Try black and white for emotional and visual impact

When inspiration and creativity seem to be hiding in the bushes it can be difficult to break out of a photographic rut. As the days go by and the images get duller, enthusiasm starts to wane. These are the times when we need to dig deep and do something different to break the patterns of habit. Going so far as to make breaking the pattern a habit can reduce those lackluster photographic spells to a bare minimum.

One of my personal “pattern breakers” is to shoot a day or two of black and white(yes, with digital). The best way to do this with a DSLR is to set the camera to record both RAW and .jpg files set to “black and white” mode. Some older DSLR’s and most compact digital cameras won’t have this feature and it will be necessary to shoot only black and white .jpg files. While not as good for ultimate image quality, .jpg’s serve the habit-breaking purpose of this exercise just fine.

Actually shooting in black and white mode, rather shooting in color and converting after the fact, serves more than one purpose. Obviously the most immediate reason is to get an immediate, on-the-camera-back preview in black and white. The effect of traditional black and white colored filters is visible right away.

A second reason for shooting in black and white mode is to really make the break mentally away from color and into a different thought/vision space. This is very important for creativity and thought stimulation. You will find yourself making images in black and white that just would not work in color. This is one of the points of the exercise.

My favorite tool for making the final image is Adobe Camera Raw when starting from a RAW file. It does a great job and makes it possible to fine tune every color density range. If Camera RAW is not an option, my next choice is color channels. Channels is similar to Camera Raw but with fewer color range adjustments. As with color editing, everyone will eventually develop their own personal favorite “look”.

There are many reasons that black and white photography has never gone completely out of style. When all of the color is taken away, what is left can have much more emotional and visual impact. Color can be used for impact but can also be a great distraction from what the photographer is really trying to communicate. Think of becoming proficient at black and white photography as adding another language to your visual communication portfolio.

Imgur for Android makes photo hosting easy

The following article is a guest post by smart-phone expert Craig Walkup.

 

An aspect that I have always felt has been lacking in the mobile world is the ability to upload photos to photo hosting sites easily and seamlessly. Now one of the best options I have seen for this comes to the Android Market in the form of Imgur for Android.


First things first, if you have never heard of Imgur, you need to know that it is one of the best and simplest photo hosting sites on the internet. Where most hosting sites have all kinds of limitations, from forcing you to create an account, to limiting what you can do with photos after you upload them, Imgur has none of that. You can literally go to their site, hit upload, pick your file, and watch as your photo is quickly uploaded, then presented to you with links for HTML codes, message board codes, and even direct image links. You also have the option of creating an account if you want to, which will simply hold on to all your uploaded photos in a simple page so you can go there and find them easily by thumbnail. I had been using Imgur for a while, and was elated to find out that someone had made a real app for the Android operating system.


This app is as easy as the website to use. Upon opening the app, you will be taken directly to the pictures you have already uploaded in your account, along with buttons at the top to refresh the album, a camera button to open the camera, and an upload button to upload a picture from your phone. If you don't have an Imgur account, the screen won't have any pictures on it. I suggest opening an account, as it keeps track of everything you've uploaded, and you can completely manage the files from the app or from the website.
When you click to upload a photo, it will being you to your gallery screen, where you choose what photo to upload, then it will ask you if you want to upload it under your account or anonymously. Another neat thing about the app is that it integrates itself in to the operating system, so when you take a picture and click the share button, imgur comes up as an option along with text, email, facebook, twitter, etc. This is an excellent app for any Android user wishing to use photos between their mobile device and the internet.


Imgur for Android is available in the Android Market as a free app. Make sure if you search for it, you download the one called "Imgur for Android"
developed by Colin Edwards. The other ones that come up are poor applications. There is a download version for this app if you feel like supporting the developer, it is $1.99 but doesn't seem to include any added functionality, except preference in future feature requests.


Imgur: http://imgur.com/


Imgur for Android:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/imgur-for-android/com.imgurforandroid


Craig is a contributor for iPhone repair techs at iFixyouri.

Transmitted light photography

One of the best ways to achieve great color saturation, show internal structure and get a distinctive look in a photograph is to take advantage of transmitted light. This is light that passes through a translucent subject rather than light reflected from the object. This is accomplished by using back-lighting: the light source is behind the subject. Framing tightly to exclude edges eliminates the flare, diffraction and over-exposed background seen in most back-lit photos. Think of shooting stained glass on a sunny day from inside a dark building as opposed to the same stained glass shot at night using flash. The colors have a rich glow and depth not seen in a reflected-light image of the same subject.

An added bonus, especially for nature photographers, is the visibility of the internal structure of the subject. All of the veins of a leaf and the varying thickness of flower petals become apparent when the image is made with light passing through the subject. The result can be very interesting photographs indeed. Even quite ordinary subjects such as the pages of a book can become more interesting by using this technique.

