If you use the flash built in to your camera, you don't have many options. However, if you use an external flash you can change the small, direct light source of your flash head to a large diffuse source by bouncing the flash off of the ceiling.

Most external flash units sold today have heads that swivel and tilt for directing the flash. Directing the flash at the ceiling makes the ceiling your lights source. In my tip Quality of Light and the Size of Your Light Source I talked about how the the size of your light source affects the quality of light, larger generally being considered better. In this case, the light reflecting off of the ceiling is significantly larger than your flash head. The resulting light on your subject is softer, shadows are not as harsh and the lighting is more even throughout the subject area.

To effectively use bounce flash, you need a ceiling that is not too high. The higher the ceiling, the higher the light loss (refer back to my tip on flash to subject distance). If the ceiling is textured your light will be more diffuse than if it is not. Bouncing your flash off of a coloured ceiling will introduce that colour into your photo so using this technique with white ceilings works best, however, ceilings with a slight wam tint may add a nice warm tone to your image. Your flash should be directed at about 45 degrees to the ceiling though the distance to your subject will determine the actual angle you may need.

Finally, use your histogram or image review on your camera. If you find your images are a little dark your flash may not have enough power to effectively bounce off the ceiling though you can increase your ISO to negate that effect.

The two photos below are images of my neice. The photo on the left was shot direct with flash. The flash was mounted on a bracket above the camera to help eliminate red eye and direct any shadows down and behind her. As you can see, the lighting is flat and unflattering. The image on the right was shot with the same set up but with the flash pointed toward the ceiling at about a 45 degree angle. As you can see the shadows are softer, skin tones are more appealing and she has gained a little bit of warmth compared to the first shot.

Being able to control your light is one of the basic steps to better photography.

Until next time, happy shooting.

Lenses have many apertures available for use.  Aperture is used to modify the amount of light entering the camera body and can have the effect of increasing or decreasing shutter speeds and depth of field. It also has an effect on the sharpness of your image.

Stopping down a lens (using a smaller f-stop / a larger f number) has the effect of perceived increases in sharpness.  Because of aberrations and diffraction though, a lenses optimal sharpness occurs a couple stops before maximium aperture, which for most lenses is between f5.6 and f11 depending on the lens.

Until next time, happy shooting.

Note: Updated April 4, 2008

Each of these can be used to make photograph small items to some extent.

Bellows and Extension Tubes
Bellows and extension tubes both operate using the same principle. Moving the lens further away from the camera body will allow your lens to focus closer which means you can get the lens closer to your subject, and therefore, render the subject larger on your piece of film or digital sensor.

Extension tubes are similar to a lens but do not contain any glass and have a camera mount on one end and a lens mount on the other. To use them, attach the tube to the camera using the camera mount as you would a lens, then add a lens to the extension tube as you normally would a lens to a camera. Extension tubes may be stacked together for further magnification.

Bellows also have both a camera mount and lens mount. The difference is both mounts are attached to a rail system and flexible bellows that allows the lens and body to change distances between each other. By increasing the distance between lens and camera, you can increase or decrease your magnification factor.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Bellows units are larger and require more care so that the bellows unit remains flexible and free of light leaks. Extension tubes are solid so require less care but do not offer the flexibility of variable magnification of your subject. More expensive extension tubes and bellows units offer automatic aperture control allowing you to focus with the full availability of light before stopping down to take the photograph. Units that do not feature automatic aperture require lenses that can manually be stopped down which must be done prior to taking the photograph. With both of these systems, the further the lens moves from the camera, the less light you will have available with which to accurately focus and shutter speeds will be longer.

If your camera does not offer TTL metering (older, fully manual SLR's may not) there are some complicated formulas for arriving at the proper exposure settings for a given magnification that are well beyond the scope of today's tip.

Close Up Filters
Close up filters also allow you to move in closer to your subject. They are essentially small magnifying glasses that screw on to the front of your lens. These are relatively inexpensive and provide a decent quality image for the price. Close up filters are a good option if macro photography is something you do only occasionally and wish to keep your costs down. They are available in a variety of magnifications and do not require any additional exposure. Close-up filters may be stacked for increased magnification.

Lens Reversing Rings
A lens reversing ring offers the least amount of flexibility of any of the options I have talked about so far. This ring screws on to the filter threads of one lens and a second lens threads on to the reversing ring the same way. You end up with two lenses stacked together, front elements facing each other. The trick here is that you use a longer focal length lens coupled with a shorter (the longer attached to the camera body) to increase magnification. This is generally a very impractical solution. It is awkward, may put unnecessary amount of stress on the front barrels of the lenses and exposes your rear lens element of the furthers lens to possible damage. I have done this with a 200mm and a 50mm lens to achieve a 4:1 magnification though.

