Lightening Backgrounds in Lightroom

Lightroom can do a quick job but won't be as good as Photoshop (and a good extraction tool such as Vertus Fluid Mask would be the best combination to use).

• Develop module
• Click Adjustment Brush
• Size Brush A so it is big enough to paint over the background
• Add a small feather : 15
• Enable Auto Mask
• Density : 100
• Click to paint over the background with the brush (when you lift the brush, you will see the Adjustment Pin.  Make sure the cross hair in the middle of the brush stays on the background and then the Auto Mask feature will ensure that the brush doesn't paint over anything but the background)

• To see the painted area, press the O key and a red overlay will appear

• For fine area, it's more "efficient" (i.e. quicker) to size the brush very large so the center can be positioned over an area of the background and the rest of it extends over the wispy fine (e.g. hair) area.  It might help to significantly decrease the density to around 30 so that you only partially select the background in the fine area.

• Return to 100% density and continue to work in the other background and making sure to avoid the fine area.

• Adjust the settings for the Adjustment Brush.  Increase the exposure and brightness until the background is white

Make sure the foreground color should be different from the background color to have the best result.

Beauty Retouching

Lines and Wrinkles:
Using Photoshop® to eliminate lines, wrinkles, and skin blemishes with the Patch Tool and the Spot Healing Brush Tool.

• Duplicate the original photo (layer) to a new layer for the Patch tool
• Use the Spot Healing tool on a new (empty) layer

Eyes:

• Duplicate the original photo (layer) to a new layer for the Patch tool
• Use the Spot Healing tool on a new (empty) layer
• Clone Stamp Tool

Taking a photo...

"...if I see something, I take a picture. If I don't see anything, I don't..."

Bruce Gilden

Slow Sync Flash

shoot with both a longer shutter speed as well as firing the flash.

Rear Curtain Sync – this tells your camera to fire the flash at the end of the exposure. ie when you press the shutter your lens opens up and starts collecting light and just before it closes the flash will fire to light up and freeze your main subject (see the card shot to the left for an example where you’ll see the card trail ending in a nice crisp shot of the card).

Front Curtain Sync – this tells your camera to fire the flash at the start of the exposure. ie when you press the shutter, the flash will fire immediately and the shutter will remain open afterwards capturing ambient light.

Mastering Panning – Photographing Moving Subjects

Panning is a technique that you pan your camera along in time with the moving subject and end up getting a relatively sharp subject but a blurred background.

Panning works best with moving subjects that are on a relatively straight trajectory which allows you to predict where they’ll be moving to.

In order to pan successfully your camera has got to follow the subject’s movement and match it’s speed and direction as perfectly as possible.

• Shutter Speed - starts with 1/30 (choose between 1/60 and 1/8, 1/200 flying subject, 1/40 runner on a track) it really depends on the speed of the subject
• Background - Avoid the distracting shapes or colors; best with single colored or plain backgrounds
• Move the camera smoothly (with monopod or tripod with a swiveling head)
• Make sure the subject remains in the same portion of the frame during the entire exposure
• Parallel to the path of the object (if possible)
• Use automatic focus tracking (or pre-focus the camera)
• Release the shutter (gently) and continue to pan with the subject, even after hearing the shot is complete

Beginner's Tip

• Get Closer (try different f stops)
• Try another angle

How to Shoot Through a Wire Fence

How to Shoot Through a Wire Fence

• Switch to Manual Focusing
• Get close the the Fence
• Use a Large Aperture (making the number of your aperture as small as possible)
• Wait Until your Subject is away from the fence (The closer they are to the fence the more the fence will be in focus.)
• Position Your Lens to Shoot Through Larger Gaps Avoid Reflections (from the sun or other lights coming off the fence). As a result try to find a part of the fence that is shaded
• Incorporate the fence into your composition

Orton technique

The Orton technique produces a dreamy soft focus effect that can make a relatively uninteresting photo take on a much more striking appearance.

The Orton Effect comes from a technique first used by Michael Orton in which one "normal" photograph or slide was sandwiched with another out of focus and overexposed photograph or slide.

The Orton Technique is also very useful in "saving" images that wound up accidentally out of focus.

Images of children, landscapes, and "cute" animals work especially well for this treatment.

Duplicate the image as the top layer, apply "Gausian Blur" and add the brightness to this layer.  Merging this new layer with the original image with "multiply" and adjust the opacity of the original image to 60-70%.

more info...

Silhouette Photography

Silhouettes are so open to interpretation.  The interpretation is dictated by the individual viewer's mindset. The viewer subconsciously projects her own hopes, fears, and mood onto the silhouette.  Human brain is constantly working to fill in the details of what it doesn't know.

Lighting Ratio

This lighting ratio helps determine the amount of contrast between the highlights and shadows.

ratio	f-stop difference	description
1:1	no difference	flat lighting
2:1	1 Stop	general slide film
3:1	1 stop and 1/3 ish	black & white
4:1	2 stops	shadowing/contouring
8:1	4 stops-ish	dramatic low key

1:1 - two light sources with the same power
2:1 - if subject is shot at f5.6, then the background is twice the light, i.e. f8

Flash meters and manual control (multiple lights)

When you have multiple lights set up, you can turn them on one at a time, pointing the meter toward each light (not the camera) in turn.

By measuring each light separately, you can set the ratio between them.

