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Digital Photography

(8 posts)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    Hi,

    I think most of the people lingering around in this forum are quite interested in digital photography.
    Some may always use an automatic setting and let the camera decide what to do and maybe others are professionals that always adjust everything manually.

    But even if belonging to the first group there will come one day were you would like to be able to do something more special than the automatic mode will get you. Taking a picture of a night scene or the moon and stars come to mind.

    A friend of mine just retired from work and bought a canon SLR. He studied the manual intensively but from the theoretical part to the real world it sometimes is a big step.

    How shutter speed (exposure time), flash and f-number (sometimes called focal ratio, f-ratio, or relative aperture) fit together is not easy to understand and also changes in different light situations.

    What works good in sunlight must not in the darkness and also sharp does not always mean sharp depending on the f-setting used.

    For my part I must say that there are many techniques I might not know of. For the first time I heard about something called slow sync flash yesterday.

    Maybe there is somebody out there who can explain the basics of what is needed to push an SLR were other cameras can not go in terms of manual adjustments (or has good links to tutorials).

    And maybe this thread could be used for presenting interesting techniques just like "slow sync flash" for everybody to try out.

    I´m excited with what people will come up with. </forums.acdsystems.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

    Mgt

    Posted On November 29, 2007 - 12:10 PM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    Here are the shots that ultimately infected my about the topic slow flash photography.
    Have a look about the awesome picture of the golf player and fire juggler.
    This is really pushing me buying a new camera *rrrrr* </forums.acdsystems.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

    Posted On November 30, 2007 - 06:13 PM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    I found a pretty cool tutorial for DSLR cameras today.
    It is from Canon and might start a little bit easy and even if it looks like and advertisement page for canon
    it gives some really good information about DSLR cameras and the settings that can be used with them.

    You will get an overview of the major differences of DSLR and compact cameras.

    An introduction to programs such as "Aperture Priority", "Shutter Priority" and "Manual Mode"

    Examples for different lenses from normal, telephoto, wide-angle, macro, fisheye to tilt-shift.

    Under terminology all important terms like "aperture, aperture value", "shutter speed", "exposure" are explained in detail and how a change of them relates to the result of the picture.

    If you are interested ich such things just give it a try

    Mgt

    Posted On December 3, 2007 - 05:28 PM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • tve1964
    Member

    Thanks for sharing. It is well made and should help someone new to phototgraphy understand some important concepts. However no technology or technique can beat building one's experience in the field. Shoot, shoot shoot! With digital yone can do as much as one likes (or can)

    Posted On December 4, 2007 - 05:22 AM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    I found another great site with basics to enhance your compositions of pitures you want to take.

    Knowing the functions of your camera is one thing using them sometimes is another especially if you find yourself in a certain situation and already have the composition right in your mind but not yet on the camera </forums.acdsystems.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

    If you are interested in topics like:

    -BASIC HANDCRAFT

    -BASIC TECHNIQUES

    -PERSPECTIVE

    -USING LIGHT

    -SPECIAL EFFECTS

    This tutorial is for you. It gives you all you need to know to setup your scene and capture the moment the way you want it.

    Have a look at long time exposure of waterfalls - this technique is one of my favorites this time.

    </farm1.static.flickr.com/2/2703407_2eb4ed95ba_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quas/

    Mgt

    Posted On December 11, 2007 - 06:58 PM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    Fisheye lense

    This is not really a technique it is more a piece of equiptment that you can buy for your DSLR to give you a real wide-angel.
    A fisheye lense gives you an even broader view than a wide-angel lense. It can give you up to 180°. And depending on how you hold the camera this is true for vertical or horizontal pictures.

    If you want all details you can find them here on wikipedia.com

    I hope you like this short tip and maybe a fisheye lense will find your consideration on your next shopping tour.

    You can see how a fisheye looks on the following picture:

    </farm1.static.flickr.com/165/335631524_8227f24bc9.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/

    Standing in a corner it gives you the possibility of capturing almost a whole room.

