Poppy-Uppy Flash Mini Soft Box

Lately, I have been asked by some friends, why the flash of their compact camera creates such "crappy" images. Assuming that the problem was flat images with lots of hard shadows and a cold color cast, my answer was always the same: the tiny built-in flash-tube create really hard light.
Hard light, i.e. light that comes from a light source being (much) smaller than the subject, creates a flat appearance and pretty harsh shadows in the background.
Using the built-in, is therefore only good for "fill flash" when shooting in bright (sun) back light.

There are a very simple solutions to make most of the flashes useable, even with the tiny flash being the only light source.

1. diffuse the flash
2. redirect the flash
3. tone the flash
4. redirect the flash with a tone

Options 1 and 2 are obviously referring to making the light softer, which cannot be corrected in post processing, while options 3 and 4 are just an added bonus, and can be added in post.

Options 1, 2 and 4 can easily be achieved by a very simple device... a translucent film canister.

the translucent canister

One simply has to create a template of the cross-section of the poppy-uppy flash's footprint and create a corresponding cut-out in the canister. The cut-out should actually be a bit wider, so that the canister can lean a bit to the front of the camera.
Somewhat like this:

template and modified canister

Going from here, the optional reflector can be created. I experimented a bit with the dimensions of said reflector. And here is my solution:

• length: 43mm (fitting the canister lengthwise)
• width: 23mm (creating a 45-ish degree angle)

the internal reflector

The reflector inserted into the "soft box" looks somewhat like this (red side up):

the internal reflector inserted into the soft box

And there are some of the resulting images, showing one of my messy book shelves. The LX7 was on aperture priority f/2.8 @ ISO1600:

reference shot, bare built-in flash

diffuser (no internal reflector)

white side of the internal reflector

red side of the internal reflector

The difference might be hard to see on the given examples, in particular since blogger will "improve" the photos again, I fear.

An assortment of different reflectors, such as different colors, aluminum foil, etc. can make the mini soft box really useful.

Enjoy photography!

UPDATE:
The original design gave a lot of spill towards the back of the camera. To keep this a bit under control, I attached aluminum tape to the inner backside of the canister,  such that is directed more towards the upper front.

Composition and the Impact on Human Vision

Composition, a very theoretical beast, and boring, or is it?
Composition of an image can also be the power to determine the behavior of audience. In the movies, that happens all the times.
Here is a study of a photo I was lucky enough to shoot today.
Have a look:

Trees 'n Moon

I guess, you are not sure what to think of say about about this. And there are reasons for this!

First, I would like to go into the technicalities of the photo. 
This was shot at low sun, with a Panasonic Lumix LX7, with a polariser, as a -3/0/+3 Ev HDR at f/4.
Maybe HDR was not necessary, but, I did it anyway... Since the wind was blowing hard, moving the clouds and shaking the trees, so I had to use a lot anti-ghosting, so much of the image is just the 0 Ev frame anyway.
There was no cropping involved in post processing!

Composition and why this image is so tense.

First "problem", actually I waited for this, is the divided frame. Left and right, clearly different, right through the middle. That is very disturbing!

The moon is placed in the upper right thirds, that attracts the eye. However, the entire rest of the right side is negative space!

The trees are placed in the lower third, ending in the lower thirds, opposing the moon. This creates a tension between the the two.

And now to the most disturbing element of this photo, the element that actually does the trick, the clouds... dominating the entire image and the left half of the frame.


This is pure hardcore composition... which most wont find appealing in an image...
Why?
Ask yourself: Where to look first? Where to look at anyway?!
Irritating, isn't it?
 
Ahh, I love photography!

Explanation of the dilemma:

=> Human vision is attracted to the brightest part, the highest contrast and structure.
 
Right, there is one place, in this image we are not attracted to, the lower right. Nothing going on here, just empty blue sky...


The moon sits in the upper right thirds, having high contrast makes it very prominent (rule of thirds). The moon also contrasts strongly to the blue sky.

But, at the upper left, the brightest spot in the image attracts our senses. Actually, the brightest spot quite on the edge of the frame, which is very disturbing. Some photographers would probably correct that by darkening the brightest part of the clouds.

