Pixology Magazine November 2015 Issue

Pixology
The Magazine for Photographers
November 2015
Pixology
The Magazine for Photographers
CONTENTS
On the Cover: The Space Needle in Seattle, Washington,
photographed from Kerry Park on a foggy day. Captured
at a focal length of 105mm, with a lens aperture of f/8 and
a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second at ISO 400.
4 The Source Popup in Lightroom
10 Backup Strategy
25 Step by Step: Oil Paint
4
36 Exposure Meter Trickery
46 Square Cropping
25
From the Editor
I think this probably has something to
do with having presented at more than a
few events over the past few weeks and
months, and therefore having talked with
a number of different photographers.
Somehow the topic of backing up photos
kept coming up in conversation.
I’ve had my own share of problems with
hard drive failures, file corruption, and
other issues that have caused me to lose
photos and other data. Thus, in this issue
I share my backup strategy, aimed at
ensuring I never lose another photo again!
I hope you find all of the articles in this issue
to be helpful in your photography. Enjoy!
Tim Grey
Editor
PIXOLOGY
PIXOLOGY
This issue of Pixology magazine started
with a single article in mind. To be sure,
I always have a long list of topics I think
are worthy of coverage in an article. And
sometimes I have several articles in mind
when I get to work on a new issue. But
this time my initial motivation was all
about backup strategy.
3
The Source Popup
A Helpful Navigation
Option in Lightroom that
Many Photographers
Don’t Know About
PIXOLOGY
By Tim Grey
With any software application there
tend to be features you make use of
on a regular basis, and features you
have perhaps never used. More to the
point, there is a good chance that with
any given software application there
are features you didn’t even know
existed. I have found, for example, that
many photographers are not aware of
a helpful “source” navigation popup
available above the filmstrip on the
bottom panel in Lightroom.
4
Quick Source Shortcuts
Above the filmstrip that displays thumbnails of
the currently available photos on the bottom panel
in Lightroom, you’ll find a variety of information
and controls. For example, at the top-right of the
bottom panel you’ll find quick shortcuts to criteria
that enable you to filter images based on pick flags,
star ratings, and color labels. At the top-left of the
bottom panel you’ll find controls for employing
multiple displays for Lightroom, and some
navigation features.
In addition, you’ll find a “Folder” or “Collection”
label that indicates the name of the current
location you are browsing—with the label
changing based on whether you are currently
viewing a folder or a collection. To the right of that
“source” information you will see a summary of
how many photos are being displayed and selected,
as well as the name of the currently selected photo.
The “source” popup provides some helpful options for
navigating among folders and collections, and can be
found toward the top-left of the filmstrip on the bottom
panel in Lightroom.
PIXOLOGY
To the right of this information display about the
current source you’ll see a downward-pointing
5
In addition to providing a details about the number
of photos in the current folder or collection, the source
panel on the filmstrip is also a popup menu that allows
you to navigate among sources of images.
When you click the source popup on the filmstrip, you
can choose among folders and collections you have
recently viewed in Lightroom.
triangle icon, which indicates that there is a popup
menu available. You can click on that triangle icon
to display a popup menu with some navigation
options. In fact, the entire text display with the
information about the current source of photos is
a popup, so you can click anywhere along that text
display to bring up the popup menu.
The source popup menu is divided into four
sections, each of which provides an option
related to navigating among your photos. Most
of the options on this popup menu reflect a
specific source of images, and clicking on one
of those options will take you to that location
within Lightroom. So, for example, if a recently
accessed folder appears on the list, you can click
that item on the popup menu to navigate to the
folder so you can view the images contained
within the folder.
The first section of the popup reflects the Catalog
section of the left panel in the Library module.
That means you can navigate directly to a view
of all photos in your current Lightroom catalog
by choosing the “All Photographs” option, for
example, or view images within the Quick
Collection, or the most recently imported
photos. Other options may appear depending on
specific tasks you have performed that may cause
additional items to appear in the Catalog section
of the left panel.
You can also navigate to recently viewed folder
locations or collections by selecting an option from
the “Recent Sources” section of the popup menu.
This section of the popup menu will automatically
PIXOLOGY
6
reflect the twelve most recently accessed folders
or collections. Each item will be preceded by the
text “Folder” or “Collection” to indicate the type of
source, with the name of that source included for
each item on the list as well.
I find that in most cases in my workflow I am
navigating among a handful of photos (and
possibly collections) containing my most recent
photos. In other words, at any given time there is
a very good chance that the folder or collection I
need to access is included in the “Recent Sources”
section of the folder popup on the filmstrip.
Simply choosing a folder from this popup menu
can be a much faster method of navigating to a
given folder compared to scrolling through the
Folders list on the left panel.
The “Add to Favorites” option on the source popup
menu allows you to maintain quick access to specific
folders and collections of your choosing.
In some cases you may want to clear the list of
“Recent Sources” from the source popup on the
bottom panel. For example, if you have been
navigating among a wide variety of folders or
collections in search of photos for a particular
project, you may have a somewhat random list
of sources in the “Recent Sources” section of the
popup menu. If you are not likely to need quick
access to those sources anytime soon, you can
clear the “Recent Sources” list to begin building a
new history of recent folders and collections you
have accessed.
To clear the “Recent Sources” list, simply click
the source popup above the filmstrip and choose
“Clear Recent Sources” from the popup menu.
Creating Favorites
More often than not I find that a folder I want
to navigate to in Lightroom is included on the
“Recent Sources” section of the folder popup on
the filmstrip. However, I have also found that
certain folders remain at the top of my personal
list of “favorites”, even if I don’t necessarily access
those folders very often. The “Favorite Sources”
section of the folder popup enables you to define
PIXOLOGY
7
specific folders you would like to have available
on the popup menu at all times, regardless of how
long it has been since you navigated to that folder.
