SLR -vs- Point & Shoot

It seems everyone who knows I’m a photographer asks me for a
recommendation about what kind of camera to buy.

Now, there are two main kinds of digital camera you can consider: A
small point-and-shoot, or a larger Single Lens Reflex, or “SLR.”

Here’s a quick run-down of the pros and cons for each:

SLR - PROS

** You can sell your photos for more uses. SLR cameras have bigger
light sensors than point-and-shoots, which leads to bigger file sizes
and better-quality images. (Bigger images sell for more in stock
photography, make bigger enlargements in fine art and prints, and make
better full-page spreads in magazines.)

** You can take better pictures in poor conditions. If you want to
shoot in low-light situations, an SLR camera will give you a cleaner
result with less "noise" at high ISOs (we’ll go over what that means
in New Orleans).

** You have more flexibility inside with an SLR. If you want to do
portrait work and studio work, an SLR can trigger (or “talk to”) the
studio lights.

** An SLR is more versatile, since you can change lenses. You can use
macro lenses that will let you take a full-size image of a fly’s
eyeball from a quarter of an inch away... or you can use long
telephoto lenses that will let you take a picture of a fly on an
elephant from a quarter of a mile away.

** You can capture movement more easily. An SLR camera is good for
action photography, sports, birding, etc. That’s because it has a
quick response time with auto focus and exposure control.

SLR - CONS

** They’re heavy. With sturdy construction and large lenses, SLRs tend
to weigh a lot and can be a pain, literally and figuratively, to carry
around all day.

** They’re noticeable. It’s tough to be inconspicuous with a big SLR
camera around your neck. Don’t try to shoot the local motorcycle gang
without asking permission from all concerned.

** They require more “stuff.” SLRs are bulky and demand higher
maintenance than point-and-shoots. You’ll need a large, padded camera
bag; lens cover; and a number of accessories, like lens cloths, large
batteries, and more.

** SLRs can be expensive. Depending on what you want to do with your
photos, you may or may not need an SLR at this point. Though it’s
often money well spent, an SLR camera can cost 10 times more than a
point-and-shoot. In almost all cases, particularly in SLRs, the more
you spend, the more rugged and weather resistant the camera. The more
expensive ones will also focus faster and take more frames in a burst.

POINT-AND-SHOOT - PROS

** The price is right... if you don’t need large file sizes. If you’ll
only ever look at your photos on a computer and email them to Aunt
Martha, a decent point-and-shoot will get you images comparable to
that which the most expensive SLR provides. And if the largest print
you’ll ever want to make is 8x10 or smaller, there will be little, if
any, discernable difference in quality between a point-and-shoot and
an SLR.

** Point-and-shoots are discreet. You can go “street shooting” and
take a lot of photos of people without anyone yelling at you.

** They’re light. You can just slip a point-and-shoot in your pocket
and carry it with you at all times... so you’ll always get the shot.

POINT-AND-SHOOT - CONS

** Limited use of your photos. Typically, point-and-shoots have much
smaller light sensors than SLR cameras, so you can’t enlarge your
photos as much, and sometimes you’ll get digital “artifacting”
(another thing we’ll go over at our March workshop). Images shot with
a point-and-shoot sell for less in stock photography (some agencies
won’t even accept them), and magazines can’t print as large an image
from a point-and-shoot photo, so an editor may not be able to use your
shots.

** Poor quality in low light. While point-and-shoot image quality can
be very good with plenty of light, at low ISOs (again, we’ll be
learning more about ISO and camera settings in New Orleans), low light
situations may not give you as fine a shot as you can get with an SLR.

So now that you have the quick run-down on the differences between
point-and-shoot cameras and SLRs, here’s something they both have in
common: You can learn how to take great photos with either one.

It’s like asking: Smart car or VW Eurovan? There’s a good case to be
made for owning both. But only you can decide which one is right for
you.



But most importantly... no matter what you choose, pick up your camera
and start taking pictures.



It will get you more involved in the world around you and give you a
different outlook on life. Instead of hurrying from one place to the
next, you’ll be interested in the journey.


And isn’t that what life is all about?



Happy shooting!

What Should We Pay to Improve Our Photography?

“Having a camera makes you no more a photographer than having a hammer and some nails makes you a carpenter.” - Claude Adams

Many of us, when looking to improve our photography, spend money on equipment. We think that the better/newer the equipment the better our photography. We pay plenty of money because we believe that the equipment will enable us to create better photographs. Most of the time our photography remains the same…just the equipment, and our bank accounts, have changed.

What do we need to create a photograph? We need a camera, a lens and light sensitive material to record light. If you are using a pinhole camera you can dispense with the lens.

What do we need to create a GOOD photograph? An understanding of the craft of photography can help. The more we understand about the craft of photography the more depth we can bring to our pictures. If we can’t teach ourselves about the craft, a class/workshop with a good teacher will help us enormously and is well worth the cost. But there’s something else that won’t cost us anything.

What do we need to pay to create GOOD photographs and yet cost us nothing out of our pockets? ATTENTION!!!

Our cameras record EVERYTHING that we place into our framing and, assuming that there is enough light being reflected or transmitted by the objects in the frame, whether we see it or not it’s there!

We see with discrimination. We see what’s interesting to us and pay attention to that, usually at the expense of everything else in the frame. On the other hand our cameras see indiscriminately and are interested in nothing.

We have to learn to see like our cameras record our photographs, without discrimination. Although we need to concentrate on what’s interesting and important to us, we also need to pay attention to everything else in the frame. If we don’t pay attention to everything else, we get things in the photograph that we don’t want in the photograph..like poles growing out of peoples heads!

