Category Archives: Starters School

Articles essential for starters

Photographers – don’t forget your feet!

Tug-o-war · The fun of the game is recreated by the close-to-distance balance - Use your feet to get the right position.

• Tug-o-war •
The fun of the game is recreated by the close-to-distance balance. Use your feet to move in close allows a large subject but a wide scene.
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Tug-o-war · By Netkonnexion on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page

Your zoom can’t do everything.

When you zoom into a shot you do get the close-up. Getting in close is important right? Well, yes, but you don’t always want to fill the frame with the subject. In this tip we look at another way to approach the shot. Use your feet to get the right position, not your zoom.

When you have an expensive and fun zoom lens you want to use it to the fullest extent. Most beginners go for a zoom because it gives them a flexibility that a prime lens does not. But then again, having that flexible zoom makes most photographers forget that they have feet!

What! Forget my feet? Ridiculous. OK, I am being flippant. But how many of you reading this would be inclined to stand off to one side in one position. Then using your zoom lens just take all the shots from where you stand? If you are a recent starter at serious photography I am willing to bet you will be taking a back seat and doing lots of zooming. What you are doing is waving aside a lot of composition opportunities. I urge you to stop zooming and use your feet.

If we don’t zoom in – what then?

Remember, when you zoom into a subject you are making the object of your focus bigger. Getting closer yes, but also you are narrowing the field of view – cutting out the background. That is the thing about zoom lenses. They get you in close to fill the frame.

What you might consider some times is to open up the zoom, go wide. And, instead of zooming into your subject walk up to it instead. Yup! Use your feet.

Use your feet to get into the shot

What this magical walking stuff will do is make your subject large, but allow you to retain a big chunk of the background at the same time. Wow! This gives you a great new perspective. Look at my picture above. I walked out of the crowd and got close to the team members. This gave me a nice big foreground object. Then looking down the line I get superb perspective as the line diminishes.

Composition is not about framing everything from one spot

When you are framing the shot consider doing it from a number of different places. Working the scene is about being dynamic and trying out all the angles. Walking into the scene and getting a close-up with your zoom wide open creates a great opportunity to develop perspective. On the other hand going really narrow and walking out of the scene gives you more context for you to select only those parts of the scene you want to show in your image. Walk in, walk out – use your feet to get you an advantage.

The zoom gives you half a story. Taking it for a walk around the scene is the other half. Use your feet to good effect and you will get more great shots than you would just using a zoom.

Tips for doing wide angle shots

Retired aeroplane - wide angle photography really brings out certain features of a shot.

• Retired aeroplane •
Wide angle photography really brings out certain features of a shot.

You can do wide angle photography with most zoom lenses

I am surprised how little the wide end of the zoom focal lengths are used. Keen starters often forget wide! We are going to look at what you get for going wide angle photography work.

But I don’t have a wide angle lens?

No? Have a look. Most people buy their first lens as a kit lens with their first DSLR. Very often these lenses are in the focal length range of 18mm to 70mm. With a bridge or compact camera they are built-in. To benefit from this article you just need to set the focal length to the wider end. Any lens which can open up below 35mm will be working on the wider end. Wide angle photography is available to nearly everyone. Read on!

What is a wide angle lens?

A wide angle lens is considered to have a focal length considerably less than a ‘normal’ lens. Lenses are measured against the old SLR standard of 35mm film. Today we have 35mm digital sensors. These are used in “full-frame” cameras (as against the smaller ‘cropped sensor’ or ‘APS-C’ camera of most DSLRs). A ‘normal’ lens for a ‘full frame’ is a 50mm lens. A 35mm focal length or less is considered to be great for wide angle photography. Many wide angle lenses are around 24 – 35mm. For APS-C sensors, focal lengths wider than around 25mm are considered to be getting into the wide angle photography range.

