Perhaps one of the more challenging issues photographers entering the world of video face is compression for the web. It’s one thing exporting a jpeg. When it comes to creating videos for the web, it’s a whole different ballgame. There are so many different considerations.

Resolution

No doubt the majority of you are editing high definition videos: 1080p (1,920x1080) or 720p (1,280x720). For a majority of the work I do, I edit in 1080p then export at 720p for the web. If the site I’m uploading to will support it and the visuals would benefit from a higher resolution, I may export a 1080p file.

Bits and Bytes

The next decision, and perhaps the most important, is what data rate to set. Most of the data rate figures you see will be in megabits per second (mbps). The capitalization is important, because if you write MBps, this traditionally stands for megabytes per second, not -bits (eight bits make up one byte). Don't be surprised if you ever come across an article using MBps, but meaning mbps. You'll know by the size of the number. Here are some common numbers to give you perspective.

● The .MOV files in popular Canon DSLRs are compressed at approximately 45 mbps.
● The .MOV files in some of the most popular Nikon DSLRs range from about 14 mbps to 24 mbps (depending on the quality setting)
● The popular Apple codec ProRes 422 is about 145 mbps
● Standard Definition DVDs range from 4 to 8 mbps 

Most compression programs will give you the option to do constant bitrate (CBR) or variable bitrate (VBR) compression. CBR will compress the entire video at the same rate. If you're not concerned about file size, this may be a good option as it's faster and takes less processing power. With VBR, the computer will compress different parts of the video at different rates (you will enter some target or average rate). So high motion parts of the video will get a higher rate than sections where there's no motion at all. That way you can better optimize the video.

Formats

There are a few different formats to consider when exporting for the web: mpeg4 (which includes .mv4 files), mpeg2, h.264, wmv, etc. These are all different codecs. Codec is short for "compression-decompression." It's the algorithm used by the computer to compress large video files into something more manageable. All major video sharing sites will accept all the popular formats. So whether you're a Mac or a Windows person, the format you export can yield a video people will be able to watch, regardless of operating system or browser. It should be noted that .MOV does not represent a codec. It's the suffix for a QuickTime video, but that video could be any number of codecs. You can have an h.264 .mov file, a ProRes .mov file, an MPEG-2 .mov file, etc.

The Perfect Recipe

There is no "best" combination of settings. It all depends on things like audience, upload destination, length of video, and such. Here's my usual recipe (using Apple’s Compressor):

Video:
○ AppleTV codec, h.264
○ 1,280x720 resolution
○ 4-7 mbps (depending on varying factors)
○ Frame rate (source, which is usually 24 fps)

Audio:
○ AAC
○ 128 kbps
○ 44.1khz

Video compression is two parts science and one part art. With practice and time you’ll come up with a recipe that works best for you and your clients.

Every now and then you see one of those films that is a total gem. A film that makes your jaw drop in awe and your heart pound in anticipation of watching it again. “Last Day Dream” [below; brief explicit language] by commercial director and photographer Chris Milk is one of those films for me. It was made four years ago for the 42 Second Dream Film Festival and shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with Lensbaby lenses.

Last Day Dream from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Lens-what? That’s what I thought when I first heard the word Lensbaby. Was it a lens for tiny cameras? Was it a sort of training-wheels lens for kids? Most of you reading this probably have at least heard of Lensbaby. The best way I can describe them is as a kind of funky-looking, tilt-shift lens.

Like a tilt-shift, the Lensbaby has a selective focus, creating a dreamlike blur around the perimeter of the focus spot (or sweet spot). It’s a great lens to use if you want to add a dream-like aesthetic to your photography, or if you want to draw attention to a particular part of your image.

Shooting with Video

As you can see from the Chris Milk film, the Lensbaby can achieve an ethereal effect that takes the look of your video to a different level. In using it for video though, keep a couple of things in mind.

First, how does the use of the lens contribute to the story? The selective-focus, dreamy look can easily be over-used and veer into cliché. But as long as you’ve given thought to your story, the Lensbaby can truly enhance it.

Filmmaking story scenarios where you might use the Lensbaby:
Dream sequence
Flashback or flash-forward
Showing a character’s imagination or what they’re thinking
Timelapse
An exaggerated shot of character's visual point of view (e.g. a guy in a club zeroes in on a woman he wants to pick up; a sniper on a building top zeroes in on her target)
Music video
Illustrate a character’s disorientation
Creating an “otherworldly” experience

The second thing to keep in mind is controlling where the sweet spot is when shooting a moving or tracking shot, or shooting a moving subject. If you’re shooting a still image this isn’t an issue. You adjust your camera settings, find your sweet spot, then shoot. But once you introduce motion into the picture, you as the director need to be mindful of how that motion affects your sweet spot. If at all possible, use an external monitor to facilitate monitoring your image and the sweet spot location.

In-camera vs. In-computer

Some of the effects created with Lensbaby can actually be created in post production—Photoshop for stills or a non-linear editing system like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere for video. So you may ask, “Why do this in-camera if you can just add it in post?” That’s a fair question. There are three reasons why I think it’s better to create these effects in-camera.

