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Neil Creek · on April 03, 2020

Photo: Rainer Ebert - CC license

The following post is from Australian photographer Neil Creek who will soon be teaching a class in portrait photography in Melbourne Australia, and is developing his blog as a resource for the passionate photographer.
Welcome to the seventh lesson in Photography 101 – A Basic Course on the Camera. In this series, we cover all the basics of camera design and use. We talk about the ‘exposure triangle’: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. We talk about focus, depth of field and sharpness, as well as how lenses work, what focal lengths mean and how they put light on the sensor. We also look at the camera itself, how it works, what all the options mean and how they affect your photos.
This week’s lesson is The Light Meter.
Here’s What We’ve Covered Previously in this Series:
Lesson 1: Light and the Pinhole Camera
Lesson 2: Lenses and Focus
Lesson 3: Lenses, Light and Magnification
Lesson 4: Exposure and Stops
Lesson 5: Aperture
Lesson 6: Shutter
Lesson 7: ISO
In previous lessons we have talked about the basic theory of how a camera works, including some basic optics, and introduced the idea of exposure and how we control it with the exposure triangle. Now that we have covered each of the points of the exposure triangle, it’s time to bring them all together with the tool at the core, the light meter.

What is the Light Meter?

A challenging scene to meter

For as long as people have been taking photos, there has been a need to determine how bright a scene is. Any method of recording light can only work in a relatively narrow band without over or under exposing the image. To find the correct exposure that will record the image without over or under exposing it too much, photographers need to know how bright the scene is. An extremely talented photographer may be able to guess a near-enough exposure, but a light meter is a far more accurate and convenient way to do it.
Light meters in cameras react to how intense the light is as seen from the camera. SLRs measure the light (called metering) through the lens – TTL. They collect light that has actually passed through the camera’s lens and measure its intensity. There are problems when the scene has parts that are much brighter or darker than others, for example shadows on a sunny day. This can trick the light meter into measuring the intensity of the light incorrectly, depending on which part of the scene was illuminating the sensor.
Modern SLR cameras use multi-point light meters, meaning that several light meters are actually scattered around the projected scene, each measuring the light intensity at that point. Very sophistocated cameras may have dozens of metering points. How much the measured intensity of the light at each point influences the final meter reading depends on the metering mode selected by the photographer.
For a more detailed look at metering modes, you can read: Introduction to metering modes.

How to Use the Light Meter

As we now know, the correct exposure is created by juggling the three points of the exposure triangle: aperture, shutter and ISO. The light meter is the tool that puts us in the right neighbourhood for how these should be set. If you are shooting on full auto, then when you meter the scene – usually done at the same time as focusing, by half pressing the shutter – the light meter gives its best guess for each of these variables.
If you want to take creative control of the photo, you can manually set each of the three variables yourself. Typically ISO is left at the default, or previous setting, and you take control by choosing aperture priority or shutter priority. On most DSLRs that’s done by turning the exposure mode dial. If you set the dial to Av – aperture priority, the photographer chooses what the aperture will be, and the light meter adjusts the shutter speed to mantain the correct exposure. The reverse is true for Tv – shutter priority.
When using these modes, it’s useful to refer to the exposure meter display on the camera. The exposure meter (display) shows the result of the measurement taken by the light meter (sensor). It will typically look something like this:

Exposure meter display on LCD

Exposure meter display in viewfinder

Each number represents a stop change in the light, as indicated, with the central mark being the “correct” exposure, as determined by the light meter. Each pip between the numbers represents one third of a stop. The arrow underneath indicates how close the current settings are to the correct exposure. Usually in priority modes, the arrow will stay in the middle as the light meter will be able to set the exposure correctly. However, if for example you set your aperture to 1/400sec in Tv (shutter priority mode) and the light meter indicated that you needed an aperture of f4, but your lens was only capable of f5.8, then the exposure meter will display one stop of underexposure. You will need to compensate for this by setting a longer shutter time, or increasing the ISO.
The juggling act becomes more complicated, and the light meter’s assistance more valuable, when you go to full manual control of the exposure. Here the exposure meter simply displays whether the current settings will under or over expose the image, according to the light meter. The photographer can freely change any of the values on the exposure triangle, and see the change to the predicted versus recommended exposure.

