Types of Photography

With this age of digital technology and the ever increasing advancement of photography. I thought I would touch on the main areas of photography as I see it. I am not going to cover every single type or area of photography, nor I am going to cover all techniques.

Its my intention to give you a bit of an overview of the key areas and why they are different in an aim to help you find success in your photography.

Fashion Photography

The area of fashion photography has to be one of the most popular areas of photography, yet many people still don't understand the two key areas of this industry.

Although it can be said that pin-up, glamour and beauty can also be classed as fashion, in my view the main two areas of fashion are Advertising Photography / Advertorial Photography and Editorial Photography.

Advertising  Photography / Advertorial Photography

The main thing in the advertising area of fashion photography is that the shots should be about the clothing, shoes, or what ever else fashion you are trying to show off.

If you look at the following photograph, you can clearly see that the main focus in the image are the boots and tights, and although the model is posing in a good way, which makes the shot work, your key focus is on the clothing.
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Fashion Advertising Photograph

As you can see the aim of this shot is to sell the fashion, its not about the lighting, the model, the hair or anything else.
So in short any shot that is intended to be used for anything such as an advertising campaign or an advertising article (advertorial) should be done to showcase the intended subject in such a way to highlight the fashion / product being advertised.

Editorial

Now editorial photograph can be a bit tricky, as its often difficult to get the shot to be simple enough to be used as part of a story. Which is the whole essence of editorial photography, your photo is meant to tell a story, arouse the imagination, leave the viewer in wonder. Editorial shots should be done in such a way that the shot is not focusing on one thing in the picture, but focuses on many aspects, which all work together to tell a story.
If you look at the photograph below you can see it leaves you wondering, it doesn't focus too much on any one thing. Leaving not only the end use, but the intrepretation up to the end viewer.


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Editorial Photograph

Pin-Up / Glamour

Now when you hear the word Pin-up and Glamour most people immediately start to think of women with their boobs out simply on show. In my view this is not the correct use or way to see either Pin-up or Glamour, as you must remember that the word glamour is short for glamorous, and Pin-up photography is actually taken from the use of the final shots. Such as in terms of posters, calendars, etc.

One of the most famous Pin-Up models of all time was of course Bettie Page and if you look at her work it was done with an air of tease about it, it was not done in an erotic way. That is the whole essence of not only Pin-up but Glamour. Showing a model off in a way that is glamourous not sleazy.

Both Pin-up and Glamour shots can be done in a variety of different ways, wearing a variety of different clothing, although this is typically stockings, high heels, nipple tassels and in general clothes that are revealing, whether than be cleavage, boobs, bum, legs the choice is yours.

I tend to think of decent Pin-up shots in the same vein as Glamour, as both done correctly should be done to tease, so showing a bit of cleavage or wearing tassels is meant to be done is a way that produces art NOT porn, the key to this is both the outfit and the pose, for a great guide to poses check out posing secrets.

If you want to take a shot of a woman with her boobs out, then you are either getting into the realms of erotic photography or porn. Don't try to pass off the shots as Glamour, but if the end shot makes the woman look good (and not just because she is topless), such as in lads mags then thats Glamour.

Simply put if you would be happy to hang the final shots on your wall at home then you have created art, however, if the only place you ever see your shots is either on your computer or office wall then thats not art.

To show my point if you look at the shot below, you can clearly see that, although the model is wearing very few clothes, it is done in a way that is artistic and done with the pin-up style in mind (and before my fellow pin-up togs start shouting, yes I know its not true pin-up its more fashion) whilst making the model look glamorous and not erotic or pornographic.

Pin-up style Mermaid Shoot

Boudoir

Now this area of photography seems to be a bit misunderstood, firstly I will start of by reminding you what Boudoir means.

"Bedroom or Ladies Private Room"

Boudoir does not mean someone in their underwear, nor does it mean sexy. In my view the best way to think of a good boudoir shot, is that its kind of like a fly on the wall shot of somewhere you would not normally get to see.

