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• Photo Histogram: Part 1

Are you confused, or maybe even a little intimidated by the photo histogram? In the first video of this three part series, I explain how to understand and interpret the data in your camera’s histogram display.

 

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If you want to know more about histograms, and see more histogram examples, check out what is a histogram, interpreting the digital photography histogram, and histogram examples.

Video Transcript

Are you confused or even a little intimidated by the histogram display on your camera? You are not alone! Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and I’m going to do a little mini-series as part of the Two Minute Photo Tips, all about histograms, and today is part 1 or 3. I want to take the mystery out of this super-important feature on your camera.

What is a histogram? Your photo histogram is a graph that shows the distribution of all the brightness levels in your image. In other words, it shows how much of you image is bright, how much is dark, and how much of it falls into the mid-tones. Let’s look at what a histogram looks like.

First of all, this is the graph without any image information. The left-most edge represents pure black, and the right-most edge represents pure white. All the shades of gray are represented in between. Let’s look at some actual image examples to make things more clear.

The first image I’m showing is of bubbles. It’s a high key image full of light tones. Now, think for a second; what would you expect the corresponding photo histogram to look like? Here it is. It’s a bump on the right hand side of the graph. Now if you had a low key image full of dark tones, you’d expect a bump on the left hand side of the graph instead.

Here’s an image that has three distinct areas of tone: an area of dark, and area of mid-tone, and an area of light tone. The photo histogram looks just as you’d expect. Here we have three bumps in the graph. The left one corresponds to the very dark area, the middle bump corresponds to the grey puzzle piece, and the right bump corresponds to the white puzzle piece.

Here’s a more typical image, where you have a full range of tones. The histogram for this one has a spike at the left that represents the dark tones in the doorway. It has a larger spike at the right that represents the white wall. Finally, it shows lesser amounts of data throughout the rest of the tonal range, corresponding to the other tones found in the image.

Now, you might be wondering what you do with all this great information that you’re getting from your histogram. Next week, I’ll be doing part two in this series on histograms. In that video, I’ll cover how you can use the information from your histograms to correct your exposure.

For more information about histograms and more examples, make sure you check out the other histogram pages on ultimate-photo-tips.com, linked below this video.

Happy shooting and I’ll see you next time!

 

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• Digital Photography Technique
• Live View for Focusing

Do you ever have trouble getting accurate focus? It can be touch in low light, when you’re close to your subject, or if your eye-sight is less than perfect. In this short video, I show you how to use live view to improve your focusing.

 

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Video Transcript

Do you ever struggle with getting accurate focus in your images? Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and in today’s Two Minute Tip, I’m going to share with you how you can use live view to improve your focusing. Now the trick here is going to be to turn on live view, and then zoom in on the part of the image that you want to have sharp. This is a great tip to use for close-up where you need really perfect focusing, but you can use it anywhere.

Alright, let’s get started. On this camera, this is the button right here (A) that I’m going to use to turn live view on and off. This right here (B) is what I use to move my little zooming square around, up and down, and left and right. You’ll see what I mean in just a moment. An this right here is what I use to zoom in (C). Now of course, on your camera, the controls will likely be a little bit different, but I’m sure you’ll have something equivalent.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
(A) Turn on live view, (B) Move the zoom box around, (C) Zoom in.

Let’s go ahead and turn live view on. Now you can see that I’m photographing a close-up of a flower. Now what I want to make sure is that the thing that’s closest to my lens, these petals right in here, I want to make sure that they’re nice and sharp. So what I can do is move my little square right over the petals that I want to make sure are sharp.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
Zoom box is over the area that I want to be sharp.

Then I can go ahead and zoom in. And I can zoom in by a factor of 5 times or even 10 times. Once I’m zoomed in, I have this little image in the corner which shows me a dark spot relative to the overall frame so I can get some context. That dark spot is where I’m zoomed in in the whole image.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
Zoomed in 5x.

