The debate on whether to import and post-process files as RAW or as DNG (Digital Negative) is almost as heated – and opinionated – as whether to shoot with Canon or Nikon. The long and short of it is, “it depends,” and “it’s up to you.” There is no “right” answer.

RAW files are digitally unprocessed image files that come straight from your camera. They have no adjustments or alterations made to them so that when you load them into your post-processing software, you have the utmost of flexibility in altering things like exposure, white balance, and the like. The RAW “recipe” varies between camera manufacturers, which means that the file formats are not universal between software brands and versions. For example, when I upgraded from my Canon Rebel XTi to my Canon 7D I also had to upgrade from Photoshop CS3 to CS5, because CS3 didn’t support the 7D’s RAW files.

The DNG file type is very similar to a RAW file in that it is an unprocessed image file that can be manipulated and altered. It is an image standard developed by Adobe and is intended to be a type of “generic” RAW file that is universally compatible regardless of the camera brand. Upon import, the RAW files that your camera took are converted into the DNG file format (so, the RAW files are still on your camera’s memory card until you format it). More software programs can read DNG file formats than proprietary RAW file formats. For instance, if my files had been imported in the DNG format instead of RAW, Photoshop CS3 would have been able to read the files from my 7D.

Many photographers choose to convert their RAW files to DNG upon import for the following reasons:

- DNG files are smaller than RAW files (by around 15%). This is because “unrecognized metadata” (such as focus points and picture control settings) is stripped from the file.
- Any changes and adjustments made to the file are written to the DNG file itself, rather than appending a “sidecar” .xmp file which contains all of the changes.
- Photographers anticipate that the DNG file format will be supported farther into the future, minimizing the risk of obsolescence and incompatibility with future programs.

Many photographers choose to use RAW for the following reasons:

- RAW files open, import, save, and edit more quickly because there is no need to convert to another file format during the process.
- RAW files contain more metadata specific to the camera and the shot itself, which is important to many photographers.
- DNG files are not compatible with some brand-specific imaging products and solutions.

It is important to note that there is no difference in image quality between a DNG and a RAW file.

Personally, I have worked with both. I tend to stick with the RAW file format because I like lots of metadata, and it’s easier for me to go back to original RAW files when I want to try multiple editing techniques on a single image. There are many schools of thought on whether to stick with RAW or import to DNG. I found a handful of articles that you might find to be helpful in making your own decision.

Helpful Resources:

- To DNG or not to DNG at Lightroom Killer Tips
- RAW vs DNG – A Practical Overview of the Differences, a video by SLR Lounge
- A primer on the Digital Negative file format by Adobe.
- Understanding Digital Raw Capture by Adobe.

Do you have an opinion on whether to use RAW or DNG? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook Page.

Related posts:

1. Editing in Camera Raw
2. The Power of RAW!
3. Establishing a Post-Processing Routine

However, that capability to take photos in low light costs us in the way of increased noise.

Noise is that “grain” you see, which when magnified appears as tiny speckles of white and tiny colored specks that don’t correspond to the color of the subject. It is caused by a variety of things, but not to put too fine a technical point on it, it basically has to do with how the components of the camera’s sensor handle electronic signals at high ISO settings. The higher the ISO, the higher the appearance of noise. The larger the camera’s sensor, the better quality the photographs taken at a high ISO will be – so, a photo taken with a crop sensor camera at ISO 6400 will have more noise than a photo taken with a full frame sensor at ISO 6400. In addition, each camera model and each camera brand handle noise differently. Lots of folks like to play around with noise and grain as an added artistic element to their photographs.

With all of that said, there are ways to reduce the noise in your photographs, regardless of how high your ISO or which camera you use. Just keep in mind that the more noise you reduce, the “softer” the appearance of the photograph.

Here is a photo that I took with my Canon EOS 7D, ISO 12,800. Ordinarily, ISO settings are only available up to 6,400, but I activated the ISO expansion option on my camera. This shot is straight out of the camera (click to enlarge):

As you can see, it’s pretty grainy. And actually, zoomed out the grain is fairly aesthetically pleasing, given the subject. When I zoom in using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, the amount of noise is very apparent (click to enlarge):

In the Develop module of Lightroom, you may have noticed the “Detail” panel:

In the “Noise Reduction” area, slide the “Luminance” slider to the right until all of the white speckles disappear. I had to drag it all the way over to 51 (click to enlarge):

Now, notice the purple-ish speckles and streaks in the spoke on the lower left? That’s an indication of color noise, and to remove it we just slide the “Color” slider over to the right until it disappears, as well (click to enlarge):

Here is the photo with the noise levels reduced (click to enlarge):

Removing noise also has the added benefit of reducing the file size. The original is 16.6 MB, and the file with the noise reduced is 10.5 MB. This application of noise reduction works in a similar fashion in Photoshop, Aperture, and other post-processing software.

Photos by Tiffany Joyce.

