Posted by
Corey Brown
On
7:37 PM
Have you ever tried taking some landscape and winter scenery photographs just to have them all come out dark and gray or blue.
I know I have and I can tell you what causes that and better yet how to fix it.
So what exactly causes the photo above to be dark and gray? It is a mixture of a couple of things. The first is how the camera meters the lighting. Since the snow is bright white the camera is thinking this is a light source and then adjusts the camera to expose as if the snow is a huge light. Now that explains why it is under exposed and it can also explain why the color can be off by so much. In a lot of P&S cameras and base DSLR's there is a snow setting which compensates for the exposure as well as the white balance. I know most people think well the snow is white how hard should it be for the camera to tell that.
Well the camera sees things a little differently then we and our eyes do. One thing is our eyes and brain automatically WB correct. The next is a camera is always trying to balance to 18% gray. Now this is where we come up with either blue, gray, or some other off color pictures and it will vary from camera to camera and the settings you are trying to photograph. Some cameras will see things literally. So on a clear day the camera will see the blue reflecting off the snow. Thus allowing your photo to have a blue tint to it. Realistically taking pictures in snow can be some of the most challenging situations for a camera. The first thing to do if you realize by reviewing your photos that they are dark or if your camera has a histogram and it is bunched up to the left is to add exposure. Once again this will vary from camera to camera but it is not uncommon to have to add +1EV to get a proper exposure. As for WB this will depend on if the sky is clear or over cast or a mixture. However, a good rule of thumb is in between 5500k to 6500k that should be your daylight and shade or cloudy WB. So do not be afraid to take control of your photos and change things. Auto on the camera is not always right and some times it is just way wrong.
So it is always a good idea to slow down take your time and make sure you get as much right in camera vs trying to fix it later and losing so much of your quality and detail.
I hope you find this helpful and as always feel free to leave your comments and feedback
Thanks and God Bless
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
Posted by
Corey Brown
On
11:54 PM
Last time I discussed how passion for your camera can tie in to the passion of a photographer. In part 2 I am going to discuss your photographic passions and putting them to work.
How does a photographer use their passion to make money?
A lot of professionals become professionals because they have a passion for photography. However, not many professional photographers have a passion for the photography they do. (I know this sounds confusing but stick with me.) Most “professionals” do not have any passion for the field of photography they try and make money in. Have you ever seen a wedding photographer that can charge $5,000 + per wedding? (Yes) How about the photographer charging $500.00 to do weddings and giving all the photographs on a CD for their client? (yes) I can tell you that the average bride hiring a photographer would love to know why one photographer can charge 10x the amount than the other guy. The answer is fairly simple.
A photographer charging 10X the amount has mastered something the other guys have not. The funny thing is, it is not all skill that makes the price increase. In fact the technical skill level between the two is not that big of a gap some times let alone a 10X price gap.
Just because a photographer is doing weddings or portraits or what ever their money making photography is, does not always mean they have a passion for that field . Does this mean that all photographers who do not have a passion for their field are bad photographers? (NO) What it means is some/(Most) photographers find an area to make money to support their passion.
Lets go back to the wedding photographer that charges 10X the amount and why this is justifiable. The first reason could be that their passion of photography is wedding photography. Another reason is they have managed to establish their passion and incorporate it into their wedding photography. The latter here is harder to find, however, they are a very skilled and diverse photographer.
Just because some one is passionate about photography does not mean that they are a successful photographer. On the contrary, most people who have a passion for photography ever become successful. Realistically most fail. It can become a stumbling block when all your focus is in an area of photography that you have no passion for. However, the photographers that are passionate and successful look at things in a different light.
I will use my self as an example to help illustrate what I am trying to say. I do a lot of portrait, life style and environmental photography to make my money. However, I am passionate about landscape scenery and in the moment people photography. The reason people hire me to do their portraits is not because I am a better portrait photographer per-say. The reason is I have to include my passions into all of my photography to be able to produce my best photography.
Here is an example. This is an on location portrait.
This is another taken on location.
So what makes these photos special? It is the style. I am not only taking a portrait. If you look at the first photo I am taking a landscape photo that happens to have a portrait in it. Since landscape photography is one of my passions I always try and mix my passion with my business photography. If you look really closely to the very first photo in this article, to the family portrait, you will notice that this is the same location. This is also one of my favorite spots for wildlife trails and scenic photography. Most people who visit this location never see it the same way my photographs show it. The is because I am mixing my passion with my work. I am willing to shoot at dusk and dawn because I know at those times what kind of scene will come out.
One of the tricks to being a passionate and successful working photographer is to incorporate your photographic passion into your"work" photography. If you can not incorporate what you love about photography into the type of photography you make a living with; you should go out and shoot at least once a week just for yourself. Why shoot once a week for yourself? Simple, to keep doing what you love and to keep growing in the area of photography that you love. This in turn will make it easier for you to find a way to mix your passion with your work; making your photography natural and something you love to do. Your clients and future clients will see this and want to work with you just for those reasons.
