Let’s face the facts; lugging a tripod isn’t always a fun way to take pictures. Ignoring the obvious complaints, which include their size and weight, tripods are actually becoming banned in a number great shooting locations. Unfortunately, hand holding a camera in low light can be extremely difficult and many honest attempts result in soft images.

Thankfully, any of these three techniques will greatly improve the likelihood of sharp hand-held images.

A. Correcting the stance

Most photographers are familiar with how to hold a digital camera in their hands, but most ignore the important aspect of body position. Many people lean forward, leaving their arms to hold the camera steady. Much like lifting a heavy object, the weight is best handled by your legs so adapt your step to fit these guidelines:

1. Hold the camera with both hands. The left hand will be on the lens, while the right holds the camera body and controls the shutter.
2. Take a half step forward and keep your knees bent. This will distribute your weight equally over both legs.
3. Bring the camera up to your common shooting position. For dSLR cameras, this means with the viewfinder held firmly in front of your right eye, while compact cameras should be held at eye level, about 15 cm in front of the face.
4. Squeeze your elbows tightly against your sides. The left forearm should be completely vertical and behind your toes. Avoid the temptation to lean forward and take the weight off your legs; leaning forward will result in camera shake.
5. Take a deep breath and let the air out. Before taking the next breath, press the shutter as gently as possible.

B. A pocket-sized tripod

While tripods are awkward to carry, this technique will add a pocket-sized solution to low-light shooting situations.

1. Before going out shooting, cut a string that equals your height and keep it in your pocket or camera bag.
2. At the low-light shooting location, take the string out and loop it around the camera lens. Let the extra string fall to the ground.
3. Step on the loose end of the string and slowly raise the camera to your eye. Carefully pull the string taunt, while making sure not to pull hard enough to effect the camera-to-lens connection.
4. With the string pulled tight, stand in the same position described in the first technique, and gently push the shutter.

C. The Joe McNally Grip

Photographer Joe McNally, best known for his speed-lighting techniques, regularly shoots for publications like Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, and the now defunct Life Magazine. Despite shooting in various lighting situations, he rarely uses a tripod. Instead, he uses his own grip style that requires shooting with the left eye. With a little practice, this grip allows photographers to handhold with really slow shutter-speeds.

1. Follow the same foot position as technique one, with the left foot in front of the right, shoulder width apart.
2. Turn your upper body so that your left shoulder is pointing towards your subject.
3. Holding the camera with your right hand, bring the camera up and set it on your shoulder. The corner of the camera body should sit in the small hole behind your collarbone.
4. Use your left hand to brace the camera against your body. Anchor your weight equally on both feet, and lower your left eye to the viewfinder. Take the shot after letting out a deep breath.

Jeff Bartlett is a freelance travel photographer and writer. He splits his time between opposite ends of the earth; he lives six months in northern Canada before heading south for six in Argentina. He is also the editor of The Camping Cook..

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Prevent dSLR Camera Shake With These 3 Techniques

*Image Credit Nicole Hill.

Babies, babies everywhere! It seems like everyone around me is either pregnant or has a new born! I’m a total sucker for tiny people. I love the way they look, all pink and wrinkled. I love the way they smell, like baby powder, and well, let’s just face it, slightly like sour milk. I even love the way they sound, fire engine siren screams and all.

However sweet they may be, they are NOT the easiest of photographic subjects! Here are 6 tips to nailing your next newborn session with flying colors.

1. Plan ahead of time!

Here are some things you’ll want to discuss with Mom and Dad about a day or 2 prior to your scheduled shoot.

• Talk to Mom and Dad about the baby’s schedule. They may or may not have one, but one way or another, 9 times out of 10 Baby’s parents will be able to tell you which time of day their baby tends to be at their best, most calm state.
• If you’re shooting the baby at home, be sure to get specifics as far as where Mom and Dad would like to shoot. If you don’t have studio lighting (which I don’t) you’ll want to make sure you know which way the windows in the chosen room are facing at the time of day you’re shooting to be sure you’ll have adequate light.
• You’ll also want to know how Mom and Dad feel about wardrobe (or lack there of) for the baby. I love a naked, pink, wrinkly baby booty, however, not all parents share my affinity. Be sure to discuss this with Mommy and Daddy before you get to a shoot, ask Mom to strip the baby down, and then have to deal with awkward tension when she says “no way!”
• If the parents are comfortable with shooting baby in the buff, be sure to request that they remove all baby’s clothing at least an hour in advance of the scheduled shoot so that the baby won’t have any funky clothing lines on their skin. I even tell my clients to fasten the baby’s diaper loosely during this time as well. Those lines can be fixed in Photoshop, but I for one would MUCH rather be out shooting than spending hours using the healing tool in front of my computer.

