Tag Archives: ISO

Twelve Simple tips for atmospheric candlelight shots

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | Comments Off

• Burning midnight oil •
Click image to view large
• Burning midnight oil • By Netkonnexion on Flickr

Candles put out a wonderful light…

Everyone feels the atmospheric impact of candlelight. The colour and the low light seems to draw you in. Capturing that light is easy with a few simple hints. Lets look at what is needed…

Tripod…

There is nearly always low light associated with candle photography. That means working with longer exposures. A tripod is excellent for that. Indoors, beware of a wooden floor, any move you make can be transferred to the tripod. Floor vibrations can ruin a shot or make it soft. For sharpness remember to use the camera timer for the shot or a remote shutter release.

Lighting…

The best way to view candles is by their own light. Because they don’t use a tripod many people are tempted to use flash. Unfortunately flash will over-power the candlelight. It will take out the colour from the light and tend to create hard, sharp shadows. It will ruin the atmosphere of the candlelight. Make sure you switch off your flash. If you need more light the you can use as many candles as you need to raise light levels. They don’t need to be in the shot, but they will keep the light the same throughout the shot.

Composition…

First decide if your candle or candles are the subject or are props. This decision will affect your focus and how you lay out your scene. Candles can create a strong bright spot in the scene. If it is too bright the flame will form a burnt out white spot. Once you have arranged your scene, ensure that the candle will only draw the eye a small amount unless it is the subject. You should consider the placement of the candle in a way that might minimise the impact of the bright flame spot.

Positioning…

If all your candles are close together the light will tend to act as one light source. This will tend to act as a hard light creating more defined shadows. If you want the light to be softer and the shadows with less well defined edges set your candles further apart. If the light is to be cast on a face then soft light will be more flattering.

Movement…

One of the peculiarities of working with candles is that the flames are subject to the slightest air movement. Unfortunately candle flicker is attractive to the eye in real-time; but looks like a loss of sharpness in a still image. It is quite useful in close focus shots with a candle to use an air break of some kind nearby to stop air movement. In a table-top study use a large sheet of card to one side out of shot. That will help prevent air movements. If not, keep an eye on the flames when shooting. Try to capture the flame upright or, if using more than one flame, make sure they are all going the same way. They look more natural that way.

Since candle light is low intensity, make sure you also prevent other sources of movement in the shot. They will inevitably be blurred as the shot will be using a long exposure. This will look like a distraction against still flames.

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Light intensity…

The light from a candle can be made much more intense if you use something to catch the light from the candle. A face, hand or other objects bring alive the picture and complements the candle. The presence of the object acts to reflect the candlelight. Light flesh tones are particularly good in this respect since the flesh colour is tonally close to the candlelight hues and they act as a reflector to bring out the light.

From “Candle Series” by Spicedfish
From “Candle Series” by Spicedfish on Flickr

Using reflectors in a candle scene is a great way to raise the light intensity. You can find other types of surface than the one in this picture in most scenes. Walls, ceilings and even off-shot reflectors are all good. Be careful to use neutral colours. Colour reflectors will affect the colour of the scene. If you are using a big card out-of-shot make it white. This will reflect the same colour light back into the scene, filling in the light.

Shadows…

The other side of light intensity is the shadows. The darker tones and strong contrasts of candle shots create most of the atmosphere. Spend time studying the shadows created in your scene. Strong contrasts are great subjects. If you create shadows that fall badly across your scene it will impact on the overall effect. The best use of shadows is often to the edges of the shot. If the light fades out to edges this holds the scene into the shot – naturally focusing the eye. Work with shadows to ensure the mood is harmonious.

Additional lights…

If you want to use fill light in the scene try to match the quality of light from your candles. Use soft light sources and natural light with hues matching the candles. Natural light will fill the scene well but tend to neutralise the colour of the candle light. The warm glow of candles is a great mix with evening, low-intensity light.

Some people use light with gels to give a warm glow. Warming gels can also be used with a flash. However, beware the power of flash. The candles will lose their soothing effect if all the shadows are taken away around the base of the candle and harsh shadows are introduced from one side. Typically use a diffused flash on the lowest setting – it also helps to be a distance away from the candles as well.

Multiple candles…

When working with one candle as subject the main focus of the shot is clear. However, there is a lot of scope for creativity. Consider two main issues. How to layout your candles and how to use the overall light with the layout. Using candles for making patterns is great fun and can produce excellent shots.

Making patterns with candles
Click to view Google Images “Candle Light” search

Try to keep the scene simple. Overlapping candles or indistinct objects in the pattern are confusing. Work with the sharp contrasts and keep your pattern well defined.

Exposure…

How long should you make your exposure? This depends, like any scene, on your light levels. To get more light in the exposure a long shutter speed is suitable for most candle shots. A range of 1/15 second down to 2 seconds is a good starting range with an ISO of 100. Camera settings vary significantly with reflectors, multiple candles or fill lights. Experiment to get it right. Aim to make the shot moody or atmospheric while providing detail for the eye to look at around the candle flame(s).