Thank you and God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
Posted by
Corey Brown
On
2:15 AM
What do you do when you are fed up with being in the house all day watching the kids and trying to get work done. (If anyone does not know getting work done with kid is usually a losing battle on all fronts.) So as soon as I could get out of the house I did. Unfortunately this was after dinner around 7:00 P.M. In a small town such as Toledo, Iowa where I live every thing is pretty dead in the evening.
With the streets being empty gave a great opportunity for some long exposure night photography. So that is
exactly what I did. Night time street photography can be a lot of fun. However there are some challenges that do come with it. One is the street lamps and the color cast they put off. To me it is just ugly and if you WB (white balance) correct for the lights the scene can look unnatural. That is why B&W can be nice in this kind of shooting not only can it give you more leniency with your WB but it also can give your photography a more dramatic feel.
To achieve the photo above it has to be a long exposure night shot. By shooting it this way instead of a high ISO shot I get a very clean photograph that you can see the light on the snow all the way up the street. Giving the photo above a lot of depth.
This photo has a lot more light to the overall scene. As you can see there does not seem to be as much depth however it has other benefits. The lights in the garland are not blown out and ugly. They, to me, have a very nice timeless feel. I also used a unique composition to draw more effect out of the lines not only with the strings of lights but the single middle of the street traffic light as well as the building behind. In photographs like these it is hard to get the full impact at such a small size so feel free to visit the Gallery and check them out in full detail.
So next time you go for a walk take your camera. If it is after dark then grab the tripod as well Image Stabilization will not work for this kind of photography.
I hope you have learned a something and feel free to leave your feedback and comments.
God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
Posted by
Corey Brown
On
8:24 PM
What do you do when you have a photo that is just OK. You know that photo that just really lacks the drama and punch you were going for. You go EXTREME.
The photo above was not processed in Photoshop or any layered graphics program. It was achieved in Capture One 4. Most of us have seen presets for other raw converters and how they work for them but when the normal person tries to copy it something goes wrong and you can not achieve the same kind of punch. I will give you the setting to the above photo first and then we will discuss how and why this is working.
EV: 0, Contrast: +14, Brightness: +1, Saturation: -29, Shadow: 0, Highlight: 16, and Levels: Black: 4, Mid: +0.16, and White: 253. Curve: from left to right, input first then output. A: 6, 6 B: 35, 44 C: 86, 106 D: 155, 159 E: 208, 69 F: 242, 224.
WB: Kelvin: 11100, Tint: +16
A friend of mine (Ken Norton) and I were discussing conversions the other day and how it is difficult to get a repetitive conversion VS film. So I started to play. Below is the same image as above that has been converted using Capture One 4.2 and you can see it is not terrible but just lacks anything that grabs your attention. It has been sharpened, curves applied and so on.
This last image is just straight in and straight out only applying the Capture One camera profile.
So how do you go from this image to the first one. well it is not that hard. First you apply a funky curve. A curve set to hold the shadow detail and highlights. If you look closely at the screen shot below it relieves some secrets. Age old I am supposed to kill you if I tell you secrets.
First I place a mark at ma shadow to hold it where I want it then one just to the right of it we will call them A and B just for lack of better creativity. Now the point of mark A far left is to keep my black point stable. B will work for my shadow detail. Now lets go all the way to the other end of the spectrum to the highlights Z will be the mark far right and Y is the one to the left. Now Z will control the white point the highlights and some cool back lighting effects on certain extreme conversions. Y will control the cool darks and colors you see in the sky. Now every point in between is just as important to keeping your photo together so to speak. By now you should have the basics of how with one mark it will cause the curve on the opposite side of any mark on either side to move in the opposite direction. So play with these even after the WB stage.
Then you saturate or desaturate as needed I usually end up desaturating a photo more often then saturating one for this kind of conversion. With the photo above and any that you want to give a look like you used a type of ND or split filter with desaturation is key. It works with the curve and WB because on the scene at hand I wanted to increase the sky's drama and that is mainly in the upper mid tones so that is where the curve is set for and will cause the most abstract when you shift the WB
Now the Biggest trick is WB (White Balance) yes that is correct. WB will play a vital role in the look you are going for more then just color. It will give different tones, contrasts and gradations to an image that can not be had any other way. That is why (My Theory) is that digital is so inconsistent when trying to make a B&W or other conversion for that matter. Your WB is always changing. With Film you got the WB for that whole role. You did not go back and forth and constantly changing for the environment you were in. Now just adjust highlight and shadows to taste.
Keep in mind you should not be trying to copy a style or a cookie cutter preset, Play with your image and make it how you think it should look.
That is it. I hope this is helpful and feel free to ask any questions and leave your comments & feedback.
If you would like to see the images larger and some others you can go to the gallery Here
Thanks and God Bless
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
