Photodigitary

White Balance is Subjective

A lot of photographers use auto white balance and accept it. They largely accept it because they don’t necessarily know there is a better way. But I see the problems of AWB all the time — inconsistent color and compromised color outdoors (usually with a slight blue cast which really hurts red, orange and yellow, plus it mucks up neutral tones). I am teaching a class in Los Osos this week and we  are photographing the wonderful wildflowers that are out now. One of the students decided to test AWB. He found, indeed, that auto white balance is very inconsistent. The same flower, for example, would change color depending on the background.

But choosing how to set white balance is very subjective. It may help to consider this. For years, pro photographers shot Kodachrome and Fujichrome for all outdoor images, including before sunrise, sunrise, sunset and after sunset. These were daylight balanced films, although they were actually warmer than Daylight white balance on most cameras (there is no standard for white balance settings). They did respond consistently to light conditions and give consistent color, color related to their specific daylight balance. I find that a lot of cameras work well with the Electronic Flash white balance setting outdoors because it is close to these films for normal conditions. I also find that Canon cameras tend to overemphasize yellow when you use Cloudy or Shady in sunlight.

I have shot with Daylight, Cloudy and Tungsten before sunrise and after sunset. There is no rule to this. I find that Cloudy works best for me and does respond like daylight films responded to these conditions.  Try different settings and see what you like.

Posted in Digital Photo Techniques, Digital camera techniques | 6 Comments »

Workaround for Layer Masks in Photoshop Elements

Most photographers really don’t need the expense or the big learning curve of Photoshop. Photoshop Elements does a wonderful job, especially when used as a supplement to Lightroom. Lightroom does the “heavy lifting” and Photoshop Elements can then be used for layers and to access Photoshop-type plug-ins. I use Nik Software programs such as Vivesa and Dfine all the time. While they are available as Lightroom export plug-ins, I prefer to use them as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements plug-ins because of the added control you get by using them with layers.

Elements has layer masks with adjustment layers, but not for layers with pixels. So if you wanted to change exposure by using an adjustment layer, you could control that layer with a layer mask. However, if you wanted to merge two photos, each on separate layers, you could not do that with layer masks as those layers have pixels. Here one photo has the right exposure for the ground, the other for the sky. We need to bring those two exposures together.

There is a workaround:

1. Click on the layer that you want to change and control with a layer mask.

2. Add a blank layer by clicking the add layer icon or from the Layer menu. This will add a layer over the layer you clicked on.

3. Click and drag the new blank layer under the layer you wish to control.

4. Click on the layer you want to change and press Ctrl + G or Cmd + G. This groups the layer with the blank layer, and since the blank layer is blank, the layer you want to control becomes blank, too.

5. Choose the paintbrush tool from the toolbox at the left.

6. Use black or white as the color (you could use other colors, but let’s keep it simple).

7. Paint into the blank layer wherever you want the hidden layer to now appear (if nothing happens, you are probably still on the grouped, hidden layer. Undo, then click on the blank layer before painting).

8. Erase from the blank layer to remove something from the grouped layer. You can go back and forth, painting and erasing, as much as you want, refining it so it looks natural like the real scene.

That’s it. You can also fill the blank layer with black or white (Edit menu, choose Fill, and Black or White for color) to show the hidden, grouped layer, then erase what you don’t want.

Posted in Photoshop Elements, Photoshop techniques | 3 Comments »

A Twittering We Go

I am now on Twitter at robsheppardfoto. Follow me for ideas and tips about photography, Lightroom and more.

Posted in Digital Photo Techniques | Comments Off

Backing Up Lightroom

A lot of photographers now understand that it is important to back up their digital images on a separate hard drive (or drives). This is really important because hard drives do fail.

A lot of Lightroom users do not understand the importance of backing up the Lightroom database. Lightroom is a database. That means that it does nothing to the images themselves (until you export them) — that is a great advantage. You can freely work with images without worrying about hurting them. You can’t.

However, Lightroom has to store the information somewhere on what has been done with your photos. That is its database and is a .lrcat file usually found in the Pictures folder (both Mac and Windows) in its own Lightroom folder. Backing up this database is an important back up. You can simply go to the Lightroom folder just mentioned and copy the latest .lrcat file to a new location. You can also tell Lightroom to remind you to back this up when you open Lightroom (go to Catalog Settings under the Lightroom menu for Mac and the Edit menu for PC). Lightroom 3 will prompt you to back up your database when the program closes (who knows when Lightroom 3 will actually be out — Adobe is still messing around with public betas).

This backs up the Lightroom database. I have needed it more than once. This allows you to reopen Lightroom with all of your work if the database gets corrupted. Or you could have a crash of your computer and lose Lightroom. I had a situation where I think the Mac Genius folks were lazy and reformatted my hard drive because of a problem with the disc drive. I could reinstall Lightroom easily, but when you do that, it starts over from scratch. You don’t want to do that. You want to start from where you were before. So that’s exactly what I did, used the backed up database.

