The human hands can hold a camera without shaking to a maximum shutter speed of 1/60 of a second. Any longer than that without stabilization and you will notice blurring within your picture. This is not very conducive to taking pictures in lower light without increasing your ISO which somewhat diminishes the quality of the photograph. When taking pictures of still objects in low light, the best thing a photographer can do is use a low ISO, fast shutter speed and have the aperture set where it needs to be for the correct exposure. To do this you may require the tool all photographers should have: the tripod.
There have been several instances where I’ve been caught without one because they’re big, bulky and a general pain to lug around. My wife once took her 5lb tripod on a four day backcountry hiking trip and realized her mistake after the first day! Often when I go on a day photography mission I forget this essential tool and curse myself for it afterwards. Tripods provide stabilization for the camera, allowing for longer shutter speeds without camera shake. Tripods, despite their lack of portability are easy to use. They often come with a “foot” that screws into the bottom of your camera. If you leave the foot on your camera it is easy to attach it to the tripod quickly and conveniently. From there it is simply a matter of extending the legs to the appropriate height and taking your shot with whatever shutter speed you desire.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
ISO
Film speed is a measure of photographic films sensitivity to light. The International Standards Organization’s (ISO) current standard of measuring this sensitivity for digital cameras is ISO 12232:2006. This standard has a number scale which indicates the digital camera’s sensitivity to light.
On the ISO scale lower numbers mean less sensitivity. An ISO of 100 is much less sensitive to light than a picture with an ISO setting of 1600. In situations where there is minimal light, you may find yourself with a completely open aperture and long shutter speed to capture a photograph. This comes with the possibility of camera shake (blurry subjects because the camera has moved during the long exposure). In this case a solution may be to increase your ISO setting. This however comes with a negative as well. As you increase your ISO pictures become grainier and has much less detail or sharpness than one taken with a lower ISO setting.
You may notice that there are trade offs to be made with aperture, shutter speed and ISO’s which is why there is a delicate balance to be made with all three settings. In nature photography you will often hear of photographers sacrificing graininess just to get the faster shutter speed when taking pictures of moving animals.
On the ISO scale lower numbers mean less sensitivity. An ISO of 100 is much less sensitive to light than a picture with an ISO setting of 1600. In situations where there is minimal light, you may find yourself with a completely open aperture and long shutter speed to capture a photograph. This comes with the possibility of camera shake (blurry subjects because the camera has moved during the long exposure). In this case a solution may be to increase your ISO setting. This however comes with a negative as well. As you increase your ISO pictures become grainier and has much less detail or sharpness than one taken with a lower ISO setting.
You may notice that there are trade offs to be made with aperture, shutter speed and ISO’s which is why there is a delicate balance to be made with all three settings. In nature photography you will often hear of photographers sacrificing graininess just to get the faster shutter speed when taking pictures of moving animals.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Aperture (F/Stops)
In manual mode on your camera you may set the shutter speed to be a fraction of a second, but if there is very little light coming in there will be a whole lot of black on your screen.
Both aperture and shutter speed work together to allow the perfect amount of light into you camera so that your picture is neither overexposed (too bright) nor underexposed (too dark). If you have a fast shutter speed you want to have a large aperture (larger hole open in the lens) to let more light in during that tiny amount of time. Conversely if you have a slow shutter speed, you will need to tone down the amount of light that comes in.
These two always need to be in balance. Check out this PDF for common pairings, what subjects the pairs are useful for and other photo-geek goodness!
Both aperture and shutter speed work together to allow the perfect amount of light into you camera so that your picture is neither overexposed (too bright) nor underexposed (too dark). If you have a fast shutter speed you want to have a large aperture (larger hole open in the lens) to let more light in during that tiny amount of time. Conversely if you have a slow shutter speed, you will need to tone down the amount of light that comes in.
These two always need to be in balance. Check out this PDF for common pairings, what subjects the pairs are useful for and other photo-geek goodness!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Shutter Speed
I’ve gotten to the point where I’m taking the bold step of not using the automatic setting on my camera. I’ve gone completely manual. To do this I needed to learn Three key words: Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO.
Today is all about shutter speed. Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter remains open. The longer it’s open the more light that is let in. There’s some pretty funky stuff that can be done both with longer shutter speeds and with split second shutter speeds. As you can see on the right, the two rain photos were take at the same time with two completely different results. One froze the rain (fast shutter) in mid fall so you could see the individual drops, the other (slower shutter) let the rain “trail” a bit as it fell and made for a much more pleasant photo.
It can also be used when taking photos of action to blur the background while keeping the moving subject in focus or vice versa. It can also be used to create cool effects like the lid of the soda bottle seen in my examples.
Any guesses on what the lightstreaked picture is of? It had a shutter speed of 28 seconds.
Today is all about shutter speed. Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter remains open. The longer it’s open the more light that is let in. There’s some pretty funky stuff that can be done both with longer shutter speeds and with split second shutter speeds. As you can see on the right, the two rain photos were take at the same time with two completely different results. One froze the rain (fast shutter) in mid fall so you could see the individual drops, the other (slower shutter) let the rain “trail” a bit as it fell and made for a much more pleasant photo.
