Guide your Camera to Glory: May 2014

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Focal Lock- A lifesaver for your pictures!

You apparently took a good photo: Picked put the subjects in middle of frame assuming your camera or smartphone will know where to focus and clicked. However what actually happened is that your camera had no idea which object in the picture is your focus. As a result, your intended subject is treated as foreground and thrown out of focus.

Being creative with your photos like applying rule of thirds technique, often they end up in this disaster if you do not know about focal lock. Now camera and mobile industry are producing products with the facial recognition or smile detection technology, which tells the camera where to focus. But not always your subject is a human face. That's why you need to know how to use focal lock.

How To Use Focal Lock

Aim At your subject
Put your subject in the center of your frame.
With the subject in center point, halfway press the shutter button (do not press fully) to sure it ''locks'' your subject in focus.
Without letting go of the button (still half pressed), move your camera as you want to shoot the image now.
Once you get it all set, now press the button completely and you'll get the right focusing in the image even of your subject is not now centered.

This technique is useful in many other ways, for example in macro shots when you want to focus on a flower off the center, or in landscape when you want to focus more on a tree in the foreground off center, or as i mentioned above applying rule of thirds to the picture. It is something a photographer needs to have on his fingertips and beginners should start practicing in early days.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Photography Basics For Beginners

You'll find a complete set of photography learning here for beginners, amateurs, and cellphone camera owners, the easiest way possible!

The Perfect Illustration for Exposure Triangle Elements

I recently found a very helpful illustration for complete measure of the elements constituting the exposure triangle. It will be of very much use to the readers, since you have gone through my earlier posts, and this will support the information in a visual form.

If you are a beginner you can start from over here- Photography Basics For Beginners, and in no time you'll be able to apply this illustration easily in your photography, to help you ahead.

The Rule of Thirds: Give a creative edge to every shot!

This may not be something you here everyday but believe me most photos look better when your subject is not essentially centered. You might have noticed a grid option in your digital camera or even your smartphone setting, enable it and you'll see a grid of nine equal sections overlaying your viewfinder/ screen. Place your subject of interest for photography on these lines or their intersection, and check the results! This Rule of Third originate from the theory that human eye instinctively gravitates towards the intersection points that comes when image is divided into thirds. It gives a natural pleasing affect to the viewer and also allows a creative use of negative space, the empty area around the visual interest.

It is a play of ''third lines''. In case of a landscape, If you are capturing a horizon place it by either the top or bottom third line, depending upon whether the subject of your photography is above or on the ground/sea. For instance you are capturing a building, your horizon should fall near the upper third, but if your focus are flying birds or a sunrise, the horizon should be placed near the lower third. If a foreground subject is present- like a person, tree or animal, compose it against the left or right third line.

Photo Credit: K Praslowicz

In case of portraits, our stare naturally wanders towards the subject's eyes. Place them on one of the intersections in the grid, the upper preferably.

In case of vertical subjects, they can be placed splitting the photo in two similarly as a horizon does horizontally. In case of moving subjects, make use of the direction of their movement. Leave space in their front to give the sense of their direction.
You can always use an editing software and apply the rule of thirds by cropping your picture and then see the positive change.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

You can be Better Photographer with your Smartphone Camera!

Photography is about capturing moments, and sometime when the perfect moment is right before you, the only equipment at hand to save it is your smartphone. Camera phones don't produce a point and shoot camera quality at first attempt (far from reaching DSLR standards), but nevertheless knowing some really handy tips you can squeeze out worthy shots out of your smartphone.

Use Surrounding Lights: Though camera phones have all their unique features and different picture quality, most have an inability to produce good result in low light. You need maximum light on your subject. Don't stand facing your light source but instead put it at your back and over your subject.

Clean Your Lens: Yes! Wipe it off with some clean cloth that don't scratch off on the glass- if you are in a hurry just use somewhere on your clothes. It it is hard to keep your fingers off the lens all the time you hold your camera, plus all the dirt!

Step Closer- Say No to Digital Zoom: If you can't be much closer to the subject, just crop the image later, but please don't ruin your snap with this useless feature.

Know Your Camera Modes: If You should check out your camera settings and apps. There are many options available that are easy to switch when taking a shot and produce a far better result in that particular situation. I have shared a well-explained posts regarding this earlier: Know Your Camera Preset Modes.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Choosing Your ISO Settings: What to Consider?

When you choose a particular ISO setting it affects both Aperture and Shutter speed, if you want a the perfect exposure. For instance, if you set the ISO higher, it will render a higher shutter speed or/and smaller aperture.

Ask yourself following queries while setting your ISO:

Light: How is the light provided for the shot? Is the subject well lit?

Grain: Do you want an image with noise/grain or not?

Tripod: Is a tripod or supporting equipment in your use?

Subject Movement: Is your subject moving or still?

The Above picture renders an image with changing ISO ratings and Shutter speed and Aperture kept constant. You can understand the various difference in the picture, other than grains.

If there is a lot of lights, you have no issue with some grain in the picture, you have a tripod or some equipment to stabilize your shots and the subject is still, then setting the ISO rating quite low will do your work.

On contrary, if your surrounding is dark, you want a grainy picture on purpose, your subject is in motion or you don't have a tripod, then increasing the ISO number will let you shoot with a fast shutter speed and well expose the shot too.

Points to Remember:

High ISO: More Noise, Fast Shutter Speed, Small Aperture
Low ISO: Less Noise, Slow Shutter Speed, Large Aperture

Sunday, May 11, 2014

What is ISO?

