Camera Straps Don’t Have To Be a Pain in the Neck

So you have your camera hanging around your neck along with your heavy, fast f/2.8 glass. Your pictures are great but your only nit is feeling of all that weigh hanging around your neck. You say to yourself, ‘this is burden but that is part of the price since good gear is often heavy gear’. If you feel all this weight is literally a pain in the neck then chances are you are wearing the manufacturers camera strap that has no padding, just your cameras model number for all to see. The good news is the fix is easy and once you try it you will likely never go back.

For heavy camera/lens combos, and even for not so heavy combos, I strongly recommend you put away the strap that came with your DSLR and replace it with something like a Op/Tech Pro or Op/Tech Pro Loop Strap. I own two of the Pro Loop Strap models, one on each of my two bodies. I have not used a OEM camera strap since 2005 and when I get a new camera I keep the original strap in the plastic bag to make it easier when the time comes to sell my older camera, “strap like new – never used.”

These straps have three parts, two shorter ends that attach to your camera which easily snap onto the longer, padded part that goes around your neck. What is great about this design is not only are they very comfortable and cushion your neck, you can easily remove (by unsnapping) the neck part if it becomes a nuisance by getting in your way dangling from a tripod. One landscape trips I use two bodies, one dedicated to my longer Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 and one with my wider lenses, I generally remove the neck part and snap the two shorter ends (that are attached to the camera) together which transforms it into a handle. This keeps the strap from dangling from my tripod and makes it easier to place in my camera bag. I do the same when shooting wildlife with my heavier 300mm f/2.8 lens to keep the longer strap from getting in the way. Works out great and it is a snap, pun intended, to convert back and forth.

If you ever thought that your camera/lens feels heavy, and is literally a pain in the neck, then I strongly recommend investing in one of these Op/Tech (or similar design) padded neck straps. Chances are you will never go back to using those uncomfortable manufacturer straps.

Negative Clarity – A Powerful New Tool in ACR

Photoshop CS3 introduced a new and powerful tool, Clarity, in their Raw converter, ACR (Adobe Camera Raw). This feature improves contrast in the midtones giving many images a welcome snap without sharpening. ACR 5 in CS4, as well as Lightroom 2, improved this tool in ways that may not be apparent by allowing the user to now make negative Clarity adjustments thus decreasing midtone contrast. This feature, especially when combined with another new and incredibly useful tool, the Adjustment Brush, allows for at least two new non-destructive editing applications of Raw files.

The first application of negative clarity is for portrait work. When the Clarity slider is moved to the left, i.e., a negative setting, pores, blemishes, acme and wrinkles begin to vanish and are replaced by a smooth complexion. This is similar to what you might expect when applying a Gaussian blur in Photoshop except in this case you are targeting only midtones, i.e., skin tones.

For portrait work there are a few ways to do this. The easiest is to simply move the clarity slider to the left to make a universal adjustment. Another, more targeted way is to use the new Adjustment Brush only on the skin area (see image of my mother). Hit 'K' to open the adjustment brush, move the Clarity slider to about –50 and brush over the skin. Then adjust the clarity slider left or right until you get the desired look. You can then click on ‘New’ and use a positive setting and brush over the hair, eyes, lips to add some snap to those areas if needed.

What I personally do most of the time is create a soft glow around the subject by using a Preset. I have created three Presets that vary the negative clarity setting. My presets include three adjustments; 1) As a Nikon shooter I use the ‘Camera Portrait’ camera profile for best skin tones 2) Go to the Tone Curves/Parametric Curves and set Highlights at +15 and Shadows at –25 (this helps with the overall glow of the highlights and darkening of the shadow areas to let the subject stand out.) 3) Set Clarity to –15, -30 and –50 to create three different presets each with different negative clarity strengths. I then simply try each preset until I find the one that works best being careful not to go too far. If after applying a preset I still need more softness in the skin I hit ‘K’ to open the adjustment tool and apply the brush with a negative clarity in the skin as needed. This method can quickly give you a glamour glow with smooth skin – see picture of young girl with acme skin created by simply using the above preset.

The second application of new negative Clarity setting and Adjustment Brush is to help isolate your subject by softening the background. As above, hit ‘K’ to pull up the adjustment brush and move the clarity slider all the way to the left, -100 for starters. Then brush over the background area surrounding your subject to soften detail. If the area is too soft then you can simply move the slider to the right until you get the look you want. This is similar to applying a Gaussian blur or using a larger aperture to blur background, except it is non-destructive. This method is also great for softening any light source that is in the picture. Brush over the light bulbs or even better, over lit candles to help create a dreamy mood.

Since CS3 the Clarity slider has been a quick and easy way to add some midtone snap to our images. Now, the latest and greatest version goes both ways and adds even more power to our non-destructive tool kit. Give it s try.