Previsualization: Transforming Your Thoughts into Photos

/in , /by

Oh, they’re just a snapshooter!

That’s kind of the biggest slap in the face that you can give a photographer.

None of us want to believe that we’re snapshooters.

Truthfully, almost none of us are, because we all make decisions as we’re taking a picture—whether we realize it or not.

The picture above may appear to be a simple snapshot—a quick and meaningless moment captured.

However, it was quite the opposite. I conceived the photo and mentally prepared before the camera was even turned on.

There is a photographic term that encompasses this mental process of strategizing and executing an image: pre-visualization.

For a moment, imagine the term “pre-visualization” basically means “translation.”

With pre-visualization, you translate a three-dimensional scene, which you can see in real-life, onto a two-dimensional medium—a photograph. As you can imagine, a significant component of pre-visualization is composition.

The photo above is a perfect example. It was taken in Las Vegas from a 12th-floor hotel room. It depicts a cityscape that is partially obscured by a window shade.

What you see here is what I saw in my mind before clicking the shutter. I didn’t see a window shade or a cityscape; what I saw in my mind was a semi-abstract painting depicted in a photograph.

Key Thought: When attempting pre-visualization, imagine your scene printed huge, framed and hanging on a large blank wall. What do you see?

Pre-visualization began in Hollywood with moviemaking and the art of storyboarding.

Photographer Ansel Adams is credited with bringing the idea to still photography.

Pre-visualization is the art of seeing the finished photograph in your mind before you ever pick up a camera.

It may sound easy, but it requires developed skills in art knowledge, equipment, composition, lighting, exposure and post-processing.

The first step toward pre-visualization is training your eye to see the world in terms of spatial relationships, rather than literal objects.

A spatial relationship, in art, is the ability to perceive the involvement of an object’s position within a given space.

In this example photo above, I saw the pre-visualized the shape of a man in a dark suit surrounded by the space of white buildings.

Idea: When I began taking photography seriously, a mentor of mine taught me this simple trick to help me develop my ability to see spatial relationships. Just cup your fingers and thumb to form a cylinder, then close one eye and hold the cylinder in front of the open eye

Viewing a scene that you wish to photograph through this “lens” removes your peripheral vision and gives you something closer to a two-dimensional perspective. In fact, if you watch documentaries on filmmaking, you will often see the filmmaker using this same technique.

It forces you to see your scene in terms of spatial relationships!

Critical Thought: Practicing spatial-relationship recognition is the first step in developing professional pre-visualization skills.

A spatial relationship is intrinsically tied to light, shadow, color, and shape.

Another fantastic training tool for developing pre-visualization, similar to the technique above, is to view your scene through squinted eyes and using your fingers to “crop” the scene in front of you.

This activity eliminates details and divides the scene into spatial blocks of light, shadow, color and shape.

Idea: As you begin learning pre-visualization and using your eyes and hands as training tools, it’s best to stick with static subjects like landscapes. Once you’ve improved your pre-visualization to the point of no longer needing these techniques, you’re ready to take on moving scenes.

Key Thought: Moving scenes add an additional level of skill to pre-visualization. This extra skill is called anticipation.

This example photo is a perfect scene to begin pre-visualization practice:

Look at this picture using the techniques described above. You will see how it breaks down into a spatial relationship of shape, color, line and tone.

Critical Thought: Understanding your equipment is key to pre-visualization. If you don’t know how your equipment will affect the photograph, how can you pre-visualize it?

In my pre-visualization of the autumn tree photograph above, I saw an almost abstract image with blocks of color and a little to no perception of depth.

Knowing this, I selected a telephoto lens to compress the scene. That equipment further enhanced my preconceived idea for this photograph.

Critical Thought: Pre-visualization begins in the mind, advances to the camera and ends in post-production.

To take the photograph above, I physically saw an orange lawn chair that was sitting in a driveway in the late afternoon light. It was casting a shadow onto the concrete.

In my mind, I pre-visualized the scene as an abstract watercolor painting.

I physically created the picture by framing it as I saw in my mind’s eye, focusing on the shadow more than the chair.

I asked a friend to stand by the chair to cast a shadow in the upper left third of the frame. I felt this would further add a sense of mystery.

However—this is the crucial point in this illustration—this pre-visualized photograph came together in post-production.

Most of what you see in the final photo is nothing close to what was captured in the original digital file. Still, it perfectly completes what I preconceived as a painting on the wall!

In the moments before this photograph was taken, I thought, “Oh my god! She better watch out for those waves!” This thought was the formulation of my pre-visualized picture. But more was needed!

Other core skills for pre-visualization are patience, anticipation and timing.

