Sony Alpha 5: Best Flash & Exposure Compensation Guide

It's important to keep in mind how the Alpha cameras' exposure compensation systemworks when you're using electronic flash. To activate exposure compensation for both flash and continuous light sources, choose Flash compens. from the Recording 1 menu. The Flash compens. screen appears, with its plus minus scale. Use the left right controller keys to add or subtract exposure.

Mastering Low-Light: Best Flash for Canon 7D

The Canon 7D is a fantastic camera that can produce amazing images, but to truly unlock its potential in low light situations or to enhance the quality of your portraits, you need a great flash. In this section, we'll discuss the key features to look for in the best flash for your Canon 7D.

Best Canon Camera For HDR Photography

A fun and popular way to create images is through a technique called high dynamic range HDR . When you create an image that has a wide range of tones shadows and highlights , such as a landscape image with a very bright sky, you need to decide what areas you want to emphasize and adjust your exposure to match. We can often find an exposure that is a balance between overexposing the sky and underexposing the ground.

Sigma DP2x vs DP2s vs DP2 - What's New?

Sigma announced the Sigma DP2x Foveon X3 compact digital camera. The DP2x is the latest addition to Sigma's DP-series cameras. It features AFE and high speed auto focus, a TRUE II image processing engine for better speed and improved image quality. Overall the new camera is almost (see comparison table below) the same as the DP2s and nothing really excited to report about. Sigma is making some improvements that it couldn't make earlier, probably due to very tight release dates.

Types Of Shutters

There are two principal types of shutters The between-the-lens shutter consists of a series of thin steel blades set between the elements of a lens. The shutter release button activates a spring that snaps the blades open for the duration of the exposure, then shut. This type of shutter is also called a leaf type shutter.

Types of Paper

Types Printer Paper Finish

Paper for inkjet printing falls into two main camps uncoated and coated. Uncoated paper is the paper that we all know. This is the plain bond paper used in laser printers and copiers in every office around the world. On the opposite end of the quality scale, uncoated paper also includes those beautiful, mouldmade (made on a cylinder mould machine) fine-art papers that have been lovingly used for centuries for watercolors, drawing, and traditional printmaking (see Figure 7.10). Figure 7.10...

Different Aspect Ratios

Panoramic Image Ratios

Although some photographers think that a true panoramic photograph can made only with a swing-lens or rotational camera, it is generally conceded that a panoramic image consists of a lengthened format, or a minimum ratio of 2 1. The more conventional formats have been determined by the various aspect ratios of the traditional cameras that have popularized panoramic photography e.g., Widelux, Fuji 617, and more recently, the Hasselblad XPan . For example, let us consider 35 mm photography though...

Alternative Screening Dithering

Diffusion Dither Full Print

Certain branches of digital printing, specifically inkjet and electrophotography, now use a relatively new screening type frequency modulated FM screening or stochastic screening to produce near- or at-continuous-tone images where the dots are smaller and more irregular than halftone dots. Perfectly shaped, regularly spaced halftone dots are replaced with more randomly shaped, irregularly placed ones. If you know what a commercial mezzotint screen looks like, you're not too far off see Figure...

Oblique Photography

Low Oblique Aerial Photo

An oblique aerial photograph is made with the camera directed out and down at an angle from the aircraft not straight out and not straight down . For accuracy, the amount of the oblique angle is stated in degrees. The angle between the camera axis or optical axis and the horizontal is called the CAMERA DEPRESSION ANGLE straight out, parallel to the ground, is 0 degrees, and straight down, perpendicular to the ground, is 90 degrees fig. 4-3 . Oblique images may be anywhere between 0 and 90...

Mark Dimalanta

Mark Dimalanta

Lessons From A Pentaxian Shooter & Surf Photographer urf photographer and official Pentaxian shooter Mark Dimalanta has overcome swells of obstacles from life changing illness to shooting in dangerous waves along his way to becoming a global documenter of the surfing lifestyle. The doctor turned photographer has really always been a photographer at heart. Inspired at a young age by his US Naval Officer father's photos from around the world, the California native and avid surfer began...

Two-Camera Stereography

TWINCAMS (TWO-CAMERA STEREOGRAPHY) High quality stereo photography can be produced through the use of modern 35mm film-based equipment, or with high-resolution digital cameras. The single camera slide-bar setup of chapter 1 is good for still life imagery, but for photographing anything that involves motion it is necessary to use two simultaneously triggered cameras (or one of the integrated stereo cameras discussed in chapter 1). CAMERA SUPPORT Fig. 3.1.

The iris diaphragm

Condenser Iris Diaphragm

The intensity of the light transmitted by a photographic lens is controlled by the iris diaphragm or stop which is usually an approximately circular aperture. In some simple cameras the aperture is fixed in size in others the diaphragm consists of a rotatable disc bearing several circular apertures so that any of them may be brought in line with the lens. Such fixed apertures are known as Water-house stops and are used, for example, in some fish-eye lenses. This arrangement is limited in scope....