Pay attention to EVERYTHING in the frame. If we look at our photograph after the exposure was made and see something that wasn’t there, we weren’t paying attention. Things that weren’t in our viewfinder prior to our exposure don’t magically appear in the photograph after the exposure was made. There’s nothing wrong with a pole growing out of someone’s head if that’s what we saw in our viewfinder before our exposure was made and decided to keep it there.

We need to look at ALL of the picture in our viewfinder and organize it. We should be filling the frame with the elements of the composition that are important to us and paying attention to how those elements relate to each other then, when everything feels right to us, we make the exposure. By doing this at the very least we’ll have a well composed picture. At the most, if we are true to OUR feelings about whatever we are photographing, we’ll not only have a well composed picture we’ll have a picture filled with feeling. We can’t force feeling into a picture. A picture filled with feeling is usually an automatic result of examining what’s important to us as individuals and including those important compositional elements, and their relationships, in our photographs.

In closing if you want to improve your photography, before plunking down a pile of cash to pay for that new state of the art super mega-expensive piece of equipment that you think will improve your pictures, try paying attention. It’ll cost you nothing and I believe that our thoughtful attention is the best investment we can make when it comes to our photographs.

Motion Blur: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

You already know what motion blur is: the subject’s in focus, but it’s moving so fast that the background streaks into a mere blur.

And you already know what kind of photos look great with motion blur:
High-speed sports
Busy streets
Small children wrestling an alligator atop a speeding train

But we’ll bet you hadn’t thought of using it for slow-moving subjects. Wind, water and clouds look surreal and dream-like when photographed slowly enough to capture their movement.

The next time you wake up to a dark and windy day, don’t snuggle back under the covers with a cup of hot cocoa. Those are the best days to catch clouds and wind on the move.

So bundle up, grab the tripod and stop down to your tiniest aperture: it’s time to go out and explore the other side of motion photography.

(Then you can go back to bed.)


Photographs, by definition, capture and immortalize a small slice of life. There is little for the viewer to infer what happens before or after that moment. However, there are images that need to communicate motion. For example, you may want to capture a dog running, a train barreling down the tracks, or trees that are blowing in the wind. Each of these scenes can come alive within your photographs if you learn how to convey motion properly.

Today, I’ll describe how you can use different shutter speeds and panning to capture motion in your photography. I’ll also explain a potential issue you might experience along with tips to resolve it.

Reasons To Capture Motion

Beginning photographers have likely seen captivating photographs that capture motion which they’d like to duplicate. There are several ways to accomplish this and each has a slightly different goal. Sometimes, there is a need to blur certain elements in the image while focusing sharply on a few subjects in the foreground. Other times, you may want to freeze or blur everything. The direction you take depends upon your objective for your photograph.

A lot of photographers capture motion simply to convey that an object is moving. But, there are other reasons to so. Movement can communicate mood. Trees rustling in the wind suggest serenity while throngs of people on a busy city block imply harried activity.

You can also use motion to eliminate elements in a scene that may serve as distractions to the viewer. For example, you may want to photograph a person standing on a sidewalk corner as cars move behind him. By blurring everything but your primary subject (i.e. the man on the corner), you can eliminate potential distractions and focus the viewer’s attention.

Two Primary Techniques For Capturing Motion

The shutter speed that you use while photographing a scene plays a key role in capturing motion in your image. The faster the shutter speed, the sharper the focus on your subject. On the other hand, a slower shutter speed will blur a moving object. There are two main approaches (we’ll discuss a couple of alternatives in a moment).



1. Blurred Subject With Background In Focus




Let’s assume you’re photographing a speeding train against a wall of trees in the background. You can blur the train while leaving the trees in focus. Doing so would instantly communicate to the viewer that the train is moving quickly. To accomplish this, you would use a slow shutter speed. (It’s also important to use a tripod. That way, your camera remains steady.) You’ll often see this technique used in nighttime photographs with car headlights cutting through the image.

2. Blurred Background With Subject In Focus



This second technique keeps your photograph’s subject in sharp focus while the background is blurred. Using our train example, the train would be in focus and the wall of trees would be blurred, thereby conveying the train’s movement. Similar to the first method, you need to use a slow shutter speed. However, instead of using a tripod, you’ll be panning your camera along the directional path of your subject.

Panning Explained

Most beginning photographers are trained to “secure” their cameras. That is, your camera should remain as still as possible for certain types of shots. By contrast, panning requires that you move your camera with your subject. Specifically, you’ll be matching your subject’s rate of movement and the direction in which it is traveling.

In our train example, assume the man on the bike is moving from east to west. In that case, you’ll need to pan your camera along the same direction, matching the speed of the bike. The best results occur when you have a clear view of the moving object and ample room to swivel your camera along a parallel axis to it.

Panning effectively can be difficult. You can practice and perfect your technique by photographing athletes who move quickly (for example, basketball players). Try to capture their facial expressions while blurring everything in the background. It will take some time to get it right, but once you do, the technique can be a valuable addition to your repertoire.

Other Techniques To Capture Motion

Besides the two main techniques described above, you can also freeze the entire field of vision or blur everything. Freezing the entire scene can give your photographs a unique look, especially if the objects strongly imply movement. For example, consider a bird that is flying in front of a waterfall. Both imply motion to the viewer. Freezing the entire scene captures that motion in a single moment and can produce a breathtaking image. You should use a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th of a second for this type of shot.




Blurring everything produces the best results when the scene offers bright, contrasting colors or varying shades on the grayscale. In most cases, capturing motion in this manner is done purely for artistic purposes.

Another effective method for capturing motion within your images is ‘chrono photography’.




Using the continuous shooting feature on your camera, you can capture a series of shots and join them together in the post processing stage to create the effect shown above. A tripod is essential when attempting to shoot motion using this method.