Focus on Story. As I mentioned before, this (or any) effect in a film or video should be done with a purpose in mind. Creating the effect in-camera forces you as the director to be mindful of that purpose and to compose your shots and direction accordingly. If you wait to do it in post, you’re apt to get lazy, or you may discover that you’ve shot it in a way that makes adding the effect in post less effective due to distractions in the shot that take away from the effect.

Realism. I think shots composed in-camera look more realistic than when something is added in post. They have a more organic feel that subconsciously translates to authenticity. I liken it to shooting slow motion. If you shoot at a higher frame rate (60 frames per second) then convert to a slower frame rate in post, your slow motion looks more smooth and realistic than having the computer create “fake” slow motion.

Render time and quality. Last is the practical consideration of render time and quality. If you achieve your effect in-camera, the computer doesn’t have to render it. Also, depending on the computing power and graphics card you’re using, a lot of heavy effects rendering can result in muddy looking video.

Rookie Moves

It is very important to learn how to use a Lensbaby correctly. The first project I ever used it on was a short, edgy documentary film about celebrity wedding photographer Joe Buissink back in 2010. I was using the Composer and noticed that it came with this little magnetic thingamajiggy connected to a round doohickey. I had no idea what they were for and didn’t bother to find out. So on the day of the shoot, which was a very hot and bright day in Beverly Hills, CA, I started shooting with it and noticed that there was no aperture adjustment on the lens (and naturally you can’t adjust aperture via the camera, which at the time I was used to). So I ended up shooting the Composer scenes wide open and I just increased my shutter speed to compensate. Lucky for me, the high shutter speed combined with the dreamy look actually worked out quite nicely. (It was a perfect example of a happy accident).

Mirrors & Shoes: Celebrity Photographer Joe Buissink Uncensored from Ron Dawson | Dare Dreamer Media on Vimeo.

Later I opened the round doo-hickey and found a stack of metallic rings with holes in them. The rings were numbered: 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, etc. This is where I slapped my forehead and exclaimed a loud, Homer Simpson-esque “Doh!” The aperture was controlled by dropping the metallic rings into the front of the lens using that metallic thingamabob. Lesson learned.

Nowadays, there is no excuse not to learn all you can about using a Lensbaby. They have a full set of instructional and inspirational videos on their site. After you’ve watched the videos, you should practice. The more the better. It really takes getting used to hitting that sweet spot correctly, especially if you’re going to tilt the lens. With your early tries you may want to avoid the wider aperture settings to keep a deeper depth of field. The wider the aperture, the smaller the sweet spot and the harder it is to find.

The Swivel vs. the Squeeze

There are two primary types of Lensbaby lenses: one where you focus with a traditional focus ring and one where you squeeze the lens. The Composer and Composer Pro (below, with Sweet 35 optic) have the focus ring and are perhaps the most popular. Once you focus, you can move the sweet spot by tilting the lens up, down, or side to side. Once you have your sweet spot, you can lock it in then let go of the lens. So the Composer lenses are great for shooting videos.

The Spark and the Muse (below) are squeeze lenses. You focus by squeezing the lens toward or away from the camera body. Once you get the focus you want, you can adjust the sweet spot by tilting accordingly, but you cannot lock in that sweet spot. You have to manually keep it in place. This may be a good way to grab some quick and experimental still photographs, but it’s a terrible combination for shooting video (unless your story calls for the focus spot to move around sporadically). For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend either of these for video work.

Optic Systems

Lensbaby has a whole line of optics to enhance your user experience. While shooting a short film about Jerry Ghionis this past March, I had an opportunity to try the latest Composer Pro using the Sweet 35 optic. Without this optic, the Composer and Composer Pro have a 50mm focal length and you adjust the aperture by inserting the appropriate metallic ring (the optic used in place of the 35 is the Double Glass optic). With the Sweet 35 optic, the focal length drops to 35mm and aperture is adjusted with a 12-blade aperture ring that ranges from f/2.8 to f/22 (in full-stop increments). Remember to keep crop factor in mind if you're shooting a camera with an APS-C size sensor instead of a full-frame sensor. So a Composer with a Double-Glass optic on a 60D, for instance, would have the angle of view of an 80mm lens when factoring in the 1.6X crop.

Depending on the optics you use, with full-frame cameras like Canon’s 5D Mark III or Nikon’s D800, you may get varying results. For instance, with the 12mm fisheye optic, you’ll get a nearly full circular image on a full-frame camera, while on a smaller-sensor camera you’ll get some vignetting around the edges. These two looks would render a very different feel when used in a video. Again, it's about the story you want to tell. I could see using the fisheye lens on a full-frame if you want to emulate someone looking through the peephole in a door. The same lens on an APS-C sensor might create a more dreamlike look and feel.

Motion Picture Mounts

Most Lensbaby lenses come with EF-compatible mounts for Canon cameras and F-compatible mounts for Nikon cameras. Now that more filmmakers are using these lenses, they’ve created PL-mount versions that you can use on digital cinema cameras like the RED, Arri Alexa or a PL-mount version of Canon’s C300.