Printmaking Advantages

There are many advantages and benefits to using a printmaker or outside printing service. Printmaking is a craft that takes years, even a lifetime, to perfect. Experienced print-makers are experts at what they do, and they usually have the best, most expensive equipment. Therefore, by using an outside print provider, you shift the burden of learning the craft and of keeping up with all the latest print technology to the printmaker, which frees you to concentrate on image-making. A seasoned...

What Makes A Good News Picture

The guidelines for all journalism, whether in words or pictures, is to answer as quickly as possible the five fundamental questions the audience requires from every news story who, what, where, when and how. The successful written news story tries to give this information in the first sentence. The successful news photograph tries to answer as many of these questions as possible in one picture. In fact, as we shall see, it's the news picture that answers these questions most effectively that's...

Changing focal length

As well as providing a way for the light (and image) to be focused onto the sensor or film, the lens on the front of your camera also has a creative side. The creative controls your camera lens offers include focus control (allowing a sharp image of things at your main subject distance, and so giving them emphasis) and aperture control (allowing changes in depth of field as well as helping to control the amount of exposure). Figure 15.1 The focal length of the lens you use (or the zoom setting...

Interpreting the meter reading

The information given by the light meter after taking a reading is referred to as the 'meter-indicated exposure' (MIE). This is a guide to exposure only. The light meter should not be perceived as having any intelligence or creative sensibilities. The light meter cannot distinguish between tones or subjects of interest or disinterest to the photographer. It is up to the photographer to decide on the most appropriate exposure to achieve the result required. A photographer with a different idea...

Photography

Senior Vice President Editor in Chief Managing Editor Art Director Senior Editor Senior Editor Senior Editor Technical Editor Technology Manager Miriam Leuchter Jason Beckstead Peter Kolonia Dan Richards Debbie Grossman Philip Ryan Julia Silber Lori Fredrickson Kathleen Davis Linzee Karasik Contributing Editors Tim Fitzharris, Russell Hart, Peter Krause, Neal Matthews, Arthur Morris, Tony Nagatomo, Bryan F. Peterson www.PopPhoto.com Editor Stan Horaczek In Memorium Herbert Keppler Associate...

Describe How To Use A Light Meter

Draw Light Meter

What about the times and places where the daylight table doesn't work How do you find the exposure then For the first hundred years of photography's existence, the answer was, Guess. There were a lot of hints for making a good guess, but for the most part, experience and judgement were the only way. Today there is a much better way to find an exposure and that's with a photoelectric light meter. 2. Sometimes these devices are called exposure meters, but that's a somewhat misleading term. The...

Metering Mode For Portraits

Canon Metering Modes

Your camera gives you four different metering modes that tell it where and how to meter the light. Each mode has a unique way of reading the scene, and which mode you use will depend on the environment you are shooting in. I use the Evaluative metering mode for the majority of my work, and this mode is ideal for portraits. However, sometimes you'll run into situations where the background is much darker or lighter than the person you are photographing, which could give you an incorrect...

Removing Lens Distortion Making Perspective Corrections and Reducing Vignetting

Even after correcting the perspective in the previous exercise, distortions and warping still remain. This is due to the fact that the image was put together as a panorama picture using several individual photos taken with a wide-angle lens. In addition, the image has a left and a right vanishing point. To correct these defects, GIMP offers the Lens Distortion and Curve Bend filters. These filters provide not only perspective corrections, but also to a certain extent corrective measures for...

Creating a Sky Graphically The Difference Clouds Filter

GIMP has a filter that lets you create clouds graphically. To use it, choose Filters gt Render gt Clouds gt Difference Clouds. Create a new layer in bluesky.xcf in the Layers dialog. Name the layer cloudysky. Fill the layer with the color white with the help of the Bucket Fill tool. Then open the Difference Clouds filter. The cloud structure is depicted in gray in the preview window and will be colored later. You can experiment with the slide controls to create the structure and density of the...

Set The Correct White Balance

White balance refers to the process of balancing the color temperature of the lights in the location where you are shooting, so that the colors appear normal. Our eyes have the ability to adjust to these changes so quickly that we don't even realize that certain lights give off different colors. Most of the film used in traditional film photography was daylight balanced, meaning that the color in photos taken outdoors or with a flash looks correct. Another option, tungsten, balanced film for...

Tips for posing individual players

We found that photographing young soccer and baseball players works best if you have a posing guide on display for them to look at before they are photographed. We have a large poster board with four different poses on it and a letter below each pose. This gives the kids and parents some idea what they want before they get in front of the camera. I know other studios that take several left Good posture is important for a flattering image. below In portraits of cheerleaders,...

First Curtain vs Second Curtain Sync

Sync Flash

The timing of when the flash is triggered can be changed in relation to which curtain (first or second) is about to move. We can either trigger our flash at the start of the exposure interval, when the first curtain has just cleared the sensor, or near the end of the exposure interval when the second curtain is just about to start to move. When we use slow shutter speeds, the decision as to when the flash should be triggered can have a pronounced effect on how the flash appears in our image....

Nikon D90 vs. D7000 - Should I Upgrade?

