Tutorial & DIY: Fall’s First Portrait @ Home

There is something about the approach of Fall that makes me think of portraits on the front stoop. Maybe it’s the whole “back to school” notion or the fact that the cooler weather makes backyard play less appealing and front yard bike-riding and exploring the absolute thing to do.

This week, we should all nab a picture of our little jam-faces at the front door, no matter how big or little they may be. I mean, why not, right? Point and shoot or DSLR or camera phone, a quick stop on the stoop before heading out for the day makes for a great place marker in any memory book.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/320, ISO 200

I wanted lots of bokeh/background blur so, because of that, I needed to control how sunny it was. With a wide aperture of f/3.2 the shutter speed went way up to 1/320 to reduce the flood of light, even though Isla wasn’t exactly on the move.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/320, ISO 200

Just by changing perspectives, see how much more bokeh there is? By tightening the frame to show just Isla, I lose the detail in the background as well as parts of her sweater. Sweet. But the 1/320 at this closeness was overexposing her face a little and her sweater a lot, so I quickened the shutter speed to 1/400 for the next round.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/400, ISO 200

I came in at a slight 45 degree angle and followed the rule of thirds to fill out the frame making a picture of her not looking at the camera hold more interest.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/400, ISO 200

Remember to mind your backgrounds (like if there is any clutter on the landing, etc.), keep tight but also grab a full body shot, rule of thirds for composition with just the head shot and, most importantly, to keep it safe if there are stairs. I was able to get away with this by using my 17-55mm lens rather than a 50mm which would have required me to be further back for the first and last photos and well out of arm’s reach. It meant I gave up a much lower aperture (could have done say an f/1.8 @ 1/640 or 1/800) with extra dreamy bokeh, but I’m a safety nut so there you have it.

Have fun!

xo Tamara

20 September 9 Permalink

Tutorial & DIY: High Contrast Colour Pop (Photoshop)

Today’s tutorial is yet another one about photo editing. It seems that’s all I’ve been thinking about this month, so next week we’ll be back on cameras, swearsies!

In the meantime, this is for Photoshop users to apply with layers. Again, I’ll reiterate in Photoshop there are a million different ways to arrive at the same result. I received a few emails asking why I did *this* and not *that* - there are no right or wrong ways to do something so long as you get the effect you’re looking for. I’m just showing a few tricks from my Mary Poppins-esque bag that I use, and it wasn’t meant to cause doubt on what techniques others use.

This trick in particular has been my go-to for quick (and I mean quick) and easy colour pops since I first started working on layout and designs at a magazine ten years ago. I still turn to it because a) I’m a creature of habit and b) have I mentioned it’s easy? And quick?

Av (Aperture Priority Mode) | f/3.2 @ 1/200, ISO 400, 17-55mm lens @ 35mm

This is a portion of the original image as opened up in Photoshop. I’ve had a few questions about what version of PS I use; I’m on CS5 but previous versions will definitely do the same work we’re about to examine here. As for light, it was a bright sunny day and the windows and back door were all open and behind me.

So, you’re going to go to the window that shows your layers and right click on ‘Background’ to reveal this menu. Select ‘Duplicate Layer…’

Je suis lazy bones and I don’t rename the layer, and so mine is called ‘Background copy’. Anywhoodles, you’re then going to click on the dropdown menu that is just under that ‘LAYERS’ tab. At the get-go, it should say ‘Normal’ but you’re going to ultimately select ‘Soft Light.’

Then, flatten the layers together and it should look a little something like this. All of those layer merging methods are worth playing around with, as well. This one just happens to be my default.

And, of course, it’s a method not without it’s faults. The skin tones can get oversaturated and need adjusting, and the colours may need fiddled with. But it’s a great starting point and an instant eye catcher.

Have fun!

xo, Tamara

If you’d like to see more examples, there’s a whole post devoted to this series on my baby blog here.

14 September 7 Permalink

Tutorial & DIY: High Contrast Black & White (Photoshop)

Howdy! Let’s keep playing with our pictures! One of my favourite ways to finish a photo is in a strong black and white with a lot of contrast, depth and a dash of sepia toning. And I get a lot of questions on how to do it, too. So, here we go!

This tutorial is for Photoshop users at this time.

