Nikon AF-S 24-70mm F2.8 Light Leak Problem

In the video you can see the demonstration of how the light will be able to pass through the small window on keg.

This is not unique case, but of a problem that seems afflict many users around the world. obviously cannot know the extent of the problem until Nikon not circulate a note clarification because there are users to which the problem does not occur.

to see if your objective has this problem you need a reflex FX to find out. leave a comment with the result of the test for the other readers.

What gives character to each photograph is always light. In one click we can appreciate many elements such as composition, the shooting situation, the uniqueness of an event, a phrase caught on the fly, the solemnity of a landscape or a building, land degradation or the splendor of a place, a human condition, the beauty and action of an animal, or many other elements, but never, under any circumstances, any of these elements will be effectively represented if the light that characterizes our shooting is bad quality.

This does not mean you always have plenty of light, indeed, but it certainly means that the search of the proper way to exploit the available light in the best way is the essential point of the photographic research.

The portrait is no exception to this rule, on the contrary they have, along with still-life, the main photographic genre where the right light has to be at its best. In the portrait, in fact, we cannot rely on other scenic elements that are not our subject. We cannot rely on emotion and wonder that inspires a beautiful and magnificent landscape; we have not the rare animal caught in action; we will not have "scenic crutches" that will be the support for a lack of lighting on the front. The light will be the first means by which to compare and to draw on ideas to better understand our subject, to better represent what we want.

The light will more easily available is, of course, that provided by the sun. Sunlight, by its nature, is not the most manageable; it varies in intensity throughout the day, varying in color and inclination, yet allows because of its intensity, to be effectively exploited and shaped to reach almost every choice of lighting we want for our subject. The first consideration on the natural light is relative to the place of shooting, whether indoors or outdoors.

In a closed environment, the sunlight comes to us through the windows. In this case we have a highly directional light that will light a part of our subject peremptorily, leaving one side in the shade: this effect, although sophisticated in some cases, might be right too marked for a classic portrait and it might create sharp shadows and closed. In this case a first step in achieving a better quality of light is to have a white tent in front of the window, so we can use the result of a significantly softer light due to the effect of spreading the curtain raises. In this situation the difference in light between the light side of the subject and the dark side will be much less marked and the result will be a photographic portrait less "dramatic". The drawback of using a window screen is available in the fall of light; the curtain, in fact, will absorb much of the light and spreading it, to further lower the brightness of the scene. However, the main advantage is cost of light, as we will see a not insignificant aspect. As an added bonus, the window, preferably facing south to enjoy more light and a greater number of hours, can control the color and some special effects.

Using an orange transparent curtain can give the shot a warm tone without having to resort to the sunset or sunrise, so we can give different colors depending on the color of the light that we give to our tent- diffuser. Finally, looking for a graphic effect, we use curtains with patterned more or less regular, which project on the subject soft textures graphics. Be careful, if we use a tent to introduce a colour in light, we have to sure that the hue is precisely the tone that we want; we will introduce back in our step a color difficult to control and removal. We must evaluate not only the color rendering on the skin, but also clothing. There is nothing worse than a magenta tone on a shirt that clearly should be white.

However, if we want to prevent the fall of light determined by the various screens and use all available sunlight, we will be able to mitigate the shadow of the side opposite the light through one or more reflectors. So the light that is not directly affect the subject will be reflected by a panel positioned opposite the window and let light in greater or lesser extent also the dark side. To adjust the intensity of the reflected light will be sufficient to remove or move the panel to the subject. For these purposes I use polystyrene panels; my favorites are 100x50 cm and 1 cm thick. These measures allow to easily assemble a panel to get bigger; some are enough nails to hold them together and can be easily disassembled. Furthermore, the thickness not only facilitates the placement of nails but also allows the pane not to blend.

As an alternative to polystyrene is fine as long as nearly all white. The other colors give it the dominant color; in my parents' house there are portraits of my childhood that my father took into the living room using a newspaper as a reflector and my mother as a support of the panel.

If the light from the window seems a poor solution and unprofessional, suffice it to say that on the market there are banks dedicated to flash studio called "window light", essentially a box to be applied to an electronic flash for less than two thousand euro. In studios it simulates the light that would provide a window curtain, so a window facing south is the best friend of the portrait photographer.

Moving outdoors, the ability to manage and change the sunlight fades away completely; we will not be able either to control the hardness and even less color, we use it as it is. In this case, so you might choose to take in the most convenient hours, with the sun low on the horizon, namely in the early hours of the day or the last, close to sunset. Again the use of at least one reflector will prove basic; with a direct light, in fact, the ability to soften the shadows offered by a panel will make the most of the features of a face, but leaving it readable while maintaining the three-dimensional in its entirety.

One solution is by no means negligible outside to shoot the subject in the shade under the shelter of a porch, a shed or whatever will keep him in the shade but be careful, for our purposes it will not go so well in the shadow of the side buildings. Beneath a canopy, in fact, we would have a well-directed light which will give us that little bit of tonal differences can give dimensions to the subject, back in the shade provided by a building facing north we will have only a flat light and diffused evil that will lend itself to this purpose.

Finally, it is considered a precise time, the exact sunset. The sunset is, in my opinion, one that allows the best results. Unfortunately, it lasts a few minutes and you have to wait to get it back the next day, so you should be prepared to find and know in advance what shoot to do. Despite the difficulties, however, light at sunset gives us the ability to shoot the subject in full sun, well-lit and wrapped in a warm light and soft, with long shadows that give dimension and texture to surfaces. Of course, just the length of shadows has to be controlled: the nose, for example, could cast a shadow that would be to obscure a large portion of the face, so we have to worry about controlling the position of the subject with extreme caution.

When can we use natural light? The question is subjective, depends on the individual photographer and his ability to express. Above all, there are not expressly prohibited areas in daylight, but certainly, in the abstract reasoning, natural light does not lend itself to "dramatizations": sensuality, drama, toughness, can hardly be made in full using only natural light and no other scenic element, unless you shoot in difficult conditions; so with full sun, with sharp shadows and hard, when control of the elements of recovery becomes crucial when a light burn permanently closed or permanently leave a shadow is a risk always present. Conversely, natural light is very suitable to make delicate emotions and aspects of the character of the subject: a dreamy look lost in thought, or joy, cheerfulness, and in general all the aspects of character that make us say a person "is sunny”, even malice, in an ironic variant of sensuality, lends itself well to be illuminated by sunlight.

Personally I do not often shot using only natural light, except in the case of portraits of the road or on specific request. I am a lover of the flash and I prefer to use the latter; despite all, among my most popular portraits a large part consists of shooting natural light. It was not uncommon for professionals to whom I have given dozens of shots and they have enlarged and hung portraits in natural light into their house. Probably in the habit of shooting light flash and then in situations of high drama, they appreciate a portrait that captures the most delicate and sides of the subject’s character not always shown .

This video will recommend you which lenses are more suitable for weddings and events.

This is only the first in a series of tutorials that explain how to improve on your knowledge on the photograph or on the registration of video with the reflex modern.

In this video you can see a tutorial on how to use the new functionality integrated for application of watermark with lightroom 3 on your pictures.

This is one of a series of articles dedicated to portrait. They are written by the professional photographer, Attilio, who has already teamed up into the blog.

Portrait is the more practiced photographic genre in the history of photography.

This genre is not easy and should not be underestimated. Technique skills are essential and they have to be combined with the photographer personal sensibility to make a real portrait.

There are so many possibilities to enhance our subject. It’s essential to understand what we want to show: beauty, sensuality, shyness, intensity, great - heartedness, naughtiness, innocence ecc.

Keeping this in mind, we can think about realizing our portrait and how to use techniques.

