Category: Class Topics (Page 1 of 3)

Review Global Corrections

Global corrections adjust the entire file. In the Lightroom, it includes the controls under Light, Color and Effects. In Lightroom classic, this includes everything in the basic panel: White balance, Tone and Presence.

Download and color correct both files. Put the corrected versions in an album on Flickr.

Local corrections

After you make global corrections, sometimes you will want to make corrections to part of your image. Generally, the brightest part of the image commands the most attention. Sometimes that is not where you want your viewer to look first so shifting the exposure of parts of your image can create the image you want.

Masking

Lightroom allows you to select part of the scene and mask it so you can work on only that part of the image. It can select

• the subject
• the sky
• the background
• specific people
• with the object tool for things with hard edges
• with the brush
• with a gradient
  
  

Example 1

This is an image I shot at the Dance Bloc Festival of The Dynamite Experience.

Image one is the file as shot.

Image two uses a subject mask.

Image three uses a second mask created with the brush to reduce the brightness of the crouching figure.

Example 2

The important thing in this photo by Bryan Rodriguez is the face of the card player. However the cards are brighter and demanded too much attention. Using the adjustment brush, I darkened the cards. Creating a second adjustment, I lightened the face of the card player a little more. The goal was to bring more attention to the person’s face and less to the overly bright cards.

Use masks to make local corrections on the files below.

Lab exercises

Adjust the 6 photos above.

Working with your partner, you both adjust one of their photos and compare the results. Then you both adjust one of your photos and compare the results.

Put your results, a total of 8 photos, in an album on Flickr for today’s lab credit. Send your corrected photo and your partners corrected to the group.

Homework

Final Project – 20 pts

Due May 22:

3 albums each of a minimum of 40 photos

1 album of the 10 best photos adjusted in Lightroom

a 3-5 min presentation of the final project – projected from the album on Flickr.

Presentation Guidelines

1. Start by introducing yourself and your project. Then outline the big picture with a few sentences sentence such as, ” I photographed variations on the theme of windows. Most of the photos were taken in downtown Brooklyn.
2. If you are showing 10 images, you have about 30 seconds to describe each photo. Tell us what your intention was, what interested you about the photo we are looking at, and give us information we may need to know to understand the photo. Tell us what makes it visually interesting ie the use of shallow depth of field or some other feature.
3. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.
4. Do not tell us about what you did to the photo in Lightroom.

Late coursework will NOT be accepted after today, May 15 at midnight. Final projects will not be accepted after May 22.

Next week

On May 15, class will start with a quiz. Topics include: shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, perspective, portrait lighting styles, light roles: main, fill, separation or background.

Outdoor Portrait Examples

@dont_smile_nyc

https://www.instagram.com/dont_smile_nyc/

Considerations for any portrait:

1. Use a vertical orientation.

2. Focus on the model’s eyes.

3. Keep the background clean and without distraction.

4. Use one of the 5 basic portrait lighting styles: Rembrandt, Split, Butterfly, Braod, Short

5. Use a flattering focal length. Approx 65 mm on our class cameras and other cropped sensor cameras. 85 mm on a full frame camera.

Considerations for outdoor portraits

1. Work with the model in shade or place the model with the sun BEHIND their head. The sun will essentially be the separation or background light.
2. Do not use direct sunlight on the model’s face.

3. Use a reflector or flash as the main light.

On-camera Flash

You can dial the flash down and use it directly to raise the light on the subject’s face or bounce it off a reflector.

Ambient Light-the existing light that you cannot control

Fill Flash-brightens shadows

Built-in flash-part of the camera and throws light about 6 to 10 feet

External flash-added to the camera on the hot shoe and can throw light 15 to 20 feet 

E–TTL (Evaluative-Through The Lens) is a Canon EOS flash exposure system that uses a brief pre-flash before the main flash in order to obtain a more correct exposure.

Use M or manual.

1/1 is full power. If you are pointing the flash right at the model, try 1/64 and adjust from there. If you are bouncing the flash, raise the power to 1/8 or 1/4.

Use Zoom to spread or focus the light. Wide angle numbers (smaller numbers) spread the light. Higher numbers focus the light.

High speed sync-allows the camera to be set at shutter speeds higher than the camera sync speed 

Lab 12

Outdoor Portraits

Homework

Final Project

Late coursework will be accepted until 11:59pm on May 15.

Painting with light is drawing with light over the course of a long exposure.

Inspiration: Atton Conrad

Sprint Campaign: http://lightpaintingphotography.com/?s=sprint 

Tripod use

• Spread the legs out and make sure the tripod is stable. Use the height from the legs before using the neck of the tripod. Put one leg forward and the two legs on your side.
• Put the plate on the camera and make sure that the lens arrow is pointing towards the lens. Insert the plate into the locking mechanism and make sure that the camera is secure.
• Use the camera timer and DO NOT TOUCH the camera or the tripod during the exposure.

Considerations for painting with light: 

1. Use a tripod 

2. Use Manual as the shooting mode.

3. Set the ISO to 100

4. Set the aperture to f/11 as a starting point to get a wide range of depth of field. 

5. Set the shutter speed to 2″ as a starting point.

6. Use manual focus. Make sure the subject is in focus. To do this shine a light on the subject and use auto focus. Then flip the lens back to MF. Remember that if the distance of the subject to the camera changes, you need to refocus!