The main exposure concern with dark or shadowy shots is digital noise. If ISO is too high you will get more noise. It is better to use a low ISO, say 100 and have longer shutter opening. This reduces noise and means more detail is visible.

Lenses…

A fast lens allows a wider aperture. Faster lenses will allow a quicker exposure than a smaller aperture. Nevertheless, when experimenting check the depth of field. With big candle patterns, or larger subjects, a very wide aperture will give a very shallow depth of field. Too shallow and you will lose a lot of detail. On the other hand, lots of candles in the background with a shallow depth of field will produce pleasing bokeh. For choosing your lens, more than other aspects of your set-up, you need to have a clear vision of what you want your final shot to look like. Then do some “Chimping” to check results.

Prime lenses, especially the 50mm, will give an approximation to the human eyes. To capture the mood of a scene a 50mm will help. A wide angle lens close-up can provide great exaggerations of candle tallness or broadness – depending on lens orientation. There is great scope for artistic interpretation. Also remember that zoom lenses tend to foreshorten, reducing the apparent depth of the shot. With a zoom lens place your candles to give an impression of depth.

White balance…

The warm glow of candles is attractive. If you change the white balance you will change the characteristics of the warm glow. Candlelight shots are about moodiness and atmosphere. It is worth playing with the white balance to influence the shot and increase moodiness, but be careful you don’t remove it. You only need to adjust white balance when shooting in *.jpg as it will be fixed once the shot is taken. If you are shooting in RAW you have more flexibility with settings in post processing to control colours and the final exposure. If you cannot shoot in RAW then, again, make sure you do some “chimping” to get the colours right.

Being safe…

Although fun, candles are naked flames. It is all too easy in low light to leave something close to the candle. Fires start quickly and spread fast too. Feel free to experiment but make sure you don’t accidentally knock over candles, touch wall paper with one or do something else to set off a fire. Never leave candles alight and unattended. Always blow them out and wait for the smoke stop raising before leaving.

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By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

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’.

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Posted in Camera control, Composition, Equipment, How to..., Insights, Light and Lighting, Post Processing, Things to try, Tips Tutorials & Techniques

Tagged Accessories, Air break, Aperture, Atmosphere, Camera, Candle, Candlelight, Composition, Darkness, Depth of Field, exposure, Flame, Flash, hard light, Health and safety, ISO, Lens, Lenses, light and lighting, Light intensity, Manual Control, Moodiness, Movement, Pattern, Position, Positioning, Safety, shadows, Shutter Speed, soft light, Time, Tripod, White balance

A quick look at image stabilisation

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | Comments Off

Image Stabilisation

Image stabilisation helps you get a sharper picture.

Good images rely on a steady hand or a tripod. You also get a help from the image stabilisation in your camera or lens. These systems help your lens stay steady. Here we are going to get a look at what is involved and how to use it.

What is image stabilisation?

The term “Image stabilisation” represents a number of technologies used to reduce blurring caused by camera movement during exposure. It compensates for movement in two planes. These are referred to as pan (lateral twisting or yawing movement) and tilt (vertical or pitching movement).

Camera movement is recorded as blur when the shutter is open long enough for the movement to be captured. The slower the shutter speed the more likely it is that the movement will be detected. The tiny, but continuous movements of our hands tend to make hand held shots a little soft. Longer exposures will be even softer since the tiny movements will continue blurring the shot throughout the exposure.

Using an image stabilisation technology allows a mechanism to off-set or compensate for the movement not prevent it. Extreme or large movements will still cause blur during the exposure. However, image stabilisation systems are designed to compensate for the movements created by the almost imperceptible movements of our hands while hand-holding a shot. Typically recent image stabilisation systems will compensate for exposures four to sixteen times longer than could be hand held without the compensation. This would mean that instead of using a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, you can use image stabilisation to get a shutter speed of around a 1/30th of a second and still get similar image quality. This could significantly improve the light levels in your exposure.

Types of image stabilisation

Optical image stabilisation: This type is mounted in the lens. It uses high speed motors to shift a lens element around changing its orientation to compensate for the movement of the camera. It is highly accurate, compact and fast. It does add quite a lot of weight (and expense) to the photographic lens unit overall. However, it performs really well under all types of movement even fairly extreme movement that might be found in panning for example. It will not prevent the gross movement blur, but will compensate for the tiny variations while panning for example.

In-camera stabilisation or sensor shift stabilisation
This technology uses motor technology to move the Digital Image Sensor to compensate for the movement of the camera. This method concentrates the stabilisation in the camera body and therefore it is only paid for once on the purchase of the camera body (unlike lens-based systems). Sensor shift technology tends to mean the lens is lighter too making handling easier for some people. This type of system does not cope as well as lens-based systems for more extreme movements. Long focal lengths and telephoto lenses will tend to exaggerate the degree of movement of a beam of light hitting the sensor. Consequently the sensor needs to be able to compensate for more extreme vibrations or movements to get the same image quality as a lens system. As the sensor shift system is limited by its range of movement it has limited tolerance at the more extreme end of the range.

