By Jodi Friedman of MCP Actions: Photoshop Actions and Training

There are literally dozens of ways to saturate your colors in Photoshop. For this post I am going to focus on one way to pop colors using “Channel Mixer” adjustment layers.

To start with, locate an image that could benefit from more vibrant color, overall or in selected spots. Of course, you likely will want to correct exposure and white balance prior to working on color. At this point, we will pull up a “Channel Mixer” adjustment. In CS4, you can use the adjustment panel – in CS3 and below, use the layers palette and go to “Channel Mixers.”

Once you pull up the adjustment layer, you will adjust settings in the dialog box. You will adjust all three output channels: Red, Green, and Blue. Use the same relationship for each. You want all numbers to total 100%. The higher your number for the output channel you are working on, the more saturated the colors will be.

For example, if you start with red, and put red at 150%, then you would split the difference to = 100%. So green would be at -25% and blue at -25%. Then you would drop down to green for the output. For this channel, you would do 150% for green, -25% for red, and -25% for blue. Lastly, you would drop down to the blue channel and do the same. Blue would be 150%, green -25% and red -25%.

Remember, all three outputs need to be treated the same. The output gets the high number in all three channels. The other two equally subtract the same amount so that the total is 100%. Using 150% is rather high, but if you will be painting your color on, as I am here, or if you want a lot of pop, this number may work well. You will want to experiment on your image to find the best settings. I recommend 116-120% for the main output channel light pop, 122-140% for medium pop, and 142-160% for intense pop.

When you saturate color, make sure you are not losing details and that your colors are printable. The printer I use handles intense color really well, so I mainly check to make sure I am not losing details or getting any color noise. Also, if photographing people, unless you are using low numbers, your skin tones WILL BE impacted. That is where “painting” comes in.

With masking, you have 2 choices. Either you can show the effect everywhere, white mask. And hide it on parts where you do not want it, such as skin. Or you can hide the effect everywhere, black mask. And you can paint it on specific areas, just where desired.

For this tutorial, I am going explain, hiding the effect and painting it on where desired. Either way would work.

So after getting your channel numbers set, you will invert your mask. The shortcut keys are PC: “CTRL” + “I” or Mac: “CMD” + “I” – which turns your white mask from black. You will not longer see the popped colors.

If you have never used layer masks before, this video tutorial and tips on layer masking will help you.

With the mask black, then select white as your foreground color, and pick a soft round brush. You will vary the hardness of the brush as needed. I usually set my opacity at 30%-35% and paint over the desired items where I want the color more vibrant. You can do this at 100%, but with a low opacity brush, you will have more control as you can build the effect by painting multiple times.

For the before and after image below, I painted on the image with the mask selected, using a 30% brush at 19% hardness. I painted over the entire image once. Then I painted on the truck until 100% of the effect was reached.

The only change in these two images was the channel mixer layer. I hope you learned a lot from this tutorial about using channels to enhance your color and about using layer masks.

About the Author: This post was written by Jodi of MCP Actions, the popular creator of Photoshop actions, training and of the MCP Blog. MCP Actions provides great products and resources for both hobbyist and professional photographers who want to improve their post processing and take their photography to the next level. If you are serious about the quality of your images or your photography business, visit MCP Actions.

You can also find Jodi on Facebook, Twitter, and through her RSS Feed.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How to Pop Color Selectively Using Channel Mixers and Layer Masks in Photoshop

Today we’re giving away 6 great little kits to help you create some stunning Bokeh effects from Bokeh Masters Kit. Thanks to Udi Tirosh (follow him on Twitter here) for this offer. Here he is to introduce the concept behind the kits and to introduce the competition.

The Challenge

A while back DPS had an article about creating and using shaped bokeh as a creative drive. Taking that concept forward I built a product called the Bokeh Masters Kit which enables creating “bokeh images” in an easy and convenient way.

When I launched the Bokeh Masters Kit I needed to create a strong image which will clearly show how distant blurred dots become shaped bokeh objects.

Process and Setup

To make the bokeh effect work you need to have some highlights that you can take out of focus. Each such out-of-focus dot takes the shape of the hole on the bokeh adapter. A common way to create those highlights is to use LEDs. This is a great option as LEDs are small, cheap and can be bought in a “string form” for holiday’s home decoration. Indeed I started with LEDs. My first images were of my little daughter using a Christmas LED string as backdrop.

I loved the effect, but wanted something more. I wanted hundreds of little distant blurred dots to become hundreds of little shapes.

While working on another project I noticed that wrinkled tinfoil reflects many, many spots of light. This is just what I needed. It took little time to create a screen made from foam board and tinfoil.

I used a very simple 2 strobe setup to take the image: one flash with a CPU cooler gridspot was placed above R2D2 to light it from above. Another gridded strobe was set on the floor for fill and spilling some light on the background.

This worked out pretty nice and I got literally hundreds of little envelopes.

I did a second image with the same concept only using hundreds of tiny streetlight people.

The Giveaway!!!!

To kick things off, DPS will be giving away six Masters Edition kits.

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Make sure that in the email field of your comment you leave a valid email address so we can contact you. One entry per person only please!

We’ll randomly select 6 winners from the comments 2 weeks from today and notify winners via email. If you can’t hold your breath that long, just order the kit here.

Lastly – here’s a quick picture of how the kid attaches to your lens.

Check out more of the type of images that you can achieve with this little bokeh kit here.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Win a Bokeh Kit: Competition

In this post, Steve Berardi from PhotoNaturalist discusses eight tips for photographing wildflowers.

To get the softly diffused light in this photo, I waited for an overcast sky. (Photo by Steve Berardi)

With spring on the horizon in some parts of the world, you may be thinking about photographing some beautiful wildflowers soon. So, here are 8 tips to get you started:

1. Use a tripod

Using a tripod will help you get sharper photos by ensuring your camera doesn’t move. But, the tripod helps in another way too: it forces you to be more careful about your composition.

When you handhold your camera, there’s a tendency to just snap away, but when you add the tripod, you’ll spend more time thinking about your composition and ensuring your camera is in a very precise position.

2. Wait for an overcast or cloudy day

Direct sunlight will cast harsh shadows and create bright highlights on wildflowers, causing a disaster for exposure.

So, the best time to photograph wildflowers is on an overcast day, because the clouds act as the perfect light diffuser: creating the most perfectly balanced light you can get.

If you can’t wait for an overcast day, cloudy days are good too: just wait for a cloud to cover the sun before taking your shot.

3. Position your camera’s sensor so it’s parallel to the most important plane of the flower

With every photo, you only get one geometrical plane of complete sharpness. So, to maximize sharpness in your wildflower photos, make sure your sensor is parallel to the flower’s most important plane, and carefully focus your lens on this plane.