Nikon D7000 is already getting huge attention. The most common question that I hear about the Nikon D7000 is whether it is worth upgrading from the D90 . Well, the Nikon D90 is an amazing DSLR. In August 8, 2010, I was going through the 2010 BCNRanking for the DSLR and Mirrorless market in Japan. The numbers can probably speak from themselves, with the Nikon D90 is at the firs place with 13.0 market share. The D90 has stepped over the Canon EOS Kiss X3 (11.5 ).

Gray Scale Image Morphological Operations

Morphological Smoothing Image Processing

Morphological concepts can be extended to gray scale images, but the extension often leads to theoretical issues and to implementation complexities. When applied to a binary image, dilation and erosion operations cause an image to increase or decrease in spatial extent, respectively. To generalize these concepts to a gray scale image, it is assumed that the image contains visually distinct gray scale objects set against a gray background. Also, it is assumed that the objects and background are...

Diffuse Reflection

Diffuse Reflection Photography

Diffuse reflections are the same brightness regardless of the angle from which we view them. This is because the light from the sources is reflected equally in all directions by the surface it strikes. Figure 3.1 shows a diffuse reflection. In it we see light falling on a small white card. Three people are pointing their cameras at it. If each of these individuals were to photograph the white card, each of their pictures would record the subject as the same brightness. On film, the image of the...

Moving a Subject from One Photo to Another

Now that you know a little about the selection tools of your photo editor, let's see how they can be used to take someone out of one photo and put him into another. Remember the photo of young man back in the beginning of the chapter, in Figure 20-1 Here is how you can move a subject from one photo into another. 1. Outline the subject with a selection tool, as shown in Figure 20-10. 2. Copy the selected area to the clipboard (CTRL-C). 3. Open the photo into which you want to place the subject...

Horseman SW 612SW 612 Professional

Similar In design to the Cambo but a little bit less bulky (since It does not permit the use of 4 X 5 film), the Horseman 612 SW Professional panoramic camera has less shifting ability + - 17 mm along the vertical axis and + - 15 mm along the horizontal. Therefore, It will not be as useful for placing the horizon line where one wants, although It still remains possible to place It at the upper or lower third of the photograph. The SW 612 differs from the professional version because It does not...

Developing Step By Step

You need an absolutely dark place for this. If you don't have a darkroom, a closet is usually the best bet. Test the room you have in mind by standing in it in the dark for three minutes. If you can't see even the faintest crack of light by then, it's all right to use. If you see cracks of light, black them out by covering them with towels or other fabric. Loading the film onto the spool is the only tricky part of developing. You don't want to make mistakes...

Foreground and Background Framing

Foreground Frame Photography

RAMING YOUR SUBJECT with other elements within the composition is one of the most called-upon techniques in photography. It's an effective and creative approach, and when applied to close-up photography, the frame, more often than not, is an out-of-focus foreground sometimes accompanied by an out-of-focus background. When your in-focus subject is surrounded by out-of-focus tones and shapes, its visual weight is further enhanced and elevated to an almost regal stature. When you wish to employ...

To what size can a digital image be enlarged

Like every traditional slide or negative, a digital picture can be enlarged unlimitedly. However, the quality decreases proportionally as the size increases. With enlargement, the photo or print can become fuzzy or begin to show signs of pixelisation . Every picture is made up of lots of individual pixels. Their organisation into rows and columns creates the picture we see. Enlarging a picture also enlarges each of the individual pixels. When the picture reaches a certain size, the eye no...

Photography in Law Enforcement

Law enforcement photography is a challenge as great a challenge as the process of solving crimes. Learning all the ways photography can be used in law enforcement provides an endless source of work and study for the proficient photographer, as well as for the investigators who depend upon photography to document evidence. An organization dedicated to bettering evidence photography both in and out of law enforcement is the Evidence Photographers International Council (epic-photo.org).

Colour Films and Paper Developers

The most important colour developers, derivatives of which are used in both colour negative film and colour paper, are p-phenylenediamines. Eastman Kodak Co. introduced both the film and paper developer formulations, which are now the industry-standards. They are known as the C41 process for colour negative film, and the RA-4 for colour paper. The dyes needed for colour film and colour paper are different because the application is different. In colour film the processed negatives are often...

With Steve Norvich

Wide angle photography on the other hand, most often has a fair amount of blue water in the frame and will not reflect back strobe light to the lens. This can potentially wreck havoc when using TTL, especially matrix balanced TTL as the foreground will then be overexposed or burned out. Some people still useTTL when shooting wide angle and attempt to compensate for the blue water by under exposing by 1, 2 or more f-stops or somewhere in between. This will sometimes work, other times not. If...

Describe How To Control Time

Time is usually controlled by using a shutter. In the early days of photography, when exposure times were very long, cameras didn't need a shutter because the photographer could control exposure time by simply uncovering the lens for a few seconds (sometimes even minutes or hours) and then covering it up again. But as film emulsions became more sensitive to light, exposure times shortened dramatically. It soon became necessary to devise ways to slice time into very short lengths, even to...

