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Join A Camera Club...
Naples Daily News (blog)
Here in Naples I enjoy membership in the DPI-SIG (Digital Photography & Imaging-Special Interest Group) organization. Headed up by Sonny Saunders a well known pro & instructor the all volunteer group boasts membership of well over 100 participants ...

This week your photographic challenge is to take and share a portrait of two people.

This is a followup to our recent post – how to take creative couples portraits – although you’re more than welcome to share two people that are not a ‘couple’ as such if you wish.

It could be a couple but it could also be two siblings, a parent and child, two workmates, two strangers… whatever you like.

You’re welcome to take a posed portrait or something less formal or even a candid one. Really it’s up to you!

Once you’ve taken and selected the ‘ZOOM’ image that you’d like to share – upload it to your favourite photo sharing site or blog and either share a link to it or – embed them in the comments using our embed tool to do so.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSCOUPLE to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

Also – don’t forget to check out some of the great shots posted in last weeks challenge – Zoom challenge where there were some great shots submitted.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Portrait of Two People: Weekly Photography Challenge

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A Guest Post by Jon Beard

1/320 f/8 ISO1000 105mm

Fire is an interesting thing. Watch people around a campfire and it’s easy to see the spell it can cast on us. We have such a deep and instinctive relationship with it, there’s no wonder why including flame in a photo can have such an impact. In this write-up I hope to give you some examples, some understanding of how they’re done, and some direction toward creating your own fire shots.

Safety First

1/15 f/16 ISO200 105mm

In the wise words of Frankenstein’s monster, “Fire bad!” The heat and smoke can damage your equipment, the flame can quickly get out of control and burn things you don’t want burned, and most importantly, fire can flat out kill you. Plenty of great fire info can be found at https://www.ready.gov/home-fires but here are some basic safety tips you should already know (and follow!):

• Think ahead and plan your shoot from beginning to end.
• Have a plan for putting the fire out should it get loose.
• Do not work near anything that you do not want on fire as well.
• Work in a well-ventilated area.
• Be sure you’re working somewhere that if the worst happens, the worst isn’t all that bad.
• And if the grandmothers in the area where I grew up can be believed: Don’t play with matches or you’ll wet the bed.

Well, folks… Break out the bed liners and a grab a change of clothes because here we go!

You’ll find fire used in three main ways in a photo. It can be the primary subject, an accentuating element, or the primary light source. Typically, you’ll have a combination of the three, but understanding them individually is the best way to start.

Fire as the Subject

With these shots, the main draw and focus is on the flame (or effects of it) and the detail that can be shown within it.

In most cases you’ll want to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze motion in order to see the detail in the flame. As always, “fast enough” is relative to what you’re shooting, but a good starting point is around 1/250 or faster. As your shutter speeds increase you’ll need to use wider apertures and higher ISOs.

1/2000 f/5.6 ISO2000 105mm

1/250 f/13 ISO400 105mm

Sometimes, the more interesting detail will be in what the fire emits – the path sparks take when leaving a jumping jack or a sparkler, for example. Slower shutter speeds are the key to capturing this kind of photo.

1.6” f/40 ISO100 105mm

38” f/36 ISO100 105mm

Fire as an Accent

In this type of shot the flame is one element of larger scene. It can be the most difficult kind to pull off because of the additional lighting needed to show the flame while still seeing the surroundings. The key here is to expose for the flame and then add light to the rest of the scene. If you’re not able to control the lighting situation then you’ll need to look for shooting angles where you can put the flame against a background that will let it stand out. A darker, solid background is preferable, but anything that can offer some contrast should work.

1/2500 f/5.6 ISO1250 110mm

1/60 f/11 ISO1000 105mm

1/250 f/7.1 ISO200 105mm

30” f/8 ISO640 15mm

Fire as the Primary Light Source

Fire can make a wonderful light source with its soft shadows and warm color. Longer shutter speeds, wider apertures, and higher ISOs are often the right choice for campfire situations. Medium to shorter shutter speeds can be used as you get closer to the fire and have more and stronger light falling on your subject.

