Ok, here's a quick post.
If you're in the market for a dSLR camera, here's a list of websites to visit. Both to do some research on the different models, what people have to say about them, and (for the forums) to be able to ask users of the different brands of cameras what they think about them.
www.dpreview.com -- A site that I visit almost everyday to see what is new in the world of cameras, as well as a very good reference site to look up the specifications of any camera that I am considering (new or used.) Also has many forums where you can learn about photography, and ask questions.
www.steves-digicams.com -- Another site that is a very good reference site to look up specs and learn what's new. Also has many forums where you can learn about photography and ask questions.
www.dxomark.com -- A site that actually conducts test on dSLR cameras and then posts the results. Has a great feature that allows you to compare different brand and models against each other.
Hope this helps!
Take care, yours truly,
Glen
:)
(C) Copyright 2011 -- Glen Fujino
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
EXIF Data -- What is it, why should I care and how do I view it?
Ok. It's been a while since my last post. 'been busy, but I'm back.
EXIF Data
What is it?
Ok. Technically, EXIF stands for EXchangable Image File format, which is a computer file format that describes how to store data for images and sound. In addition to the actual images and sound, there is more information that can (and usually is) stored with the picture which is often referred to as EXIF Data that records more details about how the image was captured. This includes such things as (but not limited to.) ...
Why should I care?
Now, the obvious question is, "why should I care?"
The power is that when taking pictures, when you see a picture that really turned out well, you'll want to repeat the success. And the quickest way to repeat the success is to do the same things you did to take that great picture again. Such as going out at the same time of day, having your camera on the same exposure mode, with the same lens, etc. (Maybe not that extreme, but just painting a visual picture.)
Then again, if you see one of your pictures that didn't turn out at all well, you can go through the EXIF Data to guess at what you could have done better and try this out next time.
And this can go equally as well for any digital picture you come across. As long as the EXIF Data hasn't been removed either manually or by some photo editing software, you'll be able to get the EXIF Data from that amazing image and try to figure out how you could use your camera to recreate that success and make a more impact image yourself.
How do I view EXIF Data?
Ok. Now that you're all convinced that you really want to view the EXIF Data off your picture, the question now becomes, how do I view EXIF Data?
Well, if you still have the CDs that came with your digital camera, it may contain a picture viewer that not only lets you view the pictures, but can display some of the EXIF Data as well.
If you've lost your camera CDs, then you can always use the on-line website ( Jeffrey's Exif viewer - http://regex.info/exif.cgi ), which is what I usually do because as long as I have internet access, its always there. (If you can't remember the URL address, just go to www.google.com and type "exif data" and Jeffrey's page is usually right near the top. Click on it and you're good to go.)
Once you're on Jeffrey's page, then either provide it with the URL of an image on the internet or browser for the file on your computer and then click on the "View Image ..." button. Jeffrey's page will load the picture, chug away and then display a page with all the meaty details.
Another alternative is exifdata [http://exifdata.com], which only takes a picture from your computer. So if you want to view EXIF Data from an image on the web, you'll have to download it to your computer first. But once there, this page displays the most useful EXIF Data quickly and easily.
Additional Resources:
Here are a few additional pages I've come across ...
Using EXIF Data [http://www.digital-photography-school.com/using-exif-data]
EXIF Data
What is it?
Ok. Technically, EXIF stands for EXchangable Image File format, which is a computer file format that describes how to store data for images and sound. In addition to the actual images and sound, there is more information that can (and usually is) stored with the picture which is often referred to as EXIF Data that records more details about how the image was captured. This includes such things as (but not limited to.) ...
- Camera
- Lens
- Exposure (ie. What exposure mode was used, shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting.)
- Flash (Did it fire or not?)
- Focus (Was manual focus or auto focus used.)
- Date / Time
- File size and Image size
- Focal Length
- White Balance mode
- etc.
Why should I care?
Now, the obvious question is, "why should I care?"
The power is that when taking pictures, when you see a picture that really turned out well, you'll want to repeat the success. And the quickest way to repeat the success is to do the same things you did to take that great picture again. Such as going out at the same time of day, having your camera on the same exposure mode, with the same lens, etc. (Maybe not that extreme, but just painting a visual picture.)
Then again, if you see one of your pictures that didn't turn out at all well, you can go through the EXIF Data to guess at what you could have done better and try this out next time.
And this can go equally as well for any digital picture you come across. As long as the EXIF Data hasn't been removed either manually or by some photo editing software, you'll be able to get the EXIF Data from that amazing image and try to figure out how you could use your camera to recreate that success and make a more impact image yourself.
How do I view EXIF Data?
Ok. Now that you're all convinced that you really want to view the EXIF Data off your picture, the question now becomes, how do I view EXIF Data?
Well, if you still have the CDs that came with your digital camera, it may contain a picture viewer that not only lets you view the pictures, but can display some of the EXIF Data as well.
If you've lost your camera CDs, then you can always use the on-line website ( Jeffrey's Exif viewer - http://regex.info/exif.cgi ), which is what I usually do because as long as I have internet access, its always there. (If you can't remember the URL address, just go to www.google.com and type "exif data" and Jeffrey's page is usually right near the top. Click on it and you're good to go.)
