Better Posed Portraits

Peter Hurley has been in the news - he has a video to sell (via fstoppers) But, lots of experienced and good advice for Headshots and Portraits in the New York Times article

Taking photos of kids

Over at the DPR forums, we routinely see beginners or rather new parents who want to take photos of their young kids all the time. They have this "I wanna take a photo of them anytime, everytime, anywhere, everywhere" urge that, after a few years, I'll bet becomes "oh, maybe we should take a photo of junior, Hon, where's the camera, did you see it last, did we ever buy batteries for it?"

Regardless, it's nice to have the family moment and to treasure each other, so we still want to take a photo or two. Only, we can't have every shot we want, at any time and at any place - when the kids transition into a mid phase, they'll even cover their faces when you raise your camera.

Taking photos of kids has to be a case of social engineering and management - as the adult and the parent, you HAVE TO manage the situation. Not the other way around. You'll go nuts with any camera chasing after them - you have to stage the situation, set up the shot.

I just came across a Tamron video, I think some points are really funny, but it does reinforce the idea that you have to manage the situation.



Candice says that the Tamron she is using is "lighter and more compact" than the other lenses. I guess that's a relative statement - it is an f/2.8 lens (which explains it's bulk) but it sure doesn't look compact or light. Additionally, she's shooting in bright daylight and shadows on a DSLR, so the f/2.8 isn't vital for getting a high shutter speed, it's more for a shallow DOF. Which is not easy to work with, even in this staged environment when you have kids moving actively.

The other point is she's shooting in a high dynamic range scene. This means she has to sacrifice the highlights - many newbies don't yet understand this and insist that the photo is flawed when the highlights are burnt out.

Here's one from expertvillage:

And she talks about forcing the flash on or "fill in flash"

Carson hosts a demo for Nikon, baby photos, again in studio environment

Here is another one

Insights and Teach Ins

Image by Dr Craig via Flickr

I read Chuck Gardner’s Zone System articles some time back and it was one of those epiphany days. He writes well, one of my latest reads is his Colour Management article. Worth spending the time to read, even sacrificing a few trees,

Explaining Depth of Field

Whenever you read some material on Depth of Field and the related aspects of photography, Circle of Confusion, Aperture Size, f/number, Lens Focal Length and Sensor Size, it goes ok for a few paragraphs and suddenly you have this MEGO phenomenon take over. As more senior photographers try to explain this DOF to newbies, things soon get worse.

If you can handle the equations and tables, then the following resources are good:

• Wikipedia: Depth of Field
• DOF Master: Depth of Field Calculator - also has links to interactive programs for Windows, PalmOS, iPhone, iTouch, web based tables.
• Freeware DOF Calculator for PocketPC
• Olympus Europe's hosted DOF Calculator (Pocket PC)
• Justin Snodgrass has a video called Depth of Field Explained. It's not bad - it's a video so you can pause, rewind and repeat.
• Photozone: Depth Of Field Calculator (Java applet)
• Has a simple visual comparison of DOF at f/2.8, f/5.6, f/11.
• Has a Java applet showing DOF and visual chart. You key in focal length, focussing distance, CoC

The depth-of-field is dependent on the OBJECT MAGNIFICATION ON THE FILM and the chosen aperture at a specific focal length.

Focal length affects perspective. See Photozone visual comparing 17mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm. Also read this discussion by P.A. van Walree

Photozone DOF Confusion:

COC [Circle of Confusion] is not a function of format.

“But wait a minute,” you say, “why do some applets use format instead of sharpness?” These applets assume that in photography the subject will be framed the same regardless of format. In other words, to frame the subject from the same distance the larger format will need a longer focal length lens, or the smaller format will need to be moved further away from the subject (or vice-versa).

Photozone DOF Preview has an interactive visual of how pressing the DOF preview looks like when your shooting aperture is less than you viewing aperture.

DOF in the context of different digital sensor sizes

DOF is not difficult to explain for one camera. It gets more complicated to explain when you compare a 35mm film camera against say a Four Thirds Sensor camera.

1. For the same optical focal length lens on two different cameras, the lenses don't have a different DOF. The DOF is the same.
2. Take a 100mm lens that would fit a 35mm film camera. Fit it on a film camera and then fit it on an Four Thirds Sensor camera. If the lens fits either, you still have a 100mm lens. Assume both cameras can shoot with the lens.
3. But because the Four Thirds sensor is 2x smaller, it only sees half the image. That's why they call it a Crop Factor. Say you can see a face occupying the full frame on the film camera. With the Four Thirds sensor sensor, being smaller, you can only see the fellow's hair and eyes.
4. What this means is you appear to be "closer" to the person even though you are standing at the same distance, same lens. But your camera is different. At this point, the DOF is the same.
5. So, what happens? In order to get the full face into the picture, you have to use your legs and walk backwards.
6. Now that you have walked backwards from the subject, you are not comparing apples to apples anymore. You are comparing the Four Thirds Sensor camera, standing further back vs the film camera standing nearer to the subject. You have changed your camera to subject distance.
7. DOF is based on distance between you to the subject. So, yes, in this case the Four Thirds Sensor camera, appears to have a deeper DOF compared to the film camera. Not because the lens is different, not because the camera sensor size is different, but because you used your legs to walk back and you changed the distance to the subject.

Updated 11th October 2008: Tamron visual simulation of DOF effects

Sometimes, you take the other tack and just say - heck, here is a camera, let's go out and shoot and see.

(Photo was shot using 250mm f/5.6 CAT lens mounted on a FourThirds sensor camera - Olympus E-510)

(Photo was shot using 250mm f/5.6 CAT lens mounted on a FourThirds sensor camera - Olympus E-510)

del.icio.us Tags: DOF,Photography,Reference

How-To videos for newbies at HowCast

Lots of people get a camera, search endlessly for the one with the best IQ. At the end of the day, though they think they shoot less well than some one else who posted on the forum. Here are some videos.

Arranging Your Shot

Getting Better Family Photos

Getting Better Baby Photos

Capturing Natural Landscapes

I'm not keen on pet photos, but there you are: