Traveling the world can be a life changing experience. You journey to exotic locations to see the beautiful scenery and incredible landscapes. But everybody else decided to travel to the same place you, and the place is packed with tourists.
The crowds at Multnomah Falls can be quite distracting.
As photographers we all want to take beautiful pictures of these locations. It can be difficult to photograph these places when everybody else is also there to see these places. Because there are so many people there it is hard or even impossible to find a composition without somebody walking through your shot. But with Photoshop, you can turn a series of pictures that have people in them, into a picture with just the scenery and none of the crowd. No matter how powerful Photoshop is, it can only do so much unless you provide it with best possible pictures for it to work with.
With the crowds gone, you can enjoy the scenery without distraction.
To properly remove all the tourists from your pictures, you will need to take a series of images from the exact same spot, with the exact same composition, at the exact same settings. You need to take enough pictures over a long enough amount of time so all the people in the frame would have moved from where they were standing and you can see every bit of the background in at least OVER HALF of the pictures you take. Photoshop will look at those pictures and see what pixels are the most common from all of the images. Photoshop will then take all those in common parts and stitch it all together into a clean image void of any people.
Tips and Settings
Set your camera to Manual mode (M), You want your camera to have the exact same settings for all the pictures you take in the sequence.
Use a Tripod – You want to keep your camera completely still. Because you are taking a sequence of pictures, you need to have them look identical, so don’t move that camera.
Make sure you take enough pictures. Wait there long enough so all the people will shuffle about allowing you to get images of the background without people blocking it.
Step 1
Import the pictures into Adobe Lightroom and do any edits you want to them now. adjust the exposure, correct the white balance, crop the image, color correction, etc. Just make sure you Synchronize the edits to all the images you are going to use in your composite.
Step 2
With all the images you want to use selected, right click and select Edit In and select “Open As Layers In Photoshop…”
Step 3 If any of your images are a little out of alignment from the rest of your pictures, select all your layers and go to Edit –> Auto-Align Layers…
Step 4 Go to the Layers menu at the top of screen, and select Smart Objects, than select Convert To Smart Object
Step 5 Next go back to the Layers menu, this time select Smart Objects, than select Median and let Photoshop work it’s magic. You should come out with an image minus all the moving people.
Step 6 Once Photoshop is finished your pictures into a clean image free of any people, check for any anomalies or artifacts in the picture from the blending process. In the waterfall picture above, I had to remove little water droplets from the waterfall mist that landed on the lens using a layer mask, and masking in from a clean copy of one of the images before the mist landed on the lens. If for some reason you did not get a enough pictures to remove all the people from the image and get a clean background, you will have to clone stamp them out or use the healing brush to remove them. There was a person in the front of my image that I had to clone out. But I decided to leave the little person standing on the bridge to add a interesting human element to the image.
Now you can travel to these popular destinations and come home with some pictures that are different than anybody else there. Use what you learned from this Photoshop Tutorial and use Photoshop to remove all the tourists from your pictures. Most people are happy with just a snapshot of the location, taken at high noon, with peoples crowding around blocking the view. But make your pictures stand out from all those snapshots by capturing something different, Something unique.
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Have you ever seen those videos that show a building being constructed in just a few moments, or the clouds racing across the sky at an incredible speed, or a glacier sliding down a mountain towards an icy bay in just a few seconds?
Those videos use a technique called Time Lapse photography to capture a long moment in time, and compress it into just a few seconds. You will see how things are changing at an incredibly slow rate of time.
Those videos have always mesmerized me, they give you an ability to see how things change over a long amount of time. Humans can only experience something that happens fairly quick, but things that happen incredibly slow seem like they are not doing anything at all. But time lapse photography allows us to capture those moments that seem like they’re not doing anything at all, and speed them up enough so humans can experience them on a human level. Plus time lapse videos are really fun to make. It’s one of my favorite types of photography.
In order to understand how a time lapse video works, you need to understand how regular video works. Video is really many still images that flash on the screen for just a split second before moving onto the next frame. Our brains interpret those images as moving video when in fact they are a bunch of still photos one after another after another. Movies are shown at 24 frames a second, so 24 individual images appear on the screen all within one second. That is a lot of pictures for your brain to comprehend, but the human brain is capable of doing some amazing things. Time lapse video is just like a regular video, but instead of all those individual frames being created one after another, instead you let a small amount of time pass between every frame so when they are played in the sequence one after another, a larger span of time passes. This technique allows people to experience the passage of time in the way that our brains are not able to experience on their own.
What you need
Camera – you need a camera that is capable of shooting time lapse video. Some cameras, with this feature built-in but others require an external device called and intervalometer that will trigger the camera after a specified amount of time.
Intervalometer – A handheld remote that plugs into your camera to automatically trigger the shutter. Some cameras have a Intervalometer built into them so an external remote is not necessary. A remote is also handy to use when avoiding camera shake is critical.
