PictureCorrect.com: New Year’s Resolutions for New Photographers

Many of us have received or bought ourselves new digital cameras for Christmas, and with this comes the zeal to create great images. Sadly, the chances of this happening are small, as most of us know that a camera doesn’t take great images, the photographer does. So what resolutions can you make that will start your photography journey in the new year on the right footing?

photo by Ricardo Liberato

1. Read your camera manual

Please don’t stop reading this article because I said this. Go back to the box and get the manual out. In order to become a good photographer you need to do just that. Unless you know the basic functions—and specifically, the creative modes—you’re going to struggle to get the good images you see in books and magazines. This is important if you want to proceed to the next resolution. So, at least learn the basic functions if you aren’t up to reading the whole manual.

2. Find a basic photography course

This can be a book, an online course, or a local photography course. Whatever it is, resolve to find something that is going to lay a foundation and teach you the basics. You need to get your foundations right from the get go. If you are a self-starter then find books, magazines, and Internet-based material that you can self-study. Find something that works for you.

photo by Loughborough University Library

3. Plan photography time

Photography is not something you just decide to do when you feel like picking up your camera and taking some shots. You need to plan uninterrupted photography time into your schedule. Not reading or learning time, but finger on the shutter button time. Time dedicated to taking photographs on a daily or weekly basis is so important if you want to go anywhere in your photography journey.

4. Discover your photographic passion

What do you like doing in your life? What are your hobbies or interests? If you are a stamp collector or an extreme sports person, the chances are that you will want to take photos of your passion. This is not always the case but it will help you discover your passion. So sit down, if you don’t already know, and write down what you love doing. Then ask yourself if any of these interests are what you like to shooting. There will be equipment limitations based on your camera and lenses, so work within these restrictions.

photo by Brook

5. Think before you shoot

Put in your mind right at the outset of your photography journey that you are going to think before you shoot. The disease of digital is indiscriminate shooting without a plan, purpose, or thought. It’s like spraying a target with machine gun fire and hoping to hit the bull’s eye. Pretend you are shooting film and only have 36 exposures in your camera. If you can think before shooting rather than hoping that out of a hundred photos a few may be good, you are on your way to becoming a great photographer.

photo by Nick Page

Remember that just because you own a camera it doesn’t mean you are a photographer in the same way owning a box of paints doesn’t make you an artist. Resolve to do these things as you enter a new year with a new camera, and start your new photography journey as you learn. Happy shooting!

About the Author:
Wayne Turner has been teaching photography for 25 years and has written three books on photography. He has produced 21 Steps to Perfect Photos, a program of learner-based training using outcomes based education.

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PictureCorrect.com: Timelapse: New Year’s Eve In New York City (2014)

Celebrating New Year’s Eve at Times Square in New York City is on many a bucket list. It is one of the largest celebrations of its type–an estimated 1,000,000 people attend the event in person with another 1,000,000,000 (yes, that’s right, one billion) people tuning in worldwide via TV and Internet. The following timelapse video takes viewers right to the heart of the action:

Filmed over the course of 12 hours from the rooftops of two different hotels, the crew used a wide assortment of gear to capture the stunning footage. Here is a sampling of what was inside their camera bags:

• Three Canon 5d Mark III’s
• Three Canon 7D’s
• Two Canon 60D’s
• Canon T3i and a T4i
• Two Canon 24-70mm II’s
• Two 16-35mm II’s
• Two 70-200mm II’s
• 24mm Tilt Shift II
• Dynamic Perception Stage Zero
• Emotimo TB3 Black
• Manfrotto 536, 528XB,  535, and 546B 190cx3 tripods
• Kessler Kwik Release Plates
•  Hercules 2.0 Head

Can you imagine carrying all that gear around New York City on the most bustling day of the year? It goes to show how much blood, sweat, and tears actually go into making a two and half minute video clip.

Produced by The Timelapse Group, the video was made by compiling over 18,000 still photographs to give the appearance of moving video.

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PictureCorrect.com: Discussion: What is Your New Year’s Resolution for Photography?

The beginning of a new year is truly a good time to set some goals for what you want to accomplish. Start off 2019 right! What is your New Year’s Resolution for Photography? We started this discussion on Facebook last night and in previous years, it’s always great to make friends who are working towards the same goals.

