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Taking Better Photos... Simple tips

2009-09-24T09:05:00.005-04:00

Looking to take good photos and don't know how to begin? Well, the first thing you need to keep in mind is that it's the photographer that takes great photos, not the camera.

You've probably seen some people take fantastic photos with a simple point-and-shoot camera, while some take poor and uninspiring shots with the most expensive SLR.

Dont't worry... there are a few simple tips on shooting digital photos that can help. Before long, you'll be shooting like a pro!

1. What are all these symbols for anyway?... Know your camera

Sound familiar? You buy the latest digital camera out there (the one everyone says can't miss), come home, rip off the box, then proceed to fiddle with the device. You quickly page through the manual... then place it back in the box for safe keeping, never to look at it again. Not a good idea!

When you have a digital camera, you owe it to yourself to understand its ins and outs. Learn how to control exposure, how to use different camera modes, and how to use flash. This is where it all begins.

2. Using flash: 10ft... It's the Law!

One of the most important things you need to know about photography is how to control the flash. Depending on your lighting situation, you might just need to turn it off.

The most common mistake made when using flash is taking the photo beyond the flash's range. Why? Because pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be too dark (underexposed). For many cameras, the maximum flash range is less than 15ft - about five steps away.

What is your flash range? You can find this in the camera manual. But if you can't find it then don't take a chance... compose your photo so that your subject is no further away than 10ft.

When taking outdoor photos it's good to turn the flash on to light your subject, especially if the subject is in the shade. On the other hand, you can also choose to turn off the flash when taking indoor shots. Sometimes, using the flash indoors will result in washout, unnatural skin color, and harsh glare in your photos.

When shooting indoors, know where the refelctive surfaces (mirrors in particular) are and avoid having them in your line of sight.

3. Want love? Get closer... utilizing the Macro

Almost all modern cameras have a macro mode. This setting is ideal for taking close up shots of objects like flowers or insects. On my Canon Rebel it's represented by a flower symbol.

What you do is to pick a subject, turn on macro mode, then get as close to it as your camera will allow. Make sure you allow the camera to focus properly before depressing the shutter button fully.

4. Line it up... Hold steady and break it into thrids

A basic rule of photography is to hold the camera level. Since most digital cameras come with a LCD, you can use it to properly frame your shots. Next time you're taking a shot, try to look for the horizontal or verticle lines in the scene and use them as guides. A good example is to make use of the horizon when you're taking a photo of a sunset.
Good composition can be achieved through the "Rule of Thirds." As you look through the camera's viewfinder, imagine that there are lines dividing the scene into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, dividing your image into nine equal-shaped blocks. Frame your subject at one of the intersecting points instead of in the center of the viewfinder, as in the example below.

5. Two's company, but three's stability... Use a tripod

I recommend this tip to everyone - camera tripods are an essential tool in your photographic arsenal. When will you need a tripod? Well, it's useful if you're taking shots under low-light conditions or trying to capture fast moving objects. Always try to look for a tripod that's convenient to carry around. For personal use, you don't need a huge one - just a simple compact one that's easy to pack.

6. Play with the ISO Setting

The ISO setting of a camera controls it's sensitivity to light. If you're taking a photo of a still object, like a flower, then use a low ISO setting. It allows for a longer shutter speed and produces a cleaner image. If you're shooting a moving object, like a one year old that skipped walking and went straight running, then a higher ISO setting of 400 or above would be better.

NOTE: a higher ISO setting correlates to a faster shutter speed and requires less light, but will produce "grainy/noisier" photos. It has to do with the Periodic Table of Elements and atomic weight... but this is not a Chemistry lecture, so we'll leave that alone.

7. Size matters... Have enough memory capacity

Just like you must have enough rolls of film when using traditional cameras, make sure you always have enough memory capacity in your digital camera. It's terrible to be on a holiday taking great photos and suddenly realizing you've no memory space left. Here are some general guidelines for digital camera storage.

