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Movies Black and White Photography 2015

The Golden Hour in Photography

Professional photographers swear by the "golden hour" as the time of day with the best lighting. Discover what it is and how to take advantage of it.

If there's one thing that can make or break a photograph more than any other, it's lighting. You might have the most incredible landscape or stunning portrait model, but without the right quality of light you can still be left with a flat, dull, and uninspiring photo.

This is particularly true in outdoor photography - it can often be difficult or impossible to use artificial lighting to illuminate your subject, so you're completely reliant on the natural light.

As a result, it's critical to find the right time of day to shoot your outdoor scene. Thankfully, professional and amateur photographers have been thinking about this problem since the invention of the first camera, and have found the perfect solution - the so-called "golden hour".

What is the Golden Hour?

The golden hour, sometimes called the "magic hour", is roughly the first hour of light after sunrise, and the last hour of light before sunset, although the exact duration varies between seasons. During these times the sun is low in the sky, producing a soft, diffused light which is much more flattering than the harsh midday sun that so many of us are used to shooting in.

This type of light produces less contrast, reducing the chances of losing parts of your subject in strong shadows or blown-out highlights. The warm glow adds a pleasing feel to the scene, and the long shadows help to pick out details, adding texture and depth to the image.

As an added benefit, there are generally fewer people around at dawn and dusk than there are at other times of the day, giving you a chance to capture your images in relative peace.

When to Use It

The golden hour rule can be applied to any type of outdoor photography. As well as the more obvious subjects such as landscapes and city scenes, it also works well for outdoor portraits, shots of flowers and plants, and even certain types of still life such as cars.

Professional photographers swear by this rule, and many follow it so rigidly that they even go as far as refusing to shoot outdoors at any other time of the day. You don't need to be quite so strict, but bear in mind that these guys are called experts for a reason, and their advice is usually worth following.

Calculating the Golden Hour

The quickest and easiest way to calculate the times of your two daily golden hours is to use this golden hour calculator. It uses a slightly more complicated definition of the golden hour than we've discussed here, but is a doddle to use and produces some very accurate times.

Alternatively, if you'd prefer to work things out yourself, you need to start by finding your local sunrise and sunset times - the easiest way is to use an online sunrise and sunset calculator.

Next just do some simple maths - the first golden hour of the day will begin just before sunrise and continue for about an hour. The second golden hour will begin around an hour before sunset and finish just after.

Tips for Shooting

Once you've figured out what you're going to photograph and when you're going to do it, you're nearly ready to get your camera gear together and head out to snap some great pictures. But before you do, bear the following tips in mind, to ensure things go smoothly and you make the most of your time:

Use a tripod - At the times nearest sunrise and sunset your scene will be very dark. However, it would be a shame to miss out on the fantastic colours and textures by waiting for it to get lighter. Set your camera up on a sturdy tripod, set the ISO nice and low, and use a long exposure.

Allow plenty of setup time - When the golden hour starts, it starts surprisingly suddenly, so it's essential that you're prepared. Get to your shooting location with plenty of time to spare, even if that means getting up in the middle of the night.

Keep shooting - During each golden hour, the light changes remarkably quickly, and your scene can look vastly different after just a few minutes. Rather than snapping one or two shots and then heading home, stay for the entire hour and capture the full range of effects.

Take a torch and a hot drink - Dawn and dusk can get very cold and dark. This sounds obvious but it's easy to forget, especially if you're heading out in daylight to photograph sunset. A torch will help you see what you're doing and where you're walking, and a warm drink is a godsend while you're standing around in the cold waiting for your next shot.

Shooting during the golden hour is without a doubt the one tip that has made the biggest difference in my outdoor photography. It may mean having to go out with your camera at times when you'd rather be curled up in bed, but it's worth the sacrifice. Give it a go and see how it transforms your photography.

How to Photograph Lightning

 

Lightning photography is very tricky, requiring lots of patience and luck, but it can also be one of the most fun and rewarding subjects to shoot.

Lightning is one of the hardest photographic subjects to shoot successfully. It's great fun but you need a fair bit of luck to capture a well exposed, well composed scene filled with interesting lightning bolts.

The key to getting good shots is to be well prepared and get the camera's settings just right. After that it's a case of being patient and taking enough photos to give yourself a good chance that one or two will hit the mark.

Equipment

Before heading out in search of a storm, you'll need the following equipment:

Digital SLR - Compact cameras respond too slowly and don't give you enough control over their settings, making a DSLR a must for lightning photography.

Sturdy tripod - You'll be using long exposures (perhaps 30 seconds or more), so some sort of camera support is essential.

