Author: SiobhanKyle

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Beginner Photography: Still Life

YOU GUYS, photography is hard. This subject broke me. We don’t have a live show this week to base my blog off of, so I decided to do something “easy”, still life. Here’s a great video Chelsea made to teach you the basics:

I was sick this weekend and leaving the house was an impossibility, so I thought “hey, I have stuff! I can just do a still life!” But no. I think this project broke me.

We have no shortage of interesting looking objects in my house, and a ton that are meaningful, so that part didn’t seem so hard. What was hard was finding a backdrop and lighting. First I tried putting everything on a leather chair. But nope! Everything was slanted and cramped. 

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Dark! Cramped!

 

Then I put everything on my dining room table, but that’s just silly because the background is a wall or my kid’s toys or the kitchen.

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No, Siobhan. Why? So dark. Such hard overhead light.

 

Then, in a last ditch effort I used by bedroom rug, with a duvet as the backdrop. The lighting was better, natural light off to the left, dim lamp to the right, but the backdrop became the bane of my existence. It was so wrinkly. SO WRINKLY. I swapped out some of my original objects to a few that wouldn’t swallow the light (that dark wood and dark metal weren’t doing me any favors) and added some flowers and feathers to add a leading line back to the globe. But then I spent well over an hour trying to blur/smooth/blend the background so that it wouldn’t look so distractingly wrinkled. To no avail. So here, friends, is me giving up:

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I just… ugh. I can’t even.

So there you have it: some old dirty stuff that represents my family? I’m sorry guys. Oof.

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Live Show Recap: Adventure!

Hey ya’ll! We looked at your adventure photos this week which was not nearly as popular as landscapes.

Folks: don’t somehow acquire Tony or Chelsea’s phone number and call or text them about photography. That’s terrifying.

We don’t have a live show next week, but the week after, September 15th will be on car photography with a guest.

SDP now has closed captioning on the videos, so if that’s something you need, there you go!

Some photo news:

  • Instagram now lets you zoom! Which isn’t great.
  • submit your “Stop It!” photos to us at sdp.io/stopit. We’ll make fun of your worst or most cliche photos.

“Bokeh that pepperoni.”

Let’s get into some Chit-Chat, Chelsea’s favorite segment where people say mean/weird/funny things to us and we give them positive reinforcement for some reason:

  • Tony should be the president because he’s nice
  • Annie Leibovitz, like Harry Potter, lived in a closet
  • this just in: men criticize talented women
  • Tony’s goatee makes him look like a crazy jazz musician
  • Smaakjeks is our favorite commenter
  • Also this just in: Tony is chill “I’ve never seen people rally so well to bust someone’s balls”

What should T&C do a video on with Chris and Jordan from The Camera Store TV? Give us suggestions. Chelsea’s is knife fight. “Canadian, too nice, learn to sharper a tooth brush.” “Cut me with your apologies.”

Ok, let’s look at some of your adventure photos! I’ll highlight some of our favorites:

  • “that’s the appropriate dog” “yeah, like if you bring a wiener dog to the top of a mountain, you’re out. Thumbs down.”
  • “oh no, this is a danger“
  • “was this taken by the front row of oxen?”
  • beach camping
  • “this is actually the devil“

Tony pauses to make everyone upset. He’s sciencing. He’s also B.F. Skinner’s kid.

  • efficient vacuuming
  • dirt run
  • flying kid
  • base jumper. Naturally, Justin knows what it stands for off the top of his head.
  • winner of the night! Cave diving.
  • lovely B&W
  • “I free dive now, wrestle a shark while I’m down there, get the bends eight times.”
  • “woah, this baby’s an adventure“
  • Krampus tradition “this is a true adventure, when your town dresses up like brooms.”
  • through the ice
  • poor bull

Over to me for some of your comments, questions, etc:

  • sun flare was real, diver was underwater

Now to a portfolio! Skip the landing page, put as much as you can on the front page. Ditch the watermarks, they don’t work. Someone called Annie a “rake.” “Is that a bad thing? Rakes have only ever been good to me.” Back to the portfolio. Pare down your images in the music section, focus your portfolio on what you’re trying to sell. Pick all your best photos and put them on the main page.

Back to me for your questions:

  • how can you add adventure to your photos if you live in a flat, boring place? Add an exciting element! Boring can be a good backdrop.
  • can you use a studio umbrella as a scrim? Yup!
  • setting the white point on photos; it can get too bright, should you sacrifice contrast? Depends on the image. You only need a tiny amount of black point and white point.

Let’s get back to photos! Tony was editing some while I asked questions:

Back over to me for some viewer questions:

  • the hay people are from Krampus celebration! They’re called Schab and they are holding whips
  • Chelsea seems to have made up a holiday tradition of beating your parents awake
  • Hubble space telescope focal length is insane
  • Photokina meet-up!

Bonus portfolio, ’cause all the cute animals.

Pre-announcement announcement! T&C are doing a photo trip to Thailand and you can join them! Stay tuned for info.

Tony flipped through the remained of your photos and highlighted a few:

  • down the barrel
  • train baby
  • swing chairs
  • pink sunrise
  • rodeo
  • desert sky
  • dunes
  • parasailing
  • “that seems unsafe” “they love hugs though” “no, that’s really not right”
  • was this one meant for Stop It? “I want this airbrushed on the side of my van.”
  • “horse in a shirt, what’s more adventurous than that? Dude’s fully dressed.”

And we made it through them all! (Except for the ones I didn’t let through.)

We’ll be back in two weeks looking at your car photos! 

If you were wondering, after the show ends and you hear Chelsea chastise Tony, it’s because of him breathing on the lens.

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Beginner Photography: Adventure

Hey guys! The topic for this weeks upcoming live show is “Adventure,” which is a pretty broad topic. I was trying to think of what I could shoot this week to fit the theme, as I don’t get a whole lot of adventure in my day-to-day life. It just so happened that we were headed to my brother-in-laws for a family party over the weekend and my focus changed. Instead of shooting something adventurous for me, I got to shoot the adventure of being children.

I am lucky to have an adorable child and equally adorable nieces and nephews. They spent the day splashing in kiddie pools, sliding down plastic slides and (my daughter’s favorite) jumping in a bouncy house.

While I did just borrow a cute little Samsung WB1100F from my stepdaughter, I hadn’t thought to bring it with me. So as always, these are shot on my Samsung Note 5 smartphone.

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The lighting and the color of this photo just screamed “summer” to me

 

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The movement and expressions make this one a favorite.

 

final-175039And another of this cool baby in B&W to focus the image on her and not the distracting, bright pool in the back. 

 

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The backlighting caused me to lose some detail in their faces, but I dodged them a bit to make up for it.

 

I spent some time with these images in Lightroom and Photoshop, adjusting the exposure, cropping and straightening. I feel good about these. While the detail isn’t there, the colors, lighting and action make up for it. I think I captured the mood and joy of the scenes, which is what I hope for!

What would you do differently? How can I improve? Comment down below!

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Live Show Recap: Landscape

Holy hell you guys, this episode was bonkers. Jet-lagged Chelsea and weirdly tan Tony are on point. We had a record number of live viewers which led to a horrific live chat and so many photo submissions we crashed the site. All in all it was a blast.

Chelsea knows world politics, and the president of Kazakhstan is Subaru.

We start the show off with Chit-Chat, our favorite segment where we highlight the best and worst comments we get on our YouTube channel throughout the week.

  • Tony is chill af
  • Chelsea has nice front hair
  • no news here. Oh, except the 5D Mark IV, the worst kept secret in photography.

T&C talk about the 5D Mark IV and what cameras they brought to Ireland. “I really hope I don’t have a calendar when I’m dead.”

Ok, we get into your pictures here:

  • “what is that? Is that the little animal from the original Battlestar Galactica?” “Is that a baby holding a monkey?”
  • “uh oh, do you see why there’s only one set of tracks? It’s cause Jesus carried him.”
  • lovely reflection
  • rowers “they’re actually trying to row away from each other. But they’re not bright!”
  • duuuucks on the water. Fire in the sky.
  • edge of the earth
  • crepuscular rays
  • “let’s go on, this is crap“
  • barbed wire
  • purples
  • “simple, nice, makes me want to go golfing“
  • explain these horse heads to me

Over to me for your questions!

