How to Create Compelling Wide-Angle Portraits Using One Off-Camera Flash

By: Ken Koskela 

What are your most memorable moments as a photographer? As a travel photographer, my short list of stand-out moments include wandering alone in Namibia’s dead tree forest, photographing sunbeams from the top of a cliff in China, and capturing the Aurora Borealis on the coast of Iceland.

However, a year ago all of those amazing locations and moments were trumped by spending 30 minutes photographing a little girl outside her home near Villa de Leyva, Colombia (pictured above). This was the first time the girl had her portrait taken, let alone by a foreigner. With all the confidence of an experienced model, she literally stole the show that day. I believe the session is an important memory for her and instantly became my top moment photographing to date.
Ironically, two years ago I would not have even bothered taking this picture. I was focused on landscape and outdoor travel scenes. Also, if I’m honest with myself, I was somewhat intimidated by using artificial lighting and working with people as subjects. In April of 2014, I gave environmental portraiture a shot and have never looked back. It is now an important focus of my work.
This article will provide some guidance on how you can create images like the ones you see here, using a wide-angle lens and just one off-camera flash. But first, let me let you in on a little secret – it’s not that difficult.
Getting things right in camera is the important first step, which is the focus of this article. Processing your images is equally important, but I’ll cover that in a future article. So, let me start by providing you with the core techniques, then get into equipment and settings.

Use a (Relatively) Wide-Angle Lens

Lens choice is critically important in portraiture. Most portrait photographers reach for their 85mm or 105mm lens when heading out on a shoot. These focal lengths give a nice, realistic look to the subjects. However, I find myself drawn to portraits that have a surreal look to them, and include extra context that helps tell a story. Also, wide-angle lenses require you to shoot close to your subject, which also brings your viewer into the scene.
So, the first step is to leave your 85mm or 105mm in the bag, and grab a wide-angle lens. Most of the portraits you see here were created at 24mm using a full frame camera (use a 16mm for the same view if your camera has a cropped sensor). For me, this focal length is the perfect blend of reality and distortion. If you shoot much wider, elements closer to the lens, such as arms and hands, look too big or elongated. Also, wider focal lengths mean a much bigger background, which is usually not desirable.

Choose a Compelling Subject

Your subject is paramount. The Indonesian dockworker above is amazing. I spent 20 minutes photographing this guy and really had a difficult time choosing the best image. On the other hand, you could spend all day photographing me on the same dock, in front of the same ships, and have nothing but tossers at the end of the day.
I look for people that have experienced life. The ideal subject has a particular interesting quality about him or her, that makes them stand out from the rest. However, my subjects also have an everyday person quality about them. Finding subjects can be challenging, especially if you live in the suburbs of Chicago, like I do. I am a travel photographer and usually find my subjects in rural areas overseas. However, there are great subjects everywhere.
Clothing is critically important. If your 90-year old rural villager is wearing a hat that says, “I Love New York”, then you will want to politely ask him to take it off, or at least turn it around for the picture. The point is, don’t let out-of-context clothing ruin or weaken your shot.

Choose a Complementary Background

Your image is only as strong as the weakest part of it, which is often the background. This is because, as photographer Jim Zuckerman puts it, “The world is a compositional mess”. There are two important qualities you want out of your background:
First, at the very least, your background must be non-distracting. Although you can easily isolate your subject with a longer focal length, the background becomes a major consideration with wide-angle portraits. Beginner, and even intermediate photographers, can overlook even some obvious distractions in the background. You have probably seen them before: trees that look like they are growing out of the subject’s head, patchy spots of bright light in the scene, colorful objects, straight lines and geometric shapes. You essentially don’t want anything that competes with your subject for attention.
The image of the Indonesian dockworker below is non-distracting, but not much more. He is essentially standing in front of a shipping container, so this image won’t win any awards for its background. Nevertheless, it is still a good picture because of the strength of the subject.

Second, whenever possible, include a background that complements your subject by providing a context. I’ve shot many images with simple non-distracting backgrounds. But, my favorite pictures are those with a background that tells a story about the subject. This is why I love shooting in places like rural China and Indonesia. These countries have many ancient villages that provide opportunities for amazing backgrounds, such as in the image below.

I like to keep all evidence of modernity out of the background. I don’t like plastic stuff in my pictures. I don’t include modern looking buildings or cars. Instead, I prefer rural areas with weather-beaten buildings. Of course, this all depends on what you are after. The important thing is that the background complements the subject and does not distract from it.