Surviving the clouds, just to be caught by the tree's detail... detail and structure, that's what we really like too look at!
 
And there is our vision, jumping in a triangle not sure what to look at... the moon, the bright clouds, the trees, or the moon?!

As I said, I love photography.

And, btw, here is the same scene, a few seconds later, when the clouds were gone.

Moon n' Trees

Technically the same photo, although, this is the 0Ev frame only.

As I said before, there was no cropping in post, neither here, nor above.

And yes, I did some tricks in post production (GIMP) on the upper image, besides HDR, none of which I did to this photo.

Composition wise, this photo is also cut in half, but by a diagonal rather than a vertical as we see above. Now there seems a pointy relationship between the moon and the tree, which seems supported by the faint structure visible in the otherwise pretty dull sky.
In terms of eye-movement, you may find yourself looking from the trees to the moon, crossing the dark diagonal. Once arrived at the moon, which now is the brightest part in the picture, your vision will rest.

Yes, this second picture is in balance and creates some rest, but, is it as interesting as the other one?


I am sure my audience is divided as to which of the 2 photos is more appealing, but that was not the point of this post. The point was what composition can do to the observer!

ps:

I was too busy with the composition and stuff... so that I actually did not note myself that the clouds form a face, staring at the moon. A dear friend of mine pointed the face out to me...
And here we have another component, which draws the eye, faces, e.g. the man in the moon.
Isn't it wonderful how our human brain works... locking on whatever is familiar!
When editing the photo, I personally did not notice the face at all, since I was so focused on the general lines...

rules of thirds

Here's what I see in my image now:

looky looky ... a face is staring at the moon!

Now, let's have a look/analysis to/of the image without clouds:

no clouds!

The moon and the trees are essentially in the same position as in the image before. However, there is a very different imperative to the image now. First of all, the vertical division is gone, and so is the "face".
What is left is a moon casting a frame to the trees (green lines), causing a diagonal negative spave (red lines). Incidently, some clouds form arcuate patterns across the sky (blue lines), pulling the image into balance.

Thanks to Richard for pointing out additional visuals... As I said, I was so busy with the general lines, that I missed the face.

Elvis is alive!

The making of a nano dSLR clone...

ELVIS = ELectronic Viewfinder Image Stabilization

Your eyes are not fooling you, this in fact is a Panasonic P&S (Point 'n Shoot). In my view, this is the best P&S camera ever made so far, the Lumix LX7.
But, hang on, this does not look anything like the LX7 as commonly known.
Yep, that's right! And here is why:

I love electronic view-finders! Great stuff! Hence, that's in the hot-shoe. The virtual "R" explained, since the is no mirror to do the R, i.e. "reflex".
However, 100% of the image sensed by the image sensor is reflected, i.e. shown, in the EVL. Actually, the EVL is even better than a (d)SLR's view finder, since it shows all the relevant data, and, acts like a night vision system in low light situations.

Right, the view finder sorted, you may ask what's goin' on with the lens...
The LX7, much like its predecessor, the LX5, has got a built-in objective lens, which keeps moving in and out to the camera's likings (or the zoom command of its owner, for good measures).
Said cameras have a relatively open relationship between the sensors and the surrounding atmosphere. And this is a problem! Driving in and out, the lens mechanism pumps air in and out. Air that may contain dust, pollen, fine particles, you name it, its in there!
The sensors of the LXs are not protected in any way, hence, all the above mentioned junk will collect on the sensor(s).
Hence the next step building up the camera is sealing it from the environment by adding the filter tube, closed by a filter. The picture above shows the LX7 with a tube surrounding the built-in lens while providing a thread to screw filters on.
In my very own set, I am using a 52mm "circ pol" filter, directly connected to the filter barrel, which itself is covered by a UV filter for protection.

Side remark on polari(s/z)ation: in photography, a filter called "circular polarization filter" is a filter that polarizes light in a linear fashion and is mounted in a manner allowing for its rotation about the polarization axis.
In real world of optics, circular polarization is understood as right- of left-handed circularly polarized light, which of course has nothing to do with linearly polarized light at all.
=> What is called "CPL", i.e. "Circular PoLarization" in photography, has nothing to do with light being circularly polarized.

