Podcast | Time and Time Photographer

Nov14 0

Photography Tip #97 – Digital developing in Lightroom

Posted by Philip in Featured, Photo Processing, Podcast

You don’t want to spend a lot of time working on developing your photos. This is how I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to quickly develop a photo and make it ready to show the client.

Nov02 1

Photography Tip #96 – Clutter in your scene

Posted by Philip in Photo Technique, Podcast

Photography Tip #96

Clutter is distracting. It may seem like common sense, but you need to remove the clutter from your scene. Anything that pulls the focus from your intended subject needs to be removed. Yes you can do this in post processing, but taking a few moments to clear up the scene beforehand will save you a lot of post processing time.

Jan23 2

Unscheduled hiatus

Posted by Philip in General, Podcast

Unfortunately I have to take a break from the regular podcast for a few weeks. It is not my custom to drop things, so rest assured that I’ll take the time to recharge and come back soon with more tips and instructional videos.

Jan09 0

Photography Tip of the Week #095

Posted by Philip in Featured, Photo Technique, Podcast

Expose for highlights, develop for shadows
095 Photography Tip of the Week (audio)

A lot of people seem to get this backwards. They think you need to expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights. This is backwards because you want to keep as much information in your image as possible and your camera sensor is better at capturing light than it can capture dark. Yeah, I know that is a silly statement, but it is a good way to look at the issue. Your camera sensor can not “see” the dark. It only sees light. So you need to set your exposure for the brightest information you care about in your image.

If you look at your camera histogram you should see the bulk of your information to the right. If it’s too far right you will “clip” the information and not be able to bring things down to make them nominal again. Here is an example of an image that is exposed for the highlights. You can easily adjust it so you still don’t lose any data.

But what does it mean to develop for the shadows? It’s really easy if you properly exposed your image for the highlights. If you have enough information in your highlights you should have some pretty bright shadows. Most image manipulation programs have the ability to control the shadows and highlights separately. It’s a pretty simple to adjust the overall exposure and then change the shadows so they have the required contrast to the highlights.

To visually see the overall values of your image you can pretend it’s a black and white image and squint, or you can simply convert it to grayscale and apply a mosaic pattern to it with a really large block size. There’s not problem in having a dark area and a light area. You should avoid having a lot of solid white or black squares tho. I know there are exceptions to this rule so don’t rake me over the coals for it, but a well exposed image will not have very many blacks and whites in it.

Jan02 2

Photography Tip of the week #094

Posted by Philip in 365+1, Featured, Photo Philosophy, Podcast

New Year’s Pixel Counts (Resolutions)
094 Photography Tip of the Week (audio)

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I find that picking one time of the year to be the only time to resolve to better yourself, to be a bit silly. However, since it’s a new business year I do have to adjust my business plan a bit and have come up with a few side projects. These got me thinking and I feel there are eight things every photographer should resolve to do, to better themselves.

Set Goals. You can’t accomplish anything without goals. You can’t finish anything if you never set a goal to do it in the first place. So no matter what, you have define where you want to be, what you want to do, and how quickly you want to achieve it.
Content over technical perfection. Don’t worry about noise or sharpness. There seems to be almost a religion around reducing noise and image sharpness. You can waste a lot of unnecessary time trying to make your images completely noise free and sharp beyond compare. It’s more important make a compelling image. Ansel Adams once said, “Twelve significant photos in any one year is a good crop.” Peel yourself away form the technical and strive for significant content.
Push your limits. You should be constantly trying to be better than what you are now. I want my best photo to be the one I’m going to make tomorrow. Pushing your limits could be as simple as making more photos, or more keepers. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of panoramic sunsets from the same location on my driveway. I’m striving to create a true keeper from that location.
Push outside your comfort zone. It’s nice to do the same thing over and over. You have expected results and you know the outcome. But if you don’t challenge yourself on a regular basis, you will lose your edge and fall by the wayside. So come up with a suitable challenge to force some creativity. There are photographers that throw their cameras in the air, dangle them from poles over bridges or wallow in the mud with a bunch of kids.
Find another way. For many photographers, they have a formula for creating their signature image or look. It’s the same lens, same settings and same position to create that “special” image. That’s all well and good, until your environment changes. So before you are put into a situation where you are forced outside of that setup, find other ways to create the same look using different lighting, lens and camera settings.
Limit your options. This is a great way to expand your knowledge and can be really easy. It may be as simple as just using one lens all week or doing portraits in the dark without the aid of a strobe. Artificially limit your tools so you can learn more about their individual characteristics and how far you can push their capabilities.
Teach others. The best way to learn, is teach it to someone else. You don’t have to do a podcast or write a book. Just go on a photowalk with some friends and help them to make some photos they may not have thought to do before. The biggest challenge it to teach someone how to be comfortable changing their camera setting off of auto.
Be part of the picture. We can either be literal or existential here. Either, jump into the frame or do what’s necessary to make the photo uniquely you. You can do this by adding something to the photo that no one else has done or can do.

I hope these eight things will help you with your photography in the upcoming year.

Dec26 1

Photography Tip of the Week #093

Posted by Philip in 365+1, Featured, Photo Philosophy, Podcast

You get what you pay for
093 Photography Tip of the Week (audio)

I know, this is an obvious tip. But even so, there are some great deals to be had and some inexpensive gems within photography. Up until recently I thought that the Canon 50mm f1.8 was just such a gem. I’ve recently broken 2 of them and have realized that they aren’t as great as I once thought. With that being said, they are easily fixed as long as none of the parts are actually broken. If you store them with the focus mechanism extended, there is a a possibility that they can pop apart. Actually, it’s more than just a possibility. But never fear, they can be popped back together just as easily with a bit of patience. I would only suggest this on a lens like the 50mm f1.8 because it is so inexpensive, that it’s not really worth sending it in for repair.

The lens will only go back together one way. You will notice that the inner portion has two ramps that correspond to two ramps on the outer portion. These will have to line up when you put the lens back together. There is also one side of the inner portion that has a raised section that forces the lens to only go back together one way. Extend the focus ring and line up the sections. It’s almost as easy a putting tab “A” into slot “B.”

Before attempting to put the lens back together make sure the inner workings are clear of all dust and debris. You can also clean the inner portion of the lenses with a microfiber cloth. Put the autofocus selector to manual and extend the focus ring by rotating the ring clockwise.

You will finally have to do something that will make most photographers cringe. Grab the lens and with your thumb on the inner lens and your forefinger on the outer lens, squeeze and it’ll pop back into place. Rotate the focus ring back so the inner portion isn’t extended and now you can reengage the autofocus. It may click the first few times as you use it, but it has been my experience that this stops after a couple of focus adjustments.

With this all being said, I reiterate that you should only do this with a lens that would cost more to repair than to purchase again new. These 50mm f1.8s have been great and I’m glad I have figure out how to put them back together, but I need something a bit more reliable so I’ll keep these in my camera bag but I’ll reach for the 50mm f1.4 and reserve the f1.8 for hazardous shooting conditions where I don’t really care what happens to the lens.