BetterPhoto Instructor Insights

Natural Light Photography: Contrast a Bad Thing? Not Always!

By Jim Zuckerman

I talk a lot about contrast in photography. Our eye/brain combination has a tremendous dynamic range — the ability to see complete detail in the shadows and highlights of a subject or scene — but the digital sensor (and film in the past) doesn’t have the same ability to capture subtlety.

photo (c) Jim Zuckerman

In a contrasty situation, like the sunlight striking a wall in the 15th-century Jewish cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic, my eyes saw a great deal of detail in those shadow areas. The photo, though, turned out very differently. The shadows went dark. In most situations, this is not desirable. This is why so many photographers use the HDR technique now. We want to reveal all the detail we can see.

HDR stands for high dynamic range, which, just as the name implies, allows us to see detail in a large range of tonal values (the result of making several exposures of the same scene and then combining them in the digital darkroom).

In this case, though, I like the contrast. It adds drama and visual impact to the subject. This goes to show that in art, there are always exceptions to the rule.

Note: Jim Zuckerman is a top stock photographer who teaches at BetterPhoto's digital photography school online, including these courses: Perfect Digital Exposure and Techniques of Natural Light Photography.

The Magic of Smoke - Photoshop Composite Image

By Jim Zuckerman

Inspired by a number of my on-line students at Betterphoto.com, I started experimenting with photographing smoke.

I bought some incense and used a single, off-camera flash placed about 90 degrees to the lens axis to shoot the smoke coming from the incense. I hung a piece of black velvet on the wall as a backdrop, and using the LCD monitor on the back of the camera as a gauge, I adjusted the exposure accordingly by tweaking the flash output (using the exposure compensation feature on the flash).

I got a number of wonderful abstracts, but then I wanted to add other elements to make the images a lot more interesting.

First, I added color to the smoke by making a duplicate layer in Photoshop (Commmand/Ctrl J) and then I applied the gradient tool. When the gradient tool is selected, in the tool bar you can select various multi-colored patterns that become the gradient. After the color was placed on the duplicate layer, I used the 'overlay' blend mode (found in the submenu within the layers palette) to merge the color with the smoke. Second, I used Photoshop's powerful ability to combine images, and one composite is seen below.

photo (c) Jim Zuckerman

I photographed the costumed model during my Carnival in Venice workshop last February. It was an arranged setup and my entire group photographed her in front of a gilded mirror in an elegant, medieval-adorned suite. I separated her from the background using the pen tool, so the edges were absolutely precise.

Jim Zuckerman is a top stock shooter who teaches many terrific online Photoshop courses at BetterPhoto.com, including Creative Techniques in Photoshop , Advanced Creative Techniques in Photoshop and his new Photoshop: Thinking Outside the Box.

Blur Motion Photography with Zoom Lens

By Jim Zuckerman

photo (c) Jim Zuckerman

Expressing the idea of motion in a still photograph seems like an oxymoron, but it can be done with a slow shutter speed. In addition to that, you can add a zoom where you change from one focal length to another during the slow shutter speed and while the subject is moving.

That's what I did with a Whirling Dervish in Turkey last year. The room where the performance was taking place had some construction materials in the background, and this was a way to eliminate the unattractive environment.

Note: Jim Zuckerman teaches many online photography workshops at BetterPhoto's digital photography school, including: Developing Your Creative Artistic Vision and Taking the Mystery Out of Flash Photography

Velociraptor

By Jim Zuckerman

I placed a model of a velociraptor in front of a shot of the Thai jungle using the cut and paste method I describe in my on-line course Creative Techniques in Photoshop here at Betterphoto (http://www.betterphoto.com/courseOverview.asp?cspID=75). I then created the reflection using the Photoshop plug-in ‘Flood’ (made by Flaming Pear) which, in my opinion, makes a very realistic reflection. I like this image, but there is one major problem with it: the lighting.