Cable/remote release - Pressing the shutter button by hand causes vibrations which can result in a blurry photo. A cable or remote shutter release will eliminate this problem.

Lens - Lightning can be photographed using almost any focal length lens, but a wide angle zoom (around 28-150mm) gives a good range of possibilities. Make sure the lens has a switch to put it into manual focus mode, as you'll be using that to lock the focusing at infinity.

Location

You want to position yourself around 6 to 10 miles away from the storm. Getting closer can be dangerous, and makes it difficult to shoot the lightning effectively. 

Setting up any further away can lead to the strikes appearing too small or dull in the final photo.

The easiest way to judge how far away you are is to count the time between a lightning bolt and the crack of thunder. At a distance of 6 miles this time is 30 seconds.

Try to position yourself at right angles to the storm so that it moves across your field of view rather than towards or away from you. This is safer and keeps the storm in view for longer, giving you a better chance of getting some good pictures..

If possible, stay under the cover of a building or overhang. This will keep you and your equipment dry if you get hit by a sudden downpour.

For safety, don't stand within 50 feet of any tall objects like trees, overhead cables, or metal poles. Similarly, don't use an umbrella. If shooting from a distance less than 6 miles, it's best to do so from within a building or car.

Technique

A lightning bolt lasts just a fraction of a second, and I used to wonder how photographers and their cameras could react quickly enough to capture them. As it turns out, they can't. However, each initial strike is closely followed by a series of secondary bolts, and it's these you capture.

Begin by setting up your camera on its tripod and connecting the cable/remote release. 

Watch the storm for a few minutes and note where most of the activity is taking place, and which direction the storm is moving.

Aim your camera at the point with most lightning bolts, or slightly ahead so that you can follow its movement. Looking through the viewfinder, choose a focal length that includes the lightning in the frame and which gives a pleasing composition.

Using either automatic or manual focusing, focus on something in the far distance. If your lens is marked with an "infinity" focus distance, you can use that. Once you're happy with the focusing, switch the lens to manual mode. This will stop the camera trying to adjust the focus distance, and also speed up the camera's reaction time when you press the shutter button.

Next, you have to be patient. Sit with your finger on the cable release and watch the sky carefully. Press the release as soon as you see a bolt of lightning, and with a bit of luck you'll capture some of the secondary lightning strikes in your photo.

Photographing Lightning at Night

Nighttime lightning photography is the easiest type, and the best one to try if you've 

never tried it before.

Put your camera into Bulb mode (often marked with a "B"). In this mode, the shutter will stay open for as long as you've got your finger on the button/release. Use a low ISO (100-200) and choose an aperture of around f/5.6 to begin with.

When you see a lightning strike, press and hold the release button to open the shutter. 

Hold your finger down until you've seen several bolts flash across the frame, and then release it. When shooting at night there's much less chance of overexposing, so you can leave the shutter open for anything up to about 2 minutes. Around 30 seconds usually works well.

Once you've got a few shots, check them in detail on your camera's LCD screen. If they're too dark try a wider aperture, longer exposure time, or higher ISO setting. Do the opposite if your shots are too light.

Also look out for blurring caused by the clouds moving across the sky, which is particularly common on windy nights. If ths happens, reduce your exposure time. You may also need to limit your exposure time if you're shooting near a city, to prevent light pollution ruining the photo.

Daytime Lightning Photography

Taking pictures of lightning in the day is more difficult than at night, because you also need to make sure that the surrounding environment is well exposed.

Put your camera into shutter priority mode. Select a shutter speed of 1/15 to 1/4 of a second and set the ISO as low as it'll go (100-200). Take several test shots of the scenery, checking each one and adjusting your shutter speed until the scene is properly exposed.

Bear in mind that the faster the shutter speed, the harder it'll be to capture the lightning, so you don't want to increase it too much. Using a polarising or ND filter will reduce the exposure by 1 to 3 stops, allowing you to use a slower shutter speed.

Once you've found the right settings to expose your scene properly, follow the same technique as above, waiting for a bolt of lightning and then opening the shutter. The main difference between this and nighttime photography is the much shorter exposure time. This makes capturing a good lightning bolt more of a hit-and-miss affair, but keep persisting and you'll get one eventually.

Automatic Lightning Triggers

You can fully automate your lightning photography using a lightning trigger. This is a sensor which fits into your camera's hot shoe and plugs into the cable release socket. 

When it detects a flash in the sky, it fires the shutter for you.

Automatic triggers do an excellent job but they're expensive, so they're really only for people who are very serious about their lightning photography. The industry leader is the Stepping Stone Lightning Trigger.