Once you're on Jeffrey's page, then either provide it with the URL of an image on the internet or browser for the file on your computer and then click on the "View Image ..." button. Jeffrey's page will load the picture, chug away and then display a page with all the meaty details.
Another alternative is exifdata [http://exifdata.com], which only takes a picture from your computer. So if you want to view EXIF Data from an image on the web, you'll have to download it to your computer first. But once there, this page displays the most useful EXIF Data quickly and easily.
Additional Resources:
Here are a few additional pages I've come across ...
Using EXIF Data [http://www.digital-photography-school.com/using-exif-data]
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Warning -- Don't use Old External Flash Units
WARNING!
Don't attach any old external flash unit to your digital camera before you read this POST! You may end up frying your camera!
WHY: Older flash units can have higher trigger voltages. What this means is that when they are triggered by your camera, they can produce a lot of voltage at its trigger contacts, which can end up going back into your digital camera and end up frying it, turning it into an expensive paper weight.
Now, with that said, there are some older flash units that are ok to use. So, if you have an older flash unit and you want to determine whether its ok to use with your camera, there is this site . . . (http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html) [NOTE: I've listed this site on my Links page here for easy reference.] , but as the site even says itself "Follow at your own risk."
You can also measure the trigger voltage yourself, which is described at the above mentioned site as well, which is a little safer.
But, really, the safest is to refrain from using older flash units and get a modern external flash unit, which will end up having more cool bells and whistles and communicate with your camera for TTL exposure control a lot better anyway!
NOTE: There are ways to trigger these older flash units off-camera, without them being directly hooked-up to your camera. But if you, or someone, ever forgets that the old flash unit can blow-up your camera and puts it on your camera, then you're back to square one. For me, I've justed stashed away all my old flash units and gotten newer ones to be safe.
Take care & Happy Shooting!
Glen - DigicamJunkie.com
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
How to get Clear Sharp Pictures
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| [Click image to view large.] |
Ok, here are some tips to getting really clear sharp pictures whether you're taking a portrait or scenic picture.
Now let me preface this by saying that getting clear sharp pictures is not the end all and be all of everything. It isn't always the way to get the best pictures. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a little crazy as far as wanting sharp pictures, but sometimes the essence of a picture isn't sharpness. Sometimes its about the colour, or the atmosphere or the action of a scene, in which case, image sharpness is what is sacrificed to capture the more important essence of the scene. But knowing how to get sharp clear pictures is always good to know so that when you want it, you can do it.
With that said, here are the tips for sharper pictures.
Use a lower ISO setting to Reduce Noise
To Do: Manually select a lower ISO setting on your camera such as ISO 200 or 400. (Not ISO 1600 or 3200)
Why: Turning up the ISO on your camera (to ISO 800 or higher) is like turning up the volume on a stereo. It increases the signal, but also increases the noise. So, although it allows you to take pictures in low light (as described here), it introduces a lot of noise into the picture, which degrades image quality. Now, don't get me wrong, I love shooting at high ISO a lot, because I often want to preserve the existing light (and not replace it with flash), but if you want to go for really ultra sharp pictures, it's good to start with a low ISO so you'll end up with less digital noise in the final capture.
Side effects: Ok. The problem with turning down the ISO on your camera is that now the camera needs a lot more light. If it doesn't get lots of light, then its going to use a slower shutter speed in order to get a "proper exposure", which will often introduce motion blur. The ways around this is to get more light on your subject or to use flash, as described below.
Use a smaller Aperture setting for sharper focus
To Do: Choose a smaller aperture setting, such as f8 or f11.
Why: Choosing a smaller aperture setting, such as f8 or f11 versus a larger aperture such as f4 or f2.8 increases the depth-of-field that is captured in relatively sharp focus. This increases the chance that what you want to be in focus will be captured in focus. So, in the case of the picture of my daughter up top, even though she is moving around, there is a better chance that I'll get her face in focus.
Side effects: Ok. The problem with using a smaller aperture on your camera is that now the camera needs a lot more light. (Sound like deja vue, eh!) If it doesn't get lots of light, then its going to use a slower shutter speed in order to get a "proper exposure", which (again) will often introduce motion blur. The ways around this is to get more light on your subject or to use flash, as described below.
Get more light on your subject
To Do: Whatever way you can get more light on your subject, then do it. Whether it is opening up a window, turning on a light or moving your subject closer to the existing light. Or perhaps its deciding to take pictures outdoors on bright days. And if all else fails, or you really want to crank up the sharpness, consider using flash (especially an external flash unit, which I'll eventually write a post and link it here.)
Why: Basically, the more light available to the camera, the better and more sharp it is able to make the picture. This is because it allows you (and your camera) to use a lower ISO setting and/or a smaller aperture setting as mentioned above. A combination of both a lower ISO setting and a smaller aperture really do help to get sharper images.
Use Flash to reduce motion blur
To Do: Use flash.
