What you will need:

• A camera
• A tripod
• A prop to sit/stand/recline on

Optional:

• Trigger release
• Flash (entirely up to you)
• Other props to add to the look of the photo

So what can you use? As outlined previously, a lot of things. Most people use something like a table or chair, a ladder or two, planks of wood, boxes; the list is endless. In my example, I’ll be using a box.

Yup. That's one boxy box.

I’ll be the first to admit that this potentially isn’t the comfiest method of achieving levitation (depending on your prop), but it’s one of the most frequently used methods and one of the most convenient to boot. Always remember to keep safety first, and don’t do anything too risky! You might get hurt, and that wouldn’t be fun at all.

First, choose your location. It could be anywhere – the local park, the beach, a room in your house, a studio, and if you’re feeling really brave, maybe even a shopping centre! Be prepared to get some odd looks if you decide on the last one though.

Next, set up. Take your prop along with your camera, tripod and anything else you’ve decided to use. I use a remote trigger as it saves on trips back and forth to the camera, but if you’re photographing yourself there’s nothing wrong with using your timer setting. If you’re photographing somebody else you might not even need one.

Frame your shot the way you want it, get it focused and then before you do anything else, take a photo of the scene without you or your prop in it (I call this the canvas image). This is key. I’ve been in the situation where I didn’t have a canvas image to work from, and it was no fun at all when I tried editing it. So, always always always take a photograph of your scene without you in it, even if it is just a brick wall!

I even do canvas images in the studio!

Once you have your canvas image, don’t move the camera or the tripod. Don’t zoom in, don’t reframe. This is another reason why you might want to use a remote trigger. It avoids any accidental movement of the scene and saves you time later on when it comes to the all important editing stage. Place the prop you want to use as an aid to levitation in your scene somewhere, and start posing with it. Here’s an example of a pose I did in the studio:

I'll admit, I've been comfier

You might want to take several photographs before you’re happy with the outcome, but when you are, you’re ready to pack everything up and head to your photo editor of choice. I use Photoshop, but they’re all pretty similar and the process is fairly simple so don’t worry about it too much.

Load your images and sift through them until you find the ones you want to use. Keep your canvas image to one side, and keep it safe. This is what you will build on. Open that one first. Next, find the photograph with the pose you want to use. Make it a new layer on top of the canvas image, and make sure it lines up with the image underneath. You can do this easily by making it snap to guidelines or decreasing the opacity and shuffling it around. Just make sure to turn the opacity back up or you’ll look like a ghost, unless that’s what you’re after of course.

Make sure the layers are lined up properly

The next step involves something called layer masks, which you’re either very familiar with or have no idea what I’m talking about. These are used to non-destructively mask out areas in the image that you don’t want to keep. It’s better to use this than the eraser tool as if you make a mistake on a layer mask, it is very easily modified. In Photoshop, you can find layer masks under Layers > Layer Mask. Make sure the layer you want to modify is selected. You can use either a hide all or reveal all layer mask, personally I prefer to use reveal all. This won’t appear to change anything, but it will create a little white box next to your ‘posing’ layer with a link icon next to it. Like this:

Make sure this white box is selected by clicking on it once, or the next step won’t work. In order to remove areas of the image, take the brush tool and paint in black the area you wish to hide. In this case, it’ll be the prop you’re using. Watch as the canvas image shows through and makes it seem as though you’re flying! To hide areas again, paint in white. It’s worth mentioning that if you choose hide all instead, you’ll get a black box instead of a white box as above and your subject will appear to vanish! Don’t worry, they’re still there. Just paint on the mask in white instead and you’ll see them re-appear.

You could leave it like this, but for some extra realism you may want to do things like make it so the body and clothing doesn’t look squared off by the prop.

Removing the box

You can do this by taking bits of clothing either from the same photograph or different ones you took that day and pasting them in on a different layer and making sure they blend in with more layer masks and strategic placement. In the below image, I decided my back was too squared off by the box. So I took another pose I did without the box where the curve of the back was more visible. With some layer masks, I hid the parts I didn’t want and made sure the whole thing blended together seamlessly.

Making the pose more realistic

Another way to add to the realism is to include a shadow. You can easily paint a shadow in by taking a large soft brush and painting in black underneath and altering the opacity and blending modes. Another method for the shadow is to use the burn tool which tends to look more realistic, though it depends on your location. In my example, I painted the shadow in with some black and changed the opacity.

And that’s it! These kinds of photos are very good editing practice and will get you used to everything mentioned above very quickly. You could get even crazier and put several different versions of yourself floating in the same image. Have fun, and post your levitating photos in the comments. I look forwards to seeing more!

