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Photography Life
United States
Registrace 30. 05. 2009
Welcome! I'm Spencer Cox, a macro and landscape photographer based in Denver. I'm posting videos on the ins and outs of photography so you can take the pictures you've always wanted.
A Day in the Life of a Landscape Photographer
This is the story of a day in Death Valley as a landscape photographer - the art of landscape photography behind the scenes. I hope you enjoy.
To stay up to date on what I'm doing, follow the Photography Life Patreon page: www.patreon.com/PhotographyLifeBlog
That page is also where you'll find exclusive articles, polls, photo critiques, and more. Including the special project that I mentioned at the end of this video... :)
- Spencer
To stay up to date on what I'm doing, follow the Photography Life Patreon page: www.patreon.com/PhotographyLifeBlog
That page is also where you'll find exclusive articles, polls, photo critiques, and more. Including the special project that I mentioned at the end of this video... :)
- Spencer
zhlédnutí: 4 815
Video
Best Camera Settings for Landscape Photography
zhlédnutí 39KPřed 2 lety
Landscape photography can feel slow-moving at times, until it suddenly feels just the opposite. So, you need to know how to set your camera quickly and accurately or you'll miss the shot! This video will help you get to that point, whether you're a beginner or advanced photographer. 👇👇👇 This video is not sponsored! You can support Photography Life and Spencer Cox Photography by buying anything ...
How to Use Depth of Field in Photography - Explained
zhlédnutí 61KPřed 3 lety
Depth of field is one of the most important creative and technical factors in photography. Let's examine the tools at your disposal to change depth of field with any camera. This tutorial begins by explaining the three different ways to change depth of field: aperture, focal length, and focusing distance. We then move to real-world examples of how to use depth of field in practice, including si...
The Best Camera Settings for Macro and Close-Up Photography
zhlédnutí 197KPřed 3 lety
This video simplifies camera settings for macro photography! The first part explains the optimal settings for close-up photography in general (including larger subjects like flowers, lizards, and crabs). The second part covers high-magnification macro photography, which uses more specialized techniques. The tips in this tutorial apply regardless of the camera you have - whether DSLR, mirrorless...
How to Take Good Photos in Bad Light
zhlédnutí 11KPřed 3 lety
95% of the time, the sky is not going to have classic "good light." Sunset and sunrise don't last long, and even then they're not always right for photography. That's why it's so critical to know how to take good photos, even in bad light! I adventured through Florida's notoriously ever-changing weather to talk about doing photography on an overcast day, in midday sun, and in the pouring rain. ...
Wildlife Photography Without an Extreme Telephoto Lens
zhlédnutí 56KPřed 3 lety
I had a bit of fun with this one :) The truth is that I love wildlife photography, but I don't have a supertelephoto lens. Actually, my longest lens is only 200mm! But I still manage to take wildlife photos with some success. This video shows my process and some of my favorite tips. At the end of the day, I'm not saying you should ditch your supertelephoto if you have one. But rather, don't be ...
Better Than HDR? Try Image Averaging for Better Results
zhlédnutí 32KPřed 3 lety
Almost every photographer knows about HDR. But is there a better technique to accomplish the same result? I’d argue that there is. Image averaging doesn’t get as much attention as HDR, but in a lot of common situations - especially when there’s something moving in your photo - it ends up working a lot better. When I was coming up with the idea for this video, I was surprised to see that this te...
Editing Milky Way Photos in Photoshop: The 5 Best Tools
zhlédnutí 6KPřed 3 lety
When you edit Milky Way and astrophotography images, perhaps you tend to experience some frustration with Photoshop. Where should you even begin? The truth is that Photoshop is a huge software, and it can do almost anything you can think of. It's impossible to cover everything in one video, but these five tools in particular are some of the best and most useful ways to add some "pop" to your as...