The Price is Right

Lensbaby lenses are relatively inexpensive, ranging from $80 for the Spark to $380 for the Composer Pro with the Sweet 35 Optic. The PL-mount versions are considerably more expensive though: $1,200 for the Composer Pro PL and $400 for the Muse PL. If you’re only going to selectively use the lenses for various projects, consider renting.

Last Word

Lensbaby lenses can be a lot of fun to use and—in the hands of a competent director who knows her story, has taken the time to practice, and has a creative imagination—the results can be magical.

All images ©Stan Sholik

The latest version of Photoshop, Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud), is being widely discussed on the Internet, but the discussion has focused more on Adobe's new licensing model rather than on what has changed in the application. This is unfortunate because the majority of new features and improvements to previous features are of value to photographers. While the list is not extensive, it may indicate the future development of Photoshop CC: the ongoing introduction of new features and improvements, some significant to photographers and others not at all of interest, to improve the workflow and capabilities of photographers who need the program because its unique features.

Several of the new features are found in the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 8.0 plug-in, with an 8.1 update with additional features due out soon after the 8.0 release. ACR 8.0 introduces a new radial filter, a non-circular healing brush, and an automatic leveling and upright tool. New to Photoshop CC itself is the availability of access to Camera Raw through the filter menu. When you access ACR through Photoshop CC, you can easily use ACR with file formats other than raw formats, and apply ACR as a Smart Filter. 

New to Photoshop CC is the ability to access Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)from the Filter menu. You can also convert the image to a Smart Image before you edit it in ACR.

The new Radial Filter tool is next to the Gradient tool in the toolbar. Clicking the icon opens the Radial Filter panel. Listed in the panel are the same local adjustments available for the graduated filter, along with a feather slider and the ability to apply the adjustments outside or inside the oval filter shape you draw. You can create multiple radial filters on your image, giving you the ability to draw the viewer's eye to precisely where you want, or the ability to create areas of different color temperature, clarity, sharpness and any of the other local adjustments.

The new Radial Filter in ACR allows you to do everything from creating a simple vignette to applying any of the local adjustments in the Radial Filter panel to the area inside or outside of the shape you draw. Here I have adjusted the exposure, clarity, and sharpening of the lotus blossom.

You can create multiple Radial Filter adjustments. This adjustment sits on top of the adjustment I made to the blossom and darkens, softens, and slightly desaturates the background to draw more attention to the flower.

The Heal option in the ACR Spot Removal tool has two new features. First, the brush is no longer a circular spot removal tool, it is now a true brush. Regardless of the shape of the object, you can drag the new healing brush over an object to completely remove it from the image. Of course you can still use Heal to remove spots and sensor dust from the image. This is made easier with the new Visualize Spots option. With Visualize Spots active, you see a high-contrast monochrome representation of your image. By adjusting the Visualize Spots slider, you can easily see round spots or irregular-shaped dust that is easily missed when viewing the color image, even when viewing at 100% magnification.

The new Healing brush in ACR allows you to paint an area out of your image by dragging over the area as well as do spot healing.

The Healing Brush tool automatically finds an area in the image to heal the selection, but you can adjust the source area manually if needed.

For spot healing, the new Visualize Spots feature presents a high-contrast monochrome image that highlights dust and spots that are easily missed when looking at the color version.

Finally, for anyone needing to straighten a horizon, level a tilted photo, or straighten a building, the new Upright tools in the Manual tab of the ACR Lens Corrections panel makes life easy. There are four Upright options: Automatic produces a balanced perspective without fully correcting horizontal or vertical lines, and also crops the image; Level corrects for tilted horizons; Vertical makes strong vertical lines vertical; and, Full provides full level, horizontal and vertical corrections. Sliders are available for each correction to increase or dial back the effect for full manual control.

The new Auto Upright option in the Lens Corrections panel produces a balanced perspective adjustment and crops the image without totally correcting horizontal or vertical perspective.

The Level Upright option automatically corrects a tilted horizon or a badly tilted photo such as this one.

The Vertical Upright option automatically corrects strong vertical lines to vertical without altering horizontal perspective.

The Full Upright option automatically corrects horizontal, vertical, and leveling, which can severely distort buildings.

The Full Upright option works well to correct images such as this sign that I shot from below and to the side to a flat, straight-on perspective.

The major new feature in Photoshop CC itself, which photographers likely didn't think possible, is the Shake Reduction filter in the Filter > Sharpen menu. Under the right conditions, it can do exactly what its name implies—eliminate or at least minimize the image blurring present if the camera vibrated or you shook during the exposure. It won't help if the blurring is caused by subject movement however.

The Shake Reduction filter opens in its own window, sets a bounding box after analyzing the image, and applies the filter automatically. There are adjustment sliders, but I have yet to be able to improve on the automatic correction, although it is easy to mess it up. There is also a Blur Direction tool in the toolbar that you can use to manually set the blur direction and length.