Stay sharp!

Many learners find that the softness they get when using a DSLR is very frustrating. While image stabilisation helps, it does not cure the problem. Remember that these systems can only compensate, not prevent, movement blur and softness. So you need to take other steps to make your shots sharp. Here are some issues to consider regarding image stabilisation…

High ISO (in manual control modes): Raising your ISO can help reduce movement blur because you are making the sensor more sensitive to light. Your image sensor will be exposed more readily allowing you to still have a faster shutter speed to take your shot – then movements don’t have time to make the shot soft. Remember, high ISO may increase your digital noise, particularly with very high ISO levels (say 800 or more).

One way to overcome this softness created by hand movement is to raise the and set a faster shutter speed The point and shoot mode or auto mode of your camera will do this to ensure your get sharp shots in most daylight situations. Of course this means a short exposure which may not be suitable for your shot.

Wide aperture(in manual control modes): This too will allow more light into the shot and will allow you to have a faster shutter speed. However, the depth of field will be reduced and that will reduce your sharpness in some areas of the shot.

Use a tripod: Using a tripod is probably the best way to get a sharp shot. In most situations you should turn off your image stabilisation to use a tripod. The motors that do the stabilisation actually create vibration in the tripod and can cause softness. Some systems compensate automatically for being on a tripod so read your technical manual to get guidance for your camera.

Panning: This will definitely create movement blur. But some image stabilisation systems have mechanisms to reduce the vertical movement while panning. In this case make sure you know how to switch to this mode. The difference it can make to getting a moving object sharp is surprising.

Mirror lock-up: Vibration is caused when the reflex mirror in a DSLR flips up. You can lock up these mirrors while you take the shot. The procedure for that is different on every camera so check the manual for the correct method. The image stabilisation mechanisms will not compensate for movement caused by the mirror movement.

Careful use of the shutter button
Don’t stab the shutter button. Roll your finger onto the button gently depressing it. If you stab at it there will almost certainly be an erratic movement that the image stabilisation will not be able to compensate for.

Eagerness!
While enthusiasm is great, taking the camera away from your face too quickly can induce movement before the exposure is complete. Image stabilisation will not compensate for this type of action. Try to count to two before taking the camera away from your face.

Improving overall

Image stabilisation systems vary in their effectiveness according to model, camera, lens, use and how much movement there is. They can be very effective in helping you gain control over your sharpness but they are not the final answer. Sharpness involves a range of techniques and procedures which you will need to learn and practice to improve. Nevertheless, if you are hand-holding a shot you will get significant improvements in sharpness by using these systems. If you want to know a little bit more detail about image stabilisation you can see some more detail in Definition: Image stabiliser; Image stabilisation.

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Comments Off on A quick look at image stabilisation

Posted in Camera control, Equipment, How to..., Things to try, Tips Tutorials & Techniques

Tagged Aperture, Art, Camera, Depth of Field, exposure, F-Stop, High ISO, How it works, Image Stabilisation, ISO, Lens, Mirror lock-up, Panning, Sensor shift, Tripod

Easy ideas for controlling your flash unit

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | 1 comment

• Bath toy •
Specular highlights are distracting and draw the eye which spoils the shot.

Flash is a great benefit and a problem all at once!

Most people don’t realise two things about flash. First, the standard setting is nearly always too powerful. Second, the highlights resulting from flash are very distracting.

Working with flash power

Like all things in photography you need to think carefully about using flash. It is not simply click and move on. Most improving photographers are just beginning to make shots rather than snaps when they begin to see the quality and colour of light. So it is easy to miss some of the impacts that flash has on a subject. Here are a few consequences of a flash shot…

An over-bright subject.
Strong highlights with a tendency to wash out colours.
Specular highlights that create sharp, bright spots that distract the eye.
Bright foreground, dark background.
Flesh tones strongly whitened giving a sick look to the face.

Each of these is almost always down to using too much power in the flash. So, the way to over come these issues is to do two things. Turn down the power of the flash and diffuse the flash so it scatters the light.

Turning down the flash is simple. You must find the setting that adjusts the flash power level. This is easy if you are using an off camera flash because the unit usually has a display and a dial or buttons to change the settings. On-camera (pop-up) flash is usually adjusted by finding a menu setting that turns the power up or down. You may need to consult your camera manual to find where that setting is found.

The key to getting the right setting for your flash is to understand how to change it. Most off-camera flash units are marked up so there is two stops of light on the flash. Normally if the flash is marked 1:1 then that is full power, and more often than not this is the default setting. You can usually turn this down by one third of a stop of light at a time. Each time you stop down the setting one stop you are halving the light it emits.

Pop-up flash units may not be marked so clearly. Some are marked [low – medium – high], others, particularly point and shoot cameras, may just have “full | half”. More sophisticated pop-up units may also be marked in the same way that off-camera flash units are marked. Which ever your flash is, you should practice with it so you have an idea of how powerful it is and how much the settings can change the impact of the flash.

