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I was inspired by a challenge my friend gave to me, it is to take a seemingly non-photogenic photo, using a rock and a background of your choice, it has to be natural and outside.
This is what I came up with, and I would love to inspire some of you guys with this challenge as it is FAR harder than it seems.
P.s, if you want to save yourself a lot of hardship, be sure to spend a lot of time post-photo and do a lot of editing.
Name: IMG_2758.JPG
Dimensions: 3456 x 2304
File Size: 4.1MB (4,291,819)
Date Created: 11/9/18 6:06:26 AM
Date Modified: 11/9/18 6:06:26 AM
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL SL1
Lens Model: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Lens Specification: 18/1 55/1 0/1 0/1
F-Stop: F5.6
Aperture: F5.7
Focal Length: 55.0 mm
Shutter Speed: 1/83 s
Exposure Time: 1/80 s
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
ISO Speed Rating: 200
Date Time Original: 11/9/18 6:06:26 AM
Date Time Digitized: 11/9/18 6:06:26 AM
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Flash: No, compulsory
Exposure Program: Landscape/manual
Exposure Mode: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Pixel X Dimension: 3456
Pixel Y Dimension: 2304
X Resolution: 72
Y Resolution: 72
Resolution Unit: inchThis is super cool, I just wanted to post what I got from my photo shoot. I think it was a success.
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So you want us to try it too? I might try it tomorrow. Got a few ideas, mostly involving macro-type shots.
@josiahw Totally! No one has to, but I found it as a cool and trying photo shoot, I would encourage anyone who wants to, to totally try this.
Here’s what I came up with. Both were shot with a 50mm 1.8 lens, tripod, and remote release. I used a 10 stop ND filter to blur the water.
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Hey man! Wow these are incredible and I can’t believe your stuff turned out so well! I am super impressed, well done! Great stuff, two ideas on photo #1.
The first is that you have a rock that you have out of focus in the bottom of the camera to add contrast against the background and the rock, good idea, bad approach. Your rock is taking up almost “half” of your photo! And its not even in focus! 🙂 So that brings me to the fact that your center piece, the rock that “is” in focus, is not nearly that big. Does that make sense? And two, when blurring water and items such as that, I would have (personally) increased the temp. to give a warmer color. And you should always use bilateral blurring when doing photo’s with editing like that. (p.s use the mask feature if you have it on your editing program.) With the slight exception that in some instances you can use box blur.
Photo #2. (Personally my favorite out of the two photos!)
Literally only one idea, not even edit, try lowering the sharpness setting on your rock, (again using the mask feature) it almost seems to stand out too well. other than that.
WOW! Color me impressed. Great job! Super-duper impressed. Good stuff!
So I re-edited the first picture, and don’t understand why “you should always use bilateral blurring when doing photo’s with editing like that”
I prefer to use a fast lens, and let it take care of my background.Attachments:
Hey Josiah, much better on the first photo! To explain, bilateral blurring reduces smearing in photo’s as it brings an item/s out of focus without smearing it into the surroundings. In your photos, (and this is super nit-picky) you have a smear where you used the shutter speed to fast and it brought the background out of context, but it also smeared it. Go to editing, and try and to remove the lens blur and add bilateral. I think it may work better.
What a fun idea, @ryanben2! If you’d like me to critique your photo, let me know on the webinar on December 11! https://www.lenspiration.com/photo-critique-with-lenspiration-dec-11/
I like blur from a fast lens too, @josiahw, over anything done in post-processing.
Hey! Thanks so much @jamesstaddon! I appreciate it so much! I would love for you to critique this on your webinar, that would mean a lot!
Hey again @josiahw I did a bad job of saying this, I usually do bilateral blurring, I find this works best for me, but I wanted to apologize I wasn’t cool on how I said that, bro your pictures look good dude, do what works best for you! I have no clue if anyone uses bilateral blurring anymore, so idk, but I’m sorry I wasn’t cool on my response, my bad man.
That’s fine, each to his own I guess. I like fast lenses and I like to leverage them for all they are worth!
Hey man, can I ask, since it is already obvious that I have to do most of my effects post-process, do you have any advice on how to create better lens blur while taking the photo? I would actually really love to figure that out if you had any advice! @josiahw
The correct term for background blur is “Bokeh”. The best way to gain it is with a very wide aperture- at least f/2, preferably 1.8 or more. There is a big difference between even a 1.8 and a 1.4. Even with a fast lens, there are ways to improve the bokeh of a existing lens. The first is to zoom to the max length you have. I have a f/5.6 lens that has very good bokeh- it is a 600mm. Next, move as close to your subject as possible. Finally, keep as much space between your subject and the background as possible. For example, if trying to take portraits with a 18-55 kit lens, zoom to 55mm, step as close as possible, and keep as much distance between the person and the background. It is no replacement for a fast portrait lens, but it will do in a pinch. In the pictures I took here, I used a 10 stop ND filter to slow my shutter speed to about 15 seconds, ensuring that any movement (water) would be smoothly blurred. Happy Shooting!
Hey @ryanben2, as a Lenspiration member, you might find the following article helpful!
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