The new Shake Reduction filter in Photoshop CC is useful for minimizing or eliminating camera shake and vibration. The filter analyzes the image and then applies an automatic correction. You can make manual adjustments and use the loupe to view a specific area of the image.

Used as a Smart Filter, you can eliminate blurring in one part of the image, then use other tools to eliminate any halos or artifacts that may appear if there is a different blur, or no blur in other parts of the image. Now it may be possible to salvage an irreplaceable photo with camera movement blurring that you have been living with or had to deliver to a client. Camera Shake Reduction won't replace vibration reduction lenses or tripods, but I have experienced blurring due to wind shaking a tripod-mounted camera as well as hand-held macro photos, and I welcome this new feature. Its mere existence seems pretty amazing to me.

Another filter in the Sharpen list, Smart Sharpen, retains its previous name, but is completely new according to Adobe. It certainly looks different with an expandable interface and a large image preview window. You can compare the new Smart Sharpen to the previous by clicking Use Legacy in the Additional Options menu. I have found the results are better with the new version, with fewer artifacts and improved ability to control sharpening in the highlights and shadows. Unfortunately, it seems slower in producing the results.

Smart Sharpen in Photoshop CC is all new with an adjustable size dialog box containing a large image preview.

Another improvement in Photoshop CC is intelligent upsizing in Edit > Image Size. As with Smart Sharpen, you can enlarge the Image Size dialog box, and there is a large preview image window in which to view the result. The intelligent upsizing option is available by selecting Preserve Details (enlargement) from the Resample drop-down menu, or by leaving the default option Automatic for Resample. Automatic selects the best method for enlarging or reducing the image without your intervention. To compare the new intelligent upsizing to the previous, choose Bicubic Smoother (enlargement) from the Resample drop-down menu.

Image Size in Photoshop CC also has a large preview image and the upscaling algorithm is rewritten to better preserve detail than the previous Bicubic algorithm, which is still available from the drop-down menu.

For Mac users with the latest Retina displays, Photoshop CC provides support for the application and many more plug-ins, such as Liquify, Safe for Web, Merge to HDR, JPEG2000, Vanishing Point, Adaptive Wide Angle, Lens Correction, and Filter Gallery. ACR 8.0 is not enabled for Retina displays, but ACR 8.1 is promised to be when released.

There are a host of other major features included in Photoshop CC and even more minor improvements and minor updates. Many of the major features are related to 3D, with type-handling upgrades and rounded rectangle shapes for designers. Adobe promises that it will support Photoshop CS6 for the foreseeable future and that ACR 8.0 and later versions will be compatible with CS6. However, the new ACR 8 features for Photoshop CC will definitely not be included in the CS6 versions of ACR 8.

Not included in Photoshop CC is a version of Bridge, showing that features can be removed as well as added in the future. Adobe promises to have Bridge CC available for download, including the Bridge Output module that reportedly was not included in early versions of Bridge CC.

For photographers who find the new Photoshop CC features of value, and who need 16-bit file support, layers, blending modes, and other Photoshop features gathered together into one program with which they are already familiar, then joining the Creative Cloud is their only option. Adobe has the market penetration to make this change in its licensing model. Whether this is right model for you depends on how you use Photoshop in your business.

Stan Sholik is a commercial/advertising photographer in Santa Ana, Calif., specializing in still life and macro photography. His new book, "Photoshop CC: 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks" (Wiley Publishing), will be available this summer.

The Adobe Cloud model is here, as it has been for nearly a year, and it doesn’t look like it is going to go away. On March 14, Adobe announced that beginning May 1, 2013, boxed copies of all CS6 applications would no longer be produced or shipped except “under special circumstances.” What these special circumstances are have yet to be disclosed, although Adobe hints that if an internet connection is unavailable on any computer, that may qualify. Owners of the downloaded CS6 programs can request a Creative Suite Backup disc at a nominal cost.

Future Adobe programs that were a part of the Creative Suite will be known as Creative Cloud (CC) desktop applications, and this includes the forthcoming Photoshop CC. Lightroom, having never been a part of the Creative Suite, remains a boxed program for the foreseeable future, although Adobe promises that Lightroom will become available to CC members as well.

Actual membership in the CC is free, and you have access to 30-day trials of any or all programs, with limited access to other CC services. Along with the free membership there is a free version of Adobe Edge Tools and Services and the final version of Adobe Edge Animate 1.0, all for web developers. There are also 500 free Adobe Edge fonts and 2GB of online storage. Not much here for photographers.

So what is the Creative Cloud and how does it affect photographers? What it is not is a system limited to cloud storage of images, although 2 to 20 GB of storage is included when you join. It is also not a suite of web-based applications like Google apps. The Creative Cloud is a subscription-based plan that gives you access, depending on your subscription, to single programs from the previous Creative Suite, or access to all programs in the previous Creative Suite. You join the CC, download the single program or whatever elements of the old Suite you need, and work as you always have. As long as your subscription is active, you never know the difference, other than the advantages Adobe says you have from the CC.

