Odds & Ends

     I've been out of pocket the last few days and have not done any posting.  I just have a couple of odds and ends to contribute today....

     First- Apple's Photo Stream.  This is really cool!  ( that is to say, it's cool if you are an iPhone / iPad / iPhoto user )   In case you're not familiar...  Photo Stream is a part of Apple's iCloud.  It's a very simple way to share your iPhone photos to your iPad, Mac, or to other iPhone users on your account.

Here's how it works.  Just go into your iCloud settings and turn on the Photo Stream.  Now when you take photos with your iPhone, or add photos to the Camera Roll, those photos will automatically be copied to your Photo Stream album in the cloud. (photos will only go up to the cloud when connected to wifi)  When you open the Photo Stream album on your iPad or in iPhoto, your latest iPhone pics are there!  This works great if you have other iPhone users on your iCloud account.  For example....  My wife and I use the same iCloud account so we can share pictures automatically.  When either of us takes a photo with our iPhone, the photo automatically appears in the Photo Stream which we can view via iPhone or iPad.  It's great when I'm traveling and she wants to share new pics of the kiddos.  She doesn't have to email me the photos, they just magically appear in my Photo Stream.  The Photo Stream will keep only your last 1000 photos, so it is not a replacement for permanent backup.  But it's easy and free, so I like it.



     Second-  A quick portrait tip.....  The camera looks both ways.   You've possibly heard this, or perhaps some other rendition of it before.  It's a commonly shared tip because it's very very true.  Your mood, expression, and emotion will be reflected by your subject, just like a mirror.  This is especially true when photographing kids.  If you want joyous, laughing, excited, smiley expressions- you've got to set the tone.  It's not 100% effective 100% of the time, but it's close.


     Lastly-  Here's a photo of a friend and her daughter that I took last Fall.  Taken at my favorite time of day, the early evening sunlight angling in from behind them is providing the accent lighting.  Fill light is coming in from my speed light positioned camera left. And I think I have mentioned before that some of my favorite portraits are the ones in which the subjects are not looking at the camera.....

Hope you like,
Tim

photo jabber blog by tim wyler

basic photography tips for new dslr owners

simple techniques for taking better family photos

A Day at the Beach

     What family photo album would be complete without the shots from the big summer beach vacation!  The sun, the surf, hot sand, sunburns, jellyfish......   well you know.  It's still good classic family fun!  

the classic sandcastle building shot...  it's a must.

               Zoom in tight...                              Avoid distracting backgrounds...

A different perspective...

 The details...

Must include some beach vegetation!

     When capturing those family beach memories on camera, all the normal photographic rules apply.  But  here are a few extra tidbits which may help you yield better beach results...

• The plastic bag trick...  Ever walked out of your cool condo with camera in hand, ready for action, until the warm moist tropical air hits that camera lens and suddenly you're all fogged up?  Before you head out, put your camera in a plastic bag and set it out on the balcony for 20 minutes.  Your lens will adapt to the warm temperature and you will avoid the dreaded fog-over.
• Consider an old camera.  Keep in mind the sand and salty air do not make for a friendly environment for your nice shiny new camera.  Sure, you can bring the good one out for your portrait shoots.  But for those- hangin on the beach and just shooting some snapshots days, bring an old camera along.  Try to keep it protected when you're not using it.  And NEVER wipe the lens with a sandy towel or shirt.  
• If you're using a DSLR, do No Not Never change your lens on the beach.  Sand in Camera = Bad.
• As always.... Try to shoot in good light.  This means early or late in the day.  Avoid mid-day harsh sunlight.    - Having said that, we are just talking about vacation pics here.  It's perfectly fine to capture your memories at any time of day... just understand that your better photos will come in good light.
• Avoid busy, distracting backgrounds and zoom in tight on your subject. 
• Shoot from different perspectives...  Get low with lots of sand in the foreground.  Or try wading out into the water and shooting back toward the beach.
• Capture the details... the sand castles, the umbrellas, the little toes in the sand, etc...
• When shooting your fancy, dressed-up beach portraits... use fill-flash, so your sky will be pretty  and blue.
• Don't forget the all-important sea oats!  It's a requirement that you shoot your beach portraits in front of beach vegetation.  (usually dressed in khaki and white!)  

     

Tim

photo jabber blog by tim wyler

basic tips for beginner photographers

better family photos

Focus Your Focus

A quick Beginner's Tip for shooting with shallow depth of field.......