When working with the narrower depth of field that comes along with a wider aperture, try setting your focus on objects that have hard contrast edges (like silhouettes of stationary objects) rather than what you may consider the main subject. This can give you an overall sharper looking image since the shifting fire light will blur edges and soften shadows of the objects it illuminates.

25” f/4.5 ISO3200 14mm

30” f/8 ISO200 20mm

1/10 f/3.5 ISO200 50mm

1/100 f/4 ISO800 50mm

Flame Color

1/60 f/8 ISO800 500mm

Take a close look at a flame and you’ll see multiple colors, gradients, and intensities so it should go without saying that the color of a flame is a complex topic. It’s dependent on temperature, fuel-type, how much oxygen there is and how well it’s mixed with the fuel, along with many other factors. With that said, when it comes to photographing fire, a few simple ideas should help you control the color of your flame.

In fire photography, the most influential factor in the color of the flame will be the fuel being burned. Wood, paper, clothing, or anything else that puts off a lot of unburned particles (smoke) will probably burn yellowish-orange. Butanes lighters, propanes torches, liquids with high alcohol content, or other fuels that can more easily mix with the available oxygen before burning will burn more on the bluish side. There are additives (pyrotechnic colorants to be precise) you can buy to add to your fire to change the color of the flame. I found some pre-packaged powders at my local camping store designed to be thrown onto a campfire and they worked pretty well. Or, if you’re into chemistry, this wiki article describes which compounds can be used to create which colors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrotechnic_colorant

Of course, the easiest way to get control of your flame color is to add the desired color in post.

1/2500 f/8 ISO200 105mm

Showing Smoke

1/250 f/8 ISO200 105mm

Smoke can add an interesting element to your photo, but unless you’re taking steps to make sure it’s in there, you’ll be lucky to see it. Here are three things you can do to better show it off:

• Be certain your fire is making smoke. Fuels that burn efficiently (like some gas torches and alcohols) may not emit much. Using inefficient fuels like wood or paper will maximize your smoke output.
• Light the smoke. A light source shining into the smoke can solidify those lines and cause them to stand out more.
• Use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the smoke trails. Slower shutters will make the smoke appear like haze rather than wisps.

An Easy Place to Start

Left: 1/8 f/8 ISO800 50mm --- Center: 4” f/8 ISO800 50mm --- Right: 1/8 f/8 ISO800 50mm + Flash

A candle is a simple and relatively safe way to learn about flame photography. As practice, see if you can accomplish the three primary types of fire shots we’ve covered – as the subject, an accent, and a light source. Try shooting a similar series to what I have above and make notes of what settings it takes to freeze the flame and what it takes to illuminate a subject sitting next to the candle. Then, use an artificial light source and take a shot where you can see both the flame in detail along with the well exposed subject next to it.

I always have a great time adding fire to my photos and I hope I’ve given you a good start on making your own. I’d love to hear from you and see some of the creative ways you’ve used fire in your own photography!

The images in this write-up and other fire related images can be seen in a Flickr set at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonbeard/sets/72157631529831299/

Jon Beard is an adventurer from the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He organizes the regional photo club, leads photography workshops and guided shoots, and has a passion for shooting in the dark. Photos, workshop dates, and more at https://JonBeard.com.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

How to Photograph Fire

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A Guest Post by Ben Evans from www.EnglishPhotographer.com.

Discover The Value Of Your Own Mind For Better Composition in Photography

Can you accurately picture your own face without looking in a mirror? How about remembering a loved one? Do photographs show us the same pictures we hold dearly in our mind? Can they even do so at all?

These questions are rhetorical; the answer is, ‘no.’ But why not?

You’ve probably had the experience of being unable to express the magnificence of a scene in a photograph no matter which camera you use or whatever techniques you try.

In many cases, learning new techniques helps us. Sunsets not looking fiery orange and red in the pictures? Set your white balance to the ‘Sunny’ preset. Unsightly shadows at midday? Move your subject to the open shade. But sometimes we need to go deeper and understand what’s going on.

I had a breakthrough a couple of days ago teaching photography to a private client in Barcelona. It’s changed the way I photograph, and I’m going to share it with you in this article.

We get about 80% of our impressions about the world through our eyes. Since they’re open for about 18 hours a day, that’s a lot of information coming in!

So much in fact that the mind has to filter out most of what our eyes look at. This job is done by the Reticular Activating System, or RAS.

I’m going to take enormous liberties with the actual biology of the RAS. Sorry scientists; I’m claiming artistic licence

How Your Mind Sees The World

Your RAS has three three main methods to filter what your eyes see to create your uniquely subjective view of the world:

1. Generalising

This is very common, and gets more effective with age. For example, we see many strangers every day but rarely take a moment to see them as individuals; they are just a part of the crowd. This process of generalisation is why children can stare completely entranced by something that an adult will walk past without a second (or first!) glance.

2. Highlighting

Have you ever noticed how if you’re watching a really good film you might not notice anything else in the cinema for hours? Or if you’re having a deep conversation with someone you really care about everything else apart from them seems to disappear? The mind is great at focussing our attention on something that’s important to us and making it really stand out. A pilot friend of mine compares this to the way that radio traffic that mentions his aircraft seems to stand out vibrantly from the other chatter.

3. Deleting

Of course with so much information flooding in through the eyes and only a limited capacity to process it, a large amount of what we see is simply cut out before it reaches our conscious awareness. If you’re in the car or on a train for example, a lot of the scenery that flashes past is lost. Looking at the world, we tend to ignore a lot of the clutter that surrounds us, especially if it has no obvious value or lacks contrast.

How does the mind choose what to focus on and what to pass by? Well a lot depends on our beliefs and past experiences.

I have a friend who believes that the world is an amazing place and everyone is inherently good. His Reticular Activating System concentrates on the positives and ignores the negatives.

His perception of the world is quite different from a pessimist’s. It is almost as if he doesn’t see bad reactions; if a waitress is rude to him, he either won’t notice or just assumes she’s having a hard day.

Psychologists call this Confirmation Bias; we tend to see what agrees with our preconceptions and disregard anything that challenges them.

What can we learn from this? Two things. Firstly, beliefs and experiences change how you see the world. This is the secret to the elusive ‘artistic eye’, and is how we can effectively teach ‘Art’ with Holistic Photography.

Secondly, and what we’re focussing on here, is how the RAS changes our perception of the world in a way that we can learn from and apply to our photography.

On my courses, I teach that the most important thing in photography is to have clear idea of what you’re photographing.

This may be concrete; in which you’re trying to preserve a specific object or a scene. Or it might be more abstract, when you want to express a thought or feeling.

What you look for is what you will see. If I’m driving then signposts will stand out to me. But if I’m photographing a picturesque town, they’ll probably fade into the background.

The camera is far more objective. It provides a level of realism that previously would have been unimaginable, but it lacks an RAS to highlight our intended subject and filter out distractions.

To reach another level in our photography, we can consciously act as the camera’s RAS. This means filtering the world so that our subject stands out in the photograph.

How do we do this? By using the same three principles that the RAS uses to filter information;

1. Generalising

Understand what you want your photograph to communicate. Use symbols. People will see a policeman, not the individual wearing the uniform. They can see warm colours and assume that it’s a warm day. Try and make the elements in your photograph stand for something. And keep it simple. Gestalt aesthetics notices several effects we can use; like objects that are close together seem to be a group, or a few objects in a row can create a line.