Imagine hiding in a cupboard and seeing a woman in her bedroom wearing underwear,getting dressed or simply relaxing. In short the shots you take that are Boudoir should be done with an air of sensuality to them yet not simply be a photo of someone in her underwear. You need to add feeling and the almost cheese factor to the shot to make it work, just as if you caught the lady in her bedroom undressing.
So to take a boudoir shot, don't simply take a shot of someone in her underwear but add something to the photo by adding the "caught in the act" element to it, without adding the erotic element and you wont go far wrong.

Portrait / Beauty / Hair

If you concentrate your photography on taking head and shoulder shots, this is most commonly know as portrait, beauty or hair photography. This is a very popular area of photography as it shows off the work of everyone involved including the model and make up artist, its not just about the photographer.
Typically beauty shots are used either in models portfolio or in hair and beauty campaigns, as the level of close detail is unmatched by any other form of photography.

Close up Beauty Photograph

Now there is one thing to remember when taking close up photographs, and that is that as the eyes are the windows to the soul, they should be in focus, so start with the eyes in focus and you cant go far wrong. As for lighting, make up, hair thats for you to play with and decide what you want from your shots.

Landscape / Architectural

Ok moving away from people slightly and onto the wonderful world around us and what is Landscape and Architectural photography. This area of photography like so many is easy to do, yet hard to master.

Capturing the world we see everyday in such as way that makes your shots stand out.

So a true decent landscape or architectural photographer tends to see the world in a different light and in a different way, in most cases that means being able to see how a shot will turn out after it has been through post production. As you have probably guessed landscape photography is simply the art of taking photos of the landscape and buildings around us, whether thats in the city, the countryside or the coast.

Typcial Landscape Photograph

Final Thought

I have only attempted to touch on a few of the major areas of photography, it was not my intention to cover every area of the photography industry, but more of a point to clear up the differences between the areas of photography. Educating people on exactly what each area is and what its used for helping them to make better use of their talent and become more successful in their photography business.

So no matter what aspect of photography you choose, just make sure that you keep to that area and be the best you can be at it. After all just because a decorator paints walls, doesn't mean he also paints boats, cars or anything else.

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Whether to take Photo With or Without a Reflector

Although I have spoke of this in another post, loads of people have asked me if they really do need a reflector and why.

The first thing to remember is the most important thing in photography, and that is light. Without light you dont have any shot at all, so getting the right light is crucial. There are several ways of getting the light right, and playing around with it, everything from using the light available to you, known as the ambient light or using flashes and strobes, known as artificial light.

What is a Reflector

A reflectors main purpose is to reflect available light in order fill in any area you are missing light, the actual light you choose to reflect is up to you.

The benefit of a reflector over another light source is in the name it simply reflects available light onto an area you wish to light up on your subject, without being too over bearing.

When to use a Reflector

A basic rule as to whether you need to use a reflector or not is to ask yourself. "is your subject lit up enough for the look you are going for?", remember although there is such as thing as a technically perfectly lit shot, you know the one the histogram being right in the middle, there is no reason to always aim for this. Remember photography is an art and if you want to shoot different images from perfection and thats your style thats fine.

Using the reflector to just create a bit of a catchlight is fine, you dont always need to use it to completely light up your subject.

Reflector Technique

So you may be thinking now you know what a reflector is for, but when do you use it. The simple rule of thumb is you need to use a reflector when part of your subject are dark, this darkness can be solved by using another light, but this can be over powering on your subject, by using a reflector you are only ever reflecting back available light, and as such it will always be less powerful than the original source.

A quick tip is to remember the further away the reflector is from either your subject or the light you are reflecting the less intense the effect, also remember that by tilting you reflector you can also reduce the effect on your subject.

There is also an added bonus in that is it way cheaper to buy a reflector than it is to buy another light.

Practical Example

Photo Taken with and without reflector

If you look at the shot on the left above you can see that although you can see most of the face, it just looks too dark. Now if I used another light the subject would be too lit up and I would lose the effect of the image, so the solution is to use a reflector.

Now if you look at the image on the right you can clearly see that by using a reflector we can now see the subject more clearly without the light being too over powering on the face.

Big thank you to Jenna for being so patient during this shoot.