Exposure compensation

Even though the light meter in your camera is pretty sophistocated, sometimes it can get it wrong, especially with harsh contrasts, or highly reflective surfaces. Changing metering modes may help this, but a more controlled approach is to use exposure compensation. Imagine you are photographing a person against a large bright sky. The light meter thinks the sky is the most important part, and exposes correctly for that, leaving the person a dark silhouette. By using exposure compensation, you can tell the camera to take the metered exposure and make it brighter by a chosen amount. This will then allow the photographer to correctly expose the person. I’ll look at exposure compensation in more detail in a future post.

Examples

To show you how the different exposure modes might work in real world situations, here are some scenarios. The settings given below are what they happened to be for the examples shown. Settings for your own photo will be different.
Scanario 1 – Sports

High speed is needed to freeze action
Use Shutter Priority
Set shutter speed to 1/800sec
The light meter sets the aperture to f10
If under exposed, change ISO to compensate – ISO400

Scanario 2 – Portrait

An artistic narrow depth of field is desired
Use Aperture Priority
Set aperture to f5.6
The light meter sets the shutter to 1/160sec
If under exposed, change ISO to compensate – ISO100

Scenario 3 – Night scenery

Ambient light is too low to accurately meter
Use full Manual
Set aperture to suit scene, erring to wider – f11
Set a long shutter speed to light meter’s best guess – 20sec
Set ISO to lowest possible for correct exposure – ISO100
Take a test shot and adjust settings if the light meter got it wrong

Scenario 4 – Off-camera manual flash

On auto, meter the scene and note settings
Set camera to one or two stops under exposed
Set up flashes and tweak power to expose correctly
Tweak the flashes exposure by adjusting aperture
Tweak the ambient light by adjusting shutter speed
Settings for example shot: 1/160sec f8 ISO125, click image for flash details.

Homework

Put the camera in auto mode and half press the shutter. While looking through the viewfinder, pan around a scene and see how the automatically selected camera settings – f ratio and shutter speed – change. This preview will disappear after a few seconds, so half press the shutter again for another look.
Set the camera in shutter priority mode and choose a shutter speed for effect, eg: short for sports, long for motion blur. Shoot different scenes and note how the camera adjusts the aperture to balance the exposure.
Do the same as above for aperture – wide for shallow depth of field, narrow for focus detail at all distances.
Get adventurous and put the camera on full manual. Adjust the camera settings yourself, and watch the arrow below the exposure meter. Tweak the settings to get the arrow in the middle of the meter – half press the shutter while looking at your scene to take a meter reading.
Try to apply what you have learned to make creative photos that take advantage of the different exposure modes.

Resources

Light meter – at Wikipedia
Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure – At Cambridge in Colour
Ultimate Exposure Computer – At fredparker.com
Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes – at Digital Photography School

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Kav Dadfar · on April 02, 2020

Undoubtedly the question that I get asked the most is what camera equipment I carry with me when I go on an assignment. My first bit of advice is to only carry what you need. After all, who wants to walk around all day with an extra 10kg (20 lb.) on their back? But at the same time you don’t want to be caught short so, as always, planning carefully and creating a shot list before you travel can be invaluable.
Photographer at Aysgarth Falls in Yorkshire Dales

Photographer at Aysgarth Falls in Yorkshire Dales

You should try and get together a basic set of equipment which will cover you for most situations. You can then add more specialized equipment depending on the nature of the shoot.
Here is what is in my camera bag:

Camera

My camera of choice is a Canon 5D MK II. It is a exceptional camera that won’t let you down, and stands up very well at high ISO settings. I usually carry an extra body with me, which I leave in my hotel room in the event that anything happens to my main camera. The last thing you need when you have limited time at a place, is to have to run around to try and find another camera so a spare could be essential.

Lenses

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 II USM zoom lens

The Canon 24-70 f/2.8 is my work horse and is what I use the majority of the time. The focal range means it is perfect for landscapes and is also a wonderful lens to take portraits with, as it means you have to get close to your subject. It is also fast enough to use in low light conditions, so it’s ideal for places such as markets.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens

This is a wonderful telephoto lens which comes with a hefty price tag but is definitely worth the cost. Great for portraits and close-ups, the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 is also fantastic for landscapes in which you want to isolate a small section of the scene.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM – focal length: 100mm

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens

Someone once asked me if I could carry only one lens what would it be? My head would say my 24-70mm Canon lens but my heart would go for the 50mm f/1.2. The great thing about prime lenses like this is that, as a photographer, you have to move and get up close to what you are photographing. This becomes especially powerful when photographing people as it helps build a connection with your subject. It is also fast enough so that you can photograph in low light conditions without having to bump up your ISO too high.

