depth of field
Top Ten Photography Tips by Kodak
I can’t take credit for these tips. I found them on the Kodak site. They did such an excellent job of simplifying and showing examples so I decided to just guide you to the site. The top ten simple tips are:
1. Get down on their level
2. Use a plain background
3. Use flash outdoors
4. Move in close
5. Take some vertical shots
6. Lock the focus
7. Move it from the middle
8. Know your flash range
9. Watch the light
10. Be a picture director
Follow these few simple rules and you will look like a pro in no time.
Credit for this post and information goes to Kodak.
Photography Tip by Myrtle Beach Photography: Do you need a filter?
If you only buy one filter…
…make it a polarizing filter. This filter will protect your lens in addition to giving you a nice contrast to your images. This is the perfect beginner’s filter, and one that will have the best effect on your day to day photography. A polarizing lens will give your skies a vibrant blue tone, your green grass more contrast and give all your images a greater texture.
Who Wants to be a Photographer?
As many of you know, I own a photography studio, Myrtle Beach Photography, but I am not a professional photographer. I post tips that I have learned from owning a studio and seeking answers from my staff of brilliant professional photographers. I know there are many photography tips out there from professional photographers that are much more technical but I am trying to take this information and translate it for us “want to be photographers”.
I really would like to know how many of you want to be photographer?
For those of you who want to become professional photographers, what are some things that you would like to know?
It has been my experience, while working with many professional photographers, that they know how to take beautiful images but the business side is baffling to them. I guess I would really like to know if posting about the business side of running a photography studio would be of interest to you.
I will await your responses.
Holiday Photography Tips
| # 1 | Play Around When Composing Your Photograph Whether you are photographing holiday images or family and friends, try different compositions. Pay special attention to how you organize elements in each photo.Concepts when composing a shot:
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| # 2 | Family and Group Portraits The main thing that professional photographers do that most don’t is take tons of images. That is the trick. Take a large number of photos. Since there is always someone blinking or looking off to the side or facing another member of the group, having a large number of photos will give you the best chances of catching everyone looking their best.There is often a great deal of pressure when photographing groups so keep the experience as fun and friendly as possible, so they remember it in a positive light. |
| # 3 | Taking the Perfect Candid Shot Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and delete later. If a child opening a gift – or playing with a gift for the first time – you know that, within a split second, the scene can change. There is often just a few brief moments when that “magic shot” appears.Be ready to go at a moment’s notice and keep that shutter clicking. Be assertive with your picture-taking. Be ready to press that shutter button at a moment’s notice. Either way, shoot quickly and shoot often. Don’t be shy – getting a great photo of the right moment is rewarding and well worth the extra effort. |
| # 4 | Don’t Always Use Flash IndoorsThe flash can be a real lifesaver, no doubt about it. This burst of artificial light can mean the difference between a decent photo and a totally blurry, unusable image.
If you are shooting indoors at night, try to flood the room where you are photographing with as much light as you can – turn on whatever lamps you have at hand. This will help reduce those harsh, flashed-out subjects, as well as other problems like red-eye. However, the light from flash units – especially from the tiny on-camera flash units found on most every camera – tend to produce harsh, flat, and cold light. This is rarely a complimentary way to illuminate your subject. Try using your hand to block some of that harsh lighting. If you are shooting indoors during the day, make your portraits with your subjects standing near a window or door instead of relying on the flash. Get between your subject and the window – in other words, don’t include the window in your composition, as this will throw off your exposure meter. |
| # 5 | If You Use Flash Outdoors Most people think that using flash is synonymous with photographing indoors at night – at a Christmas party for example.However, flash need not be relegated to indoor, night photography. Flash can be a big help when it comes to shooting outdoors during the day. Even in bright sunlight, forcing your flash to fire can often mean the difference between a so-so snapshot and an eye-grabbing masterpiece. The reason is that this kind of bright day flash will fill in the shadows and even out harsh contrasts. Try it out… next time you are photographing friends or children outdoors, turn your flash on and see if it works. |
| # 6 | Get Creative With Those Christmas Lights
Tired of the same old Christmas tree photos? If you want to try something new, set your camera to a slower shutter speed. Meaning, make the shutter open and close more slowly. Maybe try setting your camera on a stationary object like a table to steady it. When you hear the shutter open, move the camera to cause a blur of the lights. The idea here is to intentionally blur the colorful Christmas lights. |
| # 7 | Give the Gift of a Photograph Whether you are a last minute shopper or not, we have the perfect gift idea for you: a family photo.Parents and grandparents in particular love photos of the family and children as a holiday present.
