Related Posts

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  Gray Cards For Exposure and White Balance

  Everyone loves shortcuts, right?  Of course they do!  What kind of question is that?

  This is a quick tip that can help beginners get their feet under them and established photographers shave time off their workflow.

  A gray card.

  A lot of people have not even heard of a gray card, but it is a small investment that can save a lot of hassle.

  For the beginner, getting a gray card can teach how to see proper exposure and tones.  A bigger gray card tends to be best for this.  Kodak has an 8x10 gray card that is about $7.  Or there is the Lastolite fold up EZ-Balance gray card that is about $24.  The Kodak gray card works great for exposure, but won't be as useful when we talk about setting critical white balance later, so that is part of the reason to get the Lastolite.  

  

  This is the Lastolite EZ-Balance.

  So, what do you do to get your exposure with a gray card?  This will work best if you have your camera's metering mode set to SPOT metering.  Setting spot metering is different for each camera, but for most Canon camera's, you can select it from the top of your camera.  

  (Image by DPInterface.)

  

  The spot metering mode is just the circle.  No brackets around it.  Once you are in spot metering mode, put your gray card in the same light as your subject.  Now fill your frame with the gray card.  Once you are there, balance your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO until your in-camera meter reads 0.  

  What is happening here is that your camera is programmed to see middle gray (the same color as the gray card!) as 0.  So you are using exact middle gray to set your exposure.  Once you set your exposure from this gray card, you'll be set with perfect exposure, as long as the light stays the same.  If the light changes, you need to remeter from your card again.

  The great things about learning exposure this way is that you can see what a good exposure looks like.  You also know what OTHER tones look like when your camera is metered right.  Say WHAT?  Yeah, let's think about this for a second.  If you have set your camera to be locked into a perfect exposure with middle gray as zero, then you can point your camera at other tones and see what the camera would meter those at.  The dirt?  Maybe it is -2, the subject's skin?  Maybe it is +1.  Maybe the sidewalk is also zero.  Getting familiar with where other tones fall in relation to middle gray is very important for helping you grow beyond relying on the gray card and finding good exposures.  You'll also get a good idea of what kinds of light will meter at.  After a while, you'll be able to set your exposure pretty quickly based on the conditions of light that you have set so often before.

  Ok, so what about using a gray card for white balance?  How does that work?

  This is so slick. Getting good clean skin tones can take time.  When skin tones are off, you can spend a lot of time in post trying to get them right.  But if you use a gray card ahead of time, you can save a lot of time.

  There are two ways to set your white balance off of a gray card.  The first is by setting a CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE.  

  Again, this is different for different cameras, so please consult your camera manual for your camera.  All of them involve filling your frame (again, like above) with the neutral gray card.  You then use this image as your custom white balance (choosing this shot from the menu or taking the shot while holding a button) and the camera will do the rest.  Again, this white balance stays the same as long as you are in the same lighting.  If you move from sun to shade or from indoors to outdoors, etc., your white balance will change and you will need to reset your white balance.

  The beauty of this is that it will save you a ton of time in post.  One disclaimer, sadly we find the 5D Mark III doesn't set the custom white balance quite right.  It goes too orange.  So we don't use this as much as we used to, and we MISS it terribly.  It is our only regret about the Mark III.

  But we can use a gray card in post.

  This is pretty easy.

  

  Above is the SOOC.  I will click the eyedropper on the gray card of this shot.

  

  Notice how much more neutral the neutrals are?  Much warmer too.

  Now, to get this edit from Lightroom to work with ALL of your images shot in the same light, you will click on this image in your filmstrip and then hold down your shift key and click on the LAST image in the same lighting in your filmstrip.  Then choose the SYNC button on the bottom right (when you have multiple images chosen the Previous button will become SYNC.)  Choose the White Balance tick box and choose SYNC and it will apply this White Balance to your entire series of images from the same light.  Easy peasy!

  This also works in Bridge and ACR.

  Give a gray card a try.  It is a minimal investment for a lot of time-savings.

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  A cool tool to get Proper White Balance

   

  Getting those white dresses neutral can be tricky.... but not anymore!