2. Highlighting

One of the most common flaws I see in photographs is no clear subject. It might be somewhere in the frame, but it just doesn’t stand out in the final photograph. Fortunately, there are several tricks in aesthetics that we can use to draw attention to our intended subject.

a. The first trick takes advantage of the RAS’ tendency to notice Contrast. Colour Contrast may have helped our ancestors avoid tigers in the jungle once, but now it’s the theoretical basis for including someone wearing red in a green landscape. Or photographing yellow flowers against a blue background.

You can also create Tonal Contrast; have your subject in the direct sunlight against a shaded background or vice versa; make sure to adjust your exposure so your subject looks good – don’t worry if the background is completely black or white.

b. Fill the frame. It’s a very common piece of advice, but why does it work? Simply, if your subject fills the frame then it will dominate the picture. It’s often better to use a wide-angle lens and get closer because the perspective will make the viewer seem more engaged with the scene.

3. Deleting

You may have noticed that a good photograph can be completely ruined by anything that distracts from the subject. Again, contrast matters; so white vans in an otherwise dark background or areas of bright sky can distract your viewer’s attention.

a. I grew up in the English countryside and one of my earliest memories was my mother picking up litter that people had dropped. No-one wants a crisp packet in a landscape nor a plastic bottle on a monument. Sure, you can Photoshop them out, but airbrushing can take time to get right. If there is litter in your scene, put it in the bin; you’ll be doing everyone a favour.

b. Suppose that the distraction is a crowd or a car – what then? Well if the photograph is worth it, you can wait until they move or come back later. But if time is a factor, you can hide potential distractions behind something else; or just adjust your position until they’re outside the frame.

So that’s it! Three things to practice that will improve your photography. The best way to get the most out of them is to focus on each one for a few days so that your mind becomes used to performing them. Let me know how you get on.

Ben teaches photography classes in Barcelona with www.BarcelonaPhotographyCourses.com and keeps a photoblog of ‘fine art street’ photos of Barcelona at www.i-Barcelona.com. He photographs internationally with www.EnglishPhotographer.com. Ben is working on two photography teaching projects, Better Than 90 Percent and Holistic Photography. He shoots Nikon, Hasselblad, Apple (iPad 3) and those little throwaway waterproof film cameras with the plastic lenses.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Benefit From How You See The World

Mankato Digital Photography Club: Newly formed and learning based
Mankato Free Press
However, it is photographic challenges like this that are both unique and inspiring to Barbara Holmin and Art Sidner of the Mankato Digital Photography Club. Holmin was one of Sidner's very first students when she took photography lessons from Sidner ...

People often mention to me that they feel as though they’re not making the most from their dSLR cameras. They know their camera has potential for taking amazing shots but are not quite sure how get control over it.

Our Photo Nuts series of eBooks are in part designed to help change that, however I realise that eBooks are not a format everyone enjoys.  This week I came across a product that just might help you unlock the power of your dSLR – particularly if videos are more your thing.  

Many regular dPS readers will know Jared Polin (AKA FroKnowsPhoto… the guy who always wears the ‘I Shoot RAW’ tshirts) because we’ve featured his videos here on the site before. We featuring him because the comments we get from readers are that they not only learn a lot from him but that he teaches in a fun and relatable way.

Jared has just released a 3-hour video guide designed specifically to help you get out of auto mode. I’ve spent some time going through it in the last few days and it is really good.

Best of all – as a launch special Jared is currently offering a 30% discount on it.

Right now you can own this course for just $67 (regular price is $97).  The course is instantly downloadable once you order and it’s really good (both content but also the quality of the video).

Check it out here.

Jared’s put together a short video (below) to let you know more about the course. Or you can skip the video and head over to FroKnowsPhoto and grab yourself a copy.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Save 30% on Jared Polin’s Top Quality Photography Training

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Patch.com
The series of photography classes at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve has been so popular that an additional Introduction to Digital Photography class has been added to the schedule along with two new classes: “How To Make Money With Your ...