Tripod – To keep that camera locked down tight. You don’t want the camera to move unintentionally when creating a Time Lapse. Any movements the camera makes will be noticeable. But many people choose to have the camera move on a dolly or a slider so the video it’s just a smooth panning motion.
An Interesting Subject – Just because you are creating a time lapse, it doesn’t mean you can forget the basic rules of composition. Try to create an interesting shots with some foreground and background interest.
Time and Patience – Time is in the name “Time lapse” for a reason. Making a time lapse can take forever! Be prepared to wait around for awhile shooting a time lapse. Bring a chair and get comfortable.
Shoot in RAW, JPEG, or Video?
When you are creating a time lapse video, You have to make a decision of whether you are going to create your Time Lapse using still images or by using video and speeding it up during post processing. If you are going to use still images, you need to decide if you are going to shoot in JPEG or in RAW format. Learn why you should be shooting RAW here.
In all other forms of photography, I always recommend shooting in RAW format all the time, But the reason you might want to shoot in JPEG when shooting a time lapse is to use up less memory card space when creating your time lapse. Time lapse videos can take hundreds if not thousands of pictures to make a short video. Even with a very large memory card like 32 or 64 GB, your card can still fill up rather quickly.
Some DSLR’s create an image file that can be 20, 30, 40, even 50 MB in size for a single picture. And if you were shooting 500 pictures at 30 MB per picture, A 16 GB memory card would be nearly completely full. If you shoot in JPEG, you will be able to fit thousands of pictures onto a memory card. But if you plan on doing some heavy editing of your pictures, than JPEG will give you less control over the image.
You can set the picture quality to RAW small. RAW small gives you the same control over your image to adjust it during post processing as a large RAW file, but saves it as a much smaller file size.There won’t be quite as much information in the smaller RAW file as the large RAW file, but the difference is negligible.
I highly recommend you do not record the time lapse with Video and speed it up during post processing. The image quality will be much smaller with video, You have way less control over any edits you need to make to the image. And when you speed it up, it will look bad. I just wanted to mention Video because some people will want to know if its better, Its NOT!
Picking a subject
Because time lapse videos are great at showing change over time, they can be incredibly powerful if you choose the right subject. You want to find something that is moving, but the movement is almost unnoticeable unless you stand there for a long time and just stare at this object. Earlier this summer, I filmed a time lapse in Portland, Oregon during Fleet week where the Navy and Coast Guard ships cruise into the city and hang out for a few days before heading back out to sea. There are several bridges that need to open or rise to let the large navy vessels through. I knew that this would make for a great time lapse video so I grabbed my gear and headed downtown to get to work. The boats cruise up the river very slowly, and the bridges rise just a slow. But when you compress it into a time lapse video, The boats seem to rocket up the river, and the bridges open and close just as quick. Look for things that are changing around here, look for patterns that change, look for people going about their daily business, look for any kind of movement. These are things that can be a great subject for a time lapse video.
Preparing your shot
Before you shoot your first frame for the time lapse, there are some things you need to decide before you start. How long do you want your video to be? How long is the event you want to capture in your time lapse. What frame rate do you want your time lapse video to play at? 24 FPS is what I usually have my time lapse videos play at, this is because 24 frames per second is what movies play at to give that cinematic feel. Other countries around the world use different frame rates so it all depends on where your video is going to be shown.
The Stern wheeler sits at its dock along the Columbia River while a bunch of little boats zip around nearby.
Do The Math
Now it is time to figure out how many pictures you want to take, how long between each picture should you wait until the next frame is shot, and how long you should stand out there taking pictures.
Start by deciding how long you want your time lapse video to be? Let’s pick 10 seconds.
Next decide how many frames per second do you want the time lapse to play at. Let’s pick 24fps. If you want a 10 second video that plays at 24fps, that’s 10×24=240 frames that you will need.
Next we need to figure out how long the event you are photographing is going to last. Lets say it is going to last 15 minutes.
To calculate how long between shots we have to wait, we need to convert 15 minutes into seconds. 15(60)=900 seconds.
Next divide 900/240=3.75. This tells us we need to take a picture every 3.75 seconds in order to create a time lapse that is 10 seconds long that spans a 15 minute time frame. Because most cameras do not allow you to shoot a picture every 3.75 seconds, you must decide whether to snap a picture every 3 seconds, or 4 seconds. I would choose every 3 seconds because you will have more frames to play with in post processing, and the final video will play smoother during playback because everything will be moving a little slower than they would if it were shot at every 4 seconds. Just ask yourself these questions the next time you are setting up your time lapse. How long do you want your final video to be? 10, 20, 30, 60… Seconds? How long is the event you are creating a time lapse of going to last? What frame rate do you want the time lapse video to play at?
Now you are ready to start taking pictures.