To maximize sharpness in this photo, I carefully positioned my camera so the sensor was parallel to the flower's petals. (Photo by Steve Berardi)

4. Use a shutter speed of 1/200 or faster

The most annoying problem you’ll face when photographing wildflowers is battling the wind. So, to help freeze the action of wildflowers (which never seem to sit completely still!), use a fast shutter of at least 1/200 sec. You may need to increase your ISO to 200 or 400 to get this fast of a shutter.

5. Find a flower with a good background

When photographing wildflowers, it’s easy to focus all your attention on the beautiful flowers and forget about the background. But, a good background will help your image by drawing more attention to your subject. So, take the time to find a flower with a good background: one that’s far away (to help get it out of focus), contrasts well with the flower, and has no distracting elements.

6. Find a flower that’s in good shape

Closely inspect each flower before photographing it, to ensure it’s not missing petals or has poor color. Some individual flowers of the same species will be more saturated in color than other individuals, so take some time to find that “perfect flower.”

7. Use a telephoto lens with a short minimum focus distance

A long lens will help you isolate a sharp flower against an out-of-focus background. But, make sure you use one with a short minimum focus distance (5 ft or less), to ensure you can fill the frame with the flower. You can use an extension tube to make your lens focus even closer for the smaller flowers.

8 – Use the RGB histogram to check exposure, NOT the LCD preview

When you’re outside, images on your camera’s LCD will appear much brighter than they actually are. So, to ensure you have a good exposure, rely on the RGB histogram. The histogram is a whole other topic by itself, but the basic idea is to use the histogram to ensure you’re not overexposing any of the color channels in your photo.

Remember to leave no trace…

When photographing wildflowers (or anything in nature), it’s also important to leave no trace. That means, be careful not to step on the flowers, or disturb the ground around them (many flowers depend on the soil structure around them). And, it may be tempting to attach some kind of clip to flowers to keep from swaying in the wind, but please avoid this because it could potentially kill the flower.

So, enjoy the wildflowers, take lots of photos, but leave them just as you found them, so they can be enjoyed by the next person (or butterfly, heh) too :)

About the Author: Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, and computer scientist. You can usually find him hiking in the beautiful mountains and deserts of Southern California. Read more of his articles on nature photography at the PhotoNaturalist and check out his new eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

8 Tips for Photographing Wildflowers

A Guest Post by Chris Folsom.

Recent talks with a local shop have prompted one of my least favorite tasks… writing an artist’s statement. It is an incredibly difficult task to describe your own work without sounding arrogant or self-absorbed. Worse yet, if your images span a variety of subjects and styles (as mine often to), trying to sum up the collection in a paragraph or two may seem impossible.

Here are some tips I go by when writing an artist statement for a shop or gallery that will be displaying my work:

1. Start with the basics

Jot down some basic information about the photos included in this collection. Are they color? Do they have a common theme? Were they all taken in a similar location? Having a short list of details will help later when you are trying to tie everything together.

2. Try not to get too technical

Nobody reading the statement will care if you shot with a Canon 5D or if Photoshop is your post-processing software of choice. If there are some truly unique elements involved in the work (printed on a special material or you shot through a hand-crafted lens, for example), feel free to include that information. Otherwise, leave out the details about your gear.

3. What would you like someone else to say of this work?

This is possibly the best way to get to the heart of why you took these photos. If you would love for someone to say “these photos bring sunshine to my home”, then you already have a pretty good starting point for your statement. Lead off with something like “I have done my job as an artist if these photos bring happiness and warmth to your home”.

4. Share your background and history

All too often, artist’s statements are all about the art and don’t go into any detail about the artist. How long have you been doing this kind of art? Why did you start? Why do you enjoy it?

5. Try not to pat yourself on the back too much

It is fine to say you are proud of this body of work, but try not to go overboard with the self praise. I have seen statements that say things like “an expert of her craft, this photographer captures beauty in a way that nobody else has”. I understand the value of confidence and selling yourself, but these kinds of descriptions will be a turnoff to a lot of people.

6. Does it have to be a traditional artist’s statement?

A friend once suggested that I do a haiku for my statement, which I thought was a genius idea. Different venues will have their own requirements, but take the opportunity to do something out of the norm if you can.

And if you would like an example of an Artist’s Statement, this is the one I went with for that local shop:

If these photos have a mission, it is this: capture rarely viewed scenes and environments and present them in an interesting way.

It may be a lonesome tree on an isolated hill or the dark interior of an abandoned building. Whatever the locale, on the best of days these images will stir up unexpected feelings and thoughts in the viewer.

Studio Tempura is based out of Baltimore, MD and has been creating photographs for over a decade.

Chris Folsom is a photographer based in Baltimore, MD. You can view more of his photos at Flickr or follow his photographic endeavors on Twitter.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

6 Tips for Writing an Artist’s Statement

“Everyone loves someone who’s pregnant” -Knocked Up

When you do maternity sessions, are you more likely to do them in a controlled atmosphere or do you take your momma on-location?

Any type of photography presents it’s own challenges, pros and cons. Maternity photography has it’s own set of challenges and knowing these ahead of time can help you prepare for your session.

{Studio}

Pros

• Controlled environment. No sun to fight with.
• More private – especially important for a mom who feels uncomfortable ‘gettin’ it out’ in public
• Once you get things set up properly, you can focus purely on the mum-n-bump and not worry about location challenges

Cons

• Studio shots can be samey if you don’t have some pretty brilliant ideas to shake things up. Yes, every bump is the most special one in the world, and all parents should get the typical hands-on-bump shot, but for your own sake, studio photos can all start looking identical the more you do.
• Studio shots are great when it’s just the bump, but when you’re trying to catch emotion (or even just relaxed facial expressions), studio can be really difficult. Unless they’re used to being photographed and are comfortable in front of the camera, the parents don’t generally know how to ‘just act natural’.

The short of it

• In my opinion, studio is best for the isolated bump shots. Towards the end of the session, when they’re comfortable (or they think you’re only photographing the bump) you might catch some raw emotion or tenderness, but I usually use these sessions purely for the beautifully lit shots of the belly.

{Location}

Pros

• Location shoots offer a more bespoke service which can incorporate their individual style. Locations can be urban or country, formal or casual.
• For couples who just can’t relax in front of the camera, location photography can help them just pretend you’re not even there and this also lends itself to more romantic, emotional events.
• You don’t have to have many ideas for location photography. In the studio, all eyes are on you to come up with the next pose or concept but on-location, you can just capture the precious moments as they unfold.
• Pregnancy is an organic, natural event. Sometimes photographing this in the studio feels…well…just uncomfortable. Even when just viewing maternity photos, I feel more at ease looking at the natural location photos because it just seems to fit the occasion better.