As with so many things in photography, there is more than one way to get a task accomplished. Macro photography is the same. I have talked about 5 different options today and in my last tip. What is best for you will depend upon your required quality, ease of use and budget. Sometimes, to get big impact photos, you have to think small.

Until next time, happy shooting.

A friend and fellow photographer, Scott, recently put on a presentation discussing early morning photography. During that presentation he was asked why use one macro lens over another. It was a good question and one that I will answer here for you today. This is for the most part, specific to people shooting with SLR type camera's with interchangeable lenses. While other camera's may have the ability to use screw on or accessory lenses in conjunction with the existing lens, I am not talking about that today.

First, why a macro lens. Macro lenses enable the photographer to photograph small subjects in great detail capturing up to life size reproductions the subject. 1:1 life size simply means that the images appears the same size on the film plane (or digital sensor) as it is in real life. Macro lenses are typically very sharp which help in capturing fine detail of small subjects. They also allow for necessary, precise manual focusing.

For 35 mm digital photography, most macro lenses will be somewhere within the following set of focal ranges: 50mm, 60mm, 90mm, 100mm, 105mm, 150mm, 180mm and 200mm. Of course, not all manufacturers make all focal lengths but most will make three of them. The 50 and 60 are generally considered wide angle macro lenses, the 90, 100 and 105 normal macros and 150, 180 and 200 telephoto macro lenses. So what is the difference?

The difference between the focal lengths of any lens is field of view. A 50mm wide angle lens macro lens has a greater field of view (about 46 degrees) than a 180mm telephoto macro (about 13 degrees). This is important because the wider the field of view, the more background will be a factor in your image. Generally you want to sufficiently blur the background to help bring emphasis to the subject but not necessarily always.

For comparison, I will talk about the lenses as used when photographing a subject at 1:1 (or life-size) that does not occupy the entire frame: a subject with a background.

A wide angle macro lens will incorporate more of the background than a medium or telephoto macro. At the same time, the working distance (the distance between the camera and subject) will be closer when working with a wide angle macro than with an medium focal length macro or telephoto.

Working distance is a factor because the more distance between the camera and the subject, the greater ability you as a photographer will have to use light modifiers to manipulate your image. Another advantage is that when your subject can move such as butterfly, you can help prevent them from being too skittish and walking away on you by staying as far back as possible.

Where is the advantage? Most people I know will say that the advantage lies with the longer focal length macro lenses. They narrow field of view and a greater working distance from your subject typically help to create fantastic images. The drawback is that longer focal length macro lenses cost significantly more money any are heavier. If you need to carry your equipment long distances, weight may be a concern.

If you are interested in macro photography, you can start with some less expensive alternatives. Extension tubes allow you focus closer than a given lens normally allows and close up diopters may help you as well. Next week I will talk a little bit about these and other options.

For a look at some of my own macro photography, visit http://potd.chrisempey.com/archives/macro/

Until next time, happy shooting.

Using colour as your subject is a good method is a great way to both practice your compositional skills and to add some new excitement to your photos.  In order to capitalize on the use of colour as your main subject within your photograph, you must have strong compositional form with your photos. 

Colour in strong compositional forms abounds everywhere.  Capturing those colours and forms can lead to wonderful photographs.

Until next time, happy shooting.

I have mentioned in a past post but Graham pointed out that I haven't really explained what Magic Hour is.

(Click through to view full size)

Magic hour is the first hour of sunlight after sunrise and the last hour of sunlight before sunset. During this time the quality of light is softer, more diffuse, producing more pleasing tonal transitions and shadows. The colour of the light is much warmer during midday and the directional quality of the light is a wonderful tool at enhancing texture. The soft light helps to prevent the chance of blown out highlights as the typical tonal range from darks to lights is smaller. The magic hour certainly does not always last one hour. Depending on your location it could be much longer or much shorter.

(Click through to view full size)

Between the two options of shooting in the morning or shooting in the evening magic hour periods, I believe that the morning provides better results. The air is typically calmer. There is typically less particulate matter in the air providing for clearer views. One of the other big factors in my preference to photograph in the morning light as opposed to the evening light is there are much fewer people around as sunrise to interfere with the photos. Most people simply do not have a tendency to be up at 4:30 am to watch a sunrise. I know I sure don't ...unless I am shooting!

