SJP "Sullivan J Photography"

Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to talk about some nice features that Adobe Lightroom 3 has to help you with your Macro & Close-up photography. You can also read up on the new features that Lightroom 3 has to offer here; but let’s get started with the features that help us Macro photographers.

One of the best features Adobe added is the improvement to the noise reduction option.  Because we get up close and personal we need more light into the camera for a correct exposure, which can lead to an under exposed photograph.  So if you have a underexposed photograph, don’t toss that file, fix it in Lightroom 3.

Another nice feature that I like is the tether shooting (connecting your camera to your monitor/computer) option.  While photographing up close you really need to see what your subject looks like, otherwise you lose the wow factor.  I like being able to make my adjustments right on the spot – which is usually for me the f-stop.  Most of my work is done in my studio so this is perfect for me.

Now, I’m sure many of you photograph while visiting family or while family is visiting you.  Sometimes it can be difficult to achieve that awesome shot you want when your family is with you. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I love my family but the photographer in me can get a tad frustrated when I want to take the extra time to make that perfect shot.  So what I do, is try make sure my exposure is correct and then snap away.  I still like the close up feel to my work so I hold my elbows in and stop breathing while I snap the shutter.  What’s nice about Lightroom 3 is that it has a lens & perspective correction feature and some other goodies to help you in post-production.  So don’t stress out…all will be good later

We now have the ability in Lightroom 3 to upload photographs to Flickr and Yahoo.  This is what I did for my Aunt:

In Figure 1 we shot some fun photographs with her horse Fluer.

Figure 1

I wanted to play with the post crop vignetting feature to focus on the experience they (Aunt Kay & the horse) were having.  I also enjoyed playing with the Presence area…had to throw that in too.  See Figure 2 & 3.

Figure 2

Figure 3

With Figure 4 you can see that I decide to play with the vignetting.

Figure 4

Figure 5 shows you the before and after pictures of my Aunt and horse.   Make sure you don’t blow your whites out (see the red on the left photo)  Not good!

Figure 5

To make it easier for me to send to Flickr so my Aunt could see the pictures, I added the photographs that I wanted in the quick collection.

Figure 6

Once I had all of the pictures for Flickr, I made a file… see Figure 7.

Figure 7

I had my file opened and then I dragged and drop the photogs into the photostream. Once you’re ready… click on “publish” and the pics are sent to your photostream in Flickr.

Figure 8

This is the completed photograph for my Aunt.  I didn’t do much to it, just a bit of tweeking in Lightroom.  I do want to add that these are fun photographs for the family.  Lightroom is a great tool but Photoshop is the last step I use for my professional work.

Figure 9

I also added some fun close-ups of some desert flowers when my brother-in-law came out to visit when we hiked Joshua Tree National Park.  If you’re ever in Southern California I highly recommend this park in the Spring.

Figure 10

Figure 11

Before I finish, just a couple of other features that I really liked…one, I’m so happy that Lightroom 3 is faster to work in, very, very nice. I also like the ease of adding my watermark, even though I didn’t add them to this post, lol!  :)

So get close to your subject, hold your elbows in, hold your breath while you push the shutter to achieve a sharp handheld focus, play with your photograph in Lightroom 3 and send them out to Flickr and/or Yahoo for you, your family and friends to enjoy!

Cheers, Janice

Fixing Your Photo Story

We all want to tell a story with our pictures; to have an image impact others is why most of us enjoy this craft, but Macro photography can be a challenge in many ways. First, the main object is the story. If you have too much in the photo, you lose the impact of the up close perspective. Second, you can be like me…sometimes I’ll be so exited about the object up close that I forget that there is a story behind it and just want to shoot it because I think it’s cool. Definitely do this to satisfy your senses, but also think about the observer, will it ignite their senses?

Of course if it was a perfect world we could achieve the perfect shot right from the beginning, but many times this doesn’t happen and that’s ok; this is what separates us from the hobbyist. I don’t know about you but I always have people saying, “Wow, you must have a really nice camera!” Kind of…but that isn’t the reason the photo popped at them! It’s our creativity and the knowledge of digital dark-rooming.

So today I’m going to show you what I did to fix my photo story…

During Lent, being Catholic, I give thanks for Christ’s sacrifice. With this in mind I needed a photograph that was a semi-cross, so I started with the pic in figure 1. I was shooting outside and had to work with nature. If you need some basics on natural-light-macro-photography, click here.

I started by viewing the pictures in Adobe Bridge and working in Photoshop. Don’t be shy, if you have other ways to help fix a photo story, please comment to this post.
Figure 1

Figure 2  shows you the original photograph before I made adjustments.   As you can see from the photograph, it’s not exactly what I needed, but it’s a good start. I first cropped the photo and then began to process it.  I photograph in RAW so I can make adjustments easily; I recommend you do this too.
Figure 2

In Figure 3, I developed the photograph to achieve the color I needed using the exposure, white balance, and various other tabs in this area…play with all of the goodies in this area so you know what you can do, just be careful not to clip your photo. If you don’t have time to work on the picture in Photoshop, that’s ok, just click “Done” and all of your work will be saved. No worries if you need to make changes again, you haven’t damaged the photo, just open it up again and begin your adjustments.

Figure 3

Now it’s time to work on your picture in Photoshop (or whatever software you have) the concept is the same… What I did was made a copy of the pic in a new layer so I don’t damage the original work. (Layer > Duplicate layer)
Figure 4

Notice that in Figure 5, the bottom right is too dark. I needed to lighten it a bit so I used the dodge tool. It takes practice, but start slow using a soft brush and a low percentage, see Figure 6 for more details.

Figure 5

Figure 6

Now it’s time to spot clean. Use at least 100% viewing… going back and forth from 100% to full view. Don’t forget to add a new layer; it’s easier to dump the layer if you have problems than damaging your original file.

Figure 7

When you need to clean up an area that has distinctive colors, I recommend the clone tool. Hold down the Alt/Options button and click on the area that you want duplicated. Next, use your pen tool or mouse to basically paint the area you are correcting. If you’re unsure of the ending results, no problem…just make a special layer for this to dump, if needed. You can also hold the apple/command key and push Z , this will erase the last command.

Figure 8

Wait a day or two (if you have time) and go back to your work with a fresh mind. This will help you to see any details that may need working on. I noticed a couple of spots after I thought the pic was ready to go! That could be a big ooopsy!!

Figure 9

This is the completed piece.

Figure 10

The next couple of photographs show you before and after shots. I didn’t explain in detail what I did to them all, but I think just by viewing them you’ll get the picture of what was done.

Mature flower with baby in background – Life

Figure 11a

Figure 11b

Details of Spring flower’s leaves – Life

Figure 12a

Figure 12b

Rejuvenations of Spring – Live

Figure 13a

Figure 13b

Today, I briefly discussed what I did to fix my photo story. I enjoy the whole process of working with my photographs. If you really need help retouching your photogs, then hire someone to help you, but for me…it’s my work from beginning to end. It’s the details that make your work stand out from the rest. Always try to exceed your own expectations and make your photograph pop by fixing your photo story!

Cheers,
Janice Sullivan
http://www.sullivanjphotography.com

Remember…don’t be shy, comment!  :)

Hello everyone,

Today I would like to go over High Dynamic Range (HDR) using Photoshop.  I decided to change the background for my Twitter account to match the colors of my website, blog, and stock/sales sites.  Of course I wanted a macro photograph…and of course not your typical macro of various bugs.  I wanted an artistic shot that would be abstract for my background. Yes, it’s a flower but I bet you couldn’t figure that out on your first glimpse.

As always, I will provide you the steps I used to achieve my end results.  If you would like to view the Figure’s up close you can click on the picture and to get back to the blog use your back arrow key on your website browser bar.  You can subscribe to this blog (look to your right) and print up this article later when you have more time to work on your HDR project.

So let’s get started:

As a macro photographer you should always use a tripod, at least try to use a tripod.  Set up your shot… you can go to my basics here for more information.

Take various images using the same f-stop and ISO, only change your shutter speed so you have the dark parts in the picture exposed correctly, gradually ending with the light parts of the pic exposed correctly.  It could take 3 to 6 images, maybe more, just focus on a range of photographs.   I like to use the manual mode; it’s much easier to control your camera.