When you cut and paste images together, the lighting has to match or else the image doesn’t work. In this case, if you know what to look for, the only conclusion you can come to is that this was a composite image that wasn’t done well. Look at the light on the dinosaur. The direction is coming from the right side and sidelighting the reptile. The sun, however, is behind the model. Therefore, you wouldn't see light on the front of the body. This reveals the image as obviously a composite – and one that isn’t perfect.

Now compare the same reptile in front of a scenic of Lake Powell. In this image, both the velociraptor and landscape are side lit and therefore the animal looks like it belongs in this scene. This composite looks real, and even though no one actually has photographs of live dinosaurs, the allusion looks perfectly plausible.

Horse photography -- Make it an art

By Jim Zuckerman

Shooting horses can be very frustrating because all too often they are doing what all herbivores do most of their waking hours: they're eating. An animal with its head in the grass rarely makes a strong picture, no matter if it’s a rhino, a deer or a horse. In order to capture the grace and beauty of horses, they have to be animated and alert. This could be simply a head shot with ears erect or it could be a horse at full gallop.

Unless you have an endless amount of time at your disposal and infinite patience, you could be waiting for a long time to get the kind of pictures you really want. Therefore, it’s necessary to set up the kinds of shots you envision. This entails working with a horse trainer or someone who owns horses and is wiling to run them for you at the right time of day.

That’s how I got the photo you see below. This is one of the white horses of the Camargue in France that I shot with the help of a French farmer who owns a small herd of them. I had arranged to photograph them twice a day, at sunrise and sunset. At these times, you have the most options with respect to lighting – front light, side light, and backlighting. The exquisite backlighting on the galloping horse that I was able to capture makes this image successful, but the other all-important ingredient is the graphic design of the horse’s body. The position and shape of the legs, the tail, and the head make or break the picture. It’s so easy snap the shutter at a moment when the graphics just don’t come together in a pleasing way. Since it’s impossible to freeze images in your mind and examine them critically as a horse is running past the camera, you have to shoot a lot of frames in the hope a few will be great.

I took this picture at 1/20th of a second while panning with the horse. I didn’t want to completely abstract the image with a slower shutter, and I felt that a faster speed wouldn’t give me the artistry I was looking for. I experimented with speeds in the 1/8th to 1/30th second range during the entire shoot and felt that given the speed of the horses 1/20th worked out best.

By Jim Zuckerman Among the

By Jim Zuckerman

Among the many places my group photographed during the photo workshop I conducted in Switzerland last month was Trummbelbach Falls near Lauterbrunnen. The water gushes out of the mountain at about 5000 gallons a second, and the Swiss have built a walkway right into the mountain that parallels the cascade. From several vantage points you can shoot the falls, but it’s challenging for several reasons. First, there is a tremendous amount of spray. A lens hood helps a lot, but I also used a microfiber cloth to continuously wipe my wide angle lens clean. Second, the exposure is a challenge. There is no middle gray at all. The entire scene consists of bright highlights and deep shadows. Light comes in through a few natural openings in the rock, and the only way to handle this is to take a shot, study the LCD monitor, and use the exposure compensation feature on the camera to adjust the exposure as needed.

Another challenge can be the other tourists. When a bus of 40 people arrive, the very narrow walkway gets crowded and it’s impossible to shoot until everyone gets their picture taken in front of the falls and moves on. You just need patience to wait until you have room for the tripod legs. All my exposures required a tripod because they were in 1.3 seconds long at 400 ISO. The lens aperture I used was f/2.8.

Flower Photography in Good Light

By Jim Zuckerman

My feeling about shooting flowers is that the lighting is best when it's cloudy. Contrary to what most people think, flowers look the most beautiful when they are photographed in diffused lighting. Cloud covers act like a giant studio softbox, and softboxes or white umbrellas that studio photographers use actually are made to simulate an overcast sky.

I shot these wildflowers in the mountains of Switzerland recently, and they were taken during the middle of the day when the summer sun is the most intense. There were no clouds at all. The picture taken with the direct sunlight isn’t terrible, but it's not ideal. Compare it to the one where I leaned over the flowers and used my body to block the light. The contrast is less and the colors are beautiful. In essence, I created open shade with this simple technique. I used the next best thing to a cloud cover and softened the light on the tiny flowers.