  Use the Color Sample Tool in Camera Raw and then edit that image to get a proper RGB edit.  It is so easy!  

   

   

  
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  5 tools I use every day in Photoshop

  There are so many incredible tools in Photoshop; I don't even know how to pick just 5.  It can get overwhelming trying to figure out exactly what tools to use and what tools will render the results you are wanting.  So I have put together a list of 5 of my most used tools in Photoshop!

  We also go into all of these tools and much more, in our 6-hour Photoshop class!  Seriously, 17 videos of in-depth content, of all the things a Photographer could use and need to know about Photoshop!  It is also only $50!  It is usually $100!  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

  1)  ACR

  Seriously this is where I do almost all of my editing!  There are a lot of sessions where I don't even open the images in Photoshop itself.  ACR is incredibly powerful and can do most of the editing that a photographer who loves clean, classic images needs.  

  

  
  

  2)  Curves

  
  

  What can I say about Curves?  The curves tool is one of, if not the most powerful tools inside of Photoshop!  From color popping, to skin color corrections, to color tones of an image, it can do so much!  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  

  3)  Image Processor

  
  

  When I am looking to batch resize images for Facebook or my blog, this is where I do it!  I can use an action that I have created for resizing (which can be found in our Studio set BTW).  It resizes all the images and saves them with sharpening for the web, so I can just upload them to Facebook or my blog.  

  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  4)  History Tab 

  
  

  Seriously this is a hidden gem that I know isn't used enough!  I take snapshots as I am editing my photo, especially if it is an in-depth edit.  This way, I can reference back to where I started, and also, if I find myself not loving what I have done the last 20 steps, I can click my previous snapshot, and start over from there, and not have to start all over again!

  
  
  
  
  

  5)  Actions

  
  

  Seriously, I know we sell actions, so this, of course, a no duh for us lol, but the time I save using Actions is invaluable to my business!  I love Photography, but I didn’t get into photography, to spend hours behind my computer, hand-editing every single image.  There is nothing wrong with finding ways to speed up your workflow, so you can focus on what matters most, your relationship with your family, your clients and doing what you love…....shooting!

  We also have our entire store for sale, for only $99!  That is a value of over $3600!  Get yours here!

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  We also go into all of these tools and much more, in our 6-hour Photoshop class!  Seriously, 17 videos of in-depth content, of all the things a Photographer could use and need to know about Photoshop!  It is also only $50!  It is usually $100!  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

  
  

  
  

   

• 
  Five Steps to Greater Productivity

  We all only have 24 hours in the day, but sometimes it feels like other people MUST have more.  How else can they get so much done?  There are a lot of strategies for saving time and being productive, but these are Rachel and Crystal's top five.  

  Since there are thirteen kids between the two of us (Rachel has 8 and Crystal has 5) and we have teens and toddlers, plus two busy businesses, and factors like autism and epilepsy in our families, we have to make the most of the time we have, because nearly all of it is spoken for.  When we first started working together, we were so busy and didn't have a very good plan in place for getting our photography lives together, so the top of our list in the early days was "Don't Sleep."  That is not a very effective long-term solution, so we nixed that and added in these solutions.

  1) Get it right in camera

  I really can't stress this one enough.  It might take a little work at the outset to learn your camera and exposure well enough that you can truly nail the basics when you hit the shutter button, but believe me this is a big one.  Know how to shoot in manual, so YOU are in charge and not your camera.  In fact, we recommend not venturing into business until you have this one well in hand.  Once you hang out that shingle, you'll be so busy with serving clients, shooting, editing, marketing, office work, financials, etc., that taking the time to truly LEARN is an incredible luxury, but not one that you'll always have time for.  So this one is top of the bunch.  If you hit your exposure right and know how to shoot in Kelvin, so you're not having to fiddle constantly to hit the right white balance in post, you will have a MUCH easier time when you sit down to edit.  Suddenly the days required for a session will fall into a few hours.  So learn exposure.  Learn white balance.  Understand how to get the best focus you can so that you can use ANY of your images, not just the handful that are in focus.  Read books (Understanding Exposure is fantastic), join groups (our Facebook group is wonderful), and practice, practice, practice.  