To enable quick access to a “favorite” folder or
collection, you need to first define a source as a
favorite. Navigate to the folder or collection you
would like to add as a favorite, so you are currently
browsing that source of images. Then click the
source popup above the filmstrip on the bottom
panel, and choose “Add to Favorites” from the
popup menu. The current folder or collection will
be added to the “Favorite Sources” section of the
popup menu, and you can select that item at any
time to return to that source of photos.
Note that when you add a folder or collection to
the “Favorite Sources” list, that source of photos
will no longer appear on the “Recent Sources” list.
This helps to keep the list of favorite and recent
sources from getting too cumbersome to navigate.
Once you have added a folder or collection as a
favorite on the source popup, that item will appear in
the “Favorite Sources” section of the popup menu.
If at any point you decide you would like to
remove a source from the “Favorite Sources”
list, you can do that very easily. First you need to
navigate to the source you want to remove from
the list, which can be done by simply choosing
that source from the “Favorite Sources” section of
the source popup on the filmstrip. Then choose
“Remove from Favorites” from the popup to
remove that source from the list.
As noted above, a single source will only appear on
either the “Favorite Sources” or “Recent Sources”
list, but not both. When you remove a source from
the “Favorite Sources” section of the popup list
that source will be added instead to the “Recent
Sources” section, since at that point you will have
recently navigated to the source.
Everywhere Access
As you are probably already aware, the filmstrip
displays the currently available photos based on
the selected source and any filters that have been
PIXOLOGY
8
applied. Furthermore, that filmstrip is available
in all of the modules within Lightroom. So, for
example, you can select a source of photos in the
Library module, and then navigate among the
various photos from that source while optimizing
selected images within the Develop module.
Many photographers assume that if they want
to navigate to a different source of photos while
working in a module other than the Library module
that they need to switch back to the Library module
first. That isn’t necessarily true, however.
To begin with, all of the modules within
Lightroom enable you to navigate among your
collections, by virtue of the Collections section
included on the left panel within all modules.
However, just as the filmstrip is available on the
bottom panel regardless of which module you’re
working in, so to is the source popup available
above the filmstrip.
You can therefore define favorite folders and
collections that you want to be able to return to
frequently, and both those favorite sources and
other recently viewed sources of photos will
be available from the source popup above the
filmstrip. In other words, this little popup can
make a big difference in the efficiency of your
workflow when it comes to navigating among the
various sources of your photos across all of the
modules in Lightroom. v
PIXOLOGY
9
Backup Strategy
Defining a Strategy
that Leads to
Confidence in your
Backup Workflow
PIXOLOGY
By Tim Grey
On average I estimate that I have
experienced a hard drive failure at
an average rate of about one drive
every two years. Long ago, when
one of my drives failed there was
a pretty good chance that I would
lose at least some of my data. I have
lost more than a few photos over the
years due to an inadequate approach
to backing up my photos.
10
Now, I have a very high degree of confidence
in my backup strategy. While it would be
impossible to plan for every possible scenario,
in my view there is very little chance that I will
ever lose a significant number of my photos.
And there is a reasonable chance that I will
never lose any photos as a result of a failure of
my backup strategy.
Presented here are some of the guiding principles
that form the foundation of my personal strategy
for backing up my photos.
Cleanliness
As part of the process of reviewing your overall backup
strategy, I encourage you to also review your existing
folder structure to make sure that what you’re backing
up is a “clean” organization of your photos.
PIXOLOGY
Backing up your photos and other data helps
to minimize the risk of ever losing photos that
are important to you. As such, the focus of any
backup strategy tends to be creating copies of
your data, so you can make use of those copies
if the original files are ever lost. But I think it is
also valuable to consider the state of your overall
photo storage when you are thinking about a
backup strategy.
11
In other words, my preference is to create a
backup of a well-organized collection of photos
and folders (and other data) rather than to create
another copy of a chaotic storage structure. To
that end, I think it makes sense to review the
existing organizational structure for your photos.
If your folder structure is a bit of a mess, the
backup of that messy folder structure isn’t as
valuable as it could be.
If you have unnecessary duplicate images in
various folders, your backup won’t be as efficient as
it could be, because you’re backing up extra copies
of photos that you don’t actually need.
The bottom line is that when you’re spending
time creating or evaluating a backup strategy, it
is also worthwhile to spend some time to cleanup
your overall storage structure. That may include
consolidating photos into a better folder structure,
cleaning up duplicate images, renaming folders so
those names are more consistent, and more. The
more organized your “master” storage is, the more
valuable the backup copies of that data will be.
Redundancy
I think it is fair to say that “redundancy” is the
most obvious aspect of a backup strategy. After all,
backing up your photos is by definition creating
redundancy. However, I encourage you to evaluate
your own workflow needs and consider whether
“extra” redundancy might be appropriate.
If you only have a single backup of your photos
that means you will generally have two copies of
your images: the original copies on your primary
storage and your secondary copies on your backup
storage. Under normal circumstances this is
probably perfectly adequate.
There are certainly risks involved with only having
a single backup of your photos and other data,
however. For example, during the process of
updating your backup both the original photos
PIXOLOGY
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For me the primary goal of a backup strategy is to
ensure I have one or more backup copies of my photos
and other data that represent an exact duplicate of the
source files.
and the backup copies will be in the same physical
location, assuming for example that you are
backing up to an external hard drive that needs to
be directly connected to your computer while the
backup is in progress.
It is worth considering whether your particular
workflow creates additional risks of losing
your photos. For example, I travel extensively,
sometimes for weeks at a time. During those trips I
most certainly want to backup the photos I capture
while traveling. In many cases I also need to bring
my existing photos with me, so I can work with
those photos for various projects.
In theory these needs would involve me bringing
both my primary photo storage as well as my
backup photo storage with me on the trip. That
would allow me to have all of my photos available
while traveling, and to update the backup drive to
reflect the master drive as I capture new photos
during the trip.
However, that approach would also create a
risk with potentially dangerous consequences.
