Digital Photography

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

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

Today I would like to introduce you to something really important. It’s a term used in art and painting but for the purposes of artistic education I’m going to borrow it to teach you something important. Have you ever heard of negative and positive space? If you haven’t you’ll love this article. It will help you three fold in your photography.

In digital photography you’re dealing with aperture, shutter speed, lighting and focus every moment. It’s a lot to manoeuvre. And one thing you are also working with quite precisely, whether you are away of it or not, is ‘space.’ Lets have a look at what this means for you to enhance and develop your skills as a photographer.

Negative space is defined as…”the space around the subject of an image.”

It means the empty space around your main subject. This kind of space seems like unimportant background space but it’s this empty space adds an important aspect to the composition.

Positive space is defined as the focal point of a work of art or shape of the work of art. The primary subject matter in a work of art, as opposed to the background or unoccupied spaces.

Okay so those are the technical definitions. So how do we apply this practically?

To start with, negative space is a huge element in your composition. Your negative space is the space around your focal point and having too much or too little can completely ruin a potentially good digital photograph.

So to improve your photography always look at how much space is around your focal subject. Even the slightest bit too much or too little can completely put your composition out of kilter. Particularly when your subject has a distinct point of focus such as a persons eyes or defining lines coming to a point or even an aspect of sharp colour.

Let’s examine these two photos to show you what I mean.

This picture has a lot of really interesting negative space around it. For starters the negative space is blue, which is quite different to our main focal subject. The dobs of white, which are the colours, seem to glide nicely into the main subject without distraction or hesitation. The clouds do distract our eyes from the branches momentarily but not in an inconvenient way at all. The negative space in this picture works very well to support the positive space.

Look at the picture now without the support of the right amount of negative space. Let’s edit some of this space out of the picture and see what effect we get.

The focal point changes due to a 3cm crop from the right. Removal of the negative space changes everything. Now, the end of the tree trunk is the main focal point. Our eyes don’t follow the branches outward as much as they did before. This change does not make the picture drastically worse, it actually ok. But you see how this negative space alteration changes a lot about the picture artistically?

If you have been taking photos with your digital camera and everything is right technically but you feel something is missing, then it could well be your composition. Pay close attention to what you are taking and the negative space around your main subject. Changing the slightest thing can improve or reduce the quality of your photos.

Happy shooting,

Amy Renfrey

Photo copyright by Manu M

It’s quite an extraordinary thing, colour. It can enhance or diminish emotion in a digital photo. It’s really that powerful. Yet working with colour, it can assist the photographer to emphasise, dramatise or detract from a certain feeling in a digital photograph. Its funny that colour can impact our senses to such a degree. When there is the absence or presence of certain colours we can feel a certain level and depth of emotion.

So how can we add drama to photos by using colour? Well the first thing to understand about colour is what it does to our senses as I have just briefly mentioned. To understand what impact colour has on us think of a digital photo that has we must look at what colours mean. For example think of a color that has lots of yellow in it. A photo with a colour like this reflects energy, a sense of optimism, extroversion.

The same goes for red, which is a quite intense colour if used as the main subjects colour. Red can have an impact especially if its against a contrasting colour, which we’ll get into in a moment. These warm colours such as yellows, oranges, reds, etc have a strong photographic presence. In other words it’s kind of hard to ignore them.

Now let’s take a look at the other side of the scale; the cooler, more introverted colours. Colours that are emotionally quieter are blues, purples and greens. These colours tend to be a little less energetic but don’t be fooled into thinking they are any less passionate as the bold reds. These introverted colours tend to offer us a depth, visually, that we would not get from the warmer colours.

So that’s all very nice you say, but how can you bring this altogether to create dynamic color in a digital photo? Well first of all you can improve your colour skills by having a look at a colour chart to tell you what colours work together really well and what clashes. In my book “Digital Photography Success” I’ve explained about the magic of bringing colour together and what a dynamic impact that creating that colours, united well, can have.

Lets take for example your blues and yellows. Completely opposite but they work together beautifully. Here’s a quick snap I took at Stradbroke Island (Queensland, Australia) last year. The photo is really average, but its all I had at the time and I wanted to capture the enticing contrasts of blue and yellow on a natural background.

So lets look closer what colours work together well so you can improve your digital photography.

You’ll notice that all the basic colours are here. And what works really well are the opposing colours. Take for example the blue and yellow. They are not sitting close together on the wheel, they’re almost opposite. In fact, visually, they are opposite. Colours that have this opposing nature tend to work together so well that we can’t help but be captivated by the contrast.

So as a big hint from me, look for these opposing values in colour and you’ll find you have a lot of brilliance in your colours in your digital photography.

Now with portrait photography this is going to change again. Peoples “colours” vary according to skin tones. For example, someone with blonde hair, very fair skin and green eyes is a “Spring”. This means that people with this colouring look best in earthy colours, pinks, greens, browns etc. And someone who has blue eyes and dark brown hair and a medium skin tone is a “winter.” So what’s this got to do with photography? Everything! If you are taking some ones picture, try to encourage them to wear something that compliments their skin tone. Once again, colour can play a huge part in your photography.

So look at colour wheels, look at skin tones and charts and really examine colour what can work well and what doesn’t

Amy Renfrey

Picture of color wheel courtesy of www.flooringdirect.co.nz

I get tons of questions each day about what setting people should use, what distance calculation between the horizon and the main subject to get sharpness, what post editing tools to use, what’s the best camera to use, the best lens, what flash……etc, etc.

Well I’ll be perfectly honest with you. When I read emails asking me these questions I am pretty pleased that people are really thinking about the technical side of digital photography. Hey it’s great but….you knew there was going to be a “but” right? I simply have to add this and say this because it’s really going to help, so listen up.  

When I sold my first set of pictures I was really surprised that someone wanted to buy them. Not because I thought they were bad and I took bad shots, but because I’d used a pro-sumer camera with minimum control over the settings and I’d used the auto setting.

Not very technical huh? You bet it wasn’t. But the person buying the picture didn’t give two hoots what camera I’d used, what f stop I used and what lens I had. They just loved the picture and wanted to have it for their private pictures.

So what does this tell you?

If you construed this upside down and the wrong way, you could think that I was telling you that technical know-how and the camera you use is irrelevant. But that’s okay, because that’s not what I am saying in any way whatsoever.

What’s important is to focus on what the end result looks like! How you get there is up to you but photography is all about the end result, not the “gear” and how it makes you look.

A guy I knew once had more money than brains. He went out and bought the latest Nikon camera and took the worst shots I have ever seen. And you know why he bought it? Just because he had the money and he thought that the camera would make him look good. Sorry to say this but with his photo skills he should have stuck with his mobile phone camera.

The gear is important and so is your technical knowledge but your shots will still be bad even if you have a Canon 5D. Just because is a beautiful camera doesn’t mean its going to take good shots automatically. You’re the one who takes the photos, not the camera. Don’t get caught up in the technical too much if you are not going to be artistic. Photography is all about being artistic, the technical stuff and the “gear” comes second.

So take the time to really examine your photos carefully. Look at the ones you’ve taken and stop thinking about the technical side for a sec. When you look at your images ask yourself “what could look better?” Is the light to your liking? Too dark? Too light? Could you have improved on the composition? Did you need to be further away or closer in?

Yes I know these questions are basic, but so what. If they help you achieve a level of confidence in your digital photography then who cares how basic they are? What matter the most is the feeling you get from what you’ve just shot. What matters most is the feeling.

Happy shooting!

Amy Renfrey

Last week I was away on a family matter. (All okay.) On the way back I detoured through some delicious landscapes, valleys, and rolling hills. Soon I’ll post some of these pictures and talk about how I got the shots and what I specifically did to get them.

I live in Queensland, Australia now, as a change from Melbourne Victoria. Queensland is a subtropical state which doesn’t really have a winter, as opposed to Melbourne which pretty much has a winter 8 months of the year. So as you can imagine the adjustment is quite significant.

There are some fantastic photo opportunities up here and I’ve taken some of them. The “winter” light in Queensland is probably the best light all year. It softens hard lines, shapes and distinct sharpness.

So stay tuned and you’ll get to see some images. Promise.