Flash meters and manual control

measure exposure

• stand at the subject location
• point the meter toward the camera 
• fire the flash
• read the result and
• set your lens aperture accordingly

Manual Focus with the electric rangefinder

Make sure to check the focus indicator (the electric rangefinder) until the green dot lights up continuously in the viewfinder.

For Nikon D7000: If the lens has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 or faster, the viewfinder focus indicator can be used to confirm whether the subject in the selected focus point is in focus (the focus point can be selected from any of the 39 focus points). After positioning the subject in the selected focus point, press the shutter-release button halfway and rotate the lens focus ring until the in-focus indicator (green dot) is displayed.

AF Fine-Tuning

Calibrate lenses to improve issues of lens' focusing "slightly off the mark" (focus shifting) where soft images are caused by front or back focusing (several cms or inches) off the primary ofcusing target area on the subject


in Setup Menu select AF fine tune, change the value depends on the lens has

• for back-focused (the background is in focus while the subject and foreground is out of focus), use positive values
• front-focused (when the foreground is in focus while the subject and background is out of focus), use nagative values

Two things to keep in mind if AF Fine Tuning is on:

1. the camera might have difficulty in focusing at infinity and minimum focus distances; depending on what AF Fine-Tuning value is set at
2. when use LiveView in Tripod Mode, AF Fine-Tuning will be disabled, so you will need to focus the lens manually instead

Lens Sharpness Test

Preparation and Settings:

• Clean the Lens
• Put the camera and lens on a tripod
• Remove the glass filter
• Attach the lens hood
• Turn the camera on
• Set the lens' autofocus drive for M/A, A, or AF
• Turn the lens' VR OFF
• Set for Single Point AF
• Set for AF-Continuous Servo AF (AF-C)
• Shoot at RAW Uncompressed (or Lossless compressed) and 14-bit (if available)
• Turn Active D-Lighting OFF (if available)
• Turn Long exp. NR OFF (if available)
• Turn High ISO NR OFF (if available)
• Set AF-C Priority Selection (in a Autofocus menu) for Focus (if available)
• Set Focus Tracking with Lock-On to OFF (if available)
• Set Self-Timer Delay (in c Timers / AE Lock menu) to 10s
• Set Exposure Delay Mode (in d Shooting/display menu) to ON (if available)
• Set for the LOWEST Base ISO sensitivity
• Manual mode
• Set the aperture for the highest aperture
• Adjust the shutter speed until meter reads "0"
• Place the aluminum soda can (e.g. Coke) dead in the center

Shooting:

• Use Remote Cable and Mirror Up (Mup) to shoot (add the sandbeg onto top of the camera on its axis, if available, before shooting)
• Repeat the steps for all apertures from maxumum aperture (lowest f/number) to minimum aperture (highest f/number), differing by one full stop (e.g. 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0, 11.0, 16.0, 22.0)
• If you wish to test a zoom (changeable focal length) lens, do full test for the widest focal length, medium focal length, and narrowest focal length (e.g. on the 24-70mm lens, test at all appertures at 24mm, 50mm and 70mm).

Inspection:

From the Lens Sharpness Chart, find the focal length(s) and aperture(s) your lens will be normally sharp.

Download the Lens Sharpness Chart in PDF
Download the Lens Sharpness Chart in DOC

Use one of the RAW development softwares (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.)

• Import the images into LR, 
• Click on Develop tab to start developing and scroll down to the Detail section
• Set the Amount for 75%
• Set the Detail for 50%
• Go to the last image on the filmstrip then press and hold Shift then click on the last image (selecting all images)
• Click on Sync then ensure all boxes are checked
• Click Synchronize
• Go back and click on the first image
• Click on the main preview for 100% magnification
• Inspect only in the dead center (the can) of the image
• Check the softness of all images (and compare the Lens Sharpness Chart)

Next Stpes:

• If the lens suffering some softness, run the tests again.
• If you lens continues to suffer from softness, proceed to AF Fine Tuning to calibrate the lens for improved sharpness performance.

Nikon D7000 PC Sync Port

Nikon D7000 doesn't have a PC sync port to connect to studio flashes, what you can do is buy the Nikon AS-15 Sync Terminal Adapter (Hot Shoe to PC) or a third party product.

The TF-322 / TF-327 Pixel Flash Hot Shoe Sock Converter also works.

Calculate manual flash exposure without a meter

With Gary Fong opaque dome covers the lens, take a picture from the subject into the light source (the manual flash).  Check the histogram and if it is in the center, then the exposure is correct.

Taking a photo...

Observe...

Notice the light, the shadows, the seen and unseen...

DSLR Controller

DSLR Controller is the first and only app that allows you to fully control your Canon EOS DSLR from your Android device, with nothing more than a USB cable. No computer or laptop required, no root required, no Wi-Fi required. All you need is a compatible mobile device, a compatible camera, and the right USB cable. 


Though still in the BETA stage of development, DSLR Controller already gives you remote liveview, remote control of most common settings, remote capture, focus and zoom control, and much more. See the about page for a full list of features, system requirements and screenshots.


http://dslrcontroller.com/




At the moment, only Canon EOS models are supported. Support for other brands of DSLRs is planned, but the implementation won't start until finishing the application for Canon EOS.

Camera Backpack

worth to take a look...

• ThinkTank Shape Shifter 
• ThinkTank StreetWalker 

http://www.thinktankphoto.com/