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GETTING STARTED AS A DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Digital and film photography are far more alike than they are different, but digital image recording opens up many new, valuable and perhaps unanticipated opportunities.
• For starters, assume that everything you already know about getting good pictures still applies.
• You won't find it in the box, but every digital camera comes with a license to experiment, test, tweak and screw up to your heart's content. With the cost of another shot at nothing, why hold back? The pros typically take dozens of shots to land a few keepers. Now you can do the same—and there's no better or faster way to learn. Instant feedback is one of digital photography's most powerful advantages.
• Sit down with your camera's manual as soon as you can. Some cameras come with a basic printed manual to get started and a complete manual that will come on CD. You should read both. Digital cameras are sophisticated devices with capabilities you might not anticipate from your film experience. You might be able to fake some of the features some of the time, but you won't be able to take full advantage of your investment without a read through the full version of the manual. You won't regret it.
• Think outside the box. Digital cameras have more uses than you might have imagined.
You don’t have to memorize everything about your camera right away, but using it should become second nature if you want to be good at it. So practice every chance you get. Take pictures of your feet, hold the camera a few feet away from your face and take an interesting self-portrait. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.
You may never get to some of your new camera's settings, but a few critical settings demand immediate attention, and they won't necessarily be familiar from your film experience.
• If you haven't yet thought through the many trade-offs surrounding resolution (the number of pixels recorded) and JPEG compression level, often referred to as "quality", play it safe: Set your camera for the highest available resolution and the highest JPEG compression setting for now and work out the details later.
• When in doubt, don't hesitate to take advantage of auto-exposure and auto-focus. Avoid auto-ISO for anything other than low-light action shots. Try the lowest ISO setting your camera offers before venturing higher. Higher ISO settings bring more image noise.
• Many digital cameras behave like color slide film—the best images are often slightly underexposed, particularly when bright scene elements are involved. Use exposure compensation to feel out your own camera's exposure sweet spots, but count on some variation with photographic conditions. When in doubt, bracket your exposures.
• Sooner or later, you'll have to deal with other purely digital recording mode issues like white balance and in-camera sharpening, but it's usually safe to accept camera defaults on those fronts for starters.
• If you use your camera's macro focus setting for a close-up, be sure to turn it off right away. Many a non-close-up's been fatally blurred by a camera carelessly left in macro mode.
• If your shots come out badly exposed, even in auto mode, make sure that exposure compensation hasn't been left at an untoward setting.
One of the most difficult parts of digital photography that new users have trouble getting used to is the inevitable time delay that occurs between pushing the button on the camera and capturing the picture.
Digital cameras have more to do in preparing to take a photo than do film cameras. Like film cameras, they have to focus the lens. However, they also have to take a pre-exposure to get proper color balance.
The good news is that they are able to achieve better exposed, better color-balanced, and in many cases better focused images than film cameras. The bad news is that this takes a fraction of a second and could cause you to miss a great picture.
What can you do about it? There are a couple of approaches that are very effective.
The simplest is to just push the shutter button down half way as you are waiting for the action to develop. Keep it there until you are ready for the photo, and then press the rest of the way.
Pressing half way signals the camera to immediately choose focus, color balance, and exposure. The subsequent delay when you take your shot is now quite small, comparable to film cameras. When I am shooting basketball games, I keep the shutter button half depressed, and I get great action shots.
A second approach is to switch to manual exposure and focus. If lighting is stable, as it is indoors, this works rather well. Most digital cameras have tremendous depth-of-field, so focus is not critical. Set your focus for a typical distance, and you will probably be happy with the results. If this is an indoor sporting event, you will want the shutter speed as high as possible, so choose maximum aperture and adjust shutter speed for proper exposure.
Now let’s look at the rules of composition – and we’re not talking about essays for school! We mean composing a great picture!
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COMPOSITION
Let’s start this section by telling you that many people don’t advocate using the LCD screen to set up and take your pictures. We find it’s easier to do it this way, but it’s all up to you.
The art of composition or putting the picture together in the viewfinder can make the difference between a good picture and a bad one!
It is a visual process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and pleasing arrangement. Because what one person finds pleasing, someone else will not, composition is largely a matter of personal taste.
There is no right or wrong composition in photography. A composition that conveys a photographer's intended meaning is an effective one. A composition that doesn't or that confuses the viewer is not.
There are certain rules of composition that most photographers agree will make the best pictures. However, the word “rules” is used loosely here as they are intended to simply be guidelines to take great pictures.
They are based on recreating similarities in the make-up of many different images that many people have found to be esthetically-pleasing. A rule of composition or a design concept should not be taken as a hard and fast rule that must be observed.
In fact, some renowned photographs violate all the rules of composition and are still excellent pictures. This doesn't mean that the rules are without value. They are tremendously valuable. They are time-proven, and provide great guidelines for photographers at any level.
These “rules” are great guidelines to start out with. But if you feel you want to break one of these rules, by all means go right ahead. Photography isn’t about perfection. It’s about capturing images that will be pleasing to you and those you want to share the pictures with.