Share & compare yours here: New Year’s Photography Discussion

What is Your New Year’s Resolution for Photography? (Click to Join the Discussion)

Find the discussion here: What is Your New Year’s Resolution for Photography?

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PictureCorrect.com: How to Photograph Fireworks eBook Deal for New Year’s

Fireworks photography is indeed one of the most daunting types of photography. This in-depth tutorial eBook explains the process from start to finish, everything from gear and camera settings to composition and post-processing to achieve great results with fireworks of any kind. It is currently 55% off to help photographers prepare for New Year’s celebrations. Deal ending soon: How to Photograph Fireworks Guide at 55% Off

The How to Photograph Fireworks eBook

A common result of photographers new to fireworks photography is capturing nothing but bright white spots instead of colorful bursts. But with the guidance of this eBook in hand, you should be fully prepared to photograph brilliant fireworks displays. While the exposure fundamentals of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are essential to great fireworks, it’s important to also be aware of the right accessories and set up for your shots correctly.

How to use bulb mode for long shutter speeds

Some of the Many Topics Covered (50 Pages):

• Equipment & Accessories Needed
• Using a DSLR for Fireworks
• Using a Point & Shoot for Fireworks
• Composition
• Using a Neutral Density Filter
• Country Shutter Technique
• Post Processing
• Conclusion

In-depth tutorials on how to photograph fireworks in challenging conditions

Like post processing in general, there are a myriad of ways to approach the post processing of fireworks shots. To start, they describe general tips and explain how they are universally applicable, and then they apply the techniques to example photos, explaining how they change the overall result.

Pages from How to Photograph Fireworks

How to Photograph Fireworks is a downloadable eBook PDF file, which can be viewed on a number of devices – laptop and desktop computers, iPhone or Android devices, iPads, and other tablets.

How to Get a Discounted Copy Today:

How to Photograph Fireworks is a downloadable eBook PDF file, which can be viewed on a number of devices – laptop and desktop computers, iPhone or Android devices, iPads, and other tablets. It is currently 55% off to help photographers prepare for New Year’s celebrations. It also carries a 90 day guarantee, if you do not find the eBook useful just let us know to receive a full refund. So there is nothing to lose in trying it.

Deal found here: The How to Photograph Fireworks eBook at 55% Off

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PictureCorrect.com: Interesting Photo of the Day: Abandoned Chicago Highway

How do you get an eerily empty shot of an otherwise busy highway—completely devoid of vehicles, like some post-apocalyptic scenario? You stack 50 exposures together. That’s exactly how photographer Michael Salisbury created this image:.

I stacked 50 photos to create an empty highway in Chicago. (Via Reddit. Click image to see full size.)

Salisbury made the original images using a Phase One iQ 180, a medium format camera. Salisbury explains that he usually takes a ‘plate’ image of the background, or anything that would remain static in the final image. The actual composite part is the road, which had a lot of traffic and needed to be ‘cleaned up’.

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PictureCorrect.com: Tips for Taking Great Overhead Portraits

Overhead portrait photography isn’t just about laying the subject on the ground and taking photos from above. You can achieve some great overhead portraits by controlling the light and paying a little more attention to the background. In the following video, photographer Gavin Hoey from Adorama shares his tips for taking great overhead portraits on location:

Hoey starts off by asking the model to lie down on a green patch of grass in the shade. He uses some steps to gain height and takes a photo using natural light. As you can tell, the image looks quite good but lacks any kind of WOW factor.

Lighting

To add some punch to the image, he adds some artificial light using his Flashpoint Xplor 600. Since the subject is low on the ground, it’s important to make sure the light source is placed low, too.

Once the light is in place, it is now critical that you take control of the light. To do so, Hoey underexposes the scene and fills in the shadows with flash.

Background

Once you’re happy with the exposure, you’re all set to start taking some pictures. But make sure that the background is clear of anything unwanted. It’s always better to get things correct in-camera than it is to correct mistakes in post.

To make the photos look more beautiful, you can add in props like flowers or books.

Processing Overhead Portraits

These images look a whole lot better than the one taken with natural light. However, with the model lying down on the ground, the image may require some slight touch-ups.

To start with, Hoey uses the “Forward Warp” tool (Filter > Liquify…) to gently nudge in the model’s neckline. He also pushes the chin slightly inwards because these are the areas where gravity plays its role, and affects the appearance of the model in a wrong way.