Related posts:

1. A Splash of Color in Lightroom
2. My Lightroom Workflow
3. Image Stabilization and Vibration Reduction Explained

We all want absolutely tack-sharp photos. We all know that sharpness begins with the shot itself – there is no saving a blurry photo in post-production. We are somewhat familiar with sharpening techniques in Lightroom or Photoshop, but what is the best way to apply sharpening for landscapes? Portraits? Cars? Street scenes? When is the best time to sharpen? Is there a difference between sharpening for viewing on-line and sharpening for printing? What do the terms “amount” and “radius” and “threshold” mean?

Let’s begin to de-mystify the process of sharpening!

Two Rules of Thumb

The first rule of thumb is to apply sharpening as the very last step in the post-processing workflow. This is because softening can result from various editing techniques, so you want to sharpen the photo after all of the editing has been completed. The second rule of thumb is to view the photo at a magnified level (like 50%) as you sharpen, so you can really tell how the sharpening levels are affecting the image.

How Does It Know?

Post processing software such as Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 3, and Aperture 3 determine the where the edge lines are in the photograph by looking at the demarcation between lines of light pixels and lines of dark pixels. Depending on the settings that you use, sharpening is achieved by lightening the pixels next to the light lines, and darkening the pixels next to the dark lines. This creates greater definition along the edges of the subjects and details in the photograph, which translate into a sharper images as seen by our eyes.

This is a great exaggeration, but shows what I’m referring to. The first image is not sharpened at all, zoomed in to 1200% so you can see individual pixels:

This is an example with an extreme amount of sharpening added. Note the layers of contrast between the red and blue that the program added (click to see full-sized pixels):

What Do Those Unsharp Mask Settings Mean?

Amount: This refers to how significantly you want to sharpen the image. The higher the number you use, the more exaggerated the edges become. The light lines added next to the light edges become even lighter, and the dark lines added next to the dark edges become even darker. In the exaggerated photo of sharpening above, I set the Amount to 200%. This is what it looks like at 50% – notice the added blue lines aren’t AS blue, and the added red lines aren’t AS red (click to see full-sized pixels):

Radius: This effects how many pixels away from the identified edges the sharpening will be applied. A lower radius number means the changes will stick closer to the identified edge line, and a higher radius number means the changes will spread out further from the identified edge line. In the exaggerated photo of sharpening I applied a Radius of 5.0. This is what it looks like at 1.0 (click to see full-sized pixels):

Threshold: Threshold defines what the program considers an “edge” and what it does not. A high threshold number tells the program that a pixel needs to be very significantly different than surrounding pixels in order to be considered an “edge”. A low threshold number tells the program that only minor differences in pixels should define an edge. In the exaggerated photo I used, I set the threshold to “1″ – this means that more content within the photo will be sharpened because there are more incidents of slightly differing relational pixels than greatly differing relational pixels. In this example I set the threshold to “50″ (click to see full-sized pixels):

What Settings Should I Use?

Flowers and other “soft” subjects: You’ll want a fairly high amount (around 130-150%) with a very low radius (1 or 2) and a moderate threshold (8-12).

Portraits: You don’t want to overly-sharpen a portrait, but you do want to make things like eyes and hair highlights stand out. Try an amount of 75-100%, a radius of 2 or 3, and a threshold of 3-5.

Landscapes: There tend to be lots of edges and details in a landscape photo, so it’s appropriate to boost up the sharpening. Try an amount of 110-125%, a radius of 1, and a threshold of 3 or 4.

Very detailed (buildings, cars, anything intricate): If you want to sharpen the HECK out of your photo, set the amount to 60%, the radius to 5 and the threshold to 1.

Scott Kelby’s “All Purpose Sharpening”: In Scott Kelby’s book The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers , Kelby mentions that his favorite “all purpose” sharpening settings are amount 85%, radius of 1, threshold of 4. I do find this to be just the right amount of sharpening for most of my photography.

Sharpening for printing: If it looks just a little bit TOO over-sharpened on the screen, chances are it’s going to look just right when printed. Print out a few test prints on your printer until you establish how much sharpening results in the best prints.

In the shot at the beginning of this entry (taken at this summer’s MotoGP race in Indianapolis – the red Honda tents are in the foreground, and the track’s Pagoda is in the background), which was used for each example, I finally settled on an amount of 85%, radius of 1, and threshold of 3.

Photo credit: Tiffany Joyce

Related posts:

1. My Lightroom Workflow
2. Back to Basics: Image Resolution
3. The Beauty of Soft Focus

Okay, enough of the technical stuff and keep in mind that the above paragraph is somewhat of an over simplification. Its intent is to provide a general basis for going forward.

The principles of photography are the same as they’ve always been. However, in modern cameras, film has been replaced by the sensor. Like film, the sensor of a camera is not nearly as complex and adaptable as the human brain. As a result, the camera doesn’t see the same as the human eye.

Photos are made by “exposing” the film or sensor to light. No light equals no exposure. Too much light equals too much exposure. Therefore, in any given situation there is an amount of light that produces the “correct” exposure. This “correct” exposure is what we are trying to achieve when we press the shutter release on a camera. Point and Shoot cameras automatically adjust the amount of light passing through the lens and falling on the sensor. DSLR cameras allow you, the photographer, to adjust the amount of light that reaches the sensor which gives the photographer control over the exposure or amount of light falling on the sensor.

