I hope you are having a wonderful Summer. Even though I love summer, I find it challenging for photography. I have never been a big fan of the midnight sun or bright nights. The mist is something I find inspiring to photograph, yet there are only a handful of mornings when there is some mist in the summer. And as soon as the nights get darker and colder, I find myself inspired to go out and photograph. So for the upcoming dark season, I started writing a comprehensive and inspiration-filled tutorial about night photography. I hope you enjoy it.
As someone who has spent quite a few nights photographing different views, I find night photography fascinating and inspiring. As I was writing this post with the amount of knowledge I’ve gathered, I felt I needed to put this into an eBook, but then I thought to share it on my blog. If you enjoy my posts, you can support me by sharing this article or even buying me a coffee to keep me recharged and continue writing!
At night, our surroundings transform into a different kind of beauty. The sky becomes a vast canvas of stars, the moon casts a gentle glow, and the aurora comes alive in a luminous dance of lights and shadows. These mesmerizing views can be captured, making night photography a captivating genre full of creative opportunities and unique challenges.
The journey to night photography is planning, patience, and learning. It’s also understanding the nuances of light and darkness and mastering the technical aspects of long-exposure photography. The night presents a different kind of quiet and solitude, allowing introspection and creativity.
This tutorial explores my journey in night photography and guides those who wish to venture into this fascinating genre. Check out my Star Photography Masterclass eBook if you want to dive deeper into night photography and editing.
In this tutorial, we go into various parts of night photography, from capturing Milky Way and moon to vertoramas night. I’ll share the techniques, equipment, and settings I’ve found most effective for capturing stunning nighttime images.
Throughout this post, I challenge you to remember that photography is not just about capturing a scene; it’s about conveying a feeling and telling a story through your lens. The night reveals mystery, tranquility, and natural beauty, and I hope my experiences and insights inspire and guide you in creating unique stories under the stars.
Here are a few other night tutorials I’ve written before:
It is truly unique how the sky presents remarkable spectacles every night. There is always something captivating to observe, from stars and planets to the moon. Of course, those bloody clouds can block the views, but it’s part of the game.
Sometimes, we are blessed enough to witness extraordinary events like the Northern Lights or meteor showers. Although capturing these breathtaking sights through photography can be rewarding, it takes expertise and a lot of patience.
Planning
Photographing the night sky starts with planning. Unlike other genres of photography, where spontaneity can lead to the best shots, night sky photography demands careful thought and preparation. The key factors to consider include the weather, moon phase, light pollution, and the position of celestial bodies. Clear skies are ideal for capturing stars, while the moon’s phase can significantly affect your scene’s lighting. Light pollution can hinder your ability to capture the fainter stars, so venturing away from city lights is often necessary. Finally, knowing the position of celestial bodies can help you plan your composition. There are various apps available that can help you with these aspects of planning. PhotoPills, TPE and Stellarium, are great tools to use.
Camera Settings
The next step is understanding the crucial camera settings for night sky photography. Night photography is a game of light – or, more accurately, the lack of light. Because of this, you’ll need to adjust your camera settings to capture as much light as possible. This means shooting in Manual mode and understanding the “Exposure Triangle” – the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
Shutter speed is critical in night sky photography. Your aperture should be as comprehensive as possible to allow maximum light into the lens. For most lenses, this will be between f/2.8 and f/4. A common rule for shooting stars without creating star trails is the ‘500 Rule’: Divide 500 by your lens’ focal length to determine the longest exposure time before stars begin to blur due to the Earth’s rotation. However, this rule isn’t infallible and may require some adjustments based on your specific camera and lens combination.
ISO settings can be tricky. A high ISO increases the sensor’s sensitivity to light, which is beneficial in low-light conditions. However, pushing the ISO too high can result in a noisy image. Start with an ISO setting around 1600 – 6400 and adjust based on the results you’re getting. I might go as high as 8000 ISO in complete darkness.
Focus
Focusing at night can be challenging, as autofocus systems often struggle in low light. A common technique is manually focusing on a bright star or distant light. Some photographers use the infinity (∞) symbol on their lens as a starting point, fine-tuning from there.
Try different compositions, play with settings, and, most importantly, take the time to enjoy the process. The night sky is a fascinating subject that rewards patience and curiosity. So, step out into the night, and gaze upwards.
