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Photography tips/tricks

ChromeScholar

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I don't see anything like this in this forum. I think we could use a place (maybe stickied) for people to post things they have learned about photography to help other people take better pictures. What do you guys think?
 

GG.

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I think it is a great idea - I will sticky this thread and folks can add to it!
 

ChromeScholar

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Thanks! I'll get the ball rolling...

Avoiding a blurred picture from camera shake

When taking a picture with your hand-held camera, the shutter speed should be equal or greater than the focal length you are using.

For instance, if you are taking a hand-held picture with a 50mm lens, shutter speed should be 1/50th of a second or faster. If it is lower, you may get blurring in the picture because of camera movement
 
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SkyBaby

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Sometimes it's a neat effect to blur the background with the fast moving subject in focus. That's doable with a larger f number aka smaller aperture and a slower shutter speed right around 1/100th of a second works well and panning (moving) the camera with the subject.

The F number is a numbering system to denote the size of the aperture. This is the counter-intuitive part, the larger the f-number, the smaller the aperture; the smaller the f number, the larger the aperture.

The aperture pertains to the opening in the lens (not to be confused with the camera's shutter) that controls how much light reaches the sensor. Aperture and shutter speed are interconnected in terms of how they affect the picture.

Blurring the backgrounds highlights your subject very nicely and really gives the picture a feeling of movement.
 

ChromeScholar

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Blurring the backgrounds highlights your subject very nicely
Which is, of course, why portraits are taken the way they are. Portraits are normally taken with a wide aperture/low f-stop in order to get a narrow depth of focus. That causes your subject to be in focus and the background to be out of focus.This makes your subject stand out more.

General rules for depth of focus:

1. wide aperture/low f-stop = less depth of focus
2. narrow aperture/high f-stop = more depth of focus
3. closer to your subject = less depth of focus.

On point and shoot cameras, portrait setting usually means wide aperture and faster shutter speed. Landscape setting usually means narrow aperture and slower shutter speed.
 

ChromeScholar

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Thought for the day. When buying a point and shoot camera, ignore digital or electronic zoom numbers. They are meaningless. digital zoom is a scam. The only kind of zoom that matters is optical zoom. Anything you can do with electronic or digital zoom on your camera, you can do on your computer with your photo software, only better.
 

helloyo53

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How about this?

You can avoid unwanted noise in your photos by trying to use a lower ISO. ISO pertains to the amount of light that the sensor lets in. It's almost like shutter speed, but it's not.

Here's some examples:

Photo taken with an ISO of 100:


Photo taken with ISO of 3200 (it might be 1600, I forget):


You can see the difference especially in the sky. See all the extra graininess? Not good. So by avoiding high ISO numbers, we can drastically reduce unwanted noise in a photo. I usually shoot at an ISO of either 64, 100, or 200 at the max.
 

ChromeScholar

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The Rule of Thirds

When taking a picture, or cropping an area out of a larger picture, imagine that there are two lines running from top to bottom of the picture, and two lines running from side to side on the picture. The lines divide the picture into equal thirds in each direction.

Like this...




In this illustration, you see four points where the lines cross. Ideally, the subject of your photo should be located on one of the four points. Alternately, with a long subject, you can locate along one of the four lines. This will almost always provide more visual impact than centering the target in the frame. I almost always do this in my photos.

Some of the new cameras, like my Canon SX20IS, give you the option of having the thirds grid appear in the display when taking pictures to make it easier to compose your shots.
 

CarmieJo

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  • Take hundreds of shots. Throw away all of the bad ones. I have become a better photographer since going digital. I used to limit my shots because developing hundreds of photos got expensive.
  • Don't just use automatic or program modes. Experiment with manual modes to take advantage of what your camera can do.
  • Digital SLR's have virtually no shutter lag!
  • If you have an SLR invest in good glass. This is a place where you get what you pay for. Some of my glass is 15 or 20 years old and was bought for my film bodies.
  • If you have an SLR invest in a good flash unit.
 

helloyo53

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Using White Balance According to Different Conditions

White balance can make or break a perfect photo opportunity. White balance correlates with the lighting conditions. The camera is programmed with different white balances, mine has Sunny, shade, fluorescent light 1, 2, 3, and incandescent. Each one of them compensates for the lighting condition you are shooting in. There is also auto WB and Custom WB.

So earlier today, I was shooting pictures of my two budgies in my bedroom. It was fairly cloudy outside, so there was almost no sunlight entering my room, and I was using the cool white fluorescent lightbulbs, the ones that give off a white, almost blue looking light. Since I have three fluorescent white balance settings on my camera, I had to decide which one I needed to use. So, I put a piece of white paper in front of the camera lens, and I went through the three fluorescent white balances. The correct white balance was the one that made the paper look white, and not a tinge of other colours.

Now here's where many photographers make the mistake. They go to different lighting conditions and forget to change the white balance settings. It ends up making the photo look off. Want proof? Here:

This photo was taken without changing my previous white balance setting. I was using a fluorescent WB outside:

Sure, it's not a bad picture, but look closely. The house on the left is supposed to be a grey, almost beige colour, and what colour is it on here? Well, it's grey, but with a purple tinge. The sky, also, seems to not have the regular "sky blue" colour to it, rather, a purple colour.

Now, let's change the white balance to Sunny (also called "Fine")

Almost immediately, many differences can be spotted. The house on the left is in fact the grey, beige colour that it is supposed to be. And look at the sky, it's the regular sky blue colour.

So my point is, it is extremely important to adjust your white balance settings to suit the lighting conditions you are shooting in. And when you change lighting conditions, do not forget to change your white balance setting!!
 

Cory

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Yay! :)

I'm keeping my eye on this one since I'm a beginner with photography. :)
 

ChromeScholar

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Expanding on something CarmieJo said...

If you are interested in taking the best photos you can, get a decent DSLR. Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras, due to the higher quality, larger optics, and electronics, will always have the capacity to take better pictures than a point and shoot. Professional grade photos require professional grade gear. They are also more expensive. If you can't afford one, dump the little thing you can stick in your pocket and buy one of the large "point and shoots" that resemble DSLRs. I mean something like the Canon SX20IS. They have more room for better hardware, and are intended for the advanced amateur photographer. The majority of my wild bird photos posted at this forum were taken with the Canon SX20IS, which you can buy for about $350.00. Oh, and my Canon 20D DSLR still takes better quality pics than the SX20IS, even though it is 5 years older, and 4 megapixels less than the SX20IS. It has more electronics, bigger lenses, and a bigger optical sensor (size matters).
 
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