You’ve likely seen plenty of photos with soft, out-of-focus backgrounds. With the right setting, they can look rather dreamy with brightly colored circles (called bokeh) behind the subject. Perhaps most importantly, they immediately draw your attention to the subject in the image and can help hide distracting things in the background. This image style utilizes one end of the depth of field (DOF) photography spectrum, which spans from shallow to deep.

Apple’s Portrait Mode brought this look to the mainstream, putting shallow depth of field capabilities in the hands of smartphone users and not just those with expensive cameras and lenses. Unfortunately, how Apple and other smartphones accomplish this look isn’t a very accurate representation of what depth of field is or how you actually achieve it. 

Related: Outsmart your iPhone camera’s overzealous AI

What is depth of field in photography?

Shallow depth of field

Depth of field can get highly complicated (there’s even a math formula involved), but it doesn’t have to be. It is defined as the distances between the nearest and the furthest subjects that are in acceptably sharp focus. Put in even simpler terms, it’s the amount (or depth) of a scene that is is in focus.

As mentioned, depth of field can span from shallow to deep. Shallow depth of field means that there is only a small—or narrow—area of the scene in focus. This is the type of image you see with portrait modes where the person is in focus, but the background is blurry. With smartphones, this look is generated using AI and artificial background blurring. However, there are ways to control depth of field in a more technical manner via the three factors that affect it: focal length, aperture, and distance.

Deep depth of field

On the flip side, a deep depth of field generally means that most of the scene is in focus. Landscape photographers frequently employ a deep depth of field to show sweeping, dramatic views. You’ll also see the deep depth of field in many photojournalism images. 

It’s important to remember that depth of field is indeed a spectrum. You can have only the tip of someone’s nose in focus, the entire person, the entire scene, aor anything in between. We tend to just refer to the extremes when talking about depth of field in photography, but a middle ground does exist as well.

What is depth of field not?

When I was teaching introductory photography classes at a university, the concept of depth of field was a bit confusing to students. Very frequently they would focus on the background of an image, and if it was in-focus, they’d assume the photo had a deep depth of field. It is common to think that focusing deep in the back of the image means deep depth of field. But it’s incorrect.

Decoupling focus distance from depth of field

This is where Apple—and, to a certain extent, other smartphones—have made things confusing. When you point your iPhone at something, it defaults to focusing on the thing closest to the phone. So, without overriding the default, it will always have the foreground in focus and the background out of focus. That seems to have led to an assumption that all images with a shallow depth of field have a blurry background. This is not the case.

Because of this confusion, I think it’s also helpful to point out what depth of field is not. In photography, depth of field is not where you focus. Instead, it is how much is in focus. You can have a shallow depth of field with something right in front of the camera in focus and the background out of focus, but you can also have the opposite, an in-focus background, and a blurry foreground. And, of course, anything in between can have a shallow depth of field too. 

What’s the easiest way to control depth of field?

Related: The Apple iPhone 14 Pro has as many megapixels as a full-frame camera

The focal length of your lens and the camera’s distance to its subject are both factors that will affect the depth of field. In general, the longer the lens, the more a subject will appear “separated” from its background or foreground. In terms of distance, the further the subject is from the camera and/or from the background, the more isolated they will appear.

However, the easiest way to adjust DOF on the fly is to “open up” or “stop down” the aperture. Opening the aperture means using smaller F-numbers, like f/2, which results in a wider diameter opening in the lens. The more light coming into the lens, the shallower the depth of field.

Stopping the lens down involves using larger F-numbers, like f/11, for a smaller diameter opening. This leads to a deeper depth of field. For example, an aperture of f/1.4 will let more light in, with less of the frame in focus. While an aperture of f/16 will let less light in but most of the scene will likely be in focus.

Why does depth of field matter?

Since your phone can figure things out all on its own (or so it thinks), why does any of this even matter? Knowing what depth of field is and how to manipulate it can be an easy way dramatically improve your images. With the right depth of field—along with clever framing—a photograph can go from boring and straightforward to creative and interesting. On your phone, you can tap where you want to focus to bypass the default, resulting in a more unique photo. It is a simple trick that can make a big difference.

Understanding depth of field becomes even more important if you use a dedicated camera instead of your phone. Cameras do not have built-in AI to blur the background artificially as your phone does. So if you want that look, you’ll have to do it the old-school way. Good thing you’re now a whiz at it.

The post Nobody understands depth of field and it’s all Apple’s fault appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Photography has a lot of rules that are really just principles. Most of them are useful guidelines worth understanding, not edicts to be followed to the letter. In this photography fundamentals series, we’re going to look at when you should follow the rules—and when you should consider breaking them. First, though, we need to cover some of the most important fundamentals of photography composition.

Related: How to take good pictures in bright sunlight

The rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is one of the most common—and most misunderstood—fundamentals of photography composition. The idea is that you divide your frame into thirds both vertically and horizontally. The important elements of your image should then be placed on one of these third lines or better yet, at one or more of the four intersections of both vertical and horizontal third lines, like the truck in the image above. 

While not itself the secret to wonderful images, the rule of thirds is a great way to avoid some big compositional mistakes. If you follow it, you normally place the most important elements of your image nicely in the frame without them being too centered. 

If you’ve got a reason to ignore the rule of thirds, go right ahead. Otherwise, it’s a handy starting compositional principle to work from. 

The golden ratio

The golden ratio or golden spiral is similar to the rule of thirds, compositionally speaking, but with more mysticism and mathematics thrown in.

While the rule of thirds splits the frame into three equal sections, the golden ratio, also known as the Fibonacci Spiral, places a vertical frame line closer to the center of the frame, splitting it into one slightly smaller and one slightly larger quadrant. Each time the frame is split horizontally, the smaller section is then split vertically using the same ratio. This process is repeated, breaking the frame into smaller and smaller chunks, as shown above.

However, even though the ratio appears often in both great works of art and nature, we’ve yet to see an image where it creates a significantly stronger composition than the rule of thirds (they’re just so darn similar). So, while it can be fun to play around with, it’s certainly not a compositional rule that you should obsess over.

Symmetry

Symmetry can make for incredibly eye-catching images. It’s often easy to create symmetrical compositions with reflections, like from surface water, or using man-made structures, as shown below.

Symmetry is also one of the most fun compositional principles to break. Images with a mix of symmetrical and asymmetrical elements can be incredibly compelling. 

Complementary colors

Think back to your earliest art class, remember the color wheel? Well, the same principles that apply to painting and drawing also apply to photography. Colors opposite each other on the wheel, when placed side-by-side or near one another, often appear brighter. So, photos with reds and greens, yellows and blues, or purples and oranges, for instance, will look extra vibrant and punchy. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

Leading lines

Our eyes are drawn to strong lines in images. This makes things like guide rails of a bridge or even just a road through a landscape, a great way to guide (or lead) your viewers’ gaze to the most important parts of your photo. 

Leading lines isn’t so much a compositional rule you should break, as something you should be aware of if you don’t want to use it. If your image has strong lines, it will draw viewers’ attention. If you don’t want them looking where the lines lead, you will have to reframe your shot. 