Shoot in the Right Lighting Conditions

Because the majority of the background is not lit by the flash, many of the same outdoor photography lighting principles hold true, even if a flash is being used. Try shooting either early or late in the day (when the sun is low in the sky) or in overcast conditions. I actually prefer overcast conditions, but still shoot relatively early or late in the day.

Put Your Subjects at Ease

I don’t hire models, so some subjects work well and others not as well. What you want to avoid is a picture of your subject standing flat-footed, straight up and down, and holding a fake smile.
To help avoid this, it is a good idea to start your session by gaining their interest and confidence. If you have some images you’ve shot and processed, show them to give him or her an idea of what you are looking for, and hopefully pique their interest. This should communicate immediately that you are not looking for them to just stand there and smile. It should also show that the posing expectations will be basic.

Posing and Composition

Because I am shooting wide, I get quite close to my subjects and warn them ahead of time about this. For me, the eyes are a critically important part of the picture and must be very sharp. I focus on the closest eye, and re-focus frequently as I move around the subject slightly.
I generally ask him or her to look directly at the camera and not to smile, although not always. I then start moving slightly left or right, asking them to keep their head still and just follow the camera with their eyes. I usually shoot from slightly below eye level. I have them stand or sit at an angle to the camera. If the subject is standing, I have them put their weight on the back foot.
I like to include the subject’s hands in the composition. With a wide-angle lens, their hands in the foreground will look large, so try to strike a balance with the hands being prominent, but not too large. You can do this by simply positioning the hands closer to or farther away from the lens relative to their body.

Equipment and Settings

The Camera

Your camera should be equipped with an internal or external flash trigger to control your off-camera flash. Here is how I set things up:

• Start by leaving your flash or trigger initially turned off.
• Set your camera to manual mode.
• If the session is outdoors, I try for settings of ISO 100, f/7.1 and a shutter speed of around 1/160. You can adjust your f-stop and shutter speed to your preference, but keep in mind that you cannot go faster than your camera’s maximum flash sync speed.
• Make the necessary adjustments to slightly underexpose the background by 1/3 to 2/3 stop. I usually start by adjusting shutter speed, but go no slower than 1/60 and no faster than 1/160. If necessary, I will then adjust my f-stop to f/5.6 at the widest. Then, and only then, will I start bumping up the ISO.
• If you are indoors, you need to start with a higher ISO as a first step, and then make your adjustments to shutter speed and f-stop in the same manner.

Lighting

For 90% of my portraits, I use a single off-camera flash, diffused with an umbrella or softbox. The most important rule with flash is “don’t ruin your shot,” which is usually done by putting too much flash on your subject. Instead, you want to get a decent balance of natural and artificial light, so that the flash is undetectable to the untrained eye, but lights your subject brighter than the underexposed background.
Now, turn your flash and trigger on:

• Set your off-camera flash to manual mode.
• I typically position the flash at a 45-degree angle to the subject, about 2-3 feet (slightly less than a meter) away, higher than their head, angled downward.
• I usually start with 1/16 flash power when outdoors, and adjust from there until the subject stands out from the background, but does not look like they have been blasted with flash.

Post-Processing

You need to get things right in camera first. But, you will need to use a variety of post-processing techniques to get the effect you see in these images. I’ll coverthe techniques I use to process environmental portraits in a future article.
Thank you for reading, please share your wide-angle portraits and questions in the comments below.

Share this article.

You want to make your own cell phone movie, but don't know where to start?  Where do you find a good clamp clip tripod?


Try this link:https://bit.ly/31Y7Obh
...then post your funny video on social media.

How to Shoot in Low Light – 9 Commonly Asked Questions

By: Bruce Wunderlich 

This image of Moon Rise over Marietta, Ohio was taken 20 minutes after sunset during the Blue 

Hour when the sun had set and the sky was a dark blue. Here the city lights make a great warm 

glow over the city.

According to British photojournalist Donald McCullin, “There is no such thing as bad light, just misunderstood light.” Many photographers consider low light to be bad light. The purpose of this article is to encourage you to not consider low light as inferior or unusable, but rather to look for subjects to photograph that react well to the available light.
Keep in mind that low light photography is not exclusively night photography. Low light photography opportunities may appear any time of the day as well. For instance, shooting waterfalls in low light allows you to shoot with a slow shutter speed, prevents over-exposure of the white water of the falls, and thereby creates a beautiful silky effect capturing the moving water. Using a flash will light up any subject, of course, but let’s take a look at how to improve your photography in naturally occurring low light. Some frequently asked questions about low light photography are addressed below.

Low Light Photography FAQs

Low light create very dramatic scenes. Dark storm clouds turned this potential sunrise into a great 

low light opportunity

My low light images are blurry. Would a better lens alleviate the blur?