Marionette - Emma Brabrook

Article by Emma Brabrook – Emma is a photographer from the UK. You can follow her on Twitter, visit her Flickr, find her on 500px, join her Page on Facebook or visit her Blog.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

Before we go any further, I am going to give you the normal disclaimer, anything you do to your camera in order to clean the sensor, you do at your own risk. There is a multitude of information out there, some of it good, some of it bad. Do your research, make sure its camera specific, full frame cleaning is different from APS/C sensors and if in any doubt, get it done professionally.

So rather than give you specific instructions, I am going to detail some of your options for eliminating the dust bunnies. Lets start with software options.

Know your Animals, Bird or Dust Bunny

 Software is never going to be the best option and will only be a stop gap, but if you find you have returned from a shoot and there is a monster gremlin in your perfect blue sky, it’s not difficult to remove. In days of old, the classic Photoshop clone tool would be the favoured option but these days the Spot Healing Tool is the better option which along with the patch tool will solve virtually all your spot problems. The drawbacks, it labour intensive, although you may be able to create a batch command for it, because often the pictures you will be cleaning may be very different, you may well get inconsistent results.

Another software option that maybe available is built in dust removal. Some software such as Nikon’s Capture NX, allow you to create a reference image in camera (usually by photographing a defocused white wall) and then using that image in the software to remove the dust. Again  although this lends itself better to batch processing, it is not an ideal solution.

So we come to the hardware solutions. Before you attempt any of the hardware solutions, read your camera manual and follow the instructions for opening the shutter and accessing the sensor. Also make sure you are in a dust free environment, and you operate with the camera face down. I mount mine on a tripod and work underneath it.

The first line of attack it a blower. Not a blower brush, just a powerful hand blower such as the Giotto Rocket Air. This works by blasting air over the sensor to clear the dust. Blast the blower several times before you work on the camera, to clear any dust in the nozzle. This may work for light dust that has not stuck to the sensor although you may just end up chasing the dust around the mirror box and not removing it. If going the blower route, a word of warning, never used compressed air cans, these contain chemicals that may damage the low pass filter in front of your sensor.

The next option is a static charge brush such as the Arctic Butterfly range. These use the static electricity on a fine brush to remove the dust from the sensor surface. Some photographers swear by them, but personally I have never had much success with them.

The most common option for professionals is known as the wet/dry swab. Here you use a specially designed lint free sensor swab that has been moistened with a cleaning agent. This is wiped in one direction over the surface of the sensor then repeated with a dry swab to remove any excess fluid. There are a number of companies that produce these, nearly all are not cheap, but they are in my opinion the most effective way of cleaning the most ground in spots from a sensor.

There are also a number of home made remedies available out there, I will not mention them by name, you can do the research on them. Again the most successful I have found have been based on the swab system.

So how do I check how successful my efforts have been. Well the best way here is to shot a plain white subject, a wall or piece of paper at a very small aperture i.e. 16 or 22 and defocus the lens. Import the image into Photoshop and apply the auto levels. You may be amazed or dismayed at the results but if you keep plugging away, you will eventually banish the vast majority of dust bunnies.

Needs More Work

As a footnote, I should mention that I have been cleaning my own sensors in Nikon D200′s D2X’s and currently a D3 for many years. Although I have sometimes made the dust worse, I have never damaged a sensor. As mentioned earlier, you do not actually touch the sensor, it is covered with low pass filter and this is made of pretty tough glass. You are much more likely to put smears on it rather than scratches, but as mentioned at the top of the article, do your research and if you do not feel confident, get it cleaned by a professional.

Jason Row is a British born travel photographer and filmmaker  now living in Ukraine. You can follow him on Facebook or visit his site, The Odessa Files. He also maintains a blog chronicling his exploits as an Expat in the former Soviet Union

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

Many of us have that understanding, but need that extra bit of practical guidance to get our photographs from good to great (or even “award winner” or magazine cover!). In this first-time guide for Light Stalking, famous travel photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich shows you exactly how many of his best shots were conceived, shot and produced.

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Each of the ten examples in Rabari – Encounters With the Nomadic Tribe has gone on to either win awards or be seen in magazines (including the cover of the prestigious Geographical magazine from the Royal Geographical Society). Here Mitchell shows you exactly how he did it.

This guide will explain several of the problems that we all have when trying to get shots to reach that next level in our photography:

• exactly what equipment was used
• exact camera settings
• why each shot was taken the way it was
• detailed explanatory lighting maps
• practical considerations like language and communications
• how the light was used and manipulated
• what exactly was done in post processing (and how to get the effect in your own photographs)

Here is just a little of what you can expect:

Who is This Book For?

If you have ever thought “I wish I knew how they did that” when you saw a professional travel magazine shot, then you will love the exact, detailed explanations of every part of the process of getting these award winning shots. This guide lays open the whole playbook of a professional travel photographer in minute detail. Nothing is held back.

If you want to know more of the real basics of travel documentary photography (like actually communicating with the locals in another language for example) then there will be plenty in this practical guide for you too.

Who Is It Written By?

