Saturday, 22 October 2011
Friday, 21 October 2011
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Update
Hi
just a quick update i will be working on some new tips shortly, and some photos to demonstrate them.
at the moment i am making the most of the autumn light and getting out there taking photos. will post some on here soon.
having fun with adobe lightroom as well. look out for a series of tips on lightroom soon.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Friday, 14 October 2011
Thursday, 13 October 2011
chasewater
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Photography tips (3)
Before moving on to describe how each of the main settings affect the way the camera uses the light falling on your subject (it is this reflected light that makes the photograph) a little word about lenses.
one thing you can do to help make your photographs just that little bit sharper is change your regular zoom lens for a prime (fixed focal length) lens.
There are two advantages a prime lens has over your average zoom.
the first is that a zoom lens is always going to be a compromise especially if it has a wide zoom range. even its maximum aperture changes over the zoom range. This maximum aperture and therefor its ability to capture light is always going to be reduced on a zoom. Why is this important when we could simply either increase the iso on the camera or lower the shutter speed to obtain the required amount of light? well both of these solutions introduce other unwanted effects into the photograph. When we increase the iso we not only make the camera more sensitive to light but introduce unwanted noise into the picture. changing the shutter speed can re introduce camera shake (one of the reasons we are shooting on a tripod in the first place) and we have taken the time to shoot on manual so we can select the appropriate shutter speed we dont want this to be dictated by the available aperture.
the second advantage is that because a prime lens has a wider maximum apeture to start with (lets say F1.8 as opposed to F4.5 on a regular zoom) we can stop the lens down a couple of stops from its maximum without loosing too much light thus finding the sweet spot where the lens is at its sharpest.
now i am not saying you need to spend a lot of money on a super wide long lens but a standard 50mm F1.8 prime lens will make a lot of difference to your photographs without having to spend too much.
Next time back to those light settings on the camera.
one thing you can do to help make your photographs just that little bit sharper is change your regular zoom lens for a prime (fixed focal length) lens.
There are two advantages a prime lens has over your average zoom.
the first is that a zoom lens is always going to be a compromise especially if it has a wide zoom range. even its maximum aperture changes over the zoom range. This maximum aperture and therefor its ability to capture light is always going to be reduced on a zoom. Why is this important when we could simply either increase the iso on the camera or lower the shutter speed to obtain the required amount of light? well both of these solutions introduce other unwanted effects into the photograph. When we increase the iso we not only make the camera more sensitive to light but introduce unwanted noise into the picture. changing the shutter speed can re introduce camera shake (one of the reasons we are shooting on a tripod in the first place) and we have taken the time to shoot on manual so we can select the appropriate shutter speed we dont want this to be dictated by the available aperture.
the second advantage is that because a prime lens has a wider maximum apeture to start with (lets say F1.8 as opposed to F4.5 on a regular zoom) we can stop the lens down a couple of stops from its maximum without loosing too much light thus finding the sweet spot where the lens is at its sharpest.
now i am not saying you need to spend a lot of money on a super wide long lens but a standard 50mm F1.8 prime lens will make a lot of difference to your photographs without having to spend too much.
Next time back to those light settings on the camera.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Photography tips (2)
My next tip.
Now that we have helped lower camera shake (more on removing even more risk of shake latter) start using full manual mode on your camera for exposure.
This achieves two things.
First it slows down the process of taking photographs. This gives you back control and makes you think more about the image you are trying to capture.
For example do you want lots of depth of field or do you want to blur the background. Do you want to include natural light or not.
Now you are in manual mode you have 4 things you can set on the camera and a few others outside the camera each will have a big impact on the way the photo looks. each variable controls light in a different way.
I will be discussing each of these over the next few days.
Now that we have helped lower camera shake (more on removing even more risk of shake latter) start using full manual mode on your camera for exposure.
This achieves two things.
First it slows down the process of taking photographs. This gives you back control and makes you think more about the image you are trying to capture.
For example do you want lots of depth of field or do you want to blur the background. Do you want to include natural light or not.
Now you are in manual mode you have 4 things you can set on the camera and a few others outside the camera each will have a big impact on the way the photo looks. each variable controls light in a different way.
I will be discussing each of these over the next few days.
photography tips
Each day i will try and pass on one tip i have learned over the years to help make my photographs just that little bit better.
My first tip is wherever possible use a tripod. This may seem unnecessary when shooting in bright light but using a tripod will allow you set a lower iso speed and this will reduce noise in the photograph. I always aim to shoot at iso 100 wherever possible.
My first tip is wherever possible use a tripod. This may seem unnecessary when shooting in bright light but using a tripod will allow you set a lower iso speed and this will reduce noise in the photograph. I always aim to shoot at iso 100 wherever possible.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Am spending some time re learning how to put everything i have known about photography from my film days into my current digital work.
this has meant a lot of changes to the workflow.
things are a lot easier in lightroom rather than opening each image in photoshop. I can copy across a lot of settings from one image and use that as a template so that all the shots have a common exposure and are consistent.
also have started to try and shoot in fully manual mode (given the time) so that i can control the mix between flash and available light. this has made me not only think more about what i am doing but also making me a bit more creative. I am trying to achieve more with the camera rather than relying on photoshop to fix things post shot.
more latter
this has meant a lot of changes to the workflow.
things are a lot easier in lightroom rather than opening each image in photoshop. I can copy across a lot of settings from one image and use that as a template so that all the shots have a common exposure and are consistent.
also have started to try and shoot in fully manual mode (given the time) so that i can control the mix between flash and available light. this has made me not only think more about what i am doing but also making me a bit more creative. I am trying to achieve more with the camera rather than relying on photoshop to fix things post shot.
more latter
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Friday, 7 October 2011
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