If I am traveling with two hard drives
that represent the only copies of all of my
photos, the loss of those two drives would be
catastrophic. Considering that there are times
when I would have both hard drives in my
backpack while traveling or that they might
PIXOLOGY
13
both be left behind in my hotel room during a
photo outing, there is a very real risk of losing
both drives at one time.
To mitigate this risk, I prefer to have two backup
copies—at least—of all of my photos. This allows
me to travel with my master storage and a backup
storage drive, while also leaving a second backup
copy of my photos at home.
Leaving a backup copy of all existing photos at
home while I am traveling certainly mitigates
the risk for my existing photos, but that doesn’t
provide a similar benefit for the new photos I
capture during the trip. Still, it is much easier to
create an additional backup for photos captured
while traveling, such as by employing an online
backup solution, than it is to deal with losing
all copies of all of my photos by not having
adequate redundancy.
By considering your specific workflow and your
habits as a photographer, you can determine
the degree of redundancy that makes the most
sense. The key is to actually give some thought to
whether more than one backup of your images
might be an appropriate part of your overall
backup strategy.
Distributed
The purpose of creating a backup copy of your
photos and other data primarily relates to
protecting against the failure of a storage device as
well as other causes of data loss. There are a variety
of possible causes of data loss, including a variety
of ways a storage device can fail. Distributing your
backup copies can help minimize the risks related
to device failure and other factors.
In the context of the potential failure of a storage
device, it is important that the backup copy of
your data be stored on a separate physical device
from the master data. In other words, if you store
the backup copy of all of your photos on the same
PIXOLOGY
14
physical hard drive as the source photos, a failure
of that hard drive will cause the loss of all of your
images—both the originals and the backup copies.
Of course, I imagine it is obvious to anyone who
is backing up their photos that the backup copies
should be stored on a separate physical device
from the original photos. But making sure your
backup copies are distributed even further from
the original photos can be even more helpful.
One of the key principles of a good backup strategy
is that the source data and backup data should be
distributed across multiple physical devices, preferably
stored in separate physical locations.
In my mind, for example, a Redundant Array of
Independent Drives (RAID) backup solution does
not represent a distributed method of backup.
While the two copies of your data will be stored on
separate physical storage devices within the RAID
configuration, those drives are generally contained
within the same overall drive housing. Instead,
I prefer to use a backup drive that is physically
separate from the primary storage device.
At an absolute minimum, I recommend storing
your original storage and backup storage in
different areas of your studio or home. Even
better is to store the original photo files at your
primary location, and keep the backup drive at a
different location. You might keep your photos at
your photo studio, for example, with the backup
drive stored at home. Or you might keep your
photos at home and then take your backup copy
to your office.
The idea is that you are trying to minimize the
risk of losing all of your data in a single incident.
Distributing the backup copies of your photos to
a separate physical device that is ideally stored in
a separate physical location can help to minimize
your risk of data loss.
Frequency
I am sometimes surprised—and definitely
worried—when I talk to a photographer who
admits that they haven’t backed up their photos
for months. The longer you go without updating
PIXOLOGY
15
the backup copy of your photos, the greater the
risk of losing a substantial number of photos (and
metadata updates) if a hard drive fails.
So how often do you need to backup your
photos? That depends on how active you are
as a photographer, and how often you update
metadata or other details of your photos. For some
photographers who are extremely active, it may
be necessary to backup their photos every day and
possibly even multiple times during the day.
For photographers who aren’t as active and
don’t capture new images every day, it might be
adequate to backup their photos once per week,
for example. What is most important is to get in
the regular habit of evaluating your backup needs,
and to be sure you are backing up your photos
frequently to minimize the risk of losing more
recent captures or updates to the metadata and
other information about your photos.
If your backup needs are somewhat variable based
on your photographic habits, you are at risk of
getting complacent, and allowing too much time to
pass between backups. Therefore, even if you don’t
need to backup your photos on a regular schedule,
I still encourage you to have a regular schedule for
deciding whether you need to backup your photos.
I am in the habit of backing up my photos every
single day if I have actually worked with my
photos during that day. When I am wrapping up
my work for the day, I will initiate a backup for all
of the storage devices that contain information I’ve
added or updated since my last backup.
Naturally I will skip a backup on a day when I
haven’t added any new photos or updated any of
the information about my photos. But I review
whether I need to perform a backup at the end of
every day. And sometimes I will also perform a
backup in the middle of the day if I am working on
an important project or have updated a relatively
large amount of data.
PIXOLOGY
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Again, your needs may translate into a somewhat
intermittent backup schedule, which is perfectly
fine. What I highly recommend avoiding is a
situation where an irregular schedule leads you to
allow an excessive amount of time to pass since the
last time you backed up your photos.
Synchronization
As I mentioned in the article “Synchronization as
Backup” in the September 2014 issue of Pixology
magazine, I prefer to use a synchronization
approach to backing up my photos and other data.
Synchronization software such as GoodSync provides
a convenient and efficient solution to updating the
backup copy of your photos and other important data.
PIXOLOGY
Ultimately, my preference is that the backup
copy of my photos represents an exact copy of
those photos. In other words when—not if—I
experience a hard drive failure, I want to be able to
connect a backup drive in place of the failed drive,
and immediately get back to work. In addition,
I want to maximize the efficiency of the backup
process. Many backup software solutions default
to an “incremental” backup option, where only the
changes you have made since the last backup are
actually backed up. This saves time for the backup,
17
but also means you need to go through a restore
process in order to recover your data in the event
of data loss or hard drive failure.
I’ve known photographers who also want to
create an exact copy of their “master” storage
when backing up their data, but who take a very
manual approach. This might involve, for example,
reformatting the backup drive and then copying
all data from the master drive to that backup drive.
Besides introducing the potential risk of data loss
during the time between formatting the drive
and copying data onto that drive, this is also an
extremely inefficient approach that can require
considerable time.