Fill the frame

Filling the frame is a compositional approach that says your subject or subjects’ should take up as much of the image as possible. With a portrait, this generally means cropping in so that the subject’s face or body completely fills the frame. This removes the background and as a result, the context of the scene from the subject, often leading to some pretty dramatic results. The same approach to can be applied to a crowd, as shown above.

While a useful stylistic approach for many kinds of photography, there are plenty of times when you shouldn’t fill the frame with your subject. For example, if you are trying to show size by situating your subject in its environment, or trying to create a sense of isolation, filling the frame will undermine your intent.

Don’t cut things off

A common principle recommended in many photography books is to avoid cutting limbs, torsos, and other crucial parts of the image with the edge of your frame. It’s easy to understand why; most people look silly with half their hand chopped off. However, it can be tricky to pull off in practice, especially when you’re shooting street or travel scenes. 

At a fixed point, the photograph ends but the world continues. While it is worth thinking about what is getting cut out of the image by the frame, you will always have to make a decision that cuts something out. (Just try to keep as many limbs in the image as possible.)

Keep the action going into the frame

Especially for sports and other kinds of action photography, a good principle is to keep the action going into the frame. This means that if your subject is running to the right, then they should be positioned to the left of the image so they are running into the open space. 

This is another rule that works in a lot of situations, but can readily be broken when you have cause to do so. For example, if you are shooting a 100m sprint and want to show the gap between first and second-place runners. 

Useful rules, but not laws

Photography is a wonderful mix of science and art. While the process of capturing an image relies on the laws of physics and mathematics, composing a photograph is a pure art. Although the fundamentals of photography composition include some fantastic rules, they are best viewed as starting points that will stop you from making mistakes, rather than laws that can’t be broken. 

In the next article in the series, we’ll look at how to do just that.

The post Photography’s golden rules and when to break them appeared first on Popular Photography.

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What could be more fundamental to photography today than our smartphone cameras? They’re ever-present, ready in moments, and the technology behind them makes it easy to capture great photos in most situations. And yet, I regularly encounter people who are unaware of many of the core functions of the built-in camera app.

Smartphone camera fundamentals extend beyond just “push the big button.” Some tools help you set up the shot, and some give you more control over the exposure. A few are just plain convenient or cool. However, these features aren’t always easy to find. That’s where we come in.

iOS 16 vs. Android 13

But first, for these examples, I’m using the two phones I have at hand: an iPhone 13 Pro running iOS 16 and a Google Pixel 6 Pro running Android 13. I’m also focusing just on the built-in camera apps; for even more manual control, you can find third-party apps in the app stores. Many of the camera features overlap between iOS and Android operating systems, and it’s possible that some may not be available on older models, or are accessible in a different way. If you see something here that doesn’t match with what you see, break out the manual—I mean, search Google—and see if it’s available for yours.

How to quick-launch the camera

Most people perform the usual dance of unlocking the phone, finding the camera app, and tapping to launch it. By that time, the moment you were trying to capture might be gone. There are faster ways.

Related: Composition in the age of AI – Who’s really framing the shot?

On the iPhone’s lock screen, swipe right-to-left to jump straight to the camera app without unlocking the phone at all. You can also press the camera icon on the lock screen. On the Pixel, double-press the power button from any screen.

When the phone is unlocked, a few more options are available. On both phones, press and hold the camera app icon to bring up a menu of shooting modes, such as opening the app with the front-facing selfie camera active.

I also like the ability to double-tap the back of the phone to launch the camera. On the iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap and choose Camera for the Double Tap (or Triple Tap) option. In Android, go to Settings > System > Gestures > Quick Tap > Open app and choose Camera.

Related: Outsmart your iPhone camera’s overzealous AI

How to use the volume buttons to trigger the shutter

If you miss the tactile feedback of pressing a physical shutter button, or if hitting the software button introduces too much shake, press a volume button instead.

On both phones, pressing either volume button triggers the shutter. Holding a button starts recording video, just as if you hold your finger on the virtual shutter button.

On the iPhone, you can also set the volume up button to fire off multiple shots in burst mode: go to Settings > Camera > Use Volume Up for Burst.

How to adjust the exposure & focus quickly

The camera apps do a good job of determining the proper exposure for any given scene—if you forget that “proper” is a loaded term. You do have more control, though, even if the interfaces don’t make it obvious.

On the iPhone

On the iPhone, tap anywhere in the preview to set the focus and meter the exposure level based on that point. Even better (and this is a feature I find that many people don’t know about), touch and hold a spot to lock the focus and exposure (an “AE/AF LOCK” badge appears). You can then move the phone to adjust the composition and not risk the app automatically resetting them.

Once the focus and exposure are set or locked, lift your finger from the screen and then drag the sun icon that appears to the right of the target box to manually increase or decrease the exposure. A single tap anywhere else resets the focus and exposure back to automatic.

On the Pixel

On the Pixel, tap a point to set the focus and exposure. That spot becomes a target, which stays locked even as you move the phone to recompose the scene. Tapping also displays sliders you can use to adjust white balance, exposure, and contrast. Tap the point again to remove the lock, or tap elsewhere to focus on another area.

How to zoom with confidence

We think of “the camera” on our phones, but really, on most modern phones, there are multiple cameras, each with its own image sensor behind the array of lenses. So when you’re tapping the “1x” or “3x” button to zoom in or out, you’re switching between cameras.

Whenever possible, stick to those preset zoom levels. The 1x level uses the main camera (what Apple calls the “wide” camera), the 3x level uses the telephoto camera, and so on. Those are optical values, which means you’ll get a cleaner image as the sensor records the light directly.

But wait, what about using the two-finger pinch gesture to zoom in or out? Or, you can drag left or right on the zoom selection buttons to reveal a circular control (iPhone) or slider (Android) to let you compose your scene without needing to move, or even zoom way into 15x or 20x.

It’s so convenient, but try to avoid it if possible. All those in-between values are calculated digitally: the software is interpolating what the scene would look like at that zoom level by artificially enlarging pixels. Digital zoom technology has improved dramatically over the years, but optical zoom is still the best option.

How to switch camera modes quickly

Speaking of switching, the camera apps feature many different shooting modes, such as Photo, Video, and Portrait. Instead of tapping or trying to drag the row of mode names, on both iOS and Android, simply swipe left or right in the middle of the screen to switch modes.

How to use the grid & level for stronger compositions

Whether you subscribe to the “rule of thirds” or just want some help keeping your horizons level, the built-in grid features are handy.

In iOS, go to Settings > Camera > Grid and turn the option on. In Android, you can choose from three types of grids by going to the settings in the camera app, tapping More Settings, and choosing a Grid Type (such as 3 x 3).

The grid on the iPhone, and a related setting called Framing Hints on the Pixel, also enable a horizontal level. When you’re holding the phone parallel to the ground or a table, a + icon appears in the middle of the screen on both models. As you move, the phone’s accelerometer indicates when you’re not evenly horizontal by displaying a second + icon. Maneuver the phone so that both icons line up to ensure the camera is horizontally level.

How to control the flash & ‘Night’ modes

Both camera systems are great about providing more light in dark situations, whether that’s turning on the built-in flash or activating Night mode (iOS) or Night Sight (Android). The interfaces for controlling those are pretty minimal, though.

On the iPhone, tap the flash icon (the lightning bolt) to toggle between Off and Auto. For more options tap the carat (^) icon, which replaces the camera modes beneath the preview with buttons for more features. Tap the Flash button to choose between Auto, On, and Off.

On the Pixel, tap the Settings button in the camera app and, under More Light, tap the Flash icon (another lightning bolt).

The Pixel includes its Night Sight mode in the More Light category. When it’s enabled, Night Sight automatically activates in dark situations—you’ll see a crescent moon icon on the shutter button. You can temporarily deactivate this by tapping the Night Sight Auto button that appears to the right of the camera modes.

The iPhone’s Night mode is controlled by a separate button, which looks like a crescent moon with vertical stripes indicating a dark side of the moon. Tap it to turn Night mode on or off. Or, tap the carat (^) icon and then tap the Night mode button to reveal a sliding control that lets you choose an exposure time beyond just Auto (up to 30 seconds in a dark environment when the phone is stabilized, such as on a tripod).

Put the fun in smartphone fundamentals

As with every camera—smartphone or traditional—there are plenty of features to help you get the best shot. Be sure to explore the app settings and the other buttons (such as setting self-timers or changing the default aspect ratio) so that when the time comes, you know exactly which smartphone camera feature to turn to.

The post How to unlock your smartphone camera’s best hidden features appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Saturated pastels. Comfortingly charming symmetry. European flair (though not always). Vintage panache. From Switzerland to India, Singapore, and Tennessee, it all hints at a certain director—and with that, the popular Instagram account of Accidentally Wes Anderson (AWA), which documents the eponymous director’s quirky style found in real life, often by happenstance. Behind the account is Wally Koval, who now shepherds a Community of over one million Adventurers on a quest for the world’s quirkiest architecture. 

“I have had a love of Wes Anderson’s work since I first saw Rushmore with my dad many years ago,” Koval shares. “The fact that I see his style when traveling (in real life or virtually through photographs)…I suppose that’s a little bit of the magic I hope to share with the world.”

Everyone is an Adventurer

There are a few unique things about AWA—chiefly, its Community (Koval is adamant about the capital “C”) and its commitment to the story. In an age where everyone is saturated in pretty pictures, it’s hard to stand out. But, by taking deep dives into the history of the locations in each eye-pleasing photograph, AWA provides a depth that consistently engages its 1.6 million followers.

“Without the story, we’re all just looking at pretty pictures and have no way to make a deeper, more meaningful connection to the places themselves,” Koval says. And for the budding photographer who hopes to land on the AWA page?

“I usually say ‘you know it when you see it,’ but most generally, AWA photos have characteristics of symmetry, a bright or pastel color palette, and perhaps a touch of nostalgia. There is always something you can’t really put your finger on, but you just know it fits perfectly.”

Koval shares that about 80% of the featured images on the AWA page are shot by amateurs and hobbyists—proof that truly anyone can be an Adventurer, no fancy equipment required. As for his own gear, nowadays Koval acts more as a curator, but when he does need a camera, he’ll turn to his iPhone 13 Pro with a mini tripod for time-lapses. When out exploring, he’ll often bring a friend (and professional photographer), Marjorie Becker, who works on a Nikon D850 with an f/2.8 24-70mm lens.

Accidentally Wes Anderson in NYC and beyond

We’ve somehow managed to catch Koval, the full-time Adventurer in between trips to Seoul and Sun Valley. But when he’s not out exploring, Koval finds Wes Anderson in his own backyard. When asked about the most “Wes Anderson” spots in New York City, it’s hard to pinpoint just one landmark.

“The city is a treasure trove of very AWA locations,” Koval writes to PopPhoto. “From Vesuvio Bakery to the Joyce Theater the list goes on and on. Even after 15 years up here, I find new AWA locations almost every time I leave my apartment.”

What does the real Wes Anderson think?

Of course, one question burns more than most: What does Wes Anderson think of the community that bears his name? AWA has had a hand in helping to promote two Anderson films, and it turns out that the director is tickled. 

“While we haven’t met Wes in person yet (thanks, Covid), we’re email-penpals,” Koval shares. “He seems delighted by AWA and the lovely Community we have cultivated around this project. We were very lucky to work in collaboration with him and his team to visit the town of Angoulême where his most recent film The French Dispatch was shot and even had a small hand in promotion for Isle of Dogs when we were just getting started. The fact that he offered to write the foreword for our book…I smile every time I think about that.”

And it’s not just Wes Anderson who approves. AWA is the recipient of the prestigious Webby Awards in, you guessed it, the Art, Design & Culture category. 

So what’s the next Accidentally Wes Anderson adventure?

When he’s not busy combing through the 3,000+ submissions AWA receives every month, Koval and his wife, Amanda, venture all over the world on behalf of AWA, bringing the Community to places near and far.

Through various partnerships, the pair has visited the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy—just to name a few. So far, this year’s travels have taken them to coastal Delaware, Korea, Idaho, Colorado, and Rhode Island. And for the Adventurer feeling a little left out? Well, AWA has a postcard book coming out soon to cure the blues. 

For those new to the Wes Anderson aesthetic, any one of his films is sure to be an excellent crash course. When asked what he recommends, Koval said it depends—and with that answer, any good Wes Anderson fan will recall a certain scene from The Grand Budapest Hotel.

“The answer changes with the month or the season, likely based on my mood,” Koval says. “As of now, [my] top three or four, not in any order, I’d have to say are The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, and The French Dispatch. But check back in the fall and I’ll likely have a different lineup.”

The post Accidentally Wes Anderson: How Wally Koval built a photo community around the eponymous director’s aesthetic appeared first on Popular Photography.

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David Ulrich is a photographer, writer, and teacher. He worked as an assistant to Minor White, drank with Ansel Adams, and crossed paths with many of the great photographers of the late 20th century. His life was changed when he witnessed the Kent State shootings in 1970, which led him to change his path from photojournalism to fine art photography. His latest book, influenced by his Zen practice, is The Mindful Photographer.

One of the defining moments of your life was when you witnessed the shootings at Kent State in 1970. How did this affect you?

I was a 20-year-old photojournalism student in 1970. There were campus-wide protests against the Vietnam War. At first, it was a rather festive protest. People brought their children, there were peace signs, and so on. On the evening of May 2, somebody burned down the ROTC building, and activists from around the country started coming to Kent State. On May 3, the governor called the National Guard, things started getting a bit violent. They were using gun butts on unarmed students.

By May 4, the protest was quite large, and a lot of national guardsmen descended on the campus. What we didn’t know at the time was that they had live rounds in their rifles. The students were getting a little rowdy. The National Guard tried to quell the protests by throwing tear gas into the crowd, and the crowd picked the tear gas up and threw it back. At no point were the guardsman closer than half a football field away from the students. And at some point, somebody gave the order to fire.

Related: Cig Harvey explores grief and death through the quiet beauty of floral life

They shot indiscriminately into the crowd. Thankfully, many of the guardsmen couldn’t do it. They aimed above or below the students. But some aimed at the students. Four students were killed, and a number were injured. It was a wake-up moment for me; I had never been in contact with death and violence before.

I left photojournalism. I realized that to be a photojournalist, you had to make your primary commitment to the social order. I believed that the only element that could change things for the better was an expansion of consciousness in the individual, and by extension, society. And that art and creativity, I believed, had the capability to engender a consciousness. So I dropped out of college and took a menial job delivering flowers. I then met and began to work with the photographer Minor White.

‌Minor White is not a name one hears a lot these days, but he was hugely important in photography at the time.

He was the co-founder and editor of Aperture for more than 20 years. His mission, in the broadest possible sense, was to teach people how to see. He was a Zen practitioner, and he brought a lot of Zen exercises into the classroom. We would meditate on a regular basis. He viewed photography and art exactly as what I said before, as a means of expanding one’s conscious awareness. It was a very powerful six years. It was life-changing. It put me on the path of a seeker. And it’s colored my attitude toward photography to this day.

In the intro to The Mindful Photographer, you say, “For me, photography is many things: a means of interacting more deeply with the world, a path of personal growth and transformation, a challenge to strive toward becoming more whole and attentive, a catalyst for stimulating creative expression, and a vehicle for insight and understanding.” That’s a lot.

It is a lot. But it is all those things. Any creative art, not just photography, if it’s approached deeply, can bring you into greater contact with yourself. It assists in the aim of self-knowledge. But photography, especially, is a pathway into the world. I love the alternating nature of photography. On the one hand, I’m looking within; the standard definition of mindfulness is that I am aware of myself, I’m aware of my bodily posture, my breathing, my heartbeat, my emotions, I see my thoughts pass.

But many people stop there. Mindfulness is also about being attentive to what’s in front of you and your surroundings. So it’s a dual attention. Some of my attention goes back to me, half of my attention goes out to the world, and there’s a relationship there. And that’s the power of photography, the relationship between our internal dynamics, and everything in the outer world.

You say that “Photographers often spend a disproportionate amount of energy thinking about and even obsessing over tools and equipment.” At the same time, you stress how important it is to really know how your camera works.

I have nothing against gear. In fact, I love gear. And I think that our lust for gear can actually help us as photographers. But I don’t think it should stop there. I think that’s a phase we need to move beyond. Because photography is, above all, a medium that communicates. The viewer really doesn’t care what kind of lens we use.

What sort of gear do you use?

For much of my career, I used a 5×7 Deardorff view camera. Nowadays, I’m mostly digital.

‌There’s a really big difference in the slow photography of working with a view camera. How much did you have to change the way you think when you went from that camera to digital?

One thing I really wanted when I was working with a view camera was the ability to snap my eyes and take a picture that I could keep. And now we have that with cellphones. So, to a certain degree, I found it freeing to go to a handheld camera. Let’s not forget that view cameras are for young people. They’re incredibly heavy. I would hike long distances in the field, carrying 40 or 50 pounds of equipment.

Related: Peter van Agtmael grapples with chronicling the post-9/11 era

‌If you look at Joel Meyerowitz, whose first work was handheld, when he went to Cape Cod with a view camera, everything slowed down, his way of looking, his way of photographing. We can see this in his book Cape Light.

It did, completely. I value both. I value the reflexive, handheld process, where you can bring a camera up to your eye in a moment’s reaction to the scene. And I also value the contemplative, patient process with a view camera. I feel they both have their place.

I think that photography is infected with a sameness today. We’re all using the same camera. We’re all using a rectangular format, digital SLR or mirrorless camera, or a cellphone, very few people are using a square canvas, like a twin Lens Reflex or Hasselblad. Very few people are using panoramic cameras, and very few people are using cameras that have a different aspect ratio, generally, than the SLR rectangle. I find the sameness to be a little disturbing.

‌We live in a world where everyone has relatively powerful cameras in their pockets. As a teacher, what sort of preconceptions do your students have about photography?

I’m sorry to use this phrase in this way, so I’m going to apologize in advance. But the first challenge that I have as a teacher is to break down what I call the “popular photography aesthetic,” and to move them away from cliches to something more authentic. The biggest problem I have with today’s beginning photographers is they’ve seen so many pictures.

‌You point out the importance of looking at photobooks to learn about photography. One of the difficulties is that they’re often expensive to acquire. So what do you recommend to students?

The way I looked at other photographers’ work when I was growing up was by looking at prints, going to galleries, and going to museums. Every city, more or less, has museums that show photography these days.

When I was young, you could call up the Museum of Modern Art [in New York City], and you could say, “Can I come in and look at this collection?” At the time when I was working with Minor White, I wanted to look at the Edward Weston master set. So I called up MoMA and made an appointment, And I sat down with white gloves and boxes of 800 Weston prints that I could handle on my own.

As I was in the room, John Szarkowski came in. He was the director of photography, and he was meeting with Doon Arbus, Diane Arbus’s daughter. They were making decisions about which pictures would be in the Diane Arbus monograph. They looked through all the proof prints. When could that happen today? That a young nobody could go into a major museum and look at work like that, much less have the director and Diane Arbus’s daughter coming into a book editing session right next to you.

When I was growing up, it was a small, intimate community. I got to know Minor White, of course; I got to know Robert Frank. Ansel Adams, Judy Dater, Imogen Cunningham, the list goes on and on. Because everybody knew everyone. And they would say, “Oh, you work with Minor White. Come look me up when you’re in California.” Ansel Adams invited me to cocktails at his house overlooking the Pacific. And he could drink me under the table.

‌That was a privileged period. Because you were revolving around one of the key photographers in the United States at the time, that opened all sorts of doors for you.

Yes, it did. But even without Minor, when I was in undergrad and grad school, many of these photographers came to talk to our classes. It was an intimate community. And that’s where the privilege was, in that intimacy.

Another quote from your book that I like is “A photograph lives in the space between it and a viewer where a response takes place.”

Absolutely. The intent of a photographer is important. But in the end, the meaning of the picture is what the viewer takes away. I would argue that not all art is subjective. You can take a picture apart, you can talk about the frame, the light, the moment, color, etc. And you can talk about the use of these things, whether they’re effective or not.

‌Zen teaches that the real world is an illusion and that we create the world with our consciousness. A photograph, in some ways, freezes what our minds have created, and I find that an interesting paradox.

I’ve struggled with that question. The other question I’ve struggled with in Zen is the relationship between emptiness and form.

I think there are different levels of our experience. We live in a dual world, a world of phenomena, a world of heat and cold, of light and dark. And that world exists on one level. We all have moments where we may experience the unity of life, we experience a profound silence, or profound emptiness that you could say is non-dual. So we’ve penetrated to a deeper layer. In that layer, you could say that phenomena are an illusion. We live in both worlds. I think at the deeper layers of experience, we recognize the emptiness, the silence, the ground of being. But we also live in the world of material reality. And we have to balance those things; we have to have one foot in both worlds.

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Many types of creative possibilities are available when photographing cars. You’re proud of your’s and what you may have done to it. But there are good ways and bad to show others the apples and oranges of your eyes. Follow our advice and you’ll be shooting better car photos in no time.

Car photography don’ts

Avoid parking lot lines

Avoid parking your car in a parking lot with the white lines peeking out from underneath. They tend to distract and take away from the vehicle’s natural beauty, especially when the car is from a classic era and is parked in a contemporary parking lot. Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, as in the case when there are striking graphics like big arrows or colorful grids, but generally, avoid stripes unless you like spending time doing post-shooting retouching.

Avoid busy backgrounds

Like distracting paint stripes, busy backgrounds can take away from the vehicle’s look. Remember, “the car is the star” and should be treated accordingly. Try shooting with a longer focal length above 120 mm and with a wider f-stop to minimize the depth of field. Of course, make sure your car is sharp from front to rear, but shoot wide enough so that the background sharpness falls off quickly.

Avoid poles growing out of your car’s roof

Just as you should avoid having a light pole, cellular tower, or a tree growing out of someone’s head, the same applies here. It may be unavoidable in certain situations but look around the entire scene before making the picture. 

Avoid powerlines, too

This one is self-explanatory but easily forgotten. Always take a look around the car before taking the shot. If there are powerlines overhead, change your angle, the focal length of your lens, or any other trick that will eliminate the distractions in the background.

Try not to give it the Jimmy Durante effect

Jimmy Durante was one of America’s most popular entertainers from the 1920s to the 1970s. Sure, he’s an outdated reference, but he was also known for having a prominent proboscis, or in other words, a big nose. Using a wide-angle lens at an ultra-close distance may give you the same effect that many shooters used when photographing Durante. There are always exceptions to the rules that are ripe for being broken. A Tucker Torpedo with its centrally-located headlight is a prime example that just begs to be exaggerated in such a way!

Try not to photograph cars at a car show where they are bunched together

After years of attending hundreds of outdoor car shows, we’ve found that it is better to talk with the vehicle owner to make arrangements to photograph a car in a better location at another time. Sure, it’s a great idea to bring your camera, but realize that as tightly as they are parked together for display, great photo situations may not present themselves here. Instead, walk around, shoot for reference purposes and just enjoy the show. 

Don’t show the treads

Unless you’re doing a comparison of the best tire treads for your off-road vehicle, it’s best to avoid photographing cars with the treads facing the camera. They are generally dirty, dull and occasionally filled with road grime. Instead, keep the tires straight or even turned slightly away, which presents a nice open face of the alloy rims to the camera.

Car photography dos

Use a polarizing filter

Sometimes reflections look good. For instance, when you are photographing a car with a large expanse of land to the side of the vehicle. But other times, you may find the vehicle serving as a large mirror to its surroundings. That’s where a polarizing filter comes in. Rotate it until the undesirable reflections disappear. Remember, though, as you walk around the car, you may need to rotate the filter again for each new position you shoot from. 

Use strobes in daylight…if available/capable

Some vehicles need a little assistance to help bring out certain details. Many strobes offer built-in transmitters/receivers and can be operated off-camera, where the lighting angles become much more interesting. We have used as many as three strobes to light up a scene. And they aren’t just for nighttime either. There are many examples of strobe use in the middle of the day to open up the shadows of a vehicle. 

Make the engine a piece of art.

Related: Pro tips to take the best photos when trying to sell your car

Looking under the hood of many vehicles will show many pieces of what we’d call industrial art. Some of the latest examples include engines by Maserati, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. We can see that beauty is more than skin-deep through clever angling or even using a well-placed strobe. 

Photograph the interior as a million points of interest. The edge of the seats, carbon fiber trim, stitching, buttons, etc.

There are many points within the interior worthy of photography. The detail of a precision-knurled dial on the center console or the tactile beauty of open-pore wood trim and embroidered seat details are examples of worthy subjects inside the car.

Plan a perfectly panned shot

Just as there is a “Sunny-16” rule, there are panning rules. The starting point is a shutter speed that’s in line with the speed that the subject car is moving. For example, if the car is moving at 40 mph, start with a shutter speed in the same neighborhood, like 1/40 sec. Shutter priority is a perfect setting for this type of shot, as it will automatically control the aperture once you have set the appropriate shutter speed. Practice if you like on a well-traveled street by picking up vehicles moving from your left to your right. Follow the car by twisting your body at the waist in a smooth motion. It will take a bit of practice, but eventually, your timing and movement will begin to sync with the cars resulting in smoothly panned shots. 

These are the basic rules, but they can be broken for artistic effect. Setting an even slower shutter speed will blur things considerably but you may even love the results!

Tracking (Car-to-car Shots)

Another option, called tracking photos, allows you to blur the background while keeping the car razor sharp. Start with the same shutter speeds described in the Pan shot section, varying them for effect. You’ll also need a friend driving the camera platform vehicle (the vehicle you will be in) and another driving the subject car. 

SUVs may work best because they offer two shooting points. The first is shooting out the side window, keeping your camera vehicle out of the shot. The other is by shooting out the rear of an SUV. A word about safety: The safest type is a three-row vehicle with you wearing a seatbelt in the third row. Otherwise, the use of a tethered safety harness is mandatory. These can be purchased through stores like Home Depot or Lowes. 

Shoot past sunset

Just because the sun is done for the day doesn’t mean you should be, too. Some of our best photos have come from the reflections in the sky after the sun dips below the horizon. The effect is more pronounced on dark vehicles, although any color will do for an overall shot of a car.

Combine shots

Using a tripod-mounted camera, shoot a hero shot with a circular polarizer filter turned, so it removes reflections on the side of the vehicle. After you are sure you have that shot, turn the filter until reflections on the hood and front windshield are gone, all while making sure not to touch the tripod. Make that shot, too. Back at your computer, while in the editing platform of your choice, cut the hood and windshield portions of the second image and paste it into the shot of the overall car. Remember to feather the image for minimal artifacts. 

It’s only the start of your automotive photography journey

These are by no means a definitive list of car shooting techniques. And they can be used for other types of photos as well. For example, the panning technique can be applied when dealing with motorcycles, bicycles, boats, trains, and even runners. Consider this a starting point for where your photography can take you. And along the way, remember to enjoy the ride.

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Bruce Dorn’s big break in the photo industry was utterly unexpected. He’d submitted some work to a college competition run by Conde Nast, ended up winning, and before he knew it, he was working as a guest art director for the company. 

“Prior to winning that contest, I was working in a gas station,” says Dorn, now a member of Canon’s Explorers of Light. “I was a tune-up guy, paying my way through art school.” 

Since that unexpected big break in the early ‘70s, Dorn has worked in every facet of the commercial photography industry—fashion, automotive, aerial, underwater, cinematography, and digital effects design. But these days, it’s mentoring the next generation of creators that he finds most exciting. Here Dorn talks with us about his career trajectory and the joys of mentoring others. 

Over the course of your career you’ve gotten to do a little bit of everything—how have you avoided being pigeon-holed to one type of work? 

I think of myself as a general practitioner or a specialist in a bunch of things, and it was figuring out how to become a specialist in a bunch of things that made me have a really long career. I knew a lot of people with five-year career arcs who came in, were really awesome at some particular thing, and then they were gone. I signed onto the process of reinvention pretty early on. So anytime I was getting a good response to something, I would be moving on to something else. If possible I would also cross-train—work between tabletop, automotive, food and beverage, comedy, whatever else. I kept those skill sets separated in the perception of my customers. Nobody wants to go to a general practitioner for brain surgery—but you could be a brain surgeon and still be a general practitioner. I tried to figure out how to get pretty good at a bunch of different types of work. Back in the day, I had multiple sales reps who would shop my reel, and my photography around to very individual disciplines.

So the people who were hiring you for fashion work at the time were only seeing your fashion work, not necessarily all the other things that you were doing? 

Yes, exactly. But then there was a way to cross it over. If you were going for a luxury automotive brand, you wouldn’t hide the fact that you had fashion photography experience. I think it really comes down to the fact that opportunities would pop up and I tended to say yes to a lot of different kinds of stuff. I pursued a lot of different kinds of stuff, throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. That led to some pretty interesting work.

Related: Eadweard Muybridge documentary explores the birth of modern motion pictures

I never expected to be a fashion photographer and suddenly I was. And that was just the beginning of it. I think it was in 1973 I won a college competition put on by Conde Nast. I became a guest art director at Conde Nast and got to work with some really cool photographers.  But prior to winning that contest, I was working in a gas station. I was a tune-up guy, paying my way through art school. I didn’t expect it. It was a really unusual turn of events that got me into the business.

At what point in your career did you start taking on video projects? 

I think about ‘78, I was teaching at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis in the design department, freelancing as a stills photographer, and doing stringer work for all the titles at Time-Life. I started getting some agency work there and quickly gained a reputation as somebody who knew how to use light—how to design it, sculpt it, and all that. Because of that, the creative director asked me to be the lighting director on a TV commercial that they had given to a local production company. I had a good impact on the project. And then I was given some opportunities. It was just the tiniest bit there. Then I was working in Scottsdale in 1980, where I connected with a local commercial director, and he needed a cameraman. He called my studio one day and asked if I shot film. I said ‘sure,’ thinking what else is there than film? The conversation goes forward and it ends up he’s talking about hiring me to do a campaign for Blue Cross Blue Shield, but to film it. Again, I just say ‘yes’ a lot. 

That’s the Cliffs Notes version of it. I got a couple of breaks to learn the ins and outs and differences between the machines, the cinema cameras and still cameras. And then, actually maybe the very first or second project I did as a production company, got to the Clio Awards. And I had my butt handed to me by a big special effects house, the biggest special effects house. They won it but they offered me a job as creative director. I joined the company and was creative director there and got to work with [impressively] capable motion picture cameramen over the years and learned a lot from that.

How do you think your experience as a stills photographer helped you when you crossed over to motion pictures? 

Oh, it was everything except the motion—that’s not to diminish the component of the motion. The motion is where it’s at. With a still photograph, you have to compose one good frame and catch that decisive moment, if it’s a decisive moment type situation. With movies, moving pictures, the subject’s moving or the camera’s moving. So there’s always something going on. As soon as you start getting the camera in motion, now we separate the dilettantes from the rock stars in terms of compositional skills, because you have to have a great composition at the beginning of a shot and at the end of the shot. It’s all about the frame. And it’s specifically about the horizontal frame, being able to show height. You’ve got to run a tight ship compositionally with a cine camera. 

More recently you’ve been very involved in mentoring, how has that been for you? 

That has been [extremely] gratifying—being able to hand over some tidbits of hard-won, I won’t call it wisdom, but hard-won knowledge and seeing them put it to work.

The industry has obviously changed a ton since you got your break. What sort of career advice are you offering to your mentees about how to survive in this industry now? 

There are fewer big budgets and fewer destinations. So you don’t have to be in New York and you don’t have to be in LA. Really you are an independent producer, but there’s nothing that says you can’t apply the same standards just because you’re located in a flyover market.

I tell them it’s about not becoming overzealous with the acquisition of equipment. It’s learning to use your tools well. It’s understanding that story drives everything. It’s figuring out your voice and it’s just making yourself attractive to the potential buyer. For commercial photographers and filmmakers, you’ve got to develop a style that is yours so it’s, I won’t say predictable, but it’s recognizable and it proves that you didn’t just stumble into a couple of nice-looking samples. 

It’s being extraordinarily professional, accurately promising and fulfilling your promises, being a good business person, but always maintaining the fact that the business is there to support the artist. Commercial work is a mechanical art form and it’s a business art form. So you’ve got to pay attention to all of those things.

How is mentoring different for you than offering workshops or seminars? 

It’s a one-on-one situation, that’s the joy of mentoring. I’m so high on mentoring these days.

The joy is coming to know that emerging artist or that emerging business person—the mid-career version of that—and coming to recognize who they are, and [then] just adding horsepower. [You’re] not changing their direction, just helping them achieve whatever they’re trying to achieve. It’s never the same thing twice. And it’s actually useful to be old in this situation and filled with bitterly-won experience because although things have changed dramatically, I’m still playing at as high of a level as I want to play at. I’m enjoying getting great projects and I know that [other] people can do that. It’s just a matter of sort of becoming the hyper-realized version of yourself and putting it out there. 

The process of teaching is one that helps to crystallize the knowledge for yourself. So I really get a kick out of going back and just having to readdress things like subject blur versus freezing action, all of the basics. When you revisit them more consciously than just using them as tools, and try to use some of these techniques that less experienced folks have not experienced, it’s an opportunity to rebrand yourself, recreate yourself, and reinvent. I end up getting reenergized by seeing the world through somebody else’s eyes, and introducing them to opportunities reintroduces me to opportunities.

How do you connect with the people you end up mentoring? 

It often starts at workshops. If I respect their work and what they’re doing, and they’re talking a good ball game, then I’ll just ask them when they’ve got something going on. That’s the way it starts. Then I’ll get them to assist me or I’ll assist them. It’s just about trying to build community and treating it as a non-competitive thing—just trying to make the tide raise all boats.

What advice would you offer to someone who is looking for a mentor? 

Never underestimate the value of the camera clubbers—the people who just love taking pictures but don’t have any intention of making it professional. There are some unbelievable gems in that bunch, some of them are extremely dedicated. I know some dedicated amateurs that have put a lot of pros to shame. Just hanging around and shooting the breeze with these people can end up being very useful. If you have nowhere to go, I would say try the local camera club. They’ll probably be the nerdiest bunch on the planet but they’re also lovely and most likely willing to share some information too.

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Bright sunlight is one of the most challenging weather conditions to shoot in. If you’re not careful, your photos can come out wildly overexposed, brutally underexposed, or way too contrasty and filled with harsh, unappealing shadows. But challenging doesn’t mean impossible. With the right approach, it’s still feasible to shoot incredible images, even with the sun beaming down from directly overhead. 

Embrace it

Shooting high-contrast images with hard shadows is only a problem if you’re trying to shoot something else. On the other hand, if you want to shoot dramatic photographs, there are few better times than on bright sunny days. 

With that said, getting the best results still requires a bit of skill and planning. If you shoot film, now is the time to break it out. Film stocks tend to handle high contrast lighting better than digital cameras. They’re harder to over-expose and, even if you do, the highlight roll-off is nicer than the bright white you get from over-exposed digital photos. 

Related: How to get a blurry background in portraits

If you are shooting digital images, don’t overexpose your images in an attempt to fill the shadows. You will blow your highlights before you get good results from the shadows. Expose for the brighter parts of the scene, and accept that you will have some dark zones that add to the atmosphere. 

Pay particular attention to how shadows fall on your subject. If you’re shooting portraits, your subjects’ face is likely to be the most important area of the image. As long as an ugly, unintended shadow doesn’t cut across it, you can get away with a lot in the background of the image. 

For landscapes, harsh sunlight has a way of bringing out texture. Rather than try to avoid it, look at ways to use it to add depth and interest to your images. Fairly boring scenes can come to life this way. 

When you’re processing your images, consider converting them to B&W. It can be easier to get strong high contrast images without having to worry about things like color balance. 

Avoid it

If you don’t want to shoot overly stylized images or have to get something different for a client or assignment, then avoiding the sun can be easier than you think. Just look for the smallest bit of shade. Even getting under a tree, behind a wall, or under a doorway can give you enough cover to get great images. 

In this situation, a lens hood is really useful as it will allow you to position your subject in the shade while you stand in the sunlight without getting any unwanted lens flare. 

While a bright sun overhead might not make for the easiest lighting conditions outdoors, it can make for some of the best ones indoors. Instead of fighting the sun outside, head somewhere public with a big window—like a café, bar, or even a shop—and enjoy the wonderfully soft, directional light you get streaming in. It’s perfect for portraits and even things like macro photography. 

Overcome it

If you can’t accept it and can’t dodge it, then the last remaining option for shooting in bright sunlight is to overcome it. And, with the right gear, this can be easier than you think. 

A large 5-in-1 reflector is your go-to bit of kit here. You can use it as a scrim to soften and block the worst of the sunlight from your subject, or use it to create an impromptu bit of shade. You can also use it to bounce some fill light to brighten up your subject and reduce the overall contrast of the image. Really, depending on the shot you’re trying to take, it can basically provide whatever you need. The biggest downside is that to make the most of it, it helps to have someone else—like an assistant or friend—around to hold it in position. 

Alternatively, an (ideally off-camera) flash can be used to fill in the worst of the shadows on your subject. Unfortunately, this only helps when you are up close with your subject. For landscapes, nature, or sports images, it’s often impossible to place a flash where you would need it. It also involves more setup, planning, and gear-hauling. For professionals, it’s the most reliable solution but for a lot of regular shooters, it can be challenging. 

Even if you don’t have a reflector or flash to hand, you aren’t entirely out of luck. In cities, shiny glass-fronted buildings or large metal objects can double as fill light. That bright overhead sun will basically bounce off anything. The next time you’re out shooting, try it—it’s surprisingly effective. 

Be prepared to fail

Whatever strategy you choose, bright sunlight still presents its challenges. If you don’t have a lot of experience shooting in it, you should be prepared to get a few unsatisfactory images while you learn how to handle harsh shadows and high-contrast lighting on location. But as with all things in photography, it’s those bad practice photos that lead to the good ones later on.

The post How to take good pictures in bright sunlight appeared first on Popular Photography.

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This post has been updated. It was originally published on Aug. 26, 2015.

Michael Peres loves photographing the tiny details of our natural world. A professor of biomedical photographic communications at Rochester Institute of Technology, Peres specializes in capturing these intricate details through microscope photography. Here, he explains how he does it.

I became interested in taking pictures of tiny things over 40 years ago while I was studying pre-med in college. I was exposed to this fascinating and invisible world while learning how to delineate muscle tissue from connective tissue using a light microscope. I was drawn to each new subject that I was asked to study and it still amazes me how things are organized. I love photographing snowflakes, flowers, and other natural objects. I started sharing my work on Instagram in March 2014 and have been fascinated by the worldwide followers who are drawn to my images captured through microscope photography.

Finding a subject for microscope photography

Finding a good subject starts with staying curious about the world. I find it is really important to be open-minded about potential samples. The other day, on a walk with my dog, he came home loaded with burrs. After removing as many as I could, I decided to examine one under the microscope. It was just a weed, but under the microscope, it became elegant and complex.

Locating and handling small objects is a big part of the process’s success. Damaged samples or those with artifacts will have a different visual presentation than excellent samples and it’s important not to let the damage become the focus of the photography. Finding a sample without blemishes is the first priority for the type of pictures I want to make. That is not to say that the subjects of my photography are perfect—they are not.

There are two different things that I am thinking about when I prepare a sample to photograph—dissection and isolation, which of these takes precedent depends on the subject and its magnification. When photographing flowers, I typically use dissection scissors to remove petals to improve the visibility of its structural elements. When I photograph aquatic organisms, I try to isolate them in a drop of water under a cover glass. Less is always more in this case. Each subject brings unique problems and requires different methods to make the sample small enough, flat enough, or thin enough to photograph.

I also purchase prepared biological slides such as cross-sections of plants or animal tissue—it is very difficult to prepare these types of slides without precision equipment. Wards Natural Science and Carolina Biological Supply Company sell thousands of subjects that are prepared for microscopic examination.

Gear needed for microscope photography

When shooting microscope photography my crucial pieces of gear are microscopes, a fiber optic light, a digital camera body, a macro lens, extension tubes, bellows, and a tripod. When I’m photographing snowflakes, flowers, or other subjects found in nature I’m often in my garage and I keep a ready supply of clean microscope slides and a piece of black velvet fabric for use as a background. I also have many needles, tiny brushes, and cotton-tipped sticks that I use for moving the samples and tidying up the area around them.

I typically use a compound light microscope for my photography. Light microscopes are quite common and easy to find. They can be expensive or relatively cheap, a student microscope might cost as little as $250 while a high-end research-grade microscope might cost $200,000. A fairly good low-end research-grade used microscope can be found for $5000.

Microscopes magnify subjects using two lenses. The first stage of magnification is produced by the objective lens and the second stage of magnification is the eyepiece. An objective lens has a focal length just like traditional photographic lenses that are used on a camera. Working distances are very small for this type of photography—a typical range of objective magnifications for a light microscope might include a 2x, 4x, 10x, 20x, 40, 60x, or 100x. I pick my lens on the microscope based on the sample’s magnification requirements. Magnification influences the image’s depth of field, so a big thick sample (.5cm) benefits from low magnification, while very flat subjects need more magnification.

When using a light microscope it is possible to make pictures using a smartphone. The lens should be placed at the eye point of the microscope, which can be located by holding a piece of paper approximately 1 cm from the eyepiece of the microscope. A very small dot of light will be visible on the paper, this is the eye point and where the lens should be directed. A small tripod can be helpful to hold the camera in place. Gaffer’s tape is often my best friend as a technical photographer because it lets me secure the phone of other elements of the system during my shoots.

Although using a smartphone works, I like to use a DSLR with the lens removed and the body hung over the microscope’s eyepiece using a vertical copy stand or tripod. I also use extension tubes or bellows on my camera to manage the ambient light—which can create flare and lower contrast. Whether using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, you need to align the camera’s sensor over the small dot of light from the eye point. To make a microscopic image I will align the sensor of my camera over the eyepiece at a distance where the circle of illumination produced by the microscope is large enough to cover the sensor without seeing the circle. Confirm that the light point has covered the sensor by checking the camera’s LCD screen. Be cautious when setting up though: it is very important to be aware of the distance between the eyepiece and the unprotected sensor.

Lighting your microscopic subject

I primarily use the microscope’s built-in light and supplement it with fiber-optic lighting. When I look at a sample for the first time, I envision what I want the image to look like and work to get there. I make many tiny adjustments to the light’s position, which makes a large difference in the results. Some of the subjects I am photographing might be one or two millimeters in size or smaller. How much fill light is needed or what makes the light’s angle just right are the decisions that I make before shooting. My strategy is based largely on how the light is working with the sample itself. The three styles of lighting I use most regularly are Kohler, Darkfield, and Polarized.

How I use Kohler lighting when shooting microscopic subjects

When I photograph a prepared “thin-section,” I am trying to create neutral and uniform backlighting called Kohler illumination. This allows the microscopist to maximize the contrast and resolution in the image. I continue to use it because it creates portrait-like treatments of the things I photograph.

How I use Darkfield lighting when shooting microscopic subjects

I will also use darkfield, which makes an object glow against a black background, creating an astronomical-type look. Darkfield lighting comes from behind a transparent subject and is shined through the sample at oblique angles. This style of lighting produces a very dramatic look, the downside is that everything will be lit when using darkfield including the things you do not want to have lit—like dirt, scratches, or air bubbles.

How I use Polarized lighting when shooting microscopic subjects

I use polarized light when I am photographing samples that exhibit birefringence, which is a technical term that describes how a sample may or may not “show” rainbow-like colors when placed into a polarized light microscope. Samples that include hairs, fibers, chemicals, minerals, some insect wings, and many synthetic objects will look as though they are made of rainbows when examined using polarized light. Polarized light is used to reveal internal information in these samples that otherwise may not be visible.

Focusing while shooting microscope photography

To focus the magnified image I remove the camera’s lens and project the image directly into the camera’s body. The microscope focus controls are then used to focus the image in the camera’s viewfinder. Making a crisp image can be challenging. The viewfinder does not pick up the same amount of fine detail that the microscope can create, so things often look a little rougher in the viewfinder than they end up looking in the RAW files. It takes some practice to be able to predict how the image will appear once it is recorded.

If you are using a smartphone that has been carefully positioned over the eyepiece, you will still want to focus on the image displayed on the phone’s display by manipulating the microscope’s focus knob.

Processing your microscopic images

One of the biggest challenges when shooting microscope photography is creating contrast and structural delineation of internal parts and I try and do the hard work during the shoots. When I am photographing, I work slowly to inch my way towards making an interesting result using lenses and light.

I am very cautious about too much image processing. In post-processing I am most interested in tone management, setting white or black points, and removing irrelevant dirt. I shoot RAW, open the RAW file in Photoshop, and then I preprocess the structural details that are present in the file, but often not very visible. I also perform a minor amount of clarifying or sharpening at this stage. After making minor tone changes in Photoshop, I will sharpen the file using the high band pass filter.

I think it is important for the images to not be totally flawless. Nothing is perfect in life and I think if the images are too perfect they might seem computer-generated. My goal for this work is to make scientific photographs that operate in non-scientific environments and enable people to learn something new about the world they live in. My pictures feature real things and life also has blemishes and areas that are out of focus.

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Storee Elle Walton is a renaissance woman. Or, more precisely, a renaissance girl. The Memphis, Tennessee, eight-year-old has taken the internet by a storm since being photographed capturing a Memphis Grizzlies game with her Nikon D90. 

“I just want to be known as a kid, but I think I can do things large,” she says, confidently. 

However, Walton maintains that though sports photography gave her notoriety, it’s not all she does—far from it. Besides photographing a myriad of subjects, from events and weddings to fashion, she is an all-around artist who enjoys drawing, painting, and music, with a diverse taste that ranges from hip-hop to gospel.

The story starts at age one

Walton is carrying on a family legacy, taking after her grandfather—whom she calls Grandman—a former professional photographer. He introduced her to the world of photography at age one, and the prodigy had her first paying client by the age of four. A church member requested that Walton photograph a birthday party. The preschooler netted a clean $25, and that was the beginning of her professional career. 

“I just started watching him,” she remembers (with her mom, Tanyel Hobson-Walton’s help). “My mom thought that I was looking at his photos, but suddenly she was like, ‘oh, that’s Storee’s photos,’ because they look so professional. It looked like my grandfather’s.”

Equipped with a Nikon D90, a zoom lens, and a flash, Walton always has her camera in hand and ready to go, with big dreams in mind. 

“I want to cover the president and Beyonce,” she shares. 

Celebrity run-ins and building a business 

From her track record, that doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Walton has already covered an impressive set of local celebrities, from the mayor to clothing designer Richfresh, whose creations have garnered the patronage of the likes of Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors. 

“He called for her to be his photographer for that event,” says Hobson-Walton, recounting the day Richfresh received a key to Memphis. “He’s my friend, so Storee calls him Uncle Richfresh. She also reached out to him last year when we were in Atlanta. He was in Atlanta and she wanted to do a photoshoot with him and he told her, ‘yeah, let’s do it,’ not knowing that she was going to run into another celebrity, Tanya from Housewives of Atlanta, at the shoot.”

When she’s not photographing the jet-set, Walton is building a local reputation as an event and wedding photographer. Last year, the elementary schooler shot 10 weddings and projects 20 to 30 on her books this year. One particular event she looks forward to photographing is an annual “prom closet” event hosted by an organization that provides free dresses to girls unable to buy their own. 

“Storee was the event photographer,” Hobson-Walton says of last year’s prom closet. “Over 300 girls came out to try on prom dresses and Storee was the featured photographer. They actually took pictures saying yes to the dress.”

“I like [events] because you get to have an experience with people and you can just meet new people, have lots of fun,” Walton adds. 

The professional 

Of course, big events can lead to a few nerves before (and during!) the job. But though she is young, Walton is always prepared. 

“If I was nervous, I would just calm down. I’d probably be around family for a little while, just do my own little meditation,” she says about how she prepares for work. 

And then, a dance party never hurts, either. 

“If you finish half your job, then you can move to something fun [for] a little bit, then start back to your job. But that’s also a thing that keeps me calm because I like to dance a lot,” she shares about getting down on the dance floor at a particular wedding. 

Aside from the actual photography, she also takes care of everything from negotiating her contracts to learning about new equipment. Grown-ups only step in for things like transportation.

“I’m independent,” she asserts. “I usually figure out some things, but if it’s just words that I don’t even know, I ask somebody.”

Leading a double life

Though the adults all know who she is, the elementary schooler prefers to keep things on the down-low around friends. She maintains that at the heart, she is a photographer because she loves it. 

“I enjoy it because if I do photography, it can level me up to something that I never even knew,” she says. “So I just keep on going with photography. It makes me happy.”

For her, it’s not about fame and popularity—Walton is actually wary of the fact that her star power might intimidate her peers and prevent them from trying their own hand.

“I keep it like a secret,” she says. “I tell some grown-ups about it, but if it comes to kids and they start getting jealous, I don’t want them to be like, ‘I can’t do something just because Storee’s too big for me.’ So I’m like, no, you can do something that you want to do, just believe in yourself.”

When asked if she has any advice for other kids who want to try photography or dive into a new interest, Walton believes that determination is key. 

“What I think is if you like photography or something else that they like, all you have to do is follow your dream and you’ll be right there.”

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