Week 11 [Workshop Notes]

Re-Editing on Photoshop and Camera RAW

In this week's workshop, our tutor gave another tutorial of how to use the post-production softwares available for us to use for editing our photographs for our creative project. This was because a few students were not there for last week's workshop, so it was vital they had an understanding of Camera RAW and Photoshop. Here are some notes that I took down that I found relevant for me to further my knowledge in these softwares.

Camera RAW edits our photograph from 16-bit RAW files into an 8-bit shape. The higher range of tones, the higher bit rate the photograph file is.

On Camera RAW we can change the colour balance of our original photograph from the presets available from the camera, for instance we can add a flash balance which can make the image appear warmer.

We want to create the best photograph with the high amount of tones in order to make it easier to edit in Photoshop.

Vibrancy deals with the peaking colours, you can reduce this so they're not clipped. It doesn't matter if they go off the chart vertically as this is the range of tones of a certain pixel/colour. We do not want the histogram clipped off horizontally.

Use sharpness and noise reduction to get rid of graininess within the image.

Lens correction is important. This is because the circular lens cuts a square out of what we see, thus the light makes the focus sharper for the centre of the image.

Use a software called 'Spider' to calibrate your screens for editing.

Photoshop allows you to:
- Crop 

- Orientation

- Texture

- Brightness

- Vignette

- Filters

Set your photoshop workspace to "Photography" --> This makes the tools and workspace more relevant for photograph editing.

Set you crop/size of image to A4 which is 210mm x 297mm (dimension WxH)

PRESS ENTER TO APPLY EDITS

Always duplicate your layer before applying effects to your image so you don't ruin your original image, plus you can compare the original image to the layer that you've edited.

Usually you'll add a layers of:

- Hue and Saturation

- Curves

- Levels

These help enhance the richness and depth of your photographs. You can adjust how much of these layers come through to your image, so the effects may not appear as strong.

Photoshop and Editing Images - Week 10 [Workshop Notes]

Editing Your Photographs

Using Photoshop

An image is a set of RGB values (Red, Green, Blue). Each pixel in your photo has a different tone a colour in are valued and labelled in the form of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) between 0-256.
We can convert them to CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black)

Photoshop allows us to adjust these numbers in order to change the exposure, contrasts etc.

Be sure to shoot in RAW. files as well as jpeg. jpegs is a condensed image in comparison to RAW. By condensing the files, making contain less data reduces the image quality. Also, the limited range (8-bit file), RAW files are 16-bit so it can capture brighter and darker bits which a jpeg image could not. 

Shooting RAW. has a lot more tonal quality.

We need to launch 'Camera RAW' before launching photoshop. Non-creative work is done with Camera RAW before doing the creative treatment on Photoshop. Once all tweaks are done, we then export the files as jpeg.

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Using Adobe Bridge

When using Adobe Bridge

Film Strip - For those more comfortable with Microsoft users, you can used it to compare images.

Metadata - Shows you how the camera was set for the images.

Output - Create a PDF contact sheets and we can edit all captions.

You can label images with star ratings and then we can easily pick and chose images, reducing you collection of quality images.

Double click an image you want to edit, this will automatically launch photoshop an import the image to it. However, with RAW images, it will launch Camera RAW as photoshop wants to change the images from 16-bit to 8-bit.

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Editing your Images in Camera RAW

Using the image's histogram graph, 

X-axis = shadows to highlights
Y-axis = pixel strength

You want to get the best tonal range of the image. You want to reduce and enhance the values so they are within the boundaries of the histogram.

Black triangles shows you where on your image you have gone out of the tonal range.

Icons

White Balance - These alters the colour temperature of the image. Even if you preset your camera to a 'daylight' filter, Camera RAW will get rid of this. 
You can alter the tint and colour temperature too.

Highlights and Shadows - Top and low end tones will be alter, this can add a lot more detail to your photographs. 

Lens Correction - Lens gives you a round image, but your camera takes a square format. This helps alter light dispersion through the lens. Lens correction loses the vignette of the image, this can be re-added.

XMP files are changes to an image. They do not read or burn over the original file.

Once all corrections are done, select open image to open them in photoshop.

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Editing your Images in Photoshop

Change your tool options to photography, this will bring back the histogram.

Photoshop works through layering images. They're a non-destructive way of image manipulation.

Your cursor becomes you tool. Learn keyboard shortcuts to save yourself some time.

As you flattened your image in camera RAW, you now want to give your image some depth and contrast.

First thing you do when you start to edit the image is to duplicate the layer and add an adjustment layer.

Curves Layer - Make a characteristic curve, you can add film themes and various other edits to adjust your image. 

Black and White - You monochrome the image and you select the relevant colours and alter them. 

Clone stamp tool is really good for getting rid of reflections and blemishes from an image.

Dodge tool - Makes values brighter
Burn tool - Makes values darker

These subtle retouches are really effective for your images in terms of it's lightning.

Shape and size. Make sure you [Crop tool, fourth icon down] crop your images before you touch it up

You want your images to be in these format
A4 - find these presets online 210 x 297 (double the small number for landscape)
ppi - 300 (print resolution - find out)


Save your image as a either a photoshop file (when you haven't quite finished editing) or a TIFF for when you print your images (full resolution with no compression) or a jpeg for when you hand them in. jpeg is when you images are FULLY EDITED.