Mitchell Kanashkevich is a professional travel and documentary photographer whose work is used by Getty and Corbis and has been seen on the cover of Geographical magazine and Digital SLR Photographer as well as in many other magazines. He has visited exotic locations such as Indonesia, India and Ethiopia to further his photographic experience and travel photography portfolio.

Mitchell has also written several other hugely successful guides with our friends over at Digital Photography School and Craft and Vision.

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One of the best photography ebooks I’ve read – Rowan Sims (Humanitarian and Travel Photographer)

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Compose With Lines – A photographer can use objects to “point” to other objects. Sometimes this can be done subtly and sometimes it is more obvious. Which works better largely depends on taste. Look for objects such as fences, paths, tree branches or other lines that can be used in your composition to draw the eye of the viewer to an area of the image that you want them to look at. You might also want to get to grips with using the s-curve as a compositional guideline as it can also be used to guide the eye to a focal point.

France, Château de Beynac Exit by Vincent van der Pas, on Flickr

Evening Blues III by saturn ♄, on Flickr

Use Light – The lighter areas of a photograph will often draw more attention from a viewer than the darker areas. If the main subject of your image is brighter compared to its surroundings then it will naturally draw the eye. One easy post-production technique used by a lot of photographers is to add a vignette (older and less advanced lenses would do this naturally) which adds a darker area around the edges of the image, leaving the center brighter. Other ways to do it in post production include dodging and burning. You can do it “in camera” also, but making sure the main subject of your image is well-lit.

Photography Fights Alzheimer’s by GollyGforce, on Flickr

Use Colour or Tone Contrast – In a similar way to using light to brightly light the main subject, simply making sure that the subject contrasts with its surroundings can also be an effective way to draw the eye to it. This can be done as light on dark surroundings, dark on light surroundings or simply by ensuring the dominant colours of the main subject contrast with the surrounding colours.

Songzhanlin Temple, Shangri-la (Yunnan) by Ed-meister, on Flickr

Dad in Black and White Landscape by brentbat, on Flickr

Use Subject Contrast – This one can be a little harder to do, but finding contrasting subjects can be a very effective way to draw the eye. For example, a cat in a group of dogs will obviously stick out simply by virtue of the cat being out of place. It can be difficult to find situations like this, but it can be very effective when you do. One common way to do this in people photography is to contrast elderly carers holding young children or babies so that you have that contrast in age.

Directions by maewe, on Flickr

Remember the Rule of Thirds – Love rules or hate them, the fact is that the vast majority of the time a human will be drawn to looking in the general area of where the thirds converge on an image. If you’re not sure what that means then check out our guide to the rule of thirds. A very similar, but slightly more complex guideline can be found with the golden-section. Knowing these two compositional rules will enable you to make an informed decision about where to place the main subject in the frame of your photograph.

Use Depth of Field – The aperture setting on your camera presents an opportunity to bring into sharp focus a specific element of the image you are capturing. By having blurred foreground and background, you can literally and figuratively place the focus on the exact part of the photograph that you want to. This is probably one of the easier methods to draw the viewers eye to where you want it, but it is also one of the more effective techniques.

Gluey Focal Point by eriwst, on Flickr

While you may not need or want to draw the eye to specific centers of interest within every photo, it’s always good to keep a few of these techniques in mind if you want to.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

This group exercise is going to show you how to create a light stencil box & stencil to use with your long exposure low light photography. The uses for a light stencil are wide and varied only by your imagination with a couple being permanent watermarking at the point of creation of an image or artistic creation of fantastical scenes.

List of items needed:

1. Medium to large cardboard box
2. Box cutter
3. Scissors
4. Yardstick or square ruler
5. Pen or writing utensil
6. Black tape
7. Silver or chrome tape
8. Glue
9. Printer
10. Handheld flash unit with manual trigger or test button

Step 1: Start with a cardboard box and lay it out so you have a large working surface like this –

Step 2: With a pen and ruler draw a line 12 inches or roughly 30.5 centimeters. Put a line or X mark at the ends and center of the line. From the center of the line at a right angle place a line or X mark 12 inches (30.5 cm) and then with the X as a center draw a line parallel to the first line that is long enough to fit the longest point of your flash head on. For instance the flash I’ll be using is 2.5 inches wide so I drew a line 1.25 inches (6.35 cm) on both sides of my X mark. Next draw a diagonal line matching the short line to the wide line so you have something looking roughly like this –

Notice the center drawing was off so I marked an X on it to draw over later so all parts match. You will want to draw out four of these to make the sides of your box. If you would like to make it easier just create one template and cut it out and then use it to trace out the remaining three sides.

Step 3: With your box cutter on a cutting safe surface carefully cut out the pattern so you have all four pieces. Set aside the remaining box for now and assemble the sides so they look like this –

Tape the edges together and fold them in to create the box shape and tape the remaining edge so you should have created something that looks kind of like this –

Step 4: Cut a small bit of cardboard that will fit the small end so your flash head fits loosely inside. There are better ways to measure this all out and cut it so this step isn’t needed but after all it is cardboard and not meant to last forever so some leeway in measuring and putting together the light box is OK. So snicker a little at my rough measuring and tape that small bit in place!