Now that I’m here, I can go ahead and make fine adjustments to my focus to make sure that the tip of this petal right here is nice and sharp. I can check it at 5x as well. If I’m satisfied that it looks good, then I can zoom out, and then go ahead and take my picture.

That’s it for today. For more great tips, come on over and join me at ultimate-photo-tips.com, and while you’re there, don;t forget to sign up for my newsletter. That’s where I share insights and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time.

 

• Home
• Photo Challenges
• December 2012

Photo Challenges:
December 2012

"Two’s Company"

Last month, I used "One Is the Loneliest Number" as your challenge topic. It only makes sense that this month, we have "Two’s Company!"

We’re looking for images with two of something — anything you want — but keep in mind the rest of the title: "Company." Your goal is that the two elements in the photo tell the story of keeping each other company. Have fun with it! I can’t wait to see what you come up with. You can find a few of mine below.

Read the rules. One entry only each month per person, please!

Enter your super-amazing photos in our photo contests. The winning image will be featured on the Ultimate Photo Tips homepage for all of the following month.

Submit your image.

See what other people are submitting, and vote for your favorite:
View other entries.

 

Keeping Each Other Company

 

Calla Lily Lovers
© Julie Waterhouse

 

Pals
© Julie Waterhouse

 

Sharing Lunch
© Julie Waterhouse

 

Table for Two
© Julie Waterhouse

 

Pakora and Papadum
© Julie Waterhouse

 

Lilypad Love
© Julie Waterhouse

 

 

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• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Camera Tripod

Is your camera tripod feeling lonely and neglected? In this short video, I give you two good reasons to dust off your tripod and take it out in the field with you.

 

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Video Transcript

Is your tripod feeling lonely and neglected? I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and for today’s Two Minute Tip, I really want to encourage you to dust off your tripod, and take it out with you the next time you go shooting.

There’s two great reasons that you should be using a tripod. The first one is the one you probably think about first when you think about a tripod, and that is stability. Having your camera on a tripod keeps it nice and solid, so that if you’re taking a long exposure, you don’t introduce blur into your image due to camera shake.

But it’s the second reason I want you to think about more today, and that is: using a tripod slows you down. Now, you might think of that as a negative, but I think it can be a real positive. What happens a lot of time when you’re photographing, is that you pay so much attention to your subject that you mentally filter out everything that’s going on in the background, and you often don’t see things that are distractions. Putting your camera on the tripod slows you down enough that you become much more deliberate about where you put the edges of your frame, and about scanning your images to make sure there are no distractions. Having your camera on a tripod almost always improves your composition.

Alright, I have a bonus tip for you today. When you’re using your camera tripod, if you need to raise the height of it, make sure you extend the legs first, and only use the center post as a last resort. Using the center post give the least amount of stability, so definitely extend the legs first.

That’s it for today, so if you want any more great tips, please come on over to ultimate-photo-tips.com and make sure, if you haven’t already signed up for my newsletter that you get on the mailing list now!

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time.

 

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Winter Photography

Are you planning any outdoor winter photography? I have some tips that you need to know! Here are four things you should keep in mind when you’re photographing in cold weather.

 

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Video Transcript

If you’re planning any photography in cold weather, I have some tips that you need to know! Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and this week’s Two Minute Tip is all about shooting in cold weather. Here are four things you should keep in mind when you’re doing outdoor winter photography.

1. First and foremost, carry a couple of fully charged batteries, since batteries drain quickly in cold temperatures. To keep your spare batteries warm, or to breathe a little extra life into a dying battery, keep your batteries close to your body for warmth.

2. Avoid changing lenses outside so that you don’t get any moisture or condensation inside the camera body.

3. Be careful when you bring your gear back inside, as condensation will form on it. Ideally, wrap it up in a plastic bag, and seal it before bringing it in. That way, any condensation will form on the outside of the bag. Let it warm up slowly before you open up the bag.