I can’t overemphasize how important this is. Without that database, your work in Lightroom can be lost. One safety thing is to tell Lightroom to save any processed files with an .xmp file (that is the data used for processing and will be reread by Lightroom if the database is lost). That is also under Catalog Settings, Metadata.

Posted in Digital Photo Techniques, Lightroom | 1 Comment »

Cropping Photos

The question often comes up in workshops and classes. When should one crop? Is one allowed to crop? (Yes, that question does come up. Some instructors evidently are rather severe about cropping).

I believe that ideally, you should be looking for the best possible composition as you shoot. You should always be trying to have as complete a photo as possible captured when you take the picture. I don’t have any problems with cropping as long as one is not using that as a substitute for seeing the scene well in the first place.

The problem with cropping is that you can only crop what you have recorded with your camera. You cannot get a new and better composition of the whole scene because what you have recorded is not the whole scene, only part. So cropping can only give something less than what was available on location and cannot expand your options.

Another problem with cropping is that you lose image quality. I hear an interesting thing all the time — photographers who like the multi-multi-megapixel cameras because they can crop the image and still have high image quality. There are problems with that. It definitely means one is trying to substitute cropping for seeing the scene well in the first place. Sure, one can crop, but the real question becomes what did that photographer miss in the first place that means he or she has to crop now … and crop out of a limited view of the subject and scene (because what is in the photo is all you have).

It is possible to compose a full image right from the start, and that goes for anyone. If you start relying on cropping to finish your photos, then you are not getting your best images when the subject is actually in front of your camera. The way to use the whole image area is to really look at it and really see it. Years ago, I taught myself to scan the edges of the image every time I took a photo. This included photojournalistic work I was doing at the time and was hammered into me by one of my mentors. He allowed no excuses for a moving and changing subject. Now, with digital cameras, you can always check your LCD playback to see what you are getting and make adjustments to your compositional choices.

That said, you should always present your best version of your photograph. If that means cropping the photo, then crop the photo. We all get stuff along the edges of the image at times that we did not see, whether that is because of wind or dark conditions or just shooting too fast. So cropping is important to get rid of the junk. But regardless of the situation, you don’t need to say you cropped your photo. Your viewers don’t care, or at least, they should be so interested in your photograph that they don’t care.

The photo of Bridal Veil Fall in Yosemite National Park at the top of this blog entry is uncropped. That is exactly what I saw and captured with the camera. The photo of the snow plant below is cropped on the right side. I was shooting with the live LCD and the dark straps of my camera backpack blended in with the dark background — I did not see them hanging out along the right side of the photo. But I saw them when I opened the photo on the computer. I loved the shot, but the straps had to go, so they were cropped out.

By the way, I find Lightroom is a wonderful tool for cropping because it is non-destructive and you can change your crop as much as you want. A tip for experimenting with cropping is to make a virtual copy (or copies) of your photo and do crops on it so you can compare the results with the original.

Posted in Digital Photo Techniques, Digital camera techniques, Lightroom, Photoshop, landscape photography | 3 Comments »

Lightroom Workflow

Lightroom is, I believe, the best processing and cataloging program for photographers, bar none. It is made for photographers, it is far easier to learn and use than Photoshop, plus it is faster and more efficient. With Lightroom, you spend your time with your photos, not the program. For nature photographers, especially, Lightroom does not chain you to the computer or make you learn things you don’t really need to know.

Because Lightroom is so important to my workflow (honestly, I could not do the work I do today without it) and because I have seen so many photographers enjoy digital photography more when they have learned it, I have put together a couple of DVDs to help photographers better use Lightroom that are available at www.robsheppardphoto.com.

I have had a lot of requests for doing something on Lightroom workflow, and in putting these together, I have worked to keep them simple, direct and helpful. I have brought together the techniques, the tips, the tricks on these video programs that really do work for nature photographers.

Of course, they work for other photographers, too, but I had to use something for examples, so I chose my love, nature photography. Plus, nature photographers deserve a program that makes their work the star because most Lightroom books and videos are not geared toward the outdoor photographer who loves nature.

There is no fancy packaging to add to the price, just solid information on working with your photos in Lightroom. I have one DVD on Library workflow, the other on the Develop module. One disc is $19.95, two are $29.95, no postage, no handling fees, no extra charges. I have even included the same image files that I use for demonstration so you can follow along if you want.

The videos are based on Lightroom 2, Mac or Windows, and I have included a segment on what is new for Lightroom 3.

