There is always great attention placed on lighting in photography and it is a key element in making your photograph becoming a compelling image for viewers.

An image that has been carefully planned in terms of lighting will be one that stands out in our minds and one that we would like to hang on our wall. This is how we summarise capturing a truly amazing image!

So let’s start being more brave with our lighting choices! It is easy to chose the softly diffused or even lighting. It is easy to work with, and subtle on our subject. Use this as your ‘safe option’ and then at the end of your shoot, be brave and try something new! I always like to hold onto the fact that learning and improving is about challenging ourselves.

So, I challenge you to begin to embrace backlighting. Have fun and explore new techniques to make our images stand out in a crowd.

I highly recommend that you shoot in RAW rather than jpeg as I often need to alter the white balance and make slight exposure adjustments after the shoot to create the perfect result! These techniques are pitched at photographers who are using DSLR Cameras with the relevant manual controls to achieve these types of results.

Technique 1: The Classic Silhouette

The classic silhouette is achieved by exposing for the bright area behind the subject, which is often, but not always, the sky. As a result the main subject becomes black or almost black. The contrast range is so high that the camera decides to meter for the brightest part of the image. Silhouettes are a powerful way to simplify an image, but it is important that the silhouetted shape is interesting enough to maintain our interest. The silhouette can even tell a story, like the image shown here.

Technique 2: Backlight + Reflector

To move away from our image being a silhouette, we need to alter the contrast range so it is not so great. We can do this be adding in more light to the front of the subject. A reflector is a really great way to do this and what you see is what you get! If you do not have a reflector, you could use a sheet of white card or even a light coloured wall will do the same trick!

Technique 3: Make an Exposure Compensation

To create an image that has a more bright and glowy feel, you might like to try this technique. I usually try to find some leaves that bright light is beaming through. Next I compose my image and then finally make an ‘exposure compensation’ of between +1 or +2 stops. You can look up the term exposure compensation in your camera’s manual to work out where this setting on your camera can be found. You will lose some detail in your background, but personally I don’t think that it matters, this style of image is more about the brightness and feel of the image.

Technique 4: Use Fill Flash

If you would like to achieve the perfect balance between your foreground subject and retain the information in the background this is the best technique to use. You will need to take test shots to find the right settings with each situation.

For this technique it is good to use a flash that can manually be altered like a Nikon Speedlight or the equivalent one for your camera body. Shoot in your camera’s manual shooting mode.

1. Place your models back to the sun to make sure they are not squinting (so you are standing in the apex of the shadow)
2. Set your camera manually to it’s maximum flash sync speed (many camera’s can be set on 1/200th, but you must read your camera manual if you do not know)
3. Use your lowest ISO possible to work with the flash (work this out when you are taking your test shots, it is usually 100 ISO)
4. Using your manual settings, alter the aperture to match the chosen ISO

You might like to also read about Neil van Niekerk’s method of always testing his fill flash shots at 1/250 @f4 @ISO 100 when photographing backlit subjects! This article can be found at …
neilvn.com/tangents/photography-techniques-taking-photos-in-harsh-sunlight/

Remember to get the image looking as well exposed as possible when shooting and then further adjustments can be made if needed using your RAW files when you edit them.

Good luck and happy shooting!
Rebecca
_____________________________________________________

The following was covered:

1. what the script does (there is a whole world of useful scripts out there and Photoshop uses many scripts internally) and how it can be modified.

2. Creating an action using the script and why the action cannot do the job without running the script.

3. Testing the action stepwise.

4. Creating a droplet from the action.

5. Demonstrating:

· how the final output has added a label below without in any way disturbing the image itself

· how Irfanview projects without resizing the image, and uses the laptop calibration profile

· how resizing an image for projection can have terrible results

· how using keystone on the projector can have terrible results

All pretty important stuff to make sure that we show our images correctly.

The creation of Actions and Droplets is also very useful for many other tasks in Photoshop, therefore the procedure will be shown in detail.

1. A Photoshop ACTION is a set of Photoshop procedures which are recorded. The ACTIONS panel lies in the RHS vertical menu bar where Styles, History, Layers etc reside.

Recording an action is well documented: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/photoshop-actions/record-action/

2. A Photoshop SCRIPT is an automated procedure for which a script is written. Many tasks in Photoshop are executed by scripts.

Scripts are listed in the File>Scripts menu below Automate

You can browse for scripts and Laod them, or you can simply copy them to the Scripts folder in the Photoshop program location.

For example:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\Scripts (for 64bit Photoshop)

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Presets\Scripts (for 32bit Photoshop x86)

You will find a number of scripts in there already, which are used internally by Photoshop.

You can find many scripts on the internet and you can modify them in Notepad.

Photoshop has to be restarted after importing a script.

3. A Photoshop DROPLET is merely an ACTION which has been converted to an Executable file which (usually) is dropped onto the desktop. Drag one or more images onto a droplet and the action is carried out on all of them.

The action Add Label Below was recorded in the set CCC_Relabel_DPI

Detailed steps

Change image to 300DPI but still same pixel dimensions (this keeps the label font size the same)

Expand canvas size by 30 pixels below with a black bar.

Apply script “AddFileNamePlus” to write a title in the black bar using image name.

Flatten image layers.

Save and close

The result is an unaltered image with a 30pixel high black bar added below containing the image title (with the .jpg extension removed)

The resulting image can now be screened in Irfanview at a 1:1 size with full colour management and without distortion caused by resampling.

When we are satisfied with the script we can create a DROPLET

File>Automate>Create Droplet

Choose the Action set and the Action that you want to carry out.

Save the Droplet in a secure location, then copy it onto your desktop, where it looks like this:

Now drag as many images as you like onto the droplet and the action “Add label below” will be automatically carried out while you go and put the kettle on.

Posted by Barney on 16/04/2103 http://barneymeyer.com/

Click to view slideshow.

Angela Booth

Angela Booth began dabbling in the darkroom art of black and white processing and printing at the age of twelve, and has been hooked on photography ever since.

For six glorious years she used incalculable quantities of other people’s chemicals, and a seemingly endless supply of photographic paper, until she had to give up the darkroom at the age of eighteen when she left home. She still misses the wonder and excitement of watching the image appear from thin air. Well, in a tray of developer, to be precise.

While finances and facilities curbed her artistic endeavours for over a decade, her love of the art form never faded. Now, as a forty-something full-time mum, she’s picking up where she left off, albeit with a crummy Canon S90 and not her beloved Pentax from long ago.

Although dreams of owning a DSLR remain just that, she’s having fun pushing the limits of her point-and-shoot camera to see what you can do when you take it off Auto and let it run freely in Manual. She can often be heard screaming at the limits of the S90’s crappy lens and almost non-existent control over depth of field.

All in good time.

Have a look in my Gallery.

Dell UltraSharp U2713H 27″ monitor with PremierColor

Experience the latest technology with the Dell^TM  UltraSharp U2713H 27″ high-performance monitor for consistent colors right out of the box.

Online Price $949

Added by Barney 15/02/2013