Costs are kind of complex, but they always have been from Adobe. For current Photoshop CS3 or later registered users, the cost is $9.99 per month for the first year, with an annual commitment, for access to Photoshop CC. This offer is good until July 31, 2013. The regular yearly cost for a single program is $19.99 per month with an annual commitment, or $29.99 per month on a month-by-month. You are still limited to installation on two computers, but with the CC, one can be a Mac and one Windows.With a yearly commitment you must still “validate” the program when connected to the internet at least once every 99 or 189 days (Adobe is clearing this up at the moment). This validation can be done over dial-up, tethered, or connected to a mobile device, or at a wireless access point such as a coffee shop.

For access to all CC applications, the cost for existing CS3 to CS5.5 registered users of any individual program or the entire Suite is $29.95 per month and CS6 users for $19.99 per month, both with an annual commitment for the first year. This pricing is also available for a limited time, presumably until July 31, 2013, although that date has not been publicly announced. Regular price of the full CC subscription is $49.99 per month with an annual commitment, or $74.99 per month on a month-by-month basis.

Do you have a box to show for it? No. Are you leasing the software? Yes. Is this different than previous versions? Only in that if the lease expires, you no longer have access to the software. If you read the user agreement of your previous Photoshop software before you clicked “Accept”, you know you were leasing that also. For users who leased a Photoshop CS6 boxed version or who download the program, you have what Adobe is calling a “perpetual license”. Adobe promises support of Photoshop CS6 for at least the next major operating system (OS) upgrade by Apple and Microsoft, and further until CS6 would need to be rewritten due to OS changes. New features will not be added, but bugs will be fixed, and presumably Camera Raw will be updated periodically.

What are the advantages of signing up for the CC to Photoshop users? First is access to Photoshop CC. See Adobe's Photoshop CC Features page for details on the new additions to see if this is meaningful to you, and look for an upcoming hands-on review of the new features in Professional Photographer. Then there is future access to Photoshop CC updates. Adobe announced some tantalizing “sneak peeks” from Adobe Labs at Adobe MAX in May, but time will tell if they are relevant to your work. Adobe promises future updates, but without a set schedule, meaning you won't have to wait 15 months to get new features as you did with the old model.

Next is access to Bridge CC. Bridge as we have known it is no longer shipped as a part of Photoshop CC. Bridge CC is now a free download available with CC membership. At present, the Output Module has been stripped from Bridge CC, but it, too, may be available as a separate download from the CC. MiniBridge is shipped with Photoshop CC, but requires Bridge CC to function.

CC members also gain 2 to 20 GB of storage as stated previously. The CC also allows you to synchronize your preferences across multiple computers and share your images on multiple devices, or with clients, or to collaborate on projects. There is also a free membership in Behance ProSite (about which I am clueless) that is normally $99 per year. And you no longer need to worry about serial numbers or activation, and you can reset your two activations to other computers without contacting customer support.

What happens if you join the CC, use Photoshop and Bridge CC and the new features in Camera Raw for projects, and then decide to let your subscription lapse at some point and revert to an earlier version of Photoshop? If you saved your images as flattened TIFF files, they will open in any version of Photoshop, including 1.0, that supports the bit depth of your flattened file. If your images are saved as PSD or layered TIFF files, you will lose access to any features added since the older version of Photoshop to which you have reverted. This is no different than the situation at present if you try to open a CS6 PSD  in CS5 with features that were added in CS6.

Will I join the CC? I shot film and resisted digital capture for as long as I could. Now innovations brought on by digital photography such as HDR, focus stacking, retouching, and compositing are profit centers for my business. And I can still shoot film for personal work whenever I desire.

Photographers, myself included, rarely welcome change, and like most humans fear the unknown. But we are creative—we learn to use new tools and techniques and turn them to our advantage, and we quickly adapt to changing situations. While Adobe will be fine-tuning the Creative Cloud for months or even years, it is here to stay. All of the wind in the photo blogs will not blow it away. Adobe claims 2.5 million CC subscribers in the 10 months the Cloud has existed, and it is clear to me that Adobe is honestly not interested in users who are reluctant to upgrade from earlier Photoshop releases. Adobe is interested in the revenue stream from the 2.5M CC members and in convincing you that is a good idea for you to join them. Me? I will take advantage of the $19.99 per month pricing for CS6 users for the entire CC suite of programs for a year and see what happens. If Adobe sticks to its word and updates Photoshop CC, Adobe Raw, and Bridge CC with features I can use, I’m in. If not, I’ve spent about the same as the cost of upgrading from Photoshop CS5 to CS6, and far less than starting with a new lease of a boxed version. I still have CS6 on a DVD.

Many world-class wedding photographers can cover most of a wedding using a 70-200mm lens. With the versatility of its focal range and the appealing compression it displays at longer working distances, it’s a champion lens in the photographers’ arsenal. As a family photographer, I took a cue from the wedding pros a few years ago and began to use the 70-200mm to transform my children’s portrait work. It offered a practical advantage to capturing little clients on the move. I simply loved the results. It’s quickly become my favorite lens for family and editorial shoots.