Hoey proceeds to give the image a dreamy effect. He starts off by giving the image the illusion that it was shot with a shallow depth of field. To achieve this look, he does the following:

• Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift…
• Rotate and adjust the focal plane indicated by lines so the subject is in focus while other elements gently blur away.
• Control the amount of blur by using the control on the right-hand side of the on-screen display.
• Click Okay when done.

And finally, Hoey adds a sun bleach look using the following steps:

• Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels…
• Slide the slider at the black end toward the right until the output level is around 30. This step ensures that there is no pure black in the image.
• Next, slide the slider at the white point of the histogram by about 10 points.
• To add the warm tone effect, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance…
• Then simply add some yellow and plenty of reds to get a warm tone.

By adding in a simple flash and some props, you can make an image really stand out. Keep these simple tips handy the next time you’re shooting overhead portraits.

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PictureCorrect.com: Controlling Color, Exposure, and Blurriness in Photography

On your next trip, wouldn’t you like your digital photos to look just like the scenes did with your eyes?

Photo by Vasile Hurghis; ISO 100, f/3.6, 1/2500-second exposure.

The good news is they can! There are several things you can do to improve your vacation photos. Even with today’s auto-everything cameras, you must still control the camera to get perfect photos.

Most problems with photos can be tied back to three things:

1. poor color
2. over or under exposure
3. blurriness

Color

One technical flaw seen quite often is images with either washed-out color or a color cast to them. There are a couple of things you can do to control both.

First, if your subject is outdoors, such as a landscape, use a polarizer filter. It will “punch” up colors, darken the blue sky, remove reflections, and lighten haze—all things that will improve your photos.

If you are experiencing a color cast, then you need to match your camera’s white balance setting to the ambient light color. Many times the Automatic White Balance (AWB) setting on your camera will render colors accurately, but during those times when it doesn’t, know how to change your white balance.

Exposure

Your camera strives to make the perfect exposure, but it does so thinking everything is middle-tone or 18% gray—which everything isn’t. When faced with an overly bright scene, such as white snow or a white sand beach on a sunny day, your camera will over compensate and your whites will be a light gray. To correct this, you have to add exposure. You can do this by either slowing down the shutter speed one stop or using the next smaller number f-stop. Both will add the same amount of light.

For extremely dark subjects, such as the black coat of a dog, your black color will be more of a dark gray. In this case, you have to take light out to make the black color look black. To do this, either adjust your shutter speed to one stop faster or change your f-stop to the next larger number. Either will take out the same amount of light, thereby darkening your black color.

Photo by Scott; ISO 100, f/10.0, 1/250-second exposure.

A great tool that most DSLR cameras have for checking exposure is a histogram. It is nothing more than your exposure shown as a graph, but many photographers do not understand how to use it.

Your aim on the graph is to not “clip” off the falling slope line on the right and left side of the graph. Each slope line at the ends of the graph should meet the left and right bottom corner of the graph at the horizontal line. If either slope is cut off part way up either vertical line, then you have clipping and are losing exposure data. If your clipping is on the left side, then add exposure. If clipping occurs on the right side, remove exposure. Keep adjusting until the clipping is gone.

Blurriness

Blurriness is caused by one of two things: improper focusing or too slow a shutter speed. If the whole scene is blurry, then the culprit was camera shake, meaning you tried to handhold the camera using too slow of a shutter speed. Correct this next time by either mounting your camera on a tripod or shooting at a faster shutter speed.

If your subject is blurry, but there are parts of the scene in focus, then your point of focus was not on your subject. This can easily happen when using the Rule of Thirds. You have your subject off to the side, but your camera takes the point of focus from the middle of your scene.

To remedy this, put your subject in the middle of your viewfinder and press your shutter button half-way down. With your shutter button still halfway down, swing the camera putting your subject back in the proper position. Now press the shutter button all the way to take the picture.

Photo by NGÁO STUDIO; ISO 100, f/2.0, 1/1600-second exposure.

Many DSLRs have multiple focus points. In this case, select the focus point on the side where your subject is located. Move the camera until the focus point is on your subject. Now press the shutter button.

About the Author:
Ron Kness is a digital photography specialist from Sunlight Media. You can find his website at Digital Photography by Ron Kness for more digital photography tips and technique articles.