The short answer to this question is YES, a fast lens with maximum f-stop of 1.8 for instance, will give you better results than a kit lens with a maximum f-stop of 3.5 or 5.6. But even the faster, more expensive lens, will give you undesired results with the wrong settings. The wider aperture opening will allow you to use a faster shutter speed resulting in a sharper image. These lenses with larger maximum apertures are called “fast” because they allow you to shoot with faster shutter speeds, due to more light that is entering your camera through the bigger opening.

What are the best camera settings for shooting in low light?

Manual Mode

Shooting in manual mode is paramount to successful low light photography as it allows you to control every functional aspect of your camera. You basically have three ways to get more light on your camera sensor: Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO. These three controls are called The Exposure Triangle, and each of these can have a positive or negative result to your image’s exposure. Therefore, learning how to use them for the best result is the key to low light photography. Your in-camera light meter will reveal where adjustments should be made to the camera settings, and well-exposed images will be the result.

Shutter Speed

If you are shooting handheld, a good rule of thumb is to set your shutter speed to match your focal length. For example, if you are shooting at 50mm your shutter speed shouldn’t be any slower than 1/50th of a second. Of course, if the subject of your photo is moving, then you will need to increase your shutter speed to be fast enough to freeze the action. Therefore, choosing a slower shutter speed will allow more light into your camera, but with that setting, the possibility of a blurry picture occurs.

Great Blue Heron in fight was the subject of this low light image. Exposure 1/250 of a second, 

f/5.6, ISO 1250. Using the combination of slower shutter speed and a higher ISO to create the 

blur of the wings and panning to match the speed of the fight of the heron.

Aperture

In most low light situations you will probably need to shoot with your aperture wide open. But if there is enough light to allow you to shoot with a smaller f-stop, it will increase your depth of field. The principle to consider: choosing a wider aperture will let more light into your camera, but will decrease your depth of field, which could lead to an important portion of your image being out of focus.

ISO

The higher the ISO number the more light your camera will record. The trade-off here is, the higher the ISO, the more digital noise you are adding to your image. Keep your ISO as low as possible and only increase your ISO after you have maxed out your shutter speed and aperture.

Shoot in RAW

For best results, shooting in RAW is recommended, for the simple reason that your camera will save more shadow detail in RAW format compared to the compressed format of jpg.
It is very helpful to learn how to check your histogram, and not just rely of what you see on your camera’s LCD screen. Use the histogram to check your exposure, and avoid clipping the highlights and shadows.

Using the low light at Huntington Beach California to create this black and white image with a 

five second exposure.

How do I take low light action shots?

Shooting action in low light can be very challenging and is almost always going to require you to shoot with your aperture at its widest setting. When your aperture is set, then your shutter speed should be adjusted to match the action that you are trying to freeze. Of course, depending on how low of a light situation you are shooting within, there may simply not be enough light. If this is the case, adjust the ISO to a higher setting until a good exposure is set. If your ISO setting is so high that you are getting an unacceptable amount of digital noise, you have two options: either add light with a flash or some other source, or live with the noise and try to remove some of it in post processing. Sometimes with the noise issue, it comes down to getting the shot with noise, or not taking the shot at all.

How do I reduce the digital noise level in low light images?

The simple answer to this question is to shoot at the lowest ISO that you can. But it is also a good idea to know the ISO at which your camera produces noise that you consider unacceptable. Always make sure that your exposure is correct. Even at a low ISO, if your image is underexposed you will have some noise in the shadowed areas.

An over casted  cloudy day at Blackwater Falls West Virginia allowed for this long exposure 

without blowing out the highlight.

How do I focus in low light?

Another reason for blurry images in low light is the fact that some cameras just aren’t manufactured to focus properly with less light. Try shining a light on your subject to give your camera enough light to focus. You also may use you manual focus ring to fine-tune your focus. Using the center focus dot may also help as it is usually a cross-point type which focus faster and more accurately than others.

How can I take pro-like images in low light?

Four things that most pros are going to do in low light:

1. Use a tripod
2. Shoot in RAW
3. Shoot in Manual Mode
4. Use the histogram

Low light makes great silhouettes.

How do I choose the best white balance for low light?

Set your white balance to match you environment –  Tungsten for indoors with light from a regular lightbulb, Fluorescent for light from fluorescent bulbs, Cloudy for low light created by an overcast day, and Shade for shooting in a shaded or shadowy area. But, one thing to remember if you are shooting in RAW format is that you can adjust your white balance later in post-processing. But if you are shooting JPGs it is very important to get your white balance correct in-camera. For this reason you should not shoot Auto white balance, it’s very hard, sometimes impossible, to correct later from a JPG.