I typically work with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L lens. Given the opportunity to test Tamron’s 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD zoom lens, I was naturally curious.

I first put the Tamron to the test at a wedding venue in our brutal Northeast winter. I had arrived an hour early and was doing some leisurely outdoor detail shots, so I gave it a try. It may have been the frigid temperatures, or a malfunction with the unit itself, but the shutter kept freezing in place. Frustrated, I gave up and continued on with my day. I contacted Tamron, who courteously and rapidly replaced my unit with another new lens unit.

For many photographers, that first test may have been a deal-breaker. I’m thankful I did not retire my efforts then. I brought the replacement Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC Telephoto Zoom unit with me— again a blustery winter evening at dusk—to photograph an editorial-style children’s fashion session. I was astounded by this lens, primarily by its new VC (Vibration Compensation) feature and beautiful compression.

Photographing an active child in waning light conditions, I was thrilled with the capabilities it offered. If, like me, you’re not bound to a tripod, you generally need to have a very steady hand below a shutter speed of 1/60 second. Tamron’s new and improved Vibration Compensation functionality adds an impressive solution. I was able to shoot as low as 1/15 with acceptably crisp results on low-lit portraits. Personally, I have never achieved this before in a handheld setting.

This image was captured handheld, exposed for 1/15 second at f/11, ISO 100, to test the Tamron lens's vibration compensation. 

Moving about our old-fashioned gas station location, I observed that while some of the scenery worked as shabby-chic for my purposes, much of it did not. Lens compression was key here. The Tamron glass at 200mm produces a beautiful, creamy bokeh and maintains a deliciously sharp foreground for stunning portraits and crisp clothing detail. 

At 200mm, the not-so-attractive background fades away
into a creamy blur while the foreground stays vividly sharp.

I also tested the Tamron 70-200mm more intimately as a portrait lens and was very happy with the results. In this charming image of a newborn baby and his older sister, exposed for 1/200 second at f/2.8, it rivals the shots I’d typically achieve with my wide-open 50mm and 85mm prime lenses. Its performance has changed my former assumptions about third-party lenses.

With its quick and nimble Ultrasonic Silent Drive (USD), its autofocusing capability was entirely accurate. It's smaller and lighter than the competition but still a heavy lens—that is the nature of f/2.8 70-200mm category. It ships with a flower-shaped lens hood, which helps mitigate vignetting at wide focal lengths. Without a lens hood, there were no issues until some of my lower-key shots where I noticed approximately a quarter- to a half-stop of vignetting, which was easily remedied in Lightroom. (I tend to process with vignettes anyway.)

The Tamron 70-200mm is slightly shorter than the comparable Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS models, and it has a solid build. As with other Tamron lenses I’ve used, I prefer its rubberized focus ring, which enables smooth and effortless manual focusing. It’s important to note that the zoom ring is further from the camera body than Canon or Nikkor lenses, which I find helpful, but Canon or Nikon lens users may need some time to get accustomed to that. The lens also features four low-dispersion elements to combat chromatic aberration.

Priced at $1,499 and covered with a 6-year manufacturer warranty, this lens gives a lot of bang for the buck. The optical quality is very good for the price and can stand up to its competition in a variety of situations. The question remains if you are ready to invest in its pricier competitors – the Canon’s 70-200mm f2.8L IS II ($2,199, with a 1 year warranty) or Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II ($2,096 with a 5 year warranty). The Tamron stands as a solid, economical lens that won’t disappoint.

If the goal of a professional portrait is to portray the subject in a realistic yet somewhat idealized manner, post-production provides the finishing touch to a properly lit portrait. This tutorial shows you just a few simple Photoshop steps that take a solid photograph and elevate it to a pleasing portrait. While I use particular plug-ins in my workflow, the general treatment can be accomplished in Photoshop itself.

Subtle retouching enhances your client’s portrait without taking away character or completely shattering a semblance of reality. [Click for larger view.] ©Mark Levesque

My goal is always to accomplish as much as possible in camera, providing the best possible image to begin with. In this portrait I started processing with just a few minor adjustments to the white balance, vibrance, and saturation in Lightroom.

Next, open the portrait in Photoshop. In general, I try to work as non-destructively as possible. I've done this enough times that I'm comfortable working on the background layer with a copy of the original file safely stored away. Alternately, you can make a copy of your background layer (cmd/ctrl + J), turn off the background layer and begin your work on the copied layer. 

First I eliminate distractions such as stray hairs, dust specks, and blemishes. Set the spot removal brush to a size slightly larger than the spot you're modifying and apply. Try Content-Aware mode first, and if that introduces artifacts, try Proximity Match.  

Once the obvious distractions have been eliminated, I work around the eyes. Whether we are concerned with indications of aging or simply minimizing natural darkness under the eyes, the remedy is the same: Replace the affected areas with pixels from elsewhere on the face that do not have the issues. Depending on the image and what areas are available, I use either the Healing Brush or the Patch Tool. In either case, you'll want to reduce the effect by fading the result. Immediately after painting a stroke with the healing brush, press shift + cmd/ctrl + F to bring up the fade dialogue. Here I fade the result to 55%. This reduces creases in the skin without obliterating them completely, for a more natural look.