Flash diffusion

The best way to get used to using flash and controlling the power is experimenting. However, the issue of nasty highlights is the other problem the inexperienced user often does not spot at first. Strong highlights raise the light levels so you can see the tonal changes in the colour of the surface the light hits. This helps to define the shape of an object. So, for example, a brighter top on a ball and dark shadows under it help to define the spherical shape.

If the light intensity is too high, particularly on reflective surfaces, the reflected light level will exceed the level the camera can cope with. The highlight then becomes blown out. The light is so bright in that area that it becomes a bright spot where all the detail is lost to pure white. Unfortunately such strong, blown out areas, are severe distractions. In the picture above, the small reflective points, called specular highlights, are also strongly distracting. So what can you do to avoid these nasty effects?

If your power adjustments are not working and you still have blown out spots or highlights then you should consider diffusing the flash. This makes a difference in two ways. The diffused light will scatter the light from the flash over a wider area. This effectively lowers the light intensity even further in the area of the highlight since the light is not hitting it from a direct focused hard light from the flash.

Secondly, diffused light spreads the effect of the light. This makes it more likely to bounce off other surfaces nearby. These surfaces then become multiple mini-light sources. All these sources hitting your subject create a soft light which is much less likely to create specular highlights or very strong colour-destroying highlights.

So how do you do this diffusing? I just love this great flash diffuser. Designed to fit your off-camera flash unit it is an ingenious design and easily adaptable to any flash unit. Check out the Rogue FlashBender 2 – off camera flash. If you have an off-camera flash this is the best. It is the most adaptable diffuser I have ever used. You attach it to the flash with a wrap around grip. The big diffuser stands up above the lens of the flash. It is tough, flexible and creates a lovely daylight-white light. It is superb for portraits and still life work. Coupled with adjustments to the power settings on your flash it gives you excellent control and helps reduces highlights and the effects of hard light direct onto the subject.

For off camera flash there are a range of diffusers available. They are based on various different mounting or reflector principles too. So, you need to look around to see if you can find a diffuser that suits you.

For pop-up flash the options are not as easy. However, I recommend one of two options. I have successfully used ordinary white tissue paper sticky taped over the pop-up flash to both reduce and diffuse flash. However, while this works well, reducing the light by about a full stop, it is a temporary solution. Also, if you use the flash a lot the extra insulation may cause the flash to over heat. So, not for regular use.

My favoured options for pop-up flash diffusion are one of these three methods…

Professor Kobre’s Lightscoop, Standard Version Bounce Flash Device, Universal Model, fits over the Pop-up Flash of most SLR Cameras This diffuser produces a very effective ceiling bounce for the diffusion. However, make sure that in rooms where you use it there is no strong colours on the ceiling or it will cause colour casts.

Gary Fong Puffer – Pop-Up Flash Diffuser for Canon / Nikon / Pentax / Olympus / Panasonic- Lumix pop-up flashes A well reviewed unit, and has the advantage of an easy fit. The other advantage is that it diffuses the light moving forwards. The other two units here bounce the light which puts you slightly at a disadvantage in controlling the flash light direction.

Cateye LETS Flash Reflector/Diffuser Hybrid, for use with DSLR pop-up flashes Although I have not used this one personally, I know some people who have. I have had some very good feedback on this unit and it seems to work effectively in a wide range of situations.

Great shots with flash…

Yes, like everything else in photography, to get good with it, you have to practice use of flash. However, first you need to make sure you can spot the highlights, specular highlights and over-powered flash. Once you know what you are looking for you can adjust your flash power.

The best way to gain control of your flash is reducing the power, or at least adjusting it. Also, the more you soften the harsh, hard flash light the less distracting and natural the highlights will be.

Whatever you decide to do to make your flash manageable do plenty of experimenting to gain control of the light. Don’t forget to Examine Shots Before Shooting Again – “Chimping” to check for highlights. The practice will pay you back in great, well lit shots many times over.

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Posted in Camera control, Equipment, How to..., Light and Lighting, Things to try, Tips Tutorials & Techniques

Tagged Accessories, Buying equipment, Camera, Chimping, Colour, Composition, exposure, F-Stop, Flash, hard light, Highlights, ISO, Light, light and lighting, Lighting, Manual Control, On camera flash, Pop-up flash, Portraits, Portraiture, soft light, Specular Highlights, Stop

Simple explanations of camera exposure modes

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | 1 comment

Choose your settings from a range of modes.

Camera Mode Dial
Choose the most suitable setting for your shot.

The DSLR contains a sophisticated computer providing a wide range of exposure options. They may seem bewildering. In this post we will provide simple explanations for the most common exposure modes to help you choose the best method for your next shot.

Exposure…

The modern Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) can accommodate so many options that it is often difficult to know how to get started. So it is helpful if you have some idea of what exposure is about.