Now it’s time for the fun part. Once you have your composition set, the Intervalometer set, your camera on FULL manual mode, you are ready to start shouting. Press start on your Intervalometer get comfortable. It’s gonna take a little while. Once your camera is snapping away, step back and don’t touch it. Resist the temptation to make any adjustments to your camera, to review a picture, recompose, just leave it alone. Any little changes you make will be extremely noticeable to the viewer. I have made the mistake in the past of adjusting the shutter speed to compensate for Deming lighting conditions. I thought I would adjusted because it was getting dark out, and I wanted more detail in the dark areas so I slowed the exposure down a little bit but in the final playback of the video, there is a very noticeable flicker from one frame to the next where it suddenly gets brighter. This basically ruins your time lapse video, just get it going, and then sit back and relax and let the camera gear at work. Just enjoy whatever you’re filming.
Compose Your Shot
As with any ordinary picture, The rules of composition still apply. Just because you’re making a video it does not mean you can point your camera at anything and the video will be interesting. Use the rules of composition to create a beautiful scene. Have an interesting foreground, a non-distracting background, Use leading lines, The rule of thirds, negative space, balance, or any other rule. I’d like to compose my pictures so there is a strong anchoring object in the frame. Something to draw the viewers eye. Try having that anchoring object be something that moves or changes during the time lapse to make it extra interesting. Look for anything that is changing over time, things that are moving around, maybe show people interacting or doing something interesting.
Camera Settings
In order for your time lapse video to look good, You want your picture to look consistent from frame to frame. This is so the picture does not Flickr or change brightness during playback. In order to achieve this, you need to; Shoot in Full Manual (M) mode – You set the settings Once, and only once. If you change the settings mid-shooting, the image will change how it looks from one picture to the next resulting in a flickering picture. Do not set the camera to Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority. Set your ISO as low as you can (ISO 100 in my case) – For the cleanest image quality. Set the White Balance – Do NOT use auto white balance. The white balance can change if you use Auto resulting in a picture that looks warm in one pic, and cold a second later. Pick one of the presets such as cloudy, or sunshine. You just want all the pictures all the same. Turn off Auto Focus – You do not want the camera focusing on something else instead of where you intended it to focus. Set the focus once, and than switch it off. You can place a piece of tape on the focus ring to prevent it from turning and changing the focus. 1/40th, 1/50th of a second shutter speed will give a nice smooth look, but also provides a tiny bit of motion blur from any moving objects giving the sensation of movement in your shot. If you shoot with a slower shutter speed. One frame will blend into the next. The shot will also look smoother and less jittery.
Capture
Now that you have all the prep work complete, it is time to start the fun part. First you need to set up your tripod, mount the camera, compose your frame, and start taking the pictures. My camera does not come with a built in Intervalometer, so I have one that plugs into my camera that I bought from Amazon for around $15. There are nicer ones that you could purchase, but I prefer to use the less expensive ones that I might just lose or break one day. First I tell the Intervalometer to shoot a picture every two seconds. This is usually my go to setting because any slower and the video will move too fast, and any faster the action will move too slow. Two seconds is a good starting place in my opinion. Next I tell it to you either take a specific number of pictures, or if I don’t know how long I want to go for I will just tell it to go forever or until I stop it.
Post processing
Import your pictures onto your computer. I am an Adobe Lightroom user, so I will make all of my edits within Lightroom. I will have to apply any edits I make to one picture to all of the pictures in the sequence. Otherwise there will be a noticeable change in the look of one picture compared to the next. After you are finished editing the first image in your sequence, you need to apply those settings across all of the images in your time lapse sequence.
Make sure you are in the Develop module inside Lightroom
With all the images selected, and you are currently viewing the picture you just edited.
Click the Sync (Synchronize) button in the bottom right of the Development panel in Lightroom. A window will pop up asking what settings you want to sync across all your pictures. Select every box and click OK. The computer will apply all those edits to every picture. Next export all of those pictures out of Lightroom in Jpeg format. I export the pictures at Full quality and resolution to get the best picture quality.
Select the Check All button at the bottom to select every box. Now click Synchronize.
Assemble the Time Lapse
Now that you have all of your images processed , It is now time to assemble those still images into a video. There are several different programs you can used to build the time lapse, but I am going to use a free piece of software for Mac OS X called Time Lapse Assembler. There are many different programs you can use to compile a time lapse video, and they are all fairly similar. This guide should be a similar process for other programs.
Open your Time Lapse Assembly program
Load the images you just processed into the assembly software.
Select the video codec you are going to use for your video. I recommend H.264. If you are unsure, leave it on the default.
Select the frame rate you want the images assembled at. I usually select 24 frames per second. This is because movies are played at 24 FPS and I want my time lapse to also have that cinematic look and feel.
You will have the option to you resize your images. I resize my pictures when I export them from Lightroom to whatever size I desire. So I just leave the option set to Full or Max when assembling a time lapse. I don’t want a bunch of low resolution time lapse videos cluttering up my computer.
Select what video quality you want the time lapse to be rendered at. A lower quality will get done quicker but the image quality will be lower. If you are just assembling the Time Lapse to see what it looks like, use low quality. But if you are creating your final video, use high quality or maximum quality.