Below 24mm there is a class of lenses called an “ultra-wide angle” lenses. These are around 24mm to around 18mm. In this case, depending on the camera they are built for, they would show some distortion and a tendency to create fish-eye shots or actually be a fish-eye lens. Some lenses, like a 16mm lens for a DSLR will be a fish-eye on a full-frame sensor. However, the same lens mount on a camera with a cropped sensor would use the lens as for ultra-wide angle photography. The fish-eye distortion would not be seen at all.

Many smaller focal lengths exist. Some digital cameras with very small sensors (compact cameras for example and some point-and-shoot models) have wide angle capability of around 8mm, possibly 6mm. These focal lengths are not practical for a DSLR. There are special design features involved to use them at this short focal length which are not feasible in larger cameras.

With all that in mind… here’s my first tip. If you are looking for a lens for wide angle photography, know your sensor size. Look at the manufacturers specification carefully to see that the lens is suitable for what you want on the camera you’ll be using. If you buy the wrong lens/sensor mix you may not get what you expect – although you will get a perfectly good lens!

What is wide angle photography?

In general wide angle photography tends to emphasise a difference of size and distance between a photographic subject in the foreground and one in the background. The result is an optically distorted view magnifying distance between objects, but allows a greater depth of field than a normal lens. This creates a pleasingly large foreground object and by comparison a tiny background one even though the distance between them is quite short.

The exaggeration of the size of foreground objects provides opportunities for composition that really emphasise the expanse of the background. In the picture above the large relative size of the Spitfire wing emphasises the shape and prominence of the aircraft in the foreground. Meanwhile the foreshortening of the foreground-to-background distance has really given the clouds a powerful strength in this shot. They appear to be trending toward the centre-distance. Appropriate for an aircraft don’t you think? At the same time the expanse of the airfield itself is also felt because of the relative smallness of the buildings and the width of the scene captured by the wide angle.

Find ways to exaggerate the relative sizes of foreground and background objects. For example, Spitfire vs. buidings. Where you can use perspective lines (eg. receding clouds) through the scene. This will help you develop a strong composition in your wide angle photography.
More after this…

Interior shots

Wide angle photography works best with focal lengths of around 24 to 30mm on most DSLRs. These lenses are great for use in the interior of buildings. This type of lens lets you see more of the scene without having to move a long way back. In a small room that is very useful as you are unable to move back very far anyway. Personally, I love rooms taken on the diagonal from the corner. These shots with a wide angle lens give you the perspectives of the room angles to help provide depth and still get everything in the shot. Do be careful to get the camera straight. If the level is off and you are using the lines of the room to frame the shot it becomes almost sickeningly wrong with a wide angle and there is little you can do to retrieve it! wide angle lenses are very good at bringing out perspective lines in your composition. With some lenses there is some curvature (spherical) distortion. So in a room watch out to correct for that when the lines curve.

Record shots and wide angle photography

If you are taking a record shot, for example, to capture an objects uniqueness, then wide angle photography is useful. The lens emphasises the foreground object, background objects lose prominence. By isolating the foreground object, which is what your record is about, you can make is really stand out with no background distractions. This technique is useful for statues, vehicles, buildings… well you can see the point. Again, be careful. Some wide angle lenses can badly distort in the vertical plane if you are too close, say, to a building. So experiment. Particularly with a record shot, you are trying not to distort as you want the image to be a record of the object as it is.

The artist in you

As an exact opposite to the record shot you can exercise quite a lot of creative licence with wide angle photography. The superb exaggeration of length is great for really long perspective lines or long objects. It’s great fun to take pictures of people with a portrait view. Small people look large and loom over the shot when done close up. Buildings, columns, trees and other tall objects can really be made to loom large. So if you want to really to emphasise certain features a wide angle shot can be really fun.

Portraits and wide angle photography

A current favourite format for portraits is the ‘environmental portrait’. Sounds grand. Actually its about taking pictures of your subject outside in the open air. The wide end of the focal lengths are particularly good for capturing a lot of scene while making it look like your subject is close. And yet it can be a really freeing way to tackle portraits – you can really use the environment to say something about your subject. Picture the proverbial pretty girl in a field of flowers… a lovely wide shot pulls in the expanse of flowers and yet the foreground emphasis is on the subject. Nice. Equally, the right sort of urban environment can be great for emphasising maleness… Again, let your creative juices flow. Study some wide angle photography work of other portraiture artists. It is important to see how the body can be distorted by the lens to artistic effect or emphasis.