     Shooting portraits with a fast (wide-aperture) lens creates those soft, dreamy backgrounds that everybody loves.  But this very shallow depth of field can make it challenging to keep our subject in sharp focus.

Focus your focus point on the nearest eye.

      The above photo was shot with my Fast Fifty lens from about 4 feet away, at an aperture setting of f2.5.  This, according to my trusty iPhone depth of field calculator app, gives me a total depth of field of about 2 &1/4 inches.  That's only 2 1/4 inches of sharp focus!  Anything in front of that thin plane of focus, and anything behind it, will begin to look soft.  This is why it is so important to put your focus point right where you want it.
     It's all about the eyes!  Generally it's not overly important to see ears and mouths and noses in sharp focus.  But the eyes must be sharp... or I should say, the nearest eye must be sharp.  Therefore, that is where we want to put our focus point.

You wouldn't dare blur these eyes..

     To do this- Set your camera to utilize only one focus point, the one in the center.  (it's easy to do...you have read your manual right?)  Now when you prepare to take your shot, just put the center focus point right over the nearest eyeball and depress the shutter button half-way.  When you hear the "beep", the focus is locked on.  Now, if you don't want that eye directly in the middle of the photo, keep holding the button half-way while you recompose the shot, and then click.  Be careful when recomposing that you don't lean forward or back.  Just a little movement can throw off your focus- remember we only have 2 1/4 inches in this example.
     If you are shooting very close up, or using a lens with a crazy fast aperture like f1.2, you may have a total depth of field of less than one inch!  In this case you should not even dare to recompose the shot, just focus and click- you can adjust the composition in post processing.
     Keep in mind, if your subject is moving, wiggling, jumping, twirling, or bouncing, you're not going to have much luck nailing your focus.  Crank the aperture down to f8 and your depth of field will become much much deeper, making everything look sharp.

Hope you like,
Tim

photo jabber blog by tim wyler

simple tips and techniques for beginner photographers

depth of field for portraits

Blue on White

     I rarely shoot indoor portraits, but it can be a lot of fun.  This photo session of our friends' boy was shot in my living room.  I used two off-camera speedlights, a reflector, and a white background.  The first speedlight is positioned camera-left with a shoot-through umbrella.  The umbrella is very close to our subject so the light is very soft.  The large white reflector to his left helps fill in the shadows.  A second speedlight, up high behind the boy, is used to light the white background.  (if the white background were not lit, it would appear gray)  It's a simple, inexpensive setup.  And it's lots of fun.

     Gear-  Yongnuo YN-460II Speedlight

                 RF-603 Radio Triggers

Hope you like,

Tim

Unleash your Photographic Betterness

     Imagine if there was one piece of equipment that you could buy for around 100 bucks which would make your photography better!  Well, there's really not, but there sorta kinda is.....  Here's the thing- New camera gear will definitely NOT make you a better photographer!... However!!  Sometimes the right gear can help you take your learning up a notch, and let you rise to your maximum potential, thereby unleashing your photographic betterness!  And if you learn to use that new gear properly, it may allow you to make images that do actually look better.  

     One such piece of equipment is the 50mm f1.8 prime lens.  Both Canon and Nikon produce versions of this lens which sell for just a little over $100.  By far, this is the best $100 a novice photographer can spend on any piece of equipment IMHO.  Known as the "fast 50" or the "plastic fantastic", the 50mm f1.8 is incredibly small and light, and produces amazing image quality with super sharpness that you will never get from a zoom lens.  

Canon 50mm, shot at f1.8

     Small, light, and cheap are all great features, but the 50's greatest asset is it's wide f1.8 maximum aperture.  If you are wondering how those other photographers get that nice soft dreamy background blur in their portraits, here ya go!  Now, I got really deep into aperture and f-numbers and depth of field in my last post - Here, so I won't really go back into all that again.  But you should just know this- if you like shooting portraits, you will love this lens.

     

     Canon 50mm, shot at f2.5

Hope you like,

Tim

    photo jabber blog by tim wyler

simple tips and techniques for beginner dslr photographers

#lenses, #aperture, #depth of field, #portraits

Exposure Triangle pt. 2 - Aperture

This post contains some pretty deep ramblings for DSLR shooters:

What is Aperture?  What does it do?  Why should you care?

 Fast glass, and shallow depth of field.

   

     If you missed part 1, you can go back and read Exposure Triangle pt. 1 - ISO.

     In that post, I rambled on somewhat about how each of the three points on the triangle will affect the other two, and all three combined will determine the final exposure.  Each of these settings is adjustable, and each adjustment comes with it's own "secondary results", sometimes positive, and sometimes negative.  As we mentioned in part 1, ISO can be increased to improve exposure (brighten the scene).  But the secondary result of increasing ISO is greater noise, or "grain" in the photo.  In this post we'll look at Aperture, and we will see how adjusting our aperture affects our exposure, while also causing some secondary results.

     So what in tarnation is it anyway??  Aperture is actually not a camera setting at all... I mean, you can control it from the camera, but the aperture is inside the lens.  It's the opening inside the lens that lets the light pass through, and it's adjustable from little to big.  Obviously a small aperture lets in only a little bit of light, while a big aperture lets a bunch of light pass through.  And so it's easy to see how our Exposure  is very directly affected by our aperture setting.  

     Okay, well, so that's pretty straight-forward.  But here is the goofy part- the way in which the aperture setting is measured can be a little tough to grasp at first.  See.. Aperture settings are read in f-stops.  An f-stop is a measurement of light.  So, the aperture setting (the f-number) indicates how much light is required to make a proper exposure, using the given aperture size.  Therefore, (are you following this?) a bunch of light, which would measure something like f22, only needs a very small aperture.  A dim, poorly lit scene, measuring say.. f2, would require a much larger aperture in order to properly expose the sensor.  

     If you're still reading this.. it's really starting to sound like a bunch of gobbledygook, but I'm coming to a point, I think.  Here it is...  This explains why the settings on your camera's aperture adjustment are read in f-numbers, and it also sort of explains why those f-numbers seem to be backwards.  What I mean is, f2 is a very large aperture, and f32 is a very small aperture.  Get it?  f2= large opening=not much light required.  f32= small opening= lots of light required.  

     Now let's just assume that you've chosen to completely skip over the previous two paragraphs....  Here is what you really need to know about your camera's Aperture setting.  When you are shooting in a dimly lit environment, like a gymnasium, you will want to set your aperture to a low f-number.  Typical lenses have a maximum aperture value of around f4.  Some lenses get all the way down to f1.2, this is a very large aperture.  If you are shooting outside on a sunny day, you may use a much smaller aperture, like f16 or f22.  

     If you are shooting in Auto mode or Program mode, your camera will automatically select an appropriate aperture setting, as well as shutter speed, for you.  But sometimes the camera may not give you what you really want.  A while ago I said that your aperture setting yields some secondary results.  Besides affecting exposure, your aperture setting directly controls the depth of field in your photos.  Shoot with a high f-number, (small aperture opening) like f22, and your photo will have very deep depth of field, meaning everything in the scene will appear in sharp focus.  Select an aperture setting of f2.8 or f4, and your photo will have a very shallow depth of field, meaning only a thin slice of the image will be in focus while the background appears soft and blurry.  This soft, dreamy background look is the popular style for portraits.  

 f2.8

     So how to get that look...  Set your camera mode to Aperture Priority (AV on Canons), and use the finger dial to roll the aperture setting down to the lowest available number. Aperture Priority mode lets you set the aperture, and your camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to compensate.  You can amplify the effect by stepping back a little and zooming in tight on your subject.  

     Want even more soft, blurry, dreaminess to your backgrounds? - Get some faster glass.  A "fast" lens is one with a very wide aperture, like f1.8 or f1.2.  It's called "fast" because the wide aperture allows for faster shutter speeds.  A really fast lens can get you that super shallow depth of field look, where your subject's eyes are in sharp focus while the ears are very soft.  It can get a little crazy.

f2.0

     If landscape photos are more your thing, set your aperture to around f16 or f22, and focus about 1/3 of the distance into the scene.  This will ensure that everything in the photo will be nice and sharp.  But be careful... very small apertures like f22 can drive your shutter speed down too slow, causing motion blur.  If this is the case, increase your ISO............  see the triangle at work.

Tim

     #digital photography #aperture priority

#depth of field

photo jabber tips and techniques for novice photographers

Zooming In

In a previous post - Shooting Long, I talked about shooting portraits with a long tele-zoom lens.  I was shooting on that day with my DSLR, but the same principle applies to compact point & shoot cameras.

     This is another pair of shots from my wife's Panasonic ZS3 point & shoot camera.  Like most compact cameras, this Panasonic has a zoom lens- a pretty long one at 12X.  This means the focal length (when adjusted for sensor size) is equal to 25mm on the wide end, and out to 300mm when fully extended.
   
     For the photos above, I positioned my pretty volunteer with her back to the sun.  I stood very close to her, only about three or four feet away, and took the first shot.  For this shot my lens was zoomed all the way out to it's widest setting of 25mm.  For the second shot I simply backed up and zoomed in.  With the lens zoomed all the way in to 300mm I needed to step back a good 20 feet or so.

     So look at what a difference a zoom lens can make.  First, looking at our subject, the distortion caused by the wide angle lens in the first photo is obvious.  Her head and facial features have a little bit of that fun-house mirror effect.  Now look the difference in the two backgrounds.  In the first photo the background is cluttered and distracting.  All of the background elements are in sharp focus which gives the image a very two dimensional look.  The background of the second photo has a much different look.  It's soft, slightly out of focus, and the overall scene is greatly compressed which makes the background less distracting.  See the difference in the picket fence?  That's the compression effect from the long focal length.

     You don't necessary need to zoom to 300mm.  Portrait photographers generally favor a lens focal length of at least 70mm, this is long enough to eliminate wide-angle distortion.  So give this a try next time you're shooting a portrait-  back up and zoom in.

Tim

Force the Flash

     Today I grabbed my wife's Panasonic Lumix point & shoot camera, along with one of my favorite models, for a couple of quick shots to demonstrate the effects of using fill-flash for outdoor portraits.  Yet another beautiful, unseasonably warm day here today.  

     

     Bright afternoon sunlight overhead- so certainly no shortage of ambient light to work with.  But I don't want harsh afternoon sunlight directly on my subject's face, so I placed her back toward the sun.  Now she has great accent lighting on her hair and shoulders, but her face remains shaded.  I left the camera in Auto mode and took a shot.  As you can see in the first image above, it turned out okay.  

     But it's so super easy to make this okay-looking photo look better.  (I'm just talking about the exposure here, the subject is beautiful in either photo).  So I sorta remember saying something in a previous post- (This One) about the evils of using in-camera flash for portraits.  I think I said "Never Never", but what that really means is  "Never except for maybe Sometimes".  Actually I can and do stand by my previous declaration, as it was referring specifically to Indoor portraits.  Using in-camera flash for Outdoor portraits is not only acceptable, it's a really great idea.

     When shooting outdoors, the job of your camera's flash is to provide fill-light.  It's just a subtle little kiss of extra light  to fill in the shadows on the face, give a little catchlight in the eyes, and help separate your subject from the background.  

     For my second shot above, I set the camera to "Forced Flash On," and I took the same shot.  The effect is subtle, (as it should be) but I think it really improves the look of the photo.  Most point & shoot cameras have a button with the little flash/lightning bolt symbol to access the flash menu.  Simply set your flash to "ON" or "Forced ON" or whatever the term is used by your particular camera, and shoot away.  Be aware these tiny built-in flashes are pretty weak, so don't try this from across the yard.  

Hope you like,
Tim

Black & White Basics

  

 
 Seems like some people really like B&W portraits, and some people don't...  I do.  I like the simplicity of B&W images.  Generally I think the best portraits are simple, without a lot of busy, distracting elements.  Removing the color from an image helps to simplify the photo and really concentrate the viewer's focus on the subject.

   
     Actually "black & white" is not very accurate- I prefer images that have a subtle warm color tone.  This "duo-tone" look is more pleasing for portraits.  True black and white portraits can make the subject look very cold and lifeless- typically not the look we're going for.  Nonetheless, I will continue to use the term black & white, even though we all can agree that black & white doesn't really mean black & white :)
   
     Some images seem to make better B&W's than others.  Usually I find that simple, close-up shots work the best.  But I don't really know how good an image will look in B&W until I try it.  When converting to B&W, there are two key elements that I always add.  First is the warm color tone we already talked about, and Second is Contrast.  B&W images look great with a lot of contrast.  (Lightroom users- also try adding some Clarity)

     You don't need special software to create B&W's, but if you want to get serious about it, there are some great applications out there designed just for B&W conversion.  The most popular is Nik Software's - Silver Effects Pro 2.  It's pretty awesome and it is free to try for 15 days.

                       

                                                                         
 
      I always recommend Google's Picasa photo editing software for novice photographers.  I used Picasa exclusively for a long time.  It's very very capable, and it's very very FREE!  Because it has become a very popular editing platform, I wanted to put together a short tutorial on converting B&W images in Picasa.  So, even though I'm one of those people who HATES hearing the sound of my own voice- I thought a screen video would be best to explain the procedure.     --

         
              B&W Conversion in Picasa from tim wyler on Vimeo.

Expression Over Perfection

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     "Expression over Perfection" - common phraseology in portrait photography, simply means the technical aspects of a photo: lighting, composition, exposure, tone, etc...  will always take a back seat to the expression and emotion of your subject.  Yeah, all that other stuff is really important... But great expression is way better than technical perfection.  I've learned that portrait photography is about 25% technical, 25% creative, and 90% interactive.  Simple mathematics.

     Tim

photo jabber blog by tim wyler

simple digital photography portrait tips

Perspectives

     Add more interest to your portraits by changing your perspective. Shoot from an angle of view that is slightly different from what we normally see. This will give your portraits more impact and often enhance your subjects.

Get Low-  When photographing kids, get down on their level.

Get Lower-  You gotta get dirty sometimes.  

Usually the least comfortable you are, the better the shot.

Now Higher-  Bring a stepladder!  

Shooting down from above is considered a safe shot, it almost always looks good.

Don't get crazy, just a little higher than your normal standing position.

You may not need that ladder for some..

     Mix it up a little, try a few different angles for each shot.  Sometimes you won't know which looks better until you see the images on the screen.  

     *Note:  Shooting adult subjects from above often gives a flattering, slimming effect.  More importantly, the opposite is very true when shooting from below.  Avoid shooting adults from a low angle at close range- they won't like the photo.

     

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photo jabber blog by tim wyler

simple digital photography tips and techniques

Soft Window Light

     Want to get studio-like results for your indoor home portraits?

Does your house have a window?

     

     Large Light = Soft Light.  Soft Light = Pretty Portraits

     Studios use giant soft boxes and other large diffusers to produce soft light.  The larger the light source, the softer the light will be on your subject.  This is why you Never Never Ever want to take indoor portraits with your built-in camera flash.  The tiny flash will produce harsh, ugly light and give your subject a very flat, washed-out look.  It's not good.  Please don't do it.

     Okay, we agree.  So now turn Off your flash, and go find a large window.  Instant Soft Box!  Sit your subject close to the window.  In the above photo, the pretty girl is sitting to the side of the window, but near the back.  Other words- the window is to her side and out in front of her.  You may want to seat your subject facing toward the window, with head turned toward the camera.  Experiment with different positions, many great looks are possible.  

     note: North-facing windows are nice because the light is pretty constant regardless of the sun's position.  Remember the larger the window, the softer the light.

     Hope you like.

     Tim

photo jabber blog by tim wyler

simple digital photography tips and techniques

Magic Hour

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250mm f5.6 1/80 sec.

     Whether you're shooting landscapes or portraits, with a DSLR, a Polaroid, or an iPhone, this one simple tip is virtually guaranteed to always always dramatically increase the amazingness of your outdoor photos!  The Magic Hour (or Golden Hour) actually occurs a couple of times per day.  The first hour of daylight and the last hour of daylight are without question, the premier shooting times for nearly any type of outdoor photo.  Low on the horizon, the sun's light is softened and diffused by the atmosphere, producing a warm, soft glow that bathes your subject and makes images look awesome.
     Try this test - Take a photo at 1pm.  Then go back out and take the exact same shot just before sunset.  You'll be amazed at how much you're photography improved in just a few hours :)

photo jabber blog by tim wyler

simple digital photography tips and techniques

Unplanned Moments

     This is one of my favorite shots from a recent portrait shoot I did for some friends. The scene was completely unscripted. I had just finished shooting with one of the other kids on the staircase when I noticed that big brother had found a nice spot to sit and play. I loved the simplicity of the scene. The backlighting from the windows and the leading lines in the hardwood floor give the photo some nice depth. I was shooting with a 50mm lens with an aperture setting of f2.2. The wide aperture gives the image a shallow depth of field, resulting in the soft, blurred foreground and background.  Lighting was from my on-camera speedlight with a bounce diffuser attached.  I would have preferred to set up my off-camera flash with a shoot-though umbrella for this shot, but I knew I would lose the moment if I didn't move quick.
     Often the unplanned shots are the real gems.  We have to keep an eye out for those moments, and be ready to quickly change gears and get the shot.  When working with kids, the great moments never last long.    Many times I have wanted to say "WAIT!  I wasn't ready, now do that cute thing again!..."  By that point it's a missed shot :(  We just have to be ready next time.

Hope you like.
Tim

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