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PictureCorrect.com: Interesting Photo of the Day: Night Sky Above Mt. Rainier

Astrophotography interests many photographers because of the technical equipment and methods involved, exclusive locations, and shots such as this one. For example, this photograph required merging shots of the foreground with images of the night sky. This can be done with a star tracker and photo editing software, but it just goes to show how much preparation and work goes into capturing a night scene of Mt. Rainier in Washington state:

“The Night Sky Above Mt. Rainier On A Clear Night” by Ross Schram von Haupt (Via Imgur. Click image to see full size.)

Washington photographer Ross Schram von Haupt captured this awesome vertical shot of the night stars above Mt. Rainier. In order to do so, he stopped at the Sunrise Visitor Center nearby and arranged the shot around 2am, just before the moon started rising. He cropped and aligned the photographs afterwards to correct the size and placement of the Milky Way, since he used two lenses with different focal lengths. Von Haupt used a Nikon D610 camera with a 14mm Rokinon lens at 14mm for the stars and a Samyang 24mm lens at 24mm for the foreground. The 180-second foreground shot was taken at ISO 2000 at f/4.

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PictureCorrect.com: Here’s What You Need to Know About Aperture, F-Stops, and Depth of Field

A lot has been said and written about aperture, f-stops and depth of field on PictureCorrect and elsewhere on the Internet. But rarely do you get a comprehensive breakdown of everything that you need to know about these elements of your lens in one place. In this video, Chelsea and Tony Northrup attempt just that. If you’re looking to clear up your knowledge on everything related to aperture, check it out:

Aperture’s Effect on Background

A larger aperture (smaller f-stop) is essential for background blur and shallow depth of field. Conversely, a smaller aperture (larger f-stop) is essential for larger depth of field. Take a look at the following images. The first one is shot at f/0.95 and the second one is shot at f/16. Notice how the background nearly melts away in the first image and then  rocks back into focus in the second.

f/0.95 at 50mm

f/16 at 50mm

Pro tip: Background blur and depth of field (as well as angle of view) are affected by sensor size. If you want the same background blur and depth of field (and angle of view) you get on a 35mm camera, divide both the focal length and aperture by your camera’s crop factor.

Crop Factor Reference Guide

Focal Plane

The focal plane is essentially a two-dimensional plane. When you focus on something, everything side to side and up or down will remain in focus.

Focal Plane

But everything in front and behind will have different degrees of blur.

Watch how Chelsea Northrup moved to the side of the frame and still remained in focus.

Here Chelsea Northrup is in focus even though she moved to the camera right.

Tony Northrup, however, goes out of focus when he steps back.

Tony Northrup goes out of focus as he steps back.

The trick to get everybody in focus, such as when you’re shooting a group photo or landscape shot, is to focus a third of the way between your nearest and farthest subject and raise the f-stop.

Both the Northrups are in focus here with the big f-stop and focus to hyperfocal distance.

A lot of photographers use depth of field calculators to calculate depth of field with a specific camera/lens combination. As the Northrups discuss, those calculators are really never precise in their estimation as to how much background blur you can get. You cannot hope to use the information to produce a large print quality image with maximum depth of field. The only time you actually have a subject in perfect focus is when you focus on it.

Aperture and F-stop

The larger the f-stop, the smaller the aperture and vice-versa.

F-stop and Aperture

Each aperture is one stop brighter or dimmer (depending on whether you are moving left or right on the chart) from the one next. So you will need to increase or decrease the shutter speed to get the same exposure.

F-stops are expressed as fractions. The numerator represents the focal length of the lens and denominator represents the diameter of the lens opening.

Lens Sharpness

Lens sharpness and aperture have a relationship. Most lenses are not tack sharp when they’re wide open. You’ll need to raise the f-stop by a couple of stops before you can get the sweetest of sharpness. Tony Northrup demonstrates this with his f/2.8 lens. It clearly produces sharper results when used at one or even two stops above wide open.

Stopping a lens to a bigger f-stop improves sharpness.

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration tends to affect most lenses in varying degrees. And it tends to affect images at lower f-stop a bit more than at higher f-stops. This can be easily fixed with post-processing tools like Adobe Lightroom.

In the video above, the Northrups include further tips on correcting vignetting, handling lens diffraction, finding your lens’s sweet spot in terms of aperture, and more.

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