2. Come PREPARED!

Make sure that you have EVERYTHING you need VERY well organized and easily accessible. Babies are fidgety, fussy and very impatient, and you’ve got to take the initiative to plan accordingly.

• If you’re using studio lighting, you should be set up at least 10 min before you’re scheduled to start shooting. That will give you time to run a few test shots before the baby is brought into the room.
• This next one is a given, but remember that sensors and lenses should be checked before the shoot and cleaned if necessary. You can’t afford to stop in the middle of a newborn shoot because you notice a spot on your sensor. Babies are not as forgiving as their adult counterparts. They’re like ticking time bombs, and I guarantee all you moms and dads out there are nodding in agreement!
• Get a good night’s sleep! You have got to arrive a vision of patience and with energy to spare. Remember, you’re likely walking into a home where NO ONE has gotten more than an hour of consecutive sleep for days on end. The last thing everyone needs is another exhausted, grumpy adult, whose patience has run dry to add to the mix. YOU set the tone! Come with a full tummy and a good night’s rest. (The full tummy thing is PARTICULARLY important for me as I tend to have low blood sugar. My patience, not to mention my creativity, is out the window if I don’t have something in my belly).

3. Get the Details!

Don’t be afraid to get in close and focus on the details. Most images I shoot of babies are shot with very low apertures (wide open) to encourage very shallow depth of field. I’m not by ANY means saying that this is right for everyone, but this is my particular style, and I do this for many reasons.

• They are only tiny tiny for a VERY short time. I like to focus in and capture little feet and toes for example, before they slip away into roller skates and ballet slippers. . . it happens sooner that you know!
• Shallow depth of field creates a mood of tenderness and intimacy which are so very appropriate for a shoot of this nature.
• The main reason that I shoot the majority of my infant sessions with such shallow depth of field is that shots like this, in my humble opinion, help depict how suddenly your whole world is about that little person. Though everything else around you may be out of focus, the one thing that matters is perfectly clear.

4. Bring a Hat!

My friend and fellow photographer/mentor, Nicole Hill, of Nicole Photo (nicolephoto.com) and A Little Sussy (nicolehill.blogspot.com), recently informed me that a little stocking cap (beanie) can be a solve all for the . . . (cough cough) alien looking infant! Well, she didn’t say the alien part. That’s all me, but we have to just be honest and admit that often tiny babies look a little like E.T. My 3 boys included. Yup, I said it. If you saw their baby pictures, you couldn’t deny it either! Nicole is right, a beanie can cover a misshapen head or just soften a face that hasn’t quite grown into it’s features. Enough said.

5. Establishing Shots!

Establishing shots are images that establish the feeling, location, etc of the time during which an event took place. In this case you’re trying to tell a story about the feelings surrounding the birth of a new child. The welcome of another little person into an already established family unit. Each family unit will be different than the next, but each is special and should be documented as such. For example:

• If you’re shooting in a home, most likely you’ll be in a nursery. Grab a shot of that! Establish the environment. It will be a treasure for the family to remember what their home was like at the time that they welcomed their little sweet heart into their heart and home.
• Whether in studio or on location, try to grab a shot that establishes the whole family as they were at the time of the birth.