Some colleagues and I were joking recently that, if there’s something you want to do in Photoshop, there are no fewer than 600 ways to get there. Yes, we’re a witty, fun and insatiable bunch! No ‘nerd alert’ required here, eh?!

But it’s true, and arriving at a nice black and white photo conversion is no exclusion. This is my preferred way for my personal photos; I find it fast, easy to remember and extremely visual and hands on, which is perfect for finessing the final details before saving.

We’re going to go from this (left) to this (right). Er.. I hope you don’t fall asleep like Isla did.

We’re going to work in Fill / Adjustment Layers, which is the ying/yang looking circle at the bottom of your layers window. It also looks like an Oreo dipped and milk and makes me hungry every time.

Click on that (yummy, delicious double stuffed-I-bet) Oreo and that menu will pop up. My easy faves to hang out in are in the second and third section down. Start by clicking ‘Black & White’ to get the above. I leave the settings as they are, but sometimes I play. Every photo is different. If you wanted to play, you would adjust those sliders under ‘ADJUSTMENTS’.

Next, click Brightness/Contrast.

It is here where I reveal myself to have OCD; I typically adjust to base increments of five, and I typically double my contrast as a rule of thumb to whatever my brightness was at. I’m also mentally capable of adjusting this practice should the photo need it. Swearsies.

The point is to adjust the sliders to increase or decrease the light and contrast as you see fit.

Next you’re going to want to play with curves. I typically make a little ‘S’ with my curve bar. Rather than start in the middle, I pick two points on either end and gently adjust them up or down. Here’s where the depth starts to fold into the batterrrrrr… (Clearly, I have baked goods on the brain. My apologies.)

You could stop here, and that would be just dandy. But if you’d like a little colour wash to your image, click Photo Filter and get playing with the various tones available. I’ve selected Sepia and changed it to a 30% opacity. Just enough to warm the walls and heart alike.

The finishing touch is to flatten your layers and touch up your lines. Before you flatten (see Layer>Flatten Image), you can always go back through to make further adjustments.

Ta-da!

Now, please excuse me while my heart explodes and/or I go find a snack…

xo, Tamara

31 August 16 Permalink

More on BOKEH with a pinch of auto focus

Here are some notes connecting bokeh with auto focus and how the two can become trademark tools. I should add that I rarely manual focus anymore and only do when my subject is stationary. With a baby, nuh-uh. Hasn’t happened yet. But it’s a personal choice, and an option most lenses afford you with. 

Auto focus is when you half-press the shutter to reveal focus points. The camera will usually beep or the focus point may even blink telling you your focal point is locked. It’s then you press the shutter fully and the picture is snapped. With a large f/stop (small aperture), many focus points will show up as everything in the foreground and background will be sharp. With a small f/stop (large aperture), you may only get one or two. And even then, your camera will need to determine something of contrast before it locks a focal point. 

For example, the camera auto focused on Isla’s eyes, nose and lips. Once it locked, I clicked and got this shot featuring blur on both arms and down onto her romper. 

1/320 at f/2.8, ISO 800

See? A closer look…

Now, if you hold your finger in the half-press, you can lock the focus and reposition the camera, therefore recomposing the shot. This is key when using a small f/stop to get a large aperture for lots of yummy bokeh blur. 

That’s how I got this while we were just hanging on the couch:
1/320 at f/2.8, ISO 800
When I first half-pressed the shutter, the focus points rested on her toy. I then shifted the entire camera to point directly at Isla, half-pressed so her eye and ear were highlighted, kept my finger half-pressed on the locked focus and turned back to frame the shot this way. 
A closer look…

Even if bokeh is beyond old news to you and all “Camera 101” that has you rolling your eyes in the back row, take this week to play around with aperture either in manual or aperture priority. Once you know inside and out your sweet spots of blur, taking pictures on the fly without scratching your head over f/stops is in your future. Totally. A little birdie even told me so.

25 May 5 Permalink

Aperture priority. In a word: HANDY.

Ahhh. Aperture. Friend. Occasional frenemy. It’s the backwards, confusing mechanism of technical photography that usually has people reverting back to auto. It works like your eyes in terms of letting light into the camera: when it’s dark, your pupils are wide open and when it’s bright and sunny, they’re snapped tight.

Some notes on aperture:

• bigger f/stop (number) = the more your aperture is closed
• smaller f/stop (number) = the more your aperture is open

Aperture has a very intimate relationship with depth of field (DOF) which gives those dreamy, blurry shots with lots of bokeh or makes sure everything is in focus. 