Landscape shots and wide angle photography

The landscape shot is one of the popular pursuits for photographers. Yet, as many good photographers have pointed out, they are difficult to carry off well. Wide angle photography can fail miserably with landscapes. Particularly if there is something big like mountains in the distance. The relativity of a wide angle shot is not good with massive background objects. It tends to take the awesomeness out of such a shot. On the other hand, wide angle photography with a foreground is great. It emphasises the lateral extent of the shot. Think beaches and wide landscape vistas. The horizon makes a good marker for the depth of the shot with wide angles (as long as it is straight!). Remember, if you are going to emphasis the foreground and lateral extent of a view have a prominent foreground object to focus upon.

Actually this is an opportunity. Often photographers forget the human element in a landscape. Sometimes you can make your focus the well placed family or an interesting personality, whatever. The human interest is often stronger than people think in a landscape. Wide angle lenses give you a chance to do something others forget!

What now!

Get out there and do it! If you have a wide angle lens, or if you have a zoom that gets you down to those focal lengths, try experimenting with wide angle photography. We often hear people saying ‘get in close’, well here is an opportunity to go out wide.

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photographer and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photogs.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.
By Damon Guy see his profile on Google+.

Forty six quick street photography tips

street photography tips: Worry · Street photography can be anything you want it to be - just do it!

· Worry ·
Street photography can be anything you want it to be – just do it!

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• Worry • By Netkonnexion on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page
Street photography tips to get you out there…

The best street photography requires rapid thinking.

Here are some really quick street photography tips to make sure that you do better photography on the street. They are aimed at getting out there and doing it. They are all about different situations and ways to approach them. Here are our 46 top street photography tips…

Forty six quick street photography tips
  1. Get out there, you can’t take street shots indoors!
  2. A big camera is daunting for people on the street.
  3. Always shoot in RAW – street shots need proper processing.
  4. Respect the people you shoot, then they will respect you.
  5. Polish your lenses – street dirt ruins shots.
  6. Get in close to the action – you will get better expressions.
  7. The simplest little actions make a great story.
  8. Remember reflections – windows, puddles, glasses, mirrors.
  9. If you feel uncomfortable – get out of there.
  10. Open up a wide aperture, some street shots work with lots of bokeh.
  11. Find ways to isolate the action – less distraction focuses the viewers eye.
  12. You are not a spy. Be there, in the scene. Don’t try to hide.
  13. Go light with your camera equipment.
  14. Set yourself up to take fast pictures.
  15. Try three different positions, stay a while in each.
  16. Beware of traffic headlights, winkers etc, they can overpower a shot.
  17. Use a non-photography bag to draw less attention to yourself.
  18. Be observant, be fast to react. Still you’ll miss more than you shoot.
  19. Working with a friend is good fun and gives you confidence.
  20. Do not use flash when doing street photography.
  21. Talk to people – shoot them posed, also catch them unaware.
  22. The best street shots have a strong story.
  23. Big cities have great street scenes, but so does the local main street.
  24. Brightly coloured cameras and equipment attract undue attention.
  25. Make people laugh and your street will come alive.
  26. You get some great street shots in the rain.
  27. Shoot people not things – there is more interest in humans!
  28. Bump up the ISO to get the right light sensitivity.
  29. Try shots from down low, the perspective works well against buildings.
  30. F11, pure heaven!