How to Edit Milky Way Photos in Lightroom for Great Results
zhlédnutí 122KPřed 3 lety
Most Milky Way photos don't look great "out of the box" - so, you need to edit them carefully. Adobe Lightroom Classic is one of the best tools out there for the job, and in this video, I'm going to show you how to get STELLAR Milky Way photos with some intelligent post-processing. Most of the time, the best process is to start with Lightroom's global adjustments that affect everything in the p...
Milky Way Photography Tutorial - The COMPLETE Guide for Beginners
zhlédnutí 528KPřed 3 lety
Milky Way photography is the most requested topic that I've ever gotten on this channel. I hope you can tell, this is also the most time I've put into making a video! By the end of this tutorial, you'll know exactly how to photograph the Milky Way with any equipment. It covers everything from camera settings to advanced astrophotography techniques like multi-image blending. I made this course t...
The Best Aperture For Landscape Photography
zhlédnutí 51KPřed 3 lety
You've probably heard photographers say, "f/8 and be there!" But is f/8 really the best aperture for landscape photography? In truth, any aperture on your lens could be useful for photographing landscapes, just depending on the scene in front of you. I routinely use wide apertures like f/2.8 for Milky Way photography, while I'll stop down to f/16 if I need maximum depth of field. This video goe...
Macro Photography Ideas You Can Do At Home
zhlédnutí 89KPřed 3 lety
Even if you're stuck at home, there are a ton of amazing macro and close-up photography subjects you can photograph! I've made a list of my personal favorites in hopes of giving you some useful ideas. Some of these are a blast to photograph! If you feel like you haven't been doing enough photography recently because you can't travel to as many places as usual, this video is for you. One of the ...
Light and Color - How They Impact a Photograph
zhlédnutí 13KPřed 3 lety
Light and Color - How They Impact a Photograph
Every Single Effect of Aperture in Photography, Explained
zhlédnutí 81KPřed 3 lety
Every Single Effect of Aperture in Photography, Explained
I Wish I Knew This as a Photography Beginner
zhlédnutí 57KPřed 3 lety
I Wish I Knew This as a Photography Beginner
Compose Better Photos with Gestalt Theory
zhlédnutí 32KPřed 3 lety
Compose Better Photos with Gestalt Theory
Advanced Photography Tips, Tricks & Secrets
zhlédnutí 59KPřed 4 lety
Advanced Photography Tips, Tricks & Secrets
Lens Filters Explained - Everything You Need to Know
zhlédnutí 36KPřed 4 lety
Lens Filters Explained - Everything You Need to Know
Lightroom CATALOGS Explained - Easy Tutorial
zhlédnutí 98KPřed 4 lety
Lightroom CATALOGS Explained - Easy Tutorial
Introduction to Lightroom Classic for Beginners
zhlédnutí 18KPřed 4 lety
Introduction to Lightroom Classic for Beginners
Liwa Desert & Fog - Rare Drone Footage!
zhlédnutí 18KPřed 4 lety
Liwa Desert & Fog - Rare Drone Footage!
High-Quality Astrophotography With Basic Camera Equipment
zhlédnutí 52KPřed 4 lety
High-Quality Astrophotography With Basic Camera Equipment
What’s Up, Im Not Educated At All On Filters… However, All My Video Content I Record Outdoords… I’m Looking For A Good VIR- ND Filter And A Polarized Lens Filter … I’m Working With A Sony A6600 My Lenses Are: Sony E16=55mm 2.8 And Sony E15mm F1.4.. Thank You
F2.8 means😀
Say Hey Spence! Great stuff, watched it twice and saved it and want to play in the Macro Garden. Really appreciate the sense of fun style you bring to this subject. Look forward to watching more of your work.
thank you for the knowledge
Thank you, Tom! Glad you found it useful.
Fantastic explanation!