Mixing Strobe Lights or Flash with Painting with Light 

The aperture controls the exposure of whatever is lit by the strobe lights. 

The shutter speed controls the illumination of the background. 

Lab 11

Painting with Light

Homework

Final Project

Class Schedule

May 8: Outdoor Portraits

May 15: Quiz 2, Lightroom and Final Project support

May 22: Final Presentations

Next week is Spring Break. Our next class is May 1.

Don’t forget to submit to the CUNY Photo Challenge. Due April 27th!

Depth of Field

Depth of Field-The distance between the nearest and farthest points that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. Depth of field can be shallow or extensive. While the term includes the word depth, depth of field refers to focus.

Left photo: shallow depth of field, Right photo: extensive depth of field

Shallow Depth of Field

Shallow depth of field is commonly used in portrait photography to separate the subject from the background and in food photography.

Extensive Depth of Field

Extensive depth of field is often used in landscape photography and photojournalism.

The depiction of space

Perspective-the representation of a 3-dimensional space on a 2-dimensional surface by converging lines, diminishing scale and/or atmospheric perspective.

Sometimes photos combine perspective and shallow depth of field.

Photographer: Michael Kenna

How to control depth of field (with a camera)

These four factors control depth of field:

• lens aperture 
• focal length
• camera-to-subject distance
• sensor size.

Aperture

Aperture is the size of the opening that allows light to hit the camera’s sensor when the photograph is taken. 

1. Aperture values are expressed in numbers called f-stops. A smaller f-stop number means more light is coming into the camera and will create shallow depth of field. A larger f-stop number will let less light into the camera and create extensive depth of field.
2. The full stops for aperture are: F2, f28, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, f3

Focal Length  is the distance from where the light converges in the lens to the sensor. If it is a short distance then the lens is a wide angle lens and shows a lot of the scene. If it is a long distance, the lens is a telephoto lens and it magnifies the scene. Wide angle lenses create extensive depth of field while telephoto lenses create shallow depth of field.

Camera-to-subject distance is how far the subject is from the camera. If everything is far from the camera, it is easier to achieve extensive depth of field. If the main subject is very close to the camera and the background elements are far from the camera, it is easier to achieve shallow depth of field.

It is the small size of the sensor that makes cameraphones so good at achieving extensive depth of field. It is also the main reason it is so hard to get your cameraphone to achieve shallow depth of field.

Sensor size-the smaller the sensor the easier it is to achieve extensive depth of field. Bigger sensors allow for shallow depth of field.

 Bokeh-Bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke (ボケ), which means “blur” or “haze”, or boke-aji, the “blur quality.” Bokeh is pronounced BOH-Kə or BOH-kay. 

 — From http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/article/h0ndz86v/bokeh-for-beginners.html

Lab Exercises

Lab 10: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Homework

HW 9: Space and Focus

Class Schedule

May 1 – Painting with Light

May 8 – Outdoor Portraits

May 15 – Lightroom-Local corrections

The last day late coursework will be accepted is
May 15th.

May 22- Final Project Presentations

For the next class

On April 17th, we will go to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. You will need train fare but admission is free for us as a school group. Be prepared to be outside and waking for 1.5 hours.

Review Portrait Lighting Styles

Inspiration

Mamadi Doumbouya

https://www.mamadi.co

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/reader-center/mamadi-doumbouya-photo-portrait-talk.html

Focal Length

The focal length of a lens is defined as the distance in mm from the optical center of the lens to the the sensor when the lens is focused on infinity. This varies on the camera and the lens.

Focal length controls: Magnification and angle of view

Focal length is described as short, normal ie close to human vision, or long.

Wide Angle Distortion-created when using a wide-angle lens AND the camera is very close to the subject. The object close to the lens appears abnormally large relative to more distant objects, and distant objects appear abnormally small and hence more distant – distances are extended. 

Focal length and proximity to the camera affect how a person’s face looks in a photograph. A wide focal length and proximity between the subject and the camera create wide angle distortion and will distort a person’s features.

Think about selfie sticks. What are they for but to get the camera away from your face? This makes the photograph look more complimentary to the subject. This is really important with a cameraphone because it has a wide angle lens. The center of the lens and the sensor cannot be very far apart given the thin design of cellphones.

When working with a crop-frame sensor, approximately 65 mm will be the most flattering to your subject.

Lights

  There are three basic types of lights (these are the physical lights not portrait lighting styles):

1. The Main or Key Light-This light provides the brightest illumination and casts the shadows

2. The Fill Light-this light brightens the shadows. It can be a reflector or an actual light.

This video shows how to use a reflector as the fill light.

3. The Separation Light or Background Light-creates separation between the subject and the background. This light can be aimed at the background or it can be aimed at the subject. If the later, it would be called a hair light. If accenting the edge of the face or shoulders, this light would be called a rim light or a kicker.

3-point Lighting

– standard lighting for portraits, video and film, uses all three: a main light, a fill light and a background light.

Lab Exercise

Lab 9: Two and Three Light Portraits

Homework

HW 8: Final Project Statement and Mood Board

Class Schedule:

April 17-Brooklyn Botanic Garden

April 24-Spring Break

May 1-Painting with Light