Cons

• You attention is divided. You can’t focus just on your mom, but have to keep considering your camera settings, positioning of the sun, weather, etc., etc.
• “Everyone loves someone who’s pregnant”. And that means that most people don’t think it’s inappropriate to just stand there and watch your session. This can be really uncomfortable for your mom and dad and unless you have a strong enough personality and a few ready-made lines (exe: “Do you have tickets to this show?”) you’ll have to pick a really obviously private location. Note: I think I need some better ‘move on’ lines. Any suggestions are appreciated! :)

The bottom line

• The bottom line on location maternity shoots? I focus most of my attention on these types of sessions. They’re harder work and they greatly test your ability to be creative and adaptable but when they work, they are so very rewarding.

Personally, I give my couples both sessions. I go to their house with a couple lights, do their studio shots and then take them out on location. They have more to choose from and that makes them happy!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Maternity Photography – Studio or Location?

Now, whilst I’ve not tried one of these new Giotto’s Vitruvian tripods, they certainly look quite good – what’s your opinion?

Giottos Tripods on Amazon

Giotto's tripod folded

Giotto Vitruvian tripod – PRESS RELEASE

Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, the new Giotto’s Vitruvian VGR  tripods are designed to offer photographers not only a truly lightweight and compact tripod, but a fully functioning monopod and ball head too.

The Vitruvian tripods have been designed with “reverse technology” legs so that when collapsed they fold through 180 degrees to “surround” the tripod centre column and head  – folding down into a unit that measures only 40cm long.

There are two VGR models available, both with a maximum operating height of 157cm and a weight capacity of up to 4kg. The VGR9255 is manufactured using aluminium tubing and weighs 1.5kg while the VGR 8255 uses 6 layer carbon tubing and weighs just 1.28kg.

The tripod castings are made from a forged aluminium alloy for strength and the quick action twist leg locks require only 1/8 turn to lock and unlock – making it quick and easy to set the tripod up. VGR tripods are fitted with a compact ball + socket head that offers smooth and precise movement, incorporates independent pan control and has a quick release system.

Giotto's VGR tripod and head

You can also unscrew the tripod leg, remove the centre column and head then join them together to produce a full size monopod with a maximum operating height of 162cm. The Vitruvian comes with its very own carry bag and has a 5 year warranty, snazzy huh!

I will try to get hold of a sample and give it a good solid going over…

Sime

Tags: Giotto's Vitruvian

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Giotto’s Vitruvian tripod, true genius

This Review of the Leica S2 is a guest Post by Justin de Deney from Camera Advice.

Invitation to Leica

A Lamborghini speeds by as I cross Berkley Square, on my way to the Leica showroom in the heart of Mayfair, central London. I have received an invite to view the new Leica S2 medium format digital camera. I don’t make a habit of attending to these events, but I thought, this being Leica, and, their first medium format pro-camera with autofocus, it might be worth a squint.

Showroom

The showroom is down a small mews, and the interior is reminiscent of an exclusive jewellery store. The lighting is subdued, and glass cases display gift boxes containing brightly coloured, beautifully crafted Leica cameras and lenses. I am ushered upstairs to the studio on the first floor where I have my first glimpse of the camera.

Leica S2 Body

The body is beautifully minimal and owes more to the looks of a 35mm camera than a medium format, reminding me of my first Pentax 67. It feels solid to hold and is pleasingly devoid of endless fiddly buttons and dials. The controls are simplicity itself, thankfully, and buck the trend of most over-complex digital cameras of the moment. There is a traditional shutter dial on the top, next to an easy to read OLED. This highlights each function in a different colour. On the back is the LED screen surrounded by four long buttons similar to the original phase one backs that I often use on shoots. These control the cameras menu functions and feel logical to use. This probably has something to do with my familiarity with the Phase One system.

Shooting with the Leica S2

The camera is tethered (by a USB cable) to a computer. It has a four pin connection which seems solid and reliable, unlike the usbs of most medium format backs which always seem to work loose without a little gaffer tape. It does also have two card slots, this means you can shoot raw to one and jpgs to another. My photo model, the camera demonstrator, waits for me to take the shot. I focus, release the shutter, the file uploads, and the result appears on the 32” apple monitor.

The download time is a little slow, but then this is a medium format, in tethered shooting mode. The auto focus is as good as it gets with a medium format but is noisier than I would expect from such a quality camera. The results though are spectacular. The resolution is 37.9 megapixels and the 3:2 sensor (the same format as a 35mm) is 56% larger than any full frame 35mm camera. I didn’t have time to do any in depth analysis of any of the specifications and lenses but from what I could see this camera shoots quality. This is no doubt down the Kodak sensor and the Leica lens.

Lenses

At the moment Leica only make four lenses for the S2. These are a 35mm, 70mm, and 120mm, all 2.5 and a 180mm 3.5. They make two versions, one that works with the camera’s focal shutter and another pricier version with a leaf shutter. This is also reminiscent of the old Pentax. The leaf shutter version means you can sync with flash up to 1/500. This is something I use all the time with my photography so I’d have to stump up the extra cash! They do have plans to increase the range but when this will happen I am not sure.
The lenses as you would expect feel solid. They match the simplicity of the camera body and as a package the whole product oozes class.

Would I buy the Leica S2?

I would want to spend some time with this camera before I decided to buy it. I only took a couple of shots in the studio and haven’t yet done any extensive or detailed analysis of it. Having said that I love the styling and simplicity of this kit. I also love the fact that this is a medium format in a 35mm body. I guess the only disadvantage of this is that if you need a back up camera you need a second body and not just another back like the phase one system. Having said that it does feel solid, reliable and has great image quality.

Did I mention the price?

Oh yes! The price! The camera body will set you back over $20,000 and each lens is around $5,000. Well what did you expect? This is a Leica and it is medium format. The quality is definitely far superior to any 35mm camera but whether or not it is worth this price tag probably depends on the size of your pockets and for whom you are shooting, but having said that I could definitely see myself working with this piece of kit.

Check out more of Justin de Deney’s work at Camera Advice.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Leica S2 – First Impression Review

Dave Hill is a genius. Period. I could look at his images all day long and his behind the scenes videos are strangely addictive. Naturally, thousands want to create his hyper-real, painterly, utterly hypnotising look on their images.

The first observation one can make about his method is the painstaking attention to lighting during the shoot. In the final product, the lighting and contrast make the images what they are. This can’t be done without interesting lighting.

Of course after being engrossed in his work for far too long, I said, “I MUST know how he does that?!” I didn’t find anything from him personally, but there are plenty of photographers out there tearing the method apart and sharing their findings. The first tutorial I ran across was for PS using high pass filters. I got stuck at the end with the masking layer since I’m still only using PSE.

But have no fear PSE users! I found a really great method for creating the Dave Hill look in Lightroom from, who else, Scott Kelby. The following suggestions are his. My additions are in italics.

{SETTINGS}

• Recovery = 100
• Fill Light = 100 this doesn’t always work at 100 it depends on the image – you’ll have to experiment
• Blacks = Drag this slider to the right until photo looks balanced again, because setting the Fill Light at 100 will wash the photo out big time. In our example, I dragged it to 24. I haven’t been able to get the blacks all the way up to 24. In the example image, I went only to 17
• Contrast = 100
• Clarity = 100
• Vibrance = 100
• Saturation = -81 (basically what I do here is drag the saturation all the way to the left, to -100 (which removes all color, making it a black and white image), and then I slowly drag back to the right until some of the color starts to return to the image. In my image, I took it down to -61, leaving it a bit more colourful than suggested. I just love the red of the pushchair.

{ADJUSTMENT BRUSH}

Once you get the look the way you want it, head over to the adjustment brush. In Dave’s work, the models always have silky smooth skin, even the blokes. You can use to pre-set ’soften skin’ brush. When you’ve done the skin, click ‘new’ and do another soften skin brush. In this image, I used 5 or 6 new skin softening brushes before his skin was smooth enough. Even then, it probably could have used more:

Once it’s finished in LR, I headed into PS and did a simple duplicate layer > soft light > very low percent (around 10%) just to add to the contrast. You could even add a gaussian blur to the top layer to soften the image a tad bit more.

I don’t remember if Scott mentioned this or not, but a vignette can be excellent, especially in the case of intentional barrel distortion as in the image above.

One thing I’ve found with this method in LR is the problem of severe fringing of some of the more contrasty edges as seen here:

No matter what I do to alter the sliders, this does not go away. A biproduct of doing this method in LR, you’re better off finding ways to do it in PS if you have the resource. If not, you can just pretend it doesn’t exist like I do. I really should try harder to be a perfectionist!

Are there other photographers whose skills you totally covet and try to harness for yourself?

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

The Dave Hill Look in Lightroom

Weekly Assignment

As February has come to an end, so has our series of food assignments. Our last food assignment was focused on Beverages. Whether those were drinks that warm you on a cold day, or the cool refreshing drinks of summer, we wanted to see them all. Our winner this week was GwenieThePooh’s “‘Diet’ Coke”. This was one of those shots that was clever, made us smile, and stuck in our minds during the assignment. Our first runner up was thebubblybeginner’s “Mocho Cocoa!”. The lighting on this shot was great, it was simple and very effective. You can almost feel the warmth of the cocoa and the coolness of the whipped cream on top. And last, but not least was eBomb’s “Cold Bull”. This one really has the feel of a product shot. From the crisp white ice to the bold colours of the energy drink, this shot stood out to us and made us think that it might be a good afternoon pick-me-up at the end of a long week. Well done everyone!

Our newest assignment was also posted this week, and we wanted you to go ahead and Jump!. We had this assignment last year, but it’s always a fun one. Whether it’s a jumping self portrait, an animal, or another person, we want you to make sure that their feet are off the ground! And while that might sound easy once you get the technical part of the assignment down, don’t forget to consider your composition and lighting in these shots too. As always, a quick reminder of the assignment rules. First, your photo needs to have been taken between 24 February – 10 March 2010. Your post must include the words “Assignment: Jump!” and the date that the photo was taken. And last, but not least, your EXIF should be intact, and it’s useful if you can include some of the main points like: camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, etc. Next week’s assignment will be Commute and will run from 3 March – 17 March 2010. We want you to show us how you commute each day. Whether it’s by bike, by foot, by car, by train, by horse… show us how you get from point A to point B.

Hot Threads

• Simple Water Droplet Tutorial: Have you ever seen those water droplet shots that look like colourful glass or almost living creatures as the water splashes up? Have you seen them and thought you need all kinds of specialized gear to take these kind of shots? Powerpix put up a tutorial showing how to take these shots with an 18-55mm kit lens that many of us own. So if you’ve ever wanted to shoot water drops but weren’t quite sure how, come check out this thread.
• Digital Rangefinders: In the last few months there have been more and more digital rangefinders hitting the market. They’re smaller than DSLRs, but have the ability to change lenses and are getting good reviews. But one forum member asked about any “overlooked” gems in the digital rangefinder world. So if you’ve used one or are looking at one yourself, why not join in the discussion over in the forum.
• Why do you need a tripod for shooting macros?: If you’re shooting macros you might be wondering if you really need a tripod, especially if you have enough light. After all, you can get a faster shutter speed. If you’ve ever wondered why you might still need a tripod though, you might want to check out this thread where there’s some great information about the benefits of tripods and other gear for shooting good macros.
• Black and White Photography: Once upon a time there was nothing but black and white film. But now, you have the option to not only shoot in colour, but do all sorts of things to enhance your photos. But sometimes this can make it difficult to shoot good black and white photos because we just aren’t used to it. Not to mention it can be hard to see how a black and white photo would come out when the world around us is so colorful. Come share your tips, tricks, hints and suggestions on how to shoot good black and white photos over in the forum.
• What Would You Do: One of the fun and creative parts of our forum is the weekly post-processing game we call “What Would You Do”. You may be familiar with this game if you’ve been on the forums for a while because we’re up to number 136. But if you’re new to the forums, this is our weekly game where where you get the chance to post-process another forum member’s photo and show us what you would do with it. Often times people get some great ideas of how they could improve their shots in ways they may never have thought of otherwise.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (28 Feb – 6 Mar ‘10)

La verità dello sguardo, l'ipocrisia del sorriso - by pensatore Istintivo!

This weekend’s photography challenge is something that we should all have at least some access to – it’s to photograph and share an image on the theme of ‘Smile’.

Feel free to take whatever approach with the theme that you like (although I’m assuming we’ll mainly get portraits on this one). Perhaps you want to take a photo of someone smiling – of something that makes you smile – or perhaps you want to get a little more abstract…. it’s up to you.

Once you’ve taken your “SMILE” image, upload it to your favourite photo sharing site and either share a link to it below or embed it in the comments using the our new tool to do so.

If you tag your photo on Flickr, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag it as #DPSSMILE to help others find it. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

Thanks to @10timesone on Twitter who suggested this week’s challenge. To submit an idea for a theme for next week’s challenge follow us on Twitter and @reply to us with your idea.

Frederick: by Thomas Hawk

Hole II. Rameswaram: by entrelec

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

SMILE: Weekend Photography Challenge

The photographic industry is one of the most challenging, difficult, and competitive for start up businesses. The statistics prove it. Take this 3 year study discovered by Dane Sanders in his book Fast Track Photographer: In the 1st year, 60% of photographers give up their business. Of that remaining 40%, another 25% will fail within the 2nd year. The ones that make it are the remaining 15% who endure through the 3rd year.

That’s a staggering 85% turnover rate.

Obviously, something is wrong with the way most photographers enter into this business.

So, you want to enter this business? Do your research. In reality, the photographic industry is not about photography. Photography is the end product, yes, but it is only a small percentage of what the industry is about. The rest is about business; Real-to-life business application.

What is the greatest challenge to photographic business? Understanding that many standard business principles apply to this industry, but to a degree, business principles take on a customized spin to photography business.

It’s obvious that photographers need guidance and direction for the specific tasking involved with the photographic business.

The following list is a dream business essentials kit of resources to help you survive the 1st, 2nd, 3rd years and beyond. Remember, foundations are everything. You may need to enter the industry at a slower pace, but have the perspective that you are building your business to last.

Whether you are a naturally business savvy individual, or clueless about business practicalities, this list will assist you to not only survive the photographic industry, but to find the beauty of thriving.

1. Vision Mongers by David DuChemin

Everyone’s path to success is different, because everyone’s definition of success is different. In this book, DuChemin highlights the journeys of nine photographers who have passionately devoted themselves to their craft and their business. You will be challenged, inspired, and encouraged by their stories – and find out if this is an industry you really want to be a part of.

2. Business and Legal Forms for Photographers by Carolyn E Wright

Even a photography business is subject to the law – and those laws may surprise you. Written by a photographer, this book will de-mystify the area of photographic legalities, and give understandable and concise information for you to run your business.

3. The [b] School

Created by the successful “Becker”, the [b] school is a subscription only resource for professional photographers – or aspiring professionals. You must have a business name in use, a web presence, and a desire to get involved with industry leaders. Building relationships with others in the industry will be invaluable to you as you build your business – after all, no one else can help an aspiring professional photographer as well as a professional photographer.

4. Photographic Mentoring

Several professional photographers offer one-on-one mentor programs that will help you dig deep to discover the motivations and foundations for setting up your business. Sometimes you need more clarity than you can give yourself. Dane Sanders, Bride Inspired, Sarah Barlow, Sarah Petty and others will help you build slowly and surely toward your goals.

5. The Photographers Guide to Making Money: 150 Ideas for Cutting Costs and Boosting Profits by Karen Dorame

The opportunities to spend money on photography equipment, supplies, and investments are endless. Don’t spend unnecessarily. Be savvy enough to discern which products and services you should choose to maximize your profits – and which you should do without.

6. News fire / Google reader

If you become like your friends, then it may be safe to say that you will become like the photographers you follow. Take the time to follow and subscribe to photographers whose work inspires you. Study their work, their branding, their business practices; you will be able to consistently glean profitable information – without spending a cent.

7. Café Joy

Sarah’ Petty, a professional photographer for over 10 years has developed the program that she wished she had as a starting photographic professional. Offering both paid and free resources, Sarah’s passion and business sense will help guide aspiring pro photographers to legitimate business depth and practice. Moreover, she guarantees that her resources will indeed help you – or money back.

8. DPBestFlow.org

Developing workflow systems can be a great challenge to photographers because it requires fluid organization and clarity – outside the creative zone. DPBestFlow offers advice and guides on what it means to develop professional workflow to save time and money in your business.

If you slowly incorporate these resources into your research and tasking, you will be set on a more than solid track to any photographic business.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

So You Want to Enter the Photography Business?

One of the most popular parts of dPS is our weekly newsletter. Each Thursday/Friday (depending where in the world you are) we send it off to 276,501 subscribers (that number is going up every minute or two as new people join).

The free weekly newsletter is:

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In short it is the #1 way that people stay in touch with the latest info from dPS.

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If you’re not already subscribed – join us today! If you know someone who should be subscribed – please this on to them too!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Join Over a Quarter of a Million Photography Enthusiasts and Improve Your Photography Today

Love them or hate them image libraries are a great way of generating an extra revenue stream, and because the websites don’t discriminate against people who aren’t classed as ‘professional photographers’, advanced enthusiasts and amateurs have just as much chance of selling as the pros. But as with all areas of photography the market is competitive and what you may want to supply could become lost in an ocean of clone like frames or may not contain enough of the correct keywords to get noticed. So here are a few ideas that may help you get started.

Start with some solid research to discover what is and isn’t popular. Log on to stock sites (for example: Crestock, Fololia, 123rf or Shutter Stock) and sort the frames using the popularity filter. This will display the most sought after images, allowing you to gauge the level of talent you are up against. Locate the genre you are particularly interested and see how images are received. If the download rate is poor or there is a vast quantity of similar frames then it is probably not worthwhile submitting large quantities to this area. Some libraries display lists of required and non required images with the submission guidelines. Categories such as landscapes, pets, flowers and sunsets are generally oversubscribed and as such only exceptional frames are accepted. Don’t be deterred though, take a creative approach to shooting these genres and you could find your images are chosen because they fill a gap in the website’s collection.

Currently undersubscribed areas include; travel photography of extreme places and nature, people in various situations and convincing lifestyle shots. Lifestyle portraits that include uniforms or props are big sellers and those featuring retro props are superb for conveying a message. For example an old fashioned telephone visually illustrates communication regardless time or place. Motion-blur and creative effect images are also in demand but be sure to always keep intention and composition priority.

There are many sites to choose from so to help narrow down the search for ones that suit you read the small print in the terms and conditions thoroughly. Make a point of establishing the answer to questions like: is it possible to contribute to other libraries? How much commission does the site take? What are the terms of cancellation? What are the minimum requirements for image size/resolution? How many uploads are allowed per week? Furthermore decide whether you want to sell your images on a royalty free basis (anyone can use the file for whatever purpose as many times as they like) or on an issue managed/exclusive license basis (sold for a specific use, time and territory). Create a database to help keep track of the images you have submitted to which sites and under what terms and conditions.

Don’t kid yourself that this is going to be a get rich quick scheme. Shooting, editing and uploading files is a time-consuming chore. Most veteran stock site suppliers say it can take up to five years to become established and earn a decent amount from the libraries. To increase your sales you should upload regularly, shoot a variety of genres and think like a customer. The design community is one of the largest demographics buying from these sites, so ask yourself what a designer would want from an image. Frames that contain isolated objects are ideal for designers as it offers flexibility in placing copy, so experiment with spacious compositions and keep the entire subject visible. Shoot against white backgrounds as this will make it easier for designers to manually remove the background. You don’t need an expensive white back drop for this, just use a simple white bed sheet, table cloth or piece of card. Where possible include clipping paths, keep edges clean and smooth, be aware of shadows caused by flash and avoid excessive feathering or jagged edges.

Images have to be executed to perfection to pass the rigorous acceptance process, so pay close attention to the histogram when capturing and view every image at 100% to spot dust marks or imperfections. Save yourself time and effort cloning during the editing phase by correcting problems during the shoot, for example sweep away flyaway hairs from the model’s face or change clothes showing unwanted logos or text. Images revealing high levels of noise or colour distortion are likely to be rejected too, so use a program like Neat Image or Noise Ninja to correct problem areas without affecting the overall quality.

Search engines obviously don’t see the picture only the keywording that goes with it, so give your photography the best chance to be seen and hopefully increase sales by attaching plenty of relevant words to describe it. Be sure not to add irrelevant words as some sites penalize photographers and some will only accept keywords matching their own vocabulary.

Further Reading on Stock Photography

• Microstock for Digital Photography Students – Make Money From Your Photography
• Microstock Update – How the Market has Changed and What That Means For Digital Photography Students

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Shooting for Stock Photography Sites

A Guest Post by Chris Folsom.

One of the great new features of Aperture 3 (get an upgrade from previous versions here) is the ability to add location data to photos and then display those photos on a map based on where they were taken. While similar features were previously available from plug-ins and add-ons, none of them handled geotagging as easily and elegantly as the native Aperture 3 Places system does now.

Getting Started

To enable the Places view in Aperture, simply click the Places button near the upper-right hand corner of the photo browser.

Doing so will display a map in the upper window where you normally view photos. The map is contextual to whatever project or album you are currently viewing. If the selected album or project doesn’t have any map data, it will default to a world map. If there is location data, a map will be displayed for those specific areas.

Adding Location information to your photos

Chances are, unless you were already using a geotagging plug-in, most of your photos won’t show up in Places. The one exception might be photos taken with a GPS equipped smartphone (such as the iPhone). The GPS data added to those photos will appear in Aperture 3 without any additional work.

But what about other non-GPS equipped cameras? Aperture 3 gives us a few options…

The first option is to open the Places view and do a search for a particular location. For this example, I’ll search for Fort Worden State Park in Washington State where I took some photographs a couple of years ago. I didn’t have a GPS device with me at the time but I would still like my photos to appear on the Places map.

?As I am typing, Aperture 3 presents me with a couple of location options and Fort Worden is on the list. Selecting it will immediately zoom the map in on that area. Now it is a simple matter of dragging the photos to the area on the map where they were taken. It isn’t quite as accurate as having true location data, but it is an easy solution for when a GPS isn’t available.

If you do have a GPS logger, Aperture will work with that too. If you aren’t familiar with GPS logging devices, they are small systems that can be clipped to a belt or camera bag and will track your location as you move around. Alternatively, if you own an iPhone you can download an app like GeoLogTag which will provide the same functionality on your phone. After the GPS logger has captured some data, it will create a text file that can be imported into Aperture 3.

The importing process is fairly easy. Highlight the project you wish to geotag and then switch to the Places view. Click the “GPS” button and then “Import GPS Track”. Find the GPS file on your computer and click “Choose Track File”.

The location data will show up as a blue line on the map. Drag one of your photos to the line and you’ll be asked if you want Aperture 3 to assign locations to the photos. Click the “Assign Locations” button and the GPS log will be matched up with photos based on their timestamps. Now the location data is imbedded in the image files themselves, even if you export them out of Aperture. This is a very handy feature for sites like Flickr that allow you to show location data on your photos.

?One other note worth mentioning… if you turn your GPS logging device on and off multiple times during one trip (to save battery life, for example), you may end up with more than one track file imbedded in a GPX file. To select these different tracks, click on the “GPS” button and then “Tracks and Waypoints”. You’ll be given a list of the track files included in the GPX file. You may have to go through multiple tracks to get all of your photos tagged.

I hope this helps you get the most out of a very cool new feature in Aperture 3. I know it is something I will be using a lot more of in the future.

Chris Folsom is a photographer based in Baltimore, MD. You can view more of his photos at Flickr or follow his photographic endeavors on Twitter.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Using Aperture 3’s Places

This week’s Assignment theme is JUMP. It reminded me of this image that always made me chuckle. While perhaps not technically perfect it sure captured a moment (and that’s a big part of what photography is all about):

Image by Mikey Da Photographer

Check out the Jump images others are submitting and submit your own here.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

JUMP: New Forum Assignment

We ran this question/discussion just on two years ago now but a lot of new camera bags are now on the market so it’s time to do it again.

What camera bag do you use and recommend – and why?

• Do you use a brand like Crumpler, Tamrac or Lowpro OR do you prefer a more anonymous brand that looks less like a camera bag (and makes it less attractive to thieves)?
• Do you use a bag that is not really a camera bag at all?
• What features do you look for in a camera bag?
• Do you have more than one bag for different situations?

Last time the most popular bag was the Lowepro Slingshot 200 All Weather Backpack (pictured). It’ll be interesting to see if it still ranks highest among our readers or whether another bag takes the cake now!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Camera Bag Recommendations: What’s Yours?

First of all, I have to thank Darren, and this wonderful DPS community for supporting our family through the illness and death of our son. We are deeply and profoundly grateful to each of you. THANK YOU. Not really a way to segue from that. I won’t try. :)

This post is all in the name of good fun. These are over the top SNL esque examples. Please don’t be offended.

1. Don’t buy photoshop right out of the gate.

Nothing concerns me more than “photographers” who delve into photoshop around the same time they delve into photography. These are what we call “photoshopographers.” I’m certain I didn’t invent the term. It floats around the industry like crazy. For example, “How’s her work?” Response: “She a photoshopographer.”

If you jump into photoshop (or any other editing software for that matter) too soon, you run the risk of not mastering your technique as a photographer. You’ll quickly form the habit of masking otherwise poor work with excessive editing and that will hold you back from learning the proper technique to begin with. As I once heard photographer extraordinairre Zack Arias say, “If you find yourself out shooting a client and you’re sayin’ in your head ‘oh I’ll just fix that later in photoshop’ stop what you’re doing and slap yourself as hard as you can.’”

I didn’t purchase photoshop until after 2 solid years of paid work as a photographer, and I still don’t know how to use it. Truth be told, it’s literally embarrassing how very little I know.

2. Processing fads rhyme with “stay away for the love of all that is holy.”

One of my main qualms with post processing is the color fads. These could be tonal, selective color (more on him later) or any et cetera. Anything that will likely not be popular in 5 or 10 (likely 1 or 2 in reality) years should be avoided. My goal for my work is timelessness. If an image is processed in a way that says: “wow! that was shot in 2009!” I’ve got a problem.’

Some of these things MIGHT be appropriate in moderation (not selective color. ever).