Whats In My Camera Bag-Cappadocia-People

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM – exposure: ISO 640, 1/250 sec at f/2.0

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

For anyone interested in travel photography, one of the most important parts of a destination is the local food. Although not essential, macro lenses are great for photographing food as they allow you to get really close and pick up the beautiful details of what is on the dish. The Canon 100mm f2.8 IS is my macro lens of choice.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM – focal length: 100mm

Flash

One of the common misconceptions about flashes is that they should only be used in low light settings. However, they are extremely useful when you need some fill flash (for example: if you are taking a portrait of someone in intense light which is causing harsh shadows on their face, a flash can help minimize the shadows). For this reason I always carry my Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash with me.

Tripod

A tripod is essential if you are planning any shots which require long shutter speeds. But a tripod is also what’s going to support all your expensive camera equipment, so choose it wisely. The Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 is a sturdy carbon fiber tripod which is lightweight to carry. I also use a Manfrotto 327RC2 light duty grip ball head to connect my camera to the tripod.

Filters

All of my lenses are fitted with a Hoya Pro 1 Digital UV filter. This helps protect the lens glass, especially in very harsh conditions such as the desert. I also carry a range of Cokin Neutral Desity filters and Graduated Neutral Density filters which are extremely useful for landscape photography.

Other bits

Memory cards, hard drives and laptop – I take enough memory cards with me so that I can cover each day I’m away on a separate card. I also take a few additional ones in case I need more than one in a day. However, at the end of each day I still back up my card on two separate 250GB hard drives so that all my photos from that day are saved in 3 different places.
Lens and camera cleaning kit, spare batteries and chargers – You should get into a habit of giving your camera and lenses a wipe at the end of each day and charge your batteries so everything is ready for the next day.
This is the basic set of equipment that I carry with me wherever I travel, and I add to it as I see fit. For example, architectural photographers might want to take a tilt and shift lens, or wildlife photographers a 400mm lens. But remember try to only take what you are going to need.

Further reading on “What’s in your bag?”

Portrait Gear Essentials
Photo Nuts and Gear – a dPS ebook by Neil Creek
Show us your gear – weekly challenge
5 pieces of gear to consider for your first upgrade
What’s in my bag – landscapes

What’s in your camera bag? Tell us in the comments below what is in your essential kit.

Chas Elliott · on April 02, 2020

Mr. Ross Ching is at it again, this time working is time-lapse magic with a stop-motion twist. It’s an unofficial video clip for a song called ‘Little Bribes by a band by the name of ‘Death Cab for Cutie’.
Death Cab for Cutie – Little Bribes from Ross Ching on Vimeo.
You can see the video at full resolution here.
If you haven’t seen the previous work that Ross has done, check out this article on time-lapse from last month. Ross has agreed to answer a few questions for curious DPS readers on this new project. If his question isn’t answered here, post it in the comments below and well see if we can get to it.
What are your primary tools (camera, software, accessories….)?

Canon 5D Mark II (Just recently upgraded from a 40d)
Manfrotto fluid head tripod
Canon TC-80N3 Remote Timer
24-70 mm F/2.8L, 70-200 mm F/2.8L and Canon 17-24mm F/4L
Quicktime Pro, Final Cut Pro
Google Maps

Went to an arts and crafts shop and found a lot of useful props to make words out of for about 20 bucks