Determine The Proper Shutter Speed

A lot of novice photographers ask what the proper shutter speed is, given their objective for their photographs. Every situation is unique. One speed doesn’t suit all circumstances. To identify the right shutter speed, you’ll need to ask yourself a few questions:
How fast is your subject moving?
How much distance exists between the camera and the subject?
How much motion do you want your photograph to convey to the viewer?

The faster the shutter speed, the more frozen and crisply-defined your subject will be. Most cameras today will allow you to freeze a scene using 1/8000th of a second or faster. That being said, the numbers only serve as a rough guideline. You’ll need to experiment with different shutter speeds in a variety of situations.

Potential Issue: Excess Light

When you slow your shutter speed to blur elements in your image, there’s a chance that too much light will enter and impact your photograph. It’s a common problem, but there are a couple of ways to resolve it. First, check the aperture on your camera. The larger it is, the more likely excess light will enter. Try adjusting the settings to reduce its size. Second, review the setting of your ISO. When it is set high, the image sensor in your camera may be overly-sensitive to light. This can create unwanted noise in your image.

Mastering The Art Of Motion Capture

Like other photography skills, becoming proficient at capturing motion requires practice and experience. You’ll need to spend time learning how shutter speeds will impact the quality of your images. Even if you’re just setting your camera on its tripod, timing a perfect shot of a fast-moving object can be difficult. In the end, capturing motion in your photography is part technique and part art. Fortunately, with practice, you can master it.


more reading on motion here

Brealing the rules ...

Anyone who knows me would understand my concept of "breaking the rules" because sometimes you just have to step outside the box...

Take Family Portraits That Break the Rules... Because You Answer to No One.

Since time immemorial, family portraits have been constructed thus:

Everybody put your nice clothes on and pose in front of this decorative interior/ body of water/ big rock. Now smile.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But if you already have that picture and want something new, here are some ideas.

1) Work with contrasts: John Olson did a brilliant series for LIFE in 1970 of rock stars with their parents, including David Crosby, Frank Zappa, and Eric Clapton. The whole set’s on Google now that LIFE has put their archives online.

How you can do it: Olson contrasted scruffy rock stars with their clean-cut families. Try posing your goth cousin with Grandma in her Sunday best and you’ll get the same effect.

2) Use downtime: Marie Angeletti and Katrina D’Autremont take advantage of quiet moments like watching TV or resting on the comfy chair. Some of their best family photos don’t even have people in them, just the space they occupy.

How you can do it: Angeletti and D’Autremont use stillness as their ally. Take photos of your family when they’re not posing, just being themselves. And remember to document the rooms and things that mean home to you.

3) Be a complete spaz: Akihiro Furuta takes hilarious (and definitely memorable) family pictures using silly outfits, odd situations, and matching costumes.

How you can do it: Furuta dresses his family in goofy costumes and has a lot of fun. If you must have matching outfits, go for ponchos and bunny-ears instead of white shirts and khakis.

1 70's rock stars with parents

2 Katrina D’Autremont’s Family Portraits

3 Marie Angeletti

7 Tips from Professional Fashion Photographer Adriana Curcio

A couple of weeks ago I came across the website of fashion and editorial photographer Adriana Curcio. I was immediately impressed by the quality of her work and spent the next half an hour looking through her portfolios and learning form her work. I then shot Adriana an email and asked if she’d be interested in sharing some tips with my readers - fortunately for us she said yes!

Following are 7 tips (and a few images) that she took the time to write up. Enjoy.

When asked to write about tips and advice for aspiring photographers, I mulled over a few different topics, and everything I came up with was technically related. Then, I thought about myself, and my journey into fashion photography, and thought about the advice I wished I’d been given. What I needed were tips about the little things that fall through the cracks when you’re so focused on getting the mechanics down. The truth of the matter is, you can create an image that is 100% technically correct, but the elements that truly make your image worth looking at may be lost. So here’s my list of tips…

Getting the Whole Picture.

1. Preparation

In my opinion this is the most important bit of advice I can give you. In fact, don’t just prepare, over prepare! I never walk on to a set without having a concrete idea of what I’m looking to achieve. I have books, and books of tear sheets of images of lighting, makeup, hair, styling, posing, editing, etc. It’s very easy to become burnt out as a photographer, but if you have these books of inspiring images to glance through, I can pretty much guarantee something will catch your eye, and a concept or story will begin to develop.

2. It’s Your Concept

Working in fashion, there is obviously a team of hair stylists, makeup artists, and stylists I work with, however, I’m involved in all of it from A-Z. I’m always open to suggestions, and ideas, and love to see what others can bring to the table, but I never hand over the reigns. You cannot let someone else take over your vision. If you do, it will read in your images. You need a very smooth execution of your story in order for your audience to grasp it, so be sure to take control of it.

3. Move and Move some more

I experiment from every possible angle when I’m shooting. I shoot and move, shoot and move. You can’t wait for the shot to come to you, you have to go find it.

4. Be a Director

I direct, A LOT. There are some models that don’t need a lot of direction, and I love to be inspired by what they bring to set, however, I don’t lose sight of my direction. Again, you can’t wait for the shot to come to you, you have to create it.

5. Break the Rules

Whomever said “rules are meant to be broken,” was on the right track. I was taught the correct way to light my subjects, and for a long time that’s what I did. After a few fortunate accidents, I realized there’s something to be said about high contrast, and dramatic lighting. Not everything needs to be lit just so, or be perfectly flattering. Bend and break the rules, and see what you find. You will surprise yourself.

6. Never Stop Shooting

Shoot whenever, and where ever. The second you stop shooting, is the second your “photographic brain” starts slowly disappearing and getting lazy. You start losing your creative energy, and second guessing yourself, then you begin to thinki maybe you’re not good enough, etc. If you keep on shooting, you don’t have the chance to fall into that hole. Once you’re there, it’s hard to dig yourself out! Shoot, shoot, shoot!

7. Confidence

You have to believe in yourself, and your work! The best way to learn is to completely throw yourself into it. You can’t be afraid to screw up! The reality of the situation is that inevitably, you will screw up! But it’s ok, it’s actually wonderful because it’s how you learn. Every time I make a mistake on set, I learn, and know better for next time. My first shoot with clients, I almost walked off set because I didn’t trust myself, and I was so scared of making a mistake, and embarrassing myself. I sat there running through all the possible disasters that could occur, then I shut it all out because I knew if I didn’t shoot then, I never would! The images from that shoot are some of my favorite images to date!

Do yourself a favor and check out more of Adriana’s fashion and editorial photography at www.adrianacurcio.com.

What Everybody Ought to Know About Posing for Portraits

“Do you have any tips on posing for portraits?”

This question hit my inbox earlier in the week and I shot the reader back a few links to tutorials that I've read and followed on the topic of posing for portraits. I thought that the list of posts might be useful to others too so have included it here (assuming anyone ever reads these blogs):

Posing Tips for Portraits - Posing Shoulders

Which Way Should Your Subject Lean?

Portrait Photography’s Power Posing Part I: The Components

Portrait Photography’s Power Posing - Part II: The Poses

Posing Tips - Waistlines, Thighs and Bust lines

A Posing Technique from A Girl With a Pearl Earring

How to Pose Hands in Portraits

Where is Your Subject Looking and Why Does it Matter?

4 Tips for Natural Looking Portraits

Want To Get More From Your Point and Shoot / Compact Camera?

Compact cameras, or point-and-shoots, are those that have no interchangeable lenses. It is essentially a light-tight box to hold your film, a lens and a shutter mechanism to let light onto the film for a brief moment.

Which all means that shooting with a compact can be pretty restrictive. Unless you use the camera within the confines of its ability.

We know the advantages of compacts: that they are, well, compact and easy to cart around. Convenient, small and instantly ready to shoot. And of course, they don't require a helluva technical mind. They're not called "point-and-shoot" cameras for nothing, you know.

So what are the disadvantages? Firstly, they mostly have fixed focal length lenses (whoah, big words!) with essentially means they're stuck on wide angle.

Now wide angles are normally fine to do landscapes etc., but a characteristic of such lenses is that they produce a degree of image distortion. So if you brought them too close to the subject, they would distort someone nose, for instance, and make you very unpopular.

Secondly, their lenses are focus free. That sounds quite cool, because these days, nothing is free! But what it really means, if you can see past the advertising blurp for just a second, is that they're actually unable to focus.

Wide angle lenses naturally have a large field of focus, which means that if set on their infinity setting (your compact is set to this already) everything from a meter away from the lens to infinity will be in focus. Again, this is cool. But what if you want to creep up really close to your subject for a nice, tight shot of a flower or the new puppy's cute little face? It'll be out of focus, that's what.

Thirdly, compacts rarely have exposure compensation in the form of different shutter speeds. To reduce costs, their shutter speeds are set to around a 125th of a second. In normal daylight conditions, this will allow just enough light onto the film to expose your pictures correctly.

However, if the light levels drop, you cannot increase the time the shutter is kept open to allow enough light onto the film. That would account for those nasty, grainy pictures taken at your sunset picnic, won't it?

The fourth drawback of compacts is that their flashes are mostly inadequate for lighting subjects further than 2 to 4 meters away from the lens. This leads to, as above, underexposed film and murky pictures.

OK, hope I haven't made you sell your compact by now. I also own a compact and I'm very happy with the results I get. In fact, I've shot quite a few magazine cover pictures with my Olympus MjU II.

Simply recognize the limitations of your camera. And shoot accordingly. Some hot tips:

• People look best when photographed with a medium telephoto lens. This is so because of the compression of the perspective such lenses allow, which basically means that the picture is flattened, not distorted into a bulbous shape.
• So if your compact has a zoom facility, use it. It may even have those funny little numbers on the zoom - like 28mm, 35mm and so on all the way up to 105mm or longer. Zoom in until you reach 85mm or the equivalent of 75% of the available zoom length.

  Here's a nice tip: the best zoom is your feet. Lift your camera, look through the viewfinder, then step further back or forward until you frame your subject tightly. Remember that you are photographing people. You want to see their expressions, their character. Not the horse in the paddock behind them as well.

  So go in tight. And hold your camera in portrait format, in other words vertically, not horizontally. This will enable you to go in even tighter and enlarge the size of the image on your film to the maximum.

• If you are too tight, step back, but do not zoom back. Don't be lazy - use your feet. You want to use the perspective compression ability of your zoom lens. Zooming out negates that.
• And what if you do not have a zoom? Live with the fact that your compact is not ideal for portrait work. At least not for flattering portraits, anyway!

  But there is a way around the typical distortion of a fixed focal length such as the ones you'll find on zoomless compacts: make sure you stand far enough back from your subject. Give yourself at least a meter and a half. Make sure you still shoot in portrait format, and frame the shot so that you frame the sitter from head to hip. This way, you can have the image cropped tighter in a lab later, to give you that nice, strong and tight image a longer lens would have given you.

Overcoming inadequate flash power

Most compact flashes are quite weak and only OK for work up to around 2-4 meters. If your subject is further away, the flash beam will have to travel all the way there, get bounced back and expose the film correctly. This is a highly unlikely event, given the strength of these little flashes.