If wild tones are your selling points to clients and you’re booking well and getting paid bucketloads. . . then there’s obviously no reason to rethink your strategy! But as a general rule, if you’re going to do anything with tone: LOW OPACITY is the rule of thumb.

3. Radioactive eyes are so last season/

4. Skin should not look like it was grafted from Barbie, Ken, or Skipper.

I’m all for giving eyes a little pop-o-la! But let’s try to keep it real. No one’s eyes are PERFECTLY white, nor do they emit a glow in a dark room.

Quite frankly, pictures with eyes that are over worked: creep.me.out.

I’m happy to touch up people’s blemishes, but there are certain features of someone’s face that are permanent. Part of who they are.

For regular portraiture (I recognize that fashion work is a different animal entirely), I would never completely remove someone’s wrinkles (unless they asked specifically that I do). Soften them? Probably. But remove them completely? No. It’s their face. It’s what they look like. Moles? Same story. Scars? Same, same. You know, you could actually offend someone by removing a “blemish” like a scar or a mole from their body. Unless they ASK (and trust me, if they want it gone, they will), I don’t go there.

In my work I’m going for real and genuine, and plastic skin? Well, it’s neither.

5. A heavy vignette does not a professional photograph make.

A heavy vignette does not make a photograph look more professional. (Tail between my legs) I used to think so too.

The opposite is in fact true. Ask any TRUE professional photographer and they will tell you, a heavy vignette is a sure fire sign of an amateur trying to go pro.

6. Just say “NO” to over saturation.

No image necessary. . . Just.say.no.

7. Selective coloring died circa 1990.

I know I mentioned it above, but it definitely necessitates its own category. The picture says it all.

PS. Tell me you’ve read Twilight?

8. Don’t make your clients look dead.

It’s disgusting.

9. Fake Sunflare . . . looks fake. and stupid.

I’m not going to lie, I’ve enhanced sunflare before (many moons ago) when IT WAS ALREADY PRESENT IN THE PHOTOGRAPH to begin with. But don’t take a picture WITHOUT it and try to ADD it in. It makes you look like a ding dong.

10. Textures? I’ve only ever seen a hand full of photographers who can really pull them off.

I am hesitant to include this last one because I am a huge fan of several photographers who create lovely work with textures. Textures can be cool, BUT an image should never be blatantly SLAMMED with texture. Bleh.

Disclaimer: Don’t hate me. These are obviously EXTREME examples. Everything has it’s place in moderation. This post is truly just a satire. Me poking fun at and industry to which I belong, and that I love.

I recognize that post processing is incredibly individual. For a lot of people, what happens in post is an extension of their art. Hold on to what makes sense to you artistically! By all means. I would NEVER want to discourage someone from creating their art! Really, these are simply things I personally WISH I would have thought of going in. I’m guilty of many of them myself. A lot of my older work is embarrassing to me because I broke some of these very rules early on.

Don’t be ashamed if you’re doing some of the stuff listed above! ANY true pro you love and respect was likely guilty of much of the same early in their careers! And again and again and again: if it truly floats your boat?! Who the heck am I to stand in your way!!!!??? Selective color on my friend selective color on!

Happy Shooting! . . . and processing!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Warning: 10 Deadly Post Processing Sins

Photo by Mr Bones - No exposure settings supplied

Today, as a followup to our post earlier in the week A Beginners Guide to Capturing Motion in Your Photography I want to post a series of posts from Flickr that all illustrate a variation on the same theme – movement.

The following shots are all of moving subjects where the photographer has made the choice to set their camera to capture the movement as blur rather than freezing it. This is in all cases by choosing (or letting the camera choose) a ’slow’ shutter speed (although by slow you’ll see that the speeds (noted under each image) vary from anything from 1/30 second to up to 40 minutes).

Photo by Ben McLeod – Shutter Speed – 8 seconds

Photo by zane&inzane - Exposure Time – 10 minutes

Photo by PhotoToasty – Composition of 3 images at shutter speeds of between 1.6 seconds and 25 seconds

Photo by Amnemona – No exposure settings given

Photo by Sara Heinrichs – Exposure Time: 20 seconds

Photo by Mace2000 – 50 second exposure time

Photo by WisDoc – Shutter Speed – 1/30

Photo by Mace2000 – Shutter Speed – 50 seconds

Photo by Wam Mosely – Shutter speed – 4/5 of a second

Photo by Mace2000 – Exposure Time – 43 seconds

Photo by jon madison – Exposure – photographer estimates somewhere between 30-40 minutes

Photo by thorinside – Shutter Speed – 13 seconds

Photo by tschnitzlein – No Exposure information given

For more tips like this subscribe to Digital Photography.

Got some shots to share that use a slow shutter speed and capture movement? Share them with us at the DPS Forums in the Share Your Shots section.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

15 Stunning Images Using Blur to Portray Movement

Often when you’re working in Lightroom you will want the images to be sorted in the order that you want to see them, not in as order such as capture date which is one of the Lightroom sort options.

You may want to do this when assembling images for a slide show or for printing, for example as the order of the images in the filmstrip will affect how the images appear in a print template and in the slideshow.

You can control the order of images in a Lightroom folder by dragging and dropping an image from one place to the other in the filmstrip view. To do this, grab the image in the middle and drag on it until you see a black bar appear between two images. If you let go the image it will drop into the indicated position.

This drag and drop process works in most instances but there are some exceptions to be aware of.

The first is that this will not work if you are in a folder where there are images in a subfolder below it which are also visible. You can see if this is likely if you open the fly-out for the folder in the Folders panel in the library. If there is another folder the one you are working on, chances are that the images in the subfolder are included in the filmstrip and so you cannot arrange the images by dragging them into position if this is the case.

To workaround this limitation you can remove the photos in the subfolder from view – this just removes them from the grid and filmstrip and not from Lightroom or your disk. To do this, click Library in the menu and disable the Include Photos from Subfolders option.

With this disabled, you can now move images by dragging and dropping them into position.

Another exception is when you are working with a Smart Collection. While images can be located in a regular collection and rearranged in order to suit, they cannot be rearranged if they are in a Smart Collection. If you have images in a Smart Collection that you want to be in a specific order, you will need to create a regular collection for them and add them to it to do so.

Another situation where you cannot reorder images to your own preference is when you are working on the images in the Catalog such as Previous Import. You must, instead, locate the folder or collection in which the images are stored and rearrange them there.