Was the video shot completely with an SLR or did you also incorporate standard video as well?
The entire video was shot using a SLR. I’ve realized that there are waaaaay too many videos on the internet that were shot with standard video cameras. It’s just impossible to stand out and be noticed in that saturated field. People seem to be more awe-stricken when they find out it was all shot using an SLR. Not to mention it’s a style that is not nearly as crowded.
For those of us how have attempted time-lapse and photography we know how long it can take for just one short clip. Can you give us an estimate on the time it took to complete this?
I spent about 2 weeks on this project. It’s actually takes considerably less shooting time to create this piece because I don’t need to spend an hour waiting for a time lapse to finish. Some shots were as little as 3 frames. The difficult part was putting together the words. At times I was sitting on the side of a road trying to find pebbles that will spell something out. I’d get very strange looks from people passing by.
Of all the words you created for the video, which one was your favorite? The M&M’s?
My favorite words were the ones I created at night time. Specifically the glowing words. I think that’s because it takes a bit of my background work (time lapse) and my current, new ideas and blends them together. There’s something about night time photography that I absolutely love despite having to sit out in the middle of nowhere in the cold. Photos at night don’t look the same as what we see with our eyes.
We’ve had a few articles here on light painting, which you used for some of the words. Can you illuminate the technique you used?
The hardest thing about time lapse and light painting is that the background moves. So if I begin painting something out I don’t have too much lee way to make mistakes. (Keep in mind I have to paint these words mirrored to look correct for the camera) If I make a mistake there will be a jump in the background and have to start over. After writing about 20 words over and over mirrored I’m now a pro at writing things mirrored. A lot of it is trial and error. I studied the technique a lot, but nothing much came of it until I got out there and started testing it.
Have you heard from Death Cab and got their opinion on the video?
I didn’t want to show it to Death Cab when I first released it because I was afraid they might not see it as a cross promotional deal and more as a copyright infringement. I’m a huge fan of their music and I wanted to at least show it to the world first. If I went to them first and they said “No don’t post it” those two weeks of work would have gone down the drain. I’ll send it to them soon though. Through twitter 🙂
Any protected trade secrets you’d like to share with DPS readers?
New ideas don’t come easily. Time lapse (and tilt shift) photography is beginning to become an every day occurrence on the internet, and I’ve had to think of new ways to stand out. I spent a whole month and a half thinking of how I could change my style and move forward and yet still make impacting movies that keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. When this idea came to me, I scoured the internet so see if it has ever been done before, and surprisingly I wasn’t able to find very much work to the degree that I went to. Almost everything I’ve learned about photography has come from sitting hours in front of my computer on the internet. If you love photography, you should also love the internet and technology.
Further Reading: How I Made a Time Lapse Movie with my DSLR (an article Ross guest posted here at DPS last year). See more of Ross’s work at his website rossching.com.

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Ryan Chylinski · on April 01, 2020

Timelapse Photography Tutorial: An Overview of Shooting, Processing and Rendering Timelapse Movies

You’ve probably stumbled upon an incredible work of time-lapse where you just couldn’t get the images and the feelings out of your head. Possibly you are fascinated by nature and the slow changes that occur over a period of time. A flower blooming, a sunset or a moonrise. Maybe it was a construction project or a cityscape at night, full of activity and production. I’m a big fan of time-lapse photography and I love seeing the amazing work that people create from all over the world.
I thought I’d share a few tips I’ve learned over the years as well as touch on the basics for new and intermediate DSLR photographers who might want to try time-lapse. Since there have been some great written introductions here on DPS I decided to use a few videos and screenshots from the eBook Time-Lapse Photography: A Complete Introduction (currently 20% off) instead and focus on creating a launchpad for your experiments.
We know that time-lapse is all about the capture of change in a way that we can’t normally see. But what’s really going on in the background?
Let’s take a closer look:

What is Time-lapse Photography?

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (aka the frame rate) is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. Put simply: We are manipulating time. Objects and events that would normally take several minutes, days, or even months can be viewed to completion in seconds having been sped up by factors of tens to millions.
The best way to get a greater feel for the power of time-lapse is to watch a few. Now I know you have seen some before, (especially if you watch reality TV) but I’m not really talking about those short clips between tribal counsel elimination decisions, it can go a little deeper if we let it. What I am talking about are the compilations that really grab your attention and make you think about the world around you. The ones that give you a better understanding about how nature changes and cities work.
Timelapse – The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.
It’s so much more than a gee whiz editing effect. It can be used to tell a story.

The Gear You Need To Tell Your Own Time-lapse Story:

Chances are if you’ve been shooting with a DSLR camera you probably have just about everything you need to get started in time-lapse photography. Phew!
Here are the minimum gear requirements for a new shooter.
Timelapse gear

Since a stable shooting platform of anykind is so important I wanted to include a page on tripod stability.
Timelapse tripods

If you are really looking to push the limits of your creativity we’ll introduce some advanced gear to build and buy in the eBook and I wanted to be sure to include an example video a little later in this post.

Balancing Time-lapse Image Settings: Size, Quality, Space and Speed

Size, quality, space and speed; It’s nothing new if you’ve worked with digital images before but with time-lapse sequences poor planning can quickly cut a scene too short or leave you with a blinking “Card Full” message just as the sun peaks out over the mountains. There’s a lot to discuss here but if I were to boil all this down into a simple recommendation it would be this: Shoot in the highest resolution (actual image dimension) RAW format your card capacity, camera write speed and time-lapse planning will allow. RAW images will allow for non-destructive tweaking and correcting in post production (using standard or transitional editing). High resolution images will provide the freedom to crop as well as program in movement by panning, tilting or zooming into a sequence in post. Here’s a page to help you gauge the file size implications of your decision:
Timelapse file sizes