On-camera flashes are designed to only light subjects within a perfect distance from the lens. If you're too close, your film will be overexposed. If too far, the opposite will happen. So experiment with ideal flash distances. Actually pace out the distance from your subject and remember to check your photos later for the best results.

If you're seriously underpowered on the flash end, consider buying an cheap extra flash and a slave unit, as well as a miniature tripod. A slave unit (that's the little 'eye' underneath the flash in the picture) detects your camera's flash and pops a signal to the flash unit attached to it, causing this flash to fire simultaneously.

If you placed the slave to 45 degrees to your left or right, it will be able to "see" your flash and fire accordingly. The result is a more evenly lit subject, with virtually no ugly shadow behind.

Experiment with the position of the flash - hold it higher than your camera flash for even better results. The ideal position is 45 degrees off camera axis and 45 degrees up as well. Just be careful of bring the slave too close to your subject. This could result in overexposure. Try fitting some tracing paper over the slave flash to soften the light for still better results.

Overcoming camera shake

Camera shake is caused by shooting in low light level conditions and moving the camera while the shutter is open. To counter it, you have to learn the rifleman's technique of "shooting" film: take the full weight of the camera in your left hand. Now depress the shutter button with your right hand index finger, with only your thumb pressed underneath the camera body to help. Don't stab at the shutter - depress it gently. If you grip the camera in your right hand, you tend to attack the shutter button, whereas if you steady the camera with your left hand and squeeze the "trigger" with your right, you cause minimal camera movement.

Choosing the best compact

Compacts are essentially as good as their lenses. When you choose one, always look at the lens and find the scribblings that will tell you more about the lens' pedigree. There should be a number of figures such as f=5.6 or 4.5 or 3.5. The lower this figure, the "faster" the lens, or put differently, the better the optic, therefore allowing more light through (hence "faster").

The Olympus MjU II sports a whopping 2.8 lens - one of the fastest in the game. The quality is therefore superb but there are a lot of other great compact/ point&shoot cameras on the market. Research, find one you like then go out and HAVE FUN!!

How to Be a Great Photographer

How can I step up my game?

If you decompose the art of photography into a few steps, you are going to end up with something similar to:
Buy camera and film
Load film in camera
Point camera towards subject
Click shutter
Take an aesthetically pleasing, visually compelling photograph

All this seems very simple, except for the last point. Some people are never able to reach this point and others will take a long time before they do. This is what we will discuss in the article.


On your journey to become a photographer, here are some approaches you can take;

Don’t do anything

The majority of people only use their camera to take pictures of family gatherings and holidays. Almost all of them are content with the pictures they take.

Search for websites and resources that teach you how to take better pictures

By scouring the internet, you can learn several new tips and tricks to improve your photograph taking skills.

Publish your photos and have people critique them

This often takes a lot of guts. Putting your work ‘out there’ and waiting to hear peoples comments is often difficult. You may expect less than stellar reviews of your photographs or sometimes they may be glowing ones. Either way, you can rest assured that you will pick up numerous tips on how to improve your photographs.

Study the photographs of the professionals

Look for the acknowledged greats in photography and their work. Study not only their work, but also what other people have to say about their work. In this way, you can learn some of the aspects of taking great photographs that are widely acclaimed.

If you also want to relate how your work compares with these photographs, you will need some feedback on your photographs. As mentioned in point 3 above, join a forum where people can critique your work. This will acquaint you with what criticism to accept and what to ignore.

Join a club

Joining a photography club can be a good way to improve your skills. They often have lectures or workshops which you can visit. Photography clubs are a great way to get some good hands-on experience.

Enroll in a class

You can find a number of classes on photography, both online and by physically attending a campus. Try to choose one which has assignments that are ultimately critiqued by a panel of experienced photographers.

Get some help

Getting some help from an experienced photographer is a great way to develop your skills. One point of note here, look for an artist who will introduce you to a way of looking at the world. He will help you to develop your ‘artistic eye’ and find your unique talent. If, however, you’re only after ways to improve your stock photo taking skills, then choose on of the six options listed above.

Join an art school

This is by far the best approach if you’ve got the money and time. An example of how such a school may work would be intensive classes about 3 to 4 times a week. Here you will learn to critique photographs of others as well as your own. You will learn history of photography and other topics related to art such as drawing, painting and sculpture. Here you receive a well rounded introduction to the world of art, not just photography. The emphasis of these schools is to teach you the very basics of art and set you free. No rules are likely to be thought here. Only expression.



Obviously the tips listed in this article are to be considered on an individual basis. If you have more time and are really dedicated to becoming a true artist, by all means pursue the art school option. If, however, you’ve only got a little time and are more interested in basic, stock or wedding photography, then follow the other tips listed in the article.

What Causes a Dark Photo?

Photography is the art of recording light. Whether you shoot digital or film, you are recording light. The tricky part comes in when trying to record the right amount of light. Recording the wrong amount of light is the most common cause of dark photographs.

Most of the time if you say your image came out too dark someone in the room will chime in with "use a flash". "You need a flash" is all to glib an answer for such a complex subject. While adding flash to your images will increase the amount of light available, it is not a "cure-all" for dark photographs. Another way to increase recorded light is to use a faster film speed . This will decrease the amount of light needed to record the image.

Beyond the immediate answers of flash and film speed there are several more reasons as to why images may turn out too dark. In general, there was a reason you may have not realized how much light was needed or why you captured the wrong amount of light.