  • where in Ireland were you? Dead guy in a gutter with a Guinness can in his hand. “Welcome to Ireland!””Home of the dead guy.”
  •  tips or tricks to make a good image with bad light? Focus on composition, processing, HDR.
  • how often do you visit a location before you get your shot? Depends!

Ok, let’s look at a portfolio. Fix your layout! Pare down some images.

Now another one! More tiny dog, less everything else. Less sub-menus, pare it down to professional menus. “Get rid of that guest book because it’s not 1998 anymore.”

Back over to me because Chelsea loves to hear my voice. Oh, and your questions.

  • how do you wind down? Cry, eat too much. Make a list to make things more manageable, make a schedule or routine. Take a bike ride, play video games, gym, sports.
  • how to fix a dark sky when you have a complicated horizon? Graduated filter! But if not that, what? Nope, just that. The more natural the better.
  • how to shoot in a dark space indoors? Use a fast prime lens and a camera that does well with high ISO. Flash could be horrible in a dark space like that.

Back to photos:

Over to me for some more questions:

  • call me the troll killer. “Don’t give the trolls movie recommendations!”
  • best for depth of field? Small aperture or hyperfocal? sdp.io/fstop for more info.
  • 12 v 14 bit raw files? No one cares.
  • what do you listen to when you edit? Chelsea: Podcasts, Kendrick Lamar, classical. Tony: Marina and the Diamonds, Tov Lo. Judge John Hodgman for both.
  • words for bangs? So many penis words.

A few more photos before we head out (sorry for the keyboard banging, I forgot to mute myself):

Aaaand here is where the show falls apart in the best way. “How do you stay married to me, I look ridiculous.” “I love you so much, you’re so brown.”

“I can’t stop laughing. You look like a sausage.”

And there we have it, folks. Next week we’ll be reviewing your “Adventure” photos! So go out and shoot something fun. If you didn’t know, I’ve been blogging each week as I learn photography, and trying to shoot for each live show subject. So learn along with me!

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Beginner Photography: Landscapes

Phew. Guys, landscapes. I can tell you right now that this is not my bag, for a number of reasons. 1) I live in Philadelphia. There are very few landscapes that won’t include people, cars, or trash. 2) I find landscapes boring (not yours! Yours are great) and 3) my camera phone is not made for them. All that to say, this week feels like an epic failure.

To make compelling landscapes you should have most of these things: large depth of field, interesting foreground or background, a focal point, interesting light, and leading lines. Since I have no control of my camera settings with my phone, I couldn’t control my depth of field or shutter speed, so all I could really do was with my composition.

 

I walked my dog, Hungry, earlier in the week and got a decent shot of my favorite block in the city.

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Nice light and colors during sunset, leading lines.

A few days later I got my family to come out with me to Belmont Plateau, where you can see the city skyline. Turns out my camera phone doesn’t do too well with distance. Or detail. 

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This is indeed a cityscape, but man is it boring.

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I tried to add a bit more interest by capturing my running daughter in the foreground.

I would have been better off waiting for sunset so I could have gotten some better light and more interesting color to the photos. As they are they seem very flat and boring. Next time I think I’ll go shoot some abandoned buildings. This city has a lot of character which just isn’t captured from a distance.

I attempted to stack a bunch of the images using Tony’s method in this video, but even that couldn’t seem to pull enough data from my wimpy camera phone to make any difference.

Do yourselves a favor and learn from Tony and Chelsea here. 

And please, PLEASE tell me what I could have done to make these images interesting!

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Beginner Photography: Food

Hey guys! This week was a bit tough for me since we don’t have a live show coming up to base my project off of. But at the very last minute I got a suggestion from Chelsea to do food. We’ve done a few live shows on the topic, which you can see here and here as well as the awesome fast food challenge video with Toby and Christina here. So I used those as my basis for some quick food shots.

Remember, I’m using my Android phone for these shots, so I have no control over my settings. Luckily I’ll be getting a real camera soon, so I’ll eventually revisit these subjects to see how my technique and my gear have improved!