Amy Renfrey

In digital photography you’ll find that the 3 main components that make up the success of your images hinge on each other. What I mean by this is that 1. Light 2. Technical knowledge 3. Composition all depend on each other closely to make up a beautiful digital photograph.

It sounds easy doesn’t it? Well it is when you have practiced. But when you are starting out learning how to get better shots with more depth and clarity you can start focusing on the technical but perhaps start forgetting about the artistic side and visa versa.

Its common problem when we first start learning digital photography. We realise that we must drill the technical stuff into our heads so we can improve, and what tends to happen is that we get caught up for a bit. We can forget that photography is artistic. And the artistic side of your digital photo needs perfect composition. So here’s a handy technique that I discovered for myself to getting that perfect structure in my composition that I now want to share with you.

A great way, no a fabulous way to get perfect composition in your digital photos is to practice with your zoom. Start by picking your subject and focusing on it.

Let’s say it’s an apple on a bench. Usually what happens is that people take the angle too far away, getting the distracting background objects in the picture. This takes away the beautiful and freshness of the subject leaving us rather cold as far as an emotional response for the photo.

There are a couple of things you can do. You can remove the annoying background clutter and take the apple as a singular subject against a look of “nothingness”. This can be quite an effective shot. Or you can zoom in a little bit at a time and see what composition works well. This is what I can zooming in increments.

Zooming in on a subject in increments can be a very effective way to practice getting your composition just perfect. You can take several pictures of your apple using different “zoom lengths” to get the right angle.

Be aware that this may impact the light in your photo. Generally how it works is that the closer you zoom in the less light you have to work with because you’re closing in on your subject and reducing the physical space that light falls on an area. This really applies if the subject has no luminance of its own.

In order to compensate for this decrease in light you can change your aperture. This means altering the F stop on your camera if possible. You may start out from 1 meter away from your apple at F 16 for example. Then, the closer you get the more light loss you experience and you might just find that changing your F stop to F8 works well when you reduce the distance between you and the apple, ie instead of taking the photo from 1 meter away, you take it from 10 cm away.

Try this out and see what I mean. Playing around with the zoom can really help you kick start your mind into feeling where the best composition is. And soon enough, you won’t even have to think about it consciously because you’ll just know what works.

Happy shooting!

Amy Renfrey

I’m sure you know that one of the most important key elements to getting beautifully clear and artistic photos is firstly knowing and having a sense of the artistic. This is a very important aspect you need in order to refine your digital photography. The secret really is, combining your natural artistic flare with some precise technical knowledge…explained in layman’s terms. So I’m going to start you off with some good, solid tips about shutter speed, aperture, exposure, how blur can work well (not the accidental type!) and what camera you can use to get goods results in your digital photography.

Shutter speed is one of the first things in digital photography that you must know if you want to excel your skills and get beautiful digital photos. Your shutter speed controls the amount of light coming in to the digital sensor. The speed at with you get your light exposure can really make or break your digital photography.

In basic terms, to help you understand, shutter speed controls light exposure. Think of it like a door opening and closing fast or slow. How fast or slow it opens and shuts has impact on your light exposure onto the digital sensor. The shutter controls the amount of light coming in to the camera via its speed. The shutter can then make your pictures brighter or darker. Shutter speed can also impact the clarity of a moving object for example. You can create shutter speeds that are fast, giving a ‘suspended in mid air’ kind of look. Think of the motion of a fast moving object that’s been suspended in “mid-air” such as a water droplet for example. Shots like this have a fast shutter speed.

So what sort of shutter speeds do you need for a look like this? A good “freeze motion” shot where something looks suspended in time, may be at a shutter speed of 1/2000 just as an example. That means the shutter has opened and closed so fast that you can’t replicate it in sound or description. The shutter has clicked in 2000^th of a second. That’s how a lot of sports photography is done. Many subjects that move very fast can look really good with a fast shutter speed.

Shutter speeds of babies and kids for example have to be taken pretty fast….unless they’re asleep of course. You need a pretty high shutter speed of babies and kids because in photographic terms they move around so fast! I’ve never been more tired after a day of shooting photos of kids and babies. You have to be on your toes because a potentially great photo is gone in an instant of a second, so you have to watch them like a hawk.

On the other hand you can get blurry images using shutter speed effects manipulation. Shutter speeds and artistic blur can work quite nicely together. For example if you want to create that artistic blurred look, (not the accidental smudge look) then some gentle blur in your photos can look beautiful. This involves some adjusting of the shutter speed to get the right look for your shot. I would call it a smudging effect if you want to get technical. You may take the same photo of the kids running, but set the shutter speed exposure to something around the 1/250 or less for example. This range of f stops may create a really nice, soft blur with these shutter speed effects.

Aperture on the other hand is described as F stops. The higher the number f stop, the smaller the opening of the lens and the less light falls on the image. For example, you may find that a dusk sunset shot is rather beautiful and you want to capture the colours as you see them. You may decide to manually change the aperture, or f stop, and open up the lens and let more light in. You may find that on auto your camera has chosen an f stop of F8. You look at the scene on the viewfinder and you find it’s just a little dark for your liking. You then switch the camera to a manual mode and change it to F4, which you find lets more light in and gives you the shot you want. Remember, the higher the F stop number, the less light comes in. The lower the number, the more light comes in.

Shutter speed and aperture in your digital photography must work together closely to create the right blend of effect in your photo. So just try it. Play around with moving objects on different shutter speeds and you’ll see what I mean about the different types of effects you can get.

So what digital cameras can you have complete shutter speed and aperture control over?

Digital Slr’s are by far better as far as controlling the amount of light that comes onto your sensor. It’s a little hard to get this control with an ordinary point-and shoot- digital camera because you can’t control the shutter speed or aperture independently. On a pro-sumer camera it’s bit better because you can change the exposure value, but still, you can’t change the shutter speed alone.

Although on a pro-sumer, you may have a reading called “e/v” which stands for “exposure value”. An “e/v number” is really a measurement of the cameras combination between aperture and shutter speed. I don’t have time to go into great explanation now but if you can change the exposure value or “e/v” you have a little more scope than the point and shoot digital camera. You can still experiment pretty well if you have one of these digital cameras. However a single lens reflex digital camera is the ideal. It allows you to control the shutter speed alone, independently, without affecting the adjustment of the aperture.

To summarise, you can get beautifully artistic shots by having a sense of what works intuitively, then couple that with a good sense of photographic technical knowledge and you are well on your way! So start with trying out different shutter speeds first and then move on to aperture, then try both.

Happy shooting!

Amy Renfrey

An example of fast shutter speed. Picture by Charlie Lawrence.

An example of slow shutter speed.

For sports enthusiasts, there’s nothing more exciting than sports people playing their favourite game. The sight of the field, rink or golf course initiates the thrill and anticipation. This, combined with digital photography, can provide some amazing photographic opportunities. However it’s not a matter of point the camera at the person diving for the ball or puck and snapping away. It’s a lot more complicated than that.

In digital photography ’sports’ can be quite challenging. The sports people do not present an easy task of being photographed because of the amount of high movement. However, you can indeed achieve great sports digital photography. Most excellent sports digital photography requires good planning and execution.

Here are some exclusive tips for gaining fantastic sports shots in your digital photography.

First things first; know your digital camera. I recommend taking note and practicing first all the settings that sports photography needed. You may find yourself going for the faster shutter speed, increased ISO and burst mode. Let’s take a look at all these things on your digital camera and see how they can be applied to give you sensational sports photos.

High shutter speeds:

As with all moving objects, in order to capture the “frozen in time” look in digital photography a fast shutter speed is required. The faster the movement the fast the shutter speed will need to be. In digital photography the general consensus is that the shutter speed needs to be faster than that of the subject. For example if you have a sliding puck across ice and there is a someone about to take a dive for it then its necessary to quickly mentally assess how fast that person might be traveling at. If they are traveling at approximately 50 kilometers (approx 32 miles) per hour then you may find a very fast shutter speed is needed for this digital photo.

A very fast shutter speed in digital photography may be anything from 500th of a second or higher. For high speed movement you may want to consider an even faster shutter speed of 1000^th of a second or something in that range.

