My Work Flow
This is fairly simple and I managed to complete this image in around 6 minutes. But one can go a lot further with what I am trying to explain here. I have been asked so many times how do I get my images to look like they do. It is normally very hard to explain to someone, but my work flow goes according to how I feel.
The main ingredient in any image is to get the shot right in the camera first. Calculate what settings you will use, the exposure, high or low the aperture you need to achieve and also shutter speed to freeze or to create movement. I battle with this one… keep the horizon as straight as possible, a bit difficult when you working around crashing waves and moving water like I do.
Also make sure that you try and apply the rule of thirds, I have always said that if you master the rule of thirds you can learn to master breaking them for effect.
Tip* Always shoot in RAW if your camera has the facility.
Ok, now that is all done you have an image
My first step is to try and get the exposure and colour right in camera RAW, then I do the basics, Contrast, blacks, fill light etc, once again to your personal taste.
Once you have done that open the RAW image into Photoshop.
It should just be a plain image like this.
Secondly, create a duplicate layer. I work on the duplicate layer because the original with the original colours are behind it and my reason for this is that I like to boost the saturation quite a lot especially on my sunset shots.
I only do the work on the top layer. I start with the basic work flow, Brightness, levels and curves. Depending on the colour range I am trying to achieve I will use selective colour. I ad quite a lot of vibrance and saturation after that.
Now we sit with a really saturated image, does not look real at all, so with my eraser tool I drop the opacity right down to about 12% and remove the over saturated colours on the whites of the water and let the bottom or original layer show, and one can do this for any other part of the image
The layer looks something like this
Once you have achieved the colour you want you can flatten the layers and use dodge and burn to get the final image to the way you want it.
I hope this helps, one just has to play and you will get it right.
David Morris
Canons 135mm 2.8 Soft Focus
Please note this is my personal impression of this lens and not that of anyone else.
I recently acquired this lens “used, not new” after reading some great reviews on it. Now this lens does not seem to be one of Canons top of the range lenses although in my opinion I would definitely put it right on top of the shelf with their best L type lenses. One has to ask why it is not there? Well lets have a look at the facts. This lens was born in the late 90′s so it is one of their older lenses. I am not 100% sure if they are still manufacturing them but obviously it has a few small drawbacks backs because of it’s age.
Lets start with the drawbacks and see what they are. First thing I noticed was that it does not come standard with a lens hood. Second thing is that the focus is not very fast and a bit noisy… and that’s about all.
There are definitely more pro’s with the lens than cons. First off I don’t really think the drawbacks are significant in my personal opinion. Although the motor drive of the lens is not ultrasonic, it is still fast enough and it does not hunt which is a very good thing. The lens hood is also not a problem, in my opinion once again that is not a necessity with this lens, maybe all a lens hood would do is make it look pretty, but once again I did not buy it to look pretty on my camera, I bought it to do a job.
Now lets talk about how good this lens really is.
The Canon 135 f2.8 is is one of the sharpest low end non “L” type lenses I have ever used, take note in what I am saying “ever used” meaning I have used many lenses in my life time. it is “PIN” sharp right from wide open at f/2.8 upwards. The boke of lens is suberb and at f/2.8 it gives sharp images with beautiful out of focus backgrounds. So obviously this is what people would buy a lens like this for, because it is starting to sound like a perfect head and shoulder portrait lens witch obviously it is.
The other point is that this lens has a slightly different name when it comes to lenses and that is “a soft focus lens” Now why is that, and why would a lens be called a soft focus lens and really why would I want a lens that does not take sharp images and is named soft focus sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well yes..while sounding ridiculous it has two settings on it to allow for soft focusing. In today’s time with advanced Photo Shop we have plug-ins to create soft focused images, which work great but they do not not work as well as an image produced directly from a lens, specially one like this, and generally the Plug- ins just look like they have been photo shopped.. The lens has 2 soft focus settings on it for different levels of strength, which I have tried with great results. I am not going into the technicalities of soft focused images as it could be a whole new discussion, but obviously lighting plays an important role in a well captured soft image. But one need not use the soft focus feature and once it is set to the “off” position it becomes very sharp and a very useful 135mm prime.
It has a solid build and unlike the new low end consumer lens types, it has less plastic on it, witch is a bonus. The other great feature is that is is not big and bulky, but is rather small and easy to handle while shooting.