Once you have arranged the images as you want them to appear, Lightroom stores your ordering so it is as accessible as, for example, any other sort order options for that folder or collection. So, you can return to your preferred sort order at any time by selecting User Order from the Sort dropdown list.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Arrange Files Your Way in Lightroom

If  you’ve been able to get your hands on one of these, consider yourself lucky.  After driving to most every electronic store I knew of and still not being able to get a hands-on feel for this new camera, I decided to take the plunge and make my order on Amazon.  Now, after using it on a recent excursion to Ireland, I wonder why I ever hesitated.  Hold on for a quick dive into the micro 4/3rds camera experience.  (Scattered around are some sample images–minor adjustments done in LR.)

20mm, f/1.7 -- Shallow dof, smooth blurring. Minimum Focus Distance: 0.66' (0.2m)

Since deciding to become a “pro” photographer specializing in weddings and portraits some years back, I have always been keenly aware of industry developments in the photographic field.  Primarily I kept my ear to the ground to what the big players like Canon and Nikon were doing.  I made the financial commitment to Nikon, but both were leading the pack in new developments.  Somehow, amidst all the hustle and bustle, I had been ignoring the 4/3rds movement that was starting by the likes of Olympus and Panasonic.  I had come across various announcements and brushed them off for another low-end product that couldn’t compete with my high-end gear. But, as a frequent traveler, who also likes packing light, my wife and I have been in the market for a more compact camera, but we’re also spoiled with our DSLRs.  I felt I was between a rock and a hard place.  I couldn’t bear the thought of pushing the shutter release button, then counting to 10 as my perfect composure fell apart before my eyes and then seeing my camera finally flash.  Then looking at the final image in all its grainy glory and wishing I had lugged my heavy D700 and lens assortment along just for that missed shot.

Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1.  Before our recent excursion to Ireland, my brother was debating on whether to buy one of my older Nikon bodies (D200) or spring for one of the new micro 4/3rds mirror-less cameras.  I gave him my two cents but he went for the Panasonic and brought it along.  Fortunately for me, this meant I had less gear to lug around.  For those not familiar with this type of camera, a little explanation is in order.

60 Second Long Exposure - Low Noise - f/4.5 - ISO100

What’s 4/3rds?

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 is the third camera in Panasonic’s Lumix G-series, using the Micro Four Thirds System. This latest model in the Lumix range from Panasonic is said to be the world’s smallest and lightest digital interchangeable lens system camera with a built-in flash capability. Although the Panasonic Lumix GF1 is small, it still offers many advanced features such as its extensive advanced settings and high definition video recording capability.  They achieve its small size with one simple trick– remove the mirror used to bounce the image up into the viewfinder.  The sensor size for the Four Thirds bodies is stuck somewhere between the minuscule point and shoot sensors and the larger APS-C sensors.  It is, in fact, the same size sensor that Olympus uses in their larger 4/3 DSLR line. Since sensor size is often a major factor in image noise, this sensor should compare closer to a DSLR than your typical compact cameras, but with lenses much smaller than a beefy full frame camera.  Same goes for depth of field.  It will perform better than a compact (shallower depth of field possible) but not as well as a full frame DSLR.  So if the promises are to be believed, this new standard should equate to smaller and lighter cameras, along with smaller and cheaper lenses that perform nearly as well as your typical SLR.  I know.  I was skeptical too.

f/16, 1/60sec, ISO100

The 20mm Lens

I can say however, after using the viewfinder-less camera for over a week, shooting in all types of situations, I have a new friend in cameras.  The GF1 was released in September of 2009.  Panasonic gave two options for lenses, a standard 14-45mm kit lens or the now cult classic 20mm 1.7 “pancake” lens.  The latter is the lens I’d recommend.  It makes the camera small enough to slip into your pocket, but versatile enough to shoot in the most demanding light situations.  Having a normal range prime (a 40mm equivalent on a DSLR) will take you back to the days when photographers had to move their feet to get a great composition instead of just rotating a zoom ring.  It really makes photography fun.  I couldn’t agree more with the in-depth review given by DP Review, “The Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH is a lens that we’ve been looking forward to seeing for real ever since Panasonic first showed a mock-up back at Photokina ‘08. The good news is that it’s been well worth the wait – the 20mm is an excellent lens, especially considering its tiny size. It does well in all aspects of our studio tests, and produces fine images in a wide range of situations while also focusing quickly, silently and decisively. On compact Micro Four Thirds bodies such as the E-P1 and GF1, it offers impressive image quality and low-light capability in a package significantly smaller and more discreet than any DSLR system. The last few years have seen Panasonic rapidly improving its cameras; the 20mm F1.7 sees the company flexing its muscles in the field of lens design and showing it means business here too. We’re unashamed fans of fast primes, and it’s great to see Panasonic providing one relatively early in the development of Micro Four Thirds.”  The guys over at DP Review have also given an incredible review of the GF1 body here if you need some technical comparisons.

Another long exposure example. This image was actually taken around 11pm with a 60 second expsure at f/4. Full moon gave color to the scene.

I was surprised to hear this reviewer from Wired say he’s also willing to leave his trusty DSLR behind.  This excellent review notes that you can also use your legacy lenses with an adapter if you’re willing to give up automatic focusing. Adapters are available for almost all lens mounts to be used on any micro 4/3 body, so that Canon “L” glass can still be useful, even if you aren’t lugging around your 5D Mark II.

So with that background, here are a few of my personal impressions.

Things I liked:

• Size.  I like carrying this around and I don’t scare people off when I pull it out.

• Historgram and Live info before you take the shot.  The f-stop and shutter settings are uniquely displayed live on the screen.  As one reviewer put it, “Some are bothered by the lack of a built in viewfinder, but I find the different perspective refreshing – and adds some unique capabilities you don’t get with an SLR like a live histogram, full brightness depth of field preview, live black and white and crop. For some reason it just feels like a creative tool instead of another piece of electronics.”

• Dedicated movie button.  This is just a convenience god-send.  No more switching dials or digging into menus to capture a short clip on the spot, or forgetting you are in movie mode when you try and take a picture for that matter.

• Did I mention size

Things I didn’t like:

• No viewfinder. In bright sun this will be an issue.  The optional electronic viewfinder seems to be lacking in resolution.

• So far, very limited lens choices.  The Pancake 20mm lens is gold though.  Large aperture lenses and primes are lacking.

• Movie mode, although nice that it is HD quality, had focusing issues.  Better to focus the camera and then leave it in manual to avoid focus searching (unless your subject is moving around a lot).

Summary:
I’ll be buying a micro 4/3 camera as soon as my budget allows it.  Perhaps by then there will be even more models to choose from.  In the mean time, if you’re in the market, take a look at what’s available.  Olympus just released the Olympus E-PL1 Pen Camera for $599.  It is the lowest cost Micro Four Thirds camera currently available and comes in many stylish colors!

To see other articles by Chas, click the author link below.

f/8, 1/250sec, ISO100

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

My experience with a micro-4/3rds camera – (Panasonic GF1 Review)