Category: Photography

This category is about photography and video recording, encoding and production.

Photography

Outdoor TTL Flash Portrait Photography

What is TTL flash?

TTL is short for through the lens. TTL is a mode, that a flash can operate in. When the flash in in TTL mode, the flash will fire a pre-flash and the flash power will then be automatically set in a fraction of a second, based on a light metering through the lens by the camera.

When is TTL flash used?

If the the eyes, face or other important features of the subject is unevenly lit and the subject is too dark with high contrast, then TTL flash can lift the shadows and light the subject to match the natural ambient light in the background. If the sun is warm and setting, then an orange gel or filter can make the flash warm as well.

Find a good spot for portrait photography.

Consider a place with some trees or some shade. Face should be in neutral even light. Not in harsh uneven light. This will make it possible to control the light.

Dial in the exposure on the camera.

Set camera to manual mode. Set light metering to an averaging mode. Dial in the exposure to 1/160-200s, f/1.2-5.6 and ISO 100-400. Keep ISO as low as possible to avoid noise. Make sure, that the flash is turned off, and take a test image and review the image and the histogram. A correct exposure will not have peaks up against the left side nor the right side. Adjust as necessary.

Dial in the exposure on the flash.

If it is sunset and the light is yellow, then use an orange gel or filter on the flash. This will make the flash light become warmer and the image will become more natural. There are usually a half tone and a full tone.

If the flash can not be bounced off a light wall, then point it directly at the subject.

Set flash to TTL mode.

If direct flash is used, then adjust the shutter, so the meter is zero or slight over-exposed. The flash will become more soft. The reason is, that a dark background wil make the flash too bright. Is it better to just use FEC and reduce flash power?

Use a flash transmitter and a softbox to make the light source bigger and softer. Place the softbox as close as possible to make the light as big as possible for softer light. Use a diffuser and un umbrella to make the light source bigger and software.

Adjust flash exposure compensation (FEC) as necessary to make the light soft and natural. Remember, that the camera will by default measure the brightness of the average scene and light it towards grey. Dark scenes will become too bright. Bright scenes will become too dark.

Shoot.

More about TTL flash portrait photography.

Adventure, Photography

Vordingborg Festuge 2024

Pictures from Vordingborg Festuge 2024

This is some of the pictures, I shoot of bands and guests, from the annual music festival Vordingborg Festuge 2024. Conditions were challenging heavy clouds and rain. This did not leave much light for capturing pictures. I used a handheld digital camera with a 70-200mm zoom lens. I used an optimal balance between high speed exposure and narrow depth of field. I used my own custom in-camera picture profile settings for capturing true colors as seen on site. I did not not apply any editing, filters nor generative artificial intelligence to the pictures.

Photography

Må man fotografere og dele billeder af en anden person uden samtykke?

Denne sider handler om samtykke til fotografering og deling af billeder, der i Danmark er reguleret i kapitel 27 om freds- og æreskrænkelser i straffeloven. Skrevet 20. marts 2024.

Må man fotografere en anden person uden samtykke?

Man må gerne fotografere en anden person, der befinder sig i offentlige omgivelser eller på et frit tilgængeligt sted. Eksempler på sådanne steder er en koncert, en zoologisk have og en fritidsklub eller forening med udfoldelse af aktiviteter.

Hvis man vil fotografere en anden person, der befinder sig i private omgivelser eller på et ikke frit tilgængeligt sted, så skal der indhentes samtykke til det. Eksempler på sådanne steder er en læge, bank, et fitnesscenter, en bar, natklub, et diskotek og en arbejdsplads.

§ 264 a. Den, der uberettiget fotograferer personer, der befinder sig på et ikke frit tilgængeligt sted, straffes med bøde eller fængsel indtil 6 måneder. Det samme gælder den, der ved hjælp af kikkert eller andet apparat uberettiget iagttager sådanne personer.

Må man dele billeder af en anden person uden samtykke?

Man må gerne dele eller offentliggøre billeder af en anden person, der er taget i offentlige omgivelser, på et frit tilgængeligt sted og er egnet til en bredere offentlighed.

Hvis man man vil dele eller offentliggøre billeder af en anden person, der er taget i private omgivelser eller på et ikke tilgængeligt sted, så skal der indhentes samtykke til det.

§ 264 d. Med bøde eller fængsel indtil 6 måneder straffes den, som uberettiget videregiver meddelelser eller billeder vedrørende en andens private forhold eller i øvrigt billeder af den pågældende under omstændigheder, der åbenbart kan forlanges unddraget en bredere offentlighed. Bestemmelsen finder også anvendelse, hvor meddelelsen eller billedet vedrører en afdød person.

Må man dele intime billeder af en anden person uden samtykke?

Man må ikke dele eller offentliggøre intime billeder af en anden person uden samtykke. Man må ikke dele eller offentliggøre billeder, der vedrører en anden persrons private forhold eller omstændigheder, der ikke er tiltænkt en bredere offentlighed.

Hvis man vil dele eller offentliggøre intime billeder af en anden person eller billeder, der vedrører en anden persons private forhold eller omstændigheder, der ikke er tiltænkt en bredere offentlighed, så skal der indhentes samtykke til det.

§ 264 d. Med bøde eller fængsel indtil 6 måneder straffes den, som uberettiget videregiver meddelelser eller billeder vedrørende en andens private forhold eller i øvrigt billeder af den pågældende under omstændigheder, der åbenbart kan forlanges unddraget en bredere offentlighed. Bestemmelsen finder også anvendelse, hvor meddelelsen eller billedet vedrører en afdød person.

Må man dele adgang til billeder, der er forbeholdt betalende brugere?

Man må ikke dele eller offentliggøre en adgang til billeder, der er forbeholdt betalende brugere. Med adgang menes også brugernavn, adgangkode, login-oplysninger, gengivelse eller anden form for adgang.

§ 263 a. Med bøde eller fængsel indtil 1 år og 6 måneder straffes den, der uberettiget 3) skaffer sig eller videregiver et adgangsmiddel til et datasystem, c) hvortil adgangen er forbeholdt betalende brugere.

Mere om fotografering og deling billeder.

FreeBSD, Photography

Creating video with KDEnlive on FreeBSD

Importing and renaming raw video clips with creating time on FreeBSD.

Import or copy the raw video clips from the camera and store them on a temporary local fast file system. Rename the raw video clips, so the filename contains the time stamp. This will become convenient later, when listing and loading them. The following csh script uses the stat utility to get the file creation time stamp and then renames the video clips accordingly.

$ cat rename-mp4
#!/bin/csh
foreach file (*.MP4)
  set newname = `stat -f '%SB' -t '%y%m%d-%H%M%S' "$file"`
  mv "$file" "${newname}-${file}"
end

An example of the manual approach, for the same result, would be the following commands.

$ mv MGR103.MP4 240314-213544-MGR103.MP4
$ mv MGP101.MP4 240314-213535-MGP101.MP4

Creating a new project and profile preset in KDEnlive.

Launch KDEnlive and create a new project. KDEnlive will ask you to select a profile preset. In the settings, select or create a profile preset, that matches the raw video clips from the camera and the main format, you will be targetting. If you will be creating a new profile preset, find a general profile preset and I recommend using a naming convention, that reflects the resolution and frame rate.

  • Action cameras, such as the legendary GoPro Hero 3 Black, produces high resolution frames in more narrow aspect ratio and high frame rate, such as 1920×1080@60 (16:9).
  • Cam corders, such as the legendary Sony FDR AX43, produces high resolution frames in traditional film aspect ratio and frame rate, such as 3840×2160@25 (16:9) or 1920×1080@25 (19:6).
  • Mobile phoes, such as Samsung Galaxy A series, produces moderate resolution frames, such as 1920×1080@25 (16:9) or 1080×1920@25 (9:16).