Better Light Scan Backs

BetterLight scan backs provide large, high-resolution files with extraordinary detail and sharp focus, wide dynamic range BetterLight claims 11 f-stops , great control of color and tones, and adjustment of density exposure in less than 1 i0th f-stop steps. The technology that BetterLight uses is completely different than the other single-shot backs with area-array sensors. Working like a flatbed scanner turned up on its side, the BetterLight gathers the information for the image in one...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 - Specs Review and Hands-on videos

Finlay good news and end for the rumors. Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-GH2 Micro Four Thirds digital camera at Photokina 2010. The GH2 replaces the GH1, which was announced at March 3, 2009. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 brings some new improvements over the GH1, including ultra-fast level light AF system, 1080 60i and 1080 24p video recording, 16 9 still photos, 3-inch LCD screen and much more.

Acknowledgements

Francois Xavier Bouchart And Photography

To the photographers who agreed to participate in this project, I express my gratitude. Writing this first book has been a real honor, a unique experience, and a real team effort. Above all, I am extremely grateful to St phanie Poisson, my editor, for her encouragement and kindness, her critical but just attention, and her valuable work in proofreading. Without her, this book would not be the same. Most sincere thanks to my French publisher, ditions Eyrolles, notably ric Sulpice, for giving me...

Joining with the Realviz Stitcher

This highly adaptable software program allows you to make all kinds of assemblages, as I already have mentioned. It comes with a very well-written guide, so I do not need to discuss all the details of Its operation here. Nevertheless, in this section, I will attempt to explain what Is possible to achieve concerning joined panoramic photographs. After having joined all the Images of a project (the most time-consuming part), Stitcher makes It possible to store the finished montage in multiple...

Depth of Field

Due to the overlapping of the joined areas, all images need to be taken with the lens set to the same critical focus. For example, one should not focus on a foreground subject in one picture and at infinity in another. If the photographer wishes to have a maximum depth of field, he or she needs to place the critical focus at the hyperfocal distance, as is done when using a rotational camera. To control how much will be in focus, depth of field is adjusted by stopping down on the lens more or...

Nikon D7000, Sigma SD1 or Sony A55 camera - Which one to buy?

Pretty soon I am going to buy a new DSLR, Yooopii I can assure you that I am really having hard time deciding which DSLR to buy. As far as the situation goes, Sigma SD1, Sony A55 and Nikon D7000 are the best contenders to be my next camera. Currently I don't own any lenses or photography gear. My decision will be based purely on which camera that fits my photography habits. First of all, I was waiting for the latest digital SLR cameras to be announced at Photokina event.

Free Disney Scrapbooking Printables

We created this page of free Disney scrapbooking printables because we love going to Disneyland and know how expensive buying the embellishments can be. These printables are perfect to use with Project Life pocket type scrapbooking, altered art scrapbooking, or traditional scrapbooking.

Canon SX30 Is Iso 800 and ISO 1600 Test shots

Some of you guys wanted to see how the Canon SX30 IS performs in high ISO levels. I was searching the Internet for SX30IS high ISO sample images or crops but came empty. In order to find sample images in ISO 800 and ISO 1600, I've needed to visit some foreign non-English websites. The Canon SX30IS is already available for sell, but it seems that photographers prefer shooting in low ISO settings. That explains the lack of high ISO pictures on the Internet.

Mirrorless Cameras - Is it too late for Canon and Nikon to Join the game?

I assume that Canon and Nikon will announce their mirrorless cameras in the first quarter of 2011. Both Canon and Nikon cannot afford themselves waiting for that amount of time, while Olympus and Panasonic are establishing themselves as mirrorless market leaders. If you read some of my posts about the mirrorless market share, you can see why Olympus and Panasonic concentrate their marketing effort and financial distribution towards their digital camera sector.

Nikon Coolpix P500 vs Canon SX30IS, Sony HX100V, Olympus SP-800UZ - Comparison

We knew that we are going to see many new superzoom digital cameras in 2011. On February 8 2011, Nikon has announced the three new superzoom cameras Nikon P500, S9100 and L120. In this specs comparison review I want to cover the P500, which has the longest zoom range out of the three, 22.5-810mm (36x 35mm equiv.). The Nikon Coolpix P500 is Nikon's latest super-zoom compact camera . With a 22.

Sony Cyber-shot HX100V Preview - Best Superzoom camera yet?

Superzoom digital cameras are becoming very popular among photographers, whom searching for a versatile long zoom traveling camera. On 1 February 2011 Sony introduced the Cyber-Shot DSC-HX100V superzoom compact camera. This is a 30x zoom , 16.2-megapixel camera and Full HD video recording capable camera. To ensure that you get the highest possible image quality, Sony has decided to use a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar T* 27-810mm F2.8-5.6 (35mm equiv.) lens in the DSC-HX100.