Back to ELVIS!  It is not as small as I liked my LX7. However, having the skin condition I am having, a closed to sealed camera helps a lot to get dust out.
The LX7 already provides an ND filter, on the push of a button, now it is equipped with a polarization filter to take care of reflections.

The LX7 in itself is a brilliant camera, extended as shown above, the LX7 is clearly the most desirable P&S camera available today. Despite the added bulkiness, the accessories mentioned above renders the LX7 close to a professional DSLR.

Street Photography Using the LX7

I am rather new to street photography, however, I think I got some basic understanding of what seems to be the thumb-rule for getting the shot in the street.

1. Speed, the shutter needs to open a quickly as possible.
2. Monochrome images are typical for this genre.
3. Depth of field, usually pretty deep.

Let's see what we can do with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7.
This camera, as you probably already know, hast got 4 memory position for custom settings. In my camera, C1 is taken by bracketing, cf. earlier post. This leaves us with the 3 additional spaces under the C2 position of the quick dial, I choose C2-1, later more about that.

Lets look at what we primarily need, control over the camera with the fewest possible interactions.
The camera sports a nice aperture control ring, so, lets go for aperture priority mode (there are actually more reasons for this, you will see).
=> Step 0: set the camera to "A".

Being as fast as possible, the first priority to me was to use manual focus (MF), which is to be selected by the switch at the lens barrel, in order to loose the time any auto-focus takes. "Manual focus?", you may ask yourself, "the one where you have to fiddle that little 'FOCUS'-thingy?!". Yes, precisely that!
Here comes the trick: in the Setup-menu (page 4), there is an entry 'Lens Resume'. This entry refers to 2 options: 'Zoom Resume' and 'MF Resume'. Both come in very handy for street photography purposes.
=> Step 1: enable lens resume for both options (Setup-menu, page 4), see below


We want monochrome, right? Well, yes and no. B&W images in such cameras are produced by processing data that is provided by sensors having a Color Filter Array (CFA) printed on them. Those filters are red green and blue filters, where green occurs twice in a pixel (cf. Bayer filter array). The individual filter dye used on said array will of course have a specific attenuation.
When recording photos in RAW, we record the data provided by the sensors, as the name suggest. This data, however, represents light filtered by the Bayer CFA. 
I hope that camera manufacturers make use of the knowledge of the light attenuation created by the respective dyes and take it into consideration for the algorithm to convert RGB-data into monochrome images. Consequently, you would want to store not only the RAW file, but also a monochrome JPG file.
=> Step 2: in the Rec-menu, set 'Photo Style' to 'Monochrome'
=> Step 2.1: i the Rec-menu, set 'Quality' to 'RAW + fine'


Point 3 of the above list points towards depth of field. Well, since we are on our way programming the camera in aperture priority, we do not need to bother about that, you will take care about the D.o.F. by using the aperture dial on the lens barrel.
=> Step 3: enjoy the aperture dial of the LX7!


Some further stuff may come in handy:

• ISO limit 800 (Rec-menu, page 1), ISO 800 may already be noisy... hence don't go beyond that
• Quick AF ON (Rec page 2), in case you engage auto-focus
• Metering Mode [(.)] (Rec, page 3), evaluative mode, there is not time for spot metering, still we want to meter where we point, roughly...
• Step Zoom ON (Rec, page 4), see below
• Stabilizer ON (Rec, page 4), good idea, in particular since in this type of photography the photographer is moving quite often
• AF Assist Lamp OFF (Rec, page 4), don't alert your subjects!

Now, save your settings into a convenient custom memory. As mentioned above, I went for C2-1. This can be done by on 'Setup' page 2, item: 'Cust.Set Mem.'. I leave it up to you to figure out the rest.


SEE BELOW points:

Lens Resume
Both settings, the focal length and the focus could/should be set before going on the street.
I recommend a focal length equivalent to either 35mm or 50mm, depending on your preference. This setting will be recalled when you switch on your LX7. Depending on your training, you will see for yourself w/o engaging any viewfinder, what the framing will be.
The more important setting is the manual focus (MF). Put the camera into manual focus mode and set the focal distance to about 3m (using a wide open aperture... the on screen display will show you the range). Now stop down the iris, and you will see how deep the D.o.F. will be. Judging the distance to your subject is just a matter of experience, be it 3m, you may open the lens to the maximum, if you are not sure, just stop it down, thereby increasing the D.o.F.