Select where your time lapse is going to be saved to you after processing. Click encode and let the computer do it’s thing. It might take a little while, so go for a walk or get a cup of coffee. It will be done soon.
There you have it. That is just about everything you need to know to get started creating a time lapse video. I want to see what you create, head on over to the Photo Lowdown Facebook page and let me know about it.
BONUS TIPS:
The battery will drain fast when shooting a time lapse. Your camera can be on for hours, and that drains the power really fast. Keep extra batteries with you and remember to keep them someplace warm like a pocket close to your body so the spare batteries don’t die from the cold temperature. If at all possible, try to hook up to AC power to keep the camera powered on.
Your memory card will also fill up rather fast when shooting a time lapse video. Because you are creating hundreds if not thousands of images, your memory card can fill up without you noticing. The worst part is if you don’t notice your card is full and your camera has stopped shooting until some time has passed, and you insert a new memory card and continue shooting. You will have a large gap in your time lapse and objects might move clear across the frame from one image to the next. Just try to keep an eye on Matt remaining shutter count on your camera and be ready to swap The memory cards when your card it’s full or just about full.
Using a tilt shift lens or tilt shift effect during post processing, you can create a toy like look to buildings and cars. Its a really cool effect. The Intro music for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has an awesome example of this tilt shift time lapse photography technique that gives that toy like look. Check it out on YouTube
Watch out for any dust on your camera sensor or on the camera lens. Those dark spots will be consistent from one frame to another and will become very noticeable because the picture will be changing but that little black dust.will never move. It is easy to remove A dust spot from a single image, but when you have to remove that dust spot from hundreds if not thousands of images it quickly becomes a headache. I know this from experience.
Don’t be afraid of using a longer focal length lens when shooting time lapse. Longer focal length lenses give a different distinct feel from shorter focal length lenses. A longer lens can help you get closer to your subject and give you a more interesting shot.
Use multiple cameras, when shooting a time lapse, if the action moves through the frame you have a choice to make, you can either follow the action by recomposing your shot and continuing the time lapse or you can keep the competition you’re using and continue shooting that spot even after the subject has moved out of the frame. I have started to bring my old back up camera with me so I can film multiple time lapse videos at the same time showing different perspectives. Having multiple camera angles gives you more footage to piece together during editing to create a more interesting video.
You can feel it in the air, the evenings are starting to get chilly and the leaves are putting on a brilliant show of yellow, orange, and red’s and falling from the trees. Fall is upon us and that means it’s time to capture those amazing fall colors before they are gone and all those leaves have fallen to the ground.
Fall is an amazing time, it might even be my most favorite season, followed closely by spring time. Both seasons have much more interesting weather with early morning fog, dramatic sunsets, and quick moving rain showers. Both seasons also have a brief show of color with spring blossoms, and fall colors. Timing is everything when capturing the beautiful colors of autumn. It’s amazing the difference a few days can make when photographing the leaves. If you are a couple days early, the leaves can still be green and if your a couple days too late, all the leaves can be on the ground crumbling away. I created a list of my most useful tips for photographing the beautiful fall colors. This list will help you capture those amazing fall colors during the height of the fall colors before they all fall to the ground and winter sets in.
Have a Plan – The most important thing you can do to successfully capture the fall colors is to plan plan plan. Know exactly when the colors are going to be in their prime. Know exactly where you’re going to go and this way you’re not driving around looking for that perfect spot. There are several online resources that show on a map when the fall colors are going to be the most vibrant in your area. I use this Fall Foliage Map and this Fall Foliage Map The fall colors are their best at different times depending on your location and elevation. But in the northern hemisphere, it is usually around late September and early October.
Scout the Location – The last thing you want to be doing is driving around looking for that perfect location where there is a pond surrounded by trees covered in yellow, orange and red leaves while that perfect golden light shines down on it for just a moment. Instead know exactly where you are going to go, get there early, and take your time. You don’t have to go scouting for a location when the colors are already happening, instead use your daily life to keep an eye out for that perfect scene that will make that perfect fall photo. Use your daily commute to work to search for locations. Remember where the trees are that will be the most scenic, and that way in the fall you will already know where you are going to go. This way you are more likely to capture those beautiful fall colors. Change up the route you take to cover more ground and plan more shots. It is also boring to take the same way home everyday, spice it up a bit.
Go During Golden Hour – The best time to photograph the fall colors is during the “Golden Hour.” The colorful leaves will look their best when the sun is getting low in the sky and the lighting is softer. But pretty much anything looks better during the gold hour. When the sun is at its highest point in the sky at high noon, the leaves will reflect that sunshine and you will will not see as much color. The whole point of photographing the fall colors is capturing the colors, not the glare of the sun. The shadows will be dark so it will be hard to capture the whole scene without using HDR to pull the details out of the shadows. It is difficult to keep detail in the shadows while maintaining detail in the highlighted areas of your shot. it is best to just wait around for a while until the light gets softer and the dynamic range in your scene is not as extreme.