When you press the shutter release on a camera the shutter opens and allows light to hit the sensor. When the desired amount of time has passed, the shutter closes. This is true whether the shutter setting is 1/10,000 second or 30 seconds. So, setting the shutter speed on the camera determines how long the shutter is open when photographing any subject.

The lens of the camera contains a diaphragm that generally works like the pupil of your eye. In photography, this diaphragm is called the aperture. (The basic definition of aperture is opening.) When it’s opened wide, it allows relatively more light to reach the sensor and when it’s narrow, or stopped down, it restricts the amount of light that reaches the sensor.

In addition to shutter speed and aperture, you must also be aware of ISO. The ISO setting influences the light sensitivity of the sensor. It doesn’t control the amount of light reaching the sensor, rather the amount of light required to achieve “correct” exposure. Therefore, a change in the ISO requires a corresponding change in the shutter speed and f stop settings to get the same exposure as a different ISO setting. What the ISO does influence is the quality of the image. A low ISO setting will enable a sharp, noise, or grain, free image. A high ISO setting will, more than likely, produce an image with a considerable amount of noise. One more variable, the amount of noise resulting from a given ISO setting is heavily influenced by the camera you’re using and the sensor of that camera. A lower end camera will generally produce much more noise at high ISO setting than will a high end camera.

Shutter speed and aperture size, working in combination, determine the total amount of light reaching the sensor. You can probably figure out that if these two mechanical features of the camera work together, there must be different combinations of the two that will allow the exact same amount of light to reach the sensor and you would be correct. This relationship is called reciprocity. I’m going to assume that you already know that the shutter speed is measured in seconds or fractions of seconds and that the aperture is measured in a mathematical ratio, too involved to get into here, called f stops. The following table illustrates the different combinations of shutter speed and f stop that will provide the same exposure assuming an ISO of 125 on a bright, sunny day.
 

The same combinations in a very low light situation that requires longer exposure time for the same f stop.

With film there is something I’m not going to dwell on that’s called reciprocity failure.  It means that a color shift may occur with long exposures when using film and the relationship above won’t always work throughout the entire range.  With digital cameras, this is no longer an issue.  However, you may experience increased noise at longer exposures.

Here are some examples of this relationship.  All three photos are straight out of the camera with no processing at all except for converting the image from RAW to jpeg. Because of the difficult lighting situation (I was pointing directly at the sunrise) I captured these three exposures so I could create an HDR image.

The camera was set on aperture priority at f/16 and ISO 200. The camera automatically set the shutter speed at 1/125 second. So this is the metered exposure.

This is overexposed with a shutter speed of 1/50 second. Everything else is the same.

This is underexposed with a shutter speed of 1/320 second. All other settings the same.

In understanding light, the first challenge is fully understanding the amount of light and the mechanical functions of your camera.  Note that I said the first challenge.  Once you’ve mastered that part, the next step is understanding all the various kinds of light and sources of light and how they affect the image.

Small light sources provide harsh light with a lot of contrast.  Depending on where it’s located relative to your subject, small light sources can also reduce detail because it “flattens” the appearance of the subject.  For example, an on-camera flash is a small light source.  When you photograph a person who is looking directly at the camera, you lose detail because the flash “flattens” the natural curves of the face.  If you move the flash a little off to the side, you create harsh shadows that can be unappealing.

Large light sources provide soft light with less contrast.  It also, again depending somewhat on location, preserves the natural shape and curves of the subject.  Portrait photographers use soft-boxes and/or reflective umbrellas to soften the light coming from a strobe or a flash unit.  That’s why you’ll see photographers using a milky colored diffuser on their on-camera flash attachment.

Another example of a small light source is the sun.  I know the sun is very large, but it’s also a long distance from Earth which makes it smaller as a light source.  By photographing in the early morning or the late afternoon you get a much better quality light because it’s not as direct and the atmosphere diffuses the light and filters the light somewhat.

A cloud cover is a huge soft-box, so an overcast sky is a large light source.  Therefore, when photographing outdoors on an overcast day, not only do you have less light but also, the characteristics of the light are very different.

In the Intermediate Level, I’ll delve deeper into the sources of light, the control of light and the location of the light source.

Related posts:

1. Painting with light!
2. Great Beginner Light Sources
3. Photography 101 – Exposure Bracketing

The one day workshop started promptly at 10:00 in the morning, and ended just as promptly at 6:00 in the evening (per Mark, “If I didn’t have a hard stop at the end of the day we’d just keep going until midnight!”). The class is limited to just six attendees, to ensure that each student gets a quality, personalized experience. Students ranged from Phoenix-area residents such as myself, to individuals that flew in from other states to attend.

From 10:00 until noon (at which time a light lunch was provided), the students, Mark, and Mark’s producer/assistant Kelsey gathered around a conference table and discussed some foundational principles. The properties of light were discussed at length, accompanied by video demonstrations (some content coming from Mark and Snapfactory’s video Studio Lighting Essentials for Portrait Photography). Mark then discussed the types of equipment essential for studio photography.