Canon Passet Jcii Jmdc

Passed Jmdc

Earlier efforts by Japanese camera manufacturers' associations to improve industry standards included export bans on copies of German cameras such as these Leica look-alikes of the early 1 950s l-to-r the Tanack, Nicca, and Leotax. The groups also forbade export of cheap toy-like cameras such as this tiny Mycro. How the Japanese watchdog group CIPA is winning and losing the battle over digital camera power ratings IN 1950, JAPAN PRODUCED more than 100,000 cameras. In the lean years just after...

Nikon D5100 vs D3100 / D7000 / D5000 - Feature Comparison

When Nikon announced the Nikon D5100 . The new digital SLR camera is aimed towards advanced-beginner photographers. The Nikon D5100 is the replacement for the Nikon D5000 which was released two years ago. If you are debating between the Nikon D5100 vs D3100, I've decided to go compare those two entry-level SLR cameras side-by-side. I personally have the Nikon D3100 so I can give you a good opinion on whether you should buy the D3100 or the D5100 and why.

The Layers Dialog

Parts Text Option Dialog Gimp

The Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo window (Layers dialog) The Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo window (Layers dialog) You can access the Layers dialog either from within the Windows > Dockable Dialogs menu item or from the Windows > Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo menu item in the image window. By default, when you start GIMP, it displays the Layers dialog in a window together with the dialogs for channels, paths, and the undo history. You can click a tab to select one of these dialogs (upper...

Wedge spectrograms

The spectral response of a photographic material is most completely illustrated graphically by means of a curve known as a wedge spectrogram, and manufacturers usually supply such curves for their various materials. A wedge spectrogram, which indicates the relative sensitivity of an emulsion at different wavelengths through the spectrum, is obtained by exposing the material through a photographic wedge in an instrument known as a wedge spectrograph. The spectrograph produces an image in the...

Set Your Rawjpeg Image Quality

If you are upgrading from a digital point-and-shoot camera to the 7D, then you are already familiar with the JPEG file format. With DSLR cameras you also have the option of using the RAW format. In this section I will discuss the basics of the two file types, and in Chapter 2 you'll find much more detailed information on their differences, benefits, and disadvantages. Let's start with the JPEG file format. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It was developed as a method of...

Of The Year Competition

Nikon D2Xs, 90mm macro, l 8Qsec at t'4,ISO TOO James, a 45-year-old graphic designer, has recently been making flower portraits 'with a twist'. He brou t this tulip Into his conservatory just after a shower of rain. 1 think the water drops really make the picture,' he says. 1 put a piece of coloured card behind tie flower to add colour and remove distraction. Later he added a mask to give It a more textured lode Judges say The colour Is stunning, and the raindrops add interest tothepetais There...

Saving Your Image

Now that you've finished editing the image, it's time to save it. In fact, you'd be wise to make a habit of saving any image you are planning to modify immediately after opening it. Just save it as a new file with its own filename. This preparatory step will ensure several things Your original remains unchanged. You do not overwrite your original by mistake. You can save any desired change to the new image immediately. H 'sailboat.tif-1.0 (RG B, 1 iayer 1200x1600 H 'sailboat.tif-1.0 (RG B, 1...

Shadows Highlights Correcting backlit photographs with the gradation curve

Backlit photographs constitute a difficult situation in photography. The surfaces of the photographed objects in the foreground appear shaded. In a contrary but similar manner, photographs taken with a flash are overexposed in the foreground. As long as there is enough distinguishable image information available, you are able to improve these photos considerably. In some programs, you can use a Shadows-Highlights function to improve your image. For GIMP, there is a plug-in yet GIMP's Curves...

The Color Picker Tool Using the Eyedropper to Select a Foreground Color from the Image

You can use the Color Picker tool to select any color on an active layer or image. If you select this tool and click on a color on your image, you can select this color as the foreground or background color. The foreground color is used when you're painting, filling, or adding text. In GIMP, the foreground color is also the default color for color gradients. Using the Color Picker is the most simple and comfortable way to select a paint, fill, or text color. Thus, you'll be learning it first,...

The Foreground Select Tool Extracting Images Automatically

Robots Fanuc Dibujo

Before we turn to a work-intensive method where we mask image objects by hand, I will show you the automatic method. The Foreground Select tool that has been included in GIMP since version 2.4 offers a method to easily extract objects in images. Let's have a look at what the tool can do. First of all, an easy exercise Extract an orange basketball that is in front of a green background. Open the image basketball.png from the Samplelmages folder on the DVD. Select the Foreground Select tool in...

The Value Of The Histogram

Histogram Canon

Simply put, histograms are two-dimensional representations of your images in graph form. There are two different histograms that you should be concerned with the luminance and the color histograms. Luminance is referred to in your manual as brightness and is most valuable when evaluating your exposures. In Figure 1.10, you see what looks like a mountain range. The graph represents the entire tonal range that your camera can capture, from the whitest whites to the blackest blacks. The left side...

Digital Photo Print

Costco Cranberry

One important non-inkjet technology that photographers are especially fond of (although non-photographic digital artists can use them as well) is digital photo print (described in Chapter 2). This print process requires outside service providers since the cost of the equipment is too high for self-ownership. Photo labs, service bureaus, imaging centers, online vendors, and even retailers like drugstores and large discount chains are where you'll find this type of print service. Imagemakers...