With a synchronization backup solution you
can simply connect the “master” drive and the
“backup” drive to the computer, and have the
software analyze and synchronize those drives.
With this approach only the data that has been
added or changed since the last backup needs to
be copied to the backup drive, and the final result
is a backup drive that is an exact duplicate of the
master drive.
Awareness
A consistent and comprehensive backup strategy
can be a critical step to protecting your valuable
photos and other data, and in my mind one of
the key ways to ensure a good backup solution is
to maintain an awareness of the context of your
data storage.
In general, maintaining an awareness of the state
of your backup copies is a good starting point.
For example, it is important to truly understand
your backup strategy. You also want to make sure
you know where your backup data is stored, why
you’ve made specific decisions about your backup
strategy, and what is involved in recovering from
data loss based on your backup workflow. All
of these considerations will help inform your
decisions about your overall backup strategy.
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Because I employ a synchronization solution for
backing up my data, awareness is also critical
for me in the context of anticipating risk factors
related to backing up my data. This is because in
my case backing up one of my “master” storage
drives may very well involve deleting information
from a backup drive.
In part because I want to ensure that my backup
storage serves as an exact duplicate of my master
storage, and in part because I want my backup
solution to work well even when a master drive
is nearly full, I don’t preserve additional copies of
files I have deleted. In other words, when I use my
synchronization backup solution any files I have
deleted from my master drive will also be deleted
from my backup drive.
It is most certainly possible to retain a backup copy
of deleted files for a period of time, and the software
I use for my synchronization backup (GoodSync,
available at http://www.goodsync.com) enables
this option. However, I prefer to synchronize any
deletions as part of my backup, so that files deleted
on my master drive are also deleted from my
backup drive.
There is no question that this approach
involves a certain degree of risk. However,
again, my preference is to maintain a backup
that is an exact copy of the original data. I also
take steps to mitigate the risks involved with
this approach.
A big part of the risk mitigation I employ with
my synchronization-based backup solution is
to maintain an awareness of the current state
of my data, and of the work I’ve performed
most recently.
I don’t tend to delete photos or other data all
that frequently. Usually if I am deleting any files
it is part of a specific project to remove clutter
or recover free space on one of my hard drives.
In those cases I am usually deleting files that I
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19
am absolutely confident I will never need, either
because the files being deleted are simply not
usable or because they are redundant of other
copies of the same files.
While it may not be very common for me to delete
files, it still does happen from time to time. Most
importantly, I maintain an awareness of whether
I’ve deleted any files recently, and take that into
account when timing my synchronization backup.
Online
There are a variety of online backup solutions, such as
CrashPlan (http://www.code42.com/crashplan) shown
here, that enable you to backup to a remote server
using your Internet connection.
PIXOLOGY
One of the questions I get asked most frequently
on the subject of backing up photos is whether an
online backup solution might be a good option.
These backup services are generally referred to as
“cloud-based” backup, which is another way of
saying that you will use an Internet connection to
20
copy your photos to a server located somewhere
other than your current location—although you
generally won’t have any real idea of where those
backup copies of your data is stored.
There are certainly some reasonable concerns you
might have when it comes to a cloud-based backup
solution. For example, how can you be certain that
your data will really be kept safe? And is there any
risk of someone being able to access your photos
and use them without your permission?
These are reasonable concerns. Perhaps more
significant is the very real issue of whether you
can achieve adequate upload speeds to make a
cloud-based backup solution a viable part of your
workflow. In addition to the overall issue of the
maximum upload speeds offered by your Internet
service provider, many online backup services
reduce your upload speeds once you cross a
certain threshold of data transfer.
Because of these various issues, I don’t consider a
cloud-based backup solution to be appropriate as
your only backup solution. Frankly, I prefer not to
use a cloud-based backup solution as a primary
backup solution. That said, I think it makes perfect
sense to use a cloud-based backup solution as a
supplement to your existing backup strategy.
Because of the limitations related to uploading a
large number of image files—or a large amount of
data in general—in my mind it makes the most
sense to employ an online backup as a way to
create an additional backup copy of your most
important images and other data. For example,
you might use a cloud-based backup solution to
create an additional offsite backup of your photos
with the highest star ratings.
In many cases a cloud-based backup solution
provides a degree of automation, and it always
provides an offsite backup solution. To the
degree that you are able to keep a reasonable
number of your photos backed up with a cloudPIXOLOGY
21
based solution, I think such a solution can
serve as an excellent supplement to your overall
backup strategy.
Automation
Most backup software will allow you to schedule
automatic backups for a specific time (as shown here
for a 1:00am backup time) or at specific intervals.
PIXOLOGY
Implementing a degree of automation in your
backup strategy can certainly be tremendously
helpful. If your backup is performed
automatically, you don’t need to remember
to actually initiate your backup. However,
there are also risks associated with an entirely
automated backup solution.
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If you are using a synchronization approach to
backing up your photos, a full-time automated
solution—or even a scheduled solution—might
not make the most sense. As noted above,
depending on how you have configured your
synchronization backup, performing that
backup might cause backup copies of images
you have deleted from your primary storage to
also be deleted.
In addition, a completely automated local backup
requires that both the master storage device
and the backup storage device be connected to
your computer so that the backup can actually
be performed. That creates a certain degree of
risk that both drives might be damaged together,
possibly to the point of lost data.
Of course, there are some potential advantages
to adding a degree of automation to your backup
strategy. The key is to make sure you are also
taking into account the potential risk factors. For
example, if you are using an automated process
to update a backup copy of your photos to a drive
that is connected to the computer most of the
time, you can mitigate the associated risks by
having an additional backup copy of your photos
that is stored at a different location.
And, of course, when it comes to a cloud-based
backup solution the concerns about automation
are no longer a factor, assuming your online
backup is a supplemental part of your overall
backup strategy.