So if you are in the market for a prime lens that is pin sharp and has great features and more importantly does not break the bank, this is lens is for you.
David Morris – 26 May 2011
How to choose the right camera?
This is probably one of the most frequent questions asked by people. The market for cameras is large, everyone claiming to outdo the next in mega pixels and lens etc. and it goes on.
When I get asked the question, my first answer is a question back and that is – what do you want to do, snap or do you want to go out and take really good artistic photographs, I know you are thinking well everyone wants to go out there and take really good photographs. Well I think the answer is how far you want to go, do you want to adjust and have full control over your photography or do you want to shoot a scene with minimal input into the camera, bearing in mind that full control will be the better out of the two options.
Ask yourself the following questions before you decide:
- What type of photography will you be doing? (portraits, landscapes, macro, sports etc)
- What conditions will you be largely photographing in? (indoors, outdoors, low light, bright light etc)
- Will you largely stay in auto mode or do you want to learn the art of photography. This is a very good question, because if you are out to get family snaps and everyday life snaps then you should not have to look further than a point and shoot, but if you decide it could be something that you would be interested in then the more advanced camera would be a good buy from the beginning.
- What type of features are you looking for – Zoom, mega pixel, large print capabilities and the list goes on
- How important is size and portability to you do you want to slip it in your pocket or have to carry a large heavy camera bag around with you?
- What is your budget bearing in mind that if you go the DSLR route it is very pricey?
There is plenty of information on the internet about digital camera’s and plenty of reviews so it would be a wise decision to go and have a look at what is on offer and then go home and do your homework on the products.
Understanding types of cameras:
So now you interested in a camera, the big question is which one. Here is a brief description of the types of camera.
1. Standard pocket sized point and shoot. These cameras are normally very basic and very easy to use with minimal input from you to get a photograph. They normally lack in zoom and manual capabilities.
2. The Super Zoom Camera. The new generation of super zoom cameras have really come a long way and pack huge amounts of features mostly with some form of manual input by the photographer. All the leading brands are now producing them as an entry level compact system with features such as 18X optical zoom and super macro capabilities. These are great features bundled into one body. My advice when it comes to super zooms is make sure that you get one with manual control so that you can get a little more creative. The downside to super zooms is that most of them haven’t quite got the lenses right, although they do zoom up to 500mm plus the pictures are not always as sharp with noise levels purple fringing on most models. Once again you will have to do some careful reading on the reviews before you decide to buy a particular model.
3. DSLR cameras: These types of cameras are the best type if you would like to get creative with your photography. Everything in a DSLR camera is designed with the photographer and final picture in mind. They sell in ranges from entry level, semi professional and professional and are generally more expensive than your point and shoots and super zooms. The biggest feature of a DSLR is that it is totally expandable in the sense that you can ad your lenses to it, you can ad your flash and you can interchange between a macro scene and a landscape scene using some of the finest lenses designed for what you are out to achieve. Bearing in mind that lenses for these cameras are very pricey and the better lenses and bodies cost a small fortune out there. The down side to DSLR’s is that they are bulky and become even more difficult to carry around with a bag full of lenses, they are certainly not portable and one would need a rather large bag to carry around with you on your travels.
I hope this article helps you in making a wiser decision in what camera to get for YOU.
David Morris
info@davidmorris.co.za – www.davidmorris.co.za
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Getting creative
In the digital age of photography we find we have the freedom to experiment more than ever. Now with digital we don’t have to wait for expensive processing to see our results, we can now just simply delete directly off camera and start again.
As a photographer we have to learn the guidelines and techniques laid out before us. But once you have a good knowledge of these principles used to create a pleasing image to the eye we can take those guidelines and learn to reshape them to create our own unique style.
I am a firm believer in getting to know your equipment and it’s limits and also how far you can push your camera into a particular style. I believe a creative image can work just as well with a camera set on Auto as it would on full manual settings. Although I am striving to help you in this series of articles to take your camera out of the Auto mode and straight into manual where it will prove to you to be a most effective tool no matter which camera you have as long as it has manual settings as well.
From my experiences I have found that if I take a moment to look at the surroundings I am going to photograph before I actually pick up the camera and look through the view finder, I can already get a very good idea of what I am going to achieve in the photograph, although this normally only applies if there is sufficient time to do this. One cannot walk into a sports /action scenario and expect to have the time to plan the shot. Although getting into the right position is a big advantage.