In a conventional manner, the portrait lenses range from 85mm and 135mm in focal length. These allow a nice portrayal of the face, without perspective distortions of shorter lenses and the crushing effects of longer lenses.

However a good portrait can be made with any kind of lens if the photographer manages his interpretative and control skills. The risk to caricature the subject is very high.

The choice of focal length to use is also constrained by the habits and personal interaction we have with our subject: use a shorter focal length, a 50mm or a 85mm, will allow us to shoot in close contact with our subject, otherwise the choice of a longer focal length will allow us greater freedom of action, to turn more easily around our party and give him more room to move and get comfortable. Anyway, we have to choose the tool that makes us comfortable and makes the subject at ease. Some people in fact can hardly be natural with a goal at half a meter from his face and pointed at, other can flirt back without any shyness. It's up to us to interpret the signals and act accordingly.

I have deliberately failed to make distinctions between film and digital. In the case of the picture, the problem can be considered negligible; the variation of media format sensitive, in fact, vary the angle of view embraced by our optics, but not the optical behavior.

So problems of perspective, distortion and flattening of the focal planes remains unchanged in the use of film or a digital APS-C. It will only take a step forward or a back if our subject does not fit or lose in the frame.

Another key aspect in the choice of optics for the portrait is the maximum aperture. In line entirely theoretical perspective with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 is the minimum wage to think of having a lens suitable for making portraits, being able to dispose of it would be desirable to have lenses with aperture f / 2 or even f/1.4. To have a very open aperture has many advantages, all the ability to blur everything that we do not care or, worse, it distracts attention from our subject, we have also the possibility of having your bad quality but instead will make a lot of focus.

Imagine you have a rose bush, the probability that they are all perfectly flower is almost nil, however on a couple of days at most, because they could effectively have a perfect background blur even though most of them are faded and withered.

A bad tent, an ugly wall, anything that has the proper distribution of color will become better as our background where environment portraits. A very opened aperture allows to use the light easily; a standard flash at f /1.4 is sufficient to illuminate all our subject even if they reflect on a panel, f /4 will be well over 3 stops closed if we have to increase their power in the flash lighting great, otherwise our shots will be underexposed without appeal.

Outdoors on the problem gets worse: the best times to take are the sunrise and sunset, when the sun is low and the light is warm.

In these situations to take a 1/250 f /1.4 ISO 100 is not unlikely to have a minimum aperture of f /4 would be to take 1/30 and then moved the subject and the photographer probably shake-present. Already have an aperture of f/2.8 would shoot at 1/60, once that conjures a large part of the subject and moved to a certain extent also amplified by the shake-length lens.

Last but not least, a wide aperture allows you to give depth to the subject: a face that fills our frame, shot at f/1.4, with the focus perfectly centered on the eye closest to the photographer, will have the distant parts of the features that will begin to show a slight blur while remaining legible, an effect that allows a perception of three-dimensional observation of the portrait.

Specialist objectives: on the market there are lenses dedicated to optical picture control that allow a blur. These optical control while maintaining an excellent fire under normal conditions, allow to soften, through a command sequence, the yield of optics make the result softer.

The effect is apparently similar to that of a soft filter, although with some differences, in general, if the wedding photography is not your job I tend to avoid them, the cost is significant and very specialized use.

In contrast, there are macro lenses, created for completely different uses and sometimes used more frequently in recent years, to take portraits. The use of these lenses has only one drawback, the ultimate punch, so any defect in the skin of the subject is inexorably pulled out. If you want a clear yield and contrasted, and your subject has a flawless skin, use them safely, otherwise you will spend many hours at the computer to hide wrinkles, pores of the skin and various defects.

I conclude with my personal observations.

I use preferably two lenses for portraits, a 50mm f/1.4 zoom and a 70-200 f/2.8 stabilized, with a clear preference for the latter.

The reason I choose this lens is that it allows me great freedom of movement around the subject. Especially outdoors it allows me to shoot well from long distance, leaving the subject in the chosen position, also shooting at longer focal lengths from 100mm up allows me to not keep up with him too, so leave it free to move naturally and then have a free attitude of awe towards the camera.