Personally, I prefer not to use automation in terms
of scheduling my backups. That isn’t to say there
isn’t potential value in employing automation, but
rather that I have developed a backup strategy that
doesn’t gain a significant benefit from automation.
In part this is because I have developed good
habits that ensure I am frequently updating my
backups, and creating multiple redundant copies
of my original data.
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Confidence
In my mind, the ultimate goal of any backup
strategy is confidence. By defining a backup
strategy that meets your specific needs as a
photographer, and consistently following a plan
based on that strategy, you’ll have the confidence
of knowing your photos are safe.
Ultimately, what I’m looking for in a backup
solution is the confidence of knowing that if one
of my hard drives fail, I won’t lose any data. I may
have the inconvenience of having to switch drives
and update some settings, but I won’t lose any data
in the process.
At the end of the day, I get tremendous satisfaction
from knowing that my data is safe, and that there
aren’t many scenarios where I will actually lose any
of my treasured photos. v
The ultimate goal of any backup strategy is the
confidence of knowing that your photos—and the
information about your photos—remain safe.
PIXOLOGY
24
STEP BY STEP
Oil Paint
By Tim Grey
Adobe added an Oil Paint filter to Photoshop
with the CS6 release, but removed that filter
from Photoshop with the Creative Cloud (CC)
2014 release. The Oil Paint filter is back again
with the 2015.1 release of Photoshop CC. This
filter provides a good way to get a sense of the
potential for creating an interpretation of some
of your photographic images in the style of a
painting. Presented here are the steps involved in
making use of the Oil Paint filter in Photoshop
to added the look of an oil painting to an existing
photographic image.
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STEP
1
PIXOLOGY
Open an Image
The Oil Paint filter in Photoshop generally works
best with images containing somewhat irregular
textures. Photos with repeated shapes and “clean”
lines have a tendency to result in an effect with
excessive repetition of the paint stroke texture
added to the image by the Oil Paint filter. Large
areas of smooth texture, such as clear skies, can
also be problematic.
Experimentation will help you gain a better sense
of which images work best with this filter, but in
general I think it is helpful to think about what
photos might look best as paintings in general, and
work from there. Once you’ve selected a photo,
either send it to Photoshop from Lightroom using
the Edit > Edit In command, open the image from
Adobe Bridge, or use the File > Open command
from within Photoshop.
26
STEP
2
PIXOLOGY
Use a Working Copy
Since the Oil Painting filter is obviously aimed
at producing a creative interpretation of your
photo, it can be helpful (and even critical) to
use a working copy of your image when using
the Oil Paint filter. If you sent a RAW capture to
Photoshop from Lightroom or opened a RAW
capture directly into Photoshop, you are already
effectively using a working copy of your photo.
If you opened a “master” image that contains
multiple layers already, you should create a
working copy. If so, start by choosing Image
> Duplicate from the menu. In the Duplicate
Image dialog turn on the “Duplicate Merged
Layers Only” checkbox if it is enabled, so that the
resulting copy will be flattened. Then click OK to
create your working copy.
27
STEP
3
PIXOLOGY
Reduce Image Size
Because of the way the Oil Paint filter translates
textures in your photos, you will generally get the
best results with this filter by working with images
at a relatively low resolution. I usually resize my
photos to about 1,500 pixels on the long side, and
this provides good result with the Oil Paint filter.
Keep in mind that you can always increase the
image size later, which will cause the painting
effect to be scaled. This enables you to produce
large output based on a version of the image
with a better painting effect. To reduce the pixel
dimensions choose Image > Image Size from the
menu. In the Image Size dialog make sure the
Resample checkbox is turned on, and that the unit
of measure for Width and Height is set to Pixels.
Then set the desired pixel dimensions and click
OK to resize the image.
28
STEP
4
PIXOLOGY
Convert for Smart Filters
To maintain flexibility in your workflow when
applying creative filters, it can be helpful to apply
those filters as Smart Filters. Doing so enables you
to make changes to the filter settings later, without
a negative impact on image quality. To employ
a filter as a Smart Filter, you need to convert the
image layer you’ll use for the filter to a Smart
Object. Start by clicking on the thumbnail for the
image layer on the Layers panel, to make sure that
layer is active. Then choose Filter > Convert for
Smart Filters from the menu and click OK in the
confirmation dialog.
29
STEP
5
PIXOLOGY
Apply the Filter
The next step is to actually apply the Oil Paint
filter. To do so, simply choose Filter > Stylize >
Oil Paint from the menu. This will bring up the
Oil Paint dialog, where you can adjust the settings
for the filter. Note that the Oil Paint filter in
Photoshop had been featured on the primary Filter
menu when it was originally added to Photoshop,
so the position on the Stylize menu is new.
30
STEP
6
PIXOLOGY
Set Stylization
The Stylization slider is one that I think of as
providing a choice between an overall painting
texture versus the appearance of brush strokes
within the image. With a low setting for
Stylization, the image will take on something of a
canvas texture, with paint strokes being relatively
subtle. With a high setting for Stylization the
image will take on a look that includes longer
brush strokes rather than simply including texture.
31
STEP
7
Specify Cleanliness
The Cleanliness slider enables you to choose how
much overall detail you want visible in the image.
With a low setting you will see more texture and
finer detail, and with a high setting you will see
less detail and a smoother texture.
STEP
8
Fine-Tune Scale and Detail
The Scale slider can be thought of as allowing
you to adjust the overall size of the brush being
simulated by the Oil Paint filter, while the Bristle
Detail slider allows you to choose whether you
want to see texture simulating the individual
bristles of the brush strokes being created by the
Oil Paint filter. With a higher value for Scale and
a lower value for Bristle Detail, the image will
take on a much smoother appearance with far less
visible detail. With a lower value for Scale and a
higher value for Bristle Detail the image will retain
more detail and brush texture, including texture
representing the individual bristles for the brush.