Luckily my husband is the cook in the house, so I just asked him to make dinner extra pretty. We were having kielbasa with french fries and salad. Not the most upscale of meals to capture, but colorful and delicious none the less.

First I decided to take a simple still life of a clementine on a plate. Our dishes are turquoise, so I thought it would be a nice complementary color scheme.

finalornage-2I used some hard natural light to get a dramatic shadow and some highlights on the skin.

Next up was dinner. 

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The hard, overhead lighting was too hard. While the specular highlights are good, the reflections on the plate and the shadows are unappealing.

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The close-up works a bit better. The kielbasa is in focus, the specular highlights are appealing, and look at those grill marks!

Now for dessert. Yogurt, berries and a fresh sprig of mint from the garden.

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The setting wasn’t ideal, so I went for a closeup with a dutch tilt, filling the frame. The highlights and the color are pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Welp, I did my best and I ate well, that’s all you can ask for, really. Please, comment below and tell me what I could have done better. How would you have shot these dishes?

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Live Show Recap: Portraits with Matt Granger

Guys! We had Matt Granger Skyped into the show this week and it was a blast. We review your portraits and we got some gems!

Matt is doing a trip to Bhutan which he tells us about here.

NO SHOW NEXT WEEK! Remember and don’t be disappointed. But in two weeks we’ll be looking at your landscapes.

We start the show with Chit-Chat, everyone’s favorite segment where we talk about mean/funny/weird things that people say to us on YouTube.

  • Nkeyah and David, hittin’ on Tony
  • if you missed it, Nigel Barker was on a bonus live show this week! Today is the last day to submit to sdp.io/top to compete on Nigel’s new show, Top Photographer.
  • moon troof. “oh, you speak maniac”
  • erratically flying head
  • “this guy spends his days listening to mowers.” TLC “Scrubs” sing-off!
  • Home Alone-ing

Okay, we start looking at your portraits here. Please forgive the crazy echo on Matt, we get it fixed around 18 minutes:

  • toilet pose
  • first pick of the day
  • “this baby is watching the news, and bad things are happening in the world”
  • “this baby is having feelings”
  • balloon fro
  •  “Matt, how’d this person get a picture of you?” “people don’t realize how much they hate Christmas.”
  • “that baby has her Phd in posing” “do you think that baby’s gonna kill him after?”
  • first portrait attempt, first pick!
  • “it’s like when someone points out how you walk and then you forget how to do it”
  • great mood, great lines

Over to me for some questions for the crew:

  • jack o’lantern camera?
  • how to get your model relaxed for a portrait? Weed. Jk, be set up totally beforehand, have inspiration photos and a run sheet prepared, etc.
  • Best portrait lenses for Nikon DX and for Canon EF? Depends on your setting says Matt. Tony loves the Sigma 50-100 f/1.8.

Now to a portfolio! Get a more professional portrait of yourself! Don’t include multiple shots from the same shoot. Your horror shots are great, you have good range of styles. Maybe change up your cover page.

T&C and Matt are meeting up in Germany at Photokina! You can meet up with them too.

Now back to portraits:

  • “she’s got the same bra as Tony”
  • great color
  • “Is that Obi Wan or Hasan in a bed sheet”
  • unconventional composition
  • “Matt, could we do some cosplay stuff? Like I dress up as Pikachu and you take pictures of me?”
  • so many good babies this episode
  • lovely B&W
  • “I feel like this guy’s my dad and we went out to lunch and I told him something that disappointed him”
  • they just tear into the styling of this shoot and it cracks me up. “She’s wearing so much but so little.” Also the birth of the phrase “American teeth.”
  • portrait winner for the night

Matt’s connection starts breaking up, and it’s hilarious. The show devolves from here.

  • lovely portrait by Andrew
  • “I feel like they just got their faces painted at a carnival.” “that’s what you feel like? What makes you feel that?”
  • tips on group portraits, make a pyramid
  • story in the sunglasses

Chelsea channels me for more questions:

  • Photokina plans?
  • comment on this image on the screen real quick, lovely
  • how to make a model look taller? Put her next to short people, build small props, put her next to an innaccurate ruler, platform shoes, corrective surgery.