Here are some of those rules:
1. Choose a primary point of interest before taking the picture. Determine which area is of the most importance to you and compose the picture around that area.
2. Be sure that only the things you want the viewer to see appear in the picture. If there are numerous objects cluttering up the background, your message will be lost. If you can’t find an angle or framing to isolate your subject, consider using depth of field control on your camera, if it has one, to keep the background out of focus.
3. Give your picture contrast. A light subject will have more impact if placed against a dark background and vice versa. Contrasting colors may be used for emphasis, but can become distracting if not considered carefully.
4. Consider the balance of what you’re shooting. Generally, asymmetric or informal balance is considered more pleasing in a photograph than symmetric (formal) balance. In other words, placing the main subject off-center and balancing the "weight" with other objects (smaller or lower impact) will be more effective than placing the subject in the center.
5. Frame your picture. A "frame" in a photograph is something in the foreground that leads you into the picture or gives you a sense of where the viewer is. For example, a branch and some leaves framing a shot of rolling hills and a valley, or the edge of an imposing rock face leading into a shot of a canyon. Framing can usually improve a picture. The "frame" doesn’t need to be sharply focused. In fact if it is too sharply detailed, it could be a distraction.
6. Be sure the viewpoint is pleasing. You can often change a picture dramatically by moving the camera up or down or, stepping to one side. One of the best ways to come up with a prize-winning photograph is to find an "unusual" point of view.
7. When the subject is capable of movement, such as an animal or person, it is best to leave space in front of the subject so it appears to be moving into, rather than out of, the photograph.
8. Linear elements such as roads, waterways, and fences placed diagonally are generally perceived as more dynamic than horizontals.
9. Use the “rule of thirds”. This is a principle taught in graphic design and photography and is based on the theory that the eye goes naturally to a point about two-thirds up the page.
Also, by visually dividing the image into thirds (either vertically or horizontally) you achieve the informal or asymmetric balance mentioned above.
Although there are many ways a photograph can be composed effectively by basing it on the use of "thirds," the most common example is the placement of the horizon line in landscape photography.
If the area of interest is land or water, the horizon line will usually be two-thirds up from the bottom. On the other hand, if the sky is the area of emphasis, the horizon line may be one-third up from the bottom, leaving the sky to occupy the top two-thirds.
There’s much more to consider, however.
Take lighting for example.
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FINDING THE RIGHT LIGHT
Light - the primary source of energy for the universe - is the central image of many religions and the photographer's chief resource. The word "photography" derives from the Greek and means, literally, “light writing.”
From the relentless power of full sun over water to the beam from a single candle, it is light photographers play with, light in its many moods and manifestations that we capture on film.
Digital cameras use a light-sensitive chip rather than film to capture an image. The camera is designed to let light through a hole (aperture) on to the chip for a limited amount of time (exposure). Digital cameras use “auto exposure” to take care of exposing the picture for you. But there are a few things about aperture and exposure that you should be aware of.
A digital camera will gather the same amount of light with a large aperture and a short exposure or with a small aperture and a long exposure, but the image won't look the same. A wider aperture will reduce the “depth of field”, so that only objects at the focal point are in sharp focus. This is great for isolating a person from a busy background, but not so great for landscape photos, which require that everything be in focus.
Cheap cameras have a fixed aperture, so only exposure is affected by light. More expensive cameras offer “programmed exposure” modes, such as Landscape (narrower aperture, greater depth of field, longer exposure), Portrait (wider aperture, reduced depth of field, shorter exposure) and Sport (shortest exposure to freeze motion), while high-end cameras also offer full manual controls.
Even with a fully automatic camera, you can modify the exposure. Point the camera at the object you want correctly exposed and half-press the shutter button. Move the camera to compose your shot, and then squeeze the button fully to take the picture.
Many landscape photos turn out too dark because the exposure is overly influence by a bright sky. The trick is to lower the camera so that the light meter exposes more for the foreground area and then press the shutter button part way in order to lock in the exposure. Then re-compose the shot as before and press the shutter completely.
Photography depends on light. Therefore, an understanding of light, what it is, how it behaves and how you can learn to use it, is essential to creating superlative photos.
Because the character and quality of a photograph can be altered by the character and quality of light, even the most-seasoned photographers puzzle over how a scene should be lit, what lighting angles to use for good results, and what exposure settings will bring out the best detail and tonal shading. When you are armed with the basic facts about light, you will find that such elementary questions become more easily-answered.
If you’re taking an outside, daytime picture, keep the sun at YOUR back. Avoid shooting into the sun. If you do, it will cause a lens flare and you will have a light streak going across your picture or other un-wanted effects.
The good news is that most digital cameras have fast lens apertures, which help them take good pictures in relatively low light. But no camera likes to take pictures in really low light without a flash. More good news: most digi-cams have a built-in flash, and some allow you to use an external flash, which is many times more effective than a camera's built-in flash and helps preserve the camera's battery.