STEP
9
Adjust Lighting
The final set of adjustments in the Oil Paint dialog
relate to a lighting effect that helps create the
impression of depth and texture as you might
expect from an actual oil painting. The first step
to adding this effect is to turn on the “Lighting”
checkbox. You can then adjust the Angle setting to
determine which direction you want the “virtual”
light to be shining from. The Shine setting then
determines the overall strength and size of the
effect. I recommend setting a relatively high value
for Shine first, and then adjusting the Angle setting
to achieve the desired texture in the photo. You
can then reduce the value for Shine as needed to
finalize the effect. And, of course, if you’re not
happy with the result you can always disable it by
turning off the Lighting checkbox.
STEP
10
Refine as Needed
Once you’ve established the settings for the Oil
Paint filter effect, you can refine any and all of the
settings to improve the result. You can then click
the OK button to finalize the effect. And because
you applied the Oil Paint filter as a Smart Filter, you
can always double-click on the Oil Paint item found
below the image layer on the Layers panel to bring
up the Oil Paint dialog and make further changes.
If you find the effect of the Oil Paint filter
interesting, you might also be interested in
exploring other software tools that enable you to
create painting effects in your images. Snap Art
from Alien Skin Software (http://alienskin.com)
provides numerous presets for painting and other
artistic effects, all of which can be fine-tuned to
your particular tastes. Another option is Painter
from Corel (http://painterartist.com), which
provides sophisticated options for creating painting
effects from an existing photo or from scratch. v
Exposure
Meter Trickery
–
2
Understanding
When You Can’t
Trust Your Camera’s
Exposure Meter
PIXOLOGY
1
1
+
2
By Tim Grey
I am sometimes amazed at the thought
of how much advanced math is
involved in photography. When you
consider the complexity of the physics
of light, the seemingly convoluted
mathematics related to depth of field
calculations, and other details related
to photography, it is reasonable to
assume that most photographers don’t
truly understand many of the more
technical aspects of photography.
36
Of course, some of the technical details related
to photography are a bit esoteric, and there isn’t a
critical need for photographers to understand those
details. However, there are topics that I feel are
critical to understand, even if they can be daunting.
At the top of my list of topics that I feel all
photographers should understand—but that few
photographers seem to truly understand—is
exposure. Exposure is, of course, at the very heart
of photography. And while today’s cameras do
a remarkable job of calculating exposure values
and camera settings, it is still critically important
to have a good understanding of exposure. One
aspect of exposure that I think can be especially
helpful is an ability to anticipate what settings
might be appropriate to achieve an optimal
exposure for a given scene.
Related to the notion of being able to anticipate
the exposure settings for a given scene is the
ability to anticipate the extent to which the
exposure meter in the camera is going to be
“tricked” by the various lighting situation
present in the scene you are photographing. In
other words, it is helpful to recognize situations
where you can’t necessarily trust the exposure
recommendations of your camera, and to
understand how to compensate accordingly.
A Common Destination
When it come to photographic exposure, I think
one of the key things to keep in mind is that for
a given photo there is a single set of exposure
settings that will achieve the desired result. That
isn’t to say you can’t adjust the various exposure
settings to produce a different interpretation of
the scene, but rather that in order to achieve your
particular vision for a given scene you will end
up with specific settings for the lens aperture, the
shutter speed, and the ISO setting.
Assuming you will arrive at a particular set
of exposure settings for a given scene, how
PIXOLOGY
37
you actually establish those settings in the
camera is not especially important. You might
achieve a given set of exposure settings using
a fully automatic exposure mode, using a
semi-automatic exposure mode, or using the
manual exposure mode. How you arrive at the
final settings is not as important as actually
employing specific settings to achieve a specific
photographic interpretation of a scene.
I think it is helpful to understand that a given
photographic situation will call for specific
exposure settings, and that how you arrive at
those settings is not particularly important. By
understanding this concept, you’ll be in a good
position to understand that any exposure mode
can be used to achieve a good photographic result.
Perhaps more importantly, by understanding that
you can use any of the exposure modes for your
camera to create a good exposure, you’ll be better
able to understand how to deal with situations
where the exposure meter in your camera is
not going to accurately reflect the best exposure
settings for a scene.
Metering Methods
Regardless of the metering and exposure modes you use,
the ultimate goal is to achieve appropriate exposure
settings for the current photographic situation.
When the settings calculated by the camera in
one of the fully automatic or semi-automatic
exposures modes results in a photo where the
exposure is not ideal, the camera’s exposure
meter is obviously to blame.
The exposure meter in your camera essentially
measures the overall light levels in the scene before
your lens, and the camera uses that information
to either calculate exposure settings or present
information about those light levels on a meter
display. That exposure meter isn’t always able to
compensate for the actual lighting conditions and
the nature of the scene you’re photographing,
because frankly the meter isn’t that sophisticated.
There are, of course, ways you can help
minimize the risk of inaccurate meter readings.
PIXOLOGY
38
Most cameras offer several different metering
modes that allow you to choose how the scene
will be evaluated. In many cases the default
metering option will simply average the light for
the entire scene. Many cameras include a “center
weighted” metering mode that will place a
priority on the area at the center of the frame—
presumably the key subject area—for purposes
of calculating exposure.
Your camera’s metering system must evaluate the
overall brightness levels in the scene in view of the
lens and attempt to calculate an appropriate exposure
based on the information available and the settings you
have established.
PIXOLOGY
Most cameras also include a spot metering option,
which allows you to take a meter reading from a
small area of the scene—generally about 5% or
less of the field of view. This obviously enables you
to be a little more precise about which portion of
the scene is being used as the basis of an exposure
calculation, but it also requires you to be more
precise about choosing which portion of the scene
to meter from.
You will also generally have some form of
more sophisticated metering option, such as
the “matrix” or “evaluative” mode available
39
with many cameras. This type of metering
mode generally divides the scene into sections
and evaluates each section individually.
In some cases this process may include an
actual evaluation of the type of scene you are
photographing, using built-in logic that attempts
to adjust the exposure calculation based on the
nature of the scene being photographed.