    Following you find some good examples of the wide angle a fisheye lense can give you:
    </farm1.static.flickr.com/119/250810323_1d8326453a_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    Picturefrom: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wili/

    </farm2.static.flickr.com/1300/851260930_a6491000cb_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoebappa/

    </farm1.static.flickr.com/63/192082525_1b9b79807c_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flavor32/

    </farm2.static.flickr.com/1154/1382729538_205088d6aa_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shuck/

    Posted On December 17, 2007 - 04:36 PM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    Whether or not you are using a camera with image stabilization you might come to the point where the light is so low and the exposure time needs such high that even those systems can´t compensate anymore. This is especially true for DSLRs with high focal distance lenses.

    This is the point where you want to consider using a tripod.
    A Tripod consist out of two parts. The tripod itself and the head that is used to mount the camera. Some tripods come in a bundle of those two parts (mostly the cheaper ones) and others let you the choice of the two parts that fit your purpose best.

    When you are considering to buy a tripod you would want to keep some aspects in mind.

    The best tripod is nothing when

    - you don´t have it with you because it is to heavy or large to carry it with you
    - it is not suitable to hold your camera safely without shaking or falling over
    - it is not adjustable tall or flat enough for what you are wanting to shoot

    When talking about heads they can be mainly devided into ballheads which are more flexible and intuitive in use but also more inaccurate and two/three way heads which are more limited in the way of positioning but more accurate. More common because more versatile are the ballheads.

    When it comes to the tripods you will mainly find aluminum and fiber models which differ in weight and also in the price. It is to say that fiber models are also more resistant to the shake of the mirror while taking the picture.

    When looking at the tech data of a tripod you will have to have a look at the following details:

    closed lenght - which is most important for is portability
    weight - which is also not unimportant in this respect.

    the minimum hight - which gives you details on the possibility to use the tripod for macros
    the maximum hight (without column) - which indicates the hight at which the tripod can be used while still being most stable
    and the load capacity - which should suit your camera, lens and maybe external flash and other accessories.

    Have a look at

    manfrotto.com
    velbon-tripod.com
    slik.com

    just to name a few and to find out more about this indispensable item.

    </farm2.static.flickr.com/1431/1184853751_6ca7df9527.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentmercurio/1184853751/

    Moongate

    Posted On January 9, 2008 - 01:21 PM (2 years ago) (Permalink to this post)

  • moongate
    Moderator

    When I started with my new DSLR many of my portrait pictures looked like the follwoing using the internal flash:

    </abetterbouncecard.com/s04.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Shooting people with light skin tones often gives you this shiny and therefore unwanted result.
    If you are going to print those pictures later you will have the plain white paper at those spots which doesn't look very nice.

    If you are trying to get better results using the cameras internal flash you will find out pretty soon that you are out of luck.
    But even if you already bought an external flash for your camera direct flashing will still give you those hard and shiny spots.

    To avoid those hard flashes you can buy a flash bouncer. Just go to amazone and search for "flash bouncer" to get an idea what is on the market.

    But you will find that all of those are pretty expensive.

    But a cheap and well performing alternative is near. Actually you might already have what you need at home.

    The A Better Bounce Card is something you can fit around you flash reflecting the light in a way that you can avoid hard flashes and take good pictures.
    You can make it out of inkjet or foam paper and it looks like this:

    </abetterbouncecard.com/Baby%20ABBC.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Taking pictures with this card don't have that shine and can look like this:

    </abetterbouncecard.com/05.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    I came across the page http://abetterbouncecard.com/ some time ago and there are a lot of videos on that page that tell you how to build your own better bounce card without the need to buy anything.

    Even if you don´t have an external flash yet or never knew why to buy one give those videos a try. They are fun to watch and you can learn a lot.

    Have fun

    Moongate

    Posted On April 8, 2008 - 06:49 AM (1 year ago) (Permalink to this post)

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