9/13/2012

Improving Texture and Lighting in Your Digital Photography

By Amy Renfrey


There is very much to find out in taking pictures. Not only do we require to master our digital camera but we must appreciate how lighting manifests as a photo. We need to realize how light works in photography for the reason that we can exercise this education to photograph beautiful images. Stunning images refers to clarity, depth, colour and tone.

A most ideal way to turn out to be expert in photography is to start photographing different textures. Types of textures may include timber, steel, foliage and brick. These things can really accentuate strength and an interesting light very rapidly and without difficulty. We can learn a lot from shooting these surfaces of different things. Once we get the true lighting to draw attention to these textures our images suddenly pick up and come to life. You can check these textures a variety of ways. I suggest shooting these appealing different textures with well-balanced light spread evenly across your photo. If you can't get well-balanced lighting then shadows may work to an advantage.

A very effective photo that has appealing textures are dead leaves drapped over a wooden exterior. You can stay until the sunlight has gone down in the sky to get some shadow areas below the leaves. You will find that your shadow will become part your placement of subjects within the photo. What this means is that shadows can work to your advantage.

A pastoral appearance and feel is a wonderful point to start. Taking photos of old timber fence posts with nails and old wires can certainly bring wood as a texture to life. You see what we want is make the wood and the nails look so they look authentic. In other words make it look powerful by increasing the depth of the photo. We would like the viewer to feel like they can reach out and feel the texture.

In order to create this reality in your photos you need to construct a small list of things to photograph. The fence line and rusty nails are a good starting point. You may also like to take photos of differences in textures such as metal and wood. A steel band wrapped over a wood fence can make for a wonderful picture. A distinction in textures such as this can be shot in an antique tone and monochrome for extra drama and interest. They can also be shot in a selection of other tones that you can invent yourself in Photoshop or Lightroom.

What is a tone? A tone relates to light and colour. Saturdated colour, deep tones mean that your image may have a lot of black and grey tone, shadowy yellow and dark orange to it. Light tones may mean that your photograph has lots of shades of pale shades. In rustic photography, where we want to photograph wonderful different textures, we often find that saturated tones are a factor.

Deep tones can accentuate the shadow. In order for your photographs to look like they have real live texture then we need to draw attention to the intensity and light range contained within your shot. You may decide on a deep or dark tone to give that nail more rust or that metallic band around the wood more brightness.

When we use more contrast in our rural photography we get a superior looking texture. This is since the contrast in the light brings up the detail of the surface of the textured subject. The lighting works to bring out the detail in the lighter parts and deepen the shadow in the dark areas.

A means to creating thriving textured subjects is to keep your composition uncomplicated. Natural textures, such as foliage and timber, work most ideal when there is nothing to muddle the scene. Simply shoot the main subject and make sure there are no distracting things in the environment or the forefront. Once you've taken this you can work to raise the contrast, perfect the light and intensify the tones. There is nothing more distracting than a messy photograph.

Old abandoned vehicles are an example of how you can create wonderful different textures in your photography. When my spouse and I were traveling to a country town we came across an old abandoned car. This vehicle was from either the 1940s or the Fifties. It appeared like it had been forgotten about for for years and years. As soon as I saw this car I started to be very enthusiastic. The second I saw it I knew I wanted a rustic looking photo.

I knew that the steel, rust and washed out paint would look completely fantastic in monochrome. Once I took a sequence of pictures of the old utility I then opened the photo in Lightroom. I boosted the whites and highlights, boosted the blacks, and experimented with the tone curve. What does this suggest? It simply states that I manipulated the tone of the shot to bring out the attractive factors of the car. I wanted to increase the illuiminent metal against a muted, natural background. Once you modify the lighting all of a sudden your different textures come alive.

Based on how you want your different textures to look, you can employ stark or filtered lighting. Filtered light is naturally best because it supplies us additional options in the long term. Bright light can produce highlights and shadows that put emphasis on contrast. This can actually work to your benefit.

Gentle light can work very well for different textures because it emphasizes the detail. it can give your texture a more three dimensional look. If you are taking photos of an old fence post then the lack of intense brightness will bring out the grains of the wood. You will get to see the patterns, lines and shapes of your surface a lot more in subdued light. In harsh bright sunlight you may lose these fine points completely.

If you want to capture superb different textures and not worry about the small features, then a country scene with excellent contrast may work beautifully. A fence line surrounded by dense grass can be a superb textured photograph to begin with. Once you angle the camera so that the fence line is leading away into the distance you not only have superb different textures but you have great composition.

There are a lot more things you can do to draw attention to your different textures. There is a mobile phone application identified as Instagram. It has just joined forces with Lightroom. This is a marvellous way to enhance our photos! Instagram is an application that generates vintage, sepia, black-and-white and the whole other assortment of tones for your photos.

Instagram gives you the variety of antique tones. In other words if you use an antique tone over your photo it looks like it was photographed in 1977. Once Instagram meets Lightroom, you have the option of producing a unique look and feel over your photos with rustic and interesting textures.

Instagram also supplies you the selection of unique borders. You can have a stark deep black border to accentuate the deep hues and tones in a photo of dried golden leaves. Or, you can have a supple white border to match the muted tones of a photo of a car park. Or you might have no border at all.

Remember that creating different textures is easy. Once you have photographed it then the pleasure begins. Make sure that you choose contrasting things like dead plants or metal. Shoot them at once. Then try turning the contrast and lighting of the image once you open it up in your favourite photo editing program.

I recommend that you let inspiration and curiosity be your guides. Open up your shot in your favourite editing program and try a variety of various things. Boost the contrast, decrease the yellow, reduce the blue, modify the white balance etc. These are just illustrations of things that I attempted when I was learning how to enhance my textures in my photos. I got to a place where I knew what I loved and designed many different alternatives for myself.

These various options I created gave my photos a look and feel that I cherished. Some were deeply saturated in deep yellows and warm tones. Some were a slight sepia, and some were a very high contrast in the black and white medium. These tones, applied over rustic subjects, made my textures look amazing. Rusty fences took on a strong presence. Shiny metal bands wound securely over wooden fence posts looked appealing and old. Hanging metal bells looked classic and ageless.

Just think about surface and daylight first. Then your editing comes afterward. Think about the light and how it interacts with your setting to emphasise physical surfaces. Think about how lighting behaves and makes things appear different at various times of the day. Photograph unique natural and man-made different textures together. This will let you to explore differences between light and dark contained within your textures. The examination of light will allow you to bring out the depth and the detail within the photograph. Then apply some simple photo editing. This will enable you to vary the tone. Fine tuning the colour and light gives you the opportunity to create some very inventive photographs.

This is an exercise in artistic pursuit. This is not about winning first place in a photo competition or being better than anyone else. This is about how this makes you feel. You can enlighten people later on but first learn to interpret your light on how it plays upon the textures in your surroundings. Once you've shot this you can capture extraordinary textured pictures. Have fun and happy shooting!




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