Fantastic explanation, Spencer! One question : is the hyperfocal technique going to give you as sharp focus at near and far points as focusing on each and using focus stacking ( which of course is cumbersome). In other words , do you only recommend focus stacking when the hyperfocal technique isn’t really working well or do you use focus stacking to make both near and far images maximally sharp? I sometimes think using hyperfocal technique that my far part of the image are still a bit soft. Thanks, Tim
Focus stacking technically gives you sharper results, but I rarely use it. Too much can go wrong and focus stacking almost always gives you little artifacts in the photo if anything was moving, even a blade of grass. When I focus stack, it’s only when f/16 plus this double-the-distance hyperfocal method did not give you sufficient depth of field. Even then, to minimize errors, I focus stack with photos taken at f/11 or f/16 so that I need to stack as few photos as possible.
Thanks you so much for your reply, Spencer. I understand your answer, but i am still perplexed as to why my landscape photos are softer in the distance. I am following your techn and getting the close objects sharp but not the distant parts. Using a z5 with z24-200 at 24mm so must be operator error. I have searched far and wide on the internet but no help. Any advice would be very welcome-and I understand if you don’t have time to respond. Your tutorials are the best! Tim
Thanks Tim! If it’s always the further portion that’s blurrier than the nearest foreground, it either means that you’re focusing too closely (either your initial estimate is a little incorrect or your estimate of “double” is a little incorrect) or the lens has some field curvature. In other words, its plane of focus isn’t actually a plane, but rather, curves inward. The 24-200mm does have some field curvature so that might be what you’re seeing, or maybe it’s a combination of that and inaccurate focus distance. Either way, you will need to focus a bit further than you have been. And make sure that your aperture is sufficiently narrow. If the foreground is close, f/11 or f/16 is necessary. Don’t shoot at f/5.6 if you need a lot of depth of field.
Wow! Thanks so much for your fast and clear response. I will work on your recommendations. Keep up the fantastic work work!
this was one of the best tutorial that ive seen 👍 thank you
I often take photos of trains and there is often reflection on the metal or white shirts of the crew.
When you mention distances of 2 feet and 4 feet from the camera, are you referring to the direct distance to the subjects, or the distance between the sensor plane and a plane passing through the subject, which is parallel to the sensor plane?
The latter! It’s the distance between the plane of your camera sensor and the shortest line to the subject.
A fantastic tutorial. An authentic details with convincing explanations. Thank you Spencer.
So you covered the problem of having not enough light. What about if you have too much light? Can there be a separate process for that? This video is so logical and clear. I would love to see it replicated.
Yeah good question, in practice you will hardly ever have too much light. You can simply use a faster shutter speed if it gets bright - no downside to that 99% of the time. In rare cases, like if you want motion blur with a long shutter speed on a sunny day, you will need to put a neutral density filter on your lens to cut down the light. Other situations would be trying to use a very bright maximum aperture on a sunny day (like f/1.4 at the beach), which could max out your camera’s shutter speed (usually 1/8000th second). Also, for filming smooth video or shooting with a flash in very bright light, you may need to use a moderate shutter speed like 1/200 to 1/50 second. Neutral density filters are the answer there too. But I’ll stress that these are all rare situations. I’ve never really run into the problem of too much light as a landscape photographer and haven’t used my ND filter in years.
O my gosh thank you!!! Where have you been all my life!!!
Super, lesson and good suggestions..mahesh USA./ India.
Awesome way to explain this
Your video tutorials are in a class by itself. Thank you for all you do. Always looking forward to your next installment.
Best description of polarizers ever. I was going to mention the effect of “angle” can create banding in the sky with panoramas, but you did mention that along with a caution to using a polarizer with wide angle lenses. Great job.
Thanks a lot, I have learned heaps!
Nice vid thanks! Subbed.
I've already had a little dabble in astrophotography, but I definitely feel I need more guidance, and I found your video so clear and informative. Thanks for putting this together. Picking up on your comment about how the Milky Way looks to the eye, I was on holiday in Santorini, sitting on our hotel terrace enjoying a glass of wine, looking out to sea, across the Caldera, and after about 15 minutes when my dark vision had kicked in, I said to my wife 'what the heck is that, it looks like a dusty cloud of stars', so I got my camera out and, without any astrophotography knowledge, took a shot. I now realise this is the Milky Way, and I sooooo wish I had the knowledge I do now, as the image wasn't great. But I was still excited to have seen the Milky Way for the first time in my life. I've been chasing it ever since, but sadly every time I go to a holiday destination with guaranteed low light pollution ... Mr Cloud or Mr Haze keep showing up and stopping me getting any photos. One day I'll get it ..... :-)
Can you go over what flash settings. Ettl zoom auto bracketing exposure compensation sycncro etc.