Taking a picture at night can be a daunting proposition. Night-time photography can produce some of the most dramatic images that you can create, and it can also be one of the more difficult types of photography to learn and master.
Don’t get too caught up in it, though. Play around with your camera’s settings and know how you’ll be able to achieve the best pictures at night. If your camera has automatic settings only, you may face some real challenges in your attempts at photography in the dark. Whether photography is a hobby or just a casual interest, you'll be well-served if you invest in a quality camera that allows for adjusting the basic settings.
Don't use the flash. Most on-camera flashes aren't effective past five or six feet in front of the camera. So at night, it may overexpose anything that happens to be in the foreground while underexposing the primary subject of the picture.
If you’re in doubt, set the shutter speed higher and then take care of brightening the exposure later during the editing process. While you might not have a lot of time to think about your lighting when taking candid photos, sometimes just using the flash – or not using the flash can help tremendously.
Speaking of that….
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FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY
There is probably no type of photography that is more disappointing to the beginner than flash photography.
Unlike natural-light photography, where what you see can often be what you get, it is difficult to visualize what the effects of using flash will be. Flash is shut off until the moment of exposure, and then its illumination is too brief to visually evaluate what it does to your picture.
The real learning process occurs over time, with trial and error. You should not expect to become an instant expert at flash photography, but persistence and observation (constantly comparing your pictures with earlier ones, and identifying not only the problems to overcome, but the successes you have achieved) will give you the experience you need to control flash and produce consistently-good flash pictures.
Generally, poor lighting conditions results in poor pictures. Usually you don’t need flash for normal daytime outdoor shots unless it's very gloomy. Keep in mind that flash has a very limited range so it should only be used when the subject is fairly close. Use fill flash to help lighten up a subject which in deep shadow.
It is best to avoid using flash indoors unless absolutely necessary: it tends to “burn out” subjects and can create harsh shadows. A better choice is to bounce the flash off the ceiling if your camera and flash support this option.
Another option is to let as much daylight in as possible and, turn on all of the lights. You have the option of using fill flash when there's enough light in the scene but your subject isn't well lit.
Under certain circumstances you might want to turn the flash off and let the camera deal with the low light condition by increasing exposure. This won't work in very dim conditions, but can give better results than flash. Be sure to guard against camera shake.
Digital cameras are less sensitive to light than traditional film cameras. If you are shooting indoors or in a low-light situation, even with the flash, you should move close enough to the subject for the flash to be effective (no more than 10 feet away). If this is a concern, some digital cameras allow you to use accessory flashes or studio-type lighting.
If you set your digital camera on Auto, the camera will attempt to determine the need for flash based on the lighting conditions, but you still should use the manual setting when appropriate such as using the flash in bright sunlight to reduce intense shadows.
In typical indoor situations there will probably not be enough light to take a normal hand-held well-exposed photo. There are many indoor flash photo opportunities you may be faced with. You may want to cast light on a group of people for a portrait photo. You may want to throw light into a room for an architectural photo. Or you may just want to cast light on certain objects in a lighted room that appears too dark for an exposure.
If your camera’s auto-exposure settings say that the photo would require a shutter speed slower than 1/60 of a second then you probably shouldn’t hand-hold the camera or the photo would come out blurry. The reason it would come out blurry is because the shutter would be open long enough for any minor hand shake to distort the composition.
The use of a tripod or faster film will probably be needed but many of us do not regularly carry a tripod. Most photographers simply use their flash bulb when they are inside.
In order to take effective indoor flash photos there are some techniques you should keep in mind. When using the flash do not point it directly at a mirror or glass that will create a lens flare or just ruin the photo. Stand close enough to your subjects so the flash is actually effective (four to ten feet).
Try to make sure your main subjects are about the same distance away from the flash as each other or some that are closer to the flash will appear brighter than ones that are farther away.
Fill flash fills in the areas of a photo that would normally appear too dark. Fill flash can be used for sunny day portraits for shadows on a subject’s face or to fill any shaded area that is out of the sunlight. Fill flash can also be used to cast light into a room where there are no windows. Fill in flash is ideal for back-lit and side-lit situations.
In a back-lit situation there will be a lot of light in the background but no or little light cast on the front of the subject. This would normally create somewhat of a silhouette effect, but with a fill flash it would balance the photo nicely.
But in order for this technique to work, you must be careful to stay in flash range which is usually around four to ten feet. With common cameras in order to add fill flash to a photo just toggle the flash to go off when it normally would not be needed.
Many photographers also choose to bounce the flash off a wall or ceiling to get a softer diffused kind of light commonly sought after for portraits. This kind of flash technique requires a flash that can be aimed in a direction that the camera is not pointed. It takes practice to refine this technique and only a small percentage of photographers actually use it.
Practice using flash in your photos even when it is not necessarily needed and pay attention to your results. The best way to become better at flash photography is to analyze your photos and try to figure out what you could have done differently in order to create a better flash-filled exposure.
While flash photography is difficult sometimes, more often, pictures are ruined by shaking.
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