The point is that you will generally have several
different metering options available within the
camera. The key is to understand what options
are available with your camera, which metering
mode makes the most sense for your type
of photography or the specific scene you are
photographing at any given time, and to employ
the features and techniques that will help you
achieve the best exposure.
There is not a single “best solution” for calculating
the exposure for a given scene. Rather, there are
various approaches you might take depending
on your own preference and the specific
circumstances of the photo you’re capturing. And
even with very sophisticated technology in the
most advanced cameras, there are still going to be
situations where the camera doesn’t calculate the
best possible exposure based on how you want to
interpret a given scene.
Regardless of which specific metering mode you’re
using, there are two ways the metering calculations
will be presented to you. One is that the exposure
information will be updated based on how the
scene was metered. In a fully automatic exposure
mode that means the aperture and shutter speed
will be adjusted automatically, for example. If
you’re using a semi-automatic exposure mode,
the “variable” setting will update. For example, if
you are working in the Aperture Priority exposure
mode then the shutter speed will adjust based on
the metering of the scene.
The second method for presenting the exposure
information is a meter, which is primarily
PIXOLOGY
40
useful when working in the Manual exposure
mode. In automatic or semi-automatic exposure
modes the meter will remain “locked”, because
the camera is changing the exposure settings
to achieve a specific exposure based on how
the scene is metered. When you are working in
manual mode you need to adjust the exposure
settings yourself, and the meter will reflect the
current exposure result based on your settings
and the metering of the scene.
Exposure Compensation
For me personally, exposure compensation makes
the most sense in terms of a method for ensuring
an optimal exposure for a given scene. In other
words, my tendency is to think about how the
camera’s meter is going to be fooled by the scene I
am photographing.
For example, if a scene is mostly relatively dark,
but with a few areas that are very bright, you
can anticipate that the camera’s meter is going to
assume that the average brightness levels for the
scene represent a good basis for the exposure. That
assumption will likely result in the bright areas of
the scene being blown out, with a complete loss of
detail in those areas.
If the scene is relatively bright overall, but with
a few small areas that are dark, then you can
anticipate that the camera’s meter will expose
for the bright areas, and that there will be a
complete lack of shadow detail in the darkest
areas of the scene.
In other words, it is important to understand
that the camera is generally taking an average
measurement of the lighting for a scene, and
calculating an exposure based on those values.
If there are small areas within the scene that are
especially bright or especially dark, the exposure
settings the camera calculates may not be
optimal for the scene.
PIXOLOGY
41
In many cases a “neutral” meter reading will not
produce a good photographic exposure. For example,
this scene is relatively dark overall, with some areas
that are very bright. A proper exposure required a full
one-stop negative exposure compensation.
If you pay attention to the scene you are
photographing, and pay attention to the result
you achieve based on the camera’s exposure
calculations, you can start to anticipate what
sort of compensation might be necessary to
ensure an optimal exposure. In other words,
with practice you can learn to anticipate the
amount of exposure compensation that will
be necessary to achieve an optimal exposure
when using one of the semi-automatic
exposure modes.
Manual Mode
It seems that many photographers are
intimidated by the manual exposure mode
on their cameras, but that doesn’t need to be
the case. As soon as you understand exposure
enough to anticipate the degree of exposure
compensation that might be necessary for
a given scene, you are ready to employ the
manual exposure mode.
PIXOLOGY
42
I think for many photographers the process
of achieving proper exposure is a process of
trial-and-error. They might capture an image
and then review the image (and perhaps the
histogram) on the camera’s LCD, and adjust
their exposure settings based on a review of
their initial capture.
With a little practice, the photographer might feel
comfortable employing exposure compensation
in conjunction with one of the semi-automatic
exposure modes in order to achieve optimal
exposure settings for a given scene. That
experience directly translates into an ability to
make use of the manual exposure mode.
Just as you can anticipate the degree of exposure
compensation that will produce the best results
with one of the semi-automatic exposure modes,
you can also anticipate the best compensation for
the meter reading when working in the manual
exposure mode. The difference is simply how you
approach the process.
When working in one of the semi-automatic
exposure modes, such as the Aperture Priority
setting, you need to anticipate how the camera’s
meter is going to be fooled by the scene before
the lens so you can apply an appropriate degree of
exposure compensation.
Similarly, when working in the manual exposure
mode, you need to be able to anticipate how the
camera’s meter is going to be fooled. The only
difference is how you compensate for situations
where the camera’s meter won’t ensure the
optimal exposure.
When using one of the semi-automatic exposure
modes you need to apply exposure compensation
to ensure a good exposure with situations where
the camera’s meter is going to be fooled by the
lighting conditions. When using the manual
exposure mode you are instead adjusting the
exposure settings based on a meter reading.
PIXOLOGY
43
With a semi-automatic exposure mode for a
scene that is relatively dark but with a small
area of bright detail, you will need to apply
a negative exposure compensation to ensure
the best overall exposure. When working in
the manual exposure mode you will need to
establish exposure settings where the meter
in the camera shows that the scene is being
under-exposed.
In other words, when using a semi-automatic
exposure mode you need to apply compensation
for the way the camera views the scene in terms
of exposure. When working in the manual
exposure mode you need to compensate for the
way the camera’s meter presents the exposure
information for the scene.
With experience you will be able to anticipate what
sort of exposure compensation is necessary for a given
scene, and will have the confidence to read the meter
but adjust camera settings—even in the Manual
exposure mode—to achieve an appropriate exposure.
PIXOLOGY
So, when using a semi-automatic exposure
mode you might apply a negative exposure
compensation to ensure the best overall
exposure settings. When working in the manual
exposure mode for the same scene you would
44
need to allow the camera’s meter to indicate an
under-exposure for the scene in order to ensure
the best overall results.