As photographers we are concerned with the use and manipulation of light. Everything else is secondary. We need to understand the concepts relation to how the camera detects light and the impact that has. Basically there are three controls which affect way the camera uses light. These controls are:

ISO – controls how sensitive the camera is to light. However, at high ISO levels there is an increase in digital noise.
Shutter speed – controls how long the camera sensor is exposed to light. The shutter speed also affects the amount of movement blur in the shot. The slower the shutter speed the more blur.
Aperture – controls how much light is allowed into the camera. Aperture also controls the depth of field. The wider the aperture the shallower the sharp zone in the picture.

(The links above take you to a full explanation of each control).

Between them these three provide control over your exposure. Co-ordinating them requires a little practice. Nothing too difficult. It is about balance. For the camera to create an exposure it has to collect a fixed amount of light. Too much light and the picture will be over-exposed. Too little light and the pictures will be underexposed. Getting it right requires a little knowledge of your camera light meter and how to change the controls to create the balance that makes the exposure.

In addition to the direct controls listed above there are the others called “modes” found on most cameras. These have been developed by the camera manufacturers to try and assist beginners who don’t understand the exposure process. The modes are intended to provide easy pre-selections for certain situations.

The different modes range from fully controlled by the camera (fully automatic mode) through to fully controlled by you (full manual mode). That is a range of controls from where the camera does everything for you through to where you make all the decisions. These modes differ from camera to camera but in general terms they are described below. The names may be different with each manufacturer too…

Full Auto: Basically this puts your camera into “point-and-shoot” mode. The camera uses its sensors to make an exposure. It responds to its programming and creates a picture which is of good quality but which you have no creative control over at all. It will even activate the flash if the camera detects insufficient light to create a balanced exposure.

Auto with No Flash: This is the same as the full auto setting, but the flash will not work under any circumstances. This leaves the camera to make the exposure without the additional light from the flash.

Program: The camera responds to its programming and makes an exposure by controlling the settings on your behalf. However, you have the option to make changes to that pre-programmed exposure – small adjustments that allow you to have a small amount of creative control.

Scene settings:
The scene settings on your camera includes a number of scene variations. These are likely to vary widely between the manufacturers and various models they make. Here are some of the more popular options:
• Portrait (for taking portraits)
• Landscape (landscapes shots and long distance shots)
• Night-time (night and dark shots)
• Sports and/or Action
• Macro
The above are standard modes. In most recent cameras these may be extended to include other additional modes to cover children, pets, specialised filters for colours and vintage settings for example. All sorts of other modes may be included depending on the target market for the camera.

These automatic modes above are pretty much camera controlled. Aside from tweaks, the camera has all the control. The problems with all of these is that the manufacturer is calling the shots. You can compose the shot, but have little control over what it looks like in the exposure. The discerning photographer wants to take creative control and use the main three controls mentioned above. Then they will be able to use the depth of field, movement blur and sensitivity to light to create the exposure that expresses their interpretation of the scene they are shooting. As a result there are three modes to deal with this. The first two are “semi-automatic” and the third gives you full manual control of the camera.

Aperture Priority:
The aperture semi-automatic mode relates to the manual control of aperture and the automatic control of the shutter speed and ISO. When you are in ‘A’ or ‘Av’ (aperture value) mode you are able to change the size of the aperture. The different sizes of the aperture are measured in “f-stops”. You can find out more about f-stops in this Definition: f number; f stop; Stop. The term aperture relates to the size of the hole which allows light into the camera. As the aperture varies the depth of field changes. Controlling the depth of field gives you discretion over the sharp area of the picture. The sharp parts of the picture attract the eye. Controlling where the sharpness is in the picture therefore affects where the viewer looks. This makes aperture control a valuable aspect of your composition.

Aperture also determines how much light is allowed through to the digital imaging sensor. A wide aperture allows more light in (say, F2.8) and has a shallow depth of field. A narrow aperture allows less light through (say, F22) but has a deep depth of field – at F22 sharpness will be more or less right through the picture.

Aperture priority allows you true control over the creative aspects of the light levels in the exposure. However, the camera balances your exposure control to make a good quality exposure because it sets appropriate ISO and shutter speed. You have creative control, it provides the quality exposure you need to make a great image.

Shutter Priority: This too is a semi-automatic mode. However, using this mode you have access to the shutter speed. Nominated as S, T, or Tv (time value) mode allows you creative control over the length of the exposure. Using this mode you can set yourself up for longer or shorter shutter opening. If the shutter is open for longer anything moving in the field of view will tend to blur. If the shutter is open longer the movement will be more blurred.

Shutter speed allows for control over the creative aspects of the total amount of light allowed to influence the exposure. While using the shutter speed the aperture setting and the ISO are under the control of the camera so it can balance the overall exposure while you control the creative part.

Manual or Full manual setting: The manual setting or “M” setting on the modes dial of your camera is used to give you full control. If you do it right your exposure will allow for depth of field control as well as creative use of movement blur. This mode gives you full control of all three aspects of the exposure.