Why: In addition to providing more light to help you use a lower ISO setting or smaller aperture, using flash can also help to freeze motion, and thus reduce motion blur. This can help get you sharper pictures. In a nutshell, when using flash, sometimes all (or most) of what gets recorded is the image that is lit by the light of the flash alone. Most of the ambient light (such as from the sun or lamps) does not contribute to the final image. (This is why the background ends up dark when using flash sometimes, like mentioned here.) And since the flash is delivered really quickly (measured in thousandths of seconds), it often freezes motion better than a really quick shutter speed.
If you're going to use flash, consider an external flash off-camera
To Do: If you're going to use flash, try using an external flash off-camera.
Why: Well, if you are going to use flash, I highly suggest looking at using it off camera. My biggest beef with using the flash unit built into most digital cameras is that it always remains in the same position. It's like that old saying, no matter where you go, there you are. With the built-in flash on your camera, since it's providing light from the same position all the time, all your flash pictures end up looking the same. And the light from built-in flash isn't always too flattering on your subject. (I'll probably write a post on why to use external flash and link it here.)
Use a Tripod
To Do: Use a tripod where you can.
Why: Using a tripod helps to reduce motion blur by being able to hold the camera still while it takes the picture. Something that is really hard to do if you are hand-holding the camera. So, if you use a tripod, you can use a lower ISO setting, as mentioned above, and get a less noisy capture, while the tripod reduces motion blur even at slower shutter speeds. This is especially helpful when you can't increase the light and your flash isn't powerful enough to light everything up.
Focus on the Eyes
To Do: If you are taking a picture of someone, try to make sure that at least their eyes are in focus.
Why: I've read this suggestion many, many times. And everyone suggest that when we see a picture of someone, especially of their face, that the first thing we look at is their eyes. If the eyes are out of focus, we tend to think the picture is out of focus. It's OK if their ears are out of focus, but less OK for their eyes to be out of focus.
Cheat with Post Processing (PP)
To Do: Use a graphics program, such as Google's Picasa or Adobe's Photoshop in order to sharpen your pictures. For Picasa, once you have the image loaded, you can go to "effects" and then select "sharpen". For Photoshop, you'd want to use the "unsharp mask" filter.
Why: Of course, its better to start with a really sharp picture up front (by using the tips and tricks listed above) than to try to take an out of focus picture and try to fix it up, but there will be times when you take that picture of someone and they have just that perfect pose and smile and you just want to clean it up as much as possible.
Take care and happy shooting!
Glen - DigicamJunkie.com
(C) 2011 - Glen Fujino
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Format - Landscape vs. Portrait vs. ?
Ok. Back to composition this week. Once you've thought about what you want to capture (Think before you shoot) and you've picked where you're going to take your picture from (Perspective), one of the next things you can do is decide if you're going to take a Horizontal (landscape) or Vertical (portrait) format picture. (In other words, are you going to hold your camera sideways when taking the picture or not.)
Compositional use of different Formats
Changing the format really helps in your story telling with your pictures. There are many reasons to choose one over the other, and often they seem conflicting. But no matter how you look at it, exploring different formats will liven up your pictures and your photo album.
Filling the Frame: One of the reasons to change format is to help you fill the frame with your subject. If your subject is vertical, take a vertical shot. If your subject is horizontal, take a horizontal shot. Simple enough.
Cropping: You can change format in order to help you eliminate unsightly backgrounds or background noise that doesn't help tell your story.
Compositional use of different Formats
Changing the format really helps in your story telling with your pictures. There are many reasons to choose one over the other, and often they seem conflicting. But no matter how you look at it, exploring different formats will liven up your pictures and your photo album.
Filling the Frame: One of the reasons to change format is to help you fill the frame with your subject. If your subject is vertical, take a vertical shot. If your subject is horizontal, take a horizontal shot. Simple enough.
Cropping: You can change format in order to help you eliminate unsightly backgrounds or background noise that doesn't help tell your story.
Using the Format to emphasize your subject: Ok, lots of different reasons to use Horizontal vs. Vertical. I'll just list some below . . .
Horizontal (Landscape) Format
Calming Effect: The horizontal format is suppose to be more tranquil than the vertical format. Of course, this is subject to how you use it and what your subject is, but it is something to keep in mind. Something about our minds thinking the horizontal format is more stable shape and thus less tension.
Can also emphasize horizontal movement: When taking pictures of moving cars, kids on bikes and other horizontal motion, using a horizontal format helps to keep the story moving. Its shape helps the viewer move along with the horizontal movement of what is happening in the picture and gives the viewer's eye (and imagination) a place to go.
Entering or exiting the frame: When taking pictures of people, and you don't have them looking at the camera, they'll either be looking / facing into the picture or out of the picture. When they are looking into the picture, it leads the viewer to look into the picture as well, emphasizing something within the picture. When they are looking out of the picture, it draws the attention of the viewer out of the picture, creating tension and the question, what are they looking at? Both are effective! (This works equally well with any format, but I thought I'd slip this in here. <grin>)
Vertical (Portrait) Format
Add Tension: The vertical format is suppose to create more tension than the horizontal format. Something about it making our mind think the picture is going to fall over or something. And when taking pictures from the ground of tall things, the perspective makes tall objects slant inwards, which does make them look like they are falling, like these trees.