I use that lens also for street portraits, in fact, the ability to shoot from several feet away, despite the size of the optics, makes it easy to take before the subject perceives my presence, leaving the expression on his face of the moment.

Instead I use the 50mm in the case of professional models, where the fear of the objective has been exceeded and the relationship with the photographer is more mature and direct. In such cases a 50mm you have a very close contact and get the results those who probably already fill their photo book.

I find it comfortable even in the case of informal portraits, in situations where more formal perfection that counts seize the momentary expression, in this case, light permitting, a 50mm f / 8 allows you to take the fly without worrying too closely the focus.

Article written by Attilio and translated by Enrica Di Dea Photo Gallery

Related Articles:

- Photographic technique: the portrait, the natural light

- Photographic technique: the portrait, the use of Flash (single and multiple)

Was completely renovated from the point of view technical.

The Panasonic Lumix LX5 has a zoom 3,8x that covers the focal equivalent from 24mm to 90mm. The LX3 has a zoom 2,5x.

Has a sensor with a more extensive dynamic range. It has been improved the sensitivity that saturation.

The engine is Venus FHD that offers better elaboration and for the photos for both the video.

This tutorial and the picture shown here have been realized by Mattia Voso.

How you can notice in this picture the model's shadow has something particular, it has been colored by using Photoshop.

1) Duplicate your original (background) level with the picture Layer - Duplicate Layer.

2) Image - Adjustments - Variations. From this panel it is possible to add color dominants to the image. Since we are interested to shadows, we have to tick this option and add the desired color variation and its intensity.

3) Add a layer mask and fill it with the black color.

4) Now with the brush tool and the white color selected, paint over the shadows that we want to appear colored (this method works well with sharp shadows). This latter step is the most critical one, because we have to produce a final effect as much natural as possible (it is recommendable to work with brushes of different dimensions, opacity and hardness).

5) At this point, if you are not yet satisfied about your work, you can still change the final effect by changing the blending mode and/or the opacity. Moreover, for a higher degree of control, you can duplicate the layer, modify its blend mode and set its opacity below 100%. In such a way the underlying layer becomes visible and we can also modify the blend mode for it. In summary, with this latter method you will have the opportunity to mix two blend modes, resulting in an infinite number of possibilities.

In the examples proposed here, the method described above has been applied and, in the case of the red shadows, the following settings for layers blend mode and opacity have been used:

Layer 1 - screen - 100%;

Layer 2 - burn - 50%;

Both lens aperture and exposure time, hence diaphragm and shutter, affect the image in two different ways:

1°) By modifying the amount of light that reaches the sensor - the aperture affects the intensity of light, the shutter controls the time during wich the sensor i exposed to light.

2°) Each of them has also different effects on the image. The aperture value affects the depth of field, which is important when the scene includes elements placed at different distances from the camera (this topic has been addressed in the paper: "Aperture and depth of field"). The exposure time affects the image when either the subject or the camera are moving.

Time - Aperture combinations

In order to clearly record an image, the sensor must receive the right amount of light. In normal illumination conditions, there are no significant differences between using a short time and a large aperture, or a long time with a small aperture: both combinations provide the same amount of light to the sensor.

Below you can see the doubling or halving ratio between aperture and exposure time values. This relation allows combining different values in order to modify the final effect on the image, but always ensuring the correct amount of light to reach the sensor.

Time - Aperture

1/500 - f2.8

1/250 - f4

1/125 - f5.6

1/60 - f8

1/30 - f11

1/15 - f16

texture of all kinds to use in Photoshop to make wallpapers, masks, shading, pattern…

All the textures are divided for categories of materials and style.
We must thank the TextureKing.com site that gives the EC. The grandiose and constantly updated.

2°) Open the file we will have a level called "Background", duplicate this level and click on the copy that you will get.