It can also be used when taking photos of action to blur the background while keeping the moving subject in focus or vice versa. It can also be used to create cool effects like the lid of the soda bottle seen in my examples.
Any guesses on what the lightstreaked picture is of? It had a shutter speed of 28 seconds.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Buying a digital Camera?
I found this site well before I purchased my personal camera and found it by far the most useful. It broke down all the technical jargon, asked me to reflect on my photography skills and then gave me a self-scoring quiz to do. Based on my score it suggested several cameras that would meet my needs. I eventually bought one from the list it suggested and have never wished for more features nor did I feel I over-purchased.
I used it again when I was looking to purchase a class set of cameras for my school.
I used it again when I was looking to purchase a class set of cameras for my school.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Shapes
Shapes are 2D elements that are included within photo. Shapes, much like lines, can be used to achieve different feelings or moods within your photos. Rectangles and circles alone come off as boring as they tend to be ordinary and usually mirror the frame of your image. Diagonals and triangles create conflicts to the rectangular frame of a picture and therefore attract the viewers eye.
There is a two fold meaning here. Shapes are the objects within the photo or the way in which multiple subjects are "lined up" in a photo. Ever notice how class pictures or family photos always have a sort of triangular shape to them? The tallest person goes at the middle back to become the peak of the triangle and then there is the next tallest then the next until you've got the shortest of the row on the ends. That's because triangles represent power and photographers want to make groups feel powerful.
Take a look at the picture on tomorrow's front page of the paper. Bet you it is someone standing in front of or with something. That person and the other subjects have been framed to be in some sort of shape... try tracing out their major features and see what you come up with.
I find this one of the more difficult concepts to keep in your head when taking a photograph. I’m still at the stage of keeping lines, colour and the rule of thirds in a photograph so if shapes do appear (other than the subject of the photo) it is usually be fluke or chance. I’m quite interested in trying to keep adding this element to my pictures in conjunction with the other concepts and found the concept of the use of triangles as shown here very helpful to try and emulate.
There is a two fold meaning here. Shapes are the objects within the photo or the way in which multiple subjects are "lined up" in a photo. Ever notice how class pictures or family photos always have a sort of triangular shape to them? The tallest person goes at the middle back to become the peak of the triangle and then there is the next tallest then the next until you've got the shortest of the row on the ends. That's because triangles represent power and photographers want to make groups feel powerful.
Take a look at the picture on tomorrow's front page of the paper. Bet you it is someone standing in front of or with something. That person and the other subjects have been framed to be in some sort of shape... try tracing out their major features and see what you come up with.
I find this one of the more difficult concepts to keep in your head when taking a photograph. I’m still at the stage of keeping lines, colour and the rule of thirds in a photograph so if shapes do appear (other than the subject of the photo) it is usually be fluke or chance. I’m quite interested in trying to keep adding this element to my pictures in conjunction with the other concepts and found the concept of the use of triangles as shown here very helpful to try and emulate.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Lines in Composition
Lines serve 2 extremely important purposes in the composition of photographs.
Firstly, lines create mood. A vertical line can create a sense of power or tension by chopping up a picture, a horizontal line can create a sense of peace or calmness or a curved line can create a sense of balance. Put more than one type of line in a photograph and they can either enhance each others effect or they can contradict and counteract an effect you may have been going for.
Secondly, lines can guide the viewer’s eye into and within the photograph. In North America we read all written materials from left to right. Little did I realize that we also “read” art and photos from left to right as well. A well-placed horizontal line on the left edge can lead the viewer’s eye into the picture.
From the pictures that I posted you can see the horizontal twig draws your eye straight across to the dragonfly which is vertical and thereby stands out. And in the loom picture, the horizontal wood leads your eye gently into the picture and then you are tempted to look further at the diagonal lines of the loom strings.
I learned these techniques from a class I took but as I continue to expand my knowledge and search the web I found a great breakdown of both meaning and example on this website by Gloria Hopkins.
Firstly, lines create mood. A vertical line can create a sense of power or tension by chopping up a picture, a horizontal line can create a sense of peace or calmness or a curved line can create a sense of balance. Put more than one type of line in a photograph and they can either enhance each others effect or they can contradict and counteract an effect you may have been going for.
Secondly, lines can guide the viewer’s eye into and within the photograph. In North America we read all written materials from left to right. Little did I realize that we also “read” art and photos from left to right as well. A well-placed horizontal line on the left edge can lead the viewer’s eye into the picture.
From the pictures that I posted you can see the horizontal twig draws your eye straight across to the dragonfly which is vertical and thereby stands out. And in the loom picture, the horizontal wood leads your eye gently into the picture and then you are tempted to look further at the diagonal lines of the loom strings.
I learned these techniques from a class I took but as I continue to expand my knowledge and search the web I found a great breakdown of both meaning and example on this website by Gloria Hopkins.
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