  2) Learn to batch process

  We love using Lightroom and ACR.  Once you edit an image the way you like it in Lightroom or ACR, you can then sync this edit across all of your images that are in the same lighting scenario.  So one edit is suddenly 20.  Bam.  This is a big reason that tip #1 is important.  If your exposure and white balance are all over the map, syncing will never work.  So having a consistency in your shots is so important.  We'll be creating more and more content to help you get all of these right in camera.  But we have some fantastic tutorials on how to batch edit.  It's easy to get bogged down in touching the minutiae of every image, but get that batch process down, and you'll have cut out a huge chunk of time in your post work.  Easily saving yourself the equivalent of days or weeks each year.  Of course, we recommend our fantastic presets and actions to help with this process.  Amiright?

  3) Organize yourself

  Look, I have 8 kids, and Crystal has 5 kids, so I am not talking about some intense level of white-glove perfection.  No no.  I just mean you need an order to your workspace that you can understand.  You will feel more at peace if there is an order to your surroundings and you know how to find what you need.  Obviously, this applies to your physical workspace, but it also applies to your digital workspace too.  Keeping your files organized and at your fingertips is freeing.  Crystal and I load all of our images into external hard drives (and a Drobo and to the cloud...for safety), but from there we load them organized by date and then client name.  If it is a wedding client, within their folder we have the Engagement, Bridal, Wedding, etc.  This saves a lot of time hunting for the right files.  Also, in Lightroom, I (Rachel) make sure to keyword my files as I download them.  That way I can quickly search through images by client name, date, location, interesting features, color, etc.  Just in case I remember an image I want to use and can't quite remember all of the specifics.  Keywording is along the right side of the Library module, and you can quickly and easily start keywording as you upload images.

  

  4) Set small goals and reward yourself

  Mindset counts for a lot.  A lot of times being a small business owner is a lot of work.  We know it.  We hear you.  Sometimes there is a lot of stuff that is pretty thankless that just needs to get done.  This is where we like to set small goals and reward ourselves as we achieve them.  Got the client emails all answered?  Yay, you get to check Facebook!  Finished editing 30 images?  You get to walk to the mailbox in the sunshine to get the mail.  Before lunch, make your social media posts for the day and then enjoy your lunch, guilt-free.  Sometimes being the small business owner is hard because there is not a lot of recognition in just how hard you're working and how much you're hustling to get it all done, so it's nice to remind yourself how many things you are accomplishing each day.

  5) Keep lists, use Google Calender, etc.

  This is along the lines of being organized, but this is mentally.  Whether you use a paper organizer,  your phone, Google calendar, pop-up reminders, Post-It Notes, etc., give yourself a map and a plan.  We all have those days where we are on fire with ideas of what we want and need to accomplish for our business.  And we probably all know those days are not EVERY day.  So when you have those amazing days, capture them.  Lean into the passion, the joy, and the excitement.  Let it flow.  Capture the ideas.  Then map it out.  Write lists of what you need to do to accomplish these goals and give yourself manageable chunks.  Organize your time so that you know, ok, today I need to make 2 Instagram posts and one Facebook post, and I want to be sure that I check up on potential clients that I have not heard back from who requested quotes.  Tomorrow, I need to post to my Pinterest board, send out client orders, etc. 

  Having a schedule in writing both keeps you accountable, and it also takes the burden of having to freestyle every day.  Sometimes it's nice to have someone tell you what needs to be done...even if it's you.  (Just a you that is on fire with excitement and passion and vision.)

  We use Google Calendar for Pure.  We keep it color coordinated.  So each day, I can look and see the colors and know exactly what tasks I have to do.  (blogging, fb, Pinterest, Instagram and so on). 

  

  BONUS
  6) Actions and presets save lives!
  