My Previous Work in Photography

Photos on Instagram/Phone:

Landscape

https://www.instagram.com/p/_jy1qwHCNd/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/9PHs92HCAh/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/4_5Ha8HCMh/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/3MFnV9HCKp/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/2Y24nhHCHq/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/xW4IRonCGH/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/xM6c98nCJk/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/sZs61YHCGJ/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/sNVkncHCAK/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/ibkD_cHCEK/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/c3yz7bHCJm/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/bT7cq9nCHM/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/Y-J42SHCNx/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/V9m2SyHCLt/?taken-by=gwhale69

Portrait

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA2KQ_LHCB7/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/5yy2fdHCND/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/bKgtRCnCPK/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/VxTU0SHCEB/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/WYC6skHCH5/?taken-by=gwhale69

Documentary

https://www.instagram.com/p/5IQLrNHCEs/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/dXDXJkHCFC/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/Z1R4LcnCEI/?taken-by=gwhale69

Street

https://www.instagram.com/p/_INOpCnCH7/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/Z3ldkMnCFN/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/UjfjgYHCME/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/T80oEfHCFm/?taken-by=gwhale69

Tips on Shooting Environmental Portraits - Week 9 [Project Research Notes]

Notes from 'Chapter 2: The Environmental Portrait' taken from David D. Busch, Rob Sheppard (2012) David Busch's Portrait/candid/street Photography: Compact Field Guide, : Course Technology. (page. 27-37)

Keep It Simple
Concentrate on your subject and try not to let your surroundings/environment dominate over the subject. Remember to consider your focal length and depth-of-field as this affects perspective.

Practice!
To get more comfortable with your environment, shoot and experiment with non-threatening subjects such as a friend/relative or even a doll. By experimenting, you will understand how to control the sharpness of your backgrounds before the real subject comes in front of the camera.

Smile :)
This will make any situation with someone feel more comfortable and confident so don't forget to smile as you shoot. This can create great facial expressions you can capture during your shoots.

Think About How to Best Get a Sharp Photo
Using a tripod definitely helps in this case. However, this isn't always possible with environmental portraits. If you use a hand-held camera, be sure to use a fast shutter-speed and/or anti-shake/image stabilisation technology built into your camera or lens. The most common cause for unsharp images comes from camera movement during exposure. 


Choosing Focal Length
Your choice of focal length influences three important aspects of your photograph. These are:
Angle of View
The most obvious effect of focal length choice. A wide-angle lens will show you more of with environment with your subject. A telephoto lens will narrow down that and of view to less of the surrounding in which the subject is based.

Environmetal Photography Mood Board - Week 8 [Homework Task Photos]

Using inspirational photographs relating to my own creative project theme of environmental portraits of my father, I created a mood board via the Picasa image application. Here are some examples of the mood boards that I have produced:

Photoshoot #1 @ Graveney School - Week 8 [Photoshoot Notes]

Environmental Photography - Week 8 [Project Research Notes]

During our workshop after the Easter break [Week 8], our class's tutor, Paul Vincent brought up the topic of environmental portrait photography. I was intrigued by this style of photography as I noticed from the photos projected in class that, in some way they related to the project I was undergoing regarding the subject of my father. Since I wanted to take photos of my father in different locations to signify his lifestyle and identity I took upon myself to do some research into this area of photography and find an online journal to review which related to this approach of photography.

Environmental Photography

This is a genre of photography by which subject's are photographed in their usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject's life and surroundings. It is most commonly used by magazines/newspapers as including background detail and elements of someone’s environment through props and the mise-en-scene tells more of their story than a plain portrait shot in a studio.

"By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, it is thought that you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the subject will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience."

Quote from Jonathan Hilton in his book:Hilton, J. (1999) Special Occasion Photography (Pro-Photo Series), : RotoVision.

Tips on Shooting Environmental Portraits

1. Get Candid
Warm up by snapping some candid shots of your subject going about their normal routine. Try not to be too intrusive as the less your subject notices you’re there, the more relaxed they’ll feel. It takes people a few minutes to stop feeling awkward in front of a camera.

2. Add Props
Add a prop to show more personality and to give your subject something to pose with. his is also a great solution if you’re working with an uninspiring background; tools of the trade or even pieces of uniform, such as a chef’s hat, instantly add interest and detail.

3. Monochrome
Black-and-white has timeless appeal and is also a great way to make a busy shot like this one more restful to look at. This post-production technique further enhances the reportage feel of the image. 

4. Strike a pose
When you’ve taken a few candid shots, ask your subject to pose for you. Position them in their surroundings in a way that keeps them in the foreground as the main focus of the shot and keep chatting to them while you snap to keep their face animated and natural.
- If the background feels too busy, dial down to an f-stop like f/3.5 to blur it.

5. Widen up
For a different look, whip a wide-angle lens like our Sigma 10-20mm out of your camera bag and try including more of the surroundings in the shot. This is an especially effective trick if there are multiple people milling around as you’ll be able to capture them all in one photo.

6. Use the light
If you’re shooting indoors, like us, position your subject near a natural light source. Another option in low light is to ask a friend to use a golden reflector to bounce more light onto your subject’s face.

Taken from: 
Meyer, J. (13th November 2013) Environmental Portrait Photography: How to Shoot Candid Reportage-style Portraits, Available at: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/11/13/environmental-portrait-photography-how-to-shoot-candid-reportage-style-portraits/ (Accessed: 13th April 2016).