Some notes on depth of field:

• what the heck is ‘bokeh’? it’s the (deliberate) blur in a photograph
• keep everything sharp/in focus = small aperture / large f/number
• make things blurry/bokeh = large aperture / small f/number

The easiest way to control exposure but take control of aperture is to put your DSLR into aperture priority mode (Av for Canon and A for Nikon). You set the aperture based on your lens and the camera will do the math on the rest. Good deal. 

For landscapes, group shots or times when you want everything in focus, etc. I tend to start at f/11 and adjust from there. Here, everything is in focus from the baby to the table to her highchair. 

1/250 at f/11, ISO 400

For up close shots or to get more creative, I drop to the lowest f/number available (f/1.8 on my 50mm, for example) and adjust from there. Here, you’ll see the foreground and background are blurred with only the elephant sharp. 

1/125 at f/1.8, ISO 800

For lil’ faces, I stick to a sweet spot around f/5.6 or close enough to give their face and full body focus but add some bokeh to the background. Here, you’ll see her main facial features are sharp but it starts to blur out as it hits the ears and bedspread. 

1/125 at f/5.6, ISO 100

Keep in mind that bokeh — however much or little of it — is a personal choice and artistically subjective. Have fun with it and experiment! Take a picture of a toy propped up on a table using a few different f/stops and compare the results for yourself!

25 May 4 Permalink

Comparison: Manual + Program

Howdy! A few comparisons from this afternoon of manual (first two) vs. program mode (last two). All photos are straight out of the camera with no post-processing.

These are meant to show:

• how two different equations can equal similar exposure
• how to use EXIF data (the recipe, if you will, your camera stores with the image on how it was taken) to your future advantage for determining manual settings
• how adorable my daughter is when she’s trying to kiss her teddy bear

Manual (M) > 1/125 at f/2.8, ISO 400

Manual (M) > 1/125 at f/2.8, ISO 400

Program (P) > 1/60 at f/4, ISO 400

Program (P) > 1/60 at f/4, ISO 400

20 May 2 Permalink

Week Two: Program Mode

(Took this in P mode yesterday, but yes, it has been post-processed. The photos below are straight out of the camera. The rest can be seen here.)

Turning off auto can be a harrowing experience when you’ve just picked up a new camera. It really doesn’t have to be, and the best way to learn is to practice until you’re just shy of blisters. Or the school calls and somebody needs picked up to get out of a test.

This week we’re going to hang out in the Program mode of our cameras. There are three (to five) program modes, depending on your model with the most popular being P, Tv and Av on your dials.

• P = Program
• Tv = Shutter Priority
• Av = Aperture Priority

We’re going to hold our horses and really get to know the first two, P and Tv, leaving aperture for its very own week. Trust me. The lil’ Av deserves it.

Simply put, automatic mode is when the camera makes all the decisions regarding exposure, including flash. In program mode, the camera remains chief on primary decisions but defers to you on the use of flash, ISO and white balance.

Program mode is my favourite of the automatics; I find it easier to get a dreamy look like here:

The flash on your camera will never engage automatically in P mode. Instead, you’ll have to search out available light and keep a steady hand unless you pop it up yourself using the little lightning button on the front/side of your camera body. Let’s try. Twist that body ‘round. Find it? See it? If your dial is set to P, pushing that button should make the flash pop up.

The best way you can avoid needing a flash is by changing your ISO. Outdoors, consider yourself fine anywhere from 100 - 200. Indoors with lots of natural light, I tend to enjoy 400 but it’s a personal thing. If you’ve got limited light indoors, you’re going to need 800 and as the light shrinks from there, the number rises.

Keep in mind, however,  the higher the ISO, the higher the chance of noise. No, not the noise from the cheers of self-victory for mastering P mode, but rather little fuzzy specks that are apparent when you download to your computer or worse, invest in that 20x40 stretched gallery canvas. There are post-production tricks to reduce or minimize this pesky problem, however, but the best way is to prevent it altogether. Always make sure you’re maximizing the light available without altering the mood of the shot (a quiet picture of Timmy and Daddy before bedtime will definitely be ruined by every overhead light beaming in their face!)