Step 5: The stencils we will be making are regular printer size 8.5” X 11” sheets of paper. Depending on how much fun you want to have with this you can make the box and stencils just about any size but this is small and portable and works well in most situations. So with that in mind on the wider end of the box you will need to make some small strips of cardboard so you can attach a printer sized stencil on the end and tape it down so no light leaks out of the edges.

Step 6: Grab a roll of black tape and tape up the outside of the box. The reason for this is to give the box a little more sturdiness and you want to use black colored tape so it doesn’t show up in your light painting shots. The standard uniform for a light painter is dark clothes for this same reason that you don’t want to show up in your light painting images in most cases. Make sure you tape up the ends and all edges well so that no light shows through. You can also make a handle to help carry the box and hold it while it’s in use. I also put tape flaps where the flash head fits so it’s as sealed from casting light out of the back. You should now have something looking like this:

Step 7: With a roll of silver or chrome tape you want to tape up the inside of the box so only the insides are reflective. This is to help ensure the light spreads out bright and even.

Step 8: Admire the cool box for a couple of minutes and pat yourself on the back for making something for your photography. You now know how to create a cheap reflector box for your handheld strobe and if you put a sheet of white paper or fabric over the wide end you have a homemade soft box for pocket change.

When you finish admiring your ingenuity it’s time to make the light stencils. On your computer you can surf the web for a stencil or make your own. I made the ones for this guide in Photoshop but you can make stencils in something like Paint or another software that’s free if you don’t have access to PS.
I went on the web and found a graphic of a stalking cat and downloaded it and modified it in PS to fit my uses. I then used the text tool and made a black on white image of the Light Stalking text with the stalking cat underneath it with the cat tail making the tail of the g. Next I simply used the Invert tool to make it a white on black image.

It’s VERY important that your stencil image is black on the parts that you don’t want to be seen in your light stencil images. Some modification of your stencil image may be needed but it’s a necessary step. Once you have something you can be happy with print out two copies on your printer.
You will want to make sure that there is no banding on your prints and that the black is uniform as you can get it. Banding occurs when you are low on ink or need to clean the print heads and can show up when you light paint with it. My printer was low on all inks when I printed these out as you can see by the banding on my images. This did show on my images but a little increasing the blacks in Lightroom fixed the problem mostly. If I were going to be using these stencils for light painting for more than this guide I would have changed out my printer inks!

Take the two prints and put them exactly together so the image matches up when you hold it to the light. Next tape or glue the sheets together and tape them to the large side of the light box so no light can escape around the edges. If you start doing a lot of light painting with stencils you can have the stencils laminated so they don’t wear out as quickly as just paper ones.
You can use any color for your stencils. I used white and gray since my printer was pretty much out of ink which shows on my examples and the pink instead of gray cat & the banding I had to correct in post! Colors do show up just fine on colored stencils although you might have to play around a bit to get it so you like it.

Step 9: Now it’s time for the fun part! Go outside or if it’s cold as the North Pole like it is in Minnesota where I’m at you can try this out inside where it’s warm. You do need somewhere where it’s fairly dark though so keep that in mind. Setup your camera on a tripod and start playing with your light stencil!

Join us in the Light Painting group on Light Stalking for more great projects and to share your own stencils!

Credits: Thanks to Trevor Williams for the two printer sheet stencil creation idea. Keep inspiring and light painting! The creation of the light box can be attributed to a lot of people with creative minds and the ingenuity to make something for themselves instead of buying it. The original stalking cat image which I modified for the example stencil (Light Stalking) was found on vinyl-decals.com. I’m not sure who the creating artist is. The other stencil is a crop circle drawing that can be found on a lot of sites.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

1) How Do I Get the Background Blurry? – So you have taken a beautiful portrait of your newborn child with beautiful light and a wonderful and peaceful expression and there, 10 meters in the background, is their older brother, unmistakably in the act of picking his nose. Shot ruined, right? Not necessarily. If you know how to blur the background, then you could have had 100% of the viewer’s attention squarely on your newborn.

The trick here is to blur the background. That is as simple as controlling your depth of field (you can download our detailed guide to depth of field for free here). The way to do that is to shoot with a wide aperture. You can manually set your camera with a wide aperture, you can set your camera on aperture priority mode and shoot with a wide aperture (f1.4-f5ish) or you can set your camera on portrait mode.

Ann by Savara, on Flickr

2) How Do I Get the Background Sharp? – Another common scenario is finding the perfect landscape. You get there before sunset, a light sprinkling of clouds is reflecting the warm colours of the sun. The scene is perfect and you take the shot. When you get home, you find that the blade of grass in the foreground is in perfect focus, but the rest of that glorious landscape is blurry. What happened?