Once I have my shots, I rename my photographs using Adobe Bridge.  I will post another article with more details about organizing your files, but for now as you can see, I renamed the files with my business name, the date the photographs were shot, the actual file # the camera gave it.

Figure 1

You can also add your metadata  in the tools menu in Bridge.   This is important for your copyright legalities.  Again, I can write about this in more detail if you all want me to?

Figure 2

Now it’s time to group the photographs you would like to merge together.  As you can see from Figure 3 the picture has a wide range of dark to light images.  If I tried to expose for the dark areas I would clip the light areas of the image and vice versa.  So the best route for this photo is HDR.

Figure 3

Again, I used Adobe Bridge to work on these photographs.

Figure 4

Once you click on the merge button you will see the example in Figure 5.  On the left you can see the green checks to tell you that these will be the photographs that will be merged together for HDR.  If you decide that one of the photographs will not be useful, uncheck it.  The more photographs you have the larger the file will be. Did you notice that Photoshop is up and running as you work on your photograph?

Figure 5

Set your white point and then change your file to an 8 or 16 bit file (tone mapping).  For now 32 bit is useless…in the future who knows  :)

Figure 6

I changed my method to Local Adaptation from the drop-down menu in the Conversion Dialog box…don’t freak out when you see the pic change to a lighter photo, you can fix it with your curves.

Figure 7

As you can see in Figure 8 I have adjusted my pic with the curves…

Figure 8

I adjusted my colors to go with my other sites (website, blog, stock/sales).

Figure 9

I changed the curve a bit more:

Figure  10

Clean up your photo viewing it at 100% or more.  Check “all layers” on the top menu bar.  If you have a complicated area to clean up, I recommend adding a second layer.  The easiest way to do this is at the bottom-right of the toolbar, (see Figure 11 for more details).  Trust me, it is so much easier to dump a layer than to start all over again.

Figure 11

Today I showed you how to use Bridge and Photoshop to merge your pictures in HDR.  I showed you how to manually work on HDR in a previous post.  As you can see from the example of Figure 12, it would be tedious to work on this photo manually.

Figure 12

This is my final image…It’s ok here but check it out on my Twitter account, that’s where it really looks cool!

Figure 13

So remember:

• Take various shots of the image with correct exposures from dark to light areas
• Use the same f-stop and ISO – only change shutter speed
• Use RAW files for best coverage
• Use a tripod for alignment between each photograph
• Name your photographs
• Add metadata
• Open your photos in Bridge and select them-hold down your apple key & click your selection
• Merge together using HDR Photoshop function
• Set white point
• Change to an 8 bit file or 16
• Change to Local Adaption
• Adjust photo with curves
• Change color, curves, etc…if needed.
• Clean photo, viewing at least 100%
• Have fun!

If you have an image that has extreme contrast, use HDR, you will be happy with the results.  This is like the darkroom back in the days of film where you would dodge and burn to get the best results.  Hope this helps you and remember this isn’t just for landscapes, use it for any photo that needs adjustments.

Take care and good luck,

Janice

Hello everyone,

I started this blog to give people information on macro and close-up photography.  The posts began with the basics but now we must move on to discuss more complicated techniques to improve your work.  If you need help with the basics go back to the beginning of my blog and read on…

Click here to start you off with the basics.

Remember… always feel free to make a comment or email me at info@sullivanjphotography.com with any questions, I’ll do my best to help you.

Today’s post will be about HDR (high definition range) photography.

Basically, your camera cannot read dramatic contrasts.  In the future I’m sure there will be a camera with built in technology to be able to produce HDR photographs, but for now, in order to achieve a correct exposure from extreme darks (black) and lights (white), you must work on the photo using your computer.

Today’s lesson is about photographs that are not too complicated to work on.  Later I’ll talk about more difficult photographs.

When we photograph macro we use a tripod to focus on the subject, this makes it easier for you too when processing an HDR.  I always suggest you photograph in RAW, so you can easily change the photograph using software like Photoshop & Lightroom.  When photographing macro you must tell the story of a subject, this is your focus, think about why you want your pic up-close and let everyone know about it.  HDR can give you that extra technique to tell your story!

I will show you two steps that I have used today to correct the following pictures.  I would like you to read the articles by Harold Davis. He’s an excellent writer and will give you more details about this process.

My first example is working with a variety of exposures.  When you work this way keep your ISO and aperture the same… only changing the shutter speed to achieve the variety of exposures needed.

To view the Figures up close click on them…  to go back to the blog use your back arrow key on your browser.

Figure 1

You will need to decide what photographs work the best to merge together.  I decided to start with the best exposure of the petals and then work on the middle of the picture outward.   The photo on the left is the correct exposure for my petals but the middle of the flower has lost some of its clarity because it is underexposed.  Also, you run into noise when you underexpose, which looks really bad, especially if you enlarge your photographs like I do.

Figure 2

Next, move the second photo onto the original photo. Again, I decided to work from the middle of the flower to the outer part of the flower (see Figure 3). I also suggest working with the RAW format pics because it’s a smaller file…unless you have an amazing computer with the latest and greatest everything on it goodies… ☺

Figure 3

Now it’s time to mask…go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All.  You will see that the mask is black.  When you mask a photograph everything in black will not show and everything in white will show.  Next, pick a soft brush and paint the area with white to reveal the new photo that you just added to the file.

Figure 4

Figure 5 shows you how I masked the second photo and only revealed the middle of the flower.

Figure 5

I decided to add one more photo to the original to enhance my exposure. Once I completed this I saved it just in case I needed to make changes to the mask later on. Once I am happy with my masking, I merge the layers together (to make a smaller file) and work on it with more detail, removing spots, dust, etc…

Figure 6

Figure 7

This is the final image:

Figure 8

For this next image I used one RAW file to expose certain areas of the photograph to merge them together.  I could process this picture like this because the photo itself wasn’t too under or over exposed.

Figure 9 is exposed for the top part of the red carnation.  I wanted a rich red color…

Figure 9

Figure 10 is exposed for the bottom of the photo… I wanted the stem and the background very light to help POP the red on the picture.

Figure 10

Just like the previous photographs I had both raw files opened, I moved one photo onto the other holding my shift key at the same time.

Figure 11

Just like the previous example, mask your photo by clicking on Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All.

Figure 12

Next I painted in white what I wanted to be revealed in the combined photographs.  If for some reason you paint too much that’s ok you can change to black and paint over or change the opacity/fill.

Figure 13

The ending result is a beautiful photograph of this carnation.

Figure 14

Today, I gave you two examples on how to process your photographs to achieve the dynamic range and beauty the camera cannot capture.   The first example is to photograph a variety of exposures and merge them together.  The second example is to develop one RAW photograph into a variety of exposures to merge together. Both techniques must be masked and painted with white to reveal what you want on your new photograph.

When you photograph up-close use a tripod… this makes this whole process easier.  So have some fun, play with HDR, and tell your macro story!

Cheers,

Janice

With the New Year just passing…I thought to myself how fast the last 10 years have gone by.  I remembered the people that have passed away and how important they all were to me.  One of my favorite photographs is a close up of my grandmother’s hands.  I took this picture using black & white film and worked on the negative in the darkroom to enhance the character of her hands.  She was an avid quilter so I photographed her hands while she was working on one of her quilts.  We had fun photographing her hands, so I thought it would be nice to help you learn to photograph the people you love close-up.

A portrait is nice to have but when you photograph close-up, especially the eyes, hands & feet, the photo becomes more than just a portrait, for me I am seeing the soul of the individual.

So today I will discuss how I photographed my daughter’s eye and my hands.

PHOTOGRAPHING EYES

Some suggestion for photographing eye (s):

1. Don’t use a flash.
2. Use a telephoto lens (preferably a macro lens).
3. Put music on or something that will make your subject relax.

Most of us get nervous when we have anything close to our eyes, so for this reason a telephoto lens is a better lens to use.  I would use a 100mm or longer so your subject doesn’t feel like you’re in their face.   Also, a flash can be annoying for the person so I don’t recommend a flash.  If you need extra lighting use continuous lighting, turning it off and on when needed.  I always stress, “use a tripod when photographing close-up”, but this is one of the few times that you can get away without using the tripod.  Make sure that you hold that camera steady…you don’t want the eye to look too blurry.   Some eyes shots can look nice when they’re a tad blurry…..for me I get a feeling of a dreamy state to the eye(s) when the photo is blurry.

Next, I view my pictures on Lightroom or my Bridge programs.  I place a star on the pics that I feel resemble the personality of my subject.  I then wait a day or two to view the pics again, focusing on the starred photos.  Once I find the one that I like, I start to work on it.  I take my time because these photos will be important to my family and the future family to be.

I always photograph in RAW so I can make changes with ease.  The main objective of photographing the eye, for me, is to match the color of my subject’s eye.  I want the color correct!   My daughter has beautiful eyes and I definitely want to show this in the pic for her children and grandchildren, etc….  She also loves to sleep and read so I wanted the eye relaxed, not wide open.

Reminder: If you want to view the figures up close click on them, to return to this article use your back arrow key.

Figure 1:  Photograph a variety of eye shots and star your favorites.

Figure 2:  Choose the photograph you like and make basic adjustments.

After my adjustments I open the photo in Photoshop to work on it in more detail.

Figure 3:  Work in Photoshop to clean your picture in more detail.

I clean up the photo by removing dust and anything that distracts from the original look of her eye.

Voila! … I now have a great photograph of my daughter’s eye.

Figure 4:  Finish picture of my daughters eye.

PHOTOGRAPHING  HANDS

While photographing hands, try to tell the person’s story.  For example, my grandmother loved to quilt so I shot her hands with one of the quilt pieces she was working on.  She had a needle & thread with her bobbin on one finger.  For my hands I wanted to show the designs of art on my nails.  I really enjoy having designs on my fingers…being an art photographer, I can appreciate the creativity my manicurist paints for me.

Some suggestions for photographing hands:

1. Tell your subject’s story.
2. Use lighting to enhance the story.
3. Use a tripod.
4. Use a macro lens for close-ups.
5. Have fun and be creative.

I stressed that you should focus on the subject’s story because this post is about reality, not a glamour shot!  Also, think about your lighting.  Placing continuous lighting on the side of your subject will help you see the lines of the skin better. Or for my example, the focus was on my 2010 artwork, so my lighting was focused on that nail.   Use a tripod if you want to see more details on the hands.  Of course if you want motion then go for it and hand hold your camera, but just be careful that your photo doesn’t look like a bad shot.  I recommend a macro lens because we are getting up close and personal… and of course play with a variety of positions (camera & hand positions).

First, I set up my tripod and camera using a macro lens.  I set my camera on the timer so I would have enough time to place my hands.

Use something that you can focus on (see below):

Figure 5:  Use something to focus on like this lens cap.

I focused in the area of the lens cap and set my hands over my eyepiece holder, putting the black velvet over the holder.  Black velvet is amazing…it doesn’t reflect light; I highly recommend velvet as a background for macro shooting.

Figure 6:  Place your hand where you focused your lens.

Viewing the variety of hand shots in Lightroom, I chose the best photo that represents me.  Just like the eye shot…I stepped away from the photos for awhile and then picked my favorites.  I made basic corrections in Lightroom.

Figure 7:  View all of your photographs pick your favorite and correct exposure if needed.

Next, I wanted to remove dust and any other distractions from the shot using Photoshop.  I suggest you correct your photo using separate layers, it’s so much easier if you make a mistake to toss a layer than to start all over.  Also another tip for you…when you work with various layers, make sure all of the sample layers are checked (at least for dust removal).

Figure 8:  Clean up your photograph using layers.

I didn’t clean up too much because I want the character of my hands to show… again this isn’t a glamour project! 

Next, I flattened the image to combine my layers.

Figure 9:  Before you sharpen your image flatten the layers.

After I flatten my image I sharpened it by clicking on filter > sharpen > unsharp mask.

Figure 10:  Sharpen your image.

Figure 11:  Preview your adjustments before you click ok.

After I’m happy with the amount of sharpening I’ve done to the photograph I save my photograph to a Tiff.  This is my way of saying that the photo is finished and ready for printing.

Figure 11:  The final image of my hands.

