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For many photographers, harsh light is the worst. Whether you shoot landscapes or portraits, we’re told one of the worst times of day you can shoot is noon when the sun is up high in the sky.
Photographer Roman Fox, however, is here to change your mind. In this video, Roman shows us how we can take advantage of the harshness of bright daylight sun and how we can utilise it better when everything is fully lit.
I write a series called the Glossary of Photographer’s Woo over on Medium, and am delighted to be here on DIY Photography to talk about microcontrast.
Lens design has improved pretty steadily over the last hundred years. That is to say, modern lenses resolve finer detail, render colours and contrast more deeply, and are generally more free from the defects of spherical distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. These defects are all easily measurable, and in art reproduction and scientific photography, they are probably very important. But in creating art? To many photographers, our lenses have been more than good enough for a long time.
The folks at FiLMiC Pro have released a new update that brings LogV2 to the app. It claims to offer up to 12 stops of dynamic range and provides footage bit rates as high as 140Mbps. Log first came to FiLMiC Pro in early 2017, but now it sees a pretty significant update.
According to the test video above from the iPhoneographers, LogV2 offers up to two and a half stops more dynamic range than the “natural” camera with the latest iPhone XS Max, and even the older iPhone SE and 6S see up to about a stop and a half increased dynamic range.
Photography is all about light. But just as much as that, it’s also about a lack of it. Shadows are just as important to your scene as the well lit areas, and they can really help to sell your story and add a lot of drama.
In this video, the guys of Aputure’s A Team walk us through using negative fill to help create that contrast and drama in your scene. And while they’re primarily talking about video, the same principle applies for stills, too.
Often, we hear much talk about the advantages and disadvantages of phase detection vs contrast-based autofocus systems. But not everybody knows what that means or why it matters. I had a rough idea, but I didn’t really understand it myself until I watched this video from photographer David Flores for B&H. In it, David explains how each of the two systems work, when it’s best to use one or the other, and how various camera AF systems work today using one or a combination of both methods.
In the studio, making your subjects stand out from their background is relatively straightforward. Because you have control over everything. You choose what goes behind them, what lights you use, and where they go. Outdoors, though, these options aren’t always available to us. We have to work with what our environment provides. So, how can we get some separation between our subject and their background on location?
In this video from photographer Moose Winans, we hear what’s going through his mind when photographing things outdoors. What he’s looking for, and how he finds it. Some of it is backgrounds that complement the primary subject from a compositional standpoint. Other tips include using brightness and contrast to your advantage to make your subjects stand out.
So after the madness that was hurricane Photokina, I am trying to re-adjust to normal life, hence a short post for you this week, as my body and mind recover! This weeks post is focussing on creating depth in your images.
It’s died down a little now, but last year there was an insane craze surrounding the Sigma Art series lenses so much so that I actually ended up buying 2 of them, selling them, then borrowing them again in the future for other shoots when I had no money.
To be clear from the outset, I actually think the Sigma Art lenses kick serious ass, the sharpness, the focus ring, build quality, the price. They are “cheap enough” ($900 for 35mm f/1.4 or $950 for 50mm f/1.4) and give you some serious firepower in the lens department. But after all of this, after all of these wonderful points, I STILL sold the 50mm and the 35mm because of one key factor. I think the bokeh sucks.
By now if you have ever seen any of my images you will know I am a big fan of contrast! I Like to crank that shizzle up to 11! haha
So this weeks article is going to be short and straight to the point (hooray I hear you shout!)
I am going to show you two quick ways to add contrast to your image, that give two different results! When I say quick, I dont mean fiddling around with curves. I literally mean a couple of clicks and we are done!
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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