Emphasize Height: The vertical format can also emphasize the height / size of your subject. This, in combination with changing your perspective, can be really effective.
Horizontal (Landscape) Format
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| Horizontal Format goes really well with calm, tranquil scenes. (Click on image to view large.) |
Can also emphasize horizontal movement: When taking pictures of moving cars, kids on bikes and other horizontal motion, using a horizontal format helps to keep the story moving. Its shape helps the viewer move along with the horizontal movement of what is happening in the picture and gives the viewer's eye (and imagination) a place to go.
Entering or exiting the frame: When taking pictures of people, and you don't have them looking at the camera, they'll either be looking / facing into the picture or out of the picture. When they are looking into the picture, it leads the viewer to look into the picture as well, emphasizing something within the picture. When they are looking out of the picture, it draws the attention of the viewer out of the picture, creating tension and the question, what are they looking at? Both are effective! (This works equally well with any format, but I thought I'd slip this in here. <grin>)
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| Vertical Format can emphasize height and create tension. (Click on picture to view large) |
Add Tension: The vertical format is suppose to create more tension than the horizontal format. Something about it making our mind think the picture is going to fall over or something. And when taking pictures from the ground of tall things, the perspective makes tall objects slant inwards, which does make them look like they are falling, like these trees.
Emphasize Height: The vertical format can also emphasize the height / size of your subject. This, in combination with changing your perspective, can be really effective.
Something Different: Also, if you're used to taking most of your shots horizontal, a vertical shot will stand out in your photo album. It can be a fresh new look at the same subject.
Other types of Formats
But why stop there? Why not take a picture and crop it square, round or diagonal for that matter?
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| Why not square format? Old film cameras used to produce square pictures. In this age of digital cameras with their rectangle images seeing a square image can be a refreshing change. (Click on image to view large) |
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| Why not panorama (or extreme panorama)? Panoramic pictures lets you tell your story in a slightly different way. Something that can be really fun to explore. I'll probably write a post on panoramas and link it here. (Click on image to view larger) |
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| Why not diagonal (or circle or diamond for that matter)? Let your imagination go wild! (Click on image to view larger) |
How to do it! Read through the different reasons to choose Horizontal vs. Vertical below, and the next time you're out shooting, either stop before you pull the trigger and make a conscious decision on which format to use. Or try and shoot the same shot both horizontal and vertical (or some other format) and see what you like.
NOTE: Now-a-days it is so easy to share your pictures via. computer, digital picture frames or in picture shows on your television. But when you do this, you will quickly realize that vertical pictures don't display well on these digital devices. The solution: Whenever you take a vertical shot, try to sneak in a corresponding horizontal shot to use when you want to put together a digital slide show.
(C) 2011 -- Glen Fujino
(C) 2011 -- Glen Fujino
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Slow Sync Flash (a.k.a. Night Portrait Mode)
Here's a picture I took at Universal Studios in Florida on our vacation. It was dark, I popped the flash up on my dSLR and took the shot. My daughter, posing with the "heros" of the show came out great, but what happened to the background? That fantastic stage that they performed on is lost in the darkness. Dope! That didn't turn out!
Ok. The reason the background was so dark is that the flash on my camera isn't powerful enough to reach the stage. The stage is just too far away. The flash on most cameras can only reach out a few meters. So I get properly exposed people, but the background is completely lost!
What I should have done was used the "Slow Sync Flash" mode on my camera (A.K.A. Night Portrait Mode on many cameras such as point-and-shoot cameras). [I'll explain how it works below.]
So, when I got a chance to take a picture with the villans, I made sure my flash was on "Slow Sync Flash" mode and low and behold the background turned out.
What to do
So, just remember, if the background is too dark, try "Slow Sync Flash" or "Night Portrait Mode" on your camera. It doesn't always work. Sometimes it makes the people turn out a little blurry because of motion blur. But its worth a shot in order to capture the background.
Why it works
In the first picture, the camera fired and the flash was able to light up everything within its 3 meter range. But since the stage was much farther away, the flash wasn't able to light it up. And since the camera didn't know I wanted that to turn out as well, it just closed its shutter after its standard 1/200 sec. shutter time. Now, on the second picture, with the camera on Slow Sync Flash mode, the camera did almost the same thing. The difference is that rather than closing the shutter after only 1/200 sec, it left it open slightly longer. By doing this, it lets the sensor capture a little more of the light being reflected off the background, letting it turn out with a little more detail in the final image.
More What to do
Now, I was just using slow sync flash in order to try to get the background to have a little more detail in my pictures. But, there are tons of creative ways to use this mode, as seen here. In the above picture, I tried to hold my camera still in order to not get any motion blur, but there's no reason why you shouldn't pan your camera around and intentionally introduce motion blur into your pictures. I'll probably write a follow-up posting on some fun ways to use Slow Sync Flash and link it here.
Take care and happy shooting!