Should I raise my ISO or lower my shutter speed in low-light?

Assuming that you are shooting with your aperture wide open, in most situations this is an easy one to answer. Adjust your shutter speed and raise your ISO as a last resort. Remember that raising your ISO is going to add more noise into the image. Most new DSLRs do a much better job with the noise levels in their higher ISO settings, but as mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to know at what noise level you are unwilling to accept, and what ISO that is for your camera. In situations where your subject is moving, it may become necessary to adjust the ISO to keep your shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action.

Fog created the low light in this fall image.

Why aren’t my low light shots sharp even when I shoot using a tripod?

Remember in most low light you will be shooting with your aperture wide open (or nearly so), hence your depth of field will be very shallow. Be extra careful to lock your focus (even try back-button focus) on the part of your image that needs to be in sharp focus. Case in point: when shooting a low light portrait, it is important to have the subject’s eyes in focus. If your subject is in motion, increase your shutter speed until it freezes the motion of the image. Also, make sure your camera’s vibration reduction is turned off, as this can actually create blur in your image even if shooting with a tripod.

Bonus tip

In low light the LCD screen on the back of your camera is going to look much brighter than the actual conditions. So, if your camera has an adjustment for the brightness of your LCD screen, turn it down so that your image will not appear to be overly bright when you view it, even if it is underexposed.

The trick to low light photography is to take control of your camera, and know that every action or setting will have a reaction. So, how is that different than photography in any light? It’s not, really. Just consider photography in low light as an opportunity to be creative. What subjects do you like to shoot in low light?

Share this article.

Making money with Photo jobs.

How to Use LAB Color in Photoshop to Remove an Unwanted Color Cast

By: Jim Hamel  

In a recent article about the LAB colorspace, I covered the basic LAB move to enhance colors. Hopefully that gave you an idea of the power of the LAB colorspace to manipulate color in Photoshop. In this article we are going to build on that a little bit. Whereas in the last article we simply used the basic LAB color move to enhance color, now we will get into color manipulation. Specifically, I will show you how to remove an unwanted color cast from your photos using LAB. In many ways doing this in LAB is simpler and more powerful than doing it in your normal color space (RGB).

Setting the stage

Removing color casts and manipulating color will be simple for you once you know a little bit about how LAB color works, so first let’s make sure you understand what is going on in the LAB colorspace. Once you understand how LAB works, everything else will be easy.
LAB stands for Lightness, A channel, and B channel. The L channel strictly controls lightness and we won’t be working with it for purposes of this article. All color in the LAB colorspace is within the A and B channel. The A channel consists of greens and magentas. The B channel consists of blues and yellows. The histogram in both of these channels almost always looks like a spike in the middle of the histogram. Because LAB is such a ridiculously broad color space, there will be a lot of empty space on either side of the histogram. As you saw in the last article, this empty space is what gives us the opportunity to enhance color so effectively in the LAB colorspace.

Now let’s look at the histogram of the A channel more closely so that you can see how this works. The A channel is a combination of green and magenta. The further to the left you are in the histogram, the more green is present. Conversely, the further to the right you are in the histogram, the more magenta is present (see diagram above).
The middle of the histogram is a gray tone without any real color. It is designated as zero. As you move away from the zero (gray) point in the middle, more color is added. To the left, the numbers go into negatives (all the way down to -128) and things get more green. To the right, you move into positive numbers (toward a max of +127) and things get more magenta (pinkish).
It works exactly the same way in the B channel, only the colors are different. In the B channel you still have a starting middle point of zero, which is also gray. But, as you move to the left on the histogram towards -128, the colors get bluer. As you move to the right towards +127, the colors get more yellow.
Also note that the center line of the histogram runs right through the zero in the center of both the A and B channels. This will be important for identifying and correcting color casts.
If you are still with me thus far, everything will be easy from here. Now you can take what you just learned and see how to identify and fix color casts easily in LAB.

Identifying color casts easily

It is easy to identify a color cast in LAB mode. Just look at the A or B channel. If the colors are more or less evenly distributed on either side of the midpoint of the histogram, your picture will probably not have a color cast. But if the histogram values are skewed to the left or to the right of the histogram, you are probably have a color cast. Here is how it works in the A and B channels:

• In the A channel, if the colors are more on the left side, you will have a greenish color cast in your image. If they are to the right, you will have a magenta color cast.
• Similarly, in the B channel you know if the histogram appears shifted to the left, you will have a bluish cast to your picture. If the values are to the right of the histogram, your picture will appear more yellow.