In the example photo, part of my pre-visualization was to capture the danger and drama of the heavy waves crashing onto the beach.

Without the woman, the pre-visualized shot fails.

This picture was born of a pre-visualized concept. However, it also required patience for the idea to materialize naturally. I needed someone or something to enter the frame and provide a sense of drama and potential danger.

It also required anticipation (having my equipment ready) once the shot began to materialize.

Many people were walking in this area. Several of them got close to where this woman was but then backed away.

When I noticed her, I could see she was going to make a point of venturing out further than anyone else.

I anticipated her action and had my equipment ready.

Finally, I timed the shot for the best spatial relationship. As you can imagine, there was a lot of movement here. The woman did not linger out there on those rocks. I had to anticipate and react when both she and the waves were at their peak spatial relationship.

Key Concept: Think of pre-visualization in this order:

  1. Idea
  2. Spatial relationships
  3. Compose the frame in your mind
  4. Imagine the image large and hanging on the wall
  5. Introduce a story element
  6. Have your equipment ready
  7. Be patient for the story to develop
  8. Anticipate the moment
  9. Capture the shot at peak action
  10. Use post-processing to bring your award-winning photograph to life!

Why Don’t You Give It a Try?

  1. Organize a photoshoot where you will spend the better part of a day out taking pictures.
  2. Do not take a picture before spending at least five minutes thinking about the picture and anticipating what it would look like hanging on your wall. Set a timer.
  3. Post-process to your pre-visualized thoughts.
  4. Print a selection of your best efforts. Tape them to a blank wall in your home. Leave them there for a week.
  5. Each day, position yourself five feet in front of each photo and look at it for at least a minute, if not longer.

What Do You Think?

  • Do your finished photographs reflect your initial pre-visualized intent?
  • Were you able to follow through on your pre-visualization from beginning to end?
  • Do you now have a basic understanding of how pre-visualization can advance your photography?

8 of the Most Important Photoshop Tools for Photographers

/in , /by

Photoshop is one of the most well known and most commonly used image editing software programs in the world. It’s used worldwide both personally and professionally. When people see a picture they believe too good to be true, the reply is often the same: “That’s Photoshopped.” What many people don’t realize is that many of the images you think are just perfect shots are touched up using Photoshop, whether that be adding a little brightness or totally removing an undesirable person or section. When Photoshop is used correctly and not over done, it can make amazing imagery even better!

While every tool in Photoshop has its use, and, when you know what you’re doing should definitely not be overlooked! One thing you need to remember is that Photoshop isn’t there to “fix” a photograph, a bad photograph is always going to be a bad photograph. Of course the tools you find useful are going to differ to those someone else finds useful, so it’s all a matter of opinion, but if you have a great photograph and it just needs that little touch up, then here are our eight of the most important Photoshop tools for photographers:

1. Hue and Saturation

The Hue and Saturation tool enables you to control the colors in your images based on, well, their hue and saturation. To open the Hue/Saturation tool you can go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.

Hue refers to the color in your image. Changing this will change the colors in your photograph and so this setting is usually best left untouched.

The tool you’re more likely to use here is saturation; this is the intensity and richness of the colors in the image. When saturating an image you can use the Master box found at the top of the Hue/Saturation toolbox to choose which colors you’d like to saturate. The colors you’re going to want to saturate most are the reds and yellows in your image rather than the blues. Adjusting the saturation allows you to make it look more natural and dramatic while not changing the colors or image too drastically.

2. Cropping

This is one of the more simple tools you’ll find yourself using, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. Cropping is a valuable tool for photographers as it allows them to prep an image for posting online or printing: taking an image and changing its size and/or removing unnecessary empty areas. You can save presets for various sizes and resolutions, enabling you to crop images specifically for various reasons.

3. Layers

Layers are another simple tool that any Photoshop user knows how to use. But while simple, this tool is actually one of the most useful. Layers allow you to work on parts of an image without changing others. There really isn’t much more to say about layers than that, they allow you to layer various edits and section each, remaining its own separate section and having no impact on any other.

4. Levels

The levels tool allows you to correct the tonal range and color balance of an image by adjusting the intensity levels of images shadows, highlights and midtones. When editing the levels of an image you are shown a histogram, which is essentially just a visual guide for adjusting the image tones. You can find the levels tool by going to Image > Adjustments > Levels.

The histogram represents the dark and light tones within the image. If your histogram is mainly pushed to the left hand side it represents darker tones in your image, whereas the right hand side shows brighter tones. This is a tool you’ll likely find hard to use, but with slow adjustments you’ll notice how it can influence your images.