(Click through to view full size)

Not to be overlooked either is the time before the sun rises and after the sun sets. There continues to be wonderful light in the sky that is useful for making beautiful images, so be sure not to put your camera away too early.

(Click through to view full size)

Until next time, happy shooting.

The original and larger versions may be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7199627@N03/2108070562/ and is from flickr.com user l3xh2k.

I think it is an interesting photo that does a great job of depicting motion, though changing one setting on the camera could have made it a much stronger photograph. This photo is being illuminated with two light sources, the ambient light from the roller rink and the flash from the photographer's camera. The racers are moving fast enough that the 1/60 second exposure shows some motion within the frame. The flash has provided most of the exposure within the image which has provided a sharp image of the racers, effectively stopping their motion. In this image, the flash fired at the beginning of the exposure, front curtain sync. The results of first (or front) curtain sync are a static image with motion trails flowing in front of the subject. This of course is a little distracting.

Now let's consider a similiar photo.

This photo and larger versions may be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/photos-martha/422029906/ and is from flicker user photos-martha.

In this photograph, the image is again lit by two sources, the ambient light of the roller rink and the light of the flash. The difference is that in this photo, the flash was fired at the end of the exposure. Using 2nd (or rear) curtain sync this way causes the motion blur of your subject to appear behind the sharp area of the subject in the photograph and enhances the effect of the motion.

In both of these images, the effects could have been exagerated by using an even longer shutter speed.

When I spoke to a few of my photographer friends about front and rear curtain sync, we could not come up with a good example of when you might wish to use front curtain sync. The best answer I could come up with was to use front curtain sync when you are trying to capture a specific point in time and rear curtain sync every other time. In other words, if you are capturing a subject that requires a highly critical point in time capture, then front curtain sync would be your best best as the flash will fire as soon as the exposure begins. Any other time you are going to get a more pleasing image with rear curtain sync. Read your manual to find out how to enable this feature with your camera.

Another note to consider, if your shutter speed during exposure is sufficiently fast enough to stop motion on it's own, then neither front or rear curtain sync will make a difference either way.

I would like to thank flickr users l3xh2k.and photos-martha for the use of their images with this tip. If you have a question about photography or a subject you would like to see me cover, please leave a comment after the tip.

A few previous tips on using flash are:
Flash to Subject Distance - Controlling Light
Turn Off Your Flash
External Flash

But what about the human error.

As a photographer, I have been called upon by friends and family when something has gone wrong with their photos and it has usually been because of their own mistake. Fortunately, I have not been in that situation...yet. When it does happen though, I will be prepared with a bit of knowledge and a few pieces of important software so that I may recover my photos.

The first thing you want to do when you realize that you have deleted photos from your memory cardis to stop using that card entirely. Remove it from the camera, mark in a way that you will not reuse it and replace the card with a spare. This is the best thing you can do for yourself at this point.

Most cameras store images using the FAT file system. As an image is written to the card, the location on the card for that photograph is written to an index. When a file is erased, the information in the index is deleted the location is marked as available for more data to be recorded there. The original photo still exists, there is simply no index entry to point to the file. This is where the software comes in.

There are many pieces of software available, both free and commercially, to help recover lost or deleted files. Several brands of flash memory cards sell or include recovery software with their cards including Sandisk and Lexar. Along with the commercial software that I have received with my memory cards, I also keep a copy of Undelete Plus on my thumb drive for quick retrieval of lost photos.

The process is very easy. Using a card reader, insert your memory card into the card reader. Start your choice of file recovery software, choose the drive you card is represented by and start the recovery. Each piece of software will be a little bit different but the general idea is the same. Depending on the software, the erased images may automatically be saved to a location on your hard drive, or you may have to select which images you wish to recover.

Does this process work on every lost file? No. But if you follow my first instruction and stop using the card, you have a much better chance of recovery.

Every camera bag has it's arsenal of tools and photo recovery software is one that should not be ignored.

Until next time, happy shooting.

This year I have created a small calendar, 4×6, with a single photo and all 12 months of the calendar year.  I downloaded a calendar template from the web (I wish I could remember the site to share here but I have lost it), then customized the calendar with my name and web site address and laminated the calendar to a magnet.  I am sending these calendars to new clients as a small thank you and a year long reminder of my services.  For my existing clients, I have customized their calendar with a photo from one of their sessions over the previous year.

Each of the two calendars above links to a full size version of the calendar for you to print and use yourself over the coming year.

Use of your photos does not have stop with a picture in a frame.  Local labs and online printing services offer a very expansive range of products to use with your photographs, though you do not always have pay a lot for them.  A little bit of time on your own and you can have a few nice products to pass around to your friends and family

This is my last tip for 2007. I wish everyone a happy Christmas and holiday season.   If you happen to receive any new photo goodies over the next little while, remember to read the manual… there is a wealth of information included in that little book.