Step Zoom
Depending on your training, you will see with your own eye what the frame will be when knowing the equivalent focal length of the lens. Helps a great deal when shooting from the hips!


Summarizing:
- Those particular setting will produce a colored RAW image and a monochrome JPG.
- The camera is only controlled by the aperture ring, only defining the D.o.F.
- The settings can be recalled by the mode selector.

Using C1 for HDR

Short note using the custom settings dial position(s) of the Panasonic DMC-LX7 for HDR.

If you search the internet about the C1 and C2 custom settings position, folks seem to advice to setup those memories using the P mode. Not sure why that is, maybe those folks believe that the P stands for "programming"... Well it does not, it stands for "Program AE", which is a mode that automatically selects the shutter speed and the aperture value. This mode allows for a little bit more user control over the camera's settings, e.g. ISO, in comparison to the iA auto mode. That's all there is to P.

For my HDR purposes, I actually configured the camera to my likings in A mode, the mode used for exposure bracketing, and saved those setting into C1. Why C1? Very simple, C2 has got 3 sub-modes, which the user needs to select via a menu. Anything under C2 is therefore not directly selectable.


Here are some of the settings (non exhaustive list) I use and why I use those:

AUTO ISO / max ISO 400
In the very beginning I used max ISO 80, which is fine in pure daylight. However, if you allow AUTO ISO, this is what the camera will selected anyway (watch you ND-filter). Under low light, ISO 400 still produces reasonably low noise +3EVframes with handheld-compatible shutter speeds.
Don't go any higher however! My experience is that the camera will select ISO 80-160 for the 0EV and ISO 80 for the -3EV shot.

Stabilizer OFF
Well, I love the stabilizer for single frame shots, in particular in lower light and/or longer lenses. However, the O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) uses a mobile doublet, see image below, which will cause tiny changes to the image geometry.
There is nothing wrong with tiny changes in image geometry, unless you want to match image coordinates from different frames.
Consequently, I want OIS always engage, unless I am taking bracketed frames for HDR.

FN button to "Quality"
This might look funny since you would consider to shoot in RAW only. That is entirely true, however, occasionally it comes along handy to also have a JPG recorded. The LX7 is able to record a JPG file next to the RAW file. The content of this JPG file is actually configurable in the camera itself, even camera effects will have influence on this file. A push on the FN button now allows for a quick decision to include or not said JPG file.

Bokeh in Winter 2013

You would not believe it, calender says it was winter, nature lets it feel like spring.

Shortly before I wanted to return home, this is what I have seen, a tree full of blossoms!
Good opportunity to test the bokeh of my LX7.

f=24mm, f/1.4, s/125 @ ISO80

This image is converted from RAW into TIFF, scaled and saved to JPG (100% quality); no processing other than scaling whatsoever.

All in all I am satisfied with the result. Lighting was somewhat tricky. For a first attempt, the bokeh looks OKish to me. 

Anecdotal would be a hypothetical photograph someone else could have taken: "Man with camera staring at tree". Today was a windy/gusty day, the little branch kept swaying in and out of focus and framing respectively.

Magic hour in "Westland"

December 14th 2013 in South Holland during the magic hour obviously, facing NNW.
The photo was taken with my Panasonic L7 in bracketing mode +/- 3EV, handheld of course.
I tried to replicate as much as what I perceived, although some may comment that the colors would  look unnatural.

For those interested, here are images of the original exposures, note that the 0EV photo is actually not aligned with the other two exposures:

0EV for the most of the content

-3EV for the details in the sky

+3EV for the details in the shadows

One trick I would like to share, I use anti-ghosting, i.e. only take the information of the 0EV photo, on parts of the water showing those nice ripples. When not using anti-ghosting, the ripples will wash out.
In principle there is nothing wrong with washed out ripples, however, flat water would make the observer miss a mirror image of the windmill and the shot would look really wrong.

