Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
Making great prints from your photographs is by far one of the best ways we, as photographers, can really give ourselves a treat. In this day and age of “everything digital”, there has been a definite shift in the way we present the results of all our hard work. Back in the day – waaaay back oh, 4 years ago, when I emerged blinking into the light after graduating with a film and photography degree, I was proudly lugging my portfolio of printed photographs around with me to show to potential clients and employers my devastating talent (!) Now it seems that everything is web-based and online, with little or no tactile interaction with our photography. Instead of a lovingly crafted book of our best shots, we have a Facebook link or Flickr screen name. Now don’t get me wrong – I have both of the above and they are a fantastic way of showing off what we can do to a lot of people in a very short space of time. But these online galleries shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of our photography.
Print it Out
If you feel like you are getting stuck in a bit of a rut with your photography, try printing out one or two of your favourite images. Go for it – as large as you can afford. It’s really not at expensive as you think and trust me, when it arrives at your door, you will feel like a kid at Christmas again! Opening it up and gently removing the plastic wrap and laying your eyes on an A3 size printed photograph of what you had previously only seen as a postcard-sized portion of your computer screen, will make you look at your photography in a whole new light.
Get Feedback
Put that print up on your wall and people will see it and – more importantly – comment on it. Granted, the comments are bound to be in your favor as they are guests in your house (!) but you know what? It’s nice to hear compliments about our photographs. It gives us a boost and added incentive to keep our love for photography alive and kicking.
Gift Your Photographic Prints
I discovered this last year when, being a tad “financially challenged”, someone mentioned that I could print out one of my photographs and give it to my brother as a wedding present. After rummaging around in my hard drive, I came across a shot of a scene near where we lived as kids and had it printed on a canvas for him and his bride to-be. They were over the moon at receiving such a unique gift and it is now gracing the wall of their new home.
The great thing about giving your prints as gifts is that they are totally unique – to you and the recipient! And that is hard to beat however you look at it.
So try it for yourself, have a look through your favourite photos, get a couple printed out big and prepare to experience your photography in a whole new light!
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Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
What is an ISO rating?
Well, in a nutshell, it refers to how sensitive the camera’s film or sensor is to light. If you look through your camera’s menu, you will most likely see options like 100, 200, 400, etc. up to 3200 or perhaps 6400 and higher. The rule of thumb is, the lower the number, the less sensitive to light the sensor will be. This means that in order to produce a well exposed image, the shutter speed will have to reduce and/or the aperture will have to be opened wider in order to let in enough light.
Why Should I Use a Low ISO?
It is worth knowing that the lower the ISO you shoot with, the better the quality of the resulting photograph. In both traditional film and digital photography, “noise” or the graininess in the image increases when the ISO increases. For landscape photography, for example, the camera can be mounted on a tripod and a slower shutter speed can be chosen as the subject is stationary. A smaller aperture can also be selected which will afford you a lovely deep depth of field, keeping everything from the foreground to the background in focus.
This means that the ISO rating can be set low – as low as you can in order to achieve the best quality image possible from your camera. As a guideline, a low ISO rating is in the region of 50-200.
Are There Benefits to Using a High ISO?
Absolutely! What if you are shooting sports or nature – subjects that move faster than a mountain range? Then a faster shutter speed is necessary to capture the action. In order to create a good exposure in the very short time the shutter is open, the sensor in your camera needs to be much more sensitive to the tiny amount of light hitting it. If you raise the sensitivity by increasing the ISO rating, this will “balance out” the exposure, so to speak. So, the higher the ISO rating you shoot with, the faster you can set your shutter speeds. Faster shutter speeds also means that you can hand hold your camera without getting blur from camera shake, so no need for a tripod.
The added sensitivity to light with a higher ISO also gives you better results in low light situations. But the advantage of being able to hand-hold a shot at dusk comes at a price – the noise in the photograph will become more noticeable.
“High” ISO’s are generally in the region of 500 and above.
The color reproduction, overall contrast and detail will be much better than the same scene shot at a much higher ISO. Take a look at the 2 photos below to see what I mean.
The fine detail of ISO 100 is in stark contrast to that of 6400, which displays noticable grain as well as reduced contrast and color detail. The one benefit of the image shot at 6400 was I could hand hold the camera in the realatively low-light scene. The 100 ISO shot needed the camera on a tripod to avoid camera shake.
They were both shot at an aperture setting of 5.6. The first one was set to ISO 100, meaning that the exposure time needed to be 1/3 second to achieve a well-exposed image. But the result is sharp, clear and with no real noticeable grain.
The second shot was again, 5.6, but this time I raised the ISO to 6400. The added sensitivity meant that I could use a faster shutter speed of 1/160th second – but look at the horrible grain when viewed at 100%.
Which One Should I Use?
Well, with today’s advances in digital camera technology, the images produced at even relatively high ISO levels are becoming better and better. In-camera processing can remove a lot of the noise produced at higher levels, so it is a matter of experimenting. My experience has shown me that a good place to start for general, all-purpose photography is ISO 400.
So getting to know how ISO ratings, shutter speeds and exposure times affect each other is an invaluable step in becoming a better photographer.
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Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
While I love my DSLR, there’s no reason you can’t take great photos with the average point and shoot camera. In fact, most SLR owners that I know also use a point and shoot camera because of their size and the fact that they can take great photos. “But don’t I need to know about all the different settings?” you ask. Helpful, but not as important as two things: using (or not using) the flash and improving your composition by using a very simple rule.
1. The Flash Is Not Always Your Friend
Your point and shoot probably has as good a lens as your friend’s SLR (if he hasn’t upgraded) and your photos can turn out even better than his if you use light and flash appropriately with your point and shoot. Whenever possible, turn off the flash – it creates harsh shadows as opposed to the natural looking shadows created by ambient light. Look for a button with a lightning bolt on your camera to turn off the flash.
While taking photos without a flash can give you much more natural looking photos, it can to lead to more blurry photos. Be careful to hold the your camera still when taking photos or use a tripod when convenient. It also helps to adjust the ISO on your camera to 400 or 800 for indoor, daytime photography.
2. The Rule of Thirds
Do you always center your subject? STOP! Your photos will be much more interesting if you use a compositional rule of thumb called the rule of thirds. To quote Wikipedia: “The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.”
Do you see how the tree in this photo is not centered, but is placed at the intersection of two of the lines? Also, the horizon falls on one of the horizontal lines.
When photographing a single object, say a tree or a person, it is often best to align the subject with the left vertical line. Also, for a person, align the eyes along the top vertical line.
Your photo album software (such as iPhoto) will probably allow you to superimpose this grid on your photos to help you crop them. With some practice, this will become second nature and you’ll be on your way to taking much better photos.
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Here are some good tips from PopPhoto.com for taking advantage of the fall colors, along with a photo from Heather McFarland to inspire you.