Causes of Improper Light Recording

• Incorrect Shutter Speed/Aperture/Film Speed Combination

• Metering Off of Wrong Spot in Composition

• Inaccurate Light Meter

• Old and/or Damaged Film

• Improper Developing

Incorrect Shutter Speed/Aperture Combination

An incorrect shutter speed/aperture combinations are a major cause of dark images. What shutter speed and apertures you can use in a given situation are dictated by the available light, not by what you need to capture the subject. Even though you may want a 1/1000th of a second shutter and a f22 aperture to capture the action at a football game, it will not properly capture the scene at night. The faster you set your shutter speed, the less time light will have to imprint on the film/sensor. Likewise, if you use a small aperture, less light can move through the lens to reach the film/sensor. In order to ensure a properly exposed image when setting the shutter speed/aperture yourself, it is vital that you use your light meter.

Metering Off of Wrong Spot in Composition

Metering is what it is called when you take a reading with your light meter. Whether you actually see the light meter reading or not, unless you have camera with only one setting (like a disposable or pinhole camera), your camera has a light meter. When you point your camera at an object and press the button part way down, the light meter reads the amount of light reaching the film/sensor.

The vast majority of cameras meter purely off of the exact center of the frame. This means that if the center of the image is brighter than your main subject, your subject will be underexposed. SLR type cameras often allow the photographer to select the type of light reading the meter will use.

• Center-weighted Average

• Single Point Selection

• Multi-segment

This allows the photographer to select a reading method more consistent with his/her own shooting style. Even in cameras that do not allow the photographer to manually select the metering style, some cameras are beginning to use a smart metering algorithm that allows the camera to meter off of the obvious subjects in a frame rather than purely off of the center. This does help but it is important you know WHERE your camera is taking its light reading from.

Once you know where the light meter is taking a reading from you can adjust your shutter speed/aperture setting accordingly, or you can force the meter to take its reading where you want it to by pressing the shutter button halfway down when properly pointing at your selected metering spot. If you meter off of a bright blue sky, the hawk that is your actual subject will be underexposed/dark.

Inaccurate Light Meter

Even if you take a good light meter reading and set your shutter speed/aperture correctly, it is still possible to have a underexposed/dark photograph due to an inaccurate light meter. Next to taking a meter reading off of an incorrect point in your composition, an inaccurate light meter is a major cause of dark images. This is especially easy to see in point and shoot and digital cameras. With film cameras, the lab was often able to correct exposure problems when they developed film and the photographer never saw the problem. Now, we are our own photo labs, and we see the problem!

If you are using a basic point and shoot camera and it is under warranty, get it repaired as there really isn't a good workaround for you on this problem. You will either have to get the meter repaired, purchase a new camera, or continue to try to lighten the image in a digital darkroom program. Even using flash probably will not eliminate the problem as the light meter will adjust to the flash.

If your camera has a manual setting you can easily work around an inaccurate meter. You will need to take some test images to see just how badly inaccurate your meter is. Take several shots of the same subject, adjusting your aperture each time. When you view your images, note what exposure compensation produces the desired image. Note this amount and remember to "overexpose" (at least according to your light meter) your images by that amount each time.

Old and/or Damaged Film

Old film will eventually lose its ability to accurately record light. While film technology has improved drastically since the day of Daguerreotypes, it is still not an eternal medium. Film stored in its original containers under good conditions (room temperature) will generally last at least a couple of years. However, it will eventually go bad. When film goes bad due to age it can produce interesting but unpredictable effects. One roll may produce dark images and another old roll may produce streaked images. There is just no way to predict with certainty what old film will do.

Damaged film, like old film, tends to have unpredictable flaws. Sometimes this flaw is dark photographs.

Film can be damaged by:

• Temperature
  Acceptable temperatures vary by manufacturer and film - be sure to check the film package for limits.

• X-Rays
  Use a lead-lined package that has been airport approved for transport.

• Water
  This includes condensation - keep your film well sealed and insulated.

• Light
  If unintended light strikes film before, during, or after the initial exposure it will create image problems. Generally this is more of a problem of overexposure than underexposure but it bears mentioning as a cause of film damage.

Improper Developing

Even if you expose an image perfectly, it is possible for the lab to ruin the image in processing. If you receive a bad photo from a lab, look at your negative. If the negative seems to be properly exposed (not overly light or dark) then try having another lab do another print. Hopefully it was only the print that the lab ruined. If your negatives are completely light or dark the negative is ruined.

Some of the more common lab errors are:

• Non C-41 process film developed in C-41 process

• Light contamination during processing

• Wrong film brand settings

• Too long or too slow processing time

• Old chemicals

• Contaminated chemicals

Sensor Dust Is Evil !!

Here’s How to Banish It.

First, the good news:

If you have a point & shoot or a film camera, keep it clean and dust specks will never plague you.

And now the bad news: digital SLR sensors are magnets for dust.

Cleaning a digital sensor is nerve-wracking and risky, with enough methods, products, and gimmicks on the market to flummox a rocket scientist.

And that, dear friends, is why you have this blog.

I'm breaking it down right now: what works, what doesn’t, and whether the annoyance of having dust spots is worth the trouble of cleaning them. Let’s roll.

What’s the Problem?

“Cleaning the sensor” is a misnomer (like that word?). The glass filter that protects the sensor is what gathers the dust and must be cleaned. While touching the filter isn’t as bad as touching the actual sensor, it’s still a delicate, easily-scratched piece of glass that costs a lot to replace.

Dust gets into your camera whenever you change lenses or caps, so dust accumulates over time. It mostly shows up as specks on areas of flat color, like a blue sky or white wall. Dust tends to show up at narrow apertures, so if you always shoot at f1.8, you’ll never notice it. Too much dust can cause your photos to look flat, even if you don’t see the individual specks.

If you want to see how much dust is on your sensor, set your camera to its narrowest aperture (f/22 or thereabouts) and take a picture of a clear blue sky, white wall, or all-white computer screen. Then upload your photo and view it at actual pixel size. You’ll see fuzzy spots throughout the picture. If it’s hard to see the dust, follow this tutorial to make the dust pop out more.
( http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/inspecting.html )

How Big a Deal is It?

If you don’t notice the dust in your images, and you’re not shooting professionally, it’s no big deal. You can peacefully ignore it, and nobody will mind one bit.

If it bugs you, or if you sell photos professionally, then you’ll have to deal with it. Retouching the dust out of your photos can take forever, even with batch processing. And it can take up time and money if you send your camera to the repair shop or manufacturer to be cleaned.

The Quick & Dirty Rundown

To sum it all up, here’s what to do if you have dust on your sensor.

#1: Most Safe Use the automatic sensor cleaning function, blow all the dust you can off the filter, and retouch or map out the remaining dust after the fact.

#2: Less Safe, More Effective Use a very clean anti-static brush to sweep away the dust, and map out or retouch anything that’s left.

#3: Less Safe, Most Effective Use a Sensor Swab to clean the filter, make sure there aren’t any streaks or dust left, and you’re done.

Read on for the pros and cons of each method, how to avoid dust in the first place, and loads of delicious nutritious information.

The Best Solution is Prevention

The best way to deal with dust is not to let it in the camera in the first place.

When changing lenses or body caps, do so in a non-windy, non-dusty place. Turn the camera off and point it towards the ground so gravity works with you to keep dust out.

Change lenses infrequently, and make sure the optics are free of dust before attaching the lens to the camera. Also clean your body cap before placing it on the camera.

Dusty environments like the desert or an abandoned building pose another problem. Don’t change lenses at all in dusty places. Choose one all-purpose lens and use it for the whole shoot. Once you get home, make sure the outside of the camera and lens is completely clean before changing lenses again.

Keep your camera bag clean, too. Vacuum it out periodically, and shake it upside down to get out any lint and bits of crud. No point trying to keep your camera clean if it knocks around in a dirty bag all day.

Think Hard Before Cleaning the Camera Yourself

Everything inside a digital camera is very delicate and very expensive to repair. We can’t be held responsible if you try any of these techniques and something goes wrong.

Be aware that for Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Sigma cameras, touching the filter in any way automatically voids your warranty.

Before doing anything about the dust in your camera, read your manual, re-read it, and then think very hard about everything that could possibly go wrong, read the manual again and then ... call the shop?? . If it seems like a bad idea, don’t do it.

How to Remove Dust

Here’s a rundown of the various ways to remove dust from your camera:

Use the built-in cleaning system. Many cameras have a feature that vibrates the filter to dislodge bits of dust. This doesn’t work so well with stuck-on crud like pollen.

Use the camera’s dust-deleting software. Some cameras have a feature that identifies dust that’s stuck to the filter and automatically maps it out of the picture when capturing an image.

Remove it in post-processing. You can retouch the dust out of your pictures using image-editing software. This can be time-consuming, even if you use batch processes like those in Lightroom or Photoshop.

Send it to the manufacturer. Having the manufacturer clean out your camera means there’s no chance of voiding your warranty. But it does involve shipping your camera, spending some money, and not being able to shoot while your camera’s in the shop (good argument to give the spouse why you might need an extra camera though).

Use a hand-blower. This can dislodge some of the dust, but not stuck-on bits of pollen. DO NOT use compressed air or blow with your mouth.

Use a brush. This method sweeps away more stubborn dust, but not the stuck-on crud. It can also leave smears of its own, and it voids your warranty if the manufacturer can tell you’ve touched the filter.

Use a swab. When done right, this method removes dust and stuck-on crud. But it can also lead to smearing and/or scratching, and can definitely void your warranty.

Blowers

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-5998A275-Bellows-Foot-Pump/dp/B00168PIKW

http://www.amazon.com/Giottos-AA1900-Large-Rocket-Blaster/dp/B00017LSPI

http://www.visibledust.com/products3.php?pid=503

Hand-blowers are the only method of cleaning approved by many camera manufacturers. Available models range from foot-powered bellows to hand-held bulbs.

“Hurricane” blowers have a bad reputation for blowing bits of rubber into the camera. Choose a blower with a plain tip (no fancy brush on the end).

DO NOT use compressed or canned air; the force can be too great, and if the liquid propellant gets in your camera you have a real problem. Don’t blow with your mouth either- spit particles will be really nasty to remove.

To clean your camera with a blower, put your camera into sensor cleaning mode (consult your manual for how to do this). Plug your camera in or make sure it’s 100% charged- if it turns off during cleaning, it could close on the blower and cause a lot of damage to the camera.

Blow into the camera with a decent amount of force, making absolutely sure the tip of the blower doesn’t touch the filter. Using a flashlight may help you see the dust better.

This will remove loose dust, but not the bits that are stuck on either by moisture or by a strong static charge. Do another test image (or use a special loupe ) to see if you got all the dust off, and try again if you didn’t. http://www.sensorinspection.com/index.html

If after two tries, you haven’t gotten every speck, take a minute to think about how much dust you can live with. If you can deal with a small amount, just stop, relax, and forget about it. The methods from here on in get more precarious and potentially expensive.

Brushes

Sensor brushes are more expensive than hand blowers, ranging from twenty to more than a hundred dollars. The specialized brush has an anti-static charge that helps dust release its static cling hold on the filter.

Brushes still won’t work on stuck-on crud like pollen, though. There’s also a chance that any oil or dirt on the brush can leave smears or scratches on the filter. Using a brush will void your warranty if the manufacturer can tell that you’ve touched the filter.