5. Sharpening

Sharpening is a hard tool to use; it requires a lot of practice and a very steady hand with a mouse. Sharpening an image is basically touching up all the lines and increasing their contrast, this will cause smaller features of an image stand out more. Sharpening your image is usually one of the last edits you’ll find yourself doing. The sharpen tool also has an “Auto Sharpen” command which may save you the time. When sharpening an image you should remember there is a fine line between sharpened and over-sharpened; over-sharpening an image will cause it to look unrealistic.

6. Healing Brush

The healing brush is used to replace scratches and small specs you might have noticed in your image. It works like a paintbrush tool but allows you to take a “perfect” part of your image (let’s say you focus on the blue of the sky) and copy that part of your image over the top of the spec or scratch you’ve found within your image. This tool will attempt to blend the section you’re copying with the area you’re covering; this means nothing looks out of place.

7. Exposure

Exposure adjustment corrects the tonal values or lightness of HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. You can find the exposure tool in Images > Adjustments > Exposure. This allows you to edit three settings: Exposure (this adjusts the highlights of your image while ignoring the darker areas of your image), Offset (this darkens the shadows and midtones of your image while ignoring the lighter areas), and Gamma (this adjusts the image’s gamma or midtone values).

8. Vibrance

The vibrance tool saturates the colors in your image, focusing mainly on increasing the intensity of colors in your image. Vibrance works much like saturation except it avoids skin tones (mainly oranges and yellows), so it’s perfect for images that contain people; it saturates their skin tone without making it seem unrealistic but adds to every other color in your image. A simple rule to follow is to use saturation when removing color from an image as it removes color from all colors, and vibrance when adding color. Vibrance essentially acts as a smart saturation, as it will only add color to the dull colors already in the image and not every color while avoiding skin tones.

How to Focus a Camera in the Dark

/in , /by

If somebody asked me about some of the difficult scenarios to work in as a photographer, working at night time would definitely make it to the top of the list. But with the challenge in place, the results that you can get from night time photos are truly amazing. The world out there appears kind of different at night. This gives you an opportunity to create photographs with a unique look. And that’s exactly what makes night photography a challenge worth pursuing.

One of the biggest hurdles you will come across when photographing at night time is focusing. With a minimal amount of light around, the sensor in any camera will struggle to detect any contrast. This is why focusing gets so difficult. So, it becomes important that you’re aware of some techniques to help your camera focus better at night.

Use Center Focusing Point with Single Servo

If you are not comfortable getting out of autofocus mode, try changing the autofocus area to single, and use the center autofocus point. Since the center autofocus point is more precise and sensitive than other focusing points, this can increase your chances of grabbing focus. And to prevent the lens from hunting around, set the drive the single servo. This way, once the camera locks focus, it won’t hunt further.

Manual Focus Works Best

If autofocus fails continuously, it is best to take matters into your own hands by turning the focusing mode to manual. Switch the focusing mode to manual either with a switch on the lens or through the camera menu. Then, using the focus ring on the lens, you can control where the lens needs to focus.

Use the Rear LCD

With the camera set to focus manually, switch your camera over to live view instead of using the viewfinder. This will allow you to use the digital zoom feature and ensure that you nail your focus.

Focus Peaking

Many modern cameras come with a focus peaking option that overlays the area that’s in focus with some color. This makes it much easier to judge whether the image is in focus or not. To get the most out of this feature, use it in conjunction with manual focus and live view.

Use Artificial Lighting Before the Shot

If the scene or your subject is close by, use some artificial source of light like a flashlight to light up a small portion. Then, you can either focus on that portion manually or by using the autofocus feature. If there’s enough contrast, autofocus should work seamlessly.

From Photoshop to AI: Evolution of the Photography Industry

/in /by

The last few decades have witnessed dramatic shifts in the photography industry, evolving from the pure artistry of capturing the perfect shot to a domain replete with cutting-edge technology. This evolution was ignited by the introduction of Photoshop, and today, it is being further accelerated by artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic photography.

The Photoshop Revolution

The launch of Adobe Photoshop in 1989 was a monumental leap for the world of photography. This game-changing software moved image manipulation into the digital realm, opening up an expansive universe of creativity and innovation.

Before Photoshop, photographers had to strive for perfection during the actual shoot, with only limited ability to modify the result afterwards. Image retouching and editing were labor-intensive tasks, usually involving a darkroom, chemicals, and skilled hands. Photoshop made these processes significantly easier and more accessible, giving photographers the power to alter reality, create visual illusions, and artistically enhance their images at the click of a button.