Speaking of light, the lower the light and the non-use of flash will increase the chance of blur. A tripod isn’t necessary every time but consider a makeshift one while you quickly frame the shot. Stack the camera steadily on some books or the coffee table, or put your feet shoulder’s distance apart to create a steady stance.

Finally, white balance. If you’re shooting in JPG, adjusting your white balance can go a long way to alter the tone of your shot. Auto is a reliable default, but feel free to explore with others such as cloudy or sunny or shade. White balance finds the middle grey tone to your photo so the camera knows to correctly expose all the other colours. It can be the difference of looking like you’re standing under a rainy bus shelter when, really, you’re field-side for your nephew’s soccer team in the middle of sunny July. Creatively, this can be liberating and it’s a matter of personal preference and one that needs experimented with.

Here, the white balance was on ‘sunny’ but could have done to be switched to ‘tungsten’ or even ‘auto’ to minimize the warm glow and make it seem less artificial.

Shutter priority mode (Tv) lets you determine the shutter speed and the camera match the appropriate aperture for the best exposure. Controlling the shutter speed is ideal for freezing action (a high shutter speed) or blurring for effect (a low one as a car zooms by).

You’re going to need to check your manuals on this ones, folks. Every camera body is different in their ways to switch ISO, white balance, etc. But once you’ve doubled checked that, experiment away!

18 May 1 Permalink

Week One Rounder: Auto

A retrospective on auto. There were tears on the inside this week. Tears on the inside. 

I knew it was a given that auto would not be my bessie mate, but I had forgotten about how frustrating its most natural features are. There are times, yes, when auto works wonders. And times when it absolutely deserves to be on the business end of a noogie. Let’s explore. 

Auto is good for impromptu snaps in a well-lit area. (Canon PowerShot SD750)

Auto is bad for impromptu selfies in a badly lit area. See the red eye and mishmashed exposure? Mind, that mishmash of light is due to my thumb encroaching on the flash area. Either way, it’s a hot mess up there. (Canon PowerShot SD750)

Auto is good for quick snaps while out and about. When someone just looks so sweet you think there’s gotta be a magic potion somewhere to freeze this ti… Sorry. I digress. Ahem, good example of auto. Note that the composition helps make this picture, not just the technical make-up. (Canon PowerShot SD750)

I brought the point-and-click out of the diaper bag long enough to play inside the house. With the flash on, you get dark, centralized exposure with a certain guarantee of red-eye. The camera is three years+ old now and I forgot a few features… I read the manual to remind myself how to disengage the flash and voila! No red eye, but now we’ve got blur. (Canon PowerShot SD750)

But, if I steady myself and wait for just the right moment, not to mention make sure the battery is completely charged and at its fastest… it can work. Technically, the one above this frantic shot is just a bit fuzzy on the eyes, and not unrecognizable. (Canon PowerShot SD750)

Switching to the big camera, Canon 7D, clicking over to automatic was a first since I’ve upgraded from the 20D. The flash instantly engaged in my living room and gave me this. (EXIF: 1/60 at f/5, ISO 400, 17mm focal length)

I needed to get back to basics, and I needed to make dinner. The next day, I opened every curtain, turned on all four (don’t worry, energy efficient) lights and even the range lamp above the stove. The flash didn’t engage once with all its newly found light and I was able to get Isla like this, above. (Canon 7D. EXIF: 1/80 at f/2.8, ISO 320, 42 mm focal length)

And like this. Still a bit blurry from movement but getting there. Can we tell she’s teething? (Canon 7D. EXIF: 1/40 at f/2.8, ISO 160, 23 mm focal length)

Similar. Notice the lamp is turned on and the natural light from the windows is adding to the scope of bright. (Canon 7D. EXIF: 1/40 at f/2.8, ISO 160, 17 mm focal length)

And one more. My favourite shot, the aerial. She looks little still. And so relaxed, all chillin’ with her arm on her toy. She was very still at this point as the PVR switched on, and she was watching all the red lights on the screen. That’s how I managed to get (Canon 7D. EXIF: 1/30 at f/2.8, ISO 100, 17 mm focal length) with little to no blur. 

In the end? Auto bites the big one but can be manipulated successfully if you’re willing to experiment. It does wonders for quick shots in an area flooded with light and lots of activity. It’s also great for learning EXIF data (the technical data each camera records to an image), seeing what you like, what you don’t and applying it into your manual practice for a DSLR. 

17 May 2 Permalink