Eliminate Direct Reflection from the Box Sides

It is relatively simple to get rid of most of the direct reflection from the top of a glossy box. Things get more difficult when we start trying to eliminate it from the sides. In Figure 5.23 we have turned the box top on edge to show an exaggerated example of the problem that can occur on the sides of the box. From most viewpoints, the box reflects the background on which it sits, and we cannot eliminate that part of the background 5.23 Here we see the results of moving the bank light forward....

The Angle of Light

Easy Model Reflection Light

What sort of lighting might accomplish this To answer that question, let us begin by looking at a standard copy setup and at the family of angles that produces direct reflection. Figure 4.1 shows a standard copy camera arrangement. The camera is on a stand and is aimed at the original art on a copy board beneath it. Assume that the height of the camera is set so that the image of the original art exactly fills the image area. We have drawn the family of angles from which a light, or lights, can...

Polarized Direct Reflection

Polarized Direct Reflection

A polarized direct reflection is so similar to an ordinary direct reflection that photographers often treat them as the same. However, these reflections offer photographers several specialized techniques and tools for dealing with them. Like the direct reflection, only one viewer in Figure 3.8 will see the reflection. Unlike the direct reflection, an image of the polarized reflection is always substantially dimmer than a photograph of the light source itself. A perfectly polarized direct...

Is It Polarized Reflection or Ordinary Direct Reflection

Polarized and unpolarized direct reflections often have similar appearance. Photographers, out of need or curiosity, may want to distinguish one from the other. We know that direct reflection appears as bright as the light source, whereas polarized direct reflection appears dimmer. However, brightness alone will not tell us which is which. Remember that real subjects produce a mixture of reflection types. A surface that seems to have polarized reflection may actually have weak direct, plus some...

Dark Field Lighting

The dark-field method produces the opposite result, illustrated in Figure 7.5. Review the family of angles that produces direct reflection in Figure 7.3. We saw that in the previous arrangement there must be no light at the limits of the family of angles, L, if the edge of the glass is to remain dark. It makes sense to suppose, then, that the light must come from L if the edge of the glass is to be bright. Furthermore, if we do not want other bright distractions in the glass, then the glass...

The Family Of Angles

Our previous diagrams have been concerned with only a single point on a reflective surface. In reality, however, each surface is 3.5 Two clues tell us this picture was made with a small light source hard shadows and the size of the reflection in the mirror. 3.5 Two clues tell us this picture was made with a small light source hard shadows and the size of the reflection in the mirror. 3.6 A larger light softens the shadow. More important, the reflection of the light now completely fills the...

Doing the Impossible

The preceding examples tell us that even illumination and glare-free illumination can be mutually exclusive goals. The closer the light source is to the camera, the more directly it lights the subject and the more even the illumination becomes. However, the farther the light is to the side, the less likely it is to be within the family of angles that causes direct reflection. We have also seen that the usual solution to this dilemma requires more working space in any direction. Here is why...

The Zone System

Toned Gray Paper Texture

The Zone System of exposure and development for black-and-white photography has been around for over forty years. It was formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer while they were teaching at the Art Center in Los Angeles, California. Ansel Adams, Minor White, Fred Picker, and many others have written numerous books and magazine articles describing the Zone System. It is a simple, straightforward method for arriving at predictable, predetermined densities on the negative that translate into the...

Fita Plane First Model Hd Image

Fita 5x7 Camera

Moving from a small, hand-held camera to a view camera can be an anxiety-provoking experience. Everything seems new it is almost like starting over again. The view camera can do so much more, but it won't do anything automatically. Among other things, lenses have to be set manually, each sheet of film has to be loaded into the camera, a tripod is a necessity, you'll have to learn to use a hand-held exposure meter, the image on the groundglass will be upside down and backwards,...

The need for camera movements

Most cameras, and notably the single lens reflex (SLR), are designed with the film mounted parallel with the lens, and rigidly centred on its axis. This produces the most optically accurate representation of the subject, with true scale of reproduction as long as the film plane remains parallel to the subject plane. However, in order to take in the full height of a building, for example, the whole camera has to be tilted. This has the effect of tilting the film plane out of parallel with the...

Large Format

Hasselblad Dark Slide Holder

The popular perception is that large format cameras are big, expensive and complicated. Well, one out of three isn't too bad. Most of them are indeed fairly big and heavy, though our lightest full-featured 4x5in monorail actually weighs less than some of the current generation of big 35mm auto-everything SLRs. As for expense, not many new 4x5in cameras cost as much as a top-of-the-line Nikon or Canon 35mm most are in the same class as a medium-to-good 35mm SLR and a few are comparable in price...

Camera viewpoint

Forward Camera Viewpoint

A camera records a three-dimensional scene as a two-dimensional planar image in the photoplane and in the print. By placing the camera lens at the visual viewpoint, familiar photographic parameters replace the terminology of perspective as defined above. The convergent rays form a central perspective by passing through the lens, and continue diverging beyond the viewpoint to an image plane conjugate to the subject plane. The principal distance is now the image conjugate v, commonly taken as the...