As a photographer, I have discovered that starting a project can help me channel my creativity and bring new dimensions to my work. A project can be a way to explore new techniques, themes, and perspectives, leading to personal and artistic growth. Currently, I am working on a new photography series that will challenge me to think more deeply about my craft and explore new horizons. While I cannot reveal my project, I encourage you to consider the benefits of taking on your own photography project.
A project can provide purpose and direction to your photography work. It can help you explore a specific subject or theme, experiment with different techniques, and improve your photography skills.
To inspire you, I have compiled a list of project ideas that can help you enhance your photography skills in various ways. These ideas cover different aspects of photography, such as exploring different genres and experimenting with lighting, composition, and post-processing techniques.
Selecting the right photography project can give new life and meaning to your work. It can allow you to explore new themes, experiment with new techniques, and help you take your photography to new heights. To help you get started, I have curated eight project ideas that can benefit photographers, whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting.
Project Ideas
1. One Landscape, One Day
Capture a single landscape over 24 hours. This exercise in patience and timing, observing how light transforms the scene, is fundamental for mastering exposure and understanding the nuances of natural light.
2. Seasonal Series
Document the same location across different seasons. This long-term project highlights nature’s transformative power and tests your commitment. It’s perfect for studying changes in color, light, and weather. Below is my try at capturing this location in different seasons.
Here is an ongoing series of this beautiful tree I’ve captured with different seasons, from Autumn to the start of Winter to Mid-Winter. The only season missing is Summer. However, I’ve shot it multiple times and never really gotten anything special in summer.
A couple weeks ago, I asked my subscribers to let me know what kinds of online photography courses they’d like to see me teach, and I got some incredible feedback! After reading hundreds of answers, I have some solid direction about how to proceed, and I’m looking to start filming some brand new courses in the next few weeks.
In addition, I’m now offering 3 different options for my signature 30-lesson course, Photography On The Brain, that are designed to better match a variety of budgets and commitment levels.
ESSENTIALS gets you unlimited access to all 30 lessons and downloadable PDF assignments, at the lowest price I’ve ever offered. (Even lower with the discount below!)
WORKSHOP adds full forum access where you can share you own insight, post your images for critique, and get input from me and other students.
MENTORSHIPgoes even deeper by adding personal coaching with a series of 4 one-hour video calls. This is the ultimate way to keep your motivation up and get targeted instruction and insight as you progress through the lessons.
Photography On The Brain is still the most thought-provoking instruction on composition and creativitythat I’ve ever offered.
I cover such a wide variety of topics that you are guaranteed to come away with a huge batch of new ideas, confidence and inspiration.
If you want to be better at composition gain more creative confidence, then I strongly urge you to check out this course, because I know it will help you expand your creative skills in a big way.
With three different video call options that range from 30-minute Quick Coaching sessions, 60 minute 1:1 sessions and an extended series of 4 one-hour monthly sessions, I can give you one-on-one advice, targeted instruction, and provide critiques, direct feedback and direction that will help you progress in your current photography life.
Whether you just need quick answers about a specific topic you’re struggling with, insight about how to better apply a certain creative technique, or if you want more in-depth feedback and ongoing follow-up, this is an incredible option for learning.
Awesome New Course Interface and iOS App
I’m so excited about my new course site, which is built with the Teachable interface. The user dashboard and lesson pages are so easy to navigate, and they look great! You can view the lesson videos and assignment briefs with unlimited access on any device, and there’s even a free iOS app you can use for streamlined viewing of lesson material when you’re offline.
I actually did a 12-week online singing/vocal course last winter that was built with the the same framework, and I was really impressed by the clean format and ease of access that Teachable offers. That’s why I’m using it for my own courses, and I think you’re really going to like how it looks and functions.
Limited Time Launch Discount!!!
Finally, to celebrate the launch of my new course site, I’m offering my readers a special limited time discount code for Photography On The Brain.
Use coupon code LAUNCH20 at checkout to save 20% on either theESSENTIALS or WORKSHOP tiers. (This code is only good for the next two weeks.)
My readers have been incredibly supportive over the years, and that’s why I’m so excited about my new course site. I know that you guys like to learn from me, and you deserve the best possible user experience to access and absorb the information that I share.
I’m looking forward to building and uploading more courses in the coming weeks and months, but for now, I encourage you to check out the site, try out my free color course, and the share my courses with your other photographer friends.
