How To Make A Full Page Watermark To Protect Your Images

Today I am going to show you how I made a full-page watermark to protect some images from a recent prom shoot. I really don’t know of any better way to protect images that you are planning to sell as prints than a watermark. The whole idea of a watermark is to mark your images so people know who made them. Also a watermark is used to protect your images from theft. The theft issue is a huge in my opinion the reason for this post.

I shot a prom a few days ago and the kids were great. I had a lot of fun, there were lots of nice people and it seemed like everyone had a great time. I was there to work, and work hard I did. Not many people know how much work it really is to load, setup, tear down, load, then unload an entire professional photo shoot set by yourself. I will just say it is a ton of work. Now, I know you can shoot with speedlights, and I do. But when you have one chance to get it right, you need to break out the big guns, the studio strobes. When you do these types of shoots, you are there to sell prints, rarely do you get paid to show up.

Now, in order to sell prints, you need to host the images and allow the kids and parents to choose. Again as photographers, we do not money to show up and shoot, our money is made after the shoot. Also at these types of events, it’s a kind of gamble. The last thing you want to be faced with is someone not buying your images because they have stolen them. Kids nowadays are so used to right-click save and put stuff on their Facebook it’s just second nature. I heard one of the kids tell my partner for this event, “don’t get mad at graduation when you see the pictures”. I said, don’t get mad for what? The kids from this high school have a chance to play a slideshow and make a speech during graduation, and they were warning my partner to not get angry because they have stolen images from the web and are using them in their slide shows. So why would someone pay for images if they are just going to steal them? Answer, they won’t, hence the full-page watermark. You need a watermark that is big enough that they do not want to steal the images, but not so obtrusive they can’t see the images. The watermarking options in Lightroom are kind of weak for certain types of jobs, and this prom is just one of those types.

I do not plan to use a full-page watermark on all of my images, just on the ones that I plan on making money on from print sales. Weddings are much different, you are paid for the job via a negotiated price. The prints and albums can be a bonus if not already negotiated in the price. Whereas a prom shoot is, show up, set up, shoot, edit, host and hope for sales. I love to do all sorts of photography related jobs. I just do not like to work for free if it’s a job. Now, if you ever find yourself the need for a full-page watermark, look no further.

Sorry that the video below is so long. Making a custom full-page watermark does take a few minutes. The good news is you can save some money because you won’t have to pay the $60-100 dollars it takes to buy special watermarking software that will do a full-page watermark. So, that’s it, thanks for taking time to visit today. I hope you are having a great day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

Making Custom Gradient Maps In Photoshop

Before My Custom Gradient Map

After My Custom Gradient Map

There are times you may find yourself working with an image and you want creative freedom to manipulate color. In todays post I will show you how to use a powerful yet simple tool in Photoshop to just that, manipulate color. When you work with photoshop it can be daunting to say the least. There are so many different ways to do a single task. I try to use tools that are the easiest and give me the control I need to express my vision. Photoshop offers a Little used function in the adjust layers called the,”Gradient Map” and it’s the power of this adjustment I will be showing you today.

First off the gradient map is pretty straightforward, you apply it to an image and use the presets to create different color tones for your image. If you are a CS6 user you can also load a bunch of new photographic toning presets that are pretty nice. But, in my opinion the real power of the tool is when you make custom gradients and apply them to your image. Once you make a custom gradient you can save it as a preset and apply it to as many images as you like. This is particularly helpful if you are trying to maintain uniformity in color for a series of images. Applying color effects to a single image is easy, applying effects to a group of images can be a real challenge. That is unless you make a custom gradient map then apply it to all of your images in a series.

Spend a few miniatures watching the video below and see how easy yet powerful making a custom gradient map really is. Thanks for taking time to visit, I hope all of you have a wonderful day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

On Camera Flash Is Horrible Right? Wrong!