In the picture with direct sunlight, notice the very dark shadows throughout the image. They interfere with the graphic designs of the flowers and almost compete for attention. In the shaded image, there are still shadows, but they are softened and they add dimension without being obtrusive.

There was a slight wind blowing, and I had to wait for the air to become still as I shot these. Wind is the enemy of macro photographers.

Making Santorini perfect

By Jim Zuckerman

I recently returned from Santorini, Greece. A client of mine has asked for pictures from this beautiful island, and I’d never been there so I decided to go. This client sells my photos on canvas to many chain stores across the U.S., so I thought it would be a good investment in my time. I was asked, though, to add color to the blue and white island-scapes. The fine art market loves color, and the typical blue and white color scheme doesn’t have enough punch for the mass market.

In addition to shooting architecture, I spent a lot of time photographing individual flower pots, window boxes, and gardens. Before I arrived in Greece, I was in Switzerland and I took pictures of a lot of the beautiful flowers on display there, too. The picture you see reproduced here is one example of where I cut and pasted flowers into the typical blue and white Santorini architectural theme. It took a lot of time in Photoshop to select the bougainvilla flowers from their original background. I used the lesso tool and the pen tool, and once that was done I saved the selection with Select > save selection so I could easily load it again and then paste it into a different background.

To make the vase look like it was really there, I also used the burn tool to add some shading at the bottom of the ceramic piece. Even on an overcast day, shadows are cast. They are subtle, but they make or break a composite. Finally, I added a brooding sky because I thought that added more interest than a straight blue sky.

Telephoto considerations in Africa

By Jim Zuckerman

Quite a few of the national parks in Africa require the driver of the safari vehicle to stay on established tracks. This helps to protect the environment because so many tourists visit these parks that the vehicles would turn grassland into dirt and mud. The disadvantage of this policy for photographers is that sometimes an animal is just too far for a strong frame-filling shot.

Therefore, when you travel to Africa, I would recommend bringing the longest telephoto you are able to afford. There will be times when you will get frame-filling shots of lions and rhinos with a medium telephoto like a 200mm (I’ve even taken a full frame shot of a very angry elephant with a 50mm lens!), but in many instances you’ll want a long lens. I would recommend at least a 400mm telephoto, and additionally you should have either a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter. These multiply the focal length of your lens to give you greater magnification.

If you are shooting a less-than-full-frame sensor, then you have an additional multiplication factor. For example, if you shoot the Canon 30D, you have to multiply the focal length by 1.6 to determine the amount of lens magnification you have. If you are shooting with a 400mm and a 1.4x teleconverter, your focal length will be 560mm. With the extra 1.6x factor, the effective lens will be 560mm x 1.4 = 784mm.

The rhino you see here was photographed in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. It was taken with a 500mm lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter. I rested the lens on a bean bag which allowed me to use the relatively slow 1/125th of a second shutter speed.

Natural Light for Outdoor Portraits

By Jim Zuckerman

A wedding photographer friend of mine suggested to me yesterday that I travel with two strobes instead of one. He very successfully uses two flash units when he shoots weddings, and his entire orientation to photography is dealing with high stress, fast moving situations in dark interiors. A second flash adds dimensionality and life to a shot in these kinds of situations.

My answer to him was that most of my travel work is done with available light. I prefer the natural look that ambient light gives, as long as I can choose the type of lighting. I try to avoid direct sunlight during the middle of the day, for example. In most instances, it’s the kiss of death for good photography. Shade is so much more attractive for outdoor portraits because it retains the subtle light and dark relationships on the face. Flash, even fill flash, tends to eliminate or reduce those subtleties.

The photo below is one of my favorite portraits from tribal India (in the state of Orissa), and it was taken in deep shade under an overhang in a small village. I used a tripod because the light was low, and my young model didn’t move a muscle as I focused and took the picture. I purposely chose as the background a muted wall so all the attention would rest solely on the face of this beautiful child.

I feel that a flash in this instance, with it’s flat lighting and artificial catchlights in the eyes, would have ruined the lovely moody quality of this.