Until next time, happy shooting.

In both Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Photoshop, the process is almost identical, and very easy in both programs. Below are the instructions:

1. Duplicate the background layer of your image. To do this, right click on the background layer in the layers palette and choose duplicate layer.
2. In Photoshop - Create a channels adjustment layer and convert the image to black and white
   In Photoshop Elements - Convert the duplicate layer to black and white (CTRL-ALT-B)
   1. Create a layer mask on the black and white layer you created. You can install a utility to enable layer masks for Photoshop Elements here.
3. With the layer mask selected, select a brush and pick the black colour from the colour selector.
4. Next, set the opacity of the brush quite low, 10 or 15%. This will let you paint the colour back in to selected areas in small increments.
5. Painting successively over the same area will paint the colour back into the image more and more with each successive stroke.
6. If you restore colour to a selection of the image you still want to remain in colour, change your brush colour to white and paint back over the area you wish to remain in black and white.

The layer masks blocks the effect of the black and white layer, where you have painted black on the layer mask, the effect is blocked and as I already mentioned, setting the opacity of the brush lets you work in small increments for better control.

If you do not want to add the colour back in from the original image, but wish to paint your own colours in, then follow points 1 and 2 above then create a new layer and on that layer, again using a low opacity brush, paint the colours you want. One final step when painting this way is to change the blending mode of your layer to overlay which will make your colours transparent and let the image below show through your colour.

There are many ways in which you can uses these techniques. A little imagination and creativity can open up a new layer of your own photography.

Until next time, happy shooting.

Tools (Pressing the shortcut key multiple times rotates between tool variations):

V - Move
Z - Zoom
M - Marquee
L - Lasso
T - Type
C - Crop
J - Spot Healing Brush
B - Brush
K - Paint Bucket
O - Sponge Tool

Palette and other shortcuts:

D - Default foreground and background colours
X - Switch foreground with background colour
[ - Smaller brush size
] - Larger brush size
Shift [ - softer brush
Shift } - harder brush
F11 - Show/Hide Layers palette (F7 in Photoshop)
CTRL + - Zoom in
CTRL - - Zoom out
CTRL D - Deselect
CTRL Shift I - Invert selection
CTRL H - Hide/show elements including grid lines, guides and selection outlines

These are the shortcuts I use most of the time in my workflow. You may find other shortcuts (there are many) that you find useful.

Until next time, happy shooting.

The application of light in photography can make or break a photo. One of the things photographers do to make an outstanding photo is manipulate light to create depth, dimension and effect in their photos. They use multiple lights and light modifiers to do that.

In this photo, I have used two camera flashes, but any light source would have worked. I used one light to illuminate the rose, and the other to create the pattern on the background. Using a piece of greenery between the flash and the background created the patterns on the wall. This flash was aimed through the greenery, acting as a gobo, toward the wall. The pattern is the shadow this created. The second light was shot across the flower to illuminate it. Neither flash cast light upon the other surface. Had I been using a different type of light, one that spread out more such as a desk lamp, I would have needed to flag, or block, the light to prevent light spill.

You can see the setup I used in the following diagram:

I could have added a little more dimension to the rose by placing a white card to the left of it to reflect some of the light back into the rose on the other side. The full size image may be viewed on my Photo of the Day site.

Until next time, happy shooting.

I have talked in the past about non-destructive editing in Photoshop Elements 5 any of the full Photoshop versions including CS2 and CS3.  This week I will introduce a way to make non-destructive edits to pixel layer detail.

Several of the tools in Photoshop Elements 5, including the magic wand, spot healing, clone stamp, paint bucket and blur tool have an option to sample all layers.  This is a great tool for fixing blemishes or small areas of pixel level detail.  Remember, we use adjustment layers for as many image modifications as we can and those are not pixel level adjustments.

To use this feature, create a blank layer on top of your other layers and select the tool you would like to use.  Look in the options bar for a check box labeled Use All Layers.  If it is there, make sure it is checked then go ahead and use the tool as normal.  Your previously blank layer will now start to have modified data in it.  One of the nicest features about this is because your edits are on a new layer, you can adjust the opacity of those changes, or turn them off completely.

Taking advantage of all the features of the tools that you use is the best way to achieve your highest quality work. Non-destructive editing provides the most flexibility in post processing your images without risking a permanent modification to your actual photographic detail.

Until next time, happy shooting.