Go When it Rains – Just because it may be raining, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go out and try to capture those fall colors. The rain may actually improve your pictures. When the leaves are wet, the colors seem to pop more than they would if they were dry. And if it is raining, there is a good chance that the sky will be overcast. Overcast skies mean there will be even diffused lighting with no harsh shadows or bright highlights. Another bonus for when it is raining is there will be less people to stand in your shot or get in your way. Most people choose to stay home on a rainy day but true photographers don’t let a little rain slow them down. Just remember to keep your gear dry and bring a lens hood to keep the rain drops off the front element of your lens. Here is a link to the rain cover i use for when I’m shooting in the rain.
Use A Polarizer – when photographing the fall colors, a polarizer filter will come in extremely handy. The most useful use of a polarizer just may be when you are photographing the fall colors. A polarizer will cut the glare of the sun off of every surface leaving just the colorful leaf. If the leaves are wet, that can also create a glare, but a polarizer will help eliminate the glare. I almost always leave my polarizer filter home when I’m out shooting, but I always bring it with me when I am photographing the autumn colors.
Put The Falling Into Fall – Try to capture the leaves as they fall from the trees. The season is named Fall for a reason. So on one of those windy fall days, go out and capture the leaves blowing off the trees. It will add interest and a sense of motion to your shot.
Foggy Mornings – Get up early and head out to photograph the fall scenery before the fog burns off. Early in the morning on those cold mornings, the fog will hang low in the valleys and along the surface of lakes and rivers. It makes for some very atmospheric moody shots. The viewer will get a chill down their spine just looking at your pictures.
Backlight and Sidelight – The sun does not need to be at your back when photographing the fall colors. Walk around and shoot with the sun side lighting the leaves or back lit so the leaves glow a brilliant yellow, orange, or red.
Its Not Just About The Fall Colors – Fall is not just about the leaves turning colors, it is also about harvest festivals, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, fall fruit, foggy mornings, and much more. On one of the weekends, go to a farmers market and photograph the apples, and pears. Go to a pumpkin field with your kids and take pictures of them picking out their favorite pumpkins.
When To Include The Sky and When Not To – on those cloudy overcast days where the sky is just a sheet of grey, try to avoid having the sky in your shots. On those days the sky will just look like A big white overexposed party your picture with no detail. It is possible to use bracketed photos and combined them using HDR to pull detail out of those bright cloudy skies to create a dramatic sky. But sometimes those pictures look over processed, if you could do it in a natural way then it might be worth it but usually I try to avoid including a gray white overexposed sky if I can help it. If the sky it’s just a big blue void, it might also be preferable to avoid including the sky any our shots. But if there’s cotton ball clouds and color I absolutely try to include it in my images.
Portraits – The fall colors make for some spectacular backgrounds when shooting portraits. The kids are going back to school in September so snap some shots of them while they still are looking sharp for the first day of school. go into your backyard, or to a park and find those colorful trees. Place your subject in front of those trees and use a low aperture to throw the background out of focus so its just soft reds and oranges. Take some pictures of the kids being kids. Have them jumping into a pile of leaves, running around with pets, the possibilities are endless. These pictures will be treasured memories and also make for some great gifts to send to grandparents and relatives.
There you have it, my top 11 tips for photographing the beautiful colors of fall. Go out there and capture the season, and feel free to share your photos on the Photo Lowdown Facebook Page.
If your camera lens is the eye to your camera, than the Aperture is the pupil of the lens. The Aperture is the opening within your lens that regulates how much light enters the camera. If too much light enters the camera, the camera can be blinded. Just like how the human eye adjusts to when it is bright out, the pupil closes up really small so just a tiny amount of light enters the eye, but if it gets dark out, your pupil will open up nice and large to allow in as much light as possible. The Aperture in your camera lens works exactly the same way.
But there is a lot more to your aperture than just being an opening inside your lens. Adjusting the aperture has a dramatic effect on the final look of your image.
The size of the aperture is measured in F-Stops. The lower the f-stop number, the larger the size of the aperture opening, and the smaller the depth of field will be. I know this sounds backwards and you’d think that the lower number would mean the aperture opening is smaller but this is incorrect.
But with practice, you will start to see what the difference is between an F 2.8 and an F22 aperture and how they change the look of the image. Before you know it, adjusting the Aperture will be second nature. You won’t have to think twice about what f-stop does what, Now you can focus on your what your taking pictures of, instead of fiddling with the camera.
How Aperture effects the picture
Increases or decreases how large the depth of field is.
Creates that soft background that makes your subject pop.
Increases or decreases how sharp the photo is.
Increases or decreases the amount of light entering the camera.
You can shoot at a faster or slower shutter speed depending on what aperture you choose.
Creates cool little star effects from any light sources in the picture.
If you increase the size of the aperture, you increase the amount of light that is entering the camera, but at the same time, you also decrease how large the depth of field is. That means the background behind your subject will be out of focus and make your model pop off the background. This can make for some beautiful portraits.