When you’re traveling, it’s always a good idea to travel light. The fewer things you’re carrying, the easier it is for you to move around. However, when you’re a photographer, it can be quite challenging since DSLR cameras are quite heavy and bulky.
A smartphone can be all you need for your next landscape photography adventures. You just need to know how to find the best exposure along with other tips and you should be able to produce really great images.
In this guide, you’ll learn about the 15 best smartphone landscape photography tips for your next nature travel!
Tips for Landscape Photography Using Smartphone
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Ready to get started?
Make sure to take note of the following tips. They’ll help you get the best landscape photos using just your smartphone.
1. Finding the Best Exposure
Sometimes when you shoot during the sun’s peak time, the exposure levels may be too much. You must do more than tap, focus, and shoot to have the best landscape images. iPhone users need to slide up or down the screen to adjust exposure levels. On an android phone camera phone like Samsung, find a light bulb at the bottom part and slide left to right to change the exposure.
2. Use the Rule of Thirds
The next thing to do is to compose your shot. It would be better if you put a horizon line on your screen. Try searching on your settings app or directly within the camera app to add grid lines.
It would be best if you focused on your subject to make the rule of thirds. For instance, you want to take a flower with a landscape scene in the background. Often, we want to put the flower or the object at the center. However, in the rule of thirds, it will be more pleasing when the things are in the left-most or right-most quadrants of the grid lines.
Reading from left to right is ideal for putting your subject on the left vertical line. By doing this, your eye will be given a flow, which also conveys movement and direction.
3. Ensure a Straight Horizon
Aside from using the grid line feature for the rule of thirds, you can also use it to make sure to get the horizon straight.
As a landscape photographer, do this one right so you will save time in straightening up your smartphone images in the post-production.
4. Check Camera Settings
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Your phone can undoubtedly take a great landscape photo in its automatic settings, but let’s push things a little further.
Change into the “pro” mode on your phone if it allows you to adjust settings manually. If it doesn’t, you can modify settings like ISO, shutter speed, and white balance using an app like Moment, Lightroom, or MuseCam.
In landscapes, altering the white balance is often crucial. Being able to tone down some of the highlights from a bright sky or bring up the shadows in the foreground is essential. You also need to know how to alter your white balance after you have taken the shot.
It will give you much more flexibility in your editing (particularly on occasions when you want to warm up the tones in a beautiful sunset, for example).
5. Shoot Too Early or Too Late
The time of the day is a significant factor in landscape photography. No, it is EVERYTHING! I suggest you check the night before what time the sunrise and sunset will be. Then, set your alarm to capture the sunlight slowly rising. Also, ensure you are in a gorgeous location on top of a mountain, near bodies of water, or by the beach.
On the other hand, you can also stay out late. You will witness shades of yellow and orange when you wait for the golden hour. Note that midday is not a good time to shoot in raw format due to the shadows created by the overhead light.
6. Use the Autofocus or Auto Exposure Lock Feat
New smartphone cameras have the capability to autofocus subjects with every move of the lens same goes for the exposure. You can do manual control by tapping on the object you want to focus on, and the rest of the background will blur.
Long press the screen to lock in the amount of exposure and focus of your preference. This feature works well for iPhone mobile photography.
7. Try Wide and Zoom Lenses
You can also buy different interchangeable lenses available online or in tech shops to enhance your camera phone. Wide lenses enable you to widen and double the field of view. Meanwhile, telephoto lenses allow you to have a digital zoom without making the landscape photos pixelated.
Do not be afraid to experiment with your wide and zoom lenses in taking photos. Give it a try, especially since some smartphone cameras do not have a wide camera mode.
8. Post Edit Landscape Photos
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The debate about whether to shoot in raw and leave it as is or use editing apps has gone on for years. Some people would want to maintain the landscape photos they took without processing them afterward. However, did you know that you can enhance the scene’s colors when you post-edit the pictures?
There are free and low-cost editing apps available to install, like Snapseed and VSCO, with decent presets for landscape photography. VSCO is best used for minor adjustments like brightness, contrast, and sharpness. It will also let you adjust the filter intensity. You can opt for paid editing apps to enjoy more editing features.
Lightroom and Photoshop can help you remove distracting elements. You can use these editing tools using your phone and computer.