In this way, the LAB colorspace makes it super simple to determine if you have a color cast. Just look at the middle of your histogram, and if the colors are skewed to one side or the other, you know you have a color cast or shift. This is important because a slight color cast is not always apparent to the naked eye. Your eye gets acclimatized to seeing the picture in a certain way, and accepts that as normal. Now this we’ve identified a color cast, let’s set about fixing it.

Fixing  color casts in LAB

Much of the power of the LAB colorspace comes from scooting in the endpoints on either side of the histogram. In the last article, we did that to separate the colors, which enhances them. We moved the endpoints in toward the center the exact same amount on each side of the histogram. That enhanced colors without affecting the overall color cast of the picture. This time, however, we are going to move the endpoints in different amounts to fix color casts.
For example, let’s say your picture has a blue color cast. When you open up the B channel, the spike showing color is skewed to the left of center on your histogram. To fix it, you simply scoot in the right endpoint of your histogram more then the left endpoint. It’s as simple as that.
Let’s try another example, let’s say you open the A channel of one of your pictures, and noticed that the values are skewed to the left of center on the histogram. That means that you likely have a green color cast. To fix it, simply scoot in the right endpoint a little bit. Don’t do it too much, usually three to five points will make a major shift in color.

Identifying and fixing a slight color cast

This might make more sense to you if we walk through an actual example. So here’s a good example of everything we have been talking about in this article so far. We will start with a photo that I was in the process of editing:

I frankly did not see a color cast, however, I decided to check it out. I converted to LAB, opened a Curves Adjustment Layer, and looked at the histogram of the A channel and the B channel. Here is what I saw:

Two histograms in LAB. The left histogram is the A channel. The right histogram is the B channel. Notice that both are skewed to the right of the centerline – a sure sign of a color cast in the picture.

Notice that in the A channel most of the pixels are stacked up to the right of the center line on the histogram. That is a sure sign that there are more magenta pixels than green in the picture. Notice also that in the B channel most of the pixels are also stacked up to the right of center, which means there are more yellows than blues in the picture. Neither necessarily means there is anything wrong with the image, but that might mean a color cast. So let’s make an adjustment as described above and scoot in the left endpoints a little bit in each channel. Here are the two minor moves I made:

Here are the histograms after the adjustments. Notice that I pulled in the left endpoints of each to the center.

All I did was pull the left endpoint of each histogram to the center a little bit to offset the fact that the colors are skewed to the right of the histogram in each channel. As mentioned above, a change of three to five points will create a large adjustment, so that is all I did. As the numbers below the histograms reflect, I made the following adjustments:

• A Channel:  I pulled the left endpoint to the center by four points (from -128 to -124).
• B Channel:  I pulled the left endpoint to the center by five points (from -128 to -123)

After the adjustment, here is the resulting picture:

I think it looks better now. To me, it had a color cast that I just wasn’t seeing. The difference is subtle, but significant. In particular, look at the clouds. Here are the before and after pictures side-by-side:

The original picture is on the left. The picture on the right had is after a minor LAB adjustment. I did not even see the original color cast, but I think it looks better after the adjustment.

Incorporating this into the LAB color move

Sometimes, you will notice that the spike in the A or B channel is to one side of the center of the histogram, but you do not really want to change the overall color of the picture. It is still important to understand what is going on when you are making your normal LAB color move.
If you ignore the shift to one side or the other, then when you scoot in your endpoints by equal amounts, you may be exacerbating the color shift. Therefore, keep an eye on your histogram and try to make your shift pivot around the spike rather than on the center of the histogram. In other words, if the pixels are to the right of the histogram, scoot in your left endpoint a little bit more (and vice versa). In this way, you can make your normal LAB color move, but at least not add any color cast to your picture.

Why not just do this in RGB?

You may be asking, can’t I just remove color casts in RGB? The answer, of course, is yes. But the LAB colorspace has advantages that I want to make sure are clear to you.
First, because LAB separates Lightness from all color adjustments, LAB allows you to fix these casts without any impact on lightness or contrast. This is not possible in RGB. When you affect the red channel, green channel, or blue channel in RGB, you are necessarily affecting lightness. It is all tied together in RGB.
Second, LAB makes it easier to identify color casts. As you saw above, you just open up the A or B channel and see if the spike is shifted to one side of the histogram. If it is, you likely have a color cast. If it isn’t, you do not. In RGB, you have to compare channels and see how one channel appears compared to the other two channels.

Isn’t this like setting your white balance?