I want to concentrate in this article on Landscape photography where one would have the time to concentrate and view your surroundings before hand.
I always ask myself two very important questions when observing a landscape and they are – (1) What are the points of interest in to shot and (2) where am I intentionally placing them.
Point (1) what are the points of interest in the shot. Take a look around you, when looking at a scene; Let us say for example the scene has a windmill or farmhouse in it with lush green fields all the way to horizon.
Then we look at point (2) Where am I intentionally placing these points of interest. Now we have a decision to make – do we intentionally place them on the top thirds of the image or do we intentionally place them on the bottom thirds.
Let’s look at our horizon – question 1. Are there fluffy clouds on the horizon that would add to your photograph, if so then I would intentionally balance out the image buy placing my point of interest in the bottom thirds forcing the viewers eye to lead from the point of interest through the image to the beautiful fluffy clouds on the horizon, this unfortunately is easier said than done in practice due to distractions etc.
Question 2. Which side of the bottom thirds will we place our point of interest. My technique is to find a set of points that would force the eye to look left to right or right to left pending on your subject. So we have found a point that would look good in the bottom thirds, so we also see a tree on the horizon on the top right hand side. My train of thought would force me to put the point of interest in the bottom left thirds and visa verse for the opposite thirds.
Now what happens to the image once we have decided on our plan of action is to get our camera in a position to actually capture our decision made earlier. Our choices are what lens; focal length, camera settings etc will capture my scene as I have pictured it in my head.
I now tend to get involved in the shot buy deciding where I can place my camera, what settings I am going to put into the camera and also whether I will achieve my shot on a wide or narrow angle and this is all done by looking through your viewfinder on the camera.
I hope you have found this article interesting and if you have any questions please email me at – info@davidmorris.co.za
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Telling a story in the photographs you take can be fun and professional
How to tell the story with an event
Capturing an image these days is easy, just about everything and everyone can take one with just a press of the button.
As we all agree on the above statement that is entirely true, we still come across photographs that just don’t have a story to them as hard as one tries. So do we mark these types of non story telling photographs as snaps, well probably we do?
There are several forms of none story types of photography mainly in the form of landscape and macro where they are merely capturing a scene within the greater picture.
Lets concentrate on our more photo journalistic type of story telling. If you would go out and photograph an event of some sort, a birthday party, wedding or a product launch they all have a story to tell and all have a beginning and end. We have the arrival, we have who was there and what they were doing and we have important people that need to be captured. So it is all fine capturing snaps, probably the snaps could be the in between fillers, but in order to go a bit further we need to capture the essence in what was happening. So we shoot who was talking to who, who was doing what and obviously capturing the fun in the event and of course the main theme of the event. So we all capture it with two things in mind and that is THE BEGINNING and the END and that is the story line you should follow.
Some points to remember to help the planning process:
- Think of yourself as a photojournalist sharing with an audience the moments of the event
- Plan the beginning and ending shots for your story
- Take a wide view of to capture the essence of the event, as well as close, intimate shots of attendants
- Make your photos of people be natural ones, where they are interacting and not looking at the camera
- Think of the story you want to tell, and then get the images that help you tell it.
- Photograph using various angles.
Telling the story in a single photograph
“ A picture is worth a thousand words” as the saying goes.
So once again a single image with no story is once again just a snap and meaningless unless it has certain elements in it to portray the story. A photograph has the ability to convey emotion, mood, narrative, ideas and messages, all of which are important elements of story telling.
Most news photography fits into this type of story telling, one image that attempts to capture the mood of an accompanying written story. They don’t have the opportunity to always capture the beginning and an end as discussed earlier and have to fit everything into one single image.
These types of photographs will always have something that will focus the attention of the viewer. They will always have some form of narrative points that draw the viewer into the photograph.
Single story photographs often leave an impression on the viewer of the image. This is not because the viewer does not understand it but rather leaving it up to the imagination of the viewer forcing them to think of what is going on behind the scenes or could possibly also force the viewer to think what is going to happen next. These types of photographs are often just as powerful as multiple story telling images as they force the viewer to think about what exactly is to happen next.
Other points to think about in a single story photograph is what is going on the in the background, also think of other elements that are included in the image. Be careful of the backgrounds and surroundings as this could lead to a more “set up” type of image and not an actual story event.
Remember that you don’t have to take journalistic type of photographs to tell a story just remember the basics and one could include a story in every image you take.
David Morris
