Photographing subjects, Photoshop, Sensor clean, Copyright etc.

This will be a growing list of links to web sites that show you how to do a particular photographic thing.

There are many thousands of web sites that have very helpful tips and hints, videos etc. This is not intended to be a “Google” list of all of these sites, but to highlight just a few. We will try not to duplicate things but select a good, comprehensive site for each topic.

Some topics may be specific to the UK or even just our Bedford region

Please feel free to suggest a site if you feel it merits inclusion. It should have comprehensive instructions – not just a “top ten” list – and be specific to a particular topic, one not already covered or a big improvement to the one we have.

Please accept we have no control over or association with these external sites. Some may disappear or change without notice. If you notice any such link please let me know, thank you

Wildlife

How to photograph various fauna and flowers, trees etc

Nature TTL – Many video tutorials on multiple wildlife and landscape photography

Fungi (text)

Bluebells also see local bluebell spots here

Shooting macro with white background using a simple portable “field” studio

Creative Wildlife Photography free 1.5 hour video from Adorama TV. Good for creative wildlife and other genres. Gerry van der Walt has shared his Presentation Slides with our club.

Landscape

Nature TTL – Many video tutorials on multiple wildlife and landscape photography

Mist and fog photography web

Photograph the Waterfalls of the Brecon Beacons

Find the no parallax point, AKA (incorrectly) nodal point, with your tripod. Perfect your panoramas with help from Hudson Henry

Tides and Water Temperatures for most places around the world by Ryan Blundell Tideschart.com

People

Photographing the children in your family – good ideas from Jayne Odell

Street

Hitting The Pavement ( Street photography talk by Derek Fahsbender, free You Tube video, B and H USA, 1hr 43mins)

“I snap the poodle” – Starting out in street photography – a novice’s approach, start a project to focus the mind

Using the Tools

How to use the camera, lens, tripod etc

Depth of Field – Simulator. Select camera, lens, aperture, distance and framing to visualize how a lens will affect your final image.

Creative

Creative Wildlife Photography free 1.5 hour video from Adorama TV. Good for creative wildlife and other genres. Gerry van der Walt has shared his Presentation Slides with our club.

Image Editing

Adding texture to backgrounds Photoshop Web

Lightroom – Free OU video course (more here) from New City’s Learn page (N.B. this is for Lightroom 4, an older version of the software)

Photoshop – Adobe TV

Julieanne Kost’s Lightroom and Photoshop videos Evangelist and Complete Picture

Glyn Dewis – no list is complete without a link to Glyn’s brilliant videos and articles on using Photoshop in the real world

Photoshop – PSD Stack by Bunty Pundir (India) who has created an excellent resource of articles and links, see his list for 100 Tutorials from Basic to Advanced

Blending Modes in Photoshop – Photoshop Training Channel short video and longer video

Photoshop portrait retouching – 30 min video, also see Glyn Dewis’s alternative methods. Anthony Morganti has several “Learning Photoshop” tutorials on YouTube

Piximperfect – YouTube channel of Photoshop and Lightroom techniques by Unmesh Dinda

Compositing – Part 1 of 3 Photoshop CC with Jesús Ramirez. Excellent 90 mins tutorial, Parts 2, 3 and many more videos from January 2019 Adobe Live

Ken Payne Digital – Ken is a judge known to Bedford CC. Ken has many good Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom and other tutorials on his web site

Dodge & Burn – Enhance images by part darkening and lightening; increase 3D/pop, make subjects look thinner or fatter. Fstoppers 3-part article from 2014

Photoshop and PS Elements blend mode recipes for various effects, PDF by Ann Miles

Colour, Mono, IR and UV

Tests for colour vision – I can’t say how valid these are but they are good fun, includes tests on how well you perceive hues and saturation

Understanding Colour – Dave Morrow (video, web page and PDF)

Colour Management and Printing – Cambridge in Colour (concepts, correction, calibrate, soft proofing etc)

Advanced Colour to Mono Conversions – John Paul Caponigro

Infra-red and Ultra Violet (IR and UV) Photography – Infra Red Camera Conversions is a conversion business but has useful information on their site

Studio and Lighting

Lighting 101 – David Hobby (AKA The Strobist) a series taking you through using a flashgun, light modifiers and setting up a small studio, also follow-ons 102 and 103

Canon Radio Speedlighting ( 600EX-RT and 430EX-RT III with Syl Arena – other speedlight users will also learn from this free You Tube video, B and H USA, 1hr 48mins)

Using a Flash Meter: Don Giannatti (video, free, 2 hours) – Gavin Hoey (Adorama, free video, 11 minutes)

Photograph a car by light painting (web site)

White balance, why, when and how to set (free video)

Lighting Essentials – A free, online workshop course by Don Giannetti. Tutorials and assignments.

Portraits with Simple Gear – Don Giannetti, free 14 hrs video course on Udemy. Recorded in 2013 but still relevant

Softbox – Video by Tony Corbell on 10 ways to use one softbox

Portrait Photography – Monty Zucker articles and PDF Portrait Photography Handbook (124 pages from the master)

Profoto Videos – Not many of us can afford Profoto lights but we can learn from their excellent videos, e.g. Albert Watson‘s The Light AW Shapes and Steve Jobs

Northrup – Chelsea and Tony – inexpensive video courses and PDFs on lighting, Photoshop, Lightroom, Digital Photography etc. Free YouTube videos.

