Infrared Light:

Using an R72 infrared filter over the lens:

Steps to test your camera for IR sensitivity:

1. Put your camera to manual mode
2. Set the exposure to approximately  1 sec shutter speed and f10
3. Take a test shot of an infrared remote (tv remote control), while pressing and holding any bottom on the remote.  
4. The brighter the dot, the more sensitive your camera is to infrared. Try different remotes, lenses, and cameras if you have them.

Steps to photograph with R72 filter:

1. Use Tripod: Place you camera on a tripod to avoid motion blur. IR filter lets in very small amount of light so your exposure will be too long for hand held shooting.
2. Focus prior to attaching the IR filter. You need to do this because the camera can't 'see' the scene with the black filter on and therefore can't focus properly. Once desired focus is achieved switch to manual focus.
3. Attach Filter. Screw on your R72 filter
   
4. Push the button.  Take take the photo.
5. Experiment with Exposure. Try various shutter speeds. Start with 15 seconds at f8, iso 100
6. White Balance:  If your camera offers a custom white balance preset, take a picture of a gray or white card with the filter on. Make sure that direct sunlight is hitting the card. Refer to your camera menu for how to set custom white balance. If everything is still coming out red, you will have to adjust the white balance in Adobe Camera RAW or any other raw editing software of your choice. This is probably the trickiest part when working with infrared filters.
   

Converting your camera to dedicated Infrared.

2 Reasons why we chose Adobe Camera Raw:

1. Adobe Camera Raw is a powerful tool that is used by advanced and professional photographers alike
2. It comes as a free plug-in with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and works great with Adobe Bridge.
   

Edit RAW, TIFF and JPEG in Adobe Camera Raw

Top 6 Raw Processing Applications:

1. Adobe Camera Raw: a free plug-in for Photoshop and Bridge and Photoshop Elements
2. Adobe Lightroom: uses exactly the same raw processing engine as Adobe Camera Raw 
3. Aperture  (mac only)
   
4. Bibble
   
5. Capture One 
6. DXO Optics
   

_{^{Video: by Robert Grant. Article: by Sasha Gitin}}

Learn From Observing:

4 Steps for Lighting to Show Texture (outdoors scenario):

1. Look at your subject to analyze what kind of texture it has.
2. Observe the direction of light that is falling on your subject. The light should skim along the top creating highlights on the edges and shadows in reliefs.  
3. Position the camera: The shadows should be directed towards the camera (angle may wary)
4. Position of the light source:  Sun moves around throughout the day. Not only it moves around (east to west) but also up and down (dawn to dusk).   Analyze what time of the day the sun will project the light on your subject at the desired angle. As a rule of thumb the lighting for texture is best early in the morning and late in the afternoon.  Note: Hard light (direct sun) will create darker shadows while diffused light (cloudy overcast) will create softer shadows.

3 Steps for Lighting to Show Texture (studio scenario):

1. Look at your subject to analyze what kind of texture it has.
2. Light against the grain.  Position the light source at the angle so that the light skims across the textured surface.  Make sure the shadows are falling towards the camera and not away.
3. Push the button. (well it a bit more complicated than that but the video above explains the details)
   

Importing your images:

Tips Using Adobe Bridge Photo Downloader.

_{^{Video: by Robert Grant. Article: by Sasha Gitin}}

^{Watch this photography tutorial video to learn the technique of perspective compression using telephoto lens.}

Photography is a magical science driven by a creative spirit. Today we would like to get into both the science and the creative part and even top it off with some magic.

Is the phenomenon of perspective compression when using telephoto lens true or myth?

When I was 12 years old  (back in Russia) I hollered to my friend Vasily to come over.  His reply was rude but clever “Hay doesn’t come to the cow.”  I have never heard that expression before and never heard it from anyone else after but it stuck with me forever.   

When photographing, one could bring the background closer to the subject without moving either the subject or the background. 

There you have it: telephoto compression phenomenon -- background appears closer to the subject when you increase the focal length of the lens.

Notice the change in images below.

So, the question is: does the perspective actually gets compressed?

The scientific answer is NO.