2 megapixel cameras - get at least a 64MB card

3 megapixel camera - get at least a 128MB card

4 megapixel camera - get at least a 256MB card

5 megapixel camera and above - get at least a 512MB or 1GB card

The Plane of Critical Focus

2009-06-13T08:06:00.003-04:00

One of the most important things to look for in a camera is how well it focuses. This is important because a lens can only bring one part of the scene into the sharpest possible focus. This part of the scene falls on what is called the plane of critical focus. Subjects falling on this plane will be the sharpest part of the picture. You move this plane toward and way from the camera as you change the focal distance.

There are three ways cameras focus: fixed focus, autofocus, and manual focus.

Fixed focus is found on the least expensive cameras, almost all camera phones, and one-time-use cameras.

Manual focus, found on SLRs and some expensive fixed lens cameras, lets you focus by turning a ring on the lens-in many situations this is the best way by far. On point and shoot cameras you often have to use buttons or dials to manually focus.

Autofocus is available on most modern cameras, and on many low-end cameras it's the only kind of focus. When you press the shutter button halfway down, the camera automatically focuses on the center of the scene or some other designated focus area. It's important that the camera do this quickly and accurately.

Autofocus often has trouble focusing on off-center subjects or on scenes with little contrast, when the object in the focus zone is brighter than the rest of the scene, when the subject is poorly illuminated, when both near and distant objects fall within the focus zone, or when the subject is moving quickly. If the camera can't focus, some cameras beep or blink a lamp. If this happens, it's best if your camera lets you use focus lock to focus on a subject at the same distance or switch to manual focus.

The image is only critically in focus within a plane. The formula that describes the relationship between plane of critical focus, lens and film is:

1 / I + 1 / O = 1 / F

...where I is the film to lens distance, O is the distance from the lens to the plane of critical focus, and F is the focal length of the lens.

In a photograph, the area of critical focus is the portion of the picture that is optically in focus. This does not relate to depth of field, which describes acceptable sharpness.

Depth of field extends away from the plane of critical focus. Reducing the size of the aperture will increase the depth of field, but the plane of critical focus will not change.

Tintype process

2009-06-09T07:45:00.001-04:00

Note: The Modern Tintype is a liquid light process, that comes in a kit, much less toxic than the Classic Tintype process and more suited to beginners.

This old process was invented in the late 1800's and was one of the photographic processes that made it possible for the general public to have their portrait taken. Because Tintypes were reproduced on metals, this type of photography was comparatively cheap and photographers started offering street photography whose quick results became very popular. Tintypes were very widespread in America at the time of the American civil war and one can occasionally still find tintypes from that period on flee markets, picturing pioneers that had their photo taken before going off to the Wild West or showing small multiple images that were used by the sitter as a type of early business card.

The Tintype is a positive image on a metal plate. The process is similar to daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, which were positive images on glass that could only be seen if you placed a background such as black velvet behind them, otherwise they were negatives. With most photographic processes the surface you use (in the most conventional way photographic white paper) will be the highlights of your image and the silver emulsion will represent the different shades of black in your image. With a reversal process the support surface has to be painted black first and the light sensitive emulsion that you coat it with will give you the highlights of your image. Because the emulsion has a yellow color the contrast within the image is usually not as strong as with conventional photography (black and yellow as opposed to black and white) and as a result the image looks old and a little faded, however this inherent quality can be one reason to specifically use tintypes. Sometimes the yellowish emulsion turns into different colors ranging from red brown to green and blue, which can create stunningly beautiful effects.

As a brief overview the tintype process involves obtaining suitable metal plates, cleaning and preparing their surface, spraying the plates with black spray paint and then coating them with light sensitive emulsion and subsequently exposing the plate and developing it in special chemistry.