The Basics of Shooting Time-lapse

I can’t stress this enough: If you are new to time-lapse, review these basics then get out there and play. Your first few tests should focus more on experimenting with different changing subjects and a little less stress about creating a technically perfect rendered sequence (there’s plenty of time for that later). Get a few fun tests under your belt and the time-lapse bug is sure to carry you through to the next steps. After you’ve had a chance to survey the basics, we’ll walk through some specific scenarios and advanced topics.This section is obviously pretty big and pretty important but if I had to pull out only a few pages on the fundamentals of shooting DSLR time-lapse it would be this:
Timelapse Photography Tutorial: An Overview of Shooting, Processing and Rendering Timelapse Movies

Composition, a.k.a. the art of walking around. Time to polish your crystal ball, look into the future and find interesting change and a dynamic scene.
Timelapse composition

Select a time-lapse interval to balance speed and flow.
Timelapse interval

Control your exposure to minimize and eliminate time-lapse flicker.
The most important concept here is full manual control. Now no worries if you are a little rusty on manual exposure. Take a look at this time-lapse exposure triangle as a refresher and be sure to lean on some other great DPS posts to hone in your skills.
Timelapse exposure triangle

The second most important exposure consideration is motion blur. Since our time-lapse images are played back-to-back very rapidly, the slight blurring in each individual photo blends together creating an added smoothness to the entire sequence. As a rule of thumb, try to keep your shutter speed under ~1/100th of a second. In order to get such a low shutter speed in daylight conditions we will probably need to use an ND filter (Like sunglasses for your camera, neutral density or ND filters reduce the intensity of light without altering its color).

Creating the Time-lapse

Compiling the images is where it all pays off. Creating your time-lapse movie from hundreds of still images isn’t very complicated, however approaching the rendering process without a set workflow can make things seem more complex than they actually are. I assure you once it’s built and you’ve run through it a few times you’ll be able to cruise through the time-lapse process. Here is the basic process in two nutshells: the first being the basic process.
Timelapse workflow

and the second being several basic rendering software workflows.
Timelapse software

Where to go from here?

You now have a firm understanding of the basics of time-lapse shooting, flicker prevention, and rendering. I encourage you to get out there and practice. Experience will be your best guide and the best way to gain experience is to test the limits of your understanding. In Chapter 6 of Time-lapse Photography: A Compete Introduction I’ve organized four challenges to test our planning, shooting, and processing skills. It is my hope these scenarios spark questions and a fascination on how these techniques can be applied to different situations.
We attempt:

An Astrolapse
The Time-lapse Holy Grail
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Time-lapse
We’ll also take the first step in considering how motion control devices can be used to create amazing time-lapse effects.
Here’s another example of some of the amzing work thats been done combining advanced time-lapse motion and exposure control.

DEUS EX HOMINE – San Francisco 3D Moco Time-lapse by Golden Gate 3D (GG3D) from Peter H. Chang on Vimeo.
With all this information under your belt are you ready to head out and capture the changing world, or is there still a little skepticism inside that you can really create something great?
Eric Warren of Matadornetwork.com posed a related question:
Do you think time-lapse should be left to the pros?
“Pros are the guys you call when you want to put a time-lapse in your car commercial. And while we tend to put pros up on a pedestal, they are often bogged down by their clients’ needs. Most commercial advertising doesn’t push the envelope of an art form.
That job often falls to the independent artists, building their own equipment, and often not giving a rat’s ass about whether their work is going to sell. Not that I want to be too demanding here, but I want to see something mind-blowing. Either something I’ve never seen before or something familiar, shown in a new way (one thing time-lapse excels at.) ….
Consider this a call to all you independent filmmakers out there ready to push the limits of one of the most striking visual art forms.”
Take some of the stuff shared here and in the book and invest it in your next clip but also throw some of it away, do your own tests and rewrite sections how you please. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are doing things the wrong way. If you are getting the results you want then that’s all that matters. Never forget that you are the artist and it’s your story.
If you need help or have further questions on anything, or just want to share some feedback or shoot the breeze, e-mail me at ryan@learntimelapse.com
It has been a pleasure sharing this information with you and I can’t thank you enough for your feedback. I would love to hear some of your stories and see some of your work and again I hope this resource has been helpful.
Get Time-Lapse Photography: a Complete Introduction for 20% off at SnapnDeals (limited time offer).
Thanks again.
-Ryan
P.S. Here are some of my favorite time-lapse resources for continued learning: