Lucy And The Lens

Tag: #tipsandtricks

  • 8 Tips To Get You Out Of A Creative Rut

    Today I’m going to be dispelling the myth that if you’re in a creative rut you need to go to an exotic location.

    Here are eight things you can do to get out of a creative rut.

    Create an Assignment

    You may find that if you give yourself an assignment. for example, a photo a day for a month or a year it instils some newfound creativity within you. I personally set myself a new photo challenge every Friday which I have a full week to do and this helps me think out of the box.

    Here is a link to my latest Friday Challenge Post and some other related posts:

    Create A Theme for A Photo walk

    Another way to get out of this rut is to create a theme for a photo walk and then it becomes more like a treasure hunt and helps to provide you with ideas.

    Do Something Different

    Have a day where you go out and do something other than photography or whatever your profession is as sometimes you need to get away from it to end the rut. You can also try and learn something new that’s completely unrelated to your niche. (unique area of expertise)

    Humans of Your City

    How about creating your own humans of New York style project in your city looking for interesting characters wherever you go?

    Take Inspiration from The Everyday

    Another great way of getting out of a creative rut is to take inspiration from the everyday. How about picking up a book from your shelf and recreating the cover in one photo, a painting, drawing or anything else it inspires you to do. Find some other objects you have in your house and use them as your inspiration.

    See What Other People Are Doing in Your Niche

    How about browsing on your computer looking at what other people are doing in your niche.

    Create A Mood Board

    One of my favourite things to do when I’m stuck in a rut is to go on Pinterest. See what I can find and design my own mood board based on that.

    Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

    Try doing something you wouldn’t normally do, something as simple as changing the way you take your morning coffee.

    Just simply take your mind away from work.

    I hope you enjoyed this post if so, stay tuned for more.

  • Studio Lighting: Tips

    I have my own studio lights and also access to a studio at UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire) as I do my freelance work from there. So, I’ve been reading books, blogs and googling techniques on how to light a subject.

    Here are some tips I have acquired about studio lighting from the book lighting for portrait photography by Steve Bavister:

    1. Persuading you’re subject to face the window adds detail to the face and creates a strong profile. (Shoot this at a shutter speed of 1/250 and an aperture of f5.6).
    2. Placing your subject facing out of a doorway gives strong illumination.
    3. A reflector beneath a subject and a tilted camera angle adds impact to a simply lit but powerful portrait. (Shot at 1/125 shutter speed)
    4. The clam shell set-up: this is where a subject is seated, and you place the light above her and maybe a reflector below her.
    5. The typical studio set-up is when you place one light to one side of the subject and one light behind her.
    6. Using a light and a jumbo umbrella gives lots of lighting control (Shoot at a shutter speed of 1/400 and an aperture of f11.)
    7. The further you take a light to one side the more moody and dramatic it becomes.
    8. Photographing people wearing glasses requires a high lighting position.

    Below are a few more tips from DIY Photography:

    1. Beauty Dishes add a natural catch light to your images.
    2. For a two light set-up use an octobox and fill light with a colour gel: an orange or yellow gel will add a warmer tone to your portrait. Try this on f1.8.
    3. Old guys with beards photograph better with no soft boxes.

    Below is a video tutorial from DIY Photography: Lighting By Elaine Torres

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOYTtxzJWqo&feature=youtu.be

    I hope you’ve enjoyed this post let me know in the comments. Read more for more tips and tricks.

  • Photoshop Quick Fixes for Beginners: Sharpening Images and Black And White Conversion

    Typically when taking photos on my mobile I use the mobile version of photoshop (photoshop express) when editing.

    The first thing I do when editing quickly is a quick 35% sharpen of my image as this amount is what I find pushes the image just enough. Then I auto expose my image but usually change the auto exposure to fit the mood I want the image to have. As sometimes I find auto exposure to be too bright or to dark for what I was going for when I took the image. For me these mobile quick fixes are easier for IPhone photography.

    Normally I shoot from a camera so when I first started I’d upload my images to my computer and import them into photoshop to do a more complex edit, without ever using lightroom, now that’s my go to. My processing started in a similar way to my IPhone photography as I started by sharpening the image. My sharpen is slightly different to on the phone as I start by duplicating the original layer and using an unsharp mask filter to sharpen my image to 35%, with a radius of 5.0 pixels and a threshold of 3 levels.

    Next I would duplicate my sharpen layer and then I adjust the levels so the light to dark ratio of my image is perfectly balanced. Then I’d use auto curves on my image to further improve the light to dark ratio.

    Finally, not all images lend themselves to colour and thanks to the Google Nik collection as there are now better ways to make an image black and white without using the standard photoshop desaturation or black and white filter. So, before Lightroom Pre-sets and still on occasion if I think an image shouldn’t be in colour, I use the silver efex pro filter from the Nik Collection as the tool which contains pre-sets. My favourite pre-set is high structure harsh because it makes the original boring background stand out against a subject and I typically used this for street photography and any portrait where I think the original background was dull.

    If you enjoyed this look out for more tips and tricks in further reading on my blog.