  Being stuck behind your computer editing can be rewarding for some photographers and a nightmare for others.  Speed up that workflow so that you can be out shooting, marketing, and building relationships with your clients and other vendors!  If you are stuck "hand editing" every single image, you will get burnt out, very fast!  Especially if you are editing weddings!  (Seriously take it from us, you don't need to hand edit that picture of Aunt Sally eating her salad!  No one is going to look at that image more than once, unless they want to post it on Social media to embarrass Aunt Sally).  Apply a clean editing preset, batch that crap and move on!  (our favorite is Basic Workflow from our 1st set of presets for both ACR and Lightroom!)  and with the code it is only $50!  SAY WHAT??!!!!)
  
  We are currently offering 50% off!  YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT!  50% OFF our entire store, using the code  NEWYEAR
  Hurry.... it ends in a week!   So hurry and grab your actions/presets HERE! We promise, they are pretty rad!

• 
  JPEG vs. RAW, the Ultimate Grudge Match

  We asked people in our amazing Pure Constructive Criticism group what topics they wanted blogs about.  One that popped up a few times was the difference in RAW image files vs. JPEG image files.

  "Woot!"  I thought.  "A softball question!  I can totally do this!"

  And then I started thinking about it.  All of the technical information I knew.  All of the technical information I DIDN'T know.  Gulp.  This is actually a HUGE topic.

  So can I start this blog with a little disclaimer?  I do not claim to know the exact technical information on all of this.  I have some technical knowledge and some practical knowledge and I will present what I know and what has worked for us.

  So let's start with WHAT a RAW file is.  When a camera takes an image, the sensor captures the light of red/green/and blue.  It records the intensity of the light of these colors.  If you choose to capture your files as a RAW image, you will be getting THIS.  The uncompressed, unfiltered, unedited, RAW (like as in really actually raw) data.  If you choose to get a jpg image, your camera will strip out and filter the data to compress it and it will add some in-camera processing (contrast, sharpening, etc.) to your final image.

  This is not to say that one file is better than the other.  Rather there are times that one will be the best fit.

  A JPEG is 

  • A compressed file, stripped of some of the data that could be deemed unessential to the exposure you told the camera to make

  • smaller (since it's compressed!)

  • edited in-camera, to an extent

  • able to be directly edited, though this can lead to some quality loss.  (A lossy file.)

  • A file that can be viewed immediately on a computer or printed

  A RAW file is

  • An unfiltered file, all of the data collected by your camera's sensor

  • much larger

  • Not edited by the camera AT all.  All editing happens in the computer afterwards.

  • Cannot be directly edited.  It is considered a read-only file, and all edits are added via a "sidecar" file like an xmp file.

  • This leads to the file being lossless.

  •  It is also not exactly an IMAGE.  It cannot be viewed without special software.  But most cameras come with their own or you can use a product like Adobe Lightroom or Bridge/ACR.  Also, each RAW file tends to be proprietary to each manufacturer and camera.

  Using a jpg file is a great idea if you know you'll have good exposure or white balance and if you don't feel like you'll be editing the images a lot.  Sometimes if I am almost out of memory when I am taking snapshots at a soccer game, I will switch my camera to JPEG and capture smaller files.  They are not files I will be using to print huge images, I won't be editing them extensively, and usually my exposure and white balance is close enough.  And, truthfully, if I mess up a little, the sakes are not high.  JPG is ok here.

  But when I shoot a wedding, even though I am fairly confident in my exposure skills, I will shoot in RAW.  I have enough digital memory that I can capture a whole wedding easily in RAW and I make SURE I have all my cards.  But the safety net that RAW provides is wonderful.  I can easily sync edits for RAW images in Lightroom, but I WILL need to post process all my images, though I will have ALL the control over the editing.

  Here are two screen shots of a JPEG and RAW of the same image.

  

  This is the JPG image.  (I just asked Crystal to grab a snapshot using JPG/RAW capture for me.  Yay for her and thank you to her beautiful models.)  It is pretty sharp and has strong contrast.

  

  Same image as above, but the RAW data.  Notice how much less sharp it is out of the box?  NO sharpening applied.  Much lower contrast.  In fact, there is a lot more dynamic range.  Less highlights and less deep shadows.  This means I can add the contrast I want in the processing, but I will have more actual data to work with, rather than trying to change an manipulate pixels that are already set.