You may have noticed that the LAB colors correspond with the sliders in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) that are used to set the white balance in your picture. You can think about LAB in those terms and it might help you to understand how the colors work together. But using LAB to manipulate color offers certain advantages over just setting your white balance. For one thing, you can change the colors later in your workflow, and are not compelled to do it right up front. For another thing, you can take advantage of Photoshop’s layers and selections in manipulating color. Although Lightroom and ACR have very helpful aids in setting the while balance, like the White Balance Selector (the little dropper) or the presets, there is no histogram to allow you to really see and fine-tune your changes.

Applying this to your worklflow

What the technique shown in this article will allow you to do, is make your normal LAB color move in a more nuanced fashion. In the last article, I showed you how to make the LAB color move in a basic, unthinking way. You simply moved the endpoints of your A channel and B channel by equal amounts. It is sort of a one-size-fits-all approach, which doesn’t always work in photography. Now, you can use this to manipulate color a little bit or at least keep it from getting worse as you edit.
I have talked about correcting color casts as if there was a special correct way. But of course that isn’t really true and what looks correct to me might not look exactly right to you. Use your own judgment and do what seems right to you. As you make these moves, however, you might want to bias them in one direction or another. Remember that sometimes a color cast can add effect or mood to your picture. Sometimes a slight color cast just looks good. For example, a warmer tone created by a yellow or magenta cast can actually enhance your picture. Sometimes, but less often, a bluish cast can be appropriate. Also remember that a greenish cast never looks good and should be avoided.
I know it can sometimes be confusing knowing where colors reside, and how to fix them within the LAB color space. To try to make it easier for you, here is a chart:

Conclusion

The LAB colorspace is a powerful beast. You previously learned how to unleash that power by using the basic LAB color move. Using the technique in this article will allow you to tame that beast a little bit. It will allow you to use the power of LAB without getting garish effects or color casts in your pictures. It will also allow you to fix these color casts simpler and easier than anything that RGB allows. Give it a try and see if it corrects your colors.

Share this article.

How to Use the Histogram to Take Better Pictures

By: Simon Ringsmuth

You might have seen some articles here on Digital Photography School about using the histogram when editing pictures in Lightroom and Photoshop, but it can also be a very handy tool when you are out shooting images as well. Most cameras have the ability to show you the histogram when you review your photos on the rear LCD screen, and some even allow you to see a real-time histogram in Live View. While this might seem a bit intimidating at first, learning to use the histogram when out shooting pictures can have a dramatic impact on your photography and help you understand how to get the right exposure for the photos you are taking.

Sorority Bid Day brought to you by the magical properties of the histogram.

In a nutshell, the histogram shows how much data is recorded for various Red, Green, and Blue color values in a picture. While you can usually see data for all three colors separated into discrete graphs, the one I find most useful for general shooting is the histogram that combines all three RGB values into one visual representation. A histogram shows how much data has been recorded across the tonal range of a photograph from very dark to very light. A spike in the graph means a lot more data has been recorded for those particular values of darkness or lightness, and a dip means that not much data has been saved. In general, a properly-exposed picture should have a histogram that looks something like this:

An example of a hypothetical histogram for a properly exposed photo.

A histogram similar to this example would mean that most of the color data is concentrated in the middle: the greatest quantity of pixels is neither too dark nor too light. Most photos will have some darker pixels and some brighter pixels, but in general all the information captured by a camera’s image sensor should fall somewhere between the darkest of darks (i.e. very black) and the lightest of lights (i.e. very white). A histogram that is skewed to the right would indicate a picture that is a bit overexposed because most of the color data is on the lighter side, while a histogram with the curve on the left shows a picture that is underexposed. This is good information to have when using post-processing software because it shows you not only where the color data exists for a given picture, but also where any data has been clipped: that is, it does not exist and, therefore, cannot be edited. It’s also good information to have out in the field, such as in the following example:

Most cameras allow you to overlay the histogram on top of a given photo during playback, or as 

you shoot the photo when using Live View.

I could tell right away that this picture of some college students playing Quidditch was a little overexposed, but looking at the histogram data right on my camera gave me additional information that helped me adjust my shooting on the spot. The large curve on the right-hand side tells me that most of the color information is concentrated on the lighter side, which is actually a good thing because more data is actually collected in the highlight portions of the image which can then be brought down later in a program like Lightroom. (This is a technique called expose to the right, which is a fantastic way to get a little more out of your photography if you are willing to put in a bit of time editing pictures on your computer.)
The problem with this image, as you can see in the above histogram, is that the graph literally goes off the chart on the right-hand side. This means that some of the highlights have been clipped: there is no longer any data that can be recovered, and no matter what I do in Photoshop or Lightroom there are some portions of my image that show up as pure white and can’t be edited. An example histogram from a photo that is clipped on both the darkest and lightest areas would look like this:

After taking the first photo and realizing that some of the data would be lost due to clipping, I was able to adjust my exposure settings and get a much better image:

Quidditch isn’t only played at Hogwarts.