6. For Heaven’s Sake: BE FLEXIBLE!!!!

You’ve got to be flexible. There are so many variables when shooting a tiny baby. They can be SO unpredictable. Remember to:

• Handle each hiccup in a loving way. I am convinced that babies can sense our tension and frustration and that they will respond in kind. Likewise, if we can remain calm and collected, they will find it easier to relax as well.
• If you have to stop, STOP! If the baby is on the brink of a full blown freak out, TAKE A BREAK! Let Mom and Dad pop in and calm baby down, feed, burp, change a messy diaper, whatever. NEVER push a baby to the point of no return. If you let a baby get to the point of total freak out. . . well, sorry sweetheart, you may just be plum out of luck. . . and with no one to blame but yourself. Be in tune to baby and let him/her run the show.
• If baby is fussing just a bit, you may not be bothered by it. Mom on the other hand may be totally on edge. Part of your job is to be aware of that. Ask her if she’d feel more comfortable continuing after she’s had a chance for a little snuggle. The last thing you need is a Momma bear worried about her cub. I’d ellaborate, but something tells me, ‘nough said.
• Give yourself plenty of time. I have never had an infant shoot that has lasted longer than 30min-1hour. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky! Probably so!! But I ALWAYS schedule a 2 hour block so there is time to feed, change, soothe etc between shots if necessary.

There are SO MANY more things to remember when you’re running an infant shoot. Hopefully the few I’ve shared will be helpful. Feel free to add others in the comment section below! I also encourage you to make a checklist out of the information above to be sure you’re prepared in the future!!

Happy Shooting!

Natalie Norton lives and shoots on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii with her wonderful husband and her 3 crazy sons! Raleigh (5), Cardon (3) and Lincoln (22 months).

PS from Darren: Coincidentally – I also had another baby photography tutorial submitted yesterday – so as we’re in a baby mood here at DPS this week I’ll post that one tomorrow – I think they compliment each other nicely. Stay tuned!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Baby Photography: Photographing Babies Without Losing your Mind

How to Photograph yourself with a self timer:

Step1: Choose a good background

Step 2: Set Self timer on your camera

Step 3: Smile

Step 4: Be Careful

Step 5: Call 911

What photography disaster have you had? Share them in comments below.

Thanks to Douwe who was the first to send this in.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How [Not] to Take a Self Timer Portrait

Birds are very interesting creatures, but it’s not so easy to photograph them. Wild birds usually don’t pose where you want and, moreover, it’s often difficult to get close enough to take quality pictures. But if you know some basics of bird photography, it becomes much easier to capture amazing moments of the birds’ life.

Equipment

It’s not necessary to have an expensive camera of lens, however the proper equipment lets to take bird photos easier.

Lens
Most birds are quite shy, so you need at least 200mm (300mm is better) to take pictures of them. Longer focal length not only lets to photograph birds from larger distance, it also gives more blurred background. However more millimeters (or larger aperture) means more expensive, larger and heavier lens. Knowing all that, I think that 400mm f/5.6 lens is the best, if you want to have as much millimeters as possible, not too small aperture and still want to be mobile. Of course, you can make magnificent bird images with 100mm or less, just you should find more courageous birds or compose them to landscape.

Grey Heron is landing far enough where it feels safe, but with 400mm it's possible to capture it with all the details.

Camera
In bird photography, almost all DSLR’s will make a good job. However, if you’re planning to photograph birds in flight, pay attention to fps (frames per second), high ISO results and AF (autofocus) system’s accuracy. If you don’t have a DSLR camera, then bird photography becomes a bit more difficult (especially due to slow AF), but don’t give up – a good photographer, I believe, will make better bird photos with mobile phone than a poor one with the most expensive equipment.

Tripod, monopod, flash, even remote control sometimes help much, but usually aren’t necessary.

Camera settings

It’s very important to know what settings to choose in certain situation to get most from your camera.

Exposure
In bird photography lens with long focal length are usually used, so it’s very important to set not too long exposure, if you don’t want that camera shake would cause blurry pictures. The rule is to set expose not longer than focal length of your lens. For example, if your lens focal length is 400mm, you need to set at least 1/400 exposure to get sharp images. However, it is valid only if you have a full-frame camera. If your have a DSLR with smaller sensor (e.g. APS-C DSLR – with 1.6 crop factor), you need to multiply millimeters of your lens from the crop factor. This time that would be (400 x 1.6 = 640) 1/640 exposure. If you don’t have a DSLR, you usually won’t need to multiply anything – the focal length, written on your camera lens, usually already is multiplied (actually it’s 35mm equivalent). Today, most lens or cameras have image stabilization (IS, VR…), and that helps much in low light conditions. Using it, you can set as many steps longer exposure, as you find in your lens/camera specifications, and get sharp images. For instance, if there is a 2 steps 400mm lens stabilizer, you can set 2 steps longer exposure (1/400-1/200-1/100, with APS-C camera: 1/640-1/320-1/160). When using tripod, of course, these rules to minimize camera shake are not so important.

If you want so freeze action, set 1/1000 or shorter exposure, if you would like to show movement, use 1/60 or longer.

Aperture
As you may already knew, aperture controls DOF (depth of field). That means, if you want a more blurred background, set the largest aperture (the smallest number). However, when using telephoto lens, some parts of bird’s body may appear out of focus, so pay attention where exactly you are focusing (that usually is the bird’s eye). If necessary, close aperture a bit.

When photographing these young Swallows I needed to set f/8 aperture to get both birds in focus.

ISO
In bird photography, as in anywhere else, the lower ISO speed, the better. However, it’s much better to set ISO 800 or 1600 and get a sharp picture, than ISO 200, and get the blurry one.

This photo of Black Redstart was made with ISO 2000, because there wasn't much light, and I believe it was worth it.

Some other notes
When photographing birds, three modes work the best. If you want to control aperture (depth of field), choose Av (aperture priority) mode. For shutter speed controlling (especially useful when photographing birds in flight) use Tv (shutter priority) mode. If you exactly know what settings you need, choose M (manual) mode.

If you photograph dark bird in light background or want to get more details from dark areas, set the positive exposure compensation value, if you want to avoid overexposed areas, set the negative one.
I recommend you to always shoot in RAW, if possible, because later you can easily fix such things as WB (white balance) with computer.

Ways to photograph birds

The next step is to learn, how to get to the birds closer, so then you will be able to take quality pictures of them.

So you can:

Don’t do anything exceptional
Some birds are courageous and let you to come close enough. The best example is Mute Swans.

Move carefully
Many birds let you to come close enough if you simply don’t make any sudden movements.

Stalk
Sometimes this really works, just make sure that bird doesn’t see you when you are getting close and then, very carefully, take picture.

Lie without any movements
Birds sometimes come surprisingly close, when you lie. Just find a good place or put some food and be patient!

Hide
When photographing a shy bird or wanting a small bird to come very close for a quality photo this is the best technique. You can hide using hunting blind, camouflage net or the blind you made yourself from surrounding materials. The lower is blind, the more courageous birds feel. If you use surrounding materials to camouflage the blind or to hide yourself, that is another advantage. You can hide near various objects, which attracts birds. Also, you can put some food where you want for birds to come. Sunflower’s seeds are the best food in most cases. If you want that bird would sit on the twig or something similar before taking food, put that twig above the food.

Here you can see the photo of Great Tit and how it was made.

Sometimes it's enough to put some sunflower's seeds on the grass! And this is the result.

It doesn’t matter which way you choose, be patient. Don’t wander from one bird (birds) to other (others), if you didn’t succeeded from the first time. Sometimes it’s a good idea to go back next day and try again.

The Image

Now, lets talk about the image itself. We know what equipment we need, what camera settings to choose, how to get to the bird closer, now it’s time to find out how to make the image of the bird look attractive.

The light
Everything starts with a good light. The best time for photography is morning or evening because the light is soft and has a pleasant hue, shadows are not so distinct, it’s easier to get details from very bright and dark areas.

In this example you can see that this White-winged Tern has both black and white feathers, but because it was photographed in the evening, there are no pure white or black areas.

Composition
It is usual to leave some space in the direction the bird is looking or flying. Rule of thirds sometimes helps too. Simply try some different framing to see when you get the best result. In addition, try to avoid any distracting elements, when you are taking the picture. And one more thing to mention: when you are taking the photo of the bird, try to be in it’s eye level.

The bird’s sitting place and the background
It’s the best, when the place, where the bird sits, shows bird’s natural habitat. It can be almost anything because birds live in very different habitats. The background shouldn’t be distracting and usually it looks better when it isn’t the sky (but not always!).

Capture something more

Ethics of bird photography

Birds are wonderful creatures. When you are taking photos, don’t harm them. I strongly advice you not to photograph birds near nests (except when the distance is large and bird isn’t sensitive to disturbance – there are only very few such species). Even if you don’t harm birds, you can show the place of the nest for predators. The life of bird is more important than a photo.

Conclusion

Bird photography is exciting and full of adventures. I hope after this article it will be easier for you to take beautiful bird photos.

About the Author: Tadas Naujokaitis lives in Lithuania. See more of his work at www.tadasnaujokaitis.tk and connect with him on his Facebook page.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

An Introduction to Bird photography

I recently took my DSLR sailing for a week on a yacht off the West Coast of Scotland. Now my camera, though heavy and rugged-feeling, is not the most waterproof of objects, in fact there’s no real weather sealing at all and the combination of salt-water, rain, repeated physical bumps (from the waves) and the general chaos generated by having five people in an enclosed space for a week is about the worst thing I can imagine doing to my precious camera, short of introducing it repeatedly to a lump-hammer.

I know that some people are really, really careful with their cameras and I can’t blame them for being precious over such an expensive piece of kit, but I feel I need to be a bit more daring with mine – sometimes you’ve got to be somewhere fairly extreme in order to ‘get the shot’. Because of that I sat down and prepared a plan as I packed my travelling kit in order to try and minimise the chances of my precious camera’s internals becoming a useless hunk of silicone, solder and gold.

1. Get some specific camera insurance. Your standard travel insurance policy is probably no good – it usually has a clause limiting loss associated with a single item and the chances are that if your a semi-serious photographer this amount is a lot less than your kit is worth. It’s probably good practice to have insurance even on a day to day basis anyway, because it has the added advantage of giving you the confidence to take occasional calculated risks with your camera.

2. Make sure you’ve got a good camera bag to keep all your kit in one place, dry and secure. You don’t need to spend a fortune on the latest poser-pouch but you need to get something that’s specifically designed for DSLRs – shoving all your kit in any old bag isn’t so wise. Things get lost, or broken.

3. Wear your camera around your neck. I know this seems obvious but I don’t think it should be overlooked. On the boat, I often found myself shooting from a moving deck at a moving object in a light drizzle and occasional spray, whilst trying to hold my camera with one hand so I could use the other to stop myself falling into the sea. Drop your camera in 50 meters of water and it’s gone. Of course, the same is true if you drop yourself in the sea with your DSLR round your neck, but if that happens you probably have more to worry about than your camera!

4. Try and limit your camera’s exposure to risk as much as possible – whether that’s stowing it securely in an identified place when not in use, using a rain cover to minimise exposure to moisture/dust/salt etc., or even fitting a proper waterproof (and thus everything-else-proof) case, remember that careless treatment costs cameras. One note about the rain covers though, some say that there can to be issues with condensation, so if you’re repeatedly moving from a cold to warm environment you need to take extra care…personally I’m more of a plastic bag and lots of air kind of person.

5. Make sure that anybody with you understands that your camera is a precious object. Assuming you trust them not to run off with it, some people just don’t understand that they need to be careful with your stuff. Anybody who doesn’t know about cameras probably wont think that your shiny 7D (or whatever) is anything special, is fragile, or that it needs treating with care. Make sure they understand, assume nothing.

6. Don’t put your camera down there! You know where I mean – anywhere that it is at risk of being sat on, soaked, covered in noxious substances, falling off, being stolen or anything else…put it back in your bag, I appreciate that this is a pain and that you’ll miss shots, but you’ll miss many more when your camera is dead or gone. I also know that there are bags which purport to offer quick-access opportunities…great, so long as they allow you to keep your stuff all together and that they really work, and you’re willing and able to carry them around all the time.

7. Wipe your camera free of potential contaminants as soon as you can, if it’s light moisture from drizzle you need to do that with something absorbent that itsn’t just going to push moisture into the area around the buttons. I use a special, clean, monofibre cloth that I also use for cleaning my lenses. If it’s dust or anything else that might find its way onto the sensor of your camera you need to clean it especially carefully. Pay attention to the seal around the lens. Get some cotton buds or similar.

So, that’s my tips, I’d be interested in hearing yours, especially from those who have subjected their kit to extreme environments.