One of the key ways Photoshop revolutionized the industry was through democratizing access to image editing. Anyone with a computer could now potentially learn and practice sophisticated photo manipulation techniques. Photoshop became a linchpin in industries ranging from fashion to advertising, from journalism to fine art, giving birth to new roles and professions, such as graphic designers and digital artists.

Moreover, Photoshop initiated a critical dialogue about the ethics and authenticity in photography, challenging the age-old saying, “the camera never lies.” The power to manipulate images to such an extent stirred debates about the representation of reality in photography, altering our understanding of photographic truth.

The AI and Synthetic Photography Paradigm Shift

While Photoshop was a transformative force in the late 20th century, the advent of AI and synthetic photography in the 21st century is redefining the boundaries of the photography industry yet again.

AI-driven algorithms can now automate many of the tasks previously performed by photographers and photo editors. These tasks include adjusting lighting and color balance, recognizing and tagging subjects, enhancing image quality, and even composing an image or predicting the best moment to capture a shot. AI has also given rise to ‘computational photography’, a field that uses algorithms to enhance or extend the capabilities of digital photography.

Synthetic photography, on the other hand, pushes the envelope even further. It involves the creation of realistic images purely from digital or virtual elements. Artists and photographers can now fabricate a scene in three dimensions, set the lighting and weather conditions, pose their virtual subjects, and snap a photo—all within a virtual space. It’s a brave new world that significantly blurs the line between what’s real and what’s artificial, giving creatives an unprecedented level of control and flexibility.

However, just like with Photoshop, these technological advancements also come with ethical considerations. The ability to generate hyper-realistic images synthetically can have implications on truth and deception in visual communication. Moreover, as AI starts to automate more tasks, the industry needs to redefine the roles of photographers and image editors, adding a layer of complexity to the discussion about AI and job displacement.

Conclusion

From Photoshop’s democratization of image editing to AI’s automation of photographic tasks and synthetic photography’s creation of virtual worlds, the evolution of photography has been extraordinary. Each technological leap has not only expanded the creative possibilities for photographers and artists but also sparked valuable discussions about the ethics of image manipulation and the future of the profession.

As we move further into the age of AI and synthetic photography, it’s crucial to navigate these technologies responsibly, acknowledging their potential while being mindful of their ethical implications. In doing so, we can ensure that photography remains a powerful medium of authentic artistic expression and storytelling in the digital age.

Shutter Speed Determination for Hand-held Landscape Photos

/in , , /by

Now generally I recommend a tripod for landscape photography, however, I do shoot a fair bit of hand-held landscapes too and trust me, I have had more than my share of blurry photos in my 15 odd years of photography.

Is there anything worse than a Blurry Masterpiece?

In my opinion, there is nothing worse than zooming into the best shot of the day, the miracle shot that captured the moment perfectly, only to discover it’s blurry.

Ok, so how do we shoot hand-held in tough conditions and make sure our photos have a good chance of being sharp?

Shutter speed is critical when shooting without a tripod. We need to shoot fast enough so that any camera shake is not visible in our final photo.

But what shutter speed is fast enough to avoid camera shake?

Interestingly, it varies depending on the focal length of the lens you are shooting with.

Wide-angle lenses are much easier to get sharp hand-held photos than telephoto, as you will see below

The rule of thumb that I use is:

2 times the focal length you are shooting is a good minimum shutter speed as a guide. Of course, the faster – the better chance of a good result.

You may find that with modern stabilized cameras and lenses that you can go even lower, however, I feel that 2x the focal length is a good minimum to start at.

Now you might be thinking, “what on earth is he talking about”.

Hopefully, this clears it up:

  • 20mm lens: 2 x 20 = 1/40th of a second as your minimum shutter speed for a 20mm lens.
  • 50mm lens: 2 x 50 = 1/100th of a second as your minimum shutter speed for a 50mm lens.
  • 100mm lens: 2 x 100 = 1/200th of a second as your minimum shutter speed for a 100mm lens
  • 400mm lens: 2 x 400 = 1/800th of a second as your minimum shutter speed for a 400mm lens.

Of course, the faster the better, if you can.

This won’t guarantee sharp photos every time but it will get you on the right track as far as shutter speed is concerned.

Below are further tips for the perfect hand-held Landscape photo.

• Raise your ISO to achieve at least the minimum shutter speed above.
• Brace yourself against a solid object to reduce camera shake.
• Choose a lens or camera with Image Stabilization.
• Set your camera to multiple shot mode and fire 3-4 consecutive shots. Generally, camera shake is at its highest on the first photo as we press the shutter and will settle down in the 2nd-3rd-4th shots of the sequence.