Glen - DigicamJunkie.com
SIDE NOTE: Using flash is like taking two separate pictures at the same time super imposed into the same picture. There is the flash picture and there is the ambient light picture. Its a strange concept, but once I got my head around this concept, using flash and playing around with how it works got really fun! I'll write up a separate posting on this concept and post it here.
(C) 2011 - Glen Fujino
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| Using Flash on Normal Mode -- The people turn out, but the background is lost in darkness. |
What I should have done was used the "Slow Sync Flash" mode on my camera (A.K.A. Night Portrait Mode on many cameras such as point-and-shoot cameras). [I'll explain how it works below.]
So, when I got a chance to take a picture with the villans, I made sure my flash was on "Slow Sync Flash" mode and low and behold the background turned out.
 |
| Using Flash on "Slow Sync Mode" -- The people turn out, and you get some detail in the background. On some cameras, such as point-and-shoot cameras, this mode is called "Night Portrait Mode". |
So, just remember, if the background is too dark, try "Slow Sync Flash" or "Night Portrait Mode" on your camera. It doesn't always work. Sometimes it makes the people turn out a little blurry because of motion blur. But its worth a shot in order to capture the background.
Why it works
In the first picture, the camera fired and the flash was able to light up everything within its 3 meter range. But since the stage was much farther away, the flash wasn't able to light it up. And since the camera didn't know I wanted that to turn out as well, it just closed its shutter after its standard 1/200 sec. shutter time. Now, on the second picture, with the camera on Slow Sync Flash mode, the camera did almost the same thing. The difference is that rather than closing the shutter after only 1/200 sec, it left it open slightly longer. By doing this, it lets the sensor capture a little more of the light being reflected off the background, letting it turn out with a little more detail in the final image.
More What to do
Now, I was just using slow sync flash in order to try to get the background to have a little more detail in my pictures. But, there are tons of creative ways to use this mode, as seen here. In the above picture, I tried to hold my camera still in order to not get any motion blur, but there's no reason why you shouldn't pan your camera around and intentionally introduce motion blur into your pictures. I'll probably write a follow-up posting on some fun ways to use Slow Sync Flash and link it here.
Take care and happy shooting!
Glen - DigicamJunkie.com
SIDE NOTE: Using flash is like taking two separate pictures at the same time super imposed into the same picture. There is the flash picture and there is the ambient light picture. Its a strange concept, but once I got my head around this concept, using flash and playing around with how it works got really fun! I'll write up a separate posting on this concept and post it here.
(C) 2011 - Glen Fujino
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Perspective -- ie. Get up and move around!
An easy way to improve your pictures is to get up and move around as you're shooting. This changes your (and your camera's) perspective.
As you move around, watch what becomes the foreground vs. background and what ends up being captured in your picture. This is how you tell a story with your picture. Decide what is going to be in your picture and what you are going to leave out. Decide whether you want to include your background as a pretty backdrop, to help establish the environment for your subject, or if you are going to eliminate it because it is too distracting.
Fill the frame with your subject
Of course, you've read "Think before you shoot", so you've already decided what your subject is <grin>, so now move around in order to fill the frame with your subject for maximum impact. Decide what to include and what to exclude. Focusing in on what captured your attention and excluding elements that distract away from this idea will help to make your picture more impactful.
Check the background
When taking your picture, you may want to include the background as a nice backdrop or to explain where you are, or you may want to try to eliminate the background if its too distracting. If there is something distracting in the background, such as a tree or post sticking out of someone's head, a bunch of people you don't really need in the shot, move around to get rid of them. It can be as simple as moving one or two steps to one side, or holding your camera higher (or lower) in order to use the ground (or sky) as the background, rather than what you currently see. In this shot, I really didn't want to see all the parked cars around us. I just wanted to capture my two daughters all snuggled up ready for their trek through the zoo. So I shot from above and tried to fill the frame with them as much as possible.
Shoot from down low
Shooting from a low angle makes whatever you shoot seem bigger. You can use this to emphasis the size of a building or tower, or even just to isolate a building from surrounding buildings by shooting it against a nice blue sky. When shooting kids from down low it makes them seem larger than their surroundings, making it obvious that this is a picture of the child in their environment -- not a landscape that happens to have a kid in it.
Shoot from above
Of course, don't forget to shoot from above. Kids seem smaller and more cute (as if they need to be any more cute than they already are). Put to extremes it offers a fresh look (or perspective) on things.
Look for that "unique" angle
Getting that unique perspective on a subject will make for a picture that can really stand out.
Shoot from different angles!
Even after you've taken a few pictures, don't stop. Get up, move around and see if there is an even better angle to take the picture from. That's one of the great things about shooting digital is that you can take lots of shots and just delete the ones that don't turn out. And reviewing the pictures as you go will give you additional ideas of how to shoot the scene.
Take care and happy shooting!
Glen -- DigicamJunkie.com
As you move around, watch what becomes the foreground vs. background and what ends up being captured in your picture. This is how you tell a story with your picture. Decide what is going to be in your picture and what you are going to leave out. Decide whether you want to include your background as a pretty backdrop, to help establish the environment for your subject, or if you are going to eliminate it because it is too distracting.
