Digital Photography Questions Answered

Posts tagged aperture

Digital Photography: Capturing and Conveying Motion

Jul20
2011 Written by Dewayne

Time to come back to one of the three most basic parts of using a D-SLR or a point and shoot camera.  But first, a refresher on how to take the right picture with the most basic formula of phtoography, if you know it, feel free to sing along…

Shutter speed x aperture x ISO = Your magic photo

If any of these elements is increased, one or both of the others must be decreased if you wish to obtain the “perfect” exposure.

Let’s take a look at shutter speed for a minute.  Shutter speed is measured in fractions which can be confusing for most people, (me).

The bigger the number on bottom, the faster the shutter speed.  When you see a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, or a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second, think to yourself. which number has the biggest number on bottom?  1/500th of a second.  So, if you increase your shutter speed to 1/500th of a second, you should adjust your aperature and ISO to compensate for the change.  (Hint:  The faster the shutter opens and closes, the less light is allowed into the camera, so you should adjust one or both of the other parts to let more light in).

Digital Photography Geese Takeoff

Speeding up your shutter speed is a great way to avoid “camera shake” that jittery, fidgety motion in your camera when everything comes out blurry.

Can you think of a time when you want to slow down your shutter speed?

If you answered to convey motion, you’re right on target.  In yesterday’s post, the bottom image shows a set of Voladores swinging as a blur.  Ordinarily, you don’t want too many blurry images in your pictures, but if you want to show that something is moving, blur is a really good way to accomplish this.

 

Digital Photography Fliers On Approach

 

Rules of thumb are critical, so here’s one.  If you’re shooting with a lens that is 70 mm ( a basic zoom/telephoto lens that isn’t extended), slap a one in front of it. You don’t want to use a shutter speed that’s slower than 1/70th of a second without a tripod or some anti-shake capability turned on in your camera. So, 1/60th of a second, 1/50th of a second, or even 1/25th of a second would generally be too slow of a shutter speed to hand-hold your camera because of the amount of camera shake and blur.

 

Digital Photography Abrams Falls 2

Slowing down the shutter speed can also present some other interesting challenges, but I’ll get into that in my next post.

Dewayne

Posted in Digital Photography Basics, Posts with my pictures in them, Travel and Photography Samples - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Digital Photography, Beyond The Basics: Focus-Stacking

Jun17
2011 Written by Dewayne

Today it’s time to step up and take the picture editing process, and your photography to the next level.

All picture editing software worth its salt uses a method of picture editing called layers.  Layers are very simple to understand.  Just like a cake with different flavors, rather than mixing the batter so you get one big sugary mess to cook up and let rise, the layers are ”baked” one at a time and then assembled with frosting in between.

If you are working with a layer, and you want to see some parts, but not others, then you apply a “mask” to hide some parts of that layer for more intrigue and mystery, sometimes adding spice to your picture.

Today is a real quick explanation of a technique that I learned recently to help overcome the limitations of the lens on the front of your camera.

When you take a landscape or scenic picture and you want to incorporate a part of the foreground closest to the lens, with the vast expanse of the beautiful scenery behind it, you can take two pictures on the same settings.  One focused on the part of the picture in the front.

Digital Photography Chama Before and After

Now, take a second image with the rest of the image adjusted for a large depth-of-field, (remember?  a large aperture number, small aperture opening.)  So the rest of the background is in sharp focus.  When you lay one of these images on top of the other in Photoshop, Elements, GIMP, Paint Shop Pro, or other layer-based editing software, you can hide or “mask” the background of one image combining it with the sharper parts of the other layer and save it as one picture.  The results are open for you to explore.

Digital Photography Rio Chama Stack

The argument has been around for ages, what makes a real photograph.  Isn’t Photoshop cheating?  There are as many opinions on one side as the other.  My take on the whole image editing debate is image editing can be a great tool, provided you don’t try and pass off a”Photoshopped” original as “untouched”.

Sound like a lot?  It can be, but with nice and easy guided steps, you’ll be learning how to edit and enhance your own images in no time.  Half the fun is in getting there.

 

Dewayne

 

Posted in Digital Photography Medium, Posts with my pictures in them, Travel and Photography Samples - Tagged , , , ,

Digital photography and CSI?