4. Keep yourself warm! You’ll be able to stay outside longer, and take more pictures, if you are wearing protective, layered clothing, and winter boots. You also need a good way to keep your hands warm! I use these fingerless gloves with a mitten top that pulls over. That allows me the dexterity to use my camera controls, but also keeps me warm in between shots.

That’s all for this week! Now you’re ready to get outside and enjoy winter photography with your camera! For more great tips, please visit me a ultimate-photo-tips.com, and make sure you sign up for my mailing list while you’re there. That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting and I’ll see you next time!

 

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Photo Histogram: Part 2

Are you confused, or maybe even a little intimidated by the photo histogram? In the second video of this three part series, I explain how to use the data from your camera’s histogram display to correct your exposure.

 

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Did you miss it? Watch Part 1 in this video series first.

If you want to know more about histograms, and see more histogram examples, check out what is a histogram, interpreting the digital photography histogram, and histogram examples.

Video Transcript

Are you ready to learn more about how to use your camera’s histogram display? Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips. Last week, I brought you part 1 in this series about histograms, and I covered the basics of understanding and interpreting your histogram. This week, I want to show you how you can use that information to correct your exposures. Let’s jump right into looking at some more examples.

In this first landscape, you can see that the photo histogram goes all the way to the right edge, and there’s a spike right at pure white. We refer to this as the histogram being clipped. It means you’ve lost detail in the whites (we sometimes say the whites are "blown out"), and this is not recoverable later in software. You need to correct it in the field and re-shoot the image. So what do you do if you see this kind of photo histogram? It means your image is too bright, and that you have too much light. That means you need to reduce your exposure, either by using a smaller aperture or a faster shutter speed.

Here, I’ve reduced my exposure by 1 stop, and the histogram is no longer clipped. If your histogram is clipped on the left, it means you’ve lost detail in the shadows (we sometimes say the shadows are blocked up). To correct that, you need to add light to your exposure with a wider aperture or longer shutter speed.

Now what about this instance? I have both dark shadow and bright highlights in the same image. Here, my photo histogram is clipped on both ends. This means that the dynamic range of the scene is too great to be captured by your sensor. If I try to correct the darks by adding light, I just make the whites worse, and vice versa.

The only way to deal with this is to create an HDR image, which means making several exposures – some that correctly capture the shadows, and some that correctly capture the highlights, and then merging them together in software. This is the result. And here’s the histogram. Remember, our eyes can see much more than our camera’s can.

Now, all of the histograms that I’ve been showing you have been what’s called "luminosity" histograms that show the averaged brightness levels in the image for all three color channels. Your camera can also split this out into an "RGB histogram" that shows the brightness for each of the red, green and blue channels separately. When would you want to use that?

Here’s an example where I have a completely red image. If you see just the luminosity histogram, it looks like the image may be under-exposed. Certainly, it seems like I could increase the exposure without blowing out any highlights.

However, when I show you the RGB histogram for the image, you can see that the reds are right at the right edge. If I increased the exposure, I would blow out the red channel. That means that I’d lose detail in the reds. That’s why, when you’re photographing something in a single color, the luminosity histogram can be deceptive since it’s showing an average of the brightness levels across all channels. Displaying the RGB histograms separately gives a more accurate picture of what’s going on.

That’s enough for today! Next week, I’ll have the final part in the photo histogram video series. It’s a tip for those of you shooting in RAW mode called "exposing to the right." It’s a way to use your histogram to help you maximize the amount of data and detail your camera is capturing. Stay tuned!

For this week, if you want to see more examples, make sure you check out the other photo histogram pages on ultimate-photo-tips.com, linked below this video.

Happy shooting and I’ll see you next time!

If you want to know more about histograms, and see more histogram examples, check out what is a histogram, interpreting the digital photography histogram, and histogram examples.

 

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Photo Histogram: Part 3

Are you confused, or maybe even a little intimidated by the photo histogram? In the third and final video of this three part series, I explain the technique of exposing to the right, which you should use if you are shooting in RAW.