ISO is an equally important part of Exposure triangle we have discussed in detail before. After going through the first two elements: Aperture and Shutter Speed, in detail in many posts, we will start working on ISO.

What is ISO?

ISO is the sensitivity of the image sensor towards light.

The lower the number representing the ISO measure is, the lesser the sensitivity is towards the light, and the grains of the image are finer.

Increasing ISO number is usually used in dark places to get higher shutter speed, where you want to capture the action in low light.

One thing to remember is that the higher your ISO settings are, your image becomes noisier. Normally ISO 100 is considered standard for good shots.

We'll further discuss how a change in ISO impacts aperture and shutter speed. and what else to consider while choosing ISO speed. Keep tuned!

The Wonders of the Slow Shutter Photography: Light Painting

Just to introduce you guys with the creative shots slow shutter can produce, i'll present you with a technique call light painting.
Following images are shot under created lights.

F-22, Shutter Speed: 245/10 second

F-3.5, Shutter Speed: 30 second

Photos Credit: Yash Choksi (fromthe80s via deviantart)

Similarly images can be shot in lights presented in the environment naturally.

This image is beautifully captured by the light of fire.

I hope you guys have now a clear idea of how anyone of you can be creative with slow shutter. In further posts we will definitely share with you the techniques to easily produce these effects in your everyday captures.

Friday, May 9, 2014

The Wonders of Slow Shutter Photography: Motion Blur

To technically mention it,the three popular creative techniques regarding slow shutter are Water Blur, Motion Blur and Light Painting.

Today i'm here with some examples regarding motion blur. The way a fast shutter gives perfection to images by freezing movements, it can also embellish their beauty by capturing the picture in motion, called as motion blur.

Comparing Frozen Motion with Motion Blur

1. Sprinting Leopard

Caught in fast shutter speed (Above) and in slow shutter speed (Down)

2. Sprinting Horses

Caught in fast shutter speed (Above) and slow shutter speed (Down)

3. A Dancer

Caught in fast shutter speed (Above) and slow shutter speed (Down)

4. A Flying Bird

Caught in fast shutter speed (Above) and slow shutter speed (Down)

Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Wonders of Slow Shutter Photography: Water Blur

I recently heard a photographer expressing his wonder why in the world do they provide a slow shutter speed on a camera? Who wants a blurred picture?
Do you wonder the same?
Well I for that reason decided to unravel the wonders of slow shutter photography to you today. I'll share some beautiful examples of similar situations and how the speed of shutter has completely changed the perspective and beauty both side of images.

See how the water is played into photography- and the Water Blur!

Sea Waves

Above: Fast Shutter Speed
Down Slow Shutter Speed

Water Splash and Human

Above: Fast Shutter Speed
Down Slow Shutter Speed

To see how slow shutter speed embellish the perspective of moving subjects, Check The Wonders of Slow Shutter Photography: Motion Blur.

How Shutter Speed Affects Exposure?

Having gone through the basic introduction on shutter speed, let us today get to know its impact on overall exposure.

Shutter speed options on your camera will almost be doubled or as you change your settings. Remember this point, because aperture also doubles the light entering the lens. So it goes like this: when you increase the shutter speed by one stop/measure but decrease the aperture by one stop too, you are back at the same exposure level. The key is to remember exposure is built by combination of three elements, so choose the shutter speed that lets just the right amount of light in, or (if you are being creative with slow speed) gives the desired blur to the image, rest the balance the exposure with the aperture and ISO settings. We’ll go into more detail on this subject in further posts.

Examples Where to use Fast Shutter Speed:

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

What is Shutter Speed?

Shutter speed is one of the three components of Exposure triangle, which determines how god your image turns out. We have already discussed Aperture in ‘What is Aperture?’ and ‘Depth of Field and Aperture’. ISO will be discussed in future posts.

Shutter speed is, in most simple terms, the amount of time the shutter of lens remains open.

Right before the image sensor in your camera, there is the flap called shutter. When you take a picture it snaps open and shuts to capture the light and create the image. The longer period it stays open, the slow the shutter speed. The quickest it shuts back, the faster the shutter speed.

Measuring Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is measured in seconds, or usually fractions of seconds. The larger the denominator, faster the shutter speed. As the denominator gets smaller, the shutter speed gets slower. For Example 1/1000 is faster than 1/60.

Usually, a speed faster than 1/60 is used. Any speed lower than 1/60 is very difficult to capture without getting a camera shake. A camera shake will then result in blurred or fizzy photo. Try to avoid camera shake. If you are shooting at or slower than 1/60, you must use tripod or something else to stabilize your image.

Points to Remember:

Slow Shutter Speed (Big denominator): More lights enter the camera, Motion blurs
Fast Shutter Speed (small den.): Less light enters, Motion captured/camera shake avoided

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Playing around with Aperture Sizes

Photography is always a pleasure...and those of you who feel about this endeavor as passionately as me, will surely relate to the hours of walking, exploring, peeking around journey with your camera. Today i thought to share just a few clicks, through many years and many cameras, that were a result of various trip of above nature. I selected these to give you an idea how you cam also be creative with your aperture. Play with your camera, try new things- if you have the knack, you'll create a unique style of yours, plus an irreplaceable joy.

I arranged the shots in ascending aperture sizes. You may note the difference, and yet how sometime the difference in shutter speed has balanced the aperture. Some pictures need a lot of improvement, but i deliberately displayed them in order to let the impact of these changes sink in. Enjoy!