Final Thoughts

So I would suggest that even if you are just starting out, go and buy a reflector as they make your job as a photographer a whole lot easier, and remember to buy a 5in1 reflector that way you get the ability to not only reflect white light but also gold and add that something special to your shots.

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Fashion Brand H & M use Computer Generated Models in Latest Lines

Well I am all for a bit of photo editing, the odd blemish removal, exposure correction but clothing brand H&M have taken this to a whole new level.

Now let me start of first by saying I love H&M, I love the clothing styles and the photography I find very inspirational, but their latest vision has just gone way to far.

So what have they done

H&M have decided to use computer generated models in their latest campaign, they have taken a head shot of different models and added this to the body which has been completely built using computer software.

I think this is taking the whole use of computers in photography a step too far, I mean there are lots of wonderful models working out there, there are great make up artists and stylists, not to mention photographers. So why go in a direction that is not normal.

I find the normal shots of the H&M lines to be great and very natural, and normally taken on location with superb lighting and composition, but to decided to use fakery in your campaign is a step too far.

So my words to H&M are your clothes are wondeful and your ranges are too good to go and wreck it all by trying to save money and create artificial imagery.

If you check out the H&M site and look in the Swimwear section you can see the use of these images.

Final Thought

So my final word to H&M is to use real people for your campaign, this goes for the models, make up artists, photographers and the editing team. Remember "People buy from People" not computers.

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To Post Edit or Not To Post Edit That is the Question?

Well over the years the debate of whether you should post edit your shots or leave them as they come out of the camera, has been one that provokes a bit of a mixed reaction. Some photographers are all for post editing and some photographer are heavily against post editing.

Myself I sit kinda on the fence a bit, I believe that it is possible to get a great shot straight from your camera and it not to need any post editing at all. However I think this mainly applies to certain areas of photography such as landscape photography, as you can take a shot that just works and although you can add something using post editing techniques, landscapes can look best just left alone.

NOW

When it comes to getting and being published and in particular fashion and portfolio work, this is where I think that post editing is almost a must. Put it this way if you are taking shots of a model for their portfolio, you want them to look their best and this although possible to do straight from camera, is best done with some form of post editing, and although most editing I do is minor I feel it adds to the shot, and in my view the best editing is, particularly high fashion, when you dont know and cant tell the shot it edited, and in any publication you buy the shots will have had some form of edit to make them work.

One area that always users post editing is that used by digital retouchers and digital artists, who can take an ordinary shot and make it into something spectacular, and this is where post editing really shows its worth, this can also be recovering old photos to their past glory.

OK so there are some people out there who say that they never edit, and I know that I can take a shot that looks great straight out of the camera, after all thats the art of photography, but as I always shoot in RAW I am required to use post editing to make the shots usable. So anyone who shoots using RAW format will always post edit their shots.

What does Air Brushing Mean?

You may have heard the term "air brushed" used in the press and on TV and have always wondered what it means, well its simple really its the term used when an image has been altered using post production tools such as PhotoShop, so other common terms are photoshopped but in essence they are all the same.

OK now for an example

If you take a look at the shots below, do you think these are straight out of the camera?

Did you guess right, these shots look just fine and you may be thinking, yes these look good so why do you need to post edit. Now look at the shots below.

Now you can clearly see why I think, particularly in fashion photography, post editing is a must. I agree that the best editing is done so that the shots look like they have not been touched, and this is what I hopefully achieved in the finished shots. Oh in case you cant guess the first two are the finished edited versions.

So it is my view that post editing techniques are something that are required in any professional photography, its kinda like the polishing stage. Its not to say that their is anything wrong with the shots before post editing, its just that without this finishing you are not giving the model, makeup artist, stylist and client the best they can get.

Now I admit that I am not a digital retoucher I am a photographer, I just know enough to make my images work, I think that if you want that something extra in your shots such as fantasy, special effects, etc its better to get a professional digital artist / retoucher than to do it yourself. So my photoshopping limits go as far as smartening up my shots and thats it, if I need anything else I use a digital retoucher and you should too. Remember there is a huge difference between simply making minor tweaks to your photos and digital retouching, so dont let anyone tell you anything different.