 

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Did you miss them? Watch Part 1 and Part 2 in this video series first.

If you want to know more about histograms, and see more histogram examples, check out what is a histogram, interpreting the digital photography histogram, and histogram examples.

Video Transcript

Are you shooting in RAW? Do you want to make sure that you are capturing the maximum amount of detail in your images? Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and this week I have the final part of a three part series that I’ve been doing on histograms. This week, I want to talk about a technique called "exposing to the right." It applies only if you are shooting RAW, and not jpeg, because it assumes you will be post-processing your images.

When you look at your camera’s histogram display, and you see an even division of the space from dark to light tones, you may think that your camera captures an equal amount of data at each brightness level. It does not! In fact, your camera captures exponentially more data in the light tones. Half of your camera’s data is reserved for the brightest stop of light. That means if you are not exposing in such a way that your photo histogram stretches all the way to the right, you are wasting mega pixels! If you don’t have any data in the top stop of your histogram, then you are not using a full half of your available megapixels. Let’s look at an example:

If I use the camera’s meter to judge the exposure, a light colored subject like this will be rendered as middle grey. If you look, there is a lot of room at the right side of the histogram. That means we’re only making use of less than half of the available data that our camera is capable of capturing. If we increase this exposure after the fact in our RAW editor software, you will be able to see that the image gets a bit noisy because you’re trying to fill in missing data.

If, on the other hand, you expose to the right – in other words, increase your exposure while shooting in the field, you will capture more data. Here, the photo histogram stretches all the way to the right, so we’re making the most of the camera’s data storage. You never want to go beyond the right edge, because then you’ll blow out the highlights and lose detail, but you do want to go as close to that right side as you can.

Sometimes, as in this example, you can see that the image will look too bright if you apply this technique. That’s okay! You should shoot it like this, and then use your RAW editor to reduce the exposure to your taste.

Now, in the final image, there’s room at the right side of the photo histogram, but because I photographed it using the data storage in the light tones, I have captured more data, and will have an image that’s much richer in detail.

That’s it for this week’s tip! Remember, for more explanation of histograms, and more examples, make sure you check out the other photo histogram pages on ultimate-photo-tips.com, linked below this video.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time!

If you want to know more about histograms, and see more histogram examples, check out what is a histogram, interpreting the digital photography histogram, and histogram examples.

 

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Variable Neutral Density Filters

Variable Neutral Density Filters
(Part 2)

Variable ND filters are best known for helping you do long exposures and selective focus in bright lighting conditions. Did you know they can also improve your portrait photography? In this video, I explain how to use this filter while taking portraits using flash.

 

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Did you catch part one of this video, where I introduced the variable neutral density filter and explained how it can be used to do long exposures and selective focus in bright light?

Video Transcript

Most people think that a variable neutral density filter is only useful outside for things like landscape and nature photography. Did you know that you can use this filter with portrait photography too?

Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and today I’m back with a follow-up video to my introduction to the variable ND filter. I want to share a lesser-known use for this filter with you, and that is for portrait photography.

In portrait photography, you often want to darken the background to make the subject stands out. The easiest ways to do that are to either stop down the aperture or to increase the shutter speed. However stopping down the aperture will increase the depth of field – something you often don’t want in a portrait. And increasing the shutter speed could lead to problems if your shutter speed gets faster than your flash sync speed. In that case your flash has to work harder, and will be outputting less light. That’s where our variable neutral density filter comes in! By cutting down the light coming in through the lens, you need less lighting power, and don’t need to stop down your aperture as much, to achieve a well-exposed subject relative to a more under-exposed background.

To get your shot, work out the aperture you want to get the right depth of field for a soft background, and then use your variable ND filter to reduce the light until your shutter speed is at your optimal sync speed. Finally, work on polishing your flash lighting to correctly to expose your subject.