Back to portraits:

Back to me:

  • maternity shoot tips? Keep it classy. Just don’t do weird stuff.
  • how to keep in fresh and not get burned out? Collaborate, be grateful that you’re paying the bills taking pictures, switch genres, shoot for yourself in between paid shoots.
  • tips on the meteor shower? Night photography tips!

Here’s Matt singing No Scrubs, the thing you never knew you didn’t want.

Sharky James who is great posted a photo on Twitter of him with TLC. They were my favorite group in 5th grade.

Chelsea wants to be thanked for being here. Thanks Chels!

 

So again, no show next week, but in two weeks tune in for Landscapes! Byyyyye.

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Beginner Photography: Portraits

Hello friends, here goes my beginner photography training, week two. This week I’m working on portraits in preparation for our live show on Thursday with special guest Matt Granger!

So I should point out (for the sake of my vanity) that I am shooting with my phone. I have no other camera at this time, so I can pretend that I am limited by my gear and that is the reason I cannot create beautiful works of art. Really what it means is I can’t do the amount of editing I would like to do to my images to make them presentable.

I shot some pictures of my five year old daughter, Eloise, and of my husband Eric. I have to say, Eric’s came out better than Eloise’s, if only because he knows how to sit still. I chose our ivy-covered stone wall in the back yard as the backdrop, as that is really the only good option. Not to mention the natural light. So I shot them on two separate days, but both coming up on the golden hour of the evening. 

Eloise is hard to photograph. She wiggles a lot, has no concept of smiling normally in photos, and hunches her shoulders like Lurch. But she’s adorable, so I still got a few shots that I can live with. Unfortunately the focusing on my phone camera is not the best, so who knows what part of the image it focused on.

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So, not great. Her hair is a bit of a mess, her dress is wrinkly, and I for sure missed focus on the eyes.

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A bit better. I got a real smile, but the previous errors are still there.

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This one I like just because it captures her spirit well. She’s a wild child and an animal lover. But the background is crowded and her dress is a mess.

Eric was easier to shoot, although he is terribly uncomfortable in front of the camera. I did some editing on my favorite photo of him, following the directions on how to add background blur in this tutorial. If I had more time, I’d do it to all of the shots I took. I might do some of Eloise’s later today.  Here’s the before and after:

 

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Before

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After

 

Isn’t he handsome? The differences are subtle, but I removed the yellow cord at the bottom left of the frame and added just a bit of background blur to make him stand out. I had tried to crop so that his face was in the right third of the frame, but it felt too cramped, I didn’t leave enough space to do it properly. 

So all in all I think the background and lighting worked well, they both have catch lights in their eyes, the light is soft and flattering. Unfortunately the focusing isn’t too precise and my tiniest model needs some styling and posing help. I have a feeling they are going to be forced to grow as models as I grow as a photographer. What tips would you give me that I can apply within my limited resources?

As always, feel free to learn along with me and share your progress. I post images on Instagram with the hashtag #stunnersoninsta as many of our viewers do!

To learn more about shooting portraits, here are some great free tutorials on shooting portraits and here are some on editing.

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Live Show Recap: Photoshop My Photo!

Live show recap is back! This week Tony and Chelsea tackled Photoshopping your photos. Like what you see? Pre-order our book on Photoshop while it’s still super cheap! 

Chelsea made me laugh uncontrollably more than once this episode. 

We start off with some news:

  • Canon’s stock closet at the Olympics is bonkers
  • Tony bought an old Nikon F on eBay after they talked about the history of Nikon on the podcast

Now for Chit-Chat! Chelsea’s favorite part of the show where we give undue attention to people who bad-mouth us on the internet! And Smaakjeks making great jokes. This week is all nice stuff though!

  • old time-y shit talking
  • Tony’s beautiful voice
  • poo audio
  • Tony predicting the future
  • being called badass mutha*******
  • Chelsea trying to back TheCameraStoreTV into saying they love her

Don’t rank us against our friends! 