Bit of an Update

After getting loads of people talking about editing, and after spending a bit of time trawling the web, I thought I would see if I could find a good resource for editing and a basic how to. Thankfully this wonderful web comes up trumps some times and I found a great site by Evan Sharboneau with loads of tips on how to create great photos by editing. Please go and take a look and get a copy of his great E-Book now

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Canon 7D Soft Focus and How it Fix It

Ok so you have just bought your nice new Canon 7D, and whilst it works great you are finding that some of the shots you take using the Autofocus (AF) are not quite  in focus, they look soft. So is it the camera or is it you?

First off it’s possible it could be either or both, you or the camera, so I am going to address the latter here, the camera.

Now there are two things to try to fix this issue without the need to send your camera off to the shop for recalibration.

Remove the 2 camera batteries

Open the battery compartment on your camera and take out the main camera battery, now remove the system battery. This battery is the one that is responsible for storing your user setting, dates, etc.

The system battery is located inside the battery compartment on the left, if you hold the camera upside down with the lens facing you and the battery compartment on the top, you will see the system battery holder inside to the left of the main battery compartment.

Now leave both batteries out of the camera for at least 10 minutes, this will allow the camera to completely discharge.

Now reinsert the system battery and the main battery. Hopefully your autofocus problems will be solved.

However if they are not, you may need to use the inbuilt Micro Auto Focus Adjustment functions, now whilst there are lots of different way to make change to the camera Auto Focus system. I am going to concentrate on the one that is fairly straight forward and doesn’t require you to buy anything additional to do the testing and adjustments.

This technique is known as Moire Fringing.
 
Moire Fringing

In order to make changes to the camera Auto Focus system using Moire Fringing there are a few things you need to have or know before your get started.

1.      The Moire Fringing Chart, you can download it here

2.      An available computer and enough room in front of it to be able to mount your camera on a tripod / stable surface and get the entire screen in the frame.

3.      Know where to find the Auto Focus Micro Adjustment settings on your cameras

a.      On the Canon 7D the settings for Auto Focus Micro Adjustment are located in the Fifth option in the third Custom Functions (CIII) Menu (Auto Focus / Drive)

            i.      Press the Menu button on the back of the camera

            ii.      Use the top scroll wheel to scroll to the Custom Functions Menu (the second to last icon on the menu list)

            iii.      Use the Main Scroll wheel on the back of the camera to scroll down to C Fn III then press the set button

               iv.      Use the Main Scroll wheel on the back of the camera to scroll to the fifth option, so number 5 is shown at the top right.

              v.      You should now be in the C.Fn III Autofocus/Drive AF Microadjustment screen

To find out more about Moire Fringing and some other great techniques I recommend you take a look at the video by Jared aka Fro Knows Best

Camera Testing Setup

1.      Download the Moire Fringing chart, if you have not already done so, and load it up on your computer full screen, so it completely fills the monitor or as near as you can get. NOTE you cannot print the Moire Fringing chart for use as it’s the viewing it via your monitor that gives us the effect we need.

2.      Attach a lens to your camera that you wish to test and adjust, we are going to make adjustments to the lenses individually so pick anyone, or just the one you think is focusing a bit soft.

3.      Mount your camera on a tripod or other stable surface in front of your monitor.  The camera ideally has to be a far enough away from your monitor as possible so that when you zoom your camera lens to its furthers zoom, i.e 300mm on a 300mm lens the whole of the Moire Fringing chart can be seem in the view finder. Now in practice this is not really possible, unless you happen to live in a castle or other equally long room. So in reality just make sure your camera is as far as possible from your monitor as you can get it, and then use the furthest zoom possible to fill the view finder with the Moire Fringing chart. Try to avoid fully zooming your lens to its widest point i.e if you have a 28-300mm lens try to get as close to 300mm as you can whilst keeping the chart in the view finder.

4.      Please note you can use which ever mode on your camera you normally use, Full Auto, Full Manual, AV, TV, P but just make sure what ever setting you use you can clearly see the full Moire Fringing chart in the view finder. Unless you are noticing that your photos are soft at a particular F Stop (F8, etc) in that case choose either Full Manual or AV and set the camera to the required aperture you feel is soft. But again make sure you can clearly see the chart in your view finder.