Handheld HDR Photography ...

... can it be done?!

Here I am, writing my first entry in my newly created photography blog. Of course I had to pick a rather controversial topic to start with, HDR photography.

History

The first encounter with HDR photography was in the photography club in my school, I was 14 years old to that time. We tried to learn and master Ansel Adams' technique which of course required a lot time spent in the darkroom playing with liquids. Of course, as soon as affordable digital cameras were made available, somewhat mid/end nineties, I had to have one... However, the fun was limited, since the quality was rather capped, etc.
Not having that much time any longer to spend shaking development tanks (my enlarger has not been used in more than 30 years by now), and seen the inferior lomography like quality of the digital images, photography turned into some "point and shoot" experience for the occasional snapshot.

Mid this year, I picked up my aging Canon EOS-350D (aka. digital rebel) and started playing with bracketed short in aperture priority mode. This experience is/was a mixed bag, however, a tripod appeared to be an absolute necessity. Of course, a tripod is somewhat cumbersome to carry about and also the camera, although one of the smaller DSLRs is not really handy for everyday use.
 

The Camera

Consequently, the decision was taken that a new camera was falling due. The choice fell on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7, initially mainly for the reason that it is able to do ±3EV bracketing.
Without knowing it yet, the basis of my decision seems the criterion for shooting handheld HDR.
Of course, the very fast Leica lens with an F-number of f/1.4 and the neutral density filter were very welcome features (BOKEH!!!).

There are some additional technical features to this particular camera which help a lot taking  bracketed images w/o a tripod. The particularly interesting feature is the camera's ability to take 11fps bracketed shots in raw.

Now, lets have a look why this particular camera makes it possible to shoot bracketed images for HDR without a tripod.

Principles

What you are looking for in HDR is to collect the details in the lights and in the shadows, cf. Ansel Adams' "Zone System", which are lost in the your typical "correctly" exposed photo due to the limitation of the dynamic range of your recording medium.

In principle, what we are looking for in the over exposed image is totally blown out lights and good texture in the darks. Concerning the under exposed image, we are looking for entirely black shadow and good texture in the lights.

Experience

Mind you, I am relatively new to this. The photos shown below are at the beginning of my learning curve. Also, I try to display what I have seen myself, in other words, I try to keep colors at levels which I believed I have seen. Maybe, at some later stage, I might create those artsy color overloads which HDR is infamous for.

The following shots were taken with my handheld LX7 in "P" (ups! - details in the image captions). Shooting HDR brackets in "P"? Well... it was a mistake, I took some non-bracketed photos before and forgot to change all the settings. Of course, you want to shoot your images for HDR in "Av".
Those (raw) images are not treated at all, just scaled down and saved as jpg.

normal exposure - looks kinda odd (f/2.8, 1s/1600, ISO 80)

overexposed - as expected (f/2.8, 1s/200, ISO 80)

underexposed - not so much to see here (f/6.3, 1s/2500, ISO 80)

Actually, seen that the camera decided to stop down the under exposed image at a very fast shutter speed, the use of the ND-filter might have been a good idea. Luckily, the aperture change did not influence the geometry of the underexposed frame.

It is evident that those images show the textures mentioned above. Of course, this is a cliché shot for HDR photography and yes, the composition is a little on the boring side, I admit.
After having mingled together the 3 raw photos, this is what my result is:

final HDR photo

For obtaining the final result, anti-ghosting was used on the car. Other than that, I tweaked the colors, contrast and brightness a bit, using the GIMP. Essentially, I reduced color saturation and leveled out the image a bit.

Note the features highlighted in the following image. The details annotated in blue are results of the underexposed frame, while the features marked in red are a result of the overexposed contribution.

annotated final image

You may notice that the grass is a little bit greener on the result than on the over exposed shot. I wanted to show more texture on the trees' trunks, hence, I boosted the over exposed data a bit. Of course I would have done that in masked layers, however, I decided to not apply any "special treatment" to the photo, in order to demonstrate pure HDR photography.

Personally, I am pretty pleased with the result, in particular since this is handheld HDR photography, which most folks say was impossible.