More street photography tips after this…

 

Quick street photography tips continued…

  1. Photograph both men and women.
  2. Try some shots in a tourist attraction – people relax there.
  3. Candid captures are way better than posed pictures.
  4. Sometimes shoot the whole person. Sometimes just the face.
  5. Feet can be interesting. Try the different approach.
  6. Think before you shoot – every shot should have a message to offer.
  7. What are people carrying? Get the feeling of the place.
  8. Keep away from anyone or any place you consider ‘worrying’.
  9. Look for tonal, colour, and shape contrasts.
  10. Capture relationships – they make great stories.
  11. Try wide angle shots, capture a wider perspective – the whole scene counts.
  12. Prime lenses help you get into the scene – 50mm is great.
  13. Look for sadness, look for happiness – shoot for emotions.
  14. Digital noise from high ISO is preferable to hand movement blur.
  15. Shoot in colour. Be prepared to go to black and white in processing.
  16. Be confident – it won’t work for you if you don’t work a scene.

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photographer and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photogs.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.
By Damon Guy see his profile on Google+.

One big change – one easy step forward (depth of field)

Bracelets - Depth of field is often misjudged. Try it in lots of situations and you will master it.

• Bracelets •
Depth of field is often misjudged. Try it in lots of situations and you will master it.
Click image to view large.
• Bracelets • By Netkonnexion on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page

Every photographer needs to understand depth of field.

Most do get to grips with it. However, when working with a shallow depth of field many photographers misjudge the depth they have to work with. Here is how to work it out.

All too often when using a shallow depth of field the edges of the sharp/bokeh region are well defined. If you get that boundary in the wrong place it is quite easy to spoil the image. For example if you take a portrait with a wide open aperture and the depth of field is too shallow you might find that the eyes are in focus. However, the ears are out of focus and so is the nose. A disconcerting picture! So how do you get over this? Find out by deliberately working at the wide-open aperture end of the range. Push yourself. Open up to a wide aperture and keep it opened up until you feel comfortable you have got control.

Setting it up

Setting your lens to the wide end is easy. Just open up the lens until you have the smallest f.number showing in your screen or viewfinder. Most photographers will have one lens with an f3.5 or f4 aperture (or less). It is possible to buy lenses with much wider apertures. So you may have as much as an f1.2 aperture – which will give you a very shallow depth of field.

What now?

Once you have your lens at the wide open position you keep it there. Then go shoot… a lot.

I know this may seem a tall order but it is fun. Keeping a fixed depth of field dictates much of your perspective on a shot. In order to create nicely composed pictures you will need to move around a lot. You will want to keep your subject sharp. Photographing a range of different sizes of subject means you need to move back and forward to vary the depth of field to fit the subject.

If you take a picture close to you, with a shallow depth of field you will maybe have less than 100mm of sharpness – or much less depending on your lens. If you take a picture focusing at 2 meters from you may find, say, 300mm (12 inches) of sharpness – enough to fit a head into and keep it sharp. If you are working at say 200 meters you may be looking at a really quite wide depth of field – maybe several car lengths.

The point of the exercise is that holding the depth of field fixed makes you walk around and gain experience with your lens. After a while you will be able to judge how much depth of field you will get when shooting at a particular distance. Then you will have mastered your lens at the wide aperture end of the scale.

Getting good control of depth of field is really helpful

You begin to have much more creative control when you have good depth of field control. If you can get you subject finely focussed and sharp – but everything else in a beautiful soft bokeh – your subject will really pull the viewers eye into the shot. Depth of field is all about isolating your subject and making everything else less of a distraction. Control is everything.

Once you have gained control of the extreme end of the open aperture, you can move on. Now make the aperture one less stop open. Do the same exercise. Get to know your lens at this aperture/depth of field combination. Once you have mastered that, move up another stop.

After a while you will have complete creative control over your use of bokeh and the depth of field. An enviable position… you can really be creative when you have such control.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

Simple positions for classic portrait work

The essence of portrait work lies in just five simple positions.

Nearly all the shots you take will be based on these simple set ups. All photography students learn to do these positions. The video today is all about how these sets are put together. It really is simple.