So which mode do you choose?
In essence the automatic modes and scene modes are manufacturers programming – they do all the work for you. They represent an attempt to create classic ways of doing certain shots without you needing to take part in the exposure control. However, as a result these modes respond to make a picture that is not of your vision. Instead it is the suggested settings that manufacturers have researched about what the average shot of that type. These modes are in effect telling you how to take the shot.

On the other hand, the semi-automatic modes allow you to take control of major aspects of the control of the camera. As you have control of only one of the controls it allows you to concentrate on working on the creative part of the shot. That leaves the camera the make a balanced exposure to support your creativity. As this mode gives you an important aspect of the control without upsetting the outcome of the exposure it is an excellent mode to learn control of the camera.

Likewise, when using the shutter speed as a way of controlling the camera. You have the creative control over the length of exposure and any movement blur. This too is a great mode to learn control of the camera.

Both Av and Tv modes are affected by the other controls when in use. So, it stands to reason that you do not have the total control needed to get an exact overall exposure. However, for you to make full use of such a full manual control you should also have quite a sophisticated vision of what you want to achieve in your final exposure. While that is quite a normal requirement for a picture it does require some practice. The semi-automatic modes allow you to learn about the use of these controls and to develop the vision you need to start using the full manual mode. Learn to use these semi-automatic modes and you are not only on the way to full manual control, but also learning about how to envision your final exposure.

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Related articles/links:
Photokonnexion Photographic Glossary – Definitions and articles.
Definition: Exposure
Definition: Aperture
Definition: f number
Definition: ISO
Definition: Shutter Speed

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Posted in Camera control, Insights, Starters School, Tips Tutorials & Techniques

Tagged Aperture, Art, Bokeh, Camera, Composition, Depth of Field, exposure, F-Stop, Flash, How it works, Insight, ISO, Light, Manual Control

Your exposure is simply the way you want to see the image

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | 1 comment

There is no such thing as the perfect exposure, only the one you favour.

Expose to see what you want to see.

The truth is, your exposure can be anything you want. The issue is what do you want it to be? Are you a technical photographer or an artist? Lets look at the options…

The technical photographer

The technical photographer tends to put the emphasis on exposure being “correct” at the balance point in the triangle of exposure. The aim of the exposure is to produce a bright representation of the scene. The technical photographer is concerned with getting the settings “right” and the scene summed up in a “realistic” representation of what they saw. The technical photographer tends to be more concerned with recording the scene.

The artistic approach

For the artistic photographer there is more interest in composition and representation of the scene as as they want to depict it. They are more intent on passing a message to the viewers of the image. They want to create a picture that stimulates emotion and strong feelings. The artistic photographer has an idea. They want to make a photograph to fulfil the idea, express the emotion, tell the story. The artist is concerned with communication, not representation.

The spectrum of types

Of course these two extremes are not really as polarised as I have made out here. We all have elements of both of these personalities in our photography. The artist needs to know about the technical side in order to have artistic control over their work. The technical photographer needs to make the picture to suit the light and the scene. At least some interpretation is needed in the technical approach.

The issue here is about exposure. Sometimes we want to present a shot with the exposure on the darker, more subdued side. We are going for mood maybe, or using light to express itself strongly through shadow. The extreme is the very dark shot, what we might call a low key shot. On the opposite end of the scale is the high key shot – bright, white – strong bright, tending to over-exposure.

When we take an exposure with a DSLR we normally centre the camera meter reading. Supposing we want to take a picture like the portrait above, slightly underexposed. If we are working with the camera in full manual mode we can simply under-expose by doing one of the following: narrowing the Aperture, lowering the ISO or using a faster Shutter Speed. The opposite is also true. You can over-expose too. In other words you can creatively make what you want out of your shot by controlling the exposure. In the portrait above I wanted to emphasis the strong maleness of my subject. The strong shadows provided the vehicle for that. So the slight under-exposure complemented the already low lights… just what I was looking for.

In the case of the semi-manual modes, the option for full control of the exposure is not available. However, the exposure compensation dial can be called into play. If you want to under expose you can dial to the negative side. If you want to over expose slightly then dial to the positive side. This frees up your exposure to bias the result in favour of your creative idea. Check out the manual for your camera to see how the exposure compensation dial works.

The whole complex of variables that affect exposure, ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture settings are an interaction of functions that allow us to control our image. If we ignore the “ideal” exposure indicated by the camera light meter we actually have a whole world of potentially creative controls. There is no such thing as the perfect exposure. If you are a technical photographer you can still free up your exposure to make a photograph that expresses what you see in a scene. If you are an artist, you can be quite technical about exactly the exposure you want.

Enjoy your exposures. There is no such thing as perfection, and that applies to photographic exposure too. But there is a perfectly good exposure for every photograph… that is the one you want.