See more of Saul Molloy’s work at Shotslot.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Tips for Using Your Camera in a Hostile Environment

I recently took my DSLR sailing for a week on a yacht off the West Coast of Scotland. Now my camera, though heavy and rugged-feeling, is not the most waterproof of objects, in fact there’s no real weather sealing at all and the combination of salt-water, rain, repeated physical bumps (from the waves) and the general chaos generated by having five people in an enclosed space for a week is about the worst thing I can imagine doing to my precious camera, short of introducing it repeatedly to a lump-hammer.

I know that some people are really, really careful with their cameras and I can’t blame them for being precious over such an expensive piece of kit, but I feel I need to be a bit more daring with mine – sometimes you’ve got to be somewhere fairly extreme in order to ‘get the shot’. Because of that I sat down and prepared a plan as I packed my travelling kit in order to try and minimise the chances of my precious camera’s internals becoming a useless hunk of silicone, solder and gold.

1. Get some specific camera insurance. Your standard travel insurance policy is probably no good – it usually has a clause limiting loss associated with a single item and the chances are that if your a semi-serious photographer this amount is a lot less than your kit is worth. It’s probably good practice to have insurance even on a day to day basis anyway, because it has the added advantage of giving you the confidence to take occasional calculated risks with your camera.

2. Make sure you’ve got a good camera bag to keep all your kit in one place, dry and secure. You don’t need to spend a fortune on the latest poser-pouch but you need to get something that’s specifically designed for DSLRs – shoving all your kit in any old bag isn’t so wise. Things get lost, or broken.

3. Wear your camera around your neck. I know this seems obvious but I don’t think it should be overlooked. On the boat, I often found myself shooting from a moving deck at a moving object in a light drizzle and occasional spray, whilst trying to hold my camera with one hand so I could use the other to stop myself falling into the sea. Drop your camera in 50 meters of water and it’s gone. Of course, the same is true if you drop yourself in the sea with your DSLR round your neck, but if that happens you probably have more to worry about than your camera!

4. Try and limit your camera’s exposure to risk as much as possible – whether that’s stowing it securely in an identified place when not in use, using a rain cover to minimise exposure to moisture/dust/salt etc., or even fitting a proper waterproof (and thus everything-else-proof) case, remember that careless treatment costs cameras. One note about the rain covers though, some say that there can to be issues with condensation, so if you’re repeatedly moving from a cold to warm environment you need to take extra care…personally I’m more of a plastic bag and lots of air kind of person.

5. Make sure that anybody with you understands that your camera is a precious object. Assuming you trust them not to run off with it, some people just don’t understand that they need to be careful with your stuff. Anybody who doesn’t know about cameras probably wont think that your shiny 7D (or whatever) is anything special, is fragile, or that it needs treating with care. Make sure they understand, assume nothing.

6. Don’t put your camera down there! You know where I mean – anywhere that it is at risk of being sat on, soaked, covered in noxious substances, falling off, being stolen or anything else…put it back in your bag, I appreciate that this is a pain and that you’ll miss shots, but you’ll miss many more when your camera is dead or gone. I also know that there are bags which purport to offer quick-access opportunities…great, so long as they allow you to keep your stuff all together and that they really work, and you’re willing and able to carry them around all the time.

7. Wipe your camera free of potential contaminants as soon as you can, if it’s light moisture from drizzle you need to do that with something absorbent that itsn’t just going to push moisture into the area around the buttons. I use a special, clean, monofibre cloth that I also use for cleaning my lenses. If it’s dust or anything else that might find its way onto the sensor of your camera you need to clean it especially carefully. Pay attention to the seal around the lens. Get some cotton buds or similar.

So, that’s my tips, I’d be interested in hearing yours, especially from those who have subjected their kit to extreme environments.

See more of Saul Molloy’s work at Shotslot.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Tips for Using Your Camera in a Hostile Environment

Image by Steve Hanna

Ed Verosky is a professional photographer and author based in New York. In this article, Verosky offers up eight useful tips for anyone wanting to get better portraiture results with on-camera flash. To learn more about this subject, check out Verosky’s popular eBook, “100% Reliable Flash Photography.“

You can get great lighting for your portraits with on-camera flash. And there’s no need to purchase expensive attachments to modify your light, because everything you need is already there. The thing to understand is that your flash unit is just another light source at your disposal. Fortunately, you can learn to control the light it produces and shape it to your needs. Plus, it has the added benefit of doing some of the thinking for you when you need it to.