The scheimpflug rule

Large Format Scheimpflug Rule

The view camera allows you actually to rotate the plane of focus and the depth-of-field lines until they align themselves more closely with the subject plane if it is not parallel with the film plane. The Scheimpliug Rule states that a subject plane will be rendered with greatest sharpness when the planes of the film, subject, and lensboard are extended and meet at a common line above, below, or to the side of the camera see diagrams on page 47 . You can rotate the plane of focus and...

Cibachrome Processing

Cibachrome Photography

As previously noted, Cibachrome revolutionized the color-printing field. It was the first successful system for making prints directly from transparencies and is still unique in several ways. Cibachrome is the only color-printing system that does not use color-coupler dyes to produce the color in the print. Rather, Cibachrome uses azo dyes, which are pure and brilliant. These dyes are built right into the paper. As we mentioned earlier, if you scratch the surface of an unexposed and unprocessed...

Processing With Cibachrome

For the Cibachrome-A II process, use only Cibachrome Process P-30 chemicals. The earlier Cibachrome materials used Process P-12 chemicals. While you might still see those chemicals in a store, they cannot be used with the new paper. Process P-30 consists of three chemicals developer, bleach, and fixer. These are mixed from six components, five of them liquid. All the chemicals can be mixed using tap water from 68 to 84 but for dissolving the powdered bleach chemical, use warm water from 75 to...

Change the Color Depth of an Image

Sometimes you'll want to change the number of colors in an image. Every file format supports a specific number of colors. JPG images, for instance, can display 16 million colors, the number needed for photo-realism. GIF, on the other hand, supports just 256 colors. Suppose you have a GIF image that you want to combine with a JPG for a special effect (such as putting someone from one image into a scene in another picture). You'll need to convert the image into a format that can accept more...

Determining Print Exposure

Negative Exposure

Once you've processed the test strip, examine it carefully to determine the best exposure for the final print. You will find that some tests are more useful than others, depending in large part on where you've positioned the test strip. The section of the image that shows on the test should be an important part of the overall picture, such as skin tone in a portrait subject. It also should contain a good range of light and dark areas. The light by which you view the test also is important. It...

Shooting Panoramas

Sometimes you'll be in a location that is simply too big to cover within the typical camera frame. In these cases, you might consider photographing a panorama. You could always take a photo and crop off the top and bottom, making a fake panorama, but the purpose of a panorama image is to photograph an extended view of a scene, with minimal distortion, that can't typically be created with one shot. If you want to make a true panorama, you either need a special camera that can move on its own to...

Canon SX30 IS Review - 35X Superzoom digital camera

When it comes to superzoom digital cameras, you can trust Canon to deliver the best results. On September 14, 2010, Canon announced the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS superzoom digital camera . The new SX30 IS is replacing the older version, the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS. Canon really managed to surprise us, by implementing a 24-840mm (35mm equiv.) 35x zoom lens on the SX30 IS. This is the longest zoom ever achieved on consumer compact digital camera (together with Olympus SP-800UZ, 840mm).

Nokia 808 Pure View Camera Review inc. Sample images and Movie clips

The Nokia 808 PureView is one of the most interesting mobile phones in 2012, and that's mostly due to its camera capabilities. This reminds me the days when Nokia was one of my favorite mobile phone companies, but that's was some time ago. In this review I want to talk about the 808 PureView camera and sensor only, leaving aside the other mobile phone functionality.

28 300 Nikon Alternatives Fx

Yesterday I read some reviews on the Nikon 28-300 mm f 3.5-5.6 ED-IF AF-S VR II lens. It seems that this super-telephoto lens is quite popular among both Nikon DX and FX photographers. People searching to buy a travel super-telephoto lens and don't want to carry many lenses, the Nikkor 28-300mm lens seems like a good choice. However, the 28-300mm lens is not the only option. Nikon also has the walk around 18-200mm VR II lens that is very popular among amateur photographers.

Creating Light Reflection with Filters

In addition to graphic and painting techniques, GIMP offers a number of filters that simulate special lighting situations or simply set highlights and also can be used to create lens reflections in an image. The Supernova filter (menu Filters > Light and Shadow > Supernova) can be used to make radiating reflections depending on the radius setting. You were introduced to this filter in section 3.6.5. Light reflections created with self-made brushes and the corresponding settings in the Brush...

Medium specificity

The central figure in this transformation was perhaps best known for his work as a curator and critic rather than his pictures. John Szarkowski was appointed curator of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1962. From this powerful institutional base, he produced a highly influential account of photography, which jettisoned the social vision of documentary. This emphasis is apparent in Szarkowski's important 1967 show New Documents, which presented the photographs of Diane...

Bob Barclay And Three Readers Capture Powerful Portraits Gemma Padley Reports

IVERY second Sunday in I November, at 11am, the streets around Whitehall in central London fall silent. Medal-dad war veterans process past the Cenotaph to honour the thousands of soldiers who fought and died in two world wars, and other conflicts since. It is a stirring occasion and an ideal opportunity for a spot of emotionally charged candid photography. This month's challenge is to capture the emotions of Remembrance Sunday in bold close-ups. 'We're going for punchy portraits, but not just...