Keep in mind that in digital photography a fast shutter speed works to reduce some of the light which is why a higher ISO is often necessary. (I’ll talk about that in a minute.) Usually a if a ball, such as a baseball going at around 145 kilometers an hour (90.09 miles per hour) a shutter speed of around 1/4000 will get you that “suspended ball in mid air” type pf photo. For physical movement, such as someone leaping to catch a football, a shutter speed of 1/500 or over is a good place to start.

Now this is all very well if your scene if well lit. But what if you are taking your digital photography shots indoors at night and the light is not quite enough to provide enough light? In most instances, an indoor stadium an night time will be well lit, but that doesn’t always ensure good digital photos. In sports photography we need to understand that we can only control the artistic value and input of our digital photo and the control of the camera. We can’t control the lighting on the scene being such a public event. In digital photography sports photos we must realize that it’s going to be a challenge to begin with. So here are something’s you can in your digital sports photography to increase the amount of light.

If you have a light tool on your digital camera such as a histogram you can get a good idea of what the light levels are like on your sensor. With this handy tool you can adjust the ISO at the time of your pictures taking.

Increase your ISO: A high ISO in digital photography simply means the sensitivity to light that your digital camera has. In a nutshell the more ISO you have increased the image to, the less light the sensor needs. In sports photography an ISO of 400 or higher can work really well. The downside to this is that it does increase noise. To combat this you can use noise reduction software in the post editing process such as Noise Ninja or increase the LAB mode in the post editing process. Don’t be afraid to try a few shots at 400, 800 and even as high as 1600.

Burst mode:
In most sports digital photography this will be one of the settings you will turn to. Burst mode is also known as ‘continuous shooting’. This ‘continuous’ shooting mode allows you to get a sequence of shoots in succession. You can increase your chances of getting that ideal “split second perfect shot” that you might not be able to get by pre-emption or in normal shooting. This also works so beautifully if your digital camera has a painfully long lag time. I’ve used this so many times to get around the high lag my Sony Cyber shot has got. Some cameras have 3 frames per second and some go up to 12 frames per second. You simply select this mode and hold your finger on the shutter button and it will fire off as many shots in 1 second as it can.

Okay so I’ve been talking about your digital camera and the setting’s used for ideal sports digital photography, so what about any external equipment? If you have been thinking about this you’re spot on. You can take as much time with your settings but there’s not much point if you can’t get close to the action. There’s no point having a picture with perfect lighting and perfect action if the players are like dots on a sheet of paper. You need a good telephoto lens if you can’t get close up. A telephoto lens brings you closer because of its long distance capability. It will get you closer to the action but will need a faster shutter speed.

Many fantastic sports digital photos are taken with an emphasis on a very fast shutter speed, an f stop of around the 2.8 mark to blur the background and focus in on the subject. You may find that if your sportsperson is visually separated from the background and you take the digital photograph with a telephoto lens you’ll have a more shallow depth of field which can give you a more powerful feeling in your digital photo. You can get away with a good optical zoom lens, but you’ll get far better digital sports shots with a proper telephoto.

So what about the artistic side of sports photography with your digital camera? Plenty!

Pre-emption and Emotion is the key to good art.

When taking sports photography you probably won’t find a more public display of human emotion. The emotions of a sports person range from intense anticipation to extreme disappointment or extreme exhilaration. Pre empting when these emotions take place is they key to getting artistic and impressive sports photos. This comes with practicing your digital photography.

SO much pressure is placed on our athletes, expecting them to perform so we can enjoy the show and the investors can enjoy their returns. This is another reason why I say to get a telephoto lens so you can capture the emotions on their faces and their body language. It makes for superb photography. For ideas on ice hockey, have a look at some ice hockey images that are great study tools.

Don’t just look at these digital photos, you must study them. Take on the attitude that studying sports photography will improve your digital sports photos ten fold. You will have a style to emulate and copy to start with then eventually, when you become confident, you’ll start to adopt your own style.

Happy shooting,

Amy Renfrey

To really study digital sports photography check out these sites: http://www.espn.com/ and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ and http://cbs.sportsline.com/

Image by Jason Antony