Ok, we start working on your photos here. We don’t go through a ton because the process is a bit more labor intensive this week. But watch, you might learn something! I’ll highlight some of our favorites below:

  • a man and his dog in ‘Nam
  • baby bear! Duplicate it. Dent it’s head.
  • slug removal

Let’s go to me for some of your questions:

  • what to do in Photoshop versus Lightroom, what’s your workflow between the two? Basic editing in Lightroom first, more advanced, detailed editing in PS.
  • Tif files, what are they good for?
  • how to name your photo business and domain? I say use your name, carry business cards. Chelsea says use alliteration or rhyming to have a memorable name.

Let’s look at Abi’s portfolio! Lovely shots, just add some more info on your prints. She’s one of ours, Tony, you can’t have her.

Back into your photos:

Chelsea threatened to murder Tony when she’s sick up updating the books

  • so… Chelsea says this bird is poisonous and then goes into how she constantly explains to Tony the plot of Home Alone when he falls asleep during any show or movie. This is my favorite thing ever.
  • Chelsea shows you how to edit out logos for stock photography, lazily
  • “what is that liquid?” “the other one is clearly urine”
  • oof, portrait editing with dappled light

Back over to me for some questions:

  • shameless plug for my blog coming back! Follow me as I learn photography finally.
  • rumors about the upcoming 5D Mark IV? Nope!
  • upgrading wildlife gear? We dunno, tell us what you’ve got.
  • shooting portraits under heavy rain? Go inside. If not that, capture the movement of the rain and light it well, use waterproof makeup, style for the weather. Cover your camera, obvs. Use storytelling.
  • next week! Matt Granger will be on the show reviewing portraits. Also, you can catch T&C at Photokina next month!

Tony jumps in with an edit of our nation’s phallus.

  • “your feet are too big, bird!
  • “Tony, it’s us!”
  • lovely shot, odd colors

Let’s talk about tablets! Chelsea loves her Wacom, Tony hates editing on tablets, he’s a mouse man. “I can do anything with a mouse, I’m a mouse master.”

Let’s get another question and comment from our friend Kyle Wolfe before we head out:

  • could you average multiple photos to even out camera shake? No, but good idea!
  • use a specific link on your business card that shows you how many people access your site from the cards directly! Or a QR code. You can use a site like bit.ly.

 

That’s all, folks! Join us next week with Matt Granger to review your portraits! And look out for my blog on portraits this Thursday. 

 

 

 

 

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Beginner Photography: Abstract

I’m back! For those of you who don’t know me (impossible!) I do customer support, video editing, and moderate the comments on TCLive for Northrup Photography. What I am not is a photographer. I’ve always loved photography, and all art, but haven’t had the drive to learn. You’d think working for Tony and Chelsea for the past year and a half would get me moving, but work can get in the way of art if you let it. Turns out I learn best with a task to complete, so I’m going to write this blog one day a week so that I can learn photography and hopefully some of you can learn along with me! I’ll be hashtagging some of my photos on Instagram (@SiobhanKyle) and using the hashtag #StunnersOnInsta to show my progress. I encourage you to do the same! There are tons of great photos on there already from our YouTube community.

This week I took inspiration from our live show and decided to work on some abstract shots in my house and on the street. I can’t say they were totally successful, but it was a fun challenge. Abstract art is actually one of my favorite genres. I love looking at things in a new way and finding the beauty in things that are often overlooked. A successful abstract can make everyday objects look otherworldly. It’s a method of capturing an object out of context or zooming in and framing an object in a way that makes it unrecognizable. You can do this in a few ways:

Zoom in

20160801_182319_002This view of an overhead light is not what you generally see when you walk into the dining room. But by getting directly underneath it and zooming in, cutting into the edges, you get an unusual take on a simple object.

Play with shapes


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Look for interesting angles, leading lines or patterns. This view of a skylight turned on its side made the image more interesting than if it were just square.



Use light and shadow

20160801_182726 Dramatic lighting adds visual interest by playing up contrast and texture.

 

 If all else fails, go black and white

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Black and white is always a great way to abstract your image and bring attention to shape and texture.

 

So those are my efforts. I know a lot can be done in post processing, but I’m not at that level yet. I did some color and saturation tweaks as well as some creative cropping and converting to black and white in Lightroom. What tips do you have for making abstract images?

 If you wan to learn more about making abstract photography, watch this video or check out our past live show on abstract photography here.