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Posted in Background Info., Camera control, Composition, Insights, Light and Lighting, Things to try, Tips Tutorials & Techniques

Tagged Aperture, Artistic photography, Camera, Composition, exposure, Exposure Compensation, How to Shoot, ISO, Manual Control, People Shots, Shutter Speed

The Zen of sharpness – 12 easy ways to improve

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | 6 comments

Sharpness factsSharpness facts

Making sharp images takes knowledge and practice.

Photographers often wonder why they cannot reproduce publication sharpness. It’s not difficult, but there is more to it than clicking away. Here we look at all the factors that may affect sharpness.

Seven common problems

1. Poor focus:
• Frequently, focus problems occur because the focus has been taken from the wrong part of the scene. Choose one of the auto-focus (AF) points you can see in your lens (see how in your manual). Use that point to select the point of focus in your scene. The choice of where you focus is also critical. The eyes are often the most important point of focus. (See: The Eyes Have It… nine ways to emphasize eyes).

2. Camera blur:
• Movement of the camera during the shot will create a softness or complete blur. The solution is to improve your actual shooting technique. Holding the camera, your stance, your breathing and even the way you click the shutter button can all create camera movement. (See: Simple tips for a good stance). Camera blur can also be created because the shutter speed is too low. If you have a relatively long exposure the camera is more likely to move during the shot. If you have a higher shutter speed the chance of movement is reduced – sharpness is improved. Most people find they cannot hold the camera steady at 1/60th of a second or longer. With practice you can get better. A good starting shutter speed for hand-held shots is about 1/200ths of a second. It is possible to also change the ISO to enable higher shutter speeds and still maintain a good exposure.

3. Motion blur:
• If the subject moves and the camera is stationary the subject will be blurred. You may need to change your focusing mode to to compensate for movement. Use Continuous focus mode for constant movement [AI Servo AF (Canon)/AF-C (Nikon)]. Alternatively you can use autofocus mode [AI Focus AF (Canon)/AF-A (Nikon)] for slight movements or unpredictable/unexpected movement.

4. Poor quality lens:
• It is a common mistake to spend a lot of money on a camera then skimp on the lens. In fact it is best to spend as much as you can afford to buy quality lenses. They will pay you back with quality sharpness much more than the camera body will. Poor lenses can give you colour fringing, poor focus, distortions, softness and limited depth of field.

5. Depth of field too shallow:
• The depth of field (DoF) is the zone of sharpness in a picture. You can determine the DoF by changing the size of the aperture. (For more information see: One big change – one easy step forward).

6. Diopter set wrongly:
• If your eyesight is poor, or does not match the optical properties of the viewfinder, you will need to adjust the diopter. Most people can use it to adjust the viewfinder sharpness for their eyesight. If your sight through the lens is sharp it helps you fix a good focus to ensure sharpness.

7. No sharpening in RAW:
• When the picture is uploaded to your computer it’s file format effects sharpness. RAW, the native file formate for your camera, is created as a file without sharpening. The *.jpg file format is highly processed in the camera. It is sharpened as part of the processing. So *.jpg files may look sharper than RAW files on screen. The solution is to make sure you apply some sharpening to RAW files as the last action of any post-processing you do.

How to Take Sharper Pictures

By way of consolidating the above here is a video discussing the above points with examples…
(More after the video)

Jim Harmer • Published on 10 Sep 2012

Beyond the basics

Sharpness is about continuous improvement. Here are some more ideas to extend your skills…

8. Stance and the anti-roll “bar”:
Many self-made photographers don’t recognise the importance of stance. Holding the camera steady is part of a “whole-body” effort. You should create a stable platform to comfortably hold your camera to ensure a steady camera position. The way you hold your arms, the way you breath and other factors affect your focusing and the amount of camera movement.

In addition to poor stance an additional unintentional movement causes softness. Some photographers click the shutter button then “roll” the camera away from their face prematurely. Doing the “roll” will induce movement in the camera – often before the shutter has closed. The solution is the “anti-roll bar” – you must “bar” yourself from doing the roll.

Learn more about stance and the “anti-roll bar” in this article: Simple tips for a good stance.

9. Test shots

Today we have the digital freedom to take as many shots as we wish without paying for film developing. To improve your sharpness spend time making sure your shot is going to be sharp. Do test shots to familiarise yourself with the scene and to practice for ‘the’ shot. You can find out more here: How to take a test shot.

10. Viewing the image at 100%

When you upload your image files they are not sized to 100% on screen. They are presented much smaller so you can see the whole picture. Photographers often don’t look at their pictures in full size. What is not obvious is that when pictures are resized on screen they are sharpened. If you are not aware of this you might be disappointed when you print the image. It will not be as sharp as it could be because you never looked at it in full size. If you are aware of how sharp you have made your image (at 100%) it will help you to develop your skills. You can find out more about viewing at 100% here: The benefits of 100% viewing.

11. Use a tripod

The vast majority of shots can be taken from a tripod. Using one is undoubtedly the single most effective sharpening technique. You can find out more about using a tripod here…
Three Tips for Pin Sharp Shots with a Tripod
Definition: Tripod
The Tripod
The Third Most Important Piece of Kit

12. Practice, practice, practice

Knowing all these things is different to actually being able to put them into practice. Making your pictures sharp is about doing all of the above. Then, reviewing your own achievement after each shot. You must practice all these regularly and consistently in order to succeed in producing the sharp images you want.