I wish I'd found this when I was first starting astro! Thank you for this!
Very comprehensive review. Looking at your other videos, I decided to subscribe. Thank you for sharing.
This was an outstanding video! I had to subscribe!
Extremely well explained. Thank you
Thank you! This was informative
Well done. Nice differentiation between just casual shooting up close and true macro shooting. Thanks!
Thank you so much!!!! I've struggled with my camera for a while now, but your videos make everything crystal-clear. Keep up the good work!!!
It seems that the aliens controll- youtube 😊
Thanks guy!
You got it, thanks for the super like!
Great video!
Thank you!
is canon rf85mm good for macro photography?
The RF 85mm f/2 Macro is a great lens for close-up photography, but note that its maximum magnification is 1:2 rather than 1:1. On a full-frame camera, this means you could fill the frame with something that’s about 72mm (2.8 inches) wide, rather than something that’s 36mm (1.4 inches) wide. So just make sure that’s enough for your work. You could also use extension tubes or other methods to get up to 1:1 magnification if necessary, but it would add some cost.
Good Video, BUT BY FAR the best humor in photography videos! And I don't mean the UFO-Joke - that was really good though - I mean all of those those subtile humorous remarks while the video was running. Great!
I live for comments like this, thanks!!
Been learning photography. Best description of the basics yet. Nice!
This is an absolutely awesome very very informative video one of the best I have watched about the lens polarizing filters
So cool
I'm brand new to photography and I've seen dozens of videos to help me prepare for astrophotography and NONE of them compare to how well made, planned out and informative as this one was. Thank you so much! I also have photopills and I have built a plan to go out to the sand dunes a couple hours away in about a month. I am so unbelievably excited to take my first astrophoto!
Complimenti. Grazie
Thanks for the lovely and very informative video tutorial, Spencer! Some questions, from an amateur macro photographer, as I find my images are not always sharp: 1. I also use the Nikkor 105 mm macro lens you seem to be using in the video. As you say that you would use manual focus, do you set the switch on the lens to M/A instead of A? What about the VR switch ? Off or On? 2. On the camera (Nikon D500), should one set the lever on the side to AF or M? Thanks!
Hi Nagesh, it doesn’t matter which one you set - whether on the camera or on the lens (or both!) switching to M will get you to manual focus. As for VR, I leave it on. It helps a little to stabilize the viewfinder even at extreme magnifications. And there’s no harm in doing so. I hope this helps!
First time LR user and this is the very first video I've watch. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Best explanation I've seen. Thanks
Nice, thank you from a nubie.
where did you get the math for f8 is equal to f64??
The diagonal of 8x10 film is about 313mm, and the diagonal of full-frame sensors is about 43mm. So the crop factor between them is about 7.3. An f-number of 64 divided by 7.3 gives you an f-number of 8.8. I guess saying f/9 in the video would have been more accurate, but either way, that’s how you get the same depth of field for a given composition on full-frame versus 8x10.
You should make more videos.
Thanks a lot! Great video
Really great video. Thanks. I'm subscribing to your channel.
Thank you, Al!
Another outstanding video Spencer. Highly educational, easy to follow and always worthwhile. Thank you so much!
3:50 focus ring speed/ratio and reset-to-infinity are both configurable with the latest Z cameras/firmware.
Yes! Nikon added that feature after this video was published. I encourage people to enable it.
Sensible and practical: you win! 👍
Thank you. Excellent and comprehensive introduction into filters.
Excellent setting and I do the same. Great content to educate people ❤panda approved
Glad you liked it, thanks!!