Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
One of the questions I often hear from people who are new to photography, particularly when using flash is “How high should my light be?”. It’s a difficult one to answer, especially if you’re shooting on location because there are so many variables.
The Koldunov Brothers break their usual silence in this 9-minute video to explore the topic. They offer a lot of tips with practical examples to show how different lighting heights and positions affect how the camera sees the subject.
Modern and high-end cameras can shoot without significant noise even at very high ISO values. But many of us still don’t own such cameras, so the ISO value where the photos are still usable is pretty limited. Koldunov Brothers share a simple Photoshop technique that will let you shoot In the dark even with a smartphone and reduce noise effectively.
Polarisers are one of the few filters that still hold an advantage for digital cameras. Pretty much everything else can be done these days much more easily in post. Even the effect of neutral density filters can be simulated – although it’s still not quite the same. Polarisers are common amongst landscape photographers, although not so much with portrait photographers. But they can be very useful, as the Koldunov Brothers demonstrate in this video.
Sometimes flare is a matter of artistic preference and choice. However, there are plenty of instances when we don’t want it in photos. Koldunov Brothers show you four different types of flares, and the methods to get rid of them. In some cases, there are only minor improvements. But in the others, the difference is pretty striking.
The Koldunov Brothers are always coming up with strange ideas. Mostly they’re to replace photographic accessories with, let’s say, less conventional items. This time, it’s something a little different. They’re not just replacing camera accessories. They’re replacing the camera. With a flatbed scanner.
It’s actually not a bad idea for experimenting with. A flatbed scanner is essentially just a giant, slow, rolling shutter camera. Sure, it has an extremely close focus and a very limited depth of field. The lighting options are also quite limited, too. But it can produce some very neat results.
Many portrait photographers obsess about the clothes their subjects wear on a shoot. They’re often asked to avoid certain colours, or patterns, or given a colour scheme to try and follow. But what about the photographer’s clothes? And this isn’t a matter of how professional you look in front of your clients. It’s all about the light that reflects off you and back toward your subject.
In this short video from the Koldunov Brothers, we see a practical demonstration of two different scenarios. The first shows the impact of our subject wearing differently coloured clothes and how it reflects off their skin. The second shows how the photographer wearing clothes of varying colour and brightness can present on the subject and affect the final image.
When it comes to shooting portraits, there are plenty of tricks you can pull off to make someone’s flaws less visible. Koldunov Brothers have created a video with tips for photographing someone with a double chin and making this bodily feature less prominent. You don’t need Photoshop or makeup, only a couple of lighting, posing or perspective tricks.
Although we have ran the occasional pranks in the past for April Fools’ Day, we decided not to do one this year. We wanted to just sit back and enjoy everybody else’s jokes this year. As it’s already April 1st in Australia, a few have started coming through already.
We’ll be updating this post as the day goes on and different timezones start hitting midnight. So, keep checking back. And if you spot a good one that’s not listed, let us know in the comments!
Creating custom bokeh for lenses is something many of us try at some point. Even if it’s not something we’re ever going to do again, it’s fun to have a go at least once. We’ve mentioned the technique on the site a few times before. But, different lenses will render out of focus areas differently. The balls of blur will be difference sizes. So, how do you know what size hole to cut?
This video from the Kuldonov Brothers offers up a handy tip to get the size right. All you need is a compass. No, not the kind that’s built into your phone so your maps work. One for drawing circles. And it’s a pretty easy and straightforward process.
The popup flash sucks. There’s no two ways about it. It’s small, too close to the lens, produces a bunch of red eye, it’s just horrible. These reasons, and more, are why many of the higher end cameras don’t even have one. But not everybody starts out with a bunch of lighting gear. They may not know that it even exists, or what to do with it even if they had it.
So what can beginners or those with minimal kit do to get better portraits with the popup flash? Well, according to the Koldunov Brothers, one method is to use a simple balloon. Given the current festive season, it’s an option that many will have easy access to.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
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