Once the wrinkles have been reduced sufficiently we will examine the teeth. Many photographers like a slightly warm white balance to give a healthy color to the skin tones. Warming the skin tones may exacerbate the yellowing of teeth. To address this issue, use the lasso tool to make a selection around the teeth. It’s OK to go a little bit into the lips as they are rarely affected by the adjustment we are about to make. Create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer. Select yellows as the targeted color range and reduce the saturation. This will remove the yellow from the teeth, but they may simply look gray. To reduce the gray, increase the brightness of the yellows by moving the slider to the right.

If the teeth were really yellow, you can simply stack on another adjustment layer by dragging the hue/saturation adjustment layer to the new layer icon. This doubles the strength of the adjustment. If this turns out to be too much, dial it back by reducing the opacity of the layer. When you are satisfied with the result, flatten the image. You now have your base layer.

The next step is to duplicate the background layer twice (cmd/ctrl + J). Double-click on the top layer and change the name to portraiture. Double click on the middle layer, and change it to sharpening. Turn off the visibility of the top layer, select the middle layer, and change the blending mode to luminosity. We will be sharpening this layer, and putting it in luminosity mode will prevent the sharpening process from introducing any color shifts. I use the Nik Sharpener Pro plug-in for this, but Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen in Photoshop will provide a similar effect. The idea here is to sharpen the image to counteract the softening created when the light passed through the low-pass filter in the camera. Don’t overdo it.

Now we will soften the skin. Turn the visibility of the top layer back on, and select it in the layers palette. I use the Imagenomic Portraiture 2 plug-in. It does a nice job of softening the skin while maintaining some of the skin’s texture. Portraiture allows you to indicate what the flesh tones are by sampling within the image, and will show you what tones will be targeted by the filter. The settings shown here will usually produce a little more softening than needed, but we’ll take care of that.

Once the filter has run, I mask off the result by adding a layer mask and painting in with a soft edged black brush. Set the brush to 45 to 50% opacity so the masking effect is not overly harsh, and so that you can make subtle increases in the masking with multiple strokes. Mask off the portraiture layer over the eyes, brows, lips, hair, and anything else that you want to stay sharp. To complete the effect, dial down the opacity of the portraiture layer until the skin looks great, but real. You can expect to find the right balance in the 60 to 80% opacity range depending on the strength of the filter’s effects in any particular image and on your taste.

For the final touches I create two curves adjustment layers for non-destructive dodging and burning. First, create a new curves adjustment layer, and pull the curve down about 30 points. Label this layer Darken, and type cmd/ctrl + I to fill the layer mask with black, effectively hiding the effect of the adjustment. Now create another curves adjustment layer and pull the curve up about 30 points or so. Label this one Lighten, and fill its mask with black as well.

Now we can use a soft-edged brush to selectively lighten and darken specific areas of the portrait to subtly complete the enhancement. Set the brush opacity to 40 to 50%, and select white as the color to paint, then carefully paint a half moon shape in the irises of the eyes opposite from the catchlights. Your brush size should be smaller than the width of the iris. If there are any additional areas where you would like to lighten the image, paint with an appropriately sized brush. This is a pretty subtle change, and you may need to toggle the visibility of the adjustment layer to see if you are really doing anything. Once you've finished lightening, select the Darken layer and paint anywhere you would like to darken the image. For example, you might want to use a large brush and add a bit of vignette. Finally, save your master file.

With these techniques you should be able to provide your clients with the portraits that exceed their expectations.

In a previous article—“Park it right here,” Professional Photographer, February 2013—I discussed how to set up a portable background in a typical residential garage and rotate it for various lighting effects using the open garage door as your main. But garages offer more than a large light source and a place to put a background. They offer a wealth of fun stuff to use for themes and backgrounds, such as tires, tools, sports equipment, vehicles, walls, windows, and random things that can inspire you in ways you’d never expect.

You’re already familiar with the lighting techniques I use in garages, so let’s apply that skill with some real backgrounds.

In the first image, I used an open door as the sole source of main light. No other light control devices were needed. My back was to the open garage door. This light can be a bit flat, but sometimes low-contrast light is perfect for the result I want. I added a slight texture to the image to enhance the “oldness” feeling. This image was done in 2006, and textures were more in vogue at that time. But as long as the technique is done appropriately, without drawing attention to itself, enhancements should be able to stand the test of time.

The next image was lit from the open garage door, but with the door at a 90-degree angle to my camera. This causes more contrast and “modeling.” I had the subject turn his head toward the light to avoid a shadow problem on his face. The refrigerator suggested a nostalgic theme, and I noticed in their house that they had an old Coke bottle to use as another prop.

The next photo was set deeper in the garage, which produces a bit more specularity in reflections, but it's still flat, which can be an interesting combination. Because of the theme, I gave it some edginess with Nik’s Tonal contrast and reduced the saturation to complete the old, gritty feel. But with the addition of an accent or separation light that was caused by a window. It’s important to recognize and properly utilize existing light sources.