5.      I also recommend using either a centre focus or spot focus for testing, and focus on the centre of the chart.

 Testing

Ok first off the idea behind the Moire Fringing chart is to try to get as many concentric circles in your view finder as you can.

The correctly focused image should look something like the one below

 Ok so lets get started with the testing and adjustments. I am going to list the process of testing and adjustment in order to hopefully make it easier for you to understand and follow.

1.      Set your camera to Manual Focus and focus manually on your monitor with the Moire Fringing chart loaded and your camera at a distance to allow for the complete chart to be visible in the view finder, you are trying to get an image similar to the one above showing the Moire Fringing chart and several concentric circles on it. Now take a photo

2.      Next switch your camera to Auto Focus and set your focus point on the centre of the chart of take a photo.

3.      Now go into the C.FnIII Autofocus / Drive AF Microadjustment menu (as described above) and select the Adjust by lens option (we are selecting this option as not all lenses focus the same and you can repeat the process for each lens you are having problems with), to select the option simply press the set button, then use the big scroll wheel to select the option then press the INFO button. You should now be on the following screen

4.      Make sure that the Marker on the bar is set to 0, then press the set button and then use the menu button to exit the system menus. Now take a photo again making sure you are using Auto Focus and you are focusing on the centre of the chart.

5.      Next go back into the screen, as shown in figure 4, and using the scroll wheel move the marker to +5, then exit the menu and take another photo. Now continue this process and each time you enter the AF Microadjustment menu change the marker in increments of 5,  so start with it +5 then take a photo at  +10, +15 and +20 and each time exit the menu system and take a photo. After this set of shots you should have taken 5 photos, one for each increment starting with 0 then +5, +10, +15, + 20 in order.

6.      Now do the same this time starting at -5 and take a photo at the same increments, -5, -10, -15, -20.

7.      You should now have a total of 10 photos on your camera, one taken using manual focus and 9 taken using Auto Focus and at each increment along the AF Microadjustment scale.

Adjustment

Now you have a set of 10 photos taken on your camera, and you have made adjustments after each shot, you should have a set of shots similar to the ones below. If you took the shots in the order as advised above starting with Manual Focus, then starting with 0 doing the + adjustment then working through the – adjustments your shots will be in the order below.

You now need to do the follow

1.      Load the first shot you took your computer and view it at 100%. (the one your took using manual focus)

2.      Now load the other shots in turn onto your computer and compare each shot to the one first shot you took using manual focus. You are trying to find the shot that matches as close to this one as possible, showing the same amount of concentric circle as the Manual focused shot. The shots you took will be different slightly, and this different is normally very slight but can make all the difference between soft focus and tack sharp shots.

3.      If you look at the sample shot above, click on it to enlarge it, you can see that the there are two shots that are very similar to the manual focused shot and these are shots with adjustments of +5 and -5. You will notice that unlike the other shots taken at other adjustments you can clearly see the concentric circles around the centre of the shot.

4.      Ok so now you have your adjustment setting you need to go back into the camera AF Microadjustment menu (shown below) and set the marker to the number you think is the closest shot to your manually focused shot.

If the adjustment number is 0, this means that your lenses is focusing fine and doesn’t need any Micro adjustment.


Conclusion

If you use more than one lens on your camera simply repeat the steps above for each lens, you can make the same adjustment for all the lenses, but I recommend doing it for each lens, as I found that my Canon kit lens needed no changes at all by my Sigma lens did, also one other word of caution do not take any more shots than the 10 shots your need for testing as this will throw out your order and you won’t know which shot is done at which setting.

One final thought if you find that doing the above does not result in sharper images, you should firstly try to work on your camera holding technique or try tour camera using the timer and a tripod, but if this fails you may need to send your camera off to Canon for recalibration. However thankfully I was able to solve my own soft focus issues using the above technique.

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Canon 1DX Now officially launched

I just thought I would post and make you all aware that the Canon 1DX is now officially launched, and as it is a full frame, 18 meg professional DSLR its going to be a great addition to any photographers tool kit.