Library DVD Content:

• Message, 8 min. – a personal message
• Interface, 12 min. – an overview of the Lightroom interface with some tips on using it
• Import, 28 min. – getting images into Lightroom efficiently and effectively
• Traditional Edit, 24 min. – sorting the good from the bad; tips on editing your photos in the traditional photographic sense of editing
• Keywords & Metadata, 24 min. – working with keywords and metadata
• Collections & Filters, 44 min. – using collections effectively and using filters for searching Library
• New in Lightroom 3, 5 min. – what’s new in Lightroom 3 for Library

Develop DVD Content:

• Develop Message, 12 min. – personal message
• Intro to Workflow, 14 min. – an overview of Develop workflow
• Blacks, Whites, Midtones, 37 minutes – a critical part of the process for me is getting blacks, whites and midtones right from the start; a bit on cropping is included
• Color, 15 min. – tips on working color for correction and enhancement
• Sharpen, 12 min. – the sharpen tools for Lightroom are quite different than Photoshop; here’s a way to work with them
• Local Adjustments, 35 min. – this is what makes Lightroom truly give the tools of the traditional darkroom
• Example & Presets, 28 min. – a full example of using this Lightroom workflow is shown, plus an overview on using presets
• Export Function, 27 min. – here’s how to get images out of Lightroom
• New in Lightroom 3, 9 min. – what’s new in Lightroom 3 for Develop

You can order these videos at www.robsheppardphoto.com.

Posted in Lightroom, nature photography | Comments Off

Flower Photography Workshop

Just a short blog here. If you are interested in flowers right now, and maybe even tired of winter a bit, you might find my workshop at the Light Photographic Workshops of interest. The Magic of Flowers will look at the bold blooms of flowers along the Pacific Coast by Morro Bay, California, and we’ll be photographing flowers from close-ups to landscapes (March 29-April 2).

And here’s a flower tip to consider. Get down low and close with a wide-angle lens for a different look at flowers. This gives a look at the flower in a big landscape, so obviously you need to have a good looking landscape around the flower. It is important to get in really close to the flower, probably as close as your lens will focus. You can also use an achromatic close-up lens (such as the Canon 500D which will work with any brand lens with the right filter rings) to get closer.

Posted in Digital camera techniques, Workshops and Classes, nature photography | Comments Off

Who’s Looking Over Your Shoulder

I’m not trying to increase anyone’s paranoia in this blog. I do want to talk about something that affects all of us as photographers, and often badly.

First, I have to tell a story that explains the idea. My son played baseball in high school. A friend of his was a very good pitcher. He was consistent and evidently had a wicked curve ball that was hard to hit. One day my wife and I went to a game when this friend was pitching. He was terrible. We had never seen him do so badly. The coach kept him in for a bit, obviously hoping he would settle down, but he didn’t. It had to be one of the worst games he had pitched.

So what changed? Did he just face a tough team? No. He had done very well against them before. Was he having problems in his life? No. He was came from a terrific family and was a solid kid. The difference was … there was a new girlfriend and she was in the stands that day. He had quit pitching with focus and attention on the game and was pitching with part of him paying attention to what the girlfriend was thinking.

We all do this. Instead of focusing on the work at hand, we start worrying about someone else and what they might think about what we are doing. That someone could be a spouse, a boss, a competitor, and so forth.

This gets really bad for photographers. What will a client think? What will camera club members think? What will my spouse think (especially since I just bought this new camera supposedly to get better photos)? What will the workshop instructor or other students think? I do it to myself at times. I have been shooting for a project and I start thinking too much about what this person or that person with the client will think? Will they like this photo? Will they dislike it? Should I waste my time shooting something if they aren’t going to like it?

Let me tell you that this can freeze you and keep you from getting good photos. Now I have to qualify this by saying that when you shoot for a client of any kind, of course you need photos that will make them happy. However, just like my son’s pitcher friend, you will not do your best work if you are letting them “look over your shoulder” in your mind.

I believe it is so very important to find what pleases you and work with that. Sure, you can modify what things you are taking based on how your photos might be used, whether that is in a camera club competition or for a client, but you have to find what excites you about the world and about photography.

It is very difficult to do good work when you keep focusing on someone else’s possible ideas about your photographs before you have even taken the photo. Tell that person in your head to shut up and go away. You have more important things to do than listen to them, such as actually responding to the beautiful world in front of you. Whatever subject matter turns you on, be excited about that and respond to the subject and your photography from your own perspective, not the skewed perspective of someone looking over your shoulder. Look at the playback of your image on the LCD and think about what it is that you like about the photo, or you dislike about the photo, and what that means to you. Later, you can pay attention to a real person looking at your work, whether that is a spouse, a boss, or a camera club person doing a critique, but you will do it from your perspective and what your photo means to you. Your strongest work will come when you care about the subject and the photography enough to honor your vision and strive to express that.

Posted in Digital Photo Techniques, nature photography | Comments Off