I love walking into a situation not having a clue what to do, and discovering buried treasure. At one location there was some construction materials were leaning against the wall, but I spotted some peeling drywall behind it and thought it might offer an interesting background. I moved it, and liked it, so I asked the senior to wear something white. All she had that was white was a robe, but it was perfect. Seniors have lots of great clothing … just not always what you might have had in mind. Those surprises and tangents are what makes working at their homes a treat. I wanted to accentuate the details, so I chose LucisArt Sculpture, but still wanted softness on her skin and used Imagenomic Portraiture.

Let’s turn our attention to secondary lighting. I created the next image on film in 1998. I want to point that out because good lighting, composition, and quality don’t change. Clothing or hair styles may, but an image should not be dated by a photography fad. There were two open doors contributing light for this image … the main to my left and the accent to my right. I placed her in between them, allowing the right garage door’s light to accent her figure.

Let’s shift our attention and point of view to using an open door or window from the side. There was skylight and sunlight coming through a window to our left in photo below. Sunlight striking the wood floor reflected back up to the shadow side of the young man’s face, giving me a more unconventional result.

It's a good idea to walk around our original setup to look for other viewpoints and options. Other vantage points can give us a different style to the lighting, pose, and composition.

Part of the process of working on location is to not only create images in a proactive way, but also to be open to inspiration that will let you see possibilities in a reactive way. If all we do is go in with preconceived ideas, we’ll produce images that are simply repeats of what we’ve done before. The beauty of working in new places with every session is the endless stream of discovery.

The capture below happened because I saw the shadows on the wall from the stairway. I asked the senior to find a simple shirt that he’d use to work on a car. The open garage door from the right provided the main light, and the accent light was from a window on our left.

Garages offer a wealth of “stuff” to use, but the lighting where that stuff is isn’t always ideal. I use many different kinds of lighting for my senior portraits because throughout a session, there are many different challenges to overcome. For Image 9, it was easy enough to reflect the light coming through a window behind him onto his face using the mirror side of my Fuzzyflector. Converting the image to brown tone and adding a bit of Nik Tonal Contrast, combined with the low light direction, gave me the tough look the image suggested.

I don’t always use a low reflector as a main light, as in the previous two examples. Here I used it for fill light (below). A window to my right already provided a good main light, in a split light pattern. Since that leaves the other side of the face in shadow, we can fill it with any kind of light we like. I happen to like a low reflector for that touch of drama. I loved the old tools in that workshop/garage.

Garages are usually filled with not only tools and clutter, but also vehicles. When it’s something a bit more interesting than a minivan (sorry, minivan owners), I like to incorporate it if possible. This subject's dad’s Harley definitely qualified. I reflected the open garage door light with my Fuzzyflector for the two images images below. I thought some smoke below the Harley might be fun, so I used a bug sprayer with fog fluid in it for the second image. Even though there’s a trigger to send fog, this kind of fog machine sprays pretty much when it wants to and longer than you want to! I use a battery-operated leaf blower to clear the fog between shots when there isn’t enough of a breeze already.

Clients often ask if they need to move their vehicles out of the garage for the session, but I usually decline because I can work the light better that way. I use all kinds of lighting techniques, depending on whatever gets the job done. Sunlight through an open window gave me plenty of light for my subject, below, but he needed sunglasses to avoid squinting. The back of the Corvette was in deep shadow. I wanted more definition to show it’s a car, so I fired a small strobe in Auto. I usually start in auto eTTL, and if I need to make change, I will. The second photo shows the effect of that additional flash. 

The next two images were done later in the day, without a lot of ambient light. As seen in the pre-lit image below, there isn’t anything about the light that’s good for portraiture.

I set up a main light, a Canon 580 EXII with a Larson 22 inch soft box. I also added an accent light with another canon 580 EXII without any light modifier. The accent light touched her cheek and lit the side of the old Stingray. Tonal contrast and some Photoshopped grease on her face, arm, and leg completed the story. 

This image with the bike and pink umbrella was done in a garage, not a high key studio. As shown in the setup photo, I used a main flash, fill reflectors and two background lights to evenly light the white drywall. Why the umbrella? I don’t know! I guess because the colors matched.

We can easily gel small strobes for creative color. Just don’t illuminate the surface you want to gel with the main light. The first image below shows where I started, using a strobe behind her to gently light the drywall. But because the jukebox suggests a more neon feel, I wanted more color. I moved my main light more to the side so the jukebox would shield the drywall from the main light, and I put a blue gel on the background strobe.

We can experience a fun color shift when using tungsten light in an environment where there is some neutral ambient light. The first photo shows the traditional capture that I started with, but I was bored with all the beige and wanted to try something else. I grabbed my tungsten spotlight and lit her face. Partially compensating for that warm color means that any ambient light will shift toward blue. You can also create this effect by placing a gel on an LED main light. Try different colors, but be sure to start with a gray balanced image to make your life easier in post production.

Most important, have fun discovering the endless potential of working in garages.