The anticipated arrival date in most stores will not be until March next year, although there will be a worldwide roll out between now and then, so you may be able to grab one a bit sooner.

The main features of the Canon 1DX are

18.1 MP full frame CMOS sensor Up to 12fps plus 14fps High speed mode 100-51200 ISO, up to H:204800 61 point AF system 100,000 pixel RGB AE metering Full HD 1080p EOS movie Dual “DIGIC 5+” processors Clear View II 8.11 cm (3.2”) 1,040k LCD Ethernet port

for full product information visit the Canon website

This will definately be on my wish list.

I think thought that the initial rush to buy this new camera will not only push prices high, for at least the next 12 months, but will also make supplies limited. So if you are lucky enough to get your hands on one, let me know.

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Newcastle Fashion Photo Shoot - Aaron Kah

Model : Aaron Kah
Location : City Centre, Newcastle
Type : Fashion

This shoot was to be one of the shoots that has come so close to happening in the past that I almost thought it would never happen, sometimes I couldn't make it sometime Aaron couldn't.

But I am really happy that Aaron got back in touch about this shoot, as the end results are just amazing.

For this shoot I had a clear idea of the kind if thing I was looking for, I wanted a city centre location to shoot a very high fashion set of shots, with Aarons look I knew this would work well. So after many months of conversations, we finally arranged the date for the shoot and it was all systems go.

Location

As I wanted there to be a clear image for this shoot of city environment, I knew just the right place. Newcastle city centre, having grown up in Whitley Bay and gone to college and university in the city I knew it was just the place to do this shoot.

The great thing about Newcastle is it has a great mix of old and new, and the council have cleaned up the city so gone are the old dirty buildings, instead its now clean buildings, although still old. Mixed with new modern developments, glass, metal, etc.

Newcastle is just a great city if you are looking to do a photo shoot and capture old and new in the same place.

The Shoot

We met at the Haymarket metro station, and headed straight down Northumberland Street, and thankfully my idea for the first set of shots were crowds of people and a busy street, which we got in abundance. The only problem is that when you want to shoot crowds, people are well mannered and tend to shy away from the camera. What this means is that when you take the shot, you get the crowd of people further away, and an actual space of empty around your model, not exactly the look I was going for.

In order to play with this, it required me lying on the floor shooting at a different angle, capturing the crowds and people from this angle makes the shots just work.

However, when Aaron and I were shooting we got approach by a group of girls asking to be in the shots, so we said yeah why not, they then kinda stayed in the background for a couple of shots, we almost had our our extras for our shoot, only problem was that they chose to wave at the camera, we I could not use the shots with them in. I think Aaron liked it though as he felt like he had his own entourage with him on the shoot.

We them decided to change location and went around to the entrance of the new Monument Mall, we decided to shoot in the doorway, as I knew it would give me great light and high fashion feel I was after. So we did a few shots in the doorway, and there were two problems with this location. One was the mannequin in the window, which I had to photoshop out of the final shots. And two a busy body cleaner who decided to radio security about us doing a shoot in the doorway. But thankfully we had all the shots we needed before any security staff turned up and went on our merry way.

Have to be honest, not sure why this cleaner chap had such a problem, we weren't even in the main mall, just in the doorway outside the doors. Some people!

The next set of shots were taken a bit further down the road and made use of a new bench, like I said this modern bench looks really good in the old city environment, we also took some shots against the old buildings.

This shoot was one of the quickest shoots I have done, and thanks to the professionalism of Aaron I got all the shots I could ever want, and he was an absolute pleasure to work with and took direction perfectly.

I think I have proven in this shoot that its not about shooting off loads of shots, but more about taking your time composing your shots right and taking the shot only when you are happy, this shoot lasted about 1 hour and I came out with easily 14 good shots. So again huge thanks to Aaron for this shoot, I would recommend him to anyone looking for models to shoot with.

But like I always say, you can be the judge of the shots for yourself.

Sample shots from Newcastle City Centre Photo Shoot

To see some of these shots in full size please visit my gallery on my website http://seanjconnollyphotography.co.uk/photography_gallery.htm

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