Apr16
2011 Written by Dewayne

To a lot of people, it seems difficult to be able to remember all of the parts that make a camera do what it does.  What a camera does is nothing more than remembering the last time you watched CSI, (pick your favorite city), NCIS, Law & Order, Castle, The Mentalist or any other of your favorite crime scene shows.

First the formula:

The amount of light coming into the camera x How long the shutter remains open on the camera x How sensitive the sensor (digital recording device, (film in the old days)) is to the scene before it.

So lets look at each component as it relates to CSI for a moment:

The amount of light coming into the camera:  When the investigator arrives at an early-morning crime scene, did he or she spend too much time, drinking or partying the night before, did they get enough sleep?  If so, their eyes are not going to be open as wide, and they will be using an aperture (hole in the lens that lets the light in), of f/16, f/22 or higher.  These apertures are good if you’re trying to keep everything in focus from front to back, but they limit the amount of light the camera takes in.  If the investigator steps outside of the crime tape and has a quick energy drink or jolt of coffee, then returns, they are able to open their eyes wider, (an aperture of 5.6 or lower number; the lower the number, the bigger the hole for light to come in), and see “more” of the crime scene, or see the details clearer.

How long the shutter stays open.  Have you ever noticed, sometimes an investigator comes back to the crime scene, because there’s something they missed?  How spending time at the crime scene will spark their brain in the right direction, the “AHA” moment when they know exactly what happened?  Controlling the shutter speed does that for the camera.  It allows the camera to spend just the right amount of time, thinking about the crime/picture.  By the time the shutter releases on the camera, the camera will have all of the information it needs to solve the case.

The sensitivity of the sensor?  These are the CSI’s or investigator’s crime scene notes.  If these notes aren’t right, the evidence won’t be allowed into court and the killer will go free.  If the sensor isn’t set to the right setting, the picture won’t be usable as evidence.  The picture could be too bright, (the juror might think it’s too easy…, the police must have planted the evidence), or to dark (the juror can’t see the connection to the suspect, so they disregard the evidence).  With the right sensor, or ISO setting, the camera uses just the right amount of light, (the lens setting, aperture), with just the right shutter speed, and the perfect ISO setting to take the best picture it can.

Grab a camera, head out and “capture” that perfect image.

I hope some of this helps, and WOW, I think I watch way too much television.

Have a great day!

Dewayne

Posted in Digital Photography Basics - Tagged , , , , , ,

Digital Photography Definitions

Apr14
2011 Written by Dewayne

Here are a few terms people find confusing…

Aperture:  The hole that allows light to come into the camera.  Determined by the lens and the camera settings.  Point of confusion:  It seems backwards, but the aperature setting is determined by the aperature size or indicator.  An aperature setting of 2.8 is larger than an aperture of 5.6, 5.6 is larger, (allows in more light) than an aperature setting of 8, 11, 16, etc.  The rule is:  The smaller the aperture number, the more light it lets into the camera  See also Aperture Priority.

Aperture Priority Mode:  The technical name for the “A” setting on most cameras.  If you select the aperture, the camera will usually select the Shutter speed and ISO setting for the image to be made.

Depth of Field:  This one can be confusing.  Depth is not measured vertically, but horizontally.  A wide depth of field means that you can see most of the image sharp and in focus, from the closest object to the farthest object.  This is generally obtained by using a high number on your aperture, (f16-f22 or higher).

Green box:  The setting on your camera similar to the “P” or Program Mode, with one very large exception.  The green box or “Automatic” Mode will not allow the camera to shoot in”RAW”, but will shoot the images in “JPEG”.

JPEG:  I’ll let you Google the acronym description.  I’ll tell you that JPEG is an industry recognized standard for compressing or making the images smaller on the memory card.  JPEGs shoot faster and write to your memory card faster because they’re smaller files.  Basically, what happens is this.  When you shoot the picture, the camera doesn’t select individual dots in the picture, but averages blocks or squares close to one another and saves that group of dots as a square in your image.  If you’ve ever blown up a JPEG too large, you’ve noticed blocks inside of your picture.  These blocks are referred to as JPEG artifacts.  If your camera can shoot in Camera RAW, RAW files save individual dots in the picture, instead of squares of ”averaged” data.  Every single dot in the picture has its own color information.  But this comes with a price, RAW files are uncompressed, or “RAW”, and can require up to 10 times the memory of a JPEG.  The more colors and tones in an image, the bigger the RAW file will be.  Example: A JPEG image using only 1 Megabyte of memory can require 8 to 10 Megabytes (Mb) of memory as a RAW file.  RAW files will load, save, and take up much more space on your memory card.

