necessary adjustments. Understanding Histograms requires a little practice, but it's actually easy and useful.

When shooting a dynamic scene, a good way to go about it is: set the camera to display the Histogram as Preview after each picture, take the first shot, take a short glance at the histogram to make sure you got the exposure as you wanted it, make the adjustments if needed and then focus on capturing the image you're looking for without interrupting to check the display again until you're done.

Hope it's helpful, enjoy and take great pictures.

[aragona]

When you are photographing something, look beyond the subject matter and technicalities. Remember that you can have the best equipment made; it won't make you a great (or even good) photographer. Many talented photographers have lousy equipment by industry standards and yet they take beautiful images. Why?

I believe that if you can find something inspiring about the subject; If you can find the beauty in what you're seeing through the lens - or the pain; If you can take something and make it meaningful through your artistic talents as a photographer you'll be a great despite your equipment, not because of it.

I haven't read the other entries so I'm not sure if I'm repeating what others have said. I just know that when I am enjoying the day and enjoying life and am inspired somehow by the images I'm taking, my photos come out terrific and I never tire of looking at them.

Seriously, have you looked at a bubble lately? Round luminescence that glistens effortlessly. The playful dance of the round spheres racing to the top of the glass with the urgency of a woman at the end of a monstrous line for the ladies restroom. Bad ass.

This assignment is simple.

1. Find a clear container and steal your wives mineral water. I mean, it's been in the fridge for like 5 months and it's not like she's going to have a bubbly water emergency right this damn second!

2. Pour the fancy bubbly water into the glass and watch in amazement. Bubbles will do a little show for you and then harass you to see the rest of their shows for the rest of eternity unless you want to "make a donation" to their theater group. No thanks.

3. Place fun objects into the dancing snobby water. Like divorce papers for example, they seem to have the effervescence of V-Day on the beaches of Normandy. Sure, freedom isn't exactly at hand yet, but soon. Real soon. Bad ass times will be had.

4. Take pictures of the 'better-than-you-because-I'm-expensive-and-from-France' water enveloping your hopes and dreams.

5. Arrange the dashed dreams and crushed expectations of playing for the New York Rangers as the star goalie and pray to god that your wife hasn't noticed the missing bubbly water. For 5 months, it just sat there, but god forbid she needs it in those fifteen seconds you used it. You better hope she doesn't notice otherwise you’re screwed. You've been warned. I tried to help you. I really did.

6.Make a snappy title. Don't worry about its meaning, you can always throw random words together and claim to be expressing your deepest brooding feelings but they are just too painful and grotesque that you cannot possibly get it across properly and that's the best you could do to convey the pain and misery that has been your existence. Word-vomit.

7. Notice that your story board has nothing to do with any of these things and play it like a bad ass. Bad ass.

[Ian B-M]

1. Scout out the location first. If possible, go past during the day. Try to get some idea of where the sun will rise or set, and where you might be able to stand to get a good view. Look where the river or lake lies (reflections). Look out for trees (good for framing, foreground interest, silhouettes). Where will other people be?

2. Arrive early, stay late. Best light quality and colour is usually up to half an hour on the dark side, and quarter of an hour on the daylight side. Yes, that does mean you might have to get out of bed an hour or two before sunrise! (It’s so worth it.)


3. Take your tripod. Light levels will be low. You could hand-hold at a higher ISO, but then you’ll get more image noise. (Me, I’m not a big fan of post-processing to get rid of image noise.)

4. Check camera settings. First, exposure. Your camera is going to try to make the scene a dull grey on average. The sun is very bright. Before it rises (or after it sets), light level will be low—your camera may not even be able to focus, and it is likely to over-expose. But if the sun is in the frame, expect the automatic setting to give you a dark, dull image with the sun a bright spot. To fix this, you have three choices: (a) choose “Sunset” mode if your camera has one; (b) use exposure compensation to modify what the camera thinks is right; or, (c) switch to manual exposure and adjust until it looks good on the preview screen. (I just love digital photography! With film you had to bracket like mad and hope something worked.) Next, white balance: choosing “Cloudy” or “Shade” will make the result even warmer than real life.

5. Look behind you. You never know what (or who) you might see, where no-one else is looking.


(Original post on my new photography blog.)

[UK-travel-junkie]

This might seem really basic, but the one thing that helped me to switch to Manual mode was understanding my Camera’s built in light meter. I had often seen references to the “light meter” but I thought this was a separate hand-held device! You can use the camera’s own light meter to change either aperture or shutter speed to get the perfect balance for your exposure.

To use the camera’s built in light meter:-

Set your camera to manual mode

In the viewfinder, or on the display screen, you will see a series of dots in line with a plus(+) sign at one end and a minus (-) sign at the other. I’ll call this the “light line” (see picture)

On DSLR cameras there is usually a thumbwheel with which you can change aperture and shutter speed. (Check the manual for your own camera on how use this.)

Use the thumbwheel to move the line of bars underneath the “light line” – when they disappear into the centre, this should give you correct exposure.

If the bars are towards the right (the minus (-) sign end) your photo will be under exposed, and too dark.

If the bars are towards the left (the plus (+) sign end) your photo will be over exposed, and too bright.

Not sure yet how to post a link to my Flickr page, but my Flickr username is: travel-junkie

[mandamendozaphotography]

As an in home daycare provider and part time photographer I have taken a lot of photos of children. I have learned over the years to use a shutter speed that allows you to turn off the flash and use available light. To do this you may need to dial up your ISO to 400 or more indoors or 400 or less outdoors. Children learn quickly and will not look your way if they think you are going to blind them; plus the natural light will show off their natural skin tones.
Manda Mendoza Photography
www.mandamendoza.com

[DBeck]

1. Correct Exposure either in Lightroom or Photoshop. You can do this with auto settings or manually. Always use your histogram so that you don't see any dark or light clippings.

2. Correct White Balance. I like to do this in Photoshop using a curves layer.

Create a new curves layer. There are three eyedropper icons on the left of the panel window. The top one is for Black. Use this eyedropper and click on the blackest spot in the photo that is not a dark shadow.

The second eyedropper is for neutral. Find a neutral spot somewhere between black and white and click.

The third eyedropper is for white and this should be used on a area that should be white and not a blown out area. Remember to always view your histogram to make sure you aren't creating clippings.

3. Sharpen. Sharpening a photo can be done several ways. It is usually done using the unsharp feature or a high pass method. Photoshop also has a sharpening feature under Filters. Do a google search for sharpening methods in Photoshop and you will be amazed with what you find. I won't give you one way to do it, because it really depends on the shot. Some require over all sharpening and some need spot sharpening. I will say however, whatever method you are using, it should be the last step in post processing a photo and should never be over done.

Always create a new layer before making changes so that you don't destroy the original[/B].

[withlime]

When I first started shooting I became so captivated with what I saw in the center of my viewfinder I would just clicked away. Only to find, after sending hours in the darkroom, there was some distracting detail, or worse, a missing detail that I didn’t see in the viewfinder.

Even today, the last step I take before pressing the shutter is survey my edges.

Surveying your edges improves your compositions by reminding you to reduce or eliminate distracting details missed when you concentrate on your subject. It also helps you discover details that can strengthen your composition – taking your photographs from good to great.

Some details to look for include:

Lines. For lines entering, exiting, or running parallel to an edge, can you re-position them to strengthen the visual geometry? Do they need more room or less… or should they be eliminated?

Useless (or missing) space. Look at the space around your edges, is it useless? If so, re-compose to reduce or eliminate it. Or could your subject benefit from more?

Secondary subjects. Look for other subjects – people, objects, colors, shapes – that compete with your subject, or that can enhance it. If you find one, re-compose to reduce, eliminate, or include it.

Missing body parts. For people and animals, look for cut off body parts – avoid slicing at a joint. If a limb is almost all there, show it all – such as a hand, foot, or the tip of a tail.

Tops and bottoms. Check if you are chopping off the top, bottom, or side of an object. If something is almost whole, should you make it whole or take more away?

Details found along the edges of your photograph can give your composition strength or create a distraction, weakening your photograph. Relying on post-production doesn’t always work – especially if a detail is missing or you needed to re-compose the shot.

So always remember to survey your edges!


Notice the distracting blue light from the TV.


Recomposing to eliminate the distraction strengthens the focus on the boy.


Recomposing again to add the second boy creates a more dynamic story.

[rkane]

I love what can be achieved using a tilt-shift lens, but not many of us can afford one.
Here is how you can achieve a VERY similar look using Photoshop.
After you open your image...



Create a new layer that is a copy of the image.
Then, on the background copy layer, click on the add layer mask button in the layers palette (the one that is a rectangle with a circle in the middle at the bottom of the palette).

Next, get the gradient tool. Click on radial gradient in your gradient options.
Make sure you are still in the background copy layer and that the mask box is called out. Click on the center point of the area you want to keep in focus and drag out as far as you want the focal point to go. If your gradient selection went from white to black, your mask box will show a white circle. If your gradient went from black to white, your mask box will show a black circle. It is important to be aware of this for the next step.

Now, click on the image box of new layer, taking you off of the mask box.
Go to filter – blur – lens blur.
In the lens blur dialog box, make adjustments until you get the affect you want.
In the depth map section, make sure the Layer mask is called out in the source drop down box. If you had a black circle in your mask box, click the box next to invert.



Click ok when you have the results you want.

If your image needs some fine tuning, select the paintbrush tool. Set the foreground color to black if you want to make a portion of your image in focus again, or white if you want to blur more.
Also, you can adjust the opacity of your brush to vary the amount of the effect and make it look more authentic.
Flatten image (in the layers drop down list) and save.



Blog: http://lovemy3ms.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27640179@N07/