| |
| |
|
photosonlinespace.com
|
|
|
|
9 Tips For Taking Great Digital Photos
Introduction Modern cameras are highly automatic in operation. They have auto focus and auto exposure. The camera will focus on the subject - often identified by a small circle or square at the centre of the viewfinder - and calculate an appropriate exposure by detecting the level of reflected light - usually from the same spot. A slight pressure on the shutter release will activate those two functions, without taking a picture. Further pressure on the shutter release will result in a photo being taken. 1 Take care to Focus and Expose on the Subject of the Image Imagine you are taking a picture of your girl friend against the background of an interesting harbour. Your girl friend is six feet away while the harbour is around 50 feet away. You position your girl friend carefully - she is important to you - at one side of the picture with an interesting view of the harbour in the distance. Now do you want to focus on the harbour - or your girl friend? Position the square or circle at the centre of the viewfinder over the spot that you want to focus on and correctly expose - take a slight pressure on the shutter release - and keep that pressure while you move the camera to frame the image you want to take - then, and only then, push the shutter release fully down and take the photo. If you want to have everything in focus - then see 7 Depth of Field. 2 Carefully Compose Your Shot Before taking the picture take a careful last look through the viewfinder. Check the composition, and particularly that heads nd feet are included, and that all faces are visible in anything other the smallest of groups. With the camera taking care of focus and exposure - you have the time to concentrate on getting the composition perfect. Photographic amputation of limbs is unforgivable! 3 Set the Colour Balance Correctly on the Camera Digital cameras have controls that allow the operator to set the nature of the lighting illuminating the subject. In general they will default to daylight, since shots are likely to be taken outdoors. On this setting, pictures taken indoors under artificial tungsten lighting will look yellow - they will have a yellow cast. Pictures taken under strip lighting will look green. Setting the camera appropriately will produce consistent balanced photographs. Look in the camera manual to see how to set the control - it is very easy. Flash guns produce a light, which is very similar in colour 'temperature' to that of daylight. 4 Don't Expect Too Much from the On Camera Flash The on camera flash is designed for convenience when shooting a small group of people. It will not illuminate a hall. When watching public events on the television it is somewhat surprising to see members of the audience in the Albert hall take a pocket camera out and shoot a picture with their flash. This is unlikely to be successful. Better to turn the sensitivity of the camera up - say to 800ASA - the 'film speed', or sensitivity. This might produce a better result. Do not confuse sensitivity of the camera with shutter speed. They are different. An on camera flash will illuminate only a short distance - as a guide pick up your cat firmly with two hands by the tail and swing it around at arms length - that is the sort of distance the flash will illuminate! 5 A Tripod is Essential for Long Distance Shots Most modern digital cameras come with a zoom lens that can take both wide angle and telephoto shots. This is extremely useful. However remember that when the camera is on its furthest telephoto setting, camera shake will become a problem. If you are taking a telephoto shot and the camera chooses a slow to medium shutter speed, the result might be blurred due to the movement of your hands while taking the exposure. Use a tripod - all wildlife photographers use them. They are a pain to carry but improve quality by orders of magnitude. 6 Fast Moving Subject Require a Fast Shutter Speed The shutter is that part of the camera which opens briefly to allow light to strike the sensitive surface of the detector to produce an image. Fast moving object require extremely short shutter speeds in order to capture a crisp sharp image. Slower shutter speeds will produce a blur as the object moves.In general outdoor photography a shutter speed of 1/60th or 1/125th second will be acceptable. In contrast, shooting a formula one car in motion will require shutter speed of say 1/1000th of a second. 7 A little About Depth of Field In days past, a photographer would measure the level of light at a location with a light meter and then calculate the best combination of shutter speed and aperture to correctly expose the film. This is now done automatically by the camera. Aperture is the measure of how much light is passing through the lens. The lens has an iris, which can be 'stopped down' to reduce the amount of light passing through the lens. A fully open lens will pass the greatest amount of light - full aperture - but this also reduces the 'depth of field'. The depth of field is the band of distance over which the subject is in focus. In 1 above, with full aperture either your girl friend or the harbour is in focus - but not both. By 'stopping down' the lens - reducing the aperture - both can be brought into focus. But as a consequence the amount of light passing through the lens is reduced. The length of time which the shutter is open will have to be increased to compensate. 8 When taking Landscapes Avoid Putting the Horizon Across the Centre of the Image Drawing the picture horizon in the middle of the image simply looks naff. It divides the picture in to two and fails to engage the viewer. Best to concentrate on the sky or the foreground. Photograph a setting sun with red sky, or a rainbow with the horizon low in the picture. Or concentrate on the landscape and place the horizon high in the picture. 9 Be Aware of the Effects of Back Lighting Let us go back to the example given in Hint 1. Imagine that in the picture of your girl friend in front of the harbour, the sun is setting, casting its golden rays across the sea and reflecting on the masts and other metal objects of the harbour with white clouds illuminated red in the dying rays of the sun. An evocative and romantic shot. Taking the shot with the camera will result in a beautiful background but a black shadow of a girl friend! Now that might be appropriate should you have had a particularly bad day with her and it might correctly reflect the mood. However using the on camera flash to fill in the darkness - to illuminate her face and show her features might be more appropriate on a better day! Christopher Thomas is both keen photographer and company director of Viewlink Ltd based in Amersham, Uk. The company focusses on digital photo developing for both amateur and commercial photographers. For more articles by Christopher Thomas please visit the company website at http://www.view-link.