Digital Photography

In your landscape photography you will find that the majority is probably with a tripod. But each type of photography uses different tools. Photographers that do sports photography like to use a hand-held strategy so they can get the shot quickly. The last thing they want is to be fiddling with a tripod when they could be shooting the football player who has just won the goal for their team. Instead, they ‘ll choose a monopod which has greater flexibility and gives them greater access to the series of shots they want.

Tripods are brilliant for nature and landscape shots. But sometimes they are bulky and cumbersome. When you are shooting your landscapes it can be a pain in the backside lugging the tripod up a mountain or a steep hill just to get to the top to get that perfect shot when the sun is just right. But as painful as this is, when you look at your photos afterward, you’ll most likely say “wow, it was worth it.”

One of the great things about tripods is that they allow you to capture that beautifully, gentle light you see during a sunset, just before twilight. Twilight has a sweet light, and just before that there are some pretty fantastic photographic opportunities.

You’ll no doubt find that as dusk blankets the land the more photos you take the more blur you get. There’s no other time of day that feels like light changes than dusk. It feels like light is just slipping through your fingers like sand through an hour glass. And its during this time that you need to keep that camera rock-steady.

If you are in the unfortunate situation of not having a tripod st this magical time you can always boost your ISO from the mid range 400 to a higher 800. This will increase the light sensitivity quite a lot. You’ll find more noise that way but you can always fix this in Noise Ninja or other photographic post editing software.

A tripod is not only good for dusk and for very low light situations such as getting crystal clear night shots. Anytime you want to slow down your shutter speed a tripod becomes the necessity.

Photo Copyright By Roma Flowers. 

Fireworks are short lived, explosions of colour which have an intensity lasting for just a few seconds. Taking pictures of fireworks involves a little bit of planning, not just point and shoot and hope for the best. Getting good digital shots of fireworks is about using your settings properly to expose the picture without getting too much noise in the picture. 

Select your shooting location. Fireworks look fabulous if you fill the frame but try not to cut off their edges. They need the depth in a shot, so make sure the composition is in keeping the appearance of being ‘big.’ After all, you want to convey their majesty and power in the photo. But be careful- with camera shake, fireworks look like wriggling electric snakes instead!

Charging the camera

Being outdoors and taking lots of photos with exposures to suit eats up a lot of power in your charge. So make sure the camera is fully charged before even venturing outside. There is nothing worse than the camera running out of power at the crucial moment or the thing blinking at you, saying you have one shot left and you haven’t finished!

Take the biggest size capacity memory card or memory stick (if it’s a Sony) because believe me, you’ll need it. Once captivated and determined to get a really good picture, you’ll be there for as long as it takes snapping away and will most likely loose track of time. (If you’re anything like me, people will expect you to have a camera.)

On the camera you will be able to set it at the highest resolution image. The picture will be compressed when you get it onto the computer and email it anyway, so chose the highest resolution so the image does not loose clarity and so that even some of the noise from the night sky will be compressed.

Where to focus

It’s hard to know what to focus on with fireworks. It’s not until they are in the sky that you can really tell where to focus, what to focus on, how to set the camera, and you can’t do all that in a few seconds. But what you can do is focus on the maximum range of focal distance. Perhaps even pick something in the distance that you think might be the same distance away as the fireworks would be, and set the camera to that. If you choose auto focus you’ll find your shot will be gone as the fireworks evaporate into the blackness of the night sky.

When taking pictures of fireworks with your tripod, one trick to use is to keep the shutter button down for the entire time the fireworks have exploded in their array of colour. The moment they show signs of fading, release your finger and let the camera close the shutter. What you are doing here is keeping the ‘eye’ of the camera open long enough for the light and colour to get into the lens, senor and create a grand image for you.

The right exposure time for fireworks

The best time is a long time! But not too long: I recommend holding the shutter button down, or release the cable after about one and a half seconds up to five seconds. The longer that this happens, the longer the burst you will have on your sensor. Longer exposure times do indeed compensate for the lack of light, but the only draw back with digital is that the longer the aperture stays open, the more noise creeps into the photo.

If your camera is an SLR or has some good manual controls then you can choose how you want the fireworks to come out. A smaller aperture (f.5.6, f. creates thin streaky lines and a wider aperture creates chunky lines. Whatever effect you want, make sure you have control over the exposure, not the other way around.  Make sure which ever way you go, (thin streaky=smaller aperture; wide, chunky= larger aperture) experiment and have fun and you’ll get to know which fireworks you like. If you’re not sure, try both types of exposure and a something in between and see what you like best.

Composition

Want your fireworks pictures to be really good? Now that I’ve given you something to think about with your exposure why not try altering your angle? Remember how I spoke about composition? Well night time is the right time too!

Select your location. Make sure it’s a good clear shot without street lights getting into the camera to detract from the beautiful images on your photo, or passing cars that may potentially create light streaks in your picture. Also choose a spot where people won’t constantly walk in front of the camera, stare at it and wave whilst you are trying to take the picture (pet hate). Minimize any risks to yourself or anybody else.

Trails beautiful trails…..

So how do we capture those gorgeous trails left by a fireworks explosion? Try moving your camera at a different angle, like tilting it. This can enhance the creativity of your angle and shots by simply using a different movement on your camera. If you are using a tripod then make sure it angles with you. You shouldn’t have to take the camera off the tripod to get lots of good shots. Angle it so that the shot is 90 degrees vertical, and even whereby the bottom of the picture is at an angle.

Double exposure and layering

Double exposure is a pretty neat trick. Sometimes professional photographers use this. It’s cheating a little, but it does create some amazing photos.

Take two pictures in the same location of the fireworks exploding. Then in PhotoShop layer one on top of the other. The result looks pretty amazing. It looks as if two lots of fireworks are merging together in the sky. Open both pictures in PhotoShop; select a rectangle or freeform part on the sky of the second photo, copy that as a layer on top of the first photo, then merge the results. This is layering.

Some photographs require astonishing skill; others require being in the exact right place at the exact right time. The ones below needed both.

Take a moment from your day to appreciate the immense beauty that surrounds us, and enjoy these astounding photos!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/10/13/how-were-these-amazing-photographs-even-possible.aspx

Merry Christmas everyone!

The year is coming to a close and so is work and hopefully we can all wind down and relax for a few weeks. Its also a great time to grab those cameras and take some sensational photos of Christmas lights. When I say Christmas lights I mean anything from the Christmas tree to peoples houses decorated in pretty lights to Christmas candles.

We live in a neighbourhood where people love to decorate their houses with all sorts of lights, reindeer’s, Santa’s sleigh, angels and religious themes. Its such a fun and special times of year for those of you who are just big kids.

And photographically its a fantastic time as well, because those lights look absolutely beautiful; in a photo. Lets take this one for example:

Photo by Gavin Mills

This photo would have been taken using a tripod and a very slow shutter speed. When I take photos of Christmas lights I use a tripod (yes even for indoors) and use a shutter between 1/60 and 5 seconds depending on how much light you have coming from the tree itself. I recommend using a slow shutter of no more that this. By using a slow shutter you’ll be slowing the camera down so the lights are sharp and not blurry.

You can use an aperture of around f.8 or f.4/ F.4 is probably better considering you’ll always be shooting at night. These are just my recommendations, I urge you to try it yourself.

You can use a higher ISO if you find you are having trouble with getting more light onto the sensor. Sometimes I’ve used an ISO of 800 to increase the cameras light sensitivity. This can increase noise somewhat but you can use Noise Ninja to tone down any noise if you feel its too much. It will help clean up the noise in your image, leaving you with a sharper image.

For Christmas lights outdoors you can use the same types of settings. Remember also that dusk will be considered as darkness by your camera, so don’t be surprised if you end up shooting as you would at night time.

Happy shooting,

Amy Renfrey

Photo by Erin Marie Payne.

Thank you to Erin and Gavin for use of their pictures.

You know, I’ve never done a camera review before. But I thought I’d give it a try. To start with I thought I’d post this article about Ricoh and they new digital camera. What do you think?

Would you like to see more about digital cameras? Let me know via email.

Cheers, Amy.

Ricoh has released the new Ricoh Caplio RR770, a sleek entry level digital compact camera that adds exciting and useful features to its popular Caplio RR750 predecessor.

The Caplio RR770 comes equipped with a 7.16-inch megapixel CC and new crystal-clear 3.0-inch color TFT-LCD monitor that offers easier viewing while capturing images and playback. It also features a 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom, for a combined 12x zoom and has the ability to tackle almost any photographic situation with ease. It can also capture videos (320×240 pixels resolution at 30 frames/second).

The Caplio RR770 comes with 32 MB of internal memory giving it the capacity to take many beautiful pictures right out of the box. If additional storage space becomes necessary the Caplio RR770 can be added with an SD Card, a widely used and easily available storage medium.

Having an elegant black body, RR770 works on AA batteries. The digital camera can be hooked up to a computer through a USB cable to transfer photos. It also comes with a software to improve the images and create panoramic images.

This compact camera has been developed for beginners and has all the point-and-shoot freedom. The six scene modes ensure many exciting options for adding a touch of creativity to the digital imagery. In addition, in the mode dial settings of Auto, Program, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Scene as well as Movie mode, you get a wide range of choices and high level of usability.

The Caplio RR770 is the most recent addition to Ricoh’s popular, award-winning range of digital cameras, whose outstanding performance, value for money and stylish designs has won favor with photographers throughout the world.

Bundled with an AV cable, a camera pouch and hand strap, the price and availability of the Ricoh Caplio RR770 digital camera is not yet clear.

http://www.sda-india.com/sda_india/psecom,id,22,site_layout,sdaindia,news,22712,p,0.html

Picture courtesy of digitalcameras.techfresh.net.

Dear Amy,
I would like to thank you for the many tips you send. They are quite helpful. I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. You and many other professional photographers speak of filling up the frame or view finder by moving in on the subject. That is fine for a fixed focal length lens, but what if you are using a zoom like an 18-200mm. Should I set it to a fixed focal length and work as if it were a 90 or a 105mm lens and then move in?
(Name withheld).

Dear (name withheld)

Thank you for your email. Just clarify; I recommend filling the frame for certain subjects, not filling the viewfinder. I say this because depending on what camera you have the frame and the viewfinder are different. To fill one might not be the same as filling the other.

It not really about what lens you have, it’s about filling the frame to create an intimate perspective. If you have a zoom lens then you may not have to move in at all. The answer is that it depends on what you are shooting whether you should fix your focal length and work it like a different lens.

It really depends on what you are photographing.
For example for macro shots I find that a fixed focal length works really well. But if I am at water fall and want to get closer in to a flower on the ledge, then the zoom is ideal and I’ll use the zoom to do the work for me. (I am often in places where moving physically is a big limitation.)

Sorry I can’t give you a black and white answer on this one!

Amy Renfrey
Teaching Digital Photography Enthusiasts All Over The World How To Take
Photos With Superb Clarity And Detail