Fill the frame with your subject
Of course, you've read "Think before you shoot", so you've already decided what your subject is <grin>, so now move around in order to fill the frame with your subject for maximum impact. Decide what to include and what to exclude. Focusing in on what captured your attention and excluding elements that distract away from this idea will help to make your picture more impactful.
Check the background
When taking your picture, you may want to include the background as a nice backdrop or to explain where you are, or you may want to try to eliminate the background if its too distracting. If there is something distracting in the background, such as a tree or post sticking out of someone's head, a bunch of people you don't really need in the shot, move around to get rid of them. It can be as simple as moving one or two steps to one side, or holding your camera higher (or lower) in order to use the ground (or sky) as the background, rather than what you currently see. In this shot, I really didn't want to see all the parked cars around us. I just wanted to capture my two daughters all snuggled up ready for their trek through the zoo. So I shot from above and tried to fill the frame with them as much as possible.
Shoot from down low
Shooting from a low angle makes whatever you shoot seem bigger. You can use this to emphasis the size of a building or tower, or even just to isolate a building from surrounding buildings by shooting it against a nice blue sky. When shooting kids from down low it makes them seem larger than their surroundings, making it obvious that this is a picture of the child in their environment -- not a landscape that happens to have a kid in it.
Shoot from above
Of course, don't forget to shoot from above. Kids seem smaller and more cute (as if they need to be any more cute than they already are). Put to extremes it offers a fresh look (or perspective) on things.
Look for that "unique" angle
Getting that unique perspective on a subject will make for a picture that can really stand out.
Shoot from different angles!
Even after you've taken a few pictures, don't stop. Get up, move around and see if there is an even better angle to take the picture from. That's one of the great things about shooting digital is that you can take lots of shots and just delete the ones that don't turn out. And reviewing the pictures as you go will give you additional ideas of how to shoot the scene.
Take care and happy shooting!
Glen -- DigicamJunkie.com
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Think before you shoot!
With cameras now-a-days its so easy to simply pick one up, and point it and shoot. After all, that's what compact cameras are called -- point-and-shoot cameras. But, if you slow down and "Think before you shoot", the great pictures you are taking will become even better!
Here's why . . .
Photography is a way to communicate an idea visually.
Whether it is how cute some kids are, or how big and vast the Grand Canyon is, these are ideas to communicate and the trick is how to capture that idea with your camera.
Most of the time, before I shoot, I try to ask myself, "What is the subject and how do I want to communicate it?" Only after I have asked myself this do I start to explore the different possible ways to capture the scene.
For instance, when my daughter decided to run around the house, I instinctively grabbed my camera, but before I started shooting, I thought to myself, what do I want to try to capture? What do I want to communicate? And I thought to myself, "speed and motion". In order to do this, I decided to use a technique called "panning" (Which I'll eventually write an entry and post it here.). So I set-up my camera by turning off my flash, using a slightly slower shutter speed than usual and moving the camera along with Emma while I pulled the trigger. The picture is more blurry than if I had used flash, but its this blur (or motion blur) that gives this static image its sense of movement and motion.
Or, as another example, while camping I decided to walk around one morning to take some photos. I noticed the morning mist on the lake beside our campsite and wanted to try to capture it, but before I starting shooting, I looked around and started to think about how the surroundings might be worked into the composition. I found this old abandoned dock which adds an interesting element that helps to lead the viewer into the picture and I composed the shot to make a natural frame around the picture with the leaves and branches of the surrounding trees. Both of these ideas are common "composition" elements, or what I call "photography tools".
Now, don't worry if you don't know many "photography tools". That's what my blog is about. Each week I'll introduce one of these "photography tools", explain why it works and how to incorporate it into your shooting.
Spend 5-10 minutes a week reading my weekly blog entry and your pictures will get better!
Now, my entries are pretty much random ramblings of whatever is on my mind that week, but I'm going to try to tie it together in a more logical order on this page called "How to take better pictures."
Here's why . . .
Photography is a way to communicate an idea visually.
Whether it is how cute some kids are, or how big and vast the Grand Canyon is, these are ideas to communicate and the trick is how to capture that idea with your camera.
Most of the time, before I shoot, I try to ask myself, "What is the subject and how do I want to communicate it?" Only after I have asked myself this do I start to explore the different possible ways to capture the scene.
For instance, when my daughter decided to run around the house, I instinctively grabbed my camera, but before I started shooting, I thought to myself, what do I want to try to capture? What do I want to communicate? And I thought to myself, "speed and motion". In order to do this, I decided to use a technique called "panning" (Which I'll eventually write an entry and post it here.). So I set-up my camera by turning off my flash, using a slightly slower shutter speed than usual and moving the camera along with Emma while I pulled the trigger. The picture is more blurry than if I had used flash, but its this blur (or motion blur) that gives this static image its sense of movement and motion.