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Digital Camera Basics Digital Camera Basics? The VocabularyShopping for a digital camera can be a difficult task considering the sheer number of choices out there. The number of manufacturers, models, and price ranges that need to be sorted out make the process difficult enough, but throw in all the buzz-words that need to be understood, and even a short list of cameras can become difficult to analyze. Is your Digital Camera Compatible With Your Computer? So you recently bought a digital camera or perhaps your thinking about it. And perhaps you may be wondering how many pictures will your computer hold? First you need to answer a few questions to come to an accurate conclusion. The Best Wildlife Camera To Take On Safari Good wildlife camera equipment on safari can make the difference between pictures you will be proud to show your friends and family when you get back and ones where it's difficult to figure out exactly what you were photographing because it's only a fuzzy black dot surrounded by green vegetation.I take wildlife photographs for a living and I have had to quickly figure out what the best cameras and lenses are to get the job done effectively. Photography 101 Part 3 ContentEven if you feel that you already know what kind of photography you like to do, it's always a good idea to try your talent at different aspects of photography.Pictorial, this is a general term but it applies to any photographer who's goal is simply to create beautiful photos. Digicam File Formats Looking at the digital camera, a person can visualize it as a combination of a camera along with a miniature computer system that stores the images as files or sets of bits, rather than a chemically treated film. Thus it comes to be a fact that there are certain file formats in which these images of the photographs captured by the camera are stored. Is Digital Photography Expensive? Being such a fascinating device as the digital camera, this technological masterpiece is of course a precious and priced possession. And acquiring it also means that one time achievement feeling. Wildlife Scouting Cameras For years I wondered how big the bucks were that were roaming our property in the dark of night. After all, I knew that monster bucks had to be eluding me during the daylight hours only to roam the woods at night. Make More of Your Photos We all want to make the most of our wedding photos and a new service from totalPIX makes it very easy with their beautifully bound photobooks.Like all the best ideas, the idea of a photobook is very simple. Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos with your Digital Camera - Part I Night photographs express a special something that cannot be seen in normal daytime photography. Whether it is a photograph of a moon and starlit sky over a windy deserted beach, the excitement of a downtown cityscape when the lights go on, or just a picture of you and some friends in front of a favorite hangout, nighttime photos, when done right, are sure to attract attention. 10 MORE Ways to Make Money with Your Digital Cameras 1. Pet photos - advertise a Pet Photography business where you photograph pets with their owners. Digital Cameras vs. Film Cameras- the debate goes on One of the biggest debates in the photography world is whether digital cameras are better or film cameras better? The answer to this question cannot be answered in a simple yes or no. There are several issues which need to be considered while answering this question. Panasonic Digital Cameras - The History Behind Their Cameras Panasonic is a world-renowned consumer electronics company today. Its digital cameras have recently entered the market. Canon Digital Camera - from Humble Beginnings to World Class Company Started in a single-room by three Japanese men in the year 1933 under the name of Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory, Canon has come a long way today. It all began with the phantom prototype camera called the 'Kwanon'. How To Avoid Or Reduce Red-Eye Photography with the aid of a digital camera is beyond doubt very fascinating. However, it also has many a nooks that the users of the digital camera must be aware of and also must be well educated to deal with in order to produce good photographs worth the most prized digital camera. Removing a Textured Pattern from a Scanned Photo - 5 Minute Digital Fix One of the most common problems when dealing with scanned photographs as part of a digital restoration activity is that after scanning, the digital image appears to have a textured pattern to it.This is often caused by the fact that the photograph in question has been printed on textured photographic paper. Wedding Photography: How to Become a Successful Wedding Photographer Once in while I receive e-mails or phone calls from aspiring or beginner wedding photographers asking me for advise on how to become successful in the wedding field. My first question is always what their motivation is to become a wedding photographer. Christmas Rush this Holiday Season to go to Digital Photography So you have rushed out into the malls in a mad panic for this christmas holiday and are going to purchase a electronic item on Credit think again. Consumers are paying again through the nose agin this year 1. Stitching Memories Sometimes, usual photographs look so common and boring. Converting your pictures into charcoal or oil painting is a welcome change but then, a lot of people have been into these crafts already that there are times when these portraits too, look clichéd. Creating Printable Photo Greeting Cards STAY CONNECTED WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.Making your own digital photo cards and personalized holiday photo cards is a lot easier than you think. Hyperfocal Focusing: What Is It And Why Should You Use It? When should you use hyperfocal focusing? Well, sometimes when shooting a landscape, you want everything sharp from the front to the back of the scene. Setting a small aperture such as f/16, f/22 or even f/32 can help, but if you really want to maximize depth of field, hyperfocal focusing is the technique you need to use.
|
|
Powered By: Free Work At Home Business Opportunity! |
| © 2006 |