The trick with this one is to maximise your depth of field so that all of the scene is in focus from the foreground (mostly) through to the horizon. This is done by shooting with a narrow aperture (f16 to f22ish). In fact, f22 is commonly called the “story telling aperture” as it means almost all of a scene will be in sharp focus. Set the aperture manually, shoot in aperture priority mode and close it up or shoot on landscape mode.

Jurassic Gargoyle, Dorset by flatworldsedge, on Flickr

3) Why Are My Skies Not As Blue As I Remember It? – Many people will take a photograph in the middle of a sunny day, when the clouds are clear and the sky is a deep blue. Then, when they get the image onto their computer (or processed at a lab) they will find that the sky is a far paler blue and maybe a little washed out. What happened? The fact is that most cameras find it difficult to produce strong the strong colours you remember in your head when there is so much light around. Shooting at midday has its limitations.

There are several remedies for this, but the easiest one is to come back when the sun isn’t shining so brightly (like at golden hour). If that’s not possible, then you can do a few other things. Shoot with a narrow aperture (f18 or f22ish) or follow the sunny f16 rule. Use a ND filter to take some of the brightness out of the light. Consider a polarizing filter. Each of these tactics serves to restrict the amount of light hitting the sensor or film. They will theoretically result in stronger colours too.

Wheat Field [E-X-P-L-O-R-E-D] by KevinLallier, on Flickr

4) Why Are My Flash Shots So Harsh? - You’re at party or in a dark setting and you decide to shoot off a few frames of your friends. The problem is that they look like a deer caught in headlights. The flash is way over powered and showered them in in a harsh and white light that looks less than flattering.

Again, don’t fret! There are a couple of different things you can do to help this. Firstly, read our guide to how to fight the bright in flash photography. That will give you several options. You can start by diffusing the light from the flash in several possible ways. Put a piece of material in front of the flash (like a light coloured scarf or handkerchief) or, better still, get a proper pop-on flash diffuser for your flash (easy to find for a off camera flash, but slightly difficult for a lot of on-camera flashes). Another option (if possible) is to redirect the flash so that the light bounces off the ceiling, wall or other surface onto the subject. That will result in a more diffused, pleasant light.

Real Snow (48th/52) by skippyjon, on Flickr

5) Why Don’t My Shots Have Any Impact? – This problem is a little more difficult to define, but it usually starts with a photography novice comparing their own shots to that of a technically proficient photographer who has shot the same scene and wondering why the images are so different.

Now there can be a lot of different reasons for this. But there is also a single mistake that 90% of new photographers make. They stand too far away from their subject. A big part of good composition in photography is moving your feet so that your subject fills the frame of your image. In short, get closer! The saying that the first three rules of photography are, “get closer, get closer, get closer,” is only partially in jest.

Look into my eyes…. by Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel, on Flickr

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

The Quintessential Moment – One way to capture ambience is through timing you shot to capture the moment that best encapsulates a scene. Some examples of this could be when a bird is on the verge of taking flight from a nest. The moment that a cyclist throws their arms into the air to celebrate crossing the finish line. The look of concentration as a child places the last piece into a jigsaw puzzle. It is difficult to define for every situation, but you will usually know when it happens. With a little timing, these can be the perfect moments for a photograph. It does however, usually require the photographer to sit back and think about what might happen next. That will give you the time to prepare for the moment.

World’s Favorite Sport by vramak, on Flickr

Think Backgrounds – Often the context of a subject can be essential to emphasising its place and backgrounds can be very useful in establishing context. A football player with a background of screaming fans in a grandstand. A boat in front of a pending storm. These are examples of when a background can be almost as important as the subject itself to emphasise the feeling or emotion in an image. One sneaky trick that some photographers use is to find the background first, set up the shot and wait until an interesting subject walks into the foreground.

Front deck: Storm ahead by Bas Lammers, on Flickr

Baby by gabi_menashe, on Flickr

Don’t Forget People – When you’re shooting in populated areas, people can often be key to ambience in a photo. One of the types of photography that often oozes ambience is environmental portraiture. Taking photographs of people in their natural surroundings often brings together a lot of visually emotive elements to add that element to your photograph.

Young Boy on the Ganges at Dusk by lylevincent, on Flickr

Construction Worker Potrait by Saad.Akhtar, on Flickr

Take Advantage of Surrounding Items – The items in a scene can often add as much to the emotive nature of an image as the subject itself. Make sure you are taking advantage of those items that might help you with this. This will often be done for you if you’re shooting environmental portraits of people going about their work or hobby. Often they will already be surrounded with things that will add emotive elements to the image.

In the image below, the simple inclusion of the fence turned a quite standard portrait into a much more emotive shot.