Sepia Toning

2009-06-06T14:14:00.002-04:00

Sepia toning is used to create a warmer print tone. Conventional sepia toning consists of the following steps:

Thoroughly wash the completed black and white print
Soak the print in bleach until the silver image is completely converted from its metallic state,
Rinse the bleached print in water to remove all traces of bleach,
Tone the print in sepia toning solution,
Wash thoroughly and dry the print.

It is much easier to obtain consistent, even results if the hypo used to fix the print contains hardener. Wash times are usually extended by 50% to ensure that all traces of fixer have been removed. Any fixer which remains in the paper will reduce silver when it is placed into the bleach.

Stepwise sepia toning is a variation on the conventional toning process. The print is only partially bleached before being toned, creating a step or partial increment of toning. The effect is similar to the multi tone image (duotone). Typically, the shadows remain black while the midtones of the image are a warm brown color. This gives the toned image a little more punch due to slightly greater shadow contrast. The following processing steps occur:

Thoroughly wash the completed black and white print,
Soak the print in a dilute bleach solution while providing gentle agitation,
At a point when the silver is partially converted, remove the print and wash thoroughly,
Tone the print in sepia toner until all bleached silver is toned,
Wash thoroughly and dry the print.

This stepwise toning process can be iterated to create tritones and quadtones. This is accomplished by bleaching a layer of silver and toning one color, then bleaching the next layer of silver and toning it a different color. This iterated approach gives even greater control over image toning. When done carefully the results can be quite impressive. Unfortunately, the process is very time consuming and finicky.

Using a Polarizing Filter

2009-06-02T11:41:00.003-04:00

Of all the filters available, a polarizing filter is the first one you should buy to improve your photography.

Polarizing filters can darken blue skies (turning them a deep, rich blue) and are great for removing reflections in water. They're also good with foliage, making leaves less shiny (again, cutting down on reflections). Color saturation is enhanced with almost any subject. No other filter can provide this!

The polarizing filter does one thing and one thing well - it removes reflections from non-metallic surfaces:

By eliminating the reflection of light on the tiny water droplets present in the atmosphere the polarizer brings more saturated and slightly darker skies.

By eliminating reflections, the polarizing filter will tend to make water and other reflective surfaces more transparent. The effect will also vary depending on the angle to the reflective surface. If you place your camera very low above a river, the effect will be very limited. If you shoot from a bridge above it, the water will look totally transparent.

A polarizing filter reduces reflection from surfaces and makes colors appear more intense. It also tends to make shadow areas darker.

The downside of a polarizing filter is that it absorbs 1.5 stops of exposure. So, if you shoot at 1/180th of a second and then add the filter, you will find yourself at 1/60th of a second. This happens whatever the orientation for a polarizer. In low light situations, some type of camera support, such as a tripod, will be needed.

Exposure

2009-05-28T14:52:00.000-04:00

Exposure is the amount of light collected by the sensor in your camera during a single picture. If the shot is exposed too long the photograph will be washed out. If the shot is exposed too short the photograph will appear too dark. Almost all cameras today have light meters which measure the light in the given shot and set an ideal exposure automatically. Most people depend on the light meter which is fine, but if you know how to control your exposures you can get some creative and sometimes better pictures.

The two primary controls your camera uses for exposure are shutter speed (the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light) and aperture (the size of the lens opening that lets light into the camera). Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and more commonly fractions of a second. (1/2000 of a second is very fast and 8' seconds is extremely slow). Apertures are measured in something called f/stops (a very wide aperture is f/2.8 and a very small aperture is f/19).

Understanding Depth of Field

2009-05-25T09:14:00.003-04:00

A photograph that has control over the depth of field can add dramatically to the impact of it. When talking about depth of field, I'm referring to a shot were the main subject of the photograph is sharp but other elements are blurred or out of focus. Two key terms to learn here are focal plane, the area of the image that we want to have in sharp focus, and bokeh, which is the out of focus sections.