Since the light your flash unit produces directly can appear rather harsh, you’ll have to do one or both of the following in order to get more pleasing lighting from it:

• Create a larger, wider area of light relative to your subject.
• Illuminate your subject from an angle other than directly off the top of the camera.

The following tips will help you accomplish these goals:

1. Bounce It.

This is the number one secret weapon when it comes to on-camera flash techniques. Indoors, a typical room with light-colored walls and ceilings will provide you with all the bounce surfaces you need to make beautiful pictures. Using this technique, you can achieve softbox-style lighting, or even very broad lighting, with your flash unit alone.

Wall/ceiling bounce

Although the flash unit itself is a relatively small light source, it will cover a wide area of a wall and ceiling. This newly illuminated area will provide a wider, more diffuse “light source” for the subject.

On-camera flash bounced off wall and ceiling, camera left.

To create a portrait with the bounce technique, I generally tilt the flash unit to hit the ceiling and wall as I visualize a large softbox there, at the traditional portrait lighting angle, to my subject. This technique is very versatile as it can give you everything from very dramatic split-lighting to soft, even illumination. The subject’s orientation, and the resultant secondary bounce around the room (providing fill light) are the keys to creating the effect you want.

You can even angle your flash up and behind you to fill a small to normal-size room up with beautiful light. Spin it around and up at about 45 degrees to hit the wall and ceiling behind you.

2) Flag It.

Something most people don’t realize is that light comes out of your flash unit in a wide pattern, not in a straight beam. While most of the light is focused forward, there is a good amount actually spilling out perpendicular to the flash head lens.

Even when your flash is set to a narrow zoom, plenty of light still spills off the sides. A small flag can be used to block this effect from your subject.

When bouncing your flash, at certain angles close to that perpendicular plane, direct light will hit your subject. This isn’t necessarily something you have to avoid, but it can result in “point-and-shoot” type shadows, especially if there is a wall or other flat surface just behind your subject.

To eliminate this effect, you can place a small piece of opaque material or black foam just long enough to block the direct part of the light from hitting your subject. That one little change can make a big difference in the overall look of your shot.

3) Make It Bigger.

The size of your light source, relative to your subject, affects the overall look of the picture. This is generally because a larger light source will create a smoother transition between light and shadow, or what you might call softer light.

Craft foam bounce card with rubber band.

We’ve already discussed how bouncing your light off a wall and ceiling will make the relative size of the light illuminating your subject larger. But what if you don’t have a wall or other surface to bounce your flash off of? You can still make your light source bigger by using a simple bounce card. Because the light being directed toward your subject is at least twice as large as the face of the flash, you’ll get that much more surface area coverage. This usually results in more pleasing illumination if you’re not too far away from your subject.

Indoors, a bounce card like this has the added benefit of throwing light onto your subject from two directions, forward and bounced off the ceiling.

Simply use a piece of white cardboard or crafting foam attached to your flash head. Of course, you can orient the flash in various ways to direct the light as you like.

4) Use TTL.

Most modern flash units offer a variety of modes to shoot with. For example, I will often use my flash units off-camera, in manual mode. This allows me to maintain consistent manual control of the flash’s output power in relatively static shooting situations, like traditional portraiture.

Through-The-Lens (TTL) mode, on the other hand, puts the flash unit’s output under the control of the camera and flash. The camera and flash essentially work together to decide how much light the flash emits in order to properly expose the subject. Most modern TTL systems like Canon’s E-TTL and Nikon’s i-TTL are really great at what they do.

TTL can be used in just about every shooting situation including shooting in your camera’s manual mode, outdoors, and even when using bounce techniques. Since TTL can make life a whole lot easier for you, especially in fast-moving shooting situations, there’s no reason not to use it extensively for on-camera flash work.

When you’re ready, you might want to learn more advanced techniques using Flash Exposure Compensation and general Exposure Compensation controls in conjunction with TTL flash. These controls allow you to make easy adjustments to flash and overall exposure while still letting the TTL system do most of the thinking for you. Very handy indeed.