The Eye by John Steven Fernandez, on Flickr

Think About the Lighting – While it’s difficult to generalise here, lighting can have a great effect on the visual emotion of a scene. Harsh lighting can work, but it’s easier to create a moody effect with softer light. In fact the term “ambient lighting” usually refers to the soft and diffused light which illuminates a scene without casting harsh shadows. Look for ways to make the light a little softer or shoot at times of the day when you’re more likely to be able to take advantage of light that isn’t so harsh. Of course, this isn’t always possible, but it’s one of the things to keep in mind.

Where Time Stands Still (Morning Glory) by Joel Bedford, on Flickr

Farrier 3 (The Guardian – ‘People At Work’ Assignment – Winning Entry) by 7tenths, on Flickr

If You’re Not Sure, Then Shoot! – Trying to line all of this up can be difficult. Is the background right? Should I wait for a slightly better moment to shoot? Are the people in the shot doing what I want them to? It’s easy to get analysis paralysis. The solution to that is to keep shooting! There is nothing worse than waiting for a slightly better moment for a photograph that never actually comes.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

Photo by Tom Dinning

Never fear. These are also places where you can produce your own piece of art; photographs. Not necessarily of the art work, but all the contents of the building.

Here are some ideas.

The building.

It seems such buildings are either relics of a time past or flashes of contemporary brilliance in a modern world. Either way, they are worth photographing. Keep an eye out as you approach for vista’s and views that highlight the character of the building.

Photo by Tom Dinning

They usually have pretty spectacular entries that will provide interesting interactions with line, space, texture and people. Before going in, spend some time watching.

Photo by Tom Dinning

Equipment and precautions.

Once you are inside, check with security on the taking of photographs. Public galleries and museums in Australia will allow you to take photographs without flash or use of a tripod of all but special exhibitions and some indigenous works. In fact, they downright encourage it. Private galleries may be less welcoming.

Photo by Tom Dinning

There may be a restriction in carry bags and back packs in some galleries. This means you may not be able to carry a bunch of lenses. Choose wisely. My favourite is a 5omm f:1.4 (in my pocket) and a 24-70mm f:2.8 (on the camera).

Photo by Tom Dinning

Although you might want to get a few shots of your favourite works, you might be better off buying a print at the gift shop. You won’t do it justice shooting in the lighting conditions of the gallery. Concentrate on using the art work as a backdrop for other things you see.

Lighting in galleries and museums is usually quite subdued and varied in colour temperature. You may need to consider the lens you use. Something fast (2.8 or less is helpful) and maybe give the ISO a nudge or 2. Even so, a steady hand is in order to cope with those long shutter speeds, often found to be 1/30th sec or less. Forget the long telephoto lens for this work.

What to photograph.

Firstly, enjoy the art and exhibits. After all, that’s what you’re here for, right!

Don’t be afraid to shoot a few of your favourite items. Sometimes its worth considering groups or fragments. Details can be quite exciting to capture, especially if the lighting is interesting. Create your own artwork by abstracting and blending. It helps you to ‘focus’ on the exhibit as well. You may find you’re looking as you have never looked before.

But don’t hog the show. There are others in the gallery. And don’t get too close. You pay for what you break.

Now that’s out of the way, take notice of the people. They are all intent in doing what you have just done; looking and discussing. Everyone seems to move slowly and purposefully (except the school group from Asquith High who are intent on breaking the all-time speed record for art appreciation). Why, there are even some who seem to understand the abstractions or identify with the shapely form of a nude maiden in brass. Yeah, right!

Search for a PoV that provides a relationship between art and viewer. Allow the contrasts and contradictions feed your imagination. Place things in and out of context. Use your shallow depth of field to present a sense of mystery, a feeling of watching and being watched. After all, this is a shared space between the art and the admirer. Embrace that feeling and be the observer.

As you wander, become conscious of the interior itself. It seems the decorators of such buildings like everything to have an artistic feel, even the chairs, vents, stairs and elevators.

And the light. Oh, how the light plays against the walls and corridors. Those expanses of white interrupted by a splash of colour, a shadow, a doorway or window to the outside world are an endless supply of frames for the flashcard.

Then, when you are done, adjourn to the coffee shop. But don’t put the camera away yet. There is always an opportunity to see others relaxing in the warmth of an early spring day sipping on a latte and nibbling on something they will regret tomorrow when they put on last summers dress.

This is a guest tutorial from Light Stalking community member and professional photographer and teacher, Tom Dinning. Check out Tom’s photography website and his blog for some great photos and tutorials.

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Check out the Toad’s photoblog and gallery of Canadian Landscape Prints.

Introduction

I have loved imagery my entire life, both personally and professionally.  You can ask my wife, a bad picture on the TV will drive me absolutely batty.  So, as things have progressed I suddenly found myself in possession of my dad’s beloved DSLR camera after he passed away, and with a purpose in my heart I set out on this adventure we now refer to as Toad Hollow Photography.