The most outstanding aspect of the workshop, in my opinion, was the afternoon session. After lunch a model arrived, and everyone trooped into the studio. A vast array of lighting equipment and props were available, and Mark demonstrated the functionality of many of them. He went into detail about how to use a light meter, and demonstrated how to properly light the model using a standard three-light setup. Each student was given the opportunity to use the provided Sekonic light meters including the L-358 Light Meter and the L-758DR Light Meter. We were taught how to meter for individual light sources and average the metering for correct exposure, as well as the importance of flash sync speed and custom white balance. We were also taught how to properly handle various lights, stands, cables, and power sources. Finally, all students were provided with Pocket Wizard products (such as the PocketWizard PWP-TR 801-125 PLUS II Transceiver) to sync with the studio strobes.

Once the students were taught the fundamentals, each student was given the opportunity to direct the lighting setup however they wished, using the other students as assistants to move equipment and set up props. The “lead” student instructed the model (a wonderfully professional, friendly and PATIENT young woman named Brenda) according to their vision for the photo shoot, including poses, outfits, and sets, which lasted for about forty minutes for each student. After the lead student completed his or her shoot, the other students were given the opportunity to use that setup to take a few shots themselves. Each of the six students had the opportunity to have their own photo shoot, and six very different lighting styles were demonstrated according to the student’s preferences. Mark and Kelsey only stepped in when asked, to add their expertise and advice – throughout, Mark offered invaluable advice on how to work with and communicate with a model. The outcome of the photo shoot provided each student with a very solid start on a personal portfolio, and a very solid understanding of how to manipulate light sources to effect photographic styles.

The session completed with a brief overview about a standard digital workflow, including color balancing using the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. When the class wrapped up, each student was provided with a model release signed by Brenda allowing the use of the photographs taken in the class.

The Studio Lighting 101 Workshop was, quite simply put, the most instructional, beneficial, and entertaining workshop I have ever participated in. Mark was funny, engaging, quirky, and above all an absolute professional and EXPERT in every photographic topic discussed. It was clear that every single student was reluctant to end the day, which is where the firm 6:00 pm cut-off became necessary. We WOULD have stayed much longer but for that. If you are in the Phoenix area for any reason, I would HIGHLY recommend this class to anyone wishing to gain studio education. If you can’t make the workshop, be sure to avail yourself of the Studio Lighting Essentials for Portrait Photography DVD (review forthcoming).

Mark’s next workshop is scheduled for November 21st, 2011, with additional workshops scheduled regularly. Be sure to keep checking back on their website for future dates!

All photos copyright Tiffany Joyce, taken during the Studio Lighting 101 Workshop.

Related posts:

1. Lighting – Where To Begin
2. Studio Backdrops/Backgrounds
3. Review: Renting A Studio (Roharik Productions)

There are also “white balance bracketing” and “flash bracketing” techniques which I’ll talk about in a later article, but for the purposes of this discussion I’ll be referring to exposure bracketing whenever I use the term “bracketing”.

There are two ways to achieve bracketing – one is manually using a combination of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. The other is automatically, using the Auto Exposure Bracketing capabilities of many current digital camera models.

Here is the manual technique that I usually follow for bracketing:

1. Set the camera to aperture priority mode, and set the aperture to the desired value.

2. Set the ISO to the desired value.

3. Take a photograph of the subject and note the shutter speed. The camera’s automatic metering will baseline the exposure indicator at “0″.

-3—2—1—0—1—2—3+

4. Now put the camera on manual mode, and set the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture to those values. Take another shot to ensure they’re set correctly, noting the exposure meter (it should still be at zero).

5. Increase the shutter speed until the exposure indicator is stopped down to the desired level (for the purposes of this demonstration I chose two stops). Increasing the shutter speed decreases the amount of time that light is hitting the sensor, thereby underexposing the photograph. Take the shot:

-3—2—1—0—1—2—3+

6. Decrease the shutter speed until the exposure indicator is stopped up to an equal number of stops as it was decreased. Decreasing the shutter speed increases the amount of time the light is hitting the sensor, thereby overexposing the photograph. Take the shot:

-3—2—1—0—1—2—3+

Here are three shots that demonstrate this concept (note the changing shutter speed):

Base exposure: ISO 400 | 55mm | f/2.8 | 1/80

Under-exposure: ISO 400 | 55mm | f/2.8 | 1/400

Over-exposure: ISO 400 | 55mm | f/2.8 | 1/25

Auto Exposure Bracketing works similarly in many camera models. Here are two examples (consult your owner’s manual for the technique specific to your camera):

Canon 7D: Press the MENU button and select the Shooting 2 Menu. Choose AEB and press the SET button. Rotate the Main Dial and highlight the number of increments you wish the exposure bracketing range to be. Press the SET button. The next three photos that are taken will be the base exposure, over-exposed and under-exposed increments. You can take three individual photos using shingle shooting mode, set the camera on the timer which will automatically take three photos after the delay, or set the camera on burst mode to take rapid shots in succession (just be careful to count how many shots you capture).