The five positions

The five simple positions are…

  • The Short: Often used to help rounder people have slightly longer faces. The face is angled so that the shadows are on the side of the face nearest to to the camera. The lighted side is on the side furthest from the camera.
  • The Broad: The subject faces the camera nearly straight on. The light comes in from the side. The shadow of the nose and the face on the other side of the nose are lit, but only softly.
  • The Rembrandt: A classic position – it is intended to show a triangle of light on the face on the side away from the light. The lighting is set high so that one side of the face is lit, and only the top of the cheek is lit on the other side.
  • Split lighting: one side of the face is lit. The other side is in soft shadow. This lighting technique is often used as a way of stopping shadow from a hat falling on the face.
  • The butterfly: The light is full on to the face. Generally this one is done slightly higher than the subjects head to ensure that the underside of the nose is slightly dark, but there should be no triangle of shadow on the space under the nose to the top lip. This gives a nice broad light to the face and shows off the eyes to an advantage.

More after this…

In the video these positions are shown off with a good measure of advice on how to set up the lights. A great video with a comic twist at the end. Enjoy!


Portrait Lighting for Photography and Video!
TheSlantedLens  External link - opens new tab/page·50 videos

In the near future I will be doing more on portraits. This post is a way of getting that going. If you have any questions or want me to tackle a specific portrait question let me know in the comments or via our Contact Us page.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

Things in photography that are not true – photography lies

Photography lies – photos may not show ‘truth’

Sometimes photos pretend to be something that in reality they are not. There may be no lies involved, but the subject can be misrepresented. In fact, there are many ways that photos are set up to vary from reality.

Photos – proof in evidence, or photography lies?

‘Photographic evidence’ is not automatic proof. Photography lies come in many forms. Some photos can mislead without an edit. Pictures can convince viewers in lots of ways. For example, we all know we can take photos to make a short person look tall. And… well, just look at a few of these: Photographic illusions on Google images Photography lies on Google :: External link - opens new tab/page. Mistakes, edits and theft can all be used to spoil or lose photo-evidence. The art of illusion can also turn one thing into another in a photograph. Even digital forensics cannot detect a good illusion. Photography may be useful evidence, but it is not 100% reliable. in addition, interpretation of an image leaves us with open questions about what we see. Often we can see photography lies but our eyes deceive us. We simply do not notice them.

Photo fraud

We cannot pretend photo-fraud is a myth. Journalists are sometimes dismissed for simple photo edits. These dismissals have even been after slight changes. Remember, to remove or add something, a person or an object can really change the impact of an image. Actually, there are many examples of photography lies Examples of photography lies | External link - opens new tab/page in journalism. This is because there are situations when manipulation costs the trust of the viewer. As a rule journalists are honest. However, even top level journalists create photography lies and others make mistakes.

Fine line between lies and truths

In my view fashion magazines have often crossed that line using photography lies. This is often obvious with the body edits of celebs. photogs often remove the odd spot, wrinkle or blemish for aesthetic reasons. We may have taken a step further. However, most of us are not selling something. The extent to which misleading edits appear in the fashion and lifestyle industry is shocking. Look at these… Photoshop disasters on Google Images  Photography lies :: Photoshop disasters on Google Images ::External link - opens new tab/page. The Internet is replete with Photoshop disasters. These are just the ones that obviously mislead. How many photography lies that go un-spotted will probably never be known.

Obviously past the limit…

Some of the photos in magazines, adverts and on TV are criminal. In the UK the public is slowly becoming aware of this. Questions often surface about the ethics of advert manipulation. More important, the effects on vulnerable people need revealing. Should we make celebs thinner in photos? Should young, impressionable people see these things? Would there be less anorexia in the teen age group if such editing did not happen? These are not just ethical issues. They are questions about our society and culture too.

Actually, the camera does lie – routinely

Many starters in photography do not realise how much a camera distorts reality. This is not manipulation – it is physics. The lens which most closely matches the human eye is the 50mm prime. However, it is still likely to make an image that varies from reality. We see barrel distortions, chromatic aberrations, and random softness or distortion at the edge of the shot.