I have a lengthy background in software development and engineering labs, and was an early adopter of digital photography.  The original cameras we used were all the point and shoot types, with a maximum resolution of 640×480.  The picture quality was terrible.  But, it was a digital.

I wanted a digital SLR camera.  When they finally hit the market, I knew it would only be short while before I was immersed.  After acquiring my dad’s camera, the learning began in earnest.  I quickly realized there was something that I wasn’t happy with in terms of my work; the dynamic range wasn’t quite enough to fully express what I was seeing as I took the picture.  It took only a little research to find the ultimate solution in HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography.

The premise is that the photographer takes multiple photographs of varying exposure value for each image being created.  You then take those multiple exposures and via some specialized software, of which there are quite a few choices, and merge them.  Advanced HDR applications also include the ability to perform in-depth tone-mapping, which is a technique that when used correctly can produce images that are some of the most compelling and dramatic I have seen, with full dynamic range.  It can also be used to produce “painterly” or “over the top” type of images that appeal to a different group, but as with all techniques and tools, there most certainly is a following.

My Fundamentals

I have been asked by several of our friends here to discuss a little about how I go about creating our imagery at Toad Hollow Photography.  To maintain our consistent style, I have developed a series of fundamentals that I nearly always follow.

1. Always use aperture priority mode.
2. Always utilize the lowest ISO possible to reduce noise.
3. Any errors introduced into the work-chain will always run the entire path from the point of introduction.
4. Reduce or eliminate errors by recognizing common or frequent ones and become cognisant during the workflow.
5. Perform as much of the “heavy lifting” as possible in the HDR merge/tone-mapping application.  We use Photomatix Pro.

We can now begin to expound on the above points.

Aperture Priority Mode

Most modern DSLR cameras give the photographer the ability to select several different “priority” modes.  In the holy trinity of camera settings, being ISO, shutter speed and aperture setting (f/stop), if you select aperture priority mode it allows you to specify the f/stop and ISO, and the built in light meter will automatically select the correct shutter speed for you.  If you are in shutter priority mode, you would select ISO and shutter speed, and the built in meter would automatically set the f/stop for you.

I always use aperture priority.  The reason for this is it will create the most crisp and detailed merge possible as each frame, referred to as brackets, will be the identical focus and depth of focus.  If you were to go with shutter priority, each bracket would have a different f/stop and thus a different depth of focus.  This makes for much less clarity in the final merged result.

From here for me, the tricky part is selecting the right f/stop and ISO setting to achieve the result I am going for.  I find that sometimes I have to increase the ISO to get faster shutter speeds to avoid motion blur.  For the style of photography that we do, moving objects like birds and foliage are our biggest nemesis.  I tend to shake my fist at the wind.

Lowest ISO

I always try to use the lowest ISO I possibly can to reduce noise and produce better quality results.  The more noise that is evident in the source files, the more noise you’ll have in your output.  But, as mentioned before, motion is the hardest thing to compensate for with our style of imagery, and therefore we sometimes have to forgo using 100 ISO to offset external lighting and movement issues.

Errors In The Chain

Any time an error is introduced into the work-chain, that error follows forward to the end of the chain; your final result.  This really drives us to be as accurate and careful through each step of the process to avoid or at least vastly reduce these errors.

For example, if I didn’t properly tune my settings during the image capture process and wind caused massive blur in the trees in my picture due to a slow shutter speed, I cannot correct that.  This error will follow through to the bitter end.  These images never make it “live” and end up archived on my long term storage never to be seen again.

Taking this concept further, if during the merge and tone-mapping step I blow out my whites on the histogram, those details are lost forever and cannot be corrected.  What this all comes down to is by the time I am finalizing my image in Photomatix to bring into my final post-processing software, it contains no major errors and has all the dynamic range I want… it just needs some tweaking to really bring it to life.

Reduce or Eliminate Common Mistakes

As I was going through (and continue to) my learning process, I started to notice common mistakes I was making that resulted in sub-standard image quality.  At this point I became aware of these issues and started to look for them before they were introduced into the work-chain.  I can honestly say that our percentage of internet ready images shot up when I started to do this.  You may believe this to be common sense, and I can`t really disagree, but it`s so important I felt it merited discussion.

Heavy Lifting in the Merge

I try to do as much heavy lifting as possible in the merge process.  When the image is loaded into my final post-processing software, no whites or blacks can be blown out, no ghosts can remain, no color banding can exist; these are things that cannot be remedied.

There are many settings, in Photomatix Pro these are represented as sliders, that the photographer can adjust in the tone-mapping phase.  This is a critical phase of image creation.  I have several sliders that almost always remain the same, and several that need to be manually adjusted for each image processed.  I cannot use batch processing, I must merge and tone-map each picture individually.  This is where the personal style comes into play.  Once I identified what I was trying to do with my HDR work, it became a matter of finding those settings that produced these results.