Green leaves, brightly colored autumn leaves, glass panes and bottles, paper and clothing can all be photographed with transmitted light to bring out internal structure and rich colors. Any subject that is at least slightly translucent and large enough to fill the frame is fair game. The less translucent the subject, the brighter the back-lighting must be(or the dimmer the ambient light) to overpower the light reflected from the side facing the camera. This technique should be part of every creative photographer’s arsenal.

Finding subjects is easy. Look towards the light source. During mid-day, this might mean getting low to the ground and looking up. At dawn or dusk the solution is to look towards the rising or setting sun. Indoors, try placing the subject between the camera and the light source or placing the flash behind the subject facing toward the camera.

Exposure is a straight forward affair. If the subject fills the frame any automatic setting should give a correct exposure. If the subject occupies a smaller are of the frame, exposure compensation might be needed to correctly expose the subject while allowing the background to be over-exposed(as in more traditional back-lighting). Experiment with exposure whenever possible to get the most pleasing results.

Using the most basic camera equipment-Part 4

This is the fourth and final installment of this series exploring photography using only the most basic of “modern” digital camera gear: one “beginner’s” camera body and two “kit” zoom lenses. I will talk about techniques to optimize the image quality from any camera/lens combination and how these techniques minimize image quality differences between “basic” and “top-of-the-line” equipment.  Part 1 covered my reasons for doing this prolonged experiment. In Part 2 I talked about why I enjoyed using the minimal “amateur” kit. Part 3 discussed the things I missed most about not having a complete “professional quality” camera system.

We will start out by taking a look at some of the differences between “entry-level” and “professional” camera bodies and lenses. There are plenty of differences but not necessarily the ones beginning photographers assume. This will tie the reasons why “basic” equipment is often perceived to produce inferior image quality to more expensive gear.

The most noticeable differences between the two levels of gear are size and weight. The two are tied together and the reason “better” gear is both larger and heavier is build quality. “Professional” cameras and lenses are designed for heavy, every-day use in tough conditions and for continual rough treatment during frequent travel. The bodies and lenses are built inside a metal skeleton, usually with shock-absorbing materials between the skeleton and internal mechanical/electrical components and often with more shock-absorbing material between the skeleton and external shell. Heavily stressed components such as the mechanical shutter and controls in a body or the focus and zoom mechanisms in a lens  are much tougher and longer-lasting than those used in “starter” gear. “Professional” camera bodies have larger memory buffers and faster processing software to allow faster frames-per-second burst rates for more frames than “amateur” bodies. The high-end bodies include a lot more “bells & whistles” features and lenses will have internal focusing and constant apertures throughout the zoom range. “Professional” lenses will often feature elements of special-formulation glass and/or aspherical elements to further minimize optical and color distortions. Some of these differences have a slight impact on final image quality but most do not affect image quality at all.

Another difference between the two levels of gear is price. The “professional” equipment can easily cost five to ten times as much as the “entry-level” gear. This price difference pays for all of the upgraded features listed in the previous paragraph. I expect “professional” gear to last for many years of hard use, taking hard knocks in extreme weather conditions and being constantly vibrated by car and plane travel. It is always a pleasant surprise when an “amateur” body lasts me more than a year or two. This is one of the areas that cheaper gear has really improved in recent years. My Canon digital Rebel XSi and “kit” zooms are nearly two years old and going strong.

The “real” differences of final image quality between “professional” and “amateur” camera equipment are caused by the way the gear is used. There are many techniques used by professional photographers wanting maximum image quality in each and every frame that most casual and beginning photographers don’t know about, don’t think about or just think are too much trouble to deal with. Professional and top amateur photographers do use these techniques, every frame, and that makes the real difference in final image quality.

Maximizing image quality with any camera:
First and most important is to use a tripod with image-stabilization turned off whenever possible. A tripod is much superior to any image stabilizing technology built into a camera body or lens. I f it is not possible to use a tripod, use a monopod with image-stabilization on instead. A tripod will deliver maximum sharpness every frame by eliminating camera shake during exposure. Additional benefits are the ability to use lower ISO’s for minimum digital “noise” as well as better color and dynamic range. A tripod mounted camera promotes more care with framing, composition and focus. The ability to use longer shutter speeds also allows the use of smaller lens’ apertures to maximize sharpness and/or depth of field(most lenses are not at their sharpest at maximum aperture). Using a self-timer or remote shutter release and avoiding shutter speeds between ¼- and 1/60- seconds will reduce camera vibration during exposures even more.

Color accuracy and fine details can often be further enhanced by using a polarizing filter. A polarizer can reduce or eliminate color cast reflections which mask true subject colors and mask fine detail. Using a lens shade designed for a particular lens also helps in these two areas by minimizing internal lens reflections that reduce image contrast and detail.

Get the best exposure each shot to maximize the amount of data in every image. More data means greater ability to adjust the image in editing software without degradation. Digital camera sensors produce more depth of data at higher exposure levels than in the shadow areas of the image. Keep the exposure histograms turned on and pay attention to them. Do a test to see how much a scene can be over-exposed on the camera histogram and still have retrievable detail in the highlights. Give as much exposure as possible to every frame for maximum data and then adjust as needed in editing software.