The histogram for this picture was also concentrated a bit more to the right-hand side, but right after I shot it I was able to see that no data had been lost due to clipping. This didn’t help much in the immediate moment, but it meant that I had plenty of information to work with later when editing the picture in Lightroom. As another example, here’s a picture of a unique building on the Oklahoma State University campus:

The Noble Research Center on the campus of Oklahoma State University.

When I looked at the back of my camera it seemed as though the photo was pretty good. The sky was a bit bright, but I thought everything would be just fine overall. This is similar to many situations I have been in when I thought I could tell simply by looking at the photo on my camera’s LCD screen if it was exposed properly, but a quick check of the histogram can yield much more information. Even though the above image seemed decent at first, the camera histogram told another story:

The histogram for the above photo indicated severe clipping on the highlights, meaning some parts 

of the photo were so bright that I wouldn’t be able to fix it in Lightroom.

Had I not looked at the histogram I would have never seen that a good chunk of the sky was clipped which meant there was no color data at all for the brightest portions of the photo. This would be a serious problem for my post-processing when I bring my pictures into Lightroom and adjust various parameters to get the image to look like I want. After looking at the histogram I re-adjusted my exposure settings and took another photo which had an improved balance of color data across the spectrum:

The same composition, but with different exposure settings that resulted in a better exposure with 

no clipped data.

One curious aspect of this image is that while the sky is now properly exposed, the glass panels on the building appear to be too dark. Looking at the histogram you can see that while there is certainly a lot of data on the darker portions of the image (hence the spike on the left-hand side of the graph), no data has been lost due to clipping. This means I had a lot of flexibility to improve the image in Lightroom, which resulted in the following finished photograph:

One nice thing about most mirrorless cameras, as well as some DSLRs when shooting in Live View, is their ability to give you a real-time indication of any areas of the image that will be over – or under – exposed. This is normally referred to as a zebra pattern and it essentially overlays a series of stripes over any portion of your image where data is going to be clipped. And remember, as I stated earlier, many cameras today have the ability to show you a live histogram that updates in real-time so you can see not only where the color data on your image is concentrated across the light/dark spectrum, but also alert you to any clipping that will happen when you take the photo.
These are just a few examples of how the histogram can be useful when you’re out shooting photos, not just when you’re editing them on your computer. How do you use the histogram, and what other tips and tricks do you have to share about using it to enhance your photography? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Share this article.

Viral video - Cell phone video, Inspiration for you videographers considering a topic for your next project.   190,000 views on Facebook. Your video may receive more. 
Got a chuckle out of the video and now you want to make your own cell phone movie, but don't know where to start?  Where do you find a good clamp clip tripod?


Try this link:https://bit.ly/31Y7Obh
...then post your funny video on social media.

7 Photography Exercises To Help You Be a Better Photographer

By: Kav Dadfar  

Photography is like most other professions or hobbies in that you will improve and get better with training. But, like other skills, you need to try and set yourself a structure and actively try and improve the areas that you may not be good at. Sure, like anything else, there are those that are naturally skilled at seeing a scene and pre-visualising a shot, but the following photography exercises will help anyone become a better photographer.

#1 – Use a Film Camera

Like most photographers who grew up in the 90s, my first introduction to photography was at college and university using film. I spent hours in the darkroom developing the photos I had taken. Whilst, like most, I love the romantic notion of shooting with film, the reality is that digital photography offers so much more freedom.
However, the one downside of digital photography is that it also allows you to snap away without really having to worry about the number of photos taken. Not like using film where literary every photo taken cost a few cents.
But also, without the ability to review the photo instantly on the back of your camera, it meant that you had to trust your instincts and ability for capturing a great photo. All of this combined to ensure that you really had to think before taking a photo – thus meaning you had to be better at seeing something and capturing it.

If you have been photographing for a while and want to take your skills to the next level, get or rent a film camera and spend a while using it. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised when you go back to your DSLR camera.

2 – Set Yourself a Limit of Six Photos

Another way that you can train yourself to make every shot count is by setting yourself a limit on a photo session. Say you are planning on photographing a local market, set yourself a limit of six shots for the day only. So if you reach six you’ll need to delete one before taking any more.
The reason for this is that you will have to become really analytical about your photos. Setting yourself a small shot list can help ensure you capture six photos with variety that capture the whole experience rather than just a small element.