Nikon D300: Press and hold the Fn button and rotate the main command dial to set the number of shots. Then while holding the Fn button rotate the sub-command dial to set the exposure increment. The next number of shots will be at the base exposure, over-exposed and under-exposed. Then to cancel bracketing, hold the Fn button and rotate the main command dial until the number of frames shows 0.

Give exposure bracketing a try this weekend!

Related posts:

1. Photography 101 – Exposure Compensation
2. Back to Basics: Exposure Explained
3. Photography 101 – How to Read a Histogram

———-

Now that you’ve mastered the basics of photography and have gained a good amount of experience, you may find yourself ready to move on to the next level. Perhaps you’d like to learn how to give your photographs that little extra “something” that makes them stand out. You could be thinking about establishing a portfolio and investigating a career in photography. Or maybe the process of learning the basics has only whetted your appetite for more! Here are some tips to get you started in the right direction.

Tiffany’s Top Five Tips:

One – Get your flash off of your camera. A whole new world of nuance, contrast, and style will be opened up to you as soon as you learn how to direct light. The only way to accomplish that is to get the flash off of the top of your camera! That front-facing, single-direction light has very little flexibility and you’ll soon find yourself limited in the kinds of images you can create. So, invest in an external flash and learn how to sync it with your camera. Many current model DSLR’s have wireless sync capabilities between an external flash and the camera. Barring that, products such as the PocketWizard lineup have a wide variety of flash sync products, both wirelessly and with a cable. To kick things up a notch, get an inexpensive but sturdy stand for your external flash, and pick up a couple of different types of light modifiers. Here are some products that I personally own and recommend (and will be reviewing on this site in the near future) to get you started:

- Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
- Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras
- Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
- Nikon SB-700 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
- Cowboystudio 9 ft Heavy duty Cushioned Premium Black Light Stand for Video, Portrait, and Product Photography
- CowboyStudio Photo / Video 24in Large Speedlite Flash Softbox with L-Bracket, Shoe Mount & Carry Case
- CowboyStudio 40in White Satin Umbrella with Reflective Silver Backing and Removable Black Cover
- Manfrotto 026 Swivel Lite-Tite Umbrella Adapter – Replaces 2905
- Fotodiox 40×60″ 5-in-1 Collapsible Reflector Disc Pro Kit, with Stand and Holder Arm, Soft Silver/Gold/Black/White/Diffuser

Two – Learn how to use bracketing and exposure compensation. Bracketing refers to taking several shots of the same subject at slightly different exposures in order to ensure you’ve captured the correct exposure. I’ll be posting about this specific subject in tomorrow’s article. Essentially, a subject is photographed three times – once at “normal” exposure, once at a stopped-down exposure level, and once at a stopped-up exposure level. This ensures that at least one of the shots will be exposed correctly, which is especially helpful under variable light conditions. Exposure compensation has been discussed in a previous article – it is used to manually adjust the exposure to something different than what the camera’s meter is suggesting. The photographer can tell the camera to allow more light in (positive exposure compensation) or to allow less light in (negative exposure compensation). Exposure compensation is extremely helpful when balancing ambient light with a speedlight. Both of these techniques will assist you considerably in advancing your skills and improving the outcome of your photographs.

Three – Use a light meter. Your camera’s built-in light meter only measures reflected light – that is, it measures and exposes for the light that is bouncing off of the subject and directly back towards the camera. If you want to measure ambient or continuous light, or if you want to spot meter when using studio lighting, a light meter is essential to achieve correct exposure and adds a very valuable level of control. When using a light meter, the photographer provides two of the elements of the exposure triangle and the light meter provides the third. For example, if you know the shutter speed and ISO (typical for studio lighting situations, where the shutter speed is the camera’s sync speed), the light meter will recommend the precise aperture value for your shot. You will get the exactly correct exposure every single time. The light meter can also help average the output of multiple sources of light to help you balance the light according to your wishes. I recently used the Sekonic L-758DR Light Meter and I highly recommend it.

Four – Use custom white balance. Your camera has multiple white balance settings – auto, fluorescent, tungsten, daylight, shade, and the like. However, sometimes your camera’s interpretation of white balance can be incorrect. Use your camera’s custom white balance functionality to achieve the correct white balance. The typical steps to set your camera’s custom white balance (which vary from camera to camera, so check your manual) are to set a white balance card in the scene, take a picture of it, select the custom white balance setting on your camera, select the image of the white card, and confirm the selection to be used as the white balance reference. I also recommend the Datacolor DC SC100 Spyder Cube for correcting white balance in post-production.

Five – Calibrate your colors. Have you ever taken a photo, viewed it on your computer, viewed it on-line, and viewed it in printed format, and noticed that the colors all looked different? Have you ever taken a photo and noticed that the reds looked pink, or the whites looked gray? You may need to calibrate your display, monitor, and/or printer to display true colors. This is KEY for post-processing, as the actions you take in post-processing are dictated by the results that you see on the screen. There are a variety of color calibration tools available – my recommendations are:

- The X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, which can be used in tandem with Lightroom for quick, SIMPLE and extremely accurate color correction.
- The ColorMunki Photo – Monitor, Printer & Projector Profiler, which is used to calibrate colors between devices (multiple computer monitors, projectors, printers).
- The Datacolor DC S3X100 Spyder 3 Express, a less costly yet still effective solution for hobbyists and enthusiasts.

———-

Steve’s Top Five Tips:

Before I start my Tips, I wanted to add to one of Joyce’s. The Sekonic light meter she recommended is an awesome piece of equipment. However, if you click on the link she provided you will see that it costs about $600. If that’s a little steep for your budget check out the Sekonic L-358 Flash Master Light Meter. This is also a really good light meter and is roughly half the price of the L-758. Of course, the lower price for the L-358 means that it doesn’t have all the functionality of the l_758. Also, note that if you want to remotely fire flash or studio strobes with the L-358, the Sekonic 401-621 Transmitter Module for L-758 Cine and L-358 must be purchased separately.

Okay, now for the tips-

1 – Composition. To take a really good photograph there are three things that are required – subject, light and composition. To move from beginner to intermediate, learning and understanding composition is critical. Good composition has a lot of rules. However, there is no rule that says you can’t break rules of composition. Still, you should know and understand composition inside and out. When you break a rule, know that you’re doing it and know why you’re breaking it. You can have the aperture spot on, the shutter speed can be perfect for what you’re trying to accomplish, but if the composition sucks, so does the photograph.

2 – Let the photo tell a story. Think about what you want the photograph to say to the viewer before you press the shutter. The green heron in this photo was feeding when I captured the image. It was a lot of fun just watching the bird’s antics as it chased and snapped at dragonflies. How do I let the viewer of the image know what was happening. Look closely and you’ll see the wings of a dragonfly on either side of the bird’s beak. Unfortunately, it’s not a good photograph because the compensation is off. Actually the bird’s tail is cut off. Of course, when you’re using a 500mm lens and you’re too close for the lens to “see” all of the subject that’s going to happen.

3 – Practice. You can’t become a better photographer with your camera and lenses sitting on a shelf in the closet. A creative writing professor once told me that until you’ve written at least a million words you won’t really “grok” writing. That’s a lot of words and I now understand what he was saying much better than I did when he first told me. I don’t think you need to take a million photographs to “grok” photography but I do think that after ten thousand or so you start to get close. Practice allows you to have enough successes and failures that you begin to understand the difference between the two and what causes each. With experience and practice, you’ll get to the point where you know what the photo is going to look like before you take it.

4 – Know your subject. It is very important to know your subject so that you can anticipate what is going to happen. This is especially true when photographing animals and children. It’s critical when photographing sports, dancing and other activities where the subjects are in constant motion. If you know, you can anticipate. If you can anticipate, you will capture better images like this great egret displaying during the mating season. Knowing your subject is also important when photographing an inanimate object, like a building for example. Being familiar with the building will guide you to the best angles and views.

5 – Learn, observe, listen and learn. I can’t stress enough how important it is to learn as much as you can. I’ve been around very accomplished professional photographers enough to know that they are still learning. I’ve listened to conversations between them where one will say I do it this way and the other responds with, “I’ve never tried that before. I need to do that.” Learn through experimentation. You know how to achieve a certain effect. Try to do it differently. Change perspective, angle, exposure, etc., and learn what happens when you do. Photographers that believe they know all there is to know and that every shot they take is exactly what they were looking for are stuck where they are.
Have you moved up to Intermediate photography, and would like to share your experiences? Do you wish to share your own tips about what helped you advance? Please share with us in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Photo credits (in order of appearance):
- “8″ by Jose M Izquierdo Galiot on Flickr Creative Commons.
- Flower by Jason Bache on Flickr Creative Commons.
- Green Heron by Steve Russell
- Great Egret by Steve Russell

Related posts:

1. Photography 101 – Exposure Compensation
2. Balancing Ambient Light with a Speedlite
3. Three Simple Tips to INSTANTLY Improve Your Photography

This is one of the first of my own photos that I really liked.

This is the first in a three-part series on improving your photography at every level of ability. This “beginner” article will be followed by “intermediate” and “advanced” articles over the next couple of weeks.

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Congratulations! You’ve purchased your first digital camera and are ready to jump right in. Maybe you’re a little intimidated by all of the modes, menus and buttons on your camera. It’s possible that you are dissatisfied with your first few (hundred!) photos. Perhaps you’ve looked through Flickr or 500px and have wondered how on earth the photographers captured the shots, and if you could ever possibly be that good.

The answer is, YES YOU CAN! And here are some tips on how to go about doing just that. I’m hearkening back to the days when I was first getting started, and these were the items that I recall were most important for my own learning experience.

