We are having so much fun ‘meeting’ you all with all the gorgeous contest entries. Keep them coming! Entries are open until Saturday night (US time)
Want to be the first to know things like the details of our online classes, the schedule for the teaching tour, and any other exciting news from Beyond Snapshots?
You are in luck as you can use our new handy form to sign up for emails from us. Not ones for junk mail of any kind, we will only email you when it is really good stuff! You can sign up by clicking the stay connected button on the right hand column
We have also created a flickr group so you can share your photos with us. Photos submitted to this group may be reviewed to be featured on the Beyond Snapshots blog for the “Spotted” section, contests or other features. No matter what, your images remain copyright YOU! We will always give credit to you as the photographer and we will ask your permission before doing anything with them.
We respect you and your work…they are more than just snapshots.
Something we do not think gets talked about to beginning photographers enough is managing expectations.
So many times have we heard “your camera takes great photos.” We don’t take offence to that. We both shoot with amazing cameras that do have the ability to take some really amazing photographs even on auto. People buy a DSLR and expect it read their mind. What sets it all apart is that we know how to control that camera to produce consistent results and then how to shape our vision in post processing. You can too.
Neither of us share unedited images. It is not that we spend all of our time fixing images, it is just that even images from fancy cameras need a little love. The point is not to rely on editing to save bad photos, but to use it to make good photos great.
Sure, you can point, shoot, print and skip the processing, but you are here to learn so we are here to show you what can be done.
We both use Photoshop to edit our photos (Rachel also does some RAW processing in Lightroom when shooting RAW files). Photoshop takes a lot of time to learn, but the control it gives you over the editing is huge. However, if Photoshop isn’t in your budget, there are other programs out there that will help you achieve some good results. Elements is the best program for beginners, iPhoto comes standard on Mac computers, and Google’s Picassa is a good free option.
So much can be done in processing, but the main areas we tend to for every shot are contrast and brightness, color balance and saturation (a light hand is best here), sharpening and often some ‘cloning’ of distracting bits.
To illustrate how we ‘eyeball’ an edit, we will walk you through what we would do with this shot of Rachel’s
- A little too dark – We would brighten the midtones in levels
- A bit too cool (common in open shade) – What makes an image too cool is too much blue/cyan in color balance. To counteract this we would add some red/yellow, the opposite end of the spectrums, in color balance in Photoshop
- A little dull - If the image is lacking contrast (almost all Straight out of Camera images need a bump in contrast) an ‘S curve’ will usually combat this. In the curves adjustment in photoshop, you make a slight S by dragging at two points on the line. A light touch is best here. It’s better to go in and add more if it’s still too dull, than to overdo the contrast.
- Color still needs a bit more of a “pop” – Add a tiny bit of saturation. To avoid making skin tones too orange it is often best to adjust these separately for each color. Photoshop allows you to do this in the Hue/Saturation adjustment panel. Where it says Master, is a drop down menu of each of the different colors it takes to make up an image.
A little sharpening, maybe some cloning, and you’re done.
A little peek at a few more of our before and afters. As you can see, the editing isn’t a ‘miracle worker’ the images didn’t need a whole lot of work, but the small amount that is done really takes them up a level.
It may be a smart little camera that you have, but you are smarter and when you learn the controls, you can take even better photos.
We will be releasing details on our online course and in person workshops soon. Those are the forums where we will be able to answer your questions and go into more detail.
All light can be your friend, it is merely a matter of learning how to use it and use it well.
In this case it is one huge window. It could be a flash though. Available light does not mean only natural or ambient light.
The same light source can be used to create totally different moods, as evidenced in these photos Rachel took of Gemma, same spot, same time, two totally different approaches.
image information: Nikon D3 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens
{Left} ISO 800 ~ 1/160s ~ f/1.6 {Right} ISO 800 ~ 1/200s ~ f/1.6
Last week we asked if you could identify the images where flash was used. Some picked one or the other, but no one got the correct answer for both…
Both of these images above were shot with bounced flash.
Flash does not have to be harsh…it can be soft and full of light.
If you have a flash, there is light available to you whenever you need it.
We are starting with us and will be giving away other really cool things from our sponsors in the future, so bookmark and check back often!
This week’s fun little prize pack is a set of Rachel’s awesome actions, The Basics Set, (which you can find out more about here) And a 16×24″ print of the cause chaos and run amok poster Peta designed, in a color of your choice.
This is a really easy contest, to be in the running to win these goodies, simply link to beyond snapshots from your little corner of the web using this address http://beyond-snapshots.com/blog. It can be pretty much anywhere, your blog, website, twitter, facebook etc. For us to know about it and to get your chance to win the prize pack you need to leave a comment here. So we know where you have shared the Beyond Snapshots blog, list the place that you linked to us from in the URL field of the comment form.
At the end of the week we will draw a winner with the random number generator from random.org
No really, we are, and this is just the beginning.
Did you get a digital camera for christmas? Does it have a lot of buttons and dials that you have no clue how to use properly?
Maybe you are shooting with your dslr on aperture priority and would really like to take the training wheels off that bad boy.
All the photos you take of the kids are
a) Too bright?
b) Too dark?
c) Fuzzy?
d) All of the above?
You do not have to be a budding professional child portrait photographer for what we are offering. You could be though.
You could just be a mom with a camera. Or a dad with a camera. Or a teen with a camera. Or a grandma with a camera.
You just have to be who you are…with a camera.
We have a lot planned for this year that you will be able to take part in online and in person.
First up will be an extension of the online mentoring that Rachel did for beginning photographers earlier this year. New and improved and now with more Peta!
Details, dates and registration will be announced here soon.
We are even in talks about putting together that workshop people have been asking for. Live. Like I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. But we are going to make sure that it is accessible to real beginners as well as those who have gotten to the aperture priority stage.
One big thing… The big idea that started all of this, well, that is just still a bit of a secret, but it is a good one and worth coming back for.
Last but not least is this blog itself. You will find in the coming months, interviews with great clever people, most photographers, some not, but all very talented. We will also be sharing video tips and peeks into workspaces. We will be bringing you reviews of our favorite gear, props and other products as well. Of course there will be photo posts with all the juicy details, um, detailed.
While our personal photoblogs will continue to be the place where we share our photo sessions and in depth (often a little too in depth on Rachel’s part) looks into our daily lives, this is where we are going to be teaching what we know. You now have another blog to bookmark.
