Exit Your Comfort Zone

September 10, 2014 in General Photography

If it flies, I shoot it!

Portraits are not something I'm comfortable with, not that I don't enjoy it - I just haven't really done a lot of it.

I've got to give direction? But birds don't take direction?
Reflectors and light modification? I only use fill flash??
Post processing? There are no feathers, what the heck do I do!?

Get out and do it

For me, the best way was to get with a few guys and gals who know what they're doing. We spent a couple days in South Dakota with a few "hired hands" as models. It was a relaxed, low pressure environment, working on posing, atmosphere, composition and edits. Now, I'm certainly no portrait wiz - but I have a feel for it now and the basic techniques to apply. This gives me enough confidence to continue learning on my own.

There are other ways

I chose a mentored approach for this learning experience but books, videos, online training as well as trial and error can work just as well - what's comfortable for you? With a little of all of the above, I taught myself macro photography in a low stress environment over time, it worked well!

So get out there and try something new, you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll learn to extend your techniques.

Stay in focus,

Mark

Dynamic Images

July 01, 2014 in Tips and Tricks, General Photography

Good photography communicates and conveys the essence of its subject. If you're subject is alive and dynamic - your photography needs to telegraph it at the first glance. Fast things need to look "fast".

The core of the moving subject should be in sharp focus. Everything else around it will communicate the motion
Practice your panning technique - this post will help to get you started
Over time, gradually begin to slow your shutter speed as your panning technique improves

Stay in focus,

Mark

Overexposed?? - No Problem (Part 3)

May 09, 2014 in General Photography, Image Editing, Tips and Tricks

We left off with last time in this series having completed exposure and recovery adjustments. The next step is to selectively adjust only the highlights. The easiest (90% of the time) way to do this is the Highlights and Shadows Adjustment sliders (as Aperture calls them).

In this case, we obviously want to reduce the highlights, so that's the one we'll work with. Pull the slider to the right and watch the preview. It's takes a little bit of a feel to know how much is too much, but the general rule of thumb is to watch the mid-tones.

Move the slider while watching your preview, as soon as you see the mid-tones of the image being impacted by the Highlights slider - stop. Now back off the adjustment just a bit.

The results can be significant, as the histogram below demonstrates. Notice the better balanced readings, with nothing on the right edge.

Compare that to the original histogram before we started with any adjustments. Major improvement here overall - including a successful recovery of the blown out areas (Only RAW would allow you to accomplish this!

And here is the final exposure result. The only other adjustment made here was a slight tweak to the Black Point slider. A usable and pleasing image has emerged from a shot that was destined for the trash can!

Stay tuned . . . more tips to come in the week and months ahead, including one technique where we will actually straddle that right exposure limit - on purpose!

Stay in Focus,

Mark

Overexposed?? - No Problem! (Part 2)

May 05, 2014 in General Photography, Image Editing, Tips and Tricks

The first step in this quick process starts with the Recovery Slider (Note, this is what Aperture calls it - other programs have similar functions with different names). The key feature of this slider is that it's a "selective adjustment".

~A selective adjustment only impacts certain areas of the image, based on different criteria. The Recovery slider selectively reduces exposure and allows recovery of only the most "blown out" areas of the image~

The impact of this slider is significant as it pulls back the most overexposed elements of the image, beginning the process of recovering detail. We then adjust our second slider, exposure. Notice that we tweak this just about a third of a stop negative, to assist in our recovery. Go easy on this slider, and only use it after you've gotten everything you can out of the Recovery Slider. Exposure is a global adjustment, and will impact all areas of the image.

At this point in the image, you can start to see the blown out areas begin to tone down - but it looks like we still have a long way to go (as you can see in the image blow, sampled after these two adjustments were made).

Now, don't get discouraged yet! Even though the image still shows a long way to go, look at how much improvement we've really made - as indicated by the histogram.

Histogram after recovery and expsoure adjustments.

So demonstrated progress has been made - and sets the foundation for everything else to come. With the highlights themselves now properly recovered, we're ready to move on to the most visible corrective adjustment. In Part 3 of this series we will focus on selectively recovering detail in the highlights - this is where the image really starts to "pop".

Stay in Focus,

Mark

Overexposed?? - No Problem!

May 02, 2014 in General Photography, Image Editing

. . . . as long as you're shooting in RAW, that is!

"Raw" is the generic name for a camera manufacturer's native file format, and it includes a wealth of information - everything your camera saw at the time of image capture. (learn more abut RAW format here)

Unlike a JPEG, a RAW image doesn't have any picture formatting or style settings baked in and is capable of being edited without a reduction of quality every-time you edit and save. Shoot JPEG's and you loose the flexibility to turn the overexposed image above into a usable image like the one below.

Now the picture above isn't perfect, but it was certainly saved from the trash can! Notice the highlights and detail that have been recovered in the Swans - this is what RAW - and understanding exposure adjustments in your image editing software - allow you to accomplish.

Well heck, so why wouldn't someone shoot RAW?

As usual, there are a few downsides:

RAW files are BIG! In megabytes that is.
If shooting in continuos (rapid fire) mode, you can't shoot as many back to back RAW images as you can with JPEG's without the camera stopping to empty it's buffer.
RAW files, straight out the camera are . . . well . . . RAW! They can tend to be flat as no processing was done, so you will have to either directly edit or apply camera styles before use.

Once I saw the flexibility of RAW, I never turned back to camera generated JPEG's. Look at that great image of those swans, it would have been ruined without RAW - what a difference! Speaking of these

"before and after images"

- the next series of posts will take you step-by-step and show you how to get these basic results, in under two minutes! So check back over the week.

Stay in Focus,

Mark

Action Can Really Be Boring!

April 30, 2014 in General Photography, Tips and Tricks, Wildlife and Nature

That's right, boring! You can literally spend hours of waiting for a quick 5 minutes of pure action. Patience is a virtue in nature photography.

On a typical eagle outing on the Mississippi River, it's not uncommon to stand for 2 hours or more with literally no action except for the occasional eagle coming and going. Then, seemingly out of no where, a silent command must go out to all eagles - it's time to fish!! For the next 5 to 10 minutes you'll have all sorts of action everywhere, you won't know where to swing your camera next. This is the way it goes for me with most nature photography.

There are really two main things to keep in mind:

- Do Your Homework. All the patience in the world won't do you any good if you're not in the right place. Here are a few homework tips:
  - In the post Always Look Close To Home, I discuss how to find great opportunities right in your own area.
  - Investigate sun rise and sun set times in your area - also the exact position on the horizon the sun sets for that particular time of year.
  - Scout the areas for the animal activity you're looking for. If in a local, state or national park - the rangers or workers are invaluable information sources on what's going on, strike up a conversation!
  - Spend time in the area. Get out an take a walk, see a sunset or just hang out. The more you are familiar with an area, the more you will notice.
  - Be Patient.Your research and scouting done, now you're on site - waiting for the perfect picture. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
    - It depends on what and where you're shooting, but you'll generally need to keep still. (Duh!) Unless you're really good, the birds and animals will know you're there - but will tend to ignore you or become used to your presence (to a point). Hopping around, popping the top on a soda can or anything similar will greatly reduce your chances.
    - It will be common to have an entire trip that doesn't yield any results - this is standard fare and where the patience really comes in. If you've done your homework and know you're in a good spot, then give it time. The critters don't always run on a perfect schedule.

It's also useful to keep in mind that you're out in the field, probably in a beautiful place, enjoying the country-side. Enjoy that for what it is, some of the best trips I've had resulted in not a single image - but a very peaceful and relaxing outing filled with fresh air!

See the light,

Mark