Other lenses, most notably the fish-eye lens, are noted for distortion. Such lenses are sort-after. Remember, all lenses have their special character. So do all digital image sensors. The contrast in a scene is reduced compared to the human eye too. In general, cameras don’t see exactly as we do. All sorts of aspects of an image differ from reality.

Lancaster Bomber fish-eye shot

• Lancaster Bomber fish-eye shot •

The fish-eye lens is noted for its ability to distort a scene.

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• Lancaster Bomber fish-eye shot • By Netkonnexion on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page

Cheating? Me?

I am a member of two camera clubs. I have seen many new members leaving when they realise people have ‘cheated’ in post production. Sky’s blued, contrasts deepened; and horrors, things cloned out. Or worse, things pasted in. Unspeakable!!!

Getting on a high horse about photography lies like these are really the tantrums of a diva. People are often adamant that they did no processing and they never would. Yet, they used *.jpg images. These are notorious for the messing around done by the on-board processors in-camera. These edits are done routinely on auto-settings. This is because most entry-level photogs and snappers do not normally do their own digital developing.

Most images have been edited… in some way

There are many file changes made before you see the image. Most *.jpg files have had auto processing. Sky is blue-enhanced. Images are brightened by about 50 points. *.jpg’s artificially enhance contrast and remove distortions of various kinds. Digital noise is pretty routinely removed too. Certain colour enhancements and changes are also not unusual. There is no standard for these. The makers work out what they think will look best. When they get credible results, they produce a new sensor/camera combination. If that is what you want to go with – great. But, don’t try and kid anyone you have an unprocessed picture. Straight out of camera (SOOC) it may be, unprocessed it is not. Are these things photography lies?

As they are not intended to mislead – in-camera changes are not photography lies. The photog and camera maker both try to get close to what the eye can see. However, these ‘corrections’ are really an attempt to see the camera make a more real picture. If you use a RAW format image file in your capture then you will have to make similar changes. Next you will produce your *.jpg file. The benefit of RAW is you can gain more control over the outcome. You can do what the manufacturer cannot. You can make the image how you saw it in your minds eye.

What is the nature of a photo?

In the early 1980’s I knew a man who worked in a big London advertising agency. As an editing trainee in photography he saw many interesting processes. One, widely used today in Photoshop, was under development for a big UK airline. Money in the hundreds of thousands of pounds was spent to develop a process to soft-edge for aeroplanes. This allowed the image to be placed in almost any sky. They were using chemical films then. The process would allow them to easily place aircraft into images to create travel articles.

Is this misleading? We all know aircraft fly. What does it matter the sort of sky we see them in? Well, the right sort of aircraft and sky can convince people they are going to exotic or sunny places. It’s a sales point. This lifestyle message comes over in much of our literature. It could be seen as manipulating how a place is viewed. Messages like this impact on buying decisions.

Editing – does it change the nature of the photograph?

photog routinely and robustly defend their right to edit images. This sometimes results in an image that is nothing like the original capture. Editing, even ‘processing’ is in itself an artistic pursuit. Actually, this leads us to consider the very nature of a photographic image. Clearly it is not true Record of reality. Neither is a photograph a definitive reflection of reality. Every photograph is a personal interpretation of a scene. Every one is to some extent changed by the camera equipment, the processing, and the settings. Even the way the camera was held or mounted has an impact.

Edits are not generally there to mislead…

In general terms edits are not about creation of photography lies. There are elements of the capture and camera mechanism that affects the result. There are inputs that are interpretation and some that are pure art.

Photography is an art and a science. We should recognise that every image, to a lesser or greater extent, changes the scene depicted. What we appreciate about an image should not be about the process. It should be about the result. Is it a great image? Does it convey the right message or impression?

Only historians of photography will be interested in the photo-production processes in the future. Everyone else will consider the image for its merit.

So, are there really photography lies?

Yes, pure and simple.

There are photo-white lies – images deliberately constructed to convey particular meaning or a message. They may be real lies. However, they may not be setting out to mislead in a malicious way. They are about artistic interpretation and technique. Possibly, they will also be about the state of camera and lens technology.