As an example, if you were photographing a market you could set out your six shots as such:

• A great portrait of a market vendor.
• An environmental portrait (i.e. when a vendor is making/cooking something or making a sale).
• A close up of the produce on sale.
• Wide-angle shot of the venue.
• Other people at the market (i.e. tourists enjoying their day out, a performer, etc.).
• Something unique about the market (i.e. it could be a unique plaque or sign, or a famous old stall).

You would then work through your shot list and aim to capture the best photo that you can for each one and in theory replacing each shot you have taken with something better. You will then end up with six fantastic photos from a shoot rather than 300 mediocre ones. Do this enough times and you’ll notice that your “great” photos from a shoot will begin to rise.
Do this enough times and you’ll notice that your number of “great” photos from a shoot will begin to rise.

3 – Photograph What is Least Comfortable

Every photographer has something that they are the least comfortable with photographing. For you, it might be something technical like photographing in low light conditions. For others, it might be capturing landscapes or a fear of photographing people.
Whatever you are least comfortable with, you should aim to improve that. Not necessarily because it is something you will use in your branch of photography, but because it will teach you new skills that will become useful in your genre of photography.
For example, you may be a wedding photographer and decide that you are going to improve your sports photography. That genre requires you to work fast as the action moves quickly, so learning skills that can help you do that will no doubt come in useful at weddings.
Trying a new aspect of photography will also give you a glimpse into something different and you never know, you may end up loving it.

4 – Work With a Managed Stock Agency

New photographers often ask me what I would recommend they do when starting out in travel photography. I always respond that I think they should get a portfolio together and approach a managed stock agency. The key word in the previous sentence is “managed”. So what is a managed stock agency? Fundamentally there are two types of stock photo agencies. There are ones that you simply upload photos and as long as they pass technical quality checks (i.e. there are no chromatic aberrations, they are sharp, no nudity, etc.) they will be accepted regardless of composition or subject.
Then there are managed stock photo agencies where not only do your photos go through the same rigorous quality checks, but someone at the agency also edits them. This means someone might look through the 100 photos that you have submitted and choose 20 to go up for sale on their site. They obviously choose photos that they feel will sell and this is a really good way to gauge how sellable your photos are and also if you are improving over time.

For example, for your first few submissions, you may find that the agency accepts an average of 10 photos but by your 20th submission that average might be getting to 30 or 40. This shows that you are improving.

5 – Shoot in Difficult Conditions

The general rule of photography is that you photograph certain subjects at certain times to be able to capture the best photos. For example, landscape shots will be shot during the golden hour, portraits on overcast days, food outdoors in the shade, and so on. While there is a reason for these rules and wherever possible you should aim to follow them as you will capture great photos, sometimes breaking them will give you far more dramatic photos.
But photographing in harsh conditions like midday for outdoor photography, low light conditions or backlit for portraits, will also mean you have to think outside the traditional photography box and work out how you can tackle the difficult conditions. Not only will this help you gain valuable skills but it may also come in handy when you are on a real shoot and encounter these conditions.

6 – Work on a Brief

Another great exercise to improve your photography is to work on a brief. You can either set yourself a brief or you can ask someone you know to set you one, but treat it as a real-life brief that you might get from a client. Get the person setting the brief to give you as much detail as possible and when you have taken the photos, present them to him as if he is the client.
Get their feedback and if you need to shoot things again, do so. The great thing about working on a brief is that you have a very specific remit of what is needed and as such you will find yourself being much more focused. If you work with a stock photo agency then you can always ask them for a brief as they will often have specific photo needs that they will be more than happy to share.

7 – Don’t do any Post-Production

I have lost count of the number of times I have heard someone say, “I’ll fix that in post-production”. The purpose of post-production should be to enhance your photos rather than create them. You should always aim to get as much right when you are taking the photo rather than trying to fix it in post-production later.
By setting yourself a photography exercise that you won’t use any post-production you will have to try and get the photo right at the time of shooting. So if there’s a rubbish bin (garbage can) in your frame you’ll need to try and find a way to crop it out. Or if the light isn’t great you’ll need to wait until it is.
By removing the safety blanket of post-production you will find yourself getting better at taking photos.

Conclusion and Time for Action

The exercises above are not the only options. As you progress through your photography journey whether that is a profession or a hobby you will come up with your own photography exercises that you can do. The key is to constantly look to improve and never stop learning.
Have you got any other good photography exercises? Please share them below.