Selective Focus

I'm not talking the selective focus you use when your trying desperatly to read the last 20 pages of your book when your child is chatting you up about barbie's latest fashions... I'm talking... Photography!

Selective focus is a technique used in photography. You focus n a specific part of a subject that you want to highlight or emphasize, and you let the rest of the image fall into a the blur of the background. This is the effect created by a shallow depth of field.

Did I lose you already?

It's really simple... all those images where you see one part in focus, and everything else blurred... the photographer has used their aperture control to create that effect.

There are three things that go into creating images like this. The First... is your F-stop ( Known more commonly these days as your Aperture setting)

Aperture Control: The A mode on your camera, or part of what you control in full manual. Aperture is like the iris of your eye it opens wider or closes tighter to control HOW MUCH light gets into your image. The more light, the LARGER the aperture (the smaller the number)  

Aperture controls the "depth of field" think of this as a field of flowers. Do you want the one an arms length away to be just as clear and sharp as the ones twenty feet away? This would be done with a small aperture (Big number like f/22). If you want to highlight one of those flowers that is an arms length away and let the rest fall to blur then you use a large aperture (Small number like F/2)


2. Focal Length: There is a lot of tech and science that can be learned about this, as well as a lot of differences in the types of lens. However, what you NEED to know for this lesson is the Focal length refers to the wide angle, or telephoto number of you lens. When you say I have a 28mm lens, or a 18-55mm those numbers are the "focal length" of your lens. 

A lens of a shorter focal length will create a greater depth of field than one of a longer focal length... so opt for a 28mm over an 85mm (if you have a more "all purpose" lens like an 18-55 - keep the lens in the 18mm position, this will allow you the largest aperture setting as well)


2. Distance: The closer you are to your subject, the less depth of field that will be generated.

This is a great sample of blurring out a busy pattern in order to draw your eye to the beads on the lanyard. You can see the smallest of them in the loop clearly, as well as the cute bee and bugs. While leaving the foreground and background to blur out.The further away your background is the more blur you will achieve.


There are a lot of moments in photography where you will want to utilize this technique. The most common are...

Macro or Product Photography. 
Like the two examples I have given above, I have used this as a powerful way to draw the viewers attention to a very specific part of the image - my main focus of the subject matter.

Portraiture.
You can use this to create a general feel of mood in your image, putting the emphasis on your subjects face (or in animal photography the eye, specifically)

Fixed lenses (the ones with only one focal length number such as 28mm) are widely known to have large apertures (like 2.0 or 1.8) in order to specifically create these types of effects! Does that mean that if you don't have a manual camera or a lens like this that you can not achieve the same greatness...

Of course not!

You will find even on point and shoot cameras the ability to select a Flower mode (macro), a portrait mode (the shape of a head) at the very least... many camera's these days have even more to choose from that specifically adjust your camera's aperture setting to create this effect. Those "preset" modes are simply programmed combinations of aperture and shutter settings to achieve a specific effect. You will get a lot more use out of your point and shoot camera if you learn a few basic ones like these!

Happy shooting!

The Reflection Advantage

For this weeks last "retrospect" image I am going to take a look at one more way you can use reflection in your images. Anytime you have water, you have opportunity! This doesn't just apply to lakes, pools or other calm bodies of water although those are the most common. You can also take advantage of reflection off of water droplets, bubbles and wet sand, like I did below!

©Verte Photo Image available for purchase in my shop

This image was taken at sunset in CA on the beach. While most people think that is where the orange tones come from (the orange warm glow of the sunset light) that was not the whole of it! In truth there was a brick colored home much further back on the beach, but at the right angle, and with a smaller aperture I managed to blur the reflection of the house keeping the color but not the detail.


Happy Shooting!

Product reflection

It's a two-fer day!! Here are two examples of how to achieve a reflection in your product photography. 

©Verte Photo / Product supplied by Melli's Trinkets /Melli's YarnWorks

The grey is a reflective background, it is a super gloss finish and when combined with proper lighting it captures a reflection of the product on it. For the home photographer you can achieve this on a white background by picking up a poster board at your local craft store that is a reusable dry erase board. It will be white - but that tends to be better for the home photographer to use due to lighting anyways :)

©Verte Photo / Product provided by Streeter Ltd now Studio1241

This image shows you an alternate way to achieve a reflective surface on any color of background. By using a sheet of plexiglass. You don't see the line on the background where the paper underneath the plexiglass rolls up to create the seamless look because of the aperture setting (shallow depth of field) This was shot at a F3.5 keeping my product sharp, and creating blur everywhere else. Since it is a solid surface you don't see the actual blur so it is not distracting to the image. It simply hides the plexiglass (scratches on it, and the line behind the product from where it stops and the paper continues)

Top 5 DIY Product Photography Tips

I have had several online shop owners coming to me asking for advice on how to make their DIY product images better... and time after time, I find myself writing the same (or similar) email back... I thought I would simply post a quick Tips post to be able to point people to!

If your images are dark, grainy, have a color cast, blurry or simply "yucky"....

Here are my top tips, for starting to troubleshoot and solve your DIY Dilemma!

1. Lets talk set up. Here is a great post about how to set up next to a window. http://www.tsualist.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-dollar-store-studio.html
You do want to make sure you understand the difference between shooting in the morning, afternoon, night... sunny, partly sunny, or during a rainstorm... each difference changes the type and quality of your light. I have some great posts on this on the blog... There are a ton of posts in March for product photography - and previously about white balance and types of light... like this one http://vertephoto.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-best-time-to-do-product-photography.html

2. Camera settings. Usually the biggest issue isn't the type of camera (tho lens quality will play a role) but focusing on an item close up, and possible reflection off the materials may be the root of the issue. Here is what to look for in order to over come those issues:

• Keep your flash off.  When your shooting close up and you use your flash... it creates an overexposed image with too much light and the subject looks blurry or "ghostly" because of the reflection of the light back into the camera.

• Make sure your shooting in a Program mode (not auto which is commonly a green square or green P, or AUTO... but a regular P) this will allow you to control your flash and access additional options.

• Find a Macro Function: I would suggest using the "flower" or "close up" mode that it lists under your Scene (SCN) mode... these will allow your camera to focus closer and typically allow more light to your sensor. This will help (maybe solve) the complaint you had about the images being so dark - by gathering more light to your sensor your images will be better exposed. Depending on your camera, it may allow you to physically get closer to your subject and still remain in focus as well. (NOTE: Most point and shoot style cameras will only allow you access to find this SCN mode when your camera is in Program. If your in Auto, this menu will not be visible)

•  If you have an "anti shake" or "DIS" or any sort of Image Stabilization option turned on for your CAMERA - turn it off.  These functions when on the camera are adjusting your ISO setting which is what is causing the images to look really broken down and poor quality.. your seeing the noise created by your pixels. To learn more: http://vertephoto.blogspot.com/2013/05/tuesday-tip-dis-function.html

• Now, it's hard for me to tell.. you could have adjusted the ISO (which is what controls the noise) by selecting an anti shake type function, or you could have done it manually by adjusting your ISO - If you selected it manually you want to read just and go down to auto or 100 (maybe 200 if you want to shoot on a cloudy day) Typically auto is just fine, and you should never really "need" to adjust this off of auto. If it is set to auto and it is forcing your ISO settings up on its own with no adjustments from a IS function or you... then you have WAAAY to little light going on! You can check your camera settings to see what the auto is shooting at typically on your camera, if you cant find it let me know and I can show you how to find it on your image on your computer by viewing the meta-information.

• Back off. In most cases you've got high enough resolution - you could back off a little if you need in order to get focus.. then simply edit the images to crop closer :) If you need a photo editor I can give you some to check out - that you can either download free or that would be fairly inexpensive. (you can pick up old versions of Photoshop Elements, a consumer level photoshop program that is easy to use for as low as $10... and they work perfectly for 90% of your photoshop needs!) 

4. Lets talk backgrounds.

• Black adsorbs light and is great when TOO much light is your issue... but it rarely is.

• White backdrops (like poster board) help to reflect the light you have creating  an overall more balanced look to your images. In most cases of DIY, the issue is not enough light... so by using white your adding extra light to your area.
• If you don't want to go white - go Grey. You can find poster board still at the dollar store or any craft store :) super easy and cheap fix.While grey is a neutral, it wont bounce light... it wont absorb it either.

5. Add Light. ADD LIGHT..... ADD LIGHT! 99% of issues, the image posted above included will benefit from MORE LIGHT. Just because you think something is well lit, doesn't mean your camera will see it that way. Your camera sees about a 1/3 of the light you see. (ok this is really "depending" on the settings and type of camera... but its a good rule of thumb)
Use reflectors to bounce light where you have shadows. Use diffusers to soften harsh light. Read up on white balance, to make sure your getting the best quality of light. Again... I talk about light ALL the time because it is the SINGLE most important factor in photography. EVERYTHING is contingent upon light.

Bonus Tip: Be sure to keep your manual for a quick reference to find the different scene modes, or other adjustments and settings that I am talking about! If you don't have it, google your camera and look for the PDF manual, there hasn't been a camera I haven't been able to find one for yet!

Now, after you have put these tips to use... if you still want some additional help.. I am HAPPY to help troubleshoot! Simply leave me a message, or shoot me an email and I will be sure to take a look at what you have going on!