But if decrease the size of the aperture, less light will enter the lens, and because a smaller aperture increases the depth of field, more of the scene will be in focus. It is a balancing act deciding how much light you need vs. how shallow you want the depth of field to be.
Aperture and Depth of Field
This animation shows how the Depth of field increases the higher you raise f-stop number goes. You will also notice another side effect of increasing the f-stop, the lights will create a star burst effect the higher the f-stop goes. At f2.8 the shape in the background is blurry. At around f5.6 or f8, the object finally becomes sharp. The Depth of Field is now large enough that it includes the foreground and background.
Even if you are set to f22, your lens still may not reach the full depth of field you want. You can use focus stacking to stack multiple pictures together to create a picture with everything in focus. Learn how to Focus Stacking here.
Aperture and Exposure
The aperture does not just effect the Depth of Field, it also controls how much light enters the camera. As the aperture is adjusted, the aperture hole changes size within the lens. The lower the number, the larger the hole, the more light enters the camera. . The higher the number, the smaller the opening, the less light enters the lens.
On a bright sunny day, you can easily shoot at any aperture. But if you are in a low light situation like a wedding or out with friends, you will need to shoot with a lower f-stop to collect the most amount of light possible, otherwise you must add a light source to the scene using a flash, or turning on some lights. But Nothing spoils the mood more than a bunch of flashes popping around the room or flipping on the overhead lights.
Churches can be very dim, so in order to not miss any of the action, wedding photographers absolutely rely on their fast lenses that allow them to shoot in low light with a low f-stop. It would be terrible to miss the First Kiss because your lens was not fast enough so you got a blurry shot of the bride kissing her groom. A wedding photographer is paid to document everything and to not miss anything during the wedding. Having a fast lens is an absolute necessity for wedding photographers.
If you are really determined to become a better photographer, it is required that you learn about the exposure triangle. The Exposure Triangle are the three elements (Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO) that all contribute to how the camera creates an exposure.
Now get out there, set your camera to Aperture Priority and see for yourself how adjusting f-stop changes the look of the image. You can take your average pictures to amazing pictures by using a creative depth of field. Have fun!
When I got my first camera, I was so excited to to just go out and start taking pictures. I just wanted to point my camera at everything and see what I come up with. But after some time, as my photographic eye started to develop, I started to notice my pictures did not look as good as some of the pictures I saw online. The more and more I looked at other photographers work, I started to notice mistakes I was making in my work. It took me years of shooting to start to develop my style. If I knew of some of these mistakes I was making, I would have fixed those mistakes
Not Reading The Camera Manual – The owners manual is full of tons of useful information about your camera. When you get a new camera, you are all excited to go take some pictures, the last thing you want to do is read page after page of technical information, but when you are finished you will be so happy that you did. You will learn all about the features and abilities of your camera, things you would probably not stumble across for a long time. Camera manuals are often written in several different languages, so you wont have to read through the whole manual, only the section that is written in your language. It took me about 30 minutes to read through my camera manual, and I learned about all sorts of features and settings I never even knew about from flipping through the camera menu’s.
Not Backing Up My photos – You might think it will never happen to you, or you will get around to it later. But data loss always strikes at the worst possible time. There is nothing you can do about it, you WILL have a drive failure at some time. The best strategy to prevent data loss is to have a good backup plan in place. A great backup strategy is the 3-2-1 backup plan.
3 copies of your data
Saved on 2 different formats (CD, DVD, Hard drive, in the cloud, etc)
With 1 copy saved offsite elsewhere. (Keep an external hardrive with a backup on it at a relatives house, at work, a friends house, etc.)
This means you have 3 copies of your data, saved on 2 different types of media in case one day the media type you chose is no longer easily accessible with current technology. How many people do you know who still have a VCR to play VHS tapes. Or floppy discs, no modern computers have floppy disc drives. I remember when every computer had the floppy disc drive, Good ole Drive A. Even CDs and DVDs are starting to head that way, CD sales are at an all time low. Computers are starting to come standard without a CD drive. The day of physical media is dwindling. It is for this reason you backup your data over different types of media, to future proof your irreplaceable photos. The 3rd backup should be saved someplace offsite from where all the other backups are. In case of fire or theft, you will still have your offsite copy safe and sound. Saving your images into the cloud could also be a good offsite backup.
Never having enough Memory Cards and Batteries – Once your batteries are all dead, or your memory cards are completely full. Once either one of those happens, you are dead in the water. You are done shooting until you can offload your memory cards to a computer, or completely charge your batteries. There is no such thing as too many spare batteries or extra memory cards. I was once shooting at the Southern Oregon Coast with a group of other photographers when both batteries I had completely died. Thankfully a fellow photographer let me bum a spare battery from him so I could continue shooting. Once I got home, I immediately placed an order for two extra batteries so I would not run out again. But 4 still may not be enough, perhaps I will have to get some more in the future.