If you use a brush, never touch the bristles, clean it before each use, and don’t store it anywhere that it could get dusty or dirty.

Dust-Aid http://www.dust-aid.com/08DAplatinum.html makes a single-use cleaning wand that eliminates the problem of accumulated dirt on the brush.

Swabs

Using a swab is known as “wet” cleaning. When done properly, wet cleaning will remove stuck-on crud and leave the filter squeaky clean.

When done wrong, it can leaves streaks, smears, residue or scratches. Yikes!

There are lots of different swabs and cleaning solutions on the market, including plenty of DIY options.

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/howto.html

The highest acclaim I’ve heard is for Photographic Solutions’ Sensor Swabs http://www.photosol.com/swabproduct.htm and Eclipse cleaning solution http://www.photosol.com/eclipseproduct.htm .

Some manufacturers use them at their in-house facilities, and Photographic Solutions says they’re guaranteed not to damage your camera if used as directed. Fuji, Leica, and Kodak even allow you to use Sensor Swabs and Eclipse fluid to clean your sensor without voiding your warranty.

The drawback to Eclipse fluid is that it’s flammable and cannot be shipped by air. Ultra-Clean http://www.dust-aid.com/08ultraclean.html gets good reviews, and is a good alternative for traveling.

Bad Ideas

Other methods we’ve seen on the web include just about everything from Scotch tape, Q-tips and vacuum cleaners to ritualized human sacrifice. Most of them are really bad ideas that will almost certainly damage your camera (not to mention your sacrificial victim, who may come in handy later on).

Stick with methods and products that have been rigorously tested and have a solid guarantee. Learn how to use them properly and be very very careful.

More Resources

The best resource I’ve found is Cleaning Digital Cameras

( http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/index.html ).

It has reviews of most of the cleaning products on the market, instructions on how to use the various methods, and tons of good advice.

Copper Hill http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=Copper_Hill_Products ,

Visible Dust http://www.visibledust.com/products.php ,

Dust-Aid http://www.dust-aid.com/index.html

and Photographic Solutions http://www.photosol.com/products.htm

all sell a variety of cleaning products.

More B&W Conversions

In the days of film we had to either carry an extra camera loaded with black and white film or waste rolls of film swapping back and forth. Today with the digital cameras we can take all of our photos in full color then convert them later in the “digital darkroom” (computer). You may also see a feature on your digital camera for in camera conversions ... though this seems like a really cool feature, my advice is don't use it. There are several reasons for this:

1. in camera processing sucks away battery power an a very fast rate.

2. If the photo is taken in B&W ... you are limited to B&W only, you can take the color out using software but it is very hard almost impossible to add the color in if it wasn't shot in full color

3. unless your software is very lame the tonal quality and clarity you get from converting to B&W on the computer is much better than what the camera does for you\

As far as I am concerned any of the above reasons is enough to leave the converting and processing for the darkroom work.

Here is another photo I did some processing/conversion to ....

As you can see I have already done some tone and color/tint adjustments but other than crop, contrast and a minor saturation this is straight out of the camera.

In the next photo you can see I did the “basic” B&W conversion and have not yet tweaked the clarity or contrast/brightness from the original photo

Next I “selected” the subject using my selection tool and increased the contrast and lowered the brightness of the girl and swing chains, then I increased the brightness over the entire photo

The next photo shows that I increased the clarity and contrast of the entire photo together to bring out the cloud patterns and the silhouette more.

Finally I added sepia tone until I had the result I was after ...

a tinted B&W photo where the silhouette “pops” out of the photo almost giving it a 3-D feel

I hope this mini-tutorial has been helpful to you, I am still learning how to convey to others “how I did it” and like everyone I am definitely still learning my camera, software and photography skills and techniques.

As always if you have tips, comments or suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comment section or contact me by email at tricountyphotography@yahoo.com

Thank You!

John

Weather Proof Your Digital Camera

Wednesday January 7, 2009

You've got a snazzy digital camera, but you want to take it into a wet, dusty environment. Protect it with a simple zip-lock bag and a filter.

step 1Gather Materials

You'll need:
- Zipper lock bag: 1 Gallon size is fine for a DSLR and a medium zoom lens.
- Filter to fit your lens: You probably want a transparent "Skylight" or "UV" filter. I got cheap ones for this project because I expect them to take some abuse.
- Sealing tape: I used electrical tape, but duct tape might provide a superior seal. The tape will only touch the bag and the outer ring of your filter, so if it leaves gunk behind, it's no big deal.

Tools:
- Marking implement: Fine-tip sharpies write well on plastic bags.
- Cutting implement: A small pair of scissors works well.

step 2Trace Filter

Trace the outline of your filter on the zip-lock bag. You don't have to be very precise, just get the basic shape and size down.

For short lenses you can put the filter smack in the middle of the bag. This will help to keep the zipper away from the controls. For longer lenses, you may have to arrange the camera diagonally.

step 3Cut filter hole

Cut a hole in one surface of the bag. It should be a little smaller than the filter. I found a quarter-inch margin was about right.

step 4Put filter on lens

Screw the filter onto the lens, but leave a gap between the two.

You can also do this using two filters and attach the lens later, but that means you're putting more layers of glass and air in front of your lens, so you risk more reflections and worse optical quality.

step 5Put filter and lens into hole

Push the lens and filter through the hole in the bag, from the inside out. Get the stretched hole to fit snugly in the gap you left between the filter and the lens. Then finish screwing the filter into the lens threads.

Use your fingernail to push the overlap into the gap

step 6Tape around the hole

For extra sealing, wrap tape over the joint you've just made between the filter and the bag.

step 7Take pictures without worrying