Check out
variable neutral density filters
at B&H

There you have it! Another bit of gear for your shopping list! For more great photo tips that won’t cost you anything, come on over to ultimate-photo-tips.com, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there. That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time!

 

 

 

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Graduated Neutral Density Filter

When and how do you use a graduated neutral density filter? In this short video, I explain how this filter can help you take better landscape photos by reducing the dynamic range in your image.

 

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Video Transcript

Do you ever have trouble photographing a landscape because the sky is so much brighter than your foreground? Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and for today’s tip, I want to talk about a filter that I use on a regular basis: the graduated neutral density filter, or graduated ND filter. It’s also called a split ND filter.

This filter is used when one section of your image is a lot brighter than the another section. A typical example is a landscape where the sky is a lot brighter than the foreground. In a situation like this, what happens is that your camera’s sensor can’t always capture both the brightest and the darkest tones in the scene – the dynamic range is just too great. That means you end up either blowing out the highlights or blocking up the shadows.

That’s where a graduated ND can help. This is what it looks like; it’s clear at the bottom, and dark at the top. What you need to do is line up the transition with your horizon. So where it’s clear, it’s like there’s nothing there, and where it’s dark, it will hold back the sky.

You want to buy this kind, which is made by Cokin, or Lee, that fits into a holder on the front of your lens. It just slides in, and that way, you can line up the transition with your horizon. This is much more useful than the filter which screws onto the front of your lens because that transition is in a fixed position.

You can buy these filters in a kit, which comes with a 1-, 2-, and 3- stop filter with both hard and soft transitions. But, if you just want to buy one, I recommend this one, which is a 2-stop soft transition, and is the one I find the most useful.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
without graduated neutral density filter

In this image, I’ve exposed for the foreground, and the bright sky has completely blown out.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
with graduated neutral density filter

By adding a graduated ND filter, I’m able to get both the foreground and sky exposed properly.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
without graduated neutral density filter

In this image, I’ve exposed for the sky, and my foreground is way too dark. I want to open up those shadow areas.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
with graduated neutral density filter

Again, I add a graduated ND filter while I’m shooting, and now I can brighten up those shadows, while holding back the sky.

You may have guessed already that there’s one big scenario when you can’t use this filter, and that is if the transition from light to dark is not a straight line, such as when there’s a tree in the foreground. If you use the filter in that scenario, then the tree will appear darker than it should. In that case, you’d have to resort to creating an HDR image instead.

Check out
graduated neutral density filters
at B&H

All in all, though, this is a really useful filter, and I recommend that you have one in your kit. I use mine all the time.

That’s it for today! For more helpful tips, drop by ultimate-photo-tips.com for a visit, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there.

Happy shooting and I’ll see you next time!

 

 

• Home
• Photo Challenges
• February 2013

Photo Challenges:
February 2013

"Parts of a Whole"

This week’s challenge is to photograph only part of a subject. I can think of two different ways to interpret this challenge.

In the first case, you could aim to have the "part" that you photograph tell the story of the "whole." This means careful selection of an element that is strong enough, representative enough, or significant enough, to suggest the full story of the whole. Looking at the photo of the part, you should have some understanding of what the "whole" is all about. This is what I’d like you to aim for in your challenge entries. You can decide for yourself whether I’ve been successful in my examples below.

In the second case, you could select a part of an object that, in isolation, tells its own story. The "part" stands on its own as an interesting subject, and doesn’t make you want to know more about the whole. That’s may be a topic of another month, but for this challenge, let’s concentrate on the first case: telling the story of the whole.

Read the rules. One entry only each month per person, please!

Enter your super-amazing photos in our photo contests. The winning image will be featured on the Ultimate Photo Tips homepage for all of the following month.

Submit your image.

See what other people are submitting, and vote for your favorite:
View other entries.

 

Telling the Whole Story

 

© Julie Waterhouse

 

© Julie Waterhouse

 

© Julie Waterhouse

© Julie Waterhouse

© Julie Waterhouse

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