Not Printing my Photos – We live in a highly digital world. we watch tv on our computers and phones, we use GPS instead of maps, we have digital picture frames, and so on. But as I said about backing up your photos, it is also important to print your pictures in case of data loss. Printing your pictures is the ultimate form of backup. As long as you choose quality archival paper and ink, your picture should live on for over a century or more. You cant say that about digital. In case you need to create a digital version in the future, you can always scan the printed picture into digital versions. A Google executive recently warned about printing your pictures because we are one solar flare, one power surge, one dropped hard drive away from losing all of your irreplaceable pictures forever.
Everybody Was A Beginner At Some Point – Everybody has to start at the beginning, even Ansel Adams was a newbie photographer once upon a time. He later went on to become one of the great masters of photography. It is now your turn to start your photographic journey, if you keep with it and learn as much as you possibly can, Maybe you too will one day become one of the great masters, but everybody has to start at the beginning. Check out the Photography Basics Guide to start your journey.
There is no right, and there is no wrong in art – Some people might love the pictures you create, and other people might hate those pictures. That is the great thing about art, it is in the eye of the beholder. The reason people create art is to express beauty and emotion, you do not create art to make other people happy. If you were constantly trying to please other people, you would go insane because you would be creating art for all the wrong reasons. Your inspiration for art should come from within, not from an outside source. Remember you are a photographer because you LOVE photography, create the things that you want to create, and if somebody else loves what you creation, that’s great.
Not Shooting in RAW – Stop shooting in JPEG, and start shooting In RAW. When you are editing a RAW image in Photoshop or Lightroom, you have the ability to pull a lot more detail out of the highlights and shadows areas. In case you don’t get the exposure just right in camera, you can go into Lightroom and adjust the sliders to increase and decrease the exposure of the image. You can adjust the white balance in Lightroom to make your image warmer (Yellow) or cooler (Blue). The only down side is all your images will need to adjusted before they are finished, but I don’t think that is such a bad thing. To learn more about shooting in RAW, I wrote a tutorial about everything you need to know about RAW here.
Not Keeping The Horizon Level – The first thing I notice when I look at a landscape photo is whether the horizon is level or not. A crooked horizon gives the picture more of a snapshot type feel. It takes just a second to correct a crooked horizon in camera. You can get a Bubble Level that sits on top of your camera in the Hot Shoe mount, plus many cameras come with a built in digital level.
Thinking Better Gear Made You A Better Photographer – People often think that if they had that better camera, or that better lens, or all sorts of nifty camera accessories, than they would be able to take better pictures. This is simply not true. It is true that those things can help you produce better pictures, but it all depends on the person using all that gear. A person who has a great eye for composition and has learned about the exposure triangle can create amazing photos with anything from entry level DSLR to a point and shoot, to an iPhone. The most important element that goes into creating amazing picture is the thing 6 inches behind the camera; the photographer. Don’t get me wrong, expensive gear can absolutely help you create the vision you have in your head, but it is not a guarantee. But If you feel you still need that fast 2.8 lens, please check out the Recommended Gear section so you can spend less time comparing products and wasting money so you can spend more time doing what matters most, taking pictures.
Not Paying Attention To Changing Lighting Conditions – When I would be out shooting, I did not always notice when a cloud passed in front of the sun and caused the sky to dim a bit. But when I went back to review my pictures, a bunch of them would either be underexposed or overexposed slightly. It was only after this happened on a few different occasions did I start to really pay attention to the changing lighting conditions. Because people’s eyes can see in all different lighting conditions very well, they tend to not really pay attention to when it gets shady or bright out. But photographers do have to learn to pay attention to the lighting conditions because we need to understand that cameras have a smaller dynamic range than the human eye. Cameras need their exposure adjusted to ensure that everything is properly exposed.
Have Fun! – Don’t stress out over camera settings or composition, be present in the moment and enjoy yourself. You are creating art, it should never be a chore. Having fun while out taking pictures is the best motivator to keep you out there shooting. Your photography skill will get improve the more practice you have. In other words; Having fun will make you a better photographer. Now go out there and have some fun!
Summer time is upon us and that means its festival and firework season. In the United States, on July 4th, we celebrate our Independence Day. The entire country takes a break from work and comes together to celebrate our independence as a nation. Fireworks fill the night sky on the 4th of July sending a showers of sparks and colors down from the twilight sky. Fireworks are an amazing sight to see but they can be tricky to photograph. But as long as you know some of the basics, you will be able to capture some epic shots! Lets get started.
What You Need:
Tripod: Because you will be making exposures lasting several seconds, you need to keep the camera as still as possible. A sturdy tripod will keep the camera motionless and you will have tack sharp photos.
Medium or Wide angle lens: Because fireworks fly high up into the air, a wide angle lens (16-35mm) or a medium focal length lens (24-70mm) is recommended. But remember that using a wide angle lens can make the fireworks look small in the frame. It all depends on how close you are to the action.
Remote Shutter Release: A Remote Shutter release allows you to stand back from your tripod and still be able to press the shutter release button. Not having to touch the camera eliminates camera shake and you will end up with a sharper image. I always have my Remote Shutter/Intervalometer in my camera bag, I use it all the time.
Camera Settings:
Bulb Mode: You will want to shoot in Bulb Mode. This means the shutter will remain open for as long as you are pressing the shutter button. Once you let go of the button the exposure will finish. You can hold the shutter open for as long as you would like, but if you go too long all the fireworks will blend together and become over exposed. Anywhere from 10 seconds to 30 seconds usually works best for me. If your camera does not have a Bulb mode, just set your camera for a 10 second exposure and adjust accordingly. Trying to anticipate when the fireworks are going to launch or explode will help you capture more keepers.
Aperture: Use an aperture of f8, f11, or f16. The aperture will determine how large the depth of field is and how bright the fireworks will be. If the firework is too bright, the center of the explosion will blow out and you will lose all detail in that area. You’d think that you should use a low aperture like f.2.8 or f4 because it is so dark out, but this is wrong. A high aperture like f16 works better because you will have the shutter open for several seconds and plenty of light will enter the camera even with a small aperture. Using a high aperture such as f22 will also cause any lights in the scene to have a cool star burst effect.
ISO: Use a low ISO around 100 or 200. You will have a cleaner image with less noise and plenty of light will enter the camera regardless. No need for a high ISO like 800, 1600, 3200, etc.
Turn Off Auto Focus: You will want to have auto focus off because otherwise the camera will try to focus every time you are taking a shot, and because it will be so dark with explosions going on in front of you, the camera can get confused and focus on the wrong thing. To help you to manually focus, try to find where the fireworks are going to be launched from and focus on any lights near the launch site such as street lights, or buildings. Some people say to focus to Infinity or just shy of infinity but whenever I have tried that, I get slightly out of focus fireworks.
White Balance: Turn off auto white balance. Fireworks are all different colors and can confuse the camera when deciding on a white balance. I set my camera to Daylight White Balance and that usually gives the scene a good color that isn’t too blue/cold or orange/warm. Because I always shoot in RAW, I can always adjust the white balance later on in Post Production.
Get all of your settings set before the show begins to make sure the shot looks good this way you are not messing with the settings during the show and missing the shots.
But make sure to check the photos after the show has begun to make sure they look correct and you don’t need to make any adjustments.
Get there early Firework shows are extremely popular and there will be lots of people there. Make sure to get there early and claim your spot. All the other photographers will be trying to get all the best vantage points so make sure you are there early to claim your spot.
Composing Your Shot:
There is a lot that goes into composing the best shot. You want to tell a story with your photos. It is easy to just have a picture of a firework, but these shots are boring. I try to tell a story of what is happening at the show. There is a reason they are shooting off the fireworks and I try to convey that through my photos. In the United States of America, fireworks usually mean its the 4th of July. It is a time of celebration in America and I want that to show in my photos. I want to have people in the foreground of my shots celebrating and cheering the fireworks. Some people will be waving American flags and have sparklers. The fireworks will be high in the sky raining down a shower of sparks and colors above the cheering crowds.
Check the wind direction: Checking the wind direction is the first thing I will do when shooting fireworks. This determines where I will set up my tripod. Fireworks produce a lot of smoke, and I mean A LOT! So much smoke that the fireworks become obscured in the smoke and become hard to photograph, and hard to even see. You want to be upwind from the fireworks so all the smoke blows away from you and your shots will be crystal clear plus you wont have to breath in the sulfur smell.
Use Reflections: If there is any water around, I try to incorporate the water into my frame. The fireworks are bright and they reflect off the water and adds interest to the shot.
People: I try to have people, and especially kids in the foreground on my frame to add interest to the shot and to tell a story of what is going on. Kids are memorized by fireworks, they see the world as a magical place and I want to capture that in my photos.
Buildings: If there are any buildings in the background of the shot, It gives the viewer a sense of place. People will recognize the buildings and help them understand what is going on.
Get Up High: Try to get up to a higher vantage point, This will let you see more of the foreground and background and add interest to the shot. A higher vantage point also lets you get a better reflection of the fireworks off of the water.
Other Tips:
Bring water: It can get hot out there when waiting for the show to start, make sure to bring some water so you are not dying of thirst and you can better enjoy the show.
Bring earplugs: If you have problems with loud noises, bring a pair of earplugs. Fireworks are very loud.
Bring a flashlight: Firework are usually set off just after sunset during the blue hour. Bring a flashlight incase you drop something, or you need to find something in your camera bag. I always have a small flashlight in my camera bag for the very reason.
Bring a chair: Because you are arriving early, you might be waiting for a while. Bring a small lawn chair or something else to sit or kneel on, Your feet will thank you.
Have fun and enjoy the show! Fireworks are awesome, make sure you enjoy the show and not just focus on your camera settings or composition.
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