Fashion Shoot – 90 minute entertaining shoot. Daniel Norton (AdoramaTV) creates images on the fly with 2 models + 3 speedlights in a small studio space

Grey Backdrop – 90 minute entertaining shoot. Daniel Norton (AdoramaTV) creates “endless looks on a grey backdrop” with minimal lights

Cleaning

Sensor Cleaning videos: Doug McKinlay (**) – Hudson Henry – Leica Clean – Philip Bloom

** Doug suggests checking for dust using the camera LCD, I prefer using Lightroom (link 1, link 2), ACR (link 1, link 2) or Photoshop

Sensor cleaning web site: Cleaning Digital Camera

Materials: Just Ltd (although you may find cheaper kits elsewhere)

Sensor loupes really help you see the dust on the sensor: Movo – Carson (the Carson fits standard DLSRs. Not sure about mirrorless which have a shorter depth to sensor, you could try handholding the loupe 1 or 2 cms above the camera or fit an inexpensive Nikon or Canon lens convertor.)

Lens Cleaning: Lens Rentals

Ink Jet Cleaning – unblocking print heads etc Keith Copper – Northlight Images

Printing

How to size and order prints online for a BCC competition PDF

Two good videos from Glyn Dewis on profiling your printer using the X-Rite i1Studio, watch both parts, part 1 (starts 5 minutes in, 51 mins), part 2 (41 mins)

The i1Studio is expensive, if you have only a few different paper types you can print test sheets and send them to a company who will email back the profile for that printer/ink/paper combination. Follow the test sheet printing instructions VERY carefully. Some paper suppliers will do this free for their own papers, there are other companies that charge per profile, usually around £15 each profile. Some UK profiling companies: Paper Spectrum, PermaJet, Colour Profiles, Colourphil, Tetenal

Jose Rodriguez has a comprehensive YouTube channel on all things to do with printing

John Paul Caponigro’s take on what to consider, including paper, pre-flight checklist, mounting etc (open a free account for some of the PDFs)

Soft Proofing – using PS or LR to display a better impression of how your image will print when using your particular printer or print lab and paper – Glyn Dewis video and PDF

Presentation and Composition

Archiving – Medium Photography’s “rules” for archiving your images

The Complete Guide to Photographic Composition – by Tony Worobiec, FRPS, excellent detailed discussion and examples

Understanding Depth of Field (DoF) – B&H Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Interactive DoF Simulator (observe how DoF changes for selected camera, lens and distance)

Also see Web Galleries

Competitions and Exhibitions

How to prepare and enter photographic competitions

What the Judges are Looking For – Advice from SWPP which can apply to any competition

A Beginner’s Guide to Photography Salons – explaining Salons (exhibitions) – good blog post written April 2015 by David Candlish

Tripods

Fluid Heads – Hudson Henry advocates using fluid heads for landscapes and wildlife photography, what you need and how to use them

Protect Your Tripod – Hudson Henry, leg wraps, replace feet, greasing

Tips to better Use Your Tripod – Hudson Henry, which legs to use, when and where, salt-water usage, closing, carrying.

Technical Information

Good technical articles require careful reading to fully appreciate

Noise: Image sensor, ISO or light generated? DP Review Part 1 – Part 2 – Pixel Size (2015)

Sensor Technology – albeit with reference to Canon developments this explains the current and future technology of most common camera sensors as at April 2019

Equivalence: understanding how a full frame camera (35mm) is compared to smaller (or larger) cameras like the Four Thirds system – Richard Butler (2014)

Depth of Field – explains focus, depth of field, circle of confusion, focal length and hyperfocal distance

Circle of Confusion, the Airy Disk and Diffraction – Martin Bailey on DoF and why very small apertures may not be as “sharp”

When to use a (UV) filter on a digital camera: Lensrentals articles worth reading in series: Oct 2013, Dec 2016, May 2017, June 2017

Which circular polarizer filter should I buy, another good test from Lensrental

Hyperfocal Distance explained – 12 min video, technical and practical, light hearted, discover why smaller sensors have larger DoF

Windows 10 Explorer – Viewing RAW images within File Explorer, instal Raw Image Extension, NB some new RAW formats not yet supported, eg CR3 (as of 05/11/19)

Copyright – Easy to understand info-graphics explaining copyright and subsequent image manipulation to create new work. For the UK, USA and some other countries

Copyright UK Gov – Comprehensive info from the official UK government web site (e.g. UK copyright is automatic and it is illegal to remove META data)

Miscellaneous

Create Sharper Images – FStoppers web page

Hold an Exhibition – Leanne Cole explains what you need to consider

Contribute

How to use your spare time and photographic skills to contribute, or give back in some way, to society.

This is a wide area and you can always generate your own projects by contacting organisations to see if they would be interested in you volunteering to photograph, e.g. a disabled riding centre, homeless charity, community group.

Some organisations that actively encourage contributions…

Historic England – Photograph buildings and other historically interesting things in your area. They welcome information and pictures to add to their archives

War Memorials Online – In a similar way to Historic England they welcome photographs and condition reports of any war memorials you may find

National Trust – Most N.T. locations have their own web page, e.g. on Facebook, and welcome photographs from visitors

Going Commercial

Exhibitions – Professional Gallery Exhibition

Event Photography – How to Make Money. American but all relevant to the UK. Jay P Morgan is an experienced commercial photographer; he offers good, sound advice. When you think about it much of it is obvious but easily overlooked when starting out. Some not so obvious, e.g. when shooting for free it is always important to send an invoice for the breakdown amount you would have charged but marked “No Charge”, read why in his article. Posted Dec 2019