Welcome to my blog. If you have worked with flash on your camera you must know by now it creates horrible looking images. The images come out looking flat and like they were taken for a mug shot. The reason for this is because a flash stuck on top of your camera is emitting light on the same exact axis of the lens. The flash on camera has no way to create any sort of interesting shadows and to boot, the light creates hard shadows. On camera flash has all sorts of things working against it, but all hope is not lost. Before I get into explaining how to make on camera flash look wonderful, let me define what an on camera flash is (for the purpose of this post). An on camera flash a speedlight type of flash you place in the hot-shoe of the camera, not the pop up.

There are many ways to use a speedlight, but sticking on top if a camera is almost never an option for a working professional. For the reasons described above, you want to take the flash off the camera so the light is off axis an can create shadows. However, in this post I am going to tell you to leave it on the camera and explain to you how to use it to make some pretty nice light. But first, there are two important rules you much master if you want to be great at lighting. The first and most important rule is, “Direction Of Light”. You have to envision where you want your light to be coming from and how it will fall on to your subject. Second, you must take control of the, “Quality Of The Light”. You see, light is all about Direction and Quality. Burn that into your brain, Direction and Quality of light mean absolutely everything when it comes to photography.

When working with a speedlight on your camera, it is impossible to put any soft of modifier on it that really works. You can’t put a large soft box on it, so I see people put on the little Stofen Tupperware caps, Gary Fong Dong thingy’s, bounce cards, rogue benders, you name it I have seen it. All of those things have one thing in common, All of those things eat up flash power. Now those things can be helpful if you are outside as a last resort. But if you are working outside, I say take the flash off the camera and put it on a stand and use some real modifiers. Remember, you always try to choose the right tool for the job. On camera flash outside just isn’t too good of an idea.

The magic of on camera flash is realized when you are working inside, because you get to bounce it. Bouncing the flash is super easy and extremely effective. To bounce the flash, all you have to do is imagine where you want the light to hit your subject and then point the flash to the point in space where you imagine the light coming from. I try to think, where would a soft box be if I wanted to light my subject. Then just point the flash where the soft box would be and bounce the light from there. I bounce at wired angles from the ceiling, walls, doors, it doesn’t matter. I bounce from wood paneling, wall tiles, wallpaper, brick wall’s and it works.

Don’t worry if you bounce at the ceiling at an away angle, it’s surprising at how much light that comes back to the subject even if the bounce angle seems to be a direct bounce away. Sometimes I have to turn my ISO up pretty high to make use of the returning scattered light when bouncing at extreme away angles. Using high ISO’s are OK with today’s camera’s, my 5D MkIII will make wonderful images at 3200 ISO, same with my 7D but I try to stay at a max of 2500. The main thing to know is, bouncing flash just works. There is one thing you must do if you want to bounce, you must block all light from the speedlight that can directly illuminate your subject. All of the light hitting your subject must be the light that was bounced. You can use your hand, or better yet get a piece of black foam and a hair tie to flag the flash from hitting your subject directly.

One of the hardest things to do with flash is to make it look like natural light. When you bounce light it hits a large surface and becomes a large light source, so it’s naturally soft. This soft Quality Of Light is what you are looking for most of the time. Now the direction at which you imagine the light coming from becomes the spot where you aim the speedlight. This bounce spot becomes the origin of the light and is thusly considered, The Direction of Light. If it seems confusing, it isn’t. Grab our flash and just try what I am saying. Let me show you a few examples to help illustrate what I am trying to explain.

First a little back story, I stumbled into a really neat cigar shop (no I do not smoke them). While I was there I saw the older woman hand rolling them. I found out she was from Cuba and only been here for a few months. She has been hand rolling Cuban cigars for decades. I spoke to the owner and asked if I could take a few pictures. Since I always have my camera, but didn’t want to set up the light stands, (I didn’t want to press my luck) I thew on a 580exII and bounced that baby to create some wonderful natural looking light.

In this image, I took a test frame to see what the ambient light looked like, and it was horrible. You might say, I could of shot from the other side and used the window as the main light, and I did.

This is an image with the window acting as the main light. There was not much room to work from that side, and I wanted to use the window as a back light so I could she what she was doing from behind the counter.

So I moved behind the counter to take my first image with bounce flash. I zoomed my flash to 105mm and turned the head backwards at an angle and tilted it upwards to bounce it into a drop ceiling and the wall behind me. I dialed the flash down a little so it did not compete with the window light. Notice you can still see the rim from the window on her forehead. Also note the light not hard and the shadows from her cheek and chin area reveal a light source coming from behind me, camera right and above. For a first shot, TTL did a great job. This bounce flash is very natural looking light.

In this shot I took control of the window light with shutter speed to darken the ambient light outside the window, and used my bounce flash as the main light. I have to say compared to the image at the top of the page (ambient light only), this one in very nice. Remember this is on camera flash with no modifier. I am just bouncing with direction & quality of light in mind. Also, I was not trying to make a dramatic portrait, I was trying convey what she is doing in a flattering way.

There were two shots that I liked from the series of images in the gallery below. The shallow depth of field from my 85mm f1.2 is magic. See what I mean in these two following images.

The bundle of cigars on the left if around $600, the object on the right is a die used in a press to compress the tobacco in to a rough cigar shape before it is hand rolled. I call that image, “Before & After”;)

I wonder how many stogies those hands have rolled in her lifetime?

I was able to take around 20 shots, and was invited back to do a real shoot whenever I have the time. You can see the rest of the images in the gallery below. When looking at the shots, think about the light with and without the on camera flash. Look at the quality of the light, try to determine the direction of the light. I cant wait to go back and shoot this place with a wide angle lens a few speedlihgts and some grids. If you made it through this long post, I say thank you. I hope you have a wonderful day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

The Better The Camera, The Better The Lens, The Better The Images… Aww Bul!$#!+…….!

I hear it all the time, I got a Nikon D800 with a NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G or a 5d MkIII with blah blah. It seems to be a hot topic when I am around a group of photographers. What body do you shoot, well what lens? Then based on the answer I see people getting classified as a newb or a serious pro. I don’t know how someone can know so much about another persons ability’s by being told what gear someone uses.

I will say this publicly, I am a fan of all camera gear. If it makes a picture, please hand it to me if I am without a camera. With that said, I try to buy the best cameras I can afford, that have the features I need, to do the jobs I want to be paid for. If I am being paid to shoot a job where I am paid to make prints that are 40″x60″ that are going to be viewed at a nose length away, then I am going to rent a digital medium format camera or break out the view camera and start scanning film. The reason is a DLSR just wont cut it when you need ultra high-resolution. If I am trying to shoot bald eagles in flight that are flying directly at me, I wont grab an iPhone if I am being paid to shoot eagles. The right tool for the job rings true no matter what job you are trying to do.

I own somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 DSLR camera bodies and have ton of lenses. There are three bodies that I use most of the time, but one of them is the one I reserve for special occasions. I take it out for a spin when I really want to enjoy shooing. The camera I speak of is in my opinion the DLSR that all others should have been modeled after. It’ s the Olympus E-1 and it fits my hand perfectly, the files that it produces if I do my part are world-class. Yes I have a 5D MKIII but if I had my choice I would prefer to shoot the E-1. But the E-1 is rarely the right tool for the job now days. At 5mp it wont do huge prints, it wont do video, It sucks in low light, at ISO 800 it’s at its limit. So I only get to use it for special occasions like I said.

So how does a $150.00 5 megapixel decade old DSLR called an E-1 shot with a kit lens (14-54 MkI) compare to a 5D MkIII with one of the best portrait lenses known to man, the EF 85mm f1.2L II in the studio with strobes? Well I say look for yourself and you tell me.