Anticipation is the Key
The key to achieving the optimal exposure
settings for a given scene is to understand the
overall lighting conditions, and to anticipate how
the camera will evaluate those conditions. By
understanding how the camera can be fooled by
the lighting conditions, you will be better able to
determine optimal exposure settings.
I think it is fair to say that most photographers
have a basic understanding of the concepts related
to exposure. By extension, most photographers
are able to anticipate when their camera might not
present the most accurate exposure information in
terms of how a given scene is metered.
By understanding that the camera’s meter is
generally calculating exposure based on an average
light reading of the scene you are photographing,
you can better anticipate when you need to apply
some degree of compensation for the exposure
settings your camera is recommending.
In other words, it is valuable to understand
how the camera’s meter can be fooled by the
scene before the lens, so you can learn to better
anticipate the degree of compensation that
might be necessary to ensure a proper exposure
for a given scene. v
PIXOLOGY
45
Square Cropping
Sometimes a Square
Format Works
Remarkably Well for
a Photograph
PIXOLOGY
By Tim Grey
I generally prefer not to have too many
constraints imposed upon me, and
that is especially true when it comes to
photography. For years I have argued
against the use of “standard” frames
for photographs. My argument was
that a photo should be cropped based
on your own aesthetic sense, not based
on the aspect ratio of the frames you
find at your local frame store. Recently,
however, I’ve started to embrace one
of the most constraining forms of
cropping there is: the square crop.
46
I never thought much about the square format
until Instagram started to get popular. Until very
recently, Instagram only allowed you to share
images that were cropped to a square. Since I
wasn’t interested in that sort of limitation for
my photos, I would spend extra time creating a
square canvas in Photoshop on which to place my
rectangular photos, so that when I shared the result
on Instagram it would still look like a rectangular
photo, cropped exactly how I wanted it to appear.
My wife, on the other hand, is a big fan of the
square format. It is rare that she captures a photo
in anything other than a square format. Initially
I would give her a hard time about choosing
the “silly” square format, and on more than one
occasion would tell her that she should capture the
images in a rectangular format. After all, she could
always crop to a square later, and she’d have more
flexibility as a result.
When cropping to a square aspect ratio, you will
likely find you can align a key subject with the center
of the frame much more often than you could with a
rectangular image format.
There were two problems with my advice. First,
she preferred to capture her photos in the square
format right from the start,
without the need to crop.
Second, I found many of her
square compositions to be
excellent. Slowly but surely I
came around, and realized that
the square format had merit.
Of course, the square format
wasn’t an Instagram invention.
For decades there were many
cameras that captured in a
square format, as old family
photos demonstrate. And let’s
not forget about the “6x6”
medium format film cameras,
which produced square
transparencies six centimeters
on a side.
I’ve now realized that when it
came to my bias against the
PIXOLOGY
47
square format, I was mostly just being stubborn.
Now I am able to better appreciate that some
photos simply look better with a square crop.
With some cameras it is possible to select a square
capture format, so the image can be captured as a
square right from the start. You can also, of course,
simply capture in a rectangular format and then
crop to a square format (a 1:1 aspect ratio) using
the software of your choice after the capture.
As much as I’ve embraced the square format
recently, I still capture almost exclusively in the
rectangular format with my digital SLR. In some
cases I know at the time of capture that I will want
to crop to a square format later. In other cases I
don’t realize until I am processing the photo after
the capture that a square format might work. Most
importantly, I now have an awareness that a square
format might work well in some cases, so I’m more
likely to consider it as an option.
I find that geometric shapes tend to work well with a square
format, which emphasizes the shapes within the frame.
There’s no question that you’ll often need to
consider composition differently when creating a
square format. That might mean
anticipating a square crop and
capturing a photo based on that
result, or it might mean simply
recognizing which images
might work well cropped to a
square format.
In many cases the square format
works well with a main subject
placed at the exact center of the
frame, for example. With the
square format you can also often
place a subject a little closer
to the edge of the frame. The
point is that you’ll often find
that you need to approach the
composition a little differently
for a square crop compared to a
rectangular crop.
PIXOLOGY
48
If like me you’ve been a little dismissive of the
square format for photos, I encourage you to
reconsider whether this format might work well
for certain images. In general I think it is good
to reconsider your opinions and biases as they
relate to photography, and to consider whether
you might produce more interesting photos by
challenging those views and perhaps getting
outside of your comfort zone. v
Lines and other forms can be somewhat exaggerated
with a square format, sometimes increasing the impact
of the photo.
PIXOLOGY
49
Pixology
The Magazine for Photographers
Pixology magazine is published electronically on a monthly basis. For more information, visit:
www.pixologymag.com
Copyright © 2015 by Tim Grey. All Rights Reserved.
To contact the publisher:
Tim Grey
243 5th Ave #131
New York, NY 10016
www.timgrey.com
[email protected]
About Tim Grey
Tim has authored more than a dozen books and hundreds
of magazine articles on digital imaging for photographers,
and has produced dozens of video training titles on a
wide variety of subjects. He publishes the Ask Tim Grey
email newsletter in addition to Pixology magazine, and
publishes video training through GreyLearning. Tim
teaches through workshops, seminars, and appearances at
events around the world.
For more information:
www.timgrey.com
Every attempt has been made throughout this magazine to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descriptive terms by
following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer and marking those marks as either a trademark or registered
trademark. All trademarks and registered trademarks included in this book are the property of their respective owners.
The publisher has made best efforts to prepare this magazine, but makes no representation or warranties of any kind with
regard to the completeness or accuracy of the contents herein and accept no liability of any kind including but not limited to
performance, merchantability, fitness for any particular purpose, or any losses or damages of any kind caused or alleged to be
caused directly or indirectly from this magazine.
Parting Shot
The exterior panels of the Experience Music
Project in Seattle, Washington, reflect a
moody sky while adding a color element to
the composition. Captured at a focal length of
35mm, with a lens aperture of f/8 and a shutter
speed of 1/500th of a second at ISO 400.