Lightning photography is far from easy, requiring a lot of patience and a healthy dose of good luck. The above tips will help you be prepared next time a storm comes around, and give you a great chance of snapping some fantastic images.

The Secrets of Stunning Waterfall Photography

Waterfalls are beautiful but technically difficult to photograph. Discover how to master the technical and creative aspects of waterfall photography.

Waterfalls are among my favorite nature photography subjects. Their elegance, movement, and ever-changing character make them beautiful to capture, but they do present a number of practical and technical challenges which can make them difficult to shoot.

The following waterfall photography tips will help you snap stunning images, and master the technical and creative sides of photographing this fascinating subject.

Capture Their Motion

One of the most interesting things about waterfalls is the way they move. From the meandering flow of water across rocks to the splash and spray of a crashing torrent, they're always full of energy and excitement.

The key to capturing this movement is choosing the best camera settings before you start shooting. So flick your camera into Shutter Priority or Manual mode and set it up as follows.

Shutter Speed

Every waterfall is different, and there's no single "correct" shutter speed to use, but if you want to capture movement in the water you'll need to use a slow shutter speed - generally somewhere from 0.3 seconds up to several seconds.

A good rule of thumb is to start with a speed of 1 second and take a test shot. Review it on your camera's LCD screen and adjust until you get the correct level of blurring. 

Don't worry if the scene is overexposed; we'll adjust other settings to compensate for that.

Tripod

With such a low shutter speed you won't be able to hand-hold your camera. A sturdy tripod is an essential accessory here.

ISO

Set your ISO as low as it will go (typically around ISO 100 or so). This reduces your camera's sensitivity, allowing you to use slower shutter speeds without overexposing the scene. It also has the added benefit of reducing the amount of digital noise in your photos.

Aperture

Using your lens's narrowest aperture will again let you use a longer exposure time. It will also give you the maximum depth of field, keeping as much of your scene in focus as possible.

Filters

If you still can't get your camera to go slow enough you'll need to use some filters to reduce the amount of light that's being let in. Professional nature photographers swear by neutral density (ND) filters, which reduce the light without affecting the colours in the scene.

An excellent alternative is a polarising filter. This does the same job as an ND filter but has the added benefits of reducing reflections (for example from water, wet rocks, and leaves) and increasing colour saturation for a more vivid image.

Shoot at the Right Time of Day

Bright sunlight can easily ruin a waterfall photograph. The intense light casts strong shadows across the scene, making it difficult to get your expsosure right. It also causes hundreds of reflections in the water and wet scenery, which will show up as tiny white dots in your shot.

To avoid these problems, shoot around sunrise or sunset (the so-called "golden hour"), when the sun's light is less intense and more diffuse. These times of day make it easier to get a more even exposure, and the reduced light means you can use a slow shutter speed more readily. Overcast days produce excellent lighting conditions for the same reasons.

Find an Interesting Composition

With all of these technical aspects to consider, it's easy to forget the creative side. Waterfalls are just like any other photographic subject, and you need to take the time to choose a striking, engaging composition.

Look for an Unusual Viewpoint

When faced with a waterfall, most people will stand right on the bank of the river, a short way downstream, and point their camera directly at the waterfall. More often than not this will result in the same uninspiring photo that we've all seen a thousand times before.

Spend some time exploring the surroundings to find a more interesting composition. Try photographing from high above, through trees or bushes, from behind the waterfall, or from just above the stream for a more unusual and creative viewpoint.

Include Scenery or People

For all their beauty, it has to be said that a lot of waterfalls look very similar to one another, and sometimes you get the feeling that if you've seen one, you've seen them all. A great way to overcome this is to include other elements that add interest to the scene.

Foreground rocks, bridges, and interesting plants all help to give your photo context. This gives the viewer a better sense of the place you were in, and allows them to "explore" the scene visually, creating a more engaging shot.

Including people is one of the surest ways to add interest to a photo. Waterfalls are no exception, and a well-placed person will create a focal point that might otherwise be lacking. People are also a great way to give your photo a sense of scale.

Shoot in Landscape

Because waterfalls tend to be tall and thin, most people hold their camera in portrait orientation without even thinking. Again, this often produces a shot which is just like all the others. Holding your camera in landscape orientation may seem unnatural, but it will force you to take in more of the surroundings and be more creative with the way you frame the scene.

Waterfall photography can be a tricky subject to master. Getting the perfect shot requires patience, a methodical approach, and a certain amount of experimentation, but the impact of a well-taken waterfall photo more than justifies the time and effort you've put in.