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| # 8 | Be Prepared: Charge Batteries and Clear Cards The last thing you want to have happen is to get all set up for the family portrait or holiday photo to realize you forgot to charge the battery!In addition to making sure your batteries are charged (or you have replacements on hand), you will also want to make sure you have a place for your potential images to be recorded. Clear your memory card to free up space.
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PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS BY MYRTLE BEACH PHOTOGRAPHY Basic Elements of Photography
Photography Tips by Myrtle Beach Photography
The Three Basic Elements of Photography
Each of the three aspects of the triangle relate to light and how it enters and interacts with the camera.
The three elements are:
- ISO– the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light
- Aperture– the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken
- Shutter Speed– the amount of time that the shutter is open
These three elements are what determines how your image will turn out.I will have to say that as a student of photography, these elements were the most difficult for me to understand.Remember, I have had no professional training and have had to pick up this knowledge from the professional photographers who work at my Studio’s in Myrtle Beach.I also have ADHD so these concepts were difficult for me to grasp.It was only after sitting in my daughters gym and playing around with all three, that I began to understand how they all affect the image.I would understand one and then the others would change and I had to finally realize that each affects the other.Most importantly – a change in one of the elements will impact the others. This means that you can never really isolate just one of the elements alone but always need to have the others in the back of your mind.
3 Metaphors for understanding the digital photography exposure triangle:
Many people describe the relationship between ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed using different metaphors to help us get our heads around how the three work together.One of my photographers, Joe, explained the concept like an human eye.Another used the window analogy.Here goes my “photography for dummies” attempt at a more simple understanding of these basic photography elements.
The Human Eye
Imagine your camera is like your eye that opens and closes or blinks (the shutter).If you stand in front of a mirror and hold your eye open and shine a flash light into your eyeball, the pupil will enlarge and become smaller based on the amount of light.Your eyelid opens and closes which when open, the pupil becomes smaller because there is more light and larger when the lid closes because of less light.Your eyelid is the shutter and your pupil is the aperture.Now imagine that you’re wearing sunglasses.Your eyes become desensitized to the light that comes in (it’s like a low ISO).
Let’s talk about the shutter speed first using the eye analogy.The speed of your blink (shutter) determines how much light gets to your pupil (aperture) to determine how large or small the pupil/aperture needs to be depending on the light you need to see.The slower you blink, the more time light has to reach your pupil and the smaller your pupil becomes.
Now for aperture.If you walk outside into bright sunlight, your pupil will suddenly shut down or become smaller just like the aperture on your camera because it needs less light.In reverse, if you walk into a dark room, your pupil will enlarge to be able to take in as much light as possible under the dark conditions.
These two functions of the eye work together, like with your camera, to determine the best light for you to be able to see in a dark or bright situation.Example:You walk into a very dark room.Your blinking (shutter speed) slows down so that more light can reach you pupil (aperture) so that it can become larger and more light can get in so that you can see more in a dark place.
Lastly, let’s talk about ISO.The ISO is like sunglasses.The eye is effected by wearing the sunglasses or taking them off.Now imagine that you’re inside the room and are wearing sunglasses (hopefully this isn’t too much of a stretch). Your eyes become desensitized to the light that comes in (it’s like a low ISO).
There are a number of ways of increasing or decreasing the amount of light in the room. You could increase the time that the shutter is open (decrease shutter speedby slowing down your blink), you could increase the size of aperture (increase pupil size) or you could take off your sunglasses (make the ISO larger).
Just remember, if you are in very bright light, your camera does not need as much light to create a good image so you will need to lower or close down your aperture and/or you can speed up your shutter.
In reverse, if you are in a low light situation, you will need to open up that aperture and slow down that shutter speed.If you still need more light once you open up that aperture and slow down that shutter speed there is something else you can try.Increase you ISO to allow more light.
I hope I have not confused you with this analogy.It really helped me understand the concept and hopefully that it helps you as well.Go out and play around in different light with these techniques to see how these elements effect you image.
To practice, I sat on my sofa and turned off all the lights except for a few small lamp.I was using a CanonMark III and an 70-200mm f2.8 lens.I put the camera on my knees to steady the lens and was taking pictures of my bookshelf across the room.I started at with a high number f-stop and a shutter speed at 800 and a low ISO.The image was black.I then lowered the f-stop to f2.8 (which my very good lens allowed me to do) and lowered the shutter speed to 100.The image was ok but not great.The next image I left the F-stop at 2.8, kept the shutter speed low and cranked up the ISO higher and finally got an image that was good.Good luck with this and I can’t wait to see if any of you have a “light bulb” moment and finally understand this very complex elements of photography.
I included a graphic at the top of this post to show examples of the eyeball and the lens to help with this explanation.
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