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Related articles/links:
Photokonnexion Photographic Glossary – Definitions and articles.

The Eyes Have It… nine ways to emphasize eyes

Shutter button

Definition: ISO

Diopter or Dioptre (definion)

RAW

*.jpg file format
Post-processing

Simple tips for a good photography stance

The Zen of sharpness – 12 easy ways to improve

Camera grip – hold your camera correctly

How to take a test shot

The benefits of 100% viewing

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

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6 Comments

Posted in Background Info., Camera control, Equipment, How to..., Insights, Starters School, Tips Tutorials & Techniques, Video included

Tagged Aperture, Camera, Depth of Field, exposure, How it works, How to Shoot, ISO, Lens, Light, Manual Control, Shutter Speed, Tripod, Video, Vocabulary

Correct snow scenes using exposure compensation

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Damon (Editor) | 4 comments

Bright snow scenes create a problem with the auto-settings for exposure
Click image to view large
Green shoots through the snow By Netkonnexion on Flickr

Snow reveals a problem with auto-modes.

The brightness of a snow scene throws off exposure. Cameras in auto-modes work to a “normal” type of scene. When unusually bright scenes are encountered the camera cannot compensate. It leaves the scene grey. This is because the camera is calibrated to work with a mix of colours, light and darks that represent the sort of scene we encounter every day. It senses the luminance levels in the scene and sets exposure to the middle of the range between light and dark.

If the camera senses an unusually bright scene, like the snow scene above, it is unable to compensate properly. The brightness is outside its normal range of compensation. The camera responds by underexposing the shot, and the snow turns grey. The photograph above shows the scene as shot in the right hand panel. It is grey. The left hand panel shows the correct exposure after the underexposure is compensated by an exposure compensation of 1.66 stops (one and two thirds stops). (See: Definition: f-stops)

Photographers are more accurate than camera auto settings

In these bright (or dark situations) we can dial in exposure compensation to manually set the scene to be brighter. Using the exposure compensation we can increase the exposure to brighten the scene (+ settings) or even darken the scene (- settings) as appropriate. Then, we take another picture. By looking at the screen on the camera (“Chimping”) we can get the exposure correct by adjusting the exposure compensation to correctly whiten the scene.

This exposure compensation principle applies to the camera modes which are automatic or semi-automatic. In full auto, the camera calculates the exposure by balancing the ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings. However, in the semi-automatic modes the photographer changes one of the settings while the camera changes the other. In these modes, as in full-auto, the camera can still make the mistake of under-exposing (or over-exposing). Only the photographer can judge the exposure correctly.

When using aperture priority mode, you the photographer, makes the decision on the aperture size (f-stop setting). The camera calculates the appropriate shutter speed. If your camera cannot correctly interpret the scene, as with snow for example, then you will need to dial the exposure compensation to correct for the under-exposure. If you are using shutter priority, same again, the camera calculates the aperture (f-stop) setting. If the camera makes a wrong exposure decision, you can manually set the exposure compensation to over-ride the f-stop setting the camera would set.

Full manual mode, where the photographer sets all the settings directly, cannot use exposure compensation. In this mode the photographer makes all the decisions. The camera does not interfere with the exposure settings. In this case the photographer is free to make decisions to fix the exposure setting for all three factors of exposure – ISO, aperture and shutter speed. There can be no element of compensation for a failed camera decision. The photographer stands by their own settings and has full discretion to control the exposure as they wish. Deliberate over or under-exposure as well as accurate exposure are all possible. It is for this reason that I urge you to work in full manual where you can. You have far more control over the outcome of the shot. You also as a consequence have more artistic control over your image.

If you are working in RAW, the native data mode of image files in camera, it is possible to correct for camera exposure errors in post-processing. As I have argued elsewhere it is better to try and get all the settings correct in camera than to spend time processing afterwards for a number of reasons. So, no matter what file type you are using, try to set the shot up correctly from the start.

There you have it. Exposure compensation is a camera setting which is wholly dedicated to compensating for the mess-ups that the camera makes with its exposure calculations in auto or semi-auto modes. But when using auto-modes, and/or using *.jpg files, it is essential to be able to compensate for the cameras’ failings by using exposure compensation – otherwise your snow will be grey!

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By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

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4 Comments

Posted in Camera control, Equipment, How to..., Light and Lighting, Things to try, Tips Tutorials & Techniques

Tagged Aperture, Colour, exposure, Exposure Compensation, Exposure tips, F-Stop, How it works, ISO, Light, light and lighting, Lighting, Manual Control, Over-exposure, Overexposure, Shutter Speed, Under Exposure, Underexposure

Tag Archives: ISO

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Correct snow scenes using exposure compensation

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Photographers are more accurate than camera auto settings

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