One - First thing’s first, read your camera’s manual. It may seem like a pretty darned obvious tip, but you’d be surprised at how many people just leave the manual in the box and try to figure things out for themselves. Then they get frustrated with the camera, annoyed at themselves, and take some of the joy out of new camera ownership. So, sit there on the couch with the camera in your lap and follow the directions for the various capabilities of your particular model. Become familiar with all of the buttons, dials, and menus and practice getting to them quickly and easily. If you don’t understand the concept that is being explained – say, exposure compensation, or bracketing – pull out your laptop and do a little research. Knowing what your camera can do, and knowing what those capabilities mean, should be your first step. Then when you’re ready to try out those concepts for the first time, you’ll know how to make your camera do what you want. Also, if you find your camera’s manual lacking (as I did with my Canon 7D), buy a book about it. I picked up David Busch’s Canon EOS 7D Guide to Digital SLR Photography and learned a TON more than I would have by just reading the manual that came with the camera.

I used to center my shots all the time.

Two - Pay attention to composition. Nine times out of ten, when you look at a photo that you took and don’t understand why it doesn’t resonate with you when someone else’s photo of a similar subject did, it’s probably because of the composition. Composition means the difference between art and banality. It can create interest and differentiate between a snapshot and a photograph. There are a lot of composition “rules” – some of which can be broken with wonderful results. Some of the most basic are to avoid centering your subject within the shot (that creates the “snapshot” look), strive for simplicity and avoid photographs that are too “busy”, and keep your horizons (and other lines that are meant to be exactly horizontal or vertical) straight! If you’re looking for a book on the subject, The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos comes highly recommended and has very positive reviews.

Three - Make shooting easy on yourself at first. Shoot in JPEG so that you don’t have to master post processing on top of everything else. Use Program Mode or another automatic mode while you are getting used to your camera or are concentrating on composition. Use your camera’s auto-focus capabilities to their fullest extent until you get the hang of positioning specific points of focus. You’re not going to know how to do everything immediately, so concentrate on acquiring your knowledge gradually but consistently. Then, as your confidence grows, give Aperture Priority a try. Many photographers find themselves shooting in Aperture Priority most of the time (myself included) when outside of the studio, because depth of field is usually what we want to control.

I used vignetting WAAAAAAY too much.

Four – Your wish list of gear is going to grow quickly. Prioritizing that wish list might seem an impossible task. My recommendation is to FIRST buy an external hard drive to back up all of your photographs. I just got a Western Digital WD Elements 3 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive, and I’m thinking three TERABYTES is enough to get me by for a while. Then of course you’re going to want a couple of extra batteries and memory cards, and a memory card reader so you’re not pulling files off using your camera’s USB cable (which is hard on the camera and the card). Get a couple of good, quality microfiber cloths and a dust blower to keep your gear clean. Finally, get a good sturdy camera bag to keep your investment safe.

Five - The first, middle, and last word in improving your photography is practice, practice, practice. Don’t get so bogged down in the “rules” and technical aspects of photography that you miss out on enjoying yourself. Take your camera everywhere and just shoot. Don’t worry about post-processing, don’t worry about showing anyone the shots, and cast aside any urge to judge your own efforts. Get used to the feel of the camera in your hand, so that your responses to photographic opportunities are automatic. If you only use your camera during special occasions or vacations, you won’t shoot often enough or consistently enough to develop your skills. Soon you will find yourself keeping more photos than you discard, and you’ll have some shots that you’re proud of. Over the course of a few months, you can see for yourself in the examples of your work how much your photographic skills have grown. There is so much value in keeping a visual record of your growth, so don’t delete the photos of your first attempts!

We have a section of this website specifically geared toward beginners, called Getting Started With Photography. This page is updated on a regular basis, so be sure to check it out occasionally for new information! I also HIGHLY recommend Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 – I own them myself and have given them as gifts to several aspiring photographer friends.

Are you a beginner photographer who would like to share your experiences? Are you more knowledgeable about photography and wish to share your own experiences about what would have helped you when you first started? Please share with us in the comments or on our Facebook page.

All photos copyright Tiffany Joyce. Each one of them is from the first six months of owning my first DSLR camera. I love to look back and see how much I have learned and how much I have grown.

Related posts:

1. Three Simple Tips to INSTANTLY Improve Your Photography
2. Understanding Light in Photography – Beginner Level
3. Intermediate Tips for Better Photography

One of the most intimidating things to venture into in photography is studio lighting. At one point or another we all feel a bit limited by using only ambient light or light from our pop-up or external flash, and we begin to entertain the thought of getting a few lights. So we start to research, and we come across a veritable universe of terms like strobes, constant lights, softboxes, hot lights, cool lights, pocket wizards, umbrellas, snoots, barn doors… there are so many options and configurations, gadgets and gizmos, that things can get very overwhelming very quickly.

So! I’m here to help you get started and make your way through it all one step at a time.

There’s a lot you can do with one light.

If you’re already a proud owner of an external flash, you probably already know this. So, a great way to get yourself started is to simply buy some accessories for your external flash. Get a stand (something like this one from Manfrotto), get an umbrella (something like this Westcott) or a softbox (something like this ALZO), attach them to your external flash, and play around. Position the light in various ways around the subject and see how it effects your photography. Essentially, a setup like this is very similar to a setup for a strobe light, so this is a great way to introduce yourself to studio lighting.