Here is a link to full size .jpegs hosted on my server. If you open each one in a separate tap you can flip through and inspect them easily. I hope that you will soon see that it’s impossible to correctly guess what image is made with what camera when the images are offered for viewing in the same size.

Now, I want to let you in on a little secret. Making good pictures is not about gear, it’s about knowing your craft inside and out. It’s about technique, knowing lighting, and composition. It’s about posing and refining to create an image. The bottom line is, being great at photography is about knowing. It’s never ever about the gear. Learn new skills, then use those skills, but shed the stuff that doesn’t work for you. The most important thing to be great at photography is to strive to get to a point where everything is automatic and the only thing that is left is you and your vision of that moment.

So, I helped a group of photogs the other day and we did head shots for three young people. Since this was not going to be a paying job where I needed huge files, I broke out my favorite camera the E-1 and made head shots with it. Your job if you choose to play along is to tell me which two images were made with a 5D MK III and the 85mm f1.2L II. And which ones were done with the E-1 with a kit lens. Now don’t cheat by downloading and reading the exif data, this is an exercise for fun. The moral of the story is the camera and lens are only tools. It’s the skill of the photographer to light, compose, and refine that gets the goods.

I will end this post with a video that I think everyone should watch. It’s called ” Greg Heisler on Photography Techniques” I hope you have a great day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue

Three Things To Remember When Doing A Portrait Session

Hi and welcome to my blog.  Before you ever press the shutter there are tons of things to consider.  As a photographer, it is your job to scan the viewfinder taking note of every detail.  I liken being a good photographer to a surgeon in the ER.  A guy walks in the the ER with a gun shot, the surgeon needs to act fast and make the right decision the first time to save the patient.  We as photographers have to do the same thing, we need to evaluate the situation and then make the right decision quickly.  We are always scanning for changes that will effect the final image.  For example, is the white balance right, is the aperture correct, is the shutter speed right, is the framing right, is the light in the right place, is it too low, where is the shadow in the face, where are the catch lights?  What about the pose, is the nose to far to the left, is the head down, am I shooting up the nose, whats the composition like? Etc, etc, etc, etc… All of these things and more should be going through your head before you press the shutter.  Today I offer just three tips when doing a portrait session.

#1 Scan the scene
The girst thing to remember is to scan the scene for details.  Be sure to eliminate anything in the frame that will distract from your subject.  Look for bright spots in the scene that will compete for a viewers attention. It’s your job to eliminate distracting elements.  Look for trees growing out of a head, look for strong contrasting elements like bright red and yellows that draw a viewers eye away from the subject. Sometimes it is a simple task of zooming in for a tight shot (fill the frame), or it could also mean you need to shoot from a different angle. In the natural environment it can be harder to remove distracting elements than in the studio, because if something is in the frame you don’t want you can just walk over and take it out. Just remember, you need to address this before you ever think of pressing the shutter.

#2 Set a Proper White Balance
Set a proper white balance, and shoot a target. Never use Auto White Balance because the colors will shift from frame to frame, and in photography it is all about consistency. I shoot RAW for a few reasons but one is because I can easily change color in post. I can’t stress this enough, you need to make sure color and exposure is consistent from frame to frame or your life will be hell in post. The use of a white balance aid is very important, this will give you a neutral element to correct color in post. Remember if you change locations or lighting conditions you need to make a new frame with the white balance target. If you take time to correct white balance and shoot a target each time your conditions change, life with respect to color will be easy in post.

#3 Define the Vision
It is always best to have a clear and defined vision before you ever press the shutter. The spray and pray method is good for some, but not if you ever want to advance your craft. Lets say you want to do some environmental portraits, it is important to consider the environment.  Scout for locations that don’t have many distracting elements. Also take note of what time the sun will be in a place that will benefit your photographic efforts. A clear vision will let you focus on the finer details of the shoot instead of trying to figure it all out as you go.

Thanks for taking time to visit my blog today. I hope you all have a great day, Sincerly, Thomas Shue