Today I discussed two body parts that you can photograph to keep as a special picture for you and your family.  I talked about some tips on photographing eyes and hands.  Remember to try and not use a flash for the eyes and use a telephoto lens to help your subject be more relaxed.  When photographing hands, focus on a story…the story of your subject.  Use lighting to enhance your story and have fun!  I also talked about the steps I use while processing the picture.  Take your time…this is a photo for a lifetime!   Happy New Year to you all…I wish the best for you and your families.

Cheers,

Janice

Ps…I will be out of town for the next several weeks but will be back with more macro and close-up techniques when I return.

Hello everyone,

I receive a lot of emails from artists asking me how to photograph their work because they can’t afford a photographer.  I understand how hard it is to start marketing your business especially for a new artist.   So I decided to help you all with the basics.

With the holiday’s, many artists and crafters want to photograph their work, but it can be hard to photograph small pieces if you don’t know what to do, so let’s talk about what I did with this really cute Christmas treat.

GETTING READY FOR THE SHOOT

First, I stabilized the piece and thought about the background.  You definitely do not want your background to take away from the art piece.  I planned to change the background so I will shoot a black, white, or gray background to make it easier to pull the image out and place it on my new background in Photoshop.

Use your back arrow key to return to blog  :0)

Second, place your camera on a tripod and use a cable release so you have minimal movement to your camera.

Third, photograph in RAW format so you can color correct easily.

Fourth, definitely get a macro lens. See the difference of a standard canon zoom lens on 90mm shot compared to a 100mm macro lens, below:

FYI…I didn’t move my tripod or the Christmas treat.

I suggest if you don’t have a macro lens now then you should start with my favorite macro lens, the Canon Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro. For more information on macro lens’ check out Canon.  If you’re not a Canon user no worries, just purchase a macro that will work with your camera. Macro lens’ are made for “Close-up Photography” as you can see from the photograph above, a macro lens purchase is worth it!  Your work will look sharp and clean.

Fifth, use a tent if your work has a shiny surface.  Tents are awesome!  You can use them with any style of lighting…sun, flash, etc…

PROCESSING YOUR PHOTOGRAPH

I mentioned previously that you should photograph RAW. It is easier to white balance (correct your color).  You want your potential clients to see what your work actually looks like.  Normally, I use my Adobe Lightroom software if my lighting is the same, whether I photograph in a studio or use natural light, if I have a segment of many photographs with the same lighting conditions, Lightroom is much easier to process.  But with this piece I wanted to play with the lighting a bit so I decided to use Adobe Bridge to rename, apply copyright info and to view all of my pictures.

Once I decide to develop a photo, I’ll double click on the image, see below and to the right:

White balance, Exposure, Recovery, Fill Light, Blacks, Brightness, etc…  Also, below RGB you will see boxes to click on and adjust even more to your photo.  Check out Amazon to see books out there for your software.

I photographed this cute snowman in various positions and lighting.  I knew that I was going to change the background and because the snowman had light and dark colors in it I shot my photographs with a light and dark background.  This way I could play with both types of photos to see which one would be easier to select my subject.  Just trust me…it doesn’t take long to change a background but it can take forever to select your piece in Photoshop!

SOME ADDED TOUCHES

I decided to use the shot below so I used the lasso tool to cut out the Snowman treat.  I opened a new file and made a background that matched his nose and reversed the gradient tool because I wanted you to see the snowman : )

Next, I used the move tool to cut the snowman out from the selected area and placed it on top of my new background.  To make the snowman fit go to Edit>Free Transform.  Hold your shift key while you proportion it to the background so you don’t distort your work.

If you are happy with the photo…next clean it up, viewing it at least 100%. Sharpen your image by clicking on Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.

This is then end result

So all you artists, crafters, or anyone that would like to photograph their small pieces of work, remember:

• Stabilize your art piece.
• Use a tripod and cable release.
• Photograph in RAW format.
• Use a macro lens.
• Use a tent if your work has a shiny surface.

If you want to go a step further to enhance your work you can change the background in Photoshop.  I did:

• Select your art piece from the photograph.
• Make a new file concentrating on your background.
• Move your artwork (photo) to the background with the move tool. (drag & drop).
• Clean up your photo – remove dust and other distractions.
• Sharpen your image.

Hope this article has helped you learn how to photograph your work. Good luck and as always feel free to email me or add a comment to this post.

Cheers,

Janice