A Simple Guide to Taking Better Photos!
Alright, so Ive got a good bit of PM's lately asking how to take certain shots, and how sometimes photos folks take come out good and sometimes bad. Well with the countless hours I spend at my job taking breaksI hope this little guide Ive been working on for a week or so helps you all out. If you have any questions about anything after reading it just post it up and I or someone else will try their best to answer it.
First question I think are on most minds is:
Do I need an expensive camera to take good photos?
The answer is no. Does having a high end D-SLR help and make things easier? Sometimes. For the longest time I shot with an Olympus Point and Shoot (C-5000Z). I had no money for a D-SLR but I still was able to pull of some great shots. If some folks remember when I went to Atlantic Station to take some shots of Tanks' Supra, that was shot with a Point and Shoot. The key to taking great shots with any camera is knowing the fundamentals and knowing your equipment. Setting your camera on auto mode for every shot you want to take, is not knowing your camera. The absolute best place to start is by reading your owners manual. Manufacterers dont place these in the boxes just to add weight. If its boring to you then suck it up, and read it!
So what are some basic terms you need to know.
Exposure - "The exposure is the amount of light received by the film or sensor and is determined by how wide you open the lens diaphragm (aperture) and by how long you keep the film or sensor exposed (shutterspeed). The effect an exposure has depends on the sensitivity of the film or sensor."
Aperture - "Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens that determines the amount of light falling onto the film or sensor. The size of the opening is controlled by an adjustable diaphragm of overlapping blades similar to the pupils of our eyes. Aperture affects exposure and depth of field."
Compression- A lot of times when you save your files from your camera and you arent sure how to save them, they will turn out a worse quality than they were straight off the camera itself. You've got two types of compression whenever you save an image. Much like audio, there is lossless and lossy compression. Lossless compression is similar to what WinZip does. For instance, if you compress a document into a ZIP file and later extract and open the document, the content will of course be identical to the original. Much like a TIFF file. However, these files are much larger in size than lossy. Lossy compression reduces the image size by discarding information and is similar to summarizing a document. An example of this would be JPEG.
ISO (sensitivity)-Conventional film comes in different sensitivities for different purposes. The lower the sensitivity, the finer the grain, but more light is needed. This is excellent for outdoor photography, but for low-light conditions or action photography (where fast shutterspeeds are needed), more sensitive or "fast" film is used which is more "grainy".
Likewise, digital cameras have an ISO rating indicating their level of sensitivity to light. ISO 100 is the "normal" setting for most cameras, although some go as low as ISO 50. The sensitivities can be increased to 200, 400, 800, or even 3,200 on high-end digital SLRs. When increasing the sensitivity, the output of the sensor is amplified, so less light is needed. Unfortunately that also amplifies the undesired noise. Incidentally, this creates more grainy pictures, just like in conventional photography, but because of different reasons. It is similar to turning up the volume of a radio with poor reception. Doing so will not only amplify the (desired) music but also the (undesired) hiss and crackle or "noise". Improvements in sensor technology are steadily reducing the noise levels at higher ISOs, especially on higher-end cameras. And unlike conventional film cameras which require a change of film roll or the use of multiple bodies, digital cameras allow you to instantly and conveniently change the sensitivity depending on the circumstances.
You might hear this term often- shutter speed. When this shutter opens, it exposes light from the exterior onto the CCD, hence allow a picture to be taken. The length of time that the shutter remains open is termed the shutter speed.
A key concept here – the longer the shutter remains open (i.e. the lower the shutter speed), the greater the amount of light that is allowed into the camera. And vice versa, the faster the shutter closes (i.e. the higher the shutter speed), the smaller the amount of light that is allowed into the camera. The range of shutter speeds can be expressed on your digital camera as: 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, with each one being a fraction of a second. Each speed in this series is roughly half that of the one on the left.
How do you select the correct shutter speed when taking photos? Well, if you have a point-and-shoot camera, then it may not matter too much. Simply set the camera to automatic mode and snap the picture. The camera’s in-built auto exposure settings will take care of the shutter speed settings for you.
If, however, you like to play with manual settings and have a more advanced camera, then the choice of shutter speed clearly matters. What you need to remember is this – shutter speeds are very closely linked to movement.
Here is an example of slow shutter speed exposed properly
Use a slow shutter speed (say 1/60 or lower) if you want to introduce some blur in the picture to display speed in the subject. Remember, however, that a slow shutter speed will mean you need to hold the camera totally still for a longer period of time. If you can’t do this, your image will usually turn out bad. To work around the problem, use a tripod or steady your arms somewhere before taking the shot. As a general rule, if the shutter speed is 1/30 or slower, use a tripod!
Here is an example of combing a slower shutter speed with some panning.
Now that you know the basics, let me ask you this how many times are you dumbfounded when you look at your tiny lcd screen and the image looks great and exposed correctly only to find when you return how to upload the image that you find your photo you thought was hot turned out to be a dud. Well its time you learn your histogram. About 6-7 months I learned how I could better my shots by just reading at the histogram. Very rarely do I even look at the picture when at a photoshoot or event. I simply check my histograms and trust my focus ability on the camera to reproduce a good shot.
So what exactly is a histogram?
It's a graph that displays how light is distributed in your picture. The left side of the graph represents the shadows, while the highlights are on the right.
In layman terms, that means that if the histogram has a high peak on the left, you can tell that a lot of pixels in the picture are dark, or in shadow. A peak on the right of the graph means that a lot of pixels are bright, or in highlights. Peaks in the middle of the graph represent pixels in the midtones of your exposure.
An example of histogram of a good photo:
On both the left side and the right side of the graph, you can see that there are no high peaks. This kind of histogram tells you that no part of the scene is over or underexposed. In other words, this shot should look good.
An example of an underexposed photo:
You can see a spike in the shadows that starts with a peak on the left of the graph. That means that the picture has lost data in the shadows. There's also just a few pixels trailing off the right side of the graph, so a tiny bit of data might have been lost there as well.
An example of an overexposed photo:
Here you can see a pronounced spike on the right side of the graph. Do note that the height of the peaks is somewhat low in this picture; that's not an indication of under or overexposure. All you need to worry about is whether they breach the left or right edges of the histogram.
Most everyone seems to love night time photography. Who doesnt, there is just something about a long lonely street with the street lamps the only thing keeping you company or maybe your car. Capture that moment, but capture it correctly. The key to successful night photography lies in a long exposure. We’re talking about exposures measured in seconds. When a long exposure is used, more light is allowed into the camera, allowing the details in your night photo to be captured. With a long exposure, you have many creative options when it comes to photography. This includes capturing motion. For example, have you ever wondered how those professional photographers shoot pictures of trails of car lights as they zoom down the highway at night? It’s all due to long exposures. Try to keep this in mind the next time you’re taking a night photo – you don’t have to restrict yourself to still images. In addition to shutter speed (which determines exposure time), you can play around with the aperture size of your digital camera. There are two scenarios here. If you set a long exposure, try to use a small aperture to avoid overexposing any stationary lights. in the picture. On the other hand, if you set a short exposure, try using a larger aperture to avoid any motion in your shot.
Ok, Im sure I missed a lot, and I didnt expect to cover it all, but if you have any questions feel free to post up. Maybe we can get a sticky on this. I know there's a lot of folks that want to take a stab at photography. One thing to remember is have your own style, and know the fundamentals.
`George
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