 |
| Using a technique called "Panning" made the picture more blurry than if I had used flash, but it's this motion blur that gives this static image its sense of movement and motion which is what I wanted to capture. [Click on image to view larger.] |
Or, as another example, while camping I decided to walk around one morning to take some photos. I noticed the morning mist on the lake beside our campsite and wanted to try to capture it, but before I starting shooting, I looked around and started to think about how the surroundings might be worked into the composition. I found this old abandoned dock which adds an interesting element that helps to lead the viewer into the picture and I composed the shot to make a natural frame around the picture with the leaves and branches of the surrounding trees. Both of these ideas are common "composition" elements, or what I call "photography tools".
 |
| Common "composition" elements, such as the natural border made by framing the picture with the leaves and branches of the surrounding trees, and the old abandoned dock used to add interest and help pull the viewer into the scene add interest to this scene capturing the morning mist on the lake beside our campsite. [Click on image to view larger.] |
Now, don't worry if you don't know many "photography tools". That's what my blog is about. Each week I'll introduce one of these "photography tools", explain why it works and how to incorporate it into your shooting.
Spend 5-10 minutes a week reading my weekly blog entry and your pictures will get better!
Now, my entries are pretty much random ramblings of whatever is on my mind that week, but I'm going to try to tie it together in a more logical order on this page called "How to take better pictures."
Monday, January 3, 2011
Shooting in low-light without flash.
Ok. Here's a picture I shot last year of Helen and Madelyn during "Earth Hour" ( http://www.earthhour.org/ ), the global event where we turn out the lights to show our commitment of changing our ways to help save our resources, our planet and our children's future world.
Of course you can use Flash to get around many low-light situations like this (and I'll eventually write an entry for that and link it here.), but since this was Earth Hour, the whole point was to turn out the lights and thus be in the "dark". So, if I wanted to capture the "mood" of the event, I'd have to do it with nothing more than the light provided by two candles.
Here's how I did it.
1) Pump up the ISO.
The first line of attack in situations like this is to turn up the ISO setting on your camera, which in essence is the setting that controls the "sensitivity" of the sensor in your camera. Instead of having the camera set to ISO 200 or 400, try turning it up to ISO 800, 1600 or even higher. By turning up the ISO in your camera, the camera can get an adequately exposed picture faster than at lower ISO settings and thus helps to reduce the chance of a blurry picture caused by your subject moving or camera shake. Now, the images will get a little noisy / grainy as you turn up the ISO, but often capturing an intimate picture in dark moody lighting with less "motion blur" is worth it. And to me, the noise / grain is not unlike the feel of high speed film and gives the picture a very "artistic" look. In the picture above, I had my Pentax K100D camera set to ISO 3200, it's maximum ISO setting. If you zoom into the picture, you will noticed that the image is pretty grainy, but in this case I prefer that then having a blurry image. Now-a-days, cameras can go up to ISO 6400, 12800 or even higher, so their ability to capture amazing images in "low-light" is drastically improved over models released even just a few years ago.
2) Open up the Aperture.
The next thing to look at is making your camera use the biggest aperture size (or close to it) that it can. Check to see if your camera allows you to control the aperture setting on your camera. By opening up the aperture, you are setting the lens to allow the most amount of light through, which allows the sensor in your camera to capture the image as fast as it can. To control the aperture on dSLR (and some point-and-shoot) cameras select the Aperture Priority mode and change the aperture to the lowest number (such as f2.8 or f3.5 -- These will be the biggest aperture sizes). If your camera doesn't have an "Aperture Priority" mode, see if it has some sort of night mode, which will probably tell the camera to use the biggest aperture it can.
3) Go wide.
Standard Zoom lenses, such as the ones that come as kit lenses with dSLR cameras, or the lenses built into most point-and-shoot cameras are actually "faster" at their widest setting rather than their longest setting. As an example the standard 18-55 mm lens that comes with many dSLR cameras will let in more light at 18 mm (and let the camera capture an adequately exposed image faster) than at 55 mm (where less light gets through the lens and thus the camera takes longer to get an adequately exposed image.) In the image up top I used my Pentax 28-80 mm lens at a focal length of 28 mm (it's widest setting) so that the maximum aperture would be f3.5 (which is fairly good for a standard lens) rather than being f5.6 which it would have been if I had been zoomed in at a focal length of 80 mm.
4) Get a fast lens
Now, you could also get a "faster" lens for your camera which will let in more light, allowing your camera to capture the image faster, but this is quite an expensive option since "fast" lenses sell for many times more than their "standard" (aka slower) counter parts. For example, this Sigma 24-70 f2.8 lens ( http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/24-70mm-f28-if-ex-dg-hsm-sigma ) or this Sigma 70-200 f2.8 lens ( http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/70-200mm-f28-ex-dg-os-hsm-sigma ). Many professionals will have these type of lenses since it offers better quality and more flexibility in how they capture an image. If you have the budget, definitely take a look at these lenses. It will allow you to maximize your available light photography as well as open up creative possibilities galore. Now, if you don't want to spend this much on fast lenses, be happy that the newer cameras coming out have really fast ISO levels now, so you're able to take great pictures in low light with the cheaper "standard" lenses!