Editing video and audio on the timeline i KDEnlive.

Adding effects i KDEnlive.

If you want to add a watermark, also known as an overlay, you will need an image with your logo or watermark. If the watermark is transparent, it will most likely be in PNG format. Add a track on top of the video in the timeline and place the watermark in it. Stretch it, so it matches the full length of the video. You can now place the watermark, where you want it to be, by opening the effects window, finding the transformation effects and selecting the Crop, Scale and Tilt effect. Adjust the scale and tilt values as necessary. If the video is 1080 pixels wide and the watermark is 200 pixels wide, you might want to scale to 20 and 20 and tilt to 953 and 1779.

Exporting video clips for other use.

If you will be exporting video clips for other use, then use the input and output markers to export those at this point and before any formatting and watermarking. Use a naming convention, that keeps the clips in chronological order, such as a time based prefix and a descriptive tekst. Such clips can later be formatted and watermarked with KDEnlive or FFmpeg for sharing or use on social media.

Photography

Night Time Indoor Snapshot Flash Photography

What is night time indoor snapshot flash photography?

The purpose of night time indoor snapshot flash photography is to have a light weight hand-held camera gear, that can quickly be switched on and framed to capture snapshots of individuals, groups and even take selfies, while also capturing colorful background ambient light in the club or private party. This type of photography is also known as event photography.

This can be achieved with a digital camera, a wide angle lens and an external speedlight flash. The shooting proces should be swift and automatic, so natural, creative expressions are captured, while also having fun with it. There will not be time for fumbling aound with settings and cumbersome gear.

Configure camera and flash for capturing low light snapshots.

  1. Use a lens, that spans a wider viewing angle around 50°, such as the well known Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM lens.
  2. Set the camera mode to manual and dial in the camera exposure to 1/8s, f/2.8 and ISO 100. This will be the default go-to exposure setting. This should give you a good captura of the ambient background. If this is too bright or too dark for your application, or you have a much different lens, you will want to adjust the aperture, shutter speed and ISO in that order until the best ambient background is achieved.
  3. Set image review to hold. Subjects will almost always want to see the image, so it might as well be ready for them. Set white balance to daylight. The flash, changing lighting and and mixed light sources will not work well for the automatic white balance. Set light meter to evaluative mode.
  4. Attach the white diffuser to the flash for a slight more soft lighting. Attach the flash to the camera and point it directly at subject. It will usually not be possible to bounce light off walls and there will usually not be time to experiment with bounced light neither. Set flash mode to TTL mode.
  5. If your camera has live preview, your might want to use this. This will usually enable automatic eye tracking and make it easier to compose some shoots. The downside of this is decreased battery life.

Photograph individuals, groups and even selfies, while also capturing colorful background lights.

You can now grab your camera and walk around and do night time indoor snapshot flash photography. You can quickly capture and photograph individuals, groups and even selfies, while also capturing colorful background lights. The camera immediately holds the image, so you can show it. Just press the shutter to continue shooting.

You might want to adjust flash exposure and aperture as necessary.

  1. Adjust flash exposure compensation as necessary. If people are much brigher than grey, the flash might need more power. If people are much darker than grey, the flash might need less power. The reason is, that the camera will try to power each scene grey, so this should be compensated for. You might also prefer a lighter or darker appearance for effect. You will usually want to adjust flash exposure compensation in 1/3 stops, such as 0.3, 0.7 and 1.0.
  2. Adjust aperture as necessary. If you will be photographing groups, you might want more depth of field. This is done by adjusting the aperture and ISO in the same amount of stops, so the camera exposure remains the same. If you want 1 stop from f/2.8, then change to f/4.0 and ISO 200. If you want 2 stops from f/2.8, then change to f/5.6 and ISO 400. The aperture dial usually moves in 1/3 stops, but remember to turn the ISO dial the same amount, so the camera exposure remains the same.