  Changing exposure, white balance and contrast in a RAW image is MUCH easier than trying to push the pixels of a JPEG.  So if you are not sure of your white balance or your exposure, then shooting in RAW is not only a safety net, it will make a faster edit.  A few clicks will give you a perfect exposure and skin tone with no quality loss.

  I would say that for most people, using RAW is the more responsible option for client sessions.  In the event something goes awry, you will have much more leeway with the RAW.

  One other benefit (and a HUGE reason we choose to shoot in RAW), should there ever be a dispute over who created an image and it comes to legal proceedings, a RAW file can help you establish ownership of your image.  This is also why we never relinquish our RAW files to anyone.  They establish us as the creators of the images.

  If you have not ventured into RAW with your SLR yet, consider trying it.  The creative control alone will astound you.  While you can use Lightroom and ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) for JPGS now, there is much more range to what those tools can give you if you have the RAW images.  If you're not ready to give up your JPGS, most cameras give you the option to shoot in both RAW and JPEG at the same time.  Give it a shot.  I bet you'll grow to like it.

   

• 
  Blown Highlights and Clipped Blacks

  Editing photos can be fun!  Especially when you are still learning Photoshop, however it is easy to get carried away and not realize that your highlights are too bright or your darks too dark.  This can be a problem while the photo is still in a digital format, but it becomes even more pronounced of an issue when you print your images.

  Your image is made up of shadows and highlights, and when it comes to printing your images you want to remember that 255 is blown (too bright) and anything 0 is clipped (too dark).  What that essentially means is that any detail and texture in either the highlights or shadows is completely gone and it appears like a solid white or black blob.  It is not very attractive and depending on the size and number of prints ordered, it can be a potentially costly mistake.

  There are a few ways to check if this has happened to your photo, but we will just quickly outline one of our favorites ways.

  When you have opened Photoshop, you can use your eye dropper tool (command/ctrl+i) and move it all around on the image and look at the info for that specific pixel.  You can see the info by going up to Window and choosing Info.  Then you will be able to review your RGB data.  (You can also open this window and set dropper points to manage by shift+clicking while using the eye dropper over your desired areas of focus.)

  

   

  Another way is to use the Threshold adjustment option.  You can find that in Photoshop by going up to Window and choosing Adjustment.  Then you can find the Threshold option.  This one is a really nice option as it shows you the entire image and you don't have to move your dropper all over the image. You can set the value where you want.  I like to try and keep my important highlights around 245 or lower and my blacks around 10 or higher, to preserve detail and texture in my printed images.  That is personal preference, and you may find that you like your blacks closer to 0.  A lot of times I will have hair light that will push above 255 and I am totally fine with that.  I like the contrast that it brings to an image. 

  

  

  Notice that when you set your value in the Threshold to check the highlights (245 to 255) it will turn your image black and in white will show you the blown areas of the photos.  The opposite is for clipped photos.  It will make your image white and in black show you where in your image you have clipped blacks. 

  What I love about this feature is that while learning Photoshop, you can open up 2 different threshold layers and set one to 10 and one to 245 (or whatever numbers you want) turn the layers off by clicking the little eye in the layer pallet, and click the background layer and edit your image as you normally would.  Then when you are done, you can turn the layers on individually and see if you clipped any blacks or blew any highlights. You can even run actions!

   

  

  Another way to check your image is by using the Curves or Levels adjustment. 

  Open up a Curves layer and then on the white or black sliders, hold down the Option button (Alt on a PC) and click the white or black sliders (they looks like white or black arrows at the bottom of the adjustment box)  and it will show you where you have clipped or blown highlights and blacks.  

  

  When you click on the black slider, it will turn your image white looking for clipped blacks and will turn it black when looking for highlights.   The really great thing with this is it will show you which color channels are clipping.  So in some areas you might just be losing your red channel, in others your blue (red clips first for highlights and blue for blacks), you can then target fixes for these channels, as needed.

  

  These are just a few methods for checking for lost detail in highlights and shadows.  These are some of our quickest and favorite methods.