Manual Mode:  The “M” setting on your camera.  This setting allows the user as much control over the camera as the camera is willing to give up.  Changes can usually be made to the aperture, shutter speed and ISO, allowing for more artistic or creativity to go into the photo.  “M” is the setting photographers should aspire to, but it can take some time to get there.

More later…

Dewayne

Program mode:  The “P” setting on your camera dial or menu.  The “P” as, almost any photographer will tell you, does not stand for “Professional”.  What happens is this, when you select the”p” on the dial or menu, the camera will use its internal computer to evaluate the scene before it, make all of the necessary adjustments based on the sensor, amount of light, etc. and choose everything for you.

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Digital Photography: “Don’t go chasing waterfalls…”

Apr28
2010 Written by Dewayne

We’ve talked a little bit about aperture, and we’ve talked just a little on shutter speed.  How can I make this blur from a slower shutter speed really make my pictures shine?  Easy, you only blur part of the picture.

Just before I got out of the military my parents moved to the great state of Tennessee.  What makes it great?  No state income taxes,. scenery for days, and even a small taste or two of some Union County spring water, (that would be moonshine).    It just so happens they moved a few short miles from the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  One of my favorite places on the planet.  The Smokies Nat. Park holds the distinction of being the most visited, vehicle accessible national park in the U.S.  Besides the walking trails, the wildlife, and the moderate climate, the thing that makes the park truly amazing is access to somewhere around twenty named waterfalls.  Some of these falls are accessible from the highway, others are from 1 to 4 miles back along the nature trails.  It is a remarkable place to visit.

One spring, I took two or three days to go running around the park and learning how to shoot waterfalls.  It was amazing.  Here are just a couple of pictures from that trip.

Abrams Falls, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains Nat. Park

See the difference between the two pictures?  Photo one is punchy with gaps in between the falling water.  Photo two is smooth, flowing, and tranquil.  How can you make you capture your images with these effects?  It’s too easy.

First, you’ll need a tripod or to set your camera on the ground to hold the picture steady.

Second, you’ll need to slow down your shutter speed to somewhere under 1/8th of a second.  (Experimentation is the key).

Third, you’ll need to set your camera’s automatic timer mode to take the picture so your finger on the button doesn’t shake the camera to blur the edges.  It’s okay for the water to be blurry, but you want the surrounding scenery to be sharp and crisp.

Remember my earlier post on the three things you can control?  Those were aperture, shutter speed,  and additional light.  well, I did leave on out.  That is the ISO setting.  The ISO setting is what used to be called the film speed.  These were typically available in 100, 200, 400, and 800.  The higher the film speed, the less light you needed for the picture.  The same applies for the ISO setting on your digital camera.  For lower light images, use ISO speeds of 400 or 800.  Be careful, the more sensitive your ISO setting (the higher the number), the more digital noise or static will appear in your pictures.

How does this apply to taking waterfall pictures?  When you want flowing water pictures of any type, you have to keep the shutter open longer.  When the shutter stays open longer you let in more light.

The basic recipe for any picture is this:

Aperture x Shutter Speed x ISO =  Picture

So, if you slow down the shutter speed, you add more light, so you need to use a smaller aperture (larger number) f16, f22, …  and possibly use a  higher ISO setting, ISO 400 or 800.

Does it sound complicated?  Stick with me here.  If you add more light in one part of the equation, you just take away light in the other two.  Your camera will help you get started with this, but you can eventually take control yourself.

A couple more quick waterfall tips.  When you add more light to the picture by slowing down the shutter speed, you make the picture too bright.  It helps to take waterfall pictures in the early morning (sunrise) or late evening (sunset).  Even better if the waterfall is deep in the woods and covered by a canopy of leaves blocking the bright afternoon sun.

Here are a couple more of my favorites…

Laurel Falls, Great Smoky Mtn. Nat. Park

Burgess Falls State Park, TN

Shoshone Falls State Park, Twin Falls Idaho

Posted in Digital Photography Basics, Posts with my pictures in them, Travel and Photography Samples - Tagged , , , , , ,
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