What actually happens is that the Angle of View changes.When the focal length of the lens changes, the angle of view also changes. The shorter the focal length of the lens the wider the angle of view. The longer the focal length of the lens the narrower the angle of view.

Notice how neither the size of the barn nor the size of the glass changed.  Only two variables changed: (1) The focal length (and simultaneously the angle of view)and (2) the distance between the subject and the camera.  So the fact that the barn visually appears closer to the subject is not because perspective has gotten compressed but simply because in the viewfinder we see a smaller portion of it. 

Here is a good visual example: Telephoto Perspective Compression.

Back to the original question again - Is telephoto compression Truth or Myth?

Let’s take a look from Creative and Magical perspective, and bring along the relativity theory:

From the point of view of the spectator, who is looking at a 2-dimensional image – the perspective was compressed and thus in my opinion the phenomenon is also TRUE.

Try applying this technique when you photograph people as well as still life and share your shots! What is your opinion on the telephoto compression theory? Do you use telephoto compression in your work?  Can you post samples?

Video: by PhotoExtremist

Watch this photography tutorial video to learn how use long exposure to capture sparklers and fireworks.

One way to enjoy sparklers and fireworks is to simply observe them as a spectator. It might also be fun to blow a few things up yourself, but as a photographer one can do what photographers do best and that is to create beautiful images using time exposure.

Evan, from PhotoExtremist.com, shared his amazing video and tips:

8 Steps to Create Long Exposures with Sparklers:

1. Tripod:
Put you camera on a tripod.

Put your camera in manual mode and get ready to set all the variables: Shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, and maybe flash.

Adjust the shutter speed to BULB mode or a slow shutter speed of your choice. You could also try using a remote or a shutter release to reduce camera shake, if you wanna go totally pro with it.


4. Aperture:

Adjust your aperture. You can experiment until you get the result you like, and then you can just leave the aperture alone if you are using the same sparklers. California candles are much brighter than sparklers though, so make sure to tighten up your aperture somewhere around f/11.

5. ISO:

I like to leave my ISO number as low as possible to eliminate noise.

6. White Balance
Use a cool white balance because sparklers are very red. Try using Tungsten or Florescent, or the lowest number in Kelvin if your camera allows it.  Mine goes down to 2500.

7. Flash
Using a flash will freeze your subject while preserving the long motion of the sparkler trails. If you do not use a flash, you will only see the sparkler trails. If you use no flash and also use a very wide aperture with a high ISO, then you will be able to see the sparkler trails AND the environment will be illuminated from the sparklers.

8. Post- Production:
You can also post process your images to make psychedelic patterns in Photoshop. Visit my Sparkler Long Exposure Tutorial on my blog to find out more about this secret trick.

Here is of the final Shots:

What Long Exposures have you created during this festive season?  Post you shots! (using "Share your Shot" ^beta link in comments box below.

_{^{Video: by Robert Grant.}}

^{Watch this photography tutorial to learn how to photograph a portrait outdoors in direct sunlight using on-camera or pop-up flash.}

Self Portrait:

We decided to make a photography tutorial with a little bit of you in it. Yes, a self portrait. By setting your DSLR camera on timer you can set up a shot and run in to be the star. Then adjusting your mode dial to aperture value or aperture priority you can easily throw the background out of focus and keep the subject, you, in sharp focus. This can be a lot of fun. You can just be yourself or create a character. In this photography lesson we also show you the effect of using the on camera or pop up flash. Give it a try and send us your self-portrait.

To post your image:  simply click on Share your shot link in comments box below.

Here is mine:

_{^{Video: by Robert Grant. Article: by Sasha Gitin}}

^{Watch this photography tutorial video to learn how to photograph flowers outdoors using macro extension tubes..}

Photographing Flowers:

Flowers are a subject matter that is fascinating to so many people.  So there is no surprise that with one quick glance you can become captivated and inspired by their beauty. The fantastic rich array of colors seem almost surreal. The variety of flower types and sizes and shapes are too many to count, from the simple daisy to the sophisticated and fragile orchid.In this tutorial we use the Iris as our subject. It's a very beautiful flower with many colors and interesting shapes which create interesting focal points or photography.