Hard deceptions are where a photograph conveys a deliberate falsehood. Some of the ‘Black-hat lies’ are easy to spot. Some deliberate manipulations are done with intent to mislead. These misleading images intend to fool people about their lifestyle choices are definite lies. They exist and they are damaging and sometimes criminal. Many body edits in fashion magazines fall into this category, for example.

Judging is not the issue

I am not judging anyone here. There are cases where the public have been misled. There are borderline issues and blatant criminality. On the other hand we should concede an important point. Artists through the ages have sought to use contemporary tools to express themselves. The use of post-processing and editing apps is no different. It’s a reality we are not going to change. I think we should live with it and enjoy it.

What we must not do is get purist about ‘straight-out-of-camera’ photos. They are an approximation of the reality of the scene on the day. SOOC images are not something virginal and untouched. Be proud, move on.

Equally, we must not attempt to mislead people. We must hold up our hands and be realistic. Changes, processing, edits and deliberate distortions are there. They always have been. We just need to acknowledge that fact, rejoice in it and be honest.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

How to do night photography when starting out

Night shots capture the imagination and the eye.

It is all about making sure that your viewer is drawn into your photograph. The rich colours and strong contrasts are really great for attracting the eye. In this post we will look at doing great night photography.

Night photography is simple

A lot of starters think night photography is difficult. Well it is not difficult, it is different. There is less light – obviously. There is also more light in some ways. This is because the difference between the light and dark portions of your picture are more extreme. In A quick tip to help you see the light (or darkness) we saw that the camera is not as good as the eye in distinguishing wide differences between light and dark. When shooting at night that is something we should remember.

We should not point our camera at a very bright light source at night. This is because it will over-expose quickly and the rest of the scene will remain dark. The darker parts expose slower. Try to find ways to expose your scene where the spread of light is of less extreme whites and blacks.

The concept of night photography is about exploiting light when the rest of the environment is dark. The aim therefore is to make sure you are exposing for the light you want to bring out in your picture. Almost certainly that will mean you need to do longer exposure than for the daytime. As you will see in the video this is not complicated to do. You will need to explore some settings you may not have used before. But photography is all about learning – right? OK…

Here is one idea that will simplify the thinking behind all sorts of exposure situations…

  • Picture a bucket in your mind.
  • Now picture filling it up with a hose.
  • At first you turn the tap a very little.
  • The water trickles out.
  • The bucket takes a long time to fill to the brim, but does get there.
  • Now repeat with the tap turned up more (twice as fast).
  • The bucket fills faster. In half the time in fact.
  • Now repeat again filling the bucket to the brim – tap open fully (speed x4).
  • The bucked fills half as fast again.

The bucket of water is like an exposure. To get the picture light enough you need to fill the camera with the right amount of light (to the bucket rim). At night you have to wait a long time for your exposure to fill to the brim (water at a trickle) because there is less light around. In early evening/dusk you have to wait for the exposure to fill in half the time (tap at half speed) because there is more light before sundown. During the day all that light pretty much zaps the bucket (sorry camera) full of light in double quick time.

OK, now you know all there is to know about exposure. That’s it. All you have to do is practice with the camera settings to wait for a while to fill up at night, wide aperture, long shutter opening to let in as much light as possible.

In the video the CameraLabs team have described the types of setting you might use and how to set them up. The explanation is clear and the settings simple. I think you will learn a lot.

DSLR Tips: Night Photography by CameraLabs
As an aside…

You notice in my bucket analogy how we tested fills? In photography each time you go up or down a stop of light you are halving or doubling the amount of light. Of course, in the bucket situation the timing and change-of-fill speed are not accurate – its only a thought experiment. But you get the idea. I am trying to show you how an exposure builds up over seconds (at night) or thousandths of seconds (during the day). And, the rate it fills is related to the amount of light around. That is measured in stops. Consider reading this article: Definition: f number; f stop; Stop. It will help you to understand the relationship between stops of light and exposure.