If you can master controlling the depth of field in your photographs you will be taking your photographs to a whole new level. What do I mean by controlling depth of field (DoF)? This is the effect where the subject is in sharp focus but the rest of the image is slightly out of focus. The effect is referred to as bokeh. The more bokeh, the more dramatic the blurring effect. In this article, I will discuss how to control the amount of bokeh in your images.

Being able to control the depth of field is not very easy on lower end cameras, as you need to be able to shoot in either an aperture priority mode or in a full manual mode. If you have a fully automatic point and shoot then you will not be able to achieve the effect you want.

The setting you need to be able to adjust is the aperture setting, the larger the aperture (the smaller the number) the shorter the focal plane will be. This is one reason that some people buy very fast (larger aperture) lenses. A less expensive lens may have an aperture range of something like f/4.0 â€“ f/5.6, while you will achieve some bokeh effect with this lens, it will not be as pronounced as it would be if the lens has a f/1.6 â€“ f/2.8.

Without having a lens with a very large aperture, the other way to achieve a dramatic bokeh effect is to use a long zoom lens to shoot very close objects. Since a long lens won’t be able to focus on both something very close and things at a distance, you can achieve a strong bokeh if there is enough separation between the subject and the rest of the image.

The Rule of Thirds

2008-09-26T13:29:00.002-04:00

Good composition is essential in photography. It allows us to convey messages and emotions through the images that we shoot. Fortunately, good photo composition can be easy to achieve by following a few simple guidelines. One of the most most important ones is the "Rule of Thirds."

As we look through the camera's viewfinder, imagine that there are lines dividing the scene into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, dividing your image into nine equal-shaped blocks. Frame your subject at one of the intersecting points instead of in the center of the viewfinder, as in the example below.

Your photography will become much more interesting and visually stimulating if you use the rule of thirds when framing your subjects.

Pinhole Paper Cameras

2006-08-06T22:44:00.001-04:00

The modern camera is a wonderful thing, but it's nice to remember how simple the mechanism can be. You can strip away the technology until there is little left but the abstraction on which the machine is based. A simple manipulation of space, a few materials, and a couple of hand tools and the magic (physics) is at your fingertips without sophisticated engineering.

To simplify these cameras as much as possible I made them out of the 11x14 inch photo-paper itself. There is no film in the camera because the camera is the film. Like a salad bowl made of lettuce leaf, and consumed with the meal, the camera doesn't exist after its utility is fulfilled. There is no machine. It is more of an arrangement than a thing.

Since it is color paper, sensitive to the full spectrum of visible light, there is no "safe" light recommended for darkroom work. Each paper box camera is cut, folded, and constructed in the dark and kept in a dark bag until its moment in the sun has come.

The pinhole in the brass plate is all that is needed to project an image into the inside surface of the box (more on that later), but light also seeps through the cracks and flaps of the box construction and soaks through the black tape that holds the whole thing together. The streaks and burns and flares that appear on the final image are the result of this ambient radiation and although it can be somewhat controlled, it also depends largely on "random" factors.

Back in the darkroom, the brass lens plate is folded back like a hatch-cover in the Mark I (the Rectangle), revealing the hole in the box. In the Mark II (The Square) the lens plate caps the apex of the pyramid and can be removed by tearing away the tape that holds it in place. A funnel is placed in the hole and the camera becomes like a leaky juice carton as the chemicals are poured in and sloshed around for a couple of minutes each. Rigorous adherence to optimal chemistry technique is already out the window here, so I decided not too worry too much as long as the times and temperatures were in the ballpark.

Finally, with the lights on, the whole box is immersed in a pan of water, the black masking tape is peeled off and the box is opened flat to display its inner surface.

The first design, subsequently called the Mark I, is shaped like a camera. It allows for a largish rectangle as the main image area in the center of the paper and provides an overlap of paper at the front, which I figured would help in achieving a properly squared-up and light-tight construction working by touch alone. It also uses up a great deal of paper as box flaps.

The Mark II is the design that puts the maximum surface area on the back wall of the box. The light passing through the pinhole is conical in structure and the pyramid conforms with this, wasting no paper on the front corners. It is also a little easier to build in the dark, requiring 12 instead of 22 cuts. It is simpler to align and tape up, and easier to open when done.

These are extremely wide-angle pictures. the angle of view seems to be about 170° as the image wraps around the inside of the box almost all the way back to the aperture. There is no "fish-eye" optical distortion as with a wide-angel lens because light travel through a pinhole in a straight line whereas a glass lens bends light as it gathers it. the distortion that is evident here is caused by the various planes of the box sides intersecting the sphere of light at different angles. This stretches sections of the field of view like a mercator map projection.

Like a mirror, the scene is flipped left to right, which is why a familiar location may not look quite right.

Find Great Color Palettes

2006-08-06T22:43:00.000-04:00

I am going to let you in on one of the best ways to find interesting color combinations and palettes. In fact, it is one we often employ in the development of our web designs. The beauty of it is that it does not have a steep learning curve (in fact, you will find it quite relaxing). Are you ready?

One of the best places to find great color palettes and combinations is in Nature! I keep a digital camera with me at all times. Especially during the Spring and Summer, as I walk through parks, on beaches, or through gardens, I study Nature for color usage. I will often see a color palette in a flower, orchid, rock or shell, in a leaf turning color during the Fall. . . I photograph the item and add it to a digital database. Later, I will browse this database for color ideas when a new project is started.

Try it yourself. Get away from the computer and study the true master of color - Nature itself! You may find it to be a delightful source of inspiration and ideas.

Does Color Matter?

2006-08-06T22:40:00.000-04:00

"Research reveals all human beings make a subconscious judgment about an item within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone."

That statement, from the INSTITUTE FOR COLOR RESEARCH, demonstrates the dominant role that color plays in influencing potential customers! Are you a business owner who uses the Internet for marketing? Ask yourself: What subconscious judgment will potential customers make when visiting your website? Will the colors attract and motivate, or repel the buyer, turning into a lost sale?

Is color really so important? Well, in a recent survey, almost 40% of American car buyers stated that they would change car brands if they cannot get the color of their choice! Yes, we can rightly conclude that color really matters.

I Have long believed that color is the single greatest way to influence website viewers. You may have a very creative layout with cutting edge functionality. Yet, if the colors are not right, it may well cancel out any positive perceptions formed by viewers. Conversely, great color can often overcome other flaws in the website design.

When viewers and potential customers contact me, it is most often the use of color that is complimented. Even without the benefit of the research stated above, for better or for worse, color has an overwhelming impact on website viewers.

In conclusion, the best advice I can give any web designer is this: Choose your colors well! It is the single design element that most often determines the success of your web design.

Search Engine Optimization & Web Design

2006-08-06T19:32:00.000-04:00

Beautiful Web Design is only beautiful when it has an audience. By and large, that audience will be directed to your website through major search engines like GOOGLE and YAHOO. If your business web site is not properly optimized for search engines, you miss traffic from potential customers!

Therefore, good Web Design is always a compromise between the visual art of the web designer, and the technical demands of the search engine. Realistic web designers understand this, and focus on creating web sites that look good both to the viewer and the search engine.

Search engine optimization has often been promoted as a 'black art'-- a secret skill known only by a few technical gurus. However, the real art of search engine optimization has more to do with employing common sense strategies in the web design process, and website maintenance. Also, patience and time are key factors, as it often takes months for search engines to recognize any changes done to improve the website.

An excellent common sense guide to search engine optimization is 7 SIMPLE STRATEGIES READY SITE FOR SEARCH, by Keith Robinson. This article avoids the quick-fix, high-risk tricks used by shady search engine "experts", and focuses on the sound, long-term strategies that make websites search engine friendly. In fact, the strategies found in this article have long been used by CharlestonImage.com to help our clients achieve better search engine traffic. This will help small business owners to grasp the basic principles of search engine optimization that really work!