Colour slides and transparencies

The E-6 process for colour transparencies, designed for the great majority of films having colour couplers in their emulsion, consists of several stages (Figure 12.1) The first stage of reversal processing is active black and white development. The next stage chemically fogs all remaining silver halides in the film.

Cropping with the Crop Tool

Crop Tool Gimp

You can crop an image according to the size of your print, select the size you'd like your image to be, and also select the section of the image you want to crop. For cropping images, the Crop Tool is available in the Toolbox. In general, you can resize your image to any size you wish or crop the image any way you want. Simply click with the tool into the image. Select an imagined point at the top-left of the image and drag the cursor to the bottom-right corner point by holding the left mouse...

Mother And Baby Nudist Camp

Lori Nordstrom is an acclaimed photographer who specializes in children's and maternity portraits. Like many professionals, her life behind the camera is actually a second career. Lori's first business was as the owner of a hair salon, which she ran for ten years. As a mom and hobbyist photographer, Lori often displayed images of her own kids in the salon and soon clients began asking her to photograph their kids, too. Eventually, I began enjoying it more than my job, says Lori, so I made the...

Studio lighting

Lighting Face

Working with studio lighting can be a frustrating exercise if you find yourself adjusting and readjusting a number of lights, unable to get them right. i find the easiest way is to put the lights in place one by one, beginning with the main light. i position that to get the overall effect i want, and only when i am completely satisfied that i have got everything i can from it do i go on to put a second light in place to soften the shadows or highlight another part of the image or the...

Opening and Developing a RAW Format or Digital Negative with GIMP

GIMP can open most but not all RAW file formats offered by camera manufacturers. As a start, you can use GIMP for editing these images directly, but only with a color depth of 24 bits 8 bits per channel . However, if you want to develop your digital negatives with the original color depth of 16 bits per channel rather than 8 bits in order to make fine-tuned corrections and or print a higher-quality photo, you'll have to depend on the RawPhoto or UFRaw plug-in. Once you've integrated one of...

Using the Gaussian Blur Filter to Remove the Moir Effect

Next, you'll want to remove the moir effect from the image. For this action, you will use a filter called Gaussian Blur Filters gt Blur gt Gaussian Blur . As a rule, most filters should be used after you've finished with all other image editing work. Remember to save a copy of the image before using a filter. However, the Gaussian Blur filter is an exception if you are using it to remove the moir effect. After selecting the Gaussian Blur filter, use the dialog to set the amount of blur desired....

Using the Levels Function to Correct Color Cast

Colorcast Png

Open the image colorcast.png in the SampleImages folder on the book's DVD and save it in your exercise folder. You will notice that the image has a distinct red color cast, which means that the red color channel values are faulty. The colorcast.png image has a strong red color cast. You can use the function Levels in the Colors gt Levels menu to correct the bright-dark values in the image. Using the Levels dialog that appears, first change the settings of the RGB color channel by clicking the...

Creating Three Dimensional Text and a Drop Shadow

Add Shadow Dimension Drawing Gimp

If you want to create three-dimensional text with a coining effect, or rounded corners, you can apply the Add Bevel filter (Filters > Decor > Add Bevel). Essentially, the filter works with any selected layer on an extracted image object. However, the effect is rather slight on large surfaced objects because the rounding has a comparatively small radius. The coning effect on those image objects will hardly be visible. You will meet the filter in section 3.8.1 again where you will round the...

Text along Path

In the bluesky.xcf image, create a new layer called text on circle. The text from the path will be filled in here. Next create a circle from the Ellipse Select tool (hold down the Shift key as you use the tool to create a circle). After that, select To Path from the Select menu. A circular path is created that you can set to visible with the eye symbol in the Paths dialog. Give it the name circle. Then delete the selection by choosing Select None. Now you can write the actual text with the Text...

How To Create A Silhouette

Silhouettes are a powerful way to capture your everyday life. The abscense of details like faces and expressions, leaves so much to the imagination. You are lead to draw conclusions from posture and settings. Have you wondered how to create a silhouette Begin with BacklightBright light behind your subject is the easiest way to create a silhouette.

Fine Tuning Your Panorama

Once you get all your photos positioned to suit you, you may want to adjust the result to make things look a bit smoother. Elements has several other commands to help you do so. On the right side of the Photomerge window, you see several rows of buttons and checkboxes. You'll usually want to try at least a couple of these settings to improve your panorama. At the top, you see the usual OK and Cancel buttons for when you're ready to create your panorama or when you change your mind about the...

Controlling perspective

It used to be said that the camera cannot lie, but using different focal length lenses you have almost as much freedom to control perspective in a photograph as an artist has when drawing by hand. Perspective is an important way of implying depth, as well as height and width, in a two-dimensional picture. A photograph of a scene such as a landscape shows elements smaller and closer together towards the far distance, and parallel lines seem to taper towards the background. The more steeply such...