Therefore, you’ll need to load your images onto your computer anytime you need to make adjustments that demand more processing power, such as removing rocks, adding a dramatic sky, or making other changes.
9. Get Low
Since most mobile phones have wide-angle lenses, going close to the topic can make it much more intriguing. Your foreground will appear longer and more fascinating in your photos if you get down low. They will notice features that previously would not have stood out, like shrubs, flowers, and rock faces.
You may give your image a lovely balance by having the foreground and background meet in the bottom third. Mobile phones frequently include a thirds overlay that will help you do this more evenly while also assisting you in maintaining the alignment of the images.
The pictures don’t look all that attractive from above. However, the images seem more unique and intimate when you look at them directly down on your knees. It’s comparable to bending to take a child’s picture.
10. Use a Tripod or a Stabilizer
Did you know that a DSLR camera has a more prominent camera shake than a smartphone one?
On the market, most mobile phones offer built-in image stabilization. However, if your phone has a high-megapixel sensor, it tends to be very sensitive to motion blur. And it can give your sharp photos. However, this won’t eliminate motion blur if you utilize long exposures, time lapses, or other features.
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Invest in a good tripod or stabilizer. The ones for smartphones do not cost a fortune. Make sure they are also handy and not bulky for your light travels.
11. Try Timelapse
This type of shot is quite simple, thanks to built-in smartphone stabilization and computational photography, which eliminates all the arithmetic and post-production work. With the help of time-lapse photography, you may view the passage of time in precise seconds. You can observe patterns and waves in the sky in even a minute-long clip that are too sluggish to be visible with the bare eyes.
A tripod or phone stabilizer will be essential for creating excellent time-lapses. Set it up, pick the recording speed, then allow the phone to record for however long it is necessary.
Tips for using timelapse for your smartphone landscape photography:
5x Speed – capturing people and their emotions
10x Speed – when the photographer is on the move, like walking, running, on car rides, and even on planes.
30x Speed – works well when using a tripod to record motion in a city or other setting. Excellent for recording weather for 10 to 30 minutes. A 15-second video is produced after 7.5 minutes of recording.
120x Speed – for dramatic weather changes and fluctuating light conditions. Imagine converting a downpour into a beautiful evening. Thirty minutes of the recording are needed to create a 15-second video at this Speed,
12. Feature a Strong Foreground
Spend a few minutes looking around for something you can include in your shot to help the area come to life when you’re shooting your photograph at the top of the hill. In your scenes, look for foreground interest. In landscape photography, you can use things like tree stumps, moss-covered boulders, and even some gorgeous wildflowers to draw attention to a location.
13. Flip Your Phone to Get Close to the Water
This trick will leave you completely astounded. You need to come up close to the surface to see reflections in puddles. When you look down at them, all you will see is the sky, not the scene that is taking place in front of you. But if you don’t want to immerse the bottom half of your phone in water, the way we hold our phones naturally makes finding the puddles challenging.
So, to get around this, simply flip your phone over and start taking pictures! I also employ this technique when photographing tiny flowers, fungi, or other difficult-to-approach subjects.
14. Play with Distance in Smartphone Photography
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Note: If your subject is a wild animal, disregard this advice. It would be best if you kept animals at a safe distance. If your background is dull, dimly lit, or very distracting, approach near and allow your subject takes up most of the screen.
Try to back up to a medium distance for dynamic action photos. Be in a position just far enough to fit your subject’s entire height in the frame.
Try backing up even more and using a person, animal, or item in the middle distance to produce a sense of enormous scale to highlight a beautiful background.
15. Try Burst in Moving Objects
When you have a moving objects like animals or vehicles in your smartphone photography, try using burst mode to capture them. It will give you a varied range of photo options.
Using the burst mode will reduce your chance of the camera shaking because you only need to touch the shutter when you start and stop taking pictures. As a result, you’ll be able to quickly shoot a series of photos that you may evaluate afterward to select the best and most precise ones.
Know Your Smart Camera Phone
For all these tips to work, you need to know your phone. Smartphones have different camera settings and features. Most of the time, quality precedes price.
Although most cameras on the market have built-in stabilization, this won’t be sufficient to prevent motion blur when capturing long exposure photos, such as time-lapses and other similar photographs. Perhaps the best investment you can make to steady your smartphone and save time is to purchase a small, affordable phone stand or tripod.