There are a few important elements to consider when creating a beautiful photograph of flowers:

Lighting: 

Flowers are very sensitive to light.  Avoid hard, direct sunlight.  Since clouds create a natural diffusion, an overcast day might be all you need.

Getting Closer: While macro lenses are specially designed for extreme close-up photography they carry a heavy price tag.  That is why using extension tubes is an inexpensive and yet effective alternative.

Extension Tubes:

Extension tubes allow any lens to focus closer than it can naturally do so.  Extension tubes do not have any optics, they simply move the lens farther apart from the digital sensor or film plane.  Tubes come in various lengths depending on the manufacturer.  Focusing closer to your subject will result in a higher magnification.  For example 31mm tube will produce greater magnification then an 11mm tube.  Tubes can also be combined. For example the combination of a 31mm and an 11mm will produce a 42mm extension and will allow for an even closer focusing.

See our earlier tutorial: Marco photography with Extension Tubes.

Please Note that extension tubes can greatly decrease Depth of Field

Depth of Field:

When photographing flowers, it is often highly effective to separate your subject from the background. Please note that when using extension tubes your Depth of Field will become really shallow.  You might need to compensate by increasing your aperture to reach a desired focus effect.See our earlier tutorial: How to photograph using selective focus.

Focal Point:

Is the point of your focus that will draw the viewers’ eye to. When photographing people, a photographer would generally focus on the eyes.  When photographing a close up of a flower, simply focus on the most attractive element “the eyes of the flower”.

Here is one of the final Shots:

This photography technique can be used on any subject that requires close up focusing. Please give this a try and share your thought and images with us.

Beverage photography is one of the most technical specialties in commercial photography. 

In this tutorial we would like to focus on the most essential technique of:  Photographing Bottles on White Background.  Different beverages require unique approach based on consistency and color of beverage and the shape of the bottle.  In this tutorial we selected a group of classic low shoulder red wine bottles.

Breakdown:

Red wine is dark in color with very limited translucency thus creating a glow of the liquid inside the bottle is relatively pointless.  However an effective technique to make the wine bottle visually more appealing is to emphasize the highlights reflected in the glass.

The glass of the bottle is highly reflective so the same law of angle of reflectance is applied to shooting the bottle as it does to photographing any reflective object.  For additional info please see our tutorial: How to Photograph Shiny Reflective Objects.

What is reflected? The bottle will reflect everything that is in front and adjacent to it at about 180 degrees.  What will show up the most is your light source.  Studio light is probably not the most appealing detail in your photograph.  One of the solutions to make your light source more appealing is to suspend a roll of diffusion in front of the light which will create long vertical reflections to emphasize the shape of the bottle.

Here is one of the final shots:

Hasselblad 6x6 with 50mm lens, f22 iso 50, Strobe Lights. Photo by Robert Grant

Equipment Used: Hasselblad with 50mm lens,  (equivalent to 21mm on 35mm sensor), 3 –strobe heads (2 side lights and one background light) Tripod, 4 foot seamless background paper on the roll, 2 rolls of drafting vellum attached to 40 inch Hollywood arms on stands.

Give this technique a try and let us know how it worked out for you.

This is our first commercial photography tutorial using strobe lighting so please share your thoughts and critique to help us make it better.

Watch this photography tutorial video to learn a technique of projecting light.

Projection “Cookie” light is widely used for creative effects in photography, film and theater.

Gobos: are generally black foam board card that are used to block out the light.

Cookie Cards: are basically Gobos with cut in shapes to allow partial light to be projected onto background, surface or onto the subject. 

There are numerous ways to use projected light for visual impact.  One of the more common uses of “Cookie”light is to create a feeling of sunlight penetrating through window or plants. 

Two images below were created inside the studio for commercial assignments one for a wallpaper ad and the other for a soft goods ad, respectively.

Cookie light was projected to simulate window sunlight. Photo by Robert Grant

Cookie light was used to suggest sunlight passing through the tree leaves. Photo by Robert Grant

Projection light can also be used creatively not only as a graphic element but also as a main light source.  Here is our final shot:

"Retro"  Photo by Robert Grant

Give this technique a try and let us know how it works for you.

Related Tutorials: