In this in-depth review of the Nikon NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.8 S prime lens, we will take a look at how the lens performs on Z-series cameras like the Nikon Z6 and Z7, and discuss its ergonomics, features and optical characteristics. In addition, we will compare it to its F-mount counterparts from Nikon and Sigma. We have been using the lens for over 8 months now and have been able to test several copies of it to make our review as comprehensive and accurate as possible.
With most people having a pretty amazing camera in their pockets these days, there is no shortage of amazing photographs in the world. Instagram and Facebook are filled with gorgeous pictures. We are bombarded by pictures taken in homes perfectly decorated with meticulous yards all worthy of a magazine cover.
What do you do, though if you have a “normal home?” Can you even create beautiful photos in a less-than-picturesque environment?
The reality is, we don’t all have homes that mimic Pinterest boards. Our backyards are often filled with grass and a sandbox instead of perfect gardens. Our refrigerators have preschool drawings and spelling tests stuck to them. The walls in our homes are not all gray and our windows don’t all face north.
But I am here to tell you that you can still create beautiful photos in your home! I know it can be daunting to look around your home and see more shabby than the chic, but I promise you are not alone.
The 1970s paneling in my house? It’s definitely not coming back into style anytime soon! The endless trail of shoes, backpacks, and socks? It all seems to magically reappear within moments of my cleaning them!
But this house is where all of our best memories happen. And so is your home. So let’s work together to figure out how to create the photos we love in the imperfect homes we love, too.
Sometimes when you look at a scene from where you stand, the imperfections feel too big to conquer. But a little shift in your point of view can make a huge difference in what you see in your photographs.
Simply changing the angle from which you are shooting can make all the difference in what you see in your camera. These are some of my go-to perspectives for imperfect locations.
Shooting above a subject magically helps you eliminate any unwanted elements from your frame. I use this perspective when I do not have time to clean up the living room or when I want to avoid an object I cannot easily move (like my less-than-picturesque chain link fence). I have been known to stand on chairs, sofas, or even climb trees to get a bird’s eye view.
Shooting from above is also a great way to capture a parental point of view. We watch our children from a higher perspective daily. Having images from your eye level down will help you remember how little they were. And who doesn’t want to hold onto that?!
For the parents’ point of view, I often photograph my children while they are sitting and playing and I remain standing. You can eliminate any distracting elements simply by moving to a small area of clean floor.
Much like shooting from above, I use shooting from a lower angle to avoid certain elements in my frame. I often shoot from down low when we are outdoors as I can fill the frame with pretty skies while avoiding distractions.
I love this point of view when we are on a busy playground and I only want my child in the frame. You can often find me laying flat on the ground to get as low as possible! However, as long as you are lower than your subject, you can reap the rewards of this perspective.
Pro tip: Use foreground elements to help block out any distractions.
This is one of my favorite compositions when I don’t have the energy to rearrange furniture or tidy up before taking a photo. Plus, I just love portraits that fill the entire frame! It is one of my all-time favorite ways to capture my children.
Not only does it let me capture all the details of their faces, it also makes my life so much easier when I don’t have to ask them to change out of their favorite graphic t-shirts.
Pro tip: Filling the frame with your subject leaves the viewer no other choice than to linger on the details. It is very important to watch that you have a sharp focus and you need to pay attention to your depth of field. I will often shoot with a smaller aperture when I am filling the frame to ensure that my subject is completely in focus.
Filling the frame with your subject leaves the viewer no other choice than to linger on the details. It eliminates the need for a pretty background as your subject takes up all of the space!
This may seem like a very obvious tip, but take a second to look for any removable distractions in your viewfinder. If there are distracting toys in the background, push them aside.
I like a clean slate for my photos, so I tend to remove any objects I can. It is amazing how removing some of the clutter from the frame will transform a snapshot into a piece of art!
I am also a big fan of moving furniture. Because believe it or not, my living room is not set-up solely for pictures!
When I want a blank wall to be the backdrop, I need space for the kids to play, or the furniture itself is the distraction, taking a minute to move a couch or table can make a huge difference. My kids know I have a picture in mind when they walk into a room and I have rearranged the furniture.
Much like you want to exclude certain things from your frame, be sure you embrace what you love! I love my table, so I use it a lot in my pictures. I can simply clear whatever clutter may be on the table to the floor to get a shot I love.
Need more? Check out this MEMBER EXCLUSIVE article on how to make any location photo-worthy!
Light and shadows can work like magic to highlight your subject and hide distractions. And while it may sound daunting for me to tell you to use physics in your photos, I promise it isn’t too complicated.
The Inverse Square Law determines how quickly light loses its intensity as it moves away from the source. There is an absolute mathematical equation to figure this out, but understanding the calculations is not as important to me as being able to implement the law into my photography.
The idea is that the closer the subject is to the light source, the more the light behind the subject will fall off into shadow. So, for example, if you want to light only the subject and absolutely nothing else, you would place your subject as close to the light as possible.
You expose for the subject which leaves the background underexposed, turning it into darkness in the camera. This means that any distractions that are in the room beyond your subject magically disappear. Thanks science!
At the end of the day, don’t forget that your life is beautiful just the way it is. In fact, the the mess is sometimes where the beauty resides!
You will want to have some pictures to remember the baskets filled with unfolded laundry and the puzzle pieces all over the floor. Someday your home will be remodeled and you will love seeing those outdated kitchen photos. Because even the most imperfect homes hold the most perfect memories.
Life has a way of passing quickly. Ao while you are in the thick of it, be sure to create some of the most beautiful pictures by embracing the world around you.
There is no need to wait to have the ideal home or move to the mountains in order to create beautiful images. You are able to capture meaningful, gorgeous images right now, right where you are. There may be some challenges to overcome. But with a little creativity, anything is possible.
The post How to create beautiful photographs in any location appeared first on Clickin Moms blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time.
Clickin Moms blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time
In this Guide to Black and White Conversion using Photoshop, we will look into the pros and cons of different options Photoshop offers to turn an image into monochrome. Practically, there is not one single method that suits everyone or more precisely, not one method that suits every single image shot by the same photographer. But certainly, some methods are more powerful than the others and give us more control over the output. Before you go through this article, please take a look at my article on Low-Key Monochrome Photography. You may wonder, by converting a picture into grey-scale, we are just removing the colors, then how does one method differ from the other. Let us look at these one-by-one and at the end of this article, you will know how each one is different from the other and hence decide on the ones to avoid and the ones to use. But before we get to the conversion itself, there are a few important steps.
Today DxO released its first major version of its Nik Collection suite that it acquired from Google last year. The new version of the software, Nik Collection 2 comes with over 40 brand new presets and support for high-resolution monitors. While the support for high-resolution monitors is great to finally see in Nik Collection, it seems like nothing else has really changed as far as the tools are concerned. In fact, I personally don’t think that this release even deserves a major version name change, as it seems to be more of a “preset release” than anything else. None of the actual tools had any serious changes and their version numbers remain the same.
Ever have a hard time getting your little ones to smile for the camera? Do you ever photograph people that tell you they hate getting their picture taken? Do you say that you hate getting your picture taken? It can be tough to stay motivated as a photographer when it seems no one is enjoying themselves!
We don’t want you to feel defeated when taking photos. When we first started in photography, we struggled with this BIG time! Over the last couple of years, we have found that the number one priority to making sure you get great photos is having FUN.
Having fun yourself will help you and your subjects relax and enjoy the session rather than dread it. Here are our top tips for making sure that you and your subjects have fun while taking their photos!
It doesn’t matter if you are at a photo shoot, at your husband’s holiday work party, or meeting someone at a coffee shop: people like to be asked questions about themselves. Whenever someone can start talking about themselves (what they know!), they will feel more comfortable.
So, start asking your subjects questions right off the bat. As they walk up to you.
The questions can be super simple. Ask them if they found the location okay. Ask them if they had a good day. Or even ask them where they got the dress they are wearing. This helps to break the ice, gets a conversation started, and keeps everyone comfortable. And it shows that you care.
This simple effort helps to build trust right away. And you can’t have fun if there isn’t trust. As you continue to ask questions, start getting sillier and sillier with your inquiries. Make it a goal to get the kids to giggle before you even take your camera out!
Pro tip: Little kids can be the toughest to break loose. We find that making yourself look silly works magic! We will a lot of times pretend that we tripped over a rock or hit our head on a branch to get a giggle out.
As you begin the shoot by asking questions and giving compliments, keep the conversation going. If it gets silent for too long, things feel awkward for both sides.
Having a couple of ideas of things to say in your back pocket is a must. Simple compliments are a sure way to ease the tension and boost confidence. “This is going to be so much fun!” or, “I can already tell you are going to rock this session!” or, “I am already excited to see these pictures on my computer when I get home!” will make anyone feel great.
It can be difficult to keep the conversation going when you are focusing on getting your settings right and getting your shot (especially as a newer photographer!). If this is the case, be sure to take intentional pauses so that you can chat in between pictures.
Whether it is your own child, your cousin, or a complete stranger, it is so important to be their biggest fan during the ENTIRE shoot. If you have ever played basketball or run any sort of race, you know it builds your confidence when you hear people cheering you on. That’s a no brainer.
So, we shouldn’t treat our subjects and taking photos any differently. If you want the photos to be amazing, you will want your subject to be confident. That confidence will show in the photos and will make the whole experience positive for your subjects.
As we are taking photos we are constantly talking and saying small phrases like “Oh my goodness, this is the cutest thing”, “Do you see her eyes?”, “This is perfect”, “How are we going to narrow these down to just one sneak peek”, etc. We NEVER stop talking. Ever.
Every time, it is amazing to witness the change in our subjects. They go from unsure and awkward to giggling to full on confidence machines. And that is exactly what we want!
One surefire way to make your subjects have fun? Give them a peek of the fun you are having behind the camera!
When you get a shot you love, share it with your subjects so that they can marvel over how awesome they look. This works to continue building trust that you are working to make them look their very best. And when they see how great they look, they are going to have fun and want to do more.
This is our favorite part. It is our favorite because it always makes our subjects laugh as we make the start a bit silly (on purpose!).
There is nothing worse than getting your picture taken and not knowing what to do with your hands or feet! We are consistently modeling the poses we want our subjects to do with some significant exaggeration to get everyone laughing. We always let them know they won’t look as ridiculous as us which makes them more confident (see a theme here yet?!).
Not only are we showing off our mad modeling skills and having fun, but we are also coaching our subjects through each pose. And this means that we will get the photos with the natural, relaxed posing we want. Always give their hands, feet, and eyes something to do. Start with the feet and work your way towards the eyes.
Pro tip: We love connection in photos. One of our favorite ways to encourage that is with directing eye contact. We love to say, “Everyone look at Dad and giggle. And Dad, smile at Mom!” This creates a natural giggle reaction and also gives Dad something to do while everyone is laughing at him!
Who doesn’t love presents?! Even if it is something small, everyone loves a surprise gift. It also shows some thoughtfulness on your part.
We love to send our families off with a little parting gift. It could be a lollipop for little ones, a scrunchie for tweens, or a small gift card for the local ice cream shop in town. These little gestures ensure that your subjects leave feeling extra warm and fuzzy. When they hop in the car and drive away, we want them smiling, laughing, and saying how easy and fun it was for them.
Props don’t have to be cheesy! In fact, they can add a little variety and make your sessions fun.
We aren’t telling you to haul a prop on a trailer to every session (although, that could be neat, too…LOL). Instead, we are talking about small, natural props.
Drinking soda out of a vintage glass bottle adds a bit of fun nostalgia to a senior session.
Try bringing along slices of watermelon for little kids at the end of a hot summer day. This will not only keep them excited if they know they get it at the end, but it will make for some cute (and messy — bring some wipes) photos.
Fairy lights are another favorite. They add a little sparkle in any season and create the most beautiful bokeh at wide apertures.
Pro tip: Ask your subjects if they have any fun ideas! They might have their own prop to bring along that you would have never thought of on your own.
Our number one goal when photographing anyone is to have them mention how fun it was. And our second goal? To have fun ourselves!
When fun is the main objective, the stress and awkwardness that so many of us associate with photos disappears. Everyone is way more comfortable and relaxed, including you!
In the end, your goal behind the camera should be to have fun and enjoy yourself as you capture priceless memories. If you stop having fun, it will feel like work. And no one wants that!
Good luck and we can’t wait to hear about all the ways you have a blast at your next session!
The post How to make your photo sessions fun for your subjects (and you!) appeared first on Clickin Moms blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time.
Clickin Moms blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time