Smartphone landscape photography
Using smartphone cameras in landscape photography is a very convenient way of taking photos. However, if you plan to do this often, make sure to have enough phone memory or storage for your editing apps and pictures.
Also, remember that the key to getting great photos lies in your camera sensor size. The quality of your images will improve as the sensor size increases. It would also be nice if your camera phone had a great night mode feature, even in dark scenes and low-light places.
Haze can be a photographer’s ally, but it is a trouble to endure most of the time. Misty mornings allow us to create fascinating and subtly beautiful images. But how can we ensure that visuals are radiant with charmed captures rather than dissipate into a photo setback?
To reduce the haze in landscape photography, add a polarizer to the scene to reduce the scattered light. After taking the picture, you may use a combination of the Dehaze, Clarity, and Contrast changes in the photo editor (particularly Lightroom) to reduce the haze effect and improve the clarity of the picture. You can also use Auto Tone in Photoshop.
Read on to learn how to clean up haze from your photos and reduce unwanted haze as you take the shot.
What Causes Landscape Haze?
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Haze results when dust, smoke, water, or other airborne pollutants scatter light as it travels through the atmosphere. As humidity rises, these particles often enlarge, further reducing visibility. Haze may soften a view and lessen the sharpness of landscape components.
Photographing in the haze is significantly different from photographing in clear weather. With proper knowledge, these climatic events might make your photographs more exciting.
How to Reduce Unwanted Haze in the Field As You Take The Shot
After setting up your photo arrangement, you notice some haze. How do you eliminate it?
Bring the Correct Gear
You can bring a UV filter, skylight filters, a tripod, and wet-weather gear for the least chance of getting ominous hazy shots (including a lens cloth).
A wide-angle lens may be helpful when using an SLR camera, or you might carry a long lens to emphasize the photo’s depth. Using a tripod allows you to experiment with exposure settings, and an open mind is vital when photographing haze.
Choose the Best Time to Avoid Haze
Due to the day’s high temperatures, atmospheric haze is more frequent in the afternoon and evening. The quantity of haze rises due to the warmer air expanding to accommodate more particles. The daytime increase in winds also stirs up more haze and other particles into the air, adding to the haze effect.
Often, haze is the least prevalent in the morning since the air is cool, less humid, and moist. There is also naturally less haze when the sun is directly above since the light passes through the atmosphere the least.
Reduce the Haze Through A Polarizing Filter
Atmospheric haze is essentially light dispersed by moisture and airborne particles. A polarizing filter will eliminate this undesired haze before taking the picture. A polarizing filter will also improve the clarity and sharpness of the scene’s objects by reducing the amount of dispersed light entering the lens.
Remove the Atmospheric Haze
Atmospheric haze is often to blame for nature photos that are murky, dusty, and have the dreaded blue color. A UV filter or skylight filter will eliminate any air haze in your photograph.
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Your lens may be shielded from dirt, grime, and scratches by a high-quality UV filter without compromising the color, contrast, or exposure of your pictures. A UV filter or skylight filter decreases the likelihood of a blue cast, which will also improve the clarity and accuracy of your photos.
Modify Your Angle
The sun may lessen haze by adjusting the camera’s angle concerning the light source. Unfortunately, it is only sometimes possible to dramatically alter the camera’s orientation.
You could think about shifting the light’s axis, however. If you return to the same spot later in the day, the sun will be positioned differently concerning the camera.
Play Around with Exposure
With a long exposure, you may capture the illusion of movement in a slow-moving mist and create a clear contrast adjustment between blurred and static elements in your shot.
Even the most seasoned photographers may learn a lot by photographing hazy and foggy landscapes, so make sure you spend the time experimenting with exposure settings.
Balance is Important
Because hazy situations often lack color, it is crucial to pay attention to the color balance and lower the likelihood of getting boring, vanilla photos. Ensure your white balance is in order to balance the cold tones of early morning. You may also want to think about shooting in RAW to have additional post-processing possibilities.
Pro tip: To portray your people as black shadows, make sure that you expose depending on the haze, not the subject. Exposing the haze gives this transient phenomenon additional complexity and texture.
How to Remove Haze in a Landscape Image?
We provided some ideas on reducing haze in the photo in the first part of this article, which you may utilize when shooting on location. However, how can you lessen its effects post-processing?