There are single light kits available that provide all of the accessories you need to hit the ground running. If you’re looking for a continuous light – one that you can turn on and off and not have to worry about syncing with your camera – something like this Photography Studio continuous lighting kit is a great place to start.

If you want to try out a strobe, Cowboy Studios has a lot of different options like this strobe umbrella lighting kit that includes a light stand, a strobe flash, a sync cord and power cord, a model light, and an umbrella, all for just $85.00 at the time of this post.

As you’ve probably guessed, the photograph at the beginning of this article was taken using a single strobe.

Progress to a three light setup.

You will find a lot of photographers, photography publications and photography websites talking about the “basic three light setup”. This refers to:

- A key light – this is the foundation of the three light setup and is positioned first to illuminate the subject.
- A fill light – this light fills in the shadows and provides overall illumination of the area around the subject.
- A separation, or “kicker” light – this pulls the subject out and separates it from the background

The great thing about a three light setup is how flexible it is. Pretty much any type of light can be used as a key, fill, or kicker light. Of course, some lights are specialized for these particular roles (we can’t make this all TOO simple, after all), but in general you can get great results from any combination of external flashes, strobes and continuous light sources, directed with softboxes, umbrellas, and reflectors.

There are a huge variety of three light kits that you can purchase that contain everything you need to set up a basic and flexible studio. Some even come with backgrounds and frames. This CowboyStudio light kit contains three strobes, two softboxes, a barndoor, a snoot, and reflectors for $285.00 as of the date of this post. This CowboyStudio Softbox Lighting & Boom Kit is on my own wish list.

(The photo of the studio at the beginning of this section demonstrates a trio of lights set up for a high key portrait effect.)

Additional Resources

For advice on how to make three lights work together, check out this great article by 3Drender.com which demonstrates the use of each type of light, and some positioning tips.

Strobist is also a great resource – they’ve posted a tutorial on how to use a Pocket Wizard (the gizmo that’s used to sync all of your strobes), and their blog in general is fraught with all sorts of lighting tips, tutorials, and expertise.

Finally, check out this great “Basic Three Light Setup” video by Mark Wallace over at Adorama.tv.

Once you’ve mastered single light and three light configurations, it gets much easier to build upon that knowledge. Before you know it, you will have mastered the art and technical skill of studio lighting no matter how complicated or simple the studio!

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A couple of items to note – there’s a new poll up on the main page, please make your opinion known!

Also, in case you missed it, I posted the winner of our giveaway yesterday on our Facebook page!

Photo credits (in order of appearance):
- “Tattoo” by JD Photography on Flickr Creative Commons.
- “Studio in the RAW: High Key Set-Up” by Alan Antiporda on Flickr Creative Commons.

Related posts:

1. Review: Studio Lighting 101 Workshop by SnapFactory
2. Great Beginner Light Sources
3. Some Lighting Tips for Beginners

Freezing action or motion in a photograph results in an image in which the subject and the background are “frozen”, sharp and in-focus. This is accomplished by using a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action, while using an aperture that is both tight enough to keep the entire scene in focus, but wide enough to let in enough light. This is a different concept than panning on a moving object and having it focused while the background has motion blur (which I will discuss in a forthcoming article). Here are a few tips to keep in mind when freezing action.

One: Zoom in. Fill the frame with the subject, while leaving enough background to provide context. Shoot portrait as well as landscape, and get shots from above and below the subject.

Two: Pre-focus. Fix your focus in manual mode and then leave it – don’t rely on your auto-focus. Pick the focal position and focus on the area in which the motion is going to enter into the frame or occur. Pick a spot on the track, a point on the field, or a position in the studio. Then after taking your series of shots, reposition yourself and pick a different vantage point from which to focus.

Three: Use flash or strobes. The light will enable a faster shutter speed, which will “freeze” the motion. It will also isolate the subject and pull the subject out of the background while really accenting the action. Put strobes on full power to freeze action, or on a lower power to allow for some motion blur. Use multiple lights to add depth and dimension. Play with it!

Four: Use a long lens. A long lens narrows the field of view, so remember to increase the depth of field to around f/16 to f/22. When changing the depth of field remember to adjust the shutter speed and/or ISO accordingly. Remember the rules of the exposure triangle.

Five: Practice with jumps. Find a likely assistant who will be willing to hop up and down like a fool for an hour or two, so you can try your hand at stopping motion. Or, as with the subjects of the photos in this article, find a public event in which a lot of motion is happening, and practice with that. The first photo featured was taken at 1/800th of a second at f/5.0 and ISO 200. The photographer used exposure compensation to increase the exposure by 1/3 of a stop. In the second photo was taken at 1/640th of a second at f/3.5 and ISO 640. Again, exposure compensation was used.

We’d love to hear about your experiences with this kind of photography, and if you choose to try your hand at it please show us your results on our Facebook Page or Flickr Group.

Photo credits (all): JB London on Flickr Creative Commons.

Related posts:

1. Tips for Action Photography
2. Back to Basics: Exposure Explained
3. Back to Basics: ISO Explained