From this point, the final merged and tone-mapped image is saved as a TIFF file and brought into my final phase post-production software.  I only typically perform the following actions in this software, in this order:

1. Remove any blemishes in the sky, usually perfect, tiny little circles that are darker than their surroundings.
2. Adjust brightness and contrast, color saturation, and sharpness.
3. Apply a minor filter that tends to shift the tone scale ever so slightly to a darker tone; I find this accentuates the light and shadow regions in our photos providing a better looking end result.
4. Apply a high pass sharpen filter to accentuate the details, using a very low threshold setting to avoid over-sharpening.

That`s it.  We have our final image.

I’d be happy to go into further details on any of the points mentioned, please feel free to ask any questions you may have and depending on feedback, I could do a follow-up for everyone.

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Low-Key by Mo Dube (Shadow Stalker)

(Tucker by Sarah Christine on Flickr)

A low-key image is one that contains predominantly dark tones and colours. Like high-key images, they convey atmosphere and mood. But where a high-key image feels airy and light, a low-key is usually dramatic and full of mystery. And where high-key lighting over-lights the subject to reduce contrast, low-key lighting creates striking contrasts through reduced lighting. Shadows are now the primary element of the composition.

(A Portrait in Darkness by Sean McGrath on Flickr)

Black and White is a popular choice as it really brings ‘light’ to the shadows.

(Thinking by Thibault B Photography on Flickr)

But there is a lot to be said about the drama of colour when the light is right.

(Heels by woody329 on Flicker)

To create a low-key image, all you need is your camera and one light source. Depending on the results you are looking for, you might also make use of a fill light or reflector. If you are lucky enough to have your own photo studio, fabulous, this will give you a reason to use it. If you don’t, no worries, you don’t need one.

This shot was inspired by the way the computer monitor lit the photographer’s hand:

(Hand Print by qwikrex on Flickr)

Camera Settings – The only setting that should absolutely stay constant is the ISO. Set it to 100 (or as low as your camera will let you) and never move it. Keeping your ISO low will give you good image quality, keeping it both dark and noise-free. Then it is just a matter of adjusting the shutter speed and aperture to achieve the desired effect for the light you’ve chosen.

Lighting – Choice of light is all up to the photographer. You have only one key light so the only choices you have to make now are direction and strength. The only ‘rule’ you should impose on yourself when shooting low-key is to never allow light to reach your background. I know, never say never. But unless you have a particular reason to add texture there, don’t do it. This is called ‘contamination’.

Following is a very basic studio light setup for low-key photography. Remember that direction and intensity are all up to you but avoid lighting the background. And don’t be afraid of back lighting! It can produce some spectacular results.

If you don’t have a studio, you still have several choices. A popular one is to use two separate rooms. Block off all light in one room so that if the door is closed, you could see nothing. Use the adjoining room as the light source. You can use the door to help control the incoming light. Try to keep the light from hitting the camera or the background.

If you are unable to muster adjoining rooms, we still have choices. Indoors and out. Daylight and night. Why, I’ve been known to create low-key images with the levels sliders in Photoshop. (no hate mail, please).

But this isn’t about Photoshopping, so let’s look at ways of setting the camera up to achieve our results. With an off camera flash, we can create a low-key image any time of day. It works in the midday sun if you are indoors and works nicely outdoors on a dull, overcast day.

On a tripod, in manual mode:

1. Set your ISO as low as your camera allows.
2. Set your shutter speed to the fastest it will go with the triggers you are using. This will reduce a lot of the sun light.
3. Set up your shot.
4. Start with the aperture wide open (low number). Take a test shot and progressively narrow it until there is no ambient light in the frame. The histogram should be flat lined at the bottom.

From there, you have to experiment. Set up your flash and shoot. If there is too much light in the scene, you could lower your flash output or move the light further away. If the background is contaminated, you could change the direction of light or move your subject further from the background. Whatever you think of is fine so long as you achieve your intended outcome.

(Tea Cup by Renee Stewart Jackson)

If you are not blessed with a flash, you can still take outdoor, low-key shots. You just have to wait until night. Then head out into the darkness and find your light source. It could be a streetlamp, moonlight, car headlights, or a flashlight that you brought along.

Experiment – Ultimately a low-key image is just one that contains predominantly dark tones. There are many ways to achieve that. Feel free to use one of the most useful (and under-used) features on the camera – exposure compensation.

In closing I’ll add that although we are trying to capture darkness, it is the application and control of the light that makes a great low-key image. The lack of light puts all focus on what light is allowed to stay. All your lighting decisions will show in your image so although it can be fun and whimsical, really good low-key photography requires a good knowledge of light, shadow and tone. Precise application of lighting is required in order to control the very important shadow detail.

Manipulate your lighting and placement of subject until the shadows fall exactly as you want them. It’s that easy. And difficult.

See you on the dark side.

Mo is a long time Light Stalking denizen who you can also find on Flickr.

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