Many methods will work to remove haze from a photograph, and a more effective strategy is to combine many modifications to get the desired effects.
Use Dehaze To Remove Haze
The Basic panel in Lightroom has the Dehaze slider. Dehaze may be used to decrease haze across the whole picture. However, this modification may also result in saturated colors and a darkened picture. Therefore, use cautiously and in conjunction with increasing exposure and lowering colour saturation.
You may also use Dehaze with the Masks above the Basic panel. Using a mask, you may choose which parts of the picture the Dehaze effect is applicable.
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For tiny areas, use the paintbrush tool. The Grad Filter might be helpful if the sun comes from one side since it allows you to choose vast areas of your picture.
Clear out the Haze with Clarity
You may boost the mid-tone intensity with the Clarity slide. Choose the Natural or Classic settings first since they are the most effective when you want to keep highlighting detail.
Make a white-balance adjustment or an Auto Levels adjustment before utilizing the Clarity tool, ideally by using the individual Red, Green, and Blue Channel modes.
It is doubtful that the Structure slider will improve much, although it depends on how bad the haze is. Images with greater detail and slight haze may show enhancements. Move the Clarity and Structure sliders to the left gradually, staying at low values if you want to add haze creatively.
Set the Blacks and the Whites Apart
You may wish to change the black and white levels after adjusting the mid-tones using the Clarity slider. The benefit of this strategy is that you may alter each of them separately to get the desired outcome.
Any dark tones in the photograph can be washed away by the haze. But because the black levels may be affected by the Dehaze and Contrast sliders, it is a good idea to recheck them after each change.
Make the Tonal Curve Adjustments
Just below the Basic Panel is where you will find the Tone Curve Panel. In a setup, the haze often appears when the left side of the curve’s solid line is higher than the dotted line. Click on one of the dots on the left side of the curve and drag it closer to the dotted line to lessen the haze effect.
The Tonal Curve provides access to precise tone alterations throughout the whole image. You may choose one of the preset tone options and fine-tune any tonal values. While you may adjust certain tones, the changes may affect the whole picture.
White Balance Correction
Haze may make your White Balance do bizarre things, depending on where you are and what time of day it is. Haze, for instance, may artificially warm the image and filter out blue tones. As an alternative, your shot can have blue color casts.
You have great versatility when you take your pictures in RAW. A photograph in RAW format may always have its White Balance changed without degrading the image’s quality.
The NeutralHazer Approach
Paid software is available to reduce haze for individuals who want to do it entirely under their control. NeutralHazer is a plugin for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements that determines the air thickness in each pixel, allowing the user to define the boundaries between the foreground and background.
NeutralHazer is a unique tool since it allows users to choose the covered background and foreground sections, the strength of the impact on each of them, and the transition between the two areas.
Add Contrast
You may restore contrast to your image by using the Contrast slider. Be careful that changing the contrast will influence all tones, including black, mid-tones, and whites. You could utilize the Clarity slider if you don’t want to affect the blacks and whites.
It is also a fantastic place to experiment using the Unsharp Mask technique and adjustment in Adobe Camera Raw. For this “haze removal” approach, you do a Local Contrast Enhancement utilizing Radius rather than the more extreme value shift in a typical Unsharp Mask procedure called Amount.
Haze is Not Always A Bad Thing
Haze may significantly affect your image and limit your ability to see what is in front of you. Even while this can at first look terrible, it can be a positive thing! Haze may provide a dynamic layer of mood and atmosphere to your photographs, altering how viewers may interpret them.
Haze may be used successfully in a landscape photo to enhance the composition and the message you convey about the scene.
For instance, haze may create a cluttered backdrop, create separation from subjects, capture images like the sun’s color and enhance a picture’s atmosphere and warmth. Consider inventive methods to include the haze in the composition so that it tells a powerful tale
Conclusion
Use a polarizer to remove scattered light for a crisper picture if you wish to lessen it, or shoot in RAW and apply various modifications while editing the picture. Consider using the lighting and including the haze as a design element for a fantastic job.
Black and white photography is simply a picture taken that has no colors in it. Black and white only shows light intensity, it does not show the light’s frequency which is what gives light different colors to our eyes.
This type of photography is unique because it is not what is typically shared on Instagram and places like that. If you just bought a new pair of shoes or a new shirt, and you want to share pictures of yourself wearing your new stuff, black and white is a terrible choice because nobody will be able to see the awesome colors you’re wearing.
Even though black and white photos can look totally boring and are probably a bad choice for a lot of things, there are some techniques that are unique to black and white which aren’t as easily accomplished in color photography. One of those things is changing the impression of the scene by changing the intensity of specific colors in the scene. If you do this with a color photo you’ll probably end up with a really horrible image because the color adjustments will not look anything like reality and most people will find it pretty bad.
But, with black and white there is no color, so changes to colors equate to changes in light intensity only. One method for doing this is to use a B&W color filter called a red filter. Red filter’s are specially designed to block out blue. This causes all the blue in a scene to get a lot darker and can be useful for increasing the drama and immediacy of the scene.
In the digital age we don’t have to use an actual Red filter, we can adjust whatever we want digitally. Ain’t that fun? Below is a comparison showing how an image without and with a red filter might look in your photo. No other edits have been added except the red filter.
Another cool thing that black and white can do is show some kinds of visual patterns more obviously than color. I have to be careful when saying that because some patterns are not as easy to see with black and white. It’s mostly patterns of light and shadows that are most apparent with black and white photography.
Black and white photography can be a fun distraction, or it can be a professional pursuit. It’s really up to you.
Let me start by saying, many who are interested in photography always want to know if they should buy a real camera or not… the answer is simple: if you are interested in photography, and you are not happy with your phone, for whatever reason, buying a “real” camera, could be an interesting way to continue exploring your photography hobby.
One myth of getting a “real” camera is that it’s always about getting “better quality” pictures. While that is often true, getting a real camera isn’t just about getting a higher quality picture. A major reason for the real camera is also to give you something to think about with regards to your photography. And in thinking about it, you may find that there are things you would like to do with the camera that become part of your personal style or exploration of photography.
I think that if you focus only on the “quality” aspect of the hardware you start to miss out on the bigger picture of being a photographer. Quality is one of those things that tends to even out quite a bit over time. Even today a lot of the latest cellphones can take great pictures when conditions allow for it.
That is why I started www.learnphotographyskills.com. I really wanted to expand on the skills that photographers can have instead of focusing solely on the quality of the camera. A lot of the information that is out there is more about gear than skills.
And a lot of the skills that are shown out there, are not real skills. Skills are not necessarily a thing that is super entertaining. But when you go on these websites such as Instagram, there’s a very strong focus on entertainment and attention grabbing. Just because something is entertaining, doesn’t make it good or correct. Should you waste time trying to learn or understand silly skills that are just used to get likes on Instagram? Or should you invest in getting real knowledge that is going to allow you to create your own concepts?
It’s a chicken before the egg situation. If all you do is seek out the end results, you’re putting the chicken before the egg. But you can’t make your own chickens, if you don’t learn about the egg. You know what I mean? Getting real skills is getting eggs. When you invest in skills, you’ll have the ability to create your own concepts that people can find entertaining rather than just chimping out and doing a monkey see monkey do copycat of some junk you saw on Instagram.
Not everyone will agree with me on that, in fact, many people will find it annoying. The reason is usually because they don’t have the skills, and they know they don’t. So, if the world is based on skills, they lose. Therefore, these people will often advocate against learning skills, against investing in your hobby, against real active participation in the learning process. These people who think like this are everywhere. They’re on Youtube, they’re on Instagram, they’re on Facebook. They thrive on these platforms where thought is minimized, and action is maximized. Action without thought is the survival characteristic of people on social media.
If you really want to get good at any subject, it’s important to realize that it’s not an overnight kind of thing. You’ve got to have a fundamental understanding of the subject as your foundation. Having a strong foundation allows you to grow in more directions than you would without that foundation. That helps you be a better problem solver when you’re out there in the field.
People often think photography is “easy”. Well, imagine the stress of having to photograph something that is only going to happen once in a lifetime? Such as a wedding or maybe a championship match between two baseball teams. And what are you going to tell your boss when he asks if you got a shot of the player hitting a home run, but you missed it because your shutter speed was wrong? You can’t rewind the clock. You can’t undo. You can’t try again. There’s only ONE SHOT in photography, and that’s what makes photography hard. And that’s why you need to make sure your skills are rock solid if you want to be a photographer.
If you want to start on this journey, check out my Manual Mode Bootcamp. It could be the thing that changes your life!