5) Maximize available light
If you have some control over the environment and your subject, look for available light sources that you can use. This may be a window that has a nice stream of light coming through, a lamp that your subject can be moved closer to (or the lamp moved closer to your subject). In the picture above, I simply asked Helen and Madelyn to move closer (but not too close) to the candles so that the only available light (the two candles) provided the most light possible on their faces. Now, you may not have control over the situation so that is when you use all the above tricks as much as possible.
6) Under expose slightly (and fix it up in post production)
Now, I don't use this trick much. But if I don't mention it, someone will probably point out that I didn't mention it. Basically this trick entails slightly underexposing the picture (which you can easily do by setting the exposure compensation on your camera to -0.7 (or so), if your camera has exposure compensation.) What happens is the camera slightly "under exposes" your picture which will help to reduce blur. But since it's under exposed, it will appear too dark. That is when you have to load it up into a photo editing software (such as Google's Picasa -- see my post here.) and brighten it up again. I've personally found that I haven't really been happy with how the images turn out after this trick, so I only use this as a really last resort. And with cameras coming out with ever increasing ISO sensitivity, I believe there will be even less need to resort to this trick as time goes on.
7) Do none of the above
On the other extreme, if blur is not a concern (because your subject or scene is relatively motionless, or blur is ok) you can use a lower ISO setting and a smaller aperture. The benefits to this is that A) You get better image quality at a lower ISO setting because the signal to noise ratio of your sensor is better and B) You will get a sharper picture with a smaller aperture because the depth of field is greater, thus more of the scene is in focus. But in order to be able to use a lower ISO setting and smaller aperture, you will need to give the camera a long time to get the exposure which can lead to a blurry picture. To reduce camera shake, use a tripod.
As an example, here's a picture I took one evening. Since everything in the scene was relatively still, I set-up my camera on a tripod, lowered the sensitivity of my camera down to ISO 200 and used a really small aperture size of F11. With these settings, the camera needed 15 (long) seconds to capture the image. If there was anyone in this scene, they would have been reduced to a blurry blob.
This last point shows that there can be different ways to approach taking pictures in low-light. So, if I'm putting my camera on one of those smart auto modes like "night mode", which approach is it taking? For the most part, it will probably take the high ISO approach. My philosophy is that if you learn a bit about how the camera's settings affect the end picture and picture quality, you can take more control over your camera and have more creative power over it.
Now, there are many situations where you will want to take pictures in low-light situations without flash. This may range from sporting events where flash is not allowed (such as the gymnastic meets my daughter attends) to school plays where sometimes the constant blast of a flash in a dark room might interfere with the enjoyment of the play to times where you just want to capture the intimate feeling of the environment and not completely replace it with the over powering effect of flash. Regardless of why you want to take low-light pictures without flash, now you have a frame work to explore these available light opportunities.
Take care,
Glen -- DigicamJunkie.com
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Recover accidentally deleted pictures!
What not to do!
Ok. Last night I decided to empty out my daughter's camera. I went into the menu and then selected "delete all" and pressed "OK". In about a second, the camera was empty. Then I got a sinking feeling. Had I copied the files off the SD memory card before erasing it? I quickly ran to my computer and realized that I hadn't! Oh, noooooo! I had just deleted the only copies of the pictures she had taken on the last day of school before Christmas Break!
A Solution
Well, I had heard about software that can recover accidentally deleted files (such as pictures) from memory cards, so I did a browse of the Internet and found many ( such as CardRecovery http://www.cardrecovery.com/ ) or Recuva ( http://www.piriform.com/recuva ) that would find the pictures for you, let you see previews of the pictures, but then required you to buy the program (anywhere between $40-70) to actually recover the files for you. That's a small price to pay for irreplaceable memories.
Helpful Tip!
The trick to recovering the files is not to use the memory card after deleting the pictures. As soon as I realized what I had done, I turned off the camera and took the memory card out of the camera. If I had left the memory card in the camera and started taking pictures, the new pictures would probably over-write the old pictures, making their recovery impossible.
Take care,
Glen -- DigicamJunkie.com
Ok. Last night I decided to empty out my daughter's camera. I went into the menu and then selected "delete all" and pressed "OK". In about a second, the camera was empty. Then I got a sinking feeling. Had I copied the files off the SD memory card before erasing it? I quickly ran to my computer and realized that I hadn't! Oh, noooooo! I had just deleted the only copies of the pictures she had taken on the last day of school before Christmas Break!
A Solution
Well, I had heard about software that can recover accidentally deleted files (such as pictures) from memory cards, so I did a browse of the Internet and found many ( such as CardRecovery http://www.cardrecovery.com/ ) or Recuva ( http://www.piriform.com/recuva ) that would find the pictures for you, let you see previews of the pictures, but then required you to buy the program (anywhere between $40-70) to actually recover the files for you. That's a small price to pay for irreplaceable memories.
Helpful Tip!
The trick to recovering the files is not to use the memory card after deleting the pictures. As soon as I realized what I had done, I turned off the camera and took the memory card out of the camera. If I had left the memory card in the camera and started taking pictures, the new pictures would probably over-write the old pictures, making their recovery impossible.
Take care,
Glen -- DigicamJunkie.com
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