5) Use High-Speed Sync.

If your flash unit has a high-speed sync setting, turn it on. Most normal sync speeds for your flash will be limited to about 1/250 – 1/350 sec. That’s fine for situations where you’re in an environment with dim light. When shooting indoors, for example, you are free to shoot at any appropriate shutter speed UP TO your normal flash sync speed limit. That means you can just as easily shoot at 1/40 second to record ambient light, or faster if you choose to isolate the subject or really freeze the action.

1/2500 sec. exposure required high-speed sync for this promotional shot using f/2.8 outdoors.

However, whether indoors or out, if your exposures require a higher shutter speed, high-speed sync will allow you to shoot at virtually any shutter speed, generally up to 1/8000 sec.

You’ll usually need to work with higher shutter speeds if normal sync at your chosen aperture and ISO will result in overexposure of the ambient lighted portions of the image. This can happen easily in outdoor portrait situations, where the ambient background is rather bright, and you’d like a little fill flash on your subject. High-speed sync to the rescue!

Leaving your high-speed sync mode on all the time doesn’t mean it’s always in use. Your camera and flash will only use it if you are shooting beyond the normal sync speed. Otherwise, the flash will simply revert to its normal behavior.

6) Gel It.

DSLRs have the advantage of overall color control via the white balance (WB) setting you use. And if you’re shooting in RAW format, you easily have enough information in the image file to adjust for proper WB after the fact in something like Adobe’s Lightroom.

But there are times when you want to make sure the light coming off your flash unit is close to the same color as the ambient light. This will ensure that most of the light in your images are in the same ballpark, color temperature-wise.

Again, you’ll likely get the best results if you adjust WB during post processing, but this way the images will have a more consistent color throughout.

To bring your flash into the tungsten range of color for most ambient situations, you can use a Color Temperature Orange (CTO) filter over the flash lens. Set your camera’s WB to tungsten, if you like, and fine tune the WB in post as necessary.

7) Use The Ambient Light.

Another tell-tale sign of misused on-camera flash is the dark tunnel effect. This happens when the camera is exposing well enough for the flash illuminated subject, but not enough environment light is being recorded. Allowing the ambient light and surroundings to appear in the image will place your subject in context and give the image a sense of atmosphere.

Bounce card combined with 1/40 sec. exposure.

Even if your camera has a preset flash mode for achieving this effect, I strongly recommend switching over to the camera’s manual mode. This will allow you to manually determine slower shutter speeds to achieve exactly the amount of ambient light you want for the image.

Creative use of direct flash and long shutter speed.

I find that shutter speeds of 1/15 – 1/40 second work for most environments, including outdoors at night. Regular TTL should still be employed in order for the camera and flash to make a good determination about the exposure of the subject (what the flash is concerned with). But, you are in control of the ambient with the shutter speeds you select.

8) Turn It Off.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do with your on-camera flash is nothing at all. As you become more proficient with it, you might be tempted to use it all the time. However, you don’t want to become dependent on it. After all, there’s plenty of good light available in most situations. But when you need a little extra here and there, it’s nice to know you can always slap on that flash and get great shots on demand.

Sometimes flash fill light just isn't right for the picture.

Get more of Ed’s great tips on flash photography in his e-book – 100% Reliable Flash Photography.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

8 On-Camera Flash Tips: How To Get Better Lighting From Your On-Camera Flash

Composition for a photograph is like a screenplay for a movie. If the picture isn’t composed well, it won’t strike a cord with the viewer regardless of the technical expertise or the story being told. Composition skills improve over time with constant practice. Here are some of the basic composition tips with a picture to illustrate each of those tips. The example pictures were all taken in one day while driving through Eastern Washington. These tips will help train your eyes to see the frames, an important point if you want to take great pictures.

1. Remember rule of thirds

A basic tip to remember if you want to improve your composition skills. The human eye is generally drawn to a point one third of the way from the top, bottom, right or left of any image. Keep this in mind as you work on your composition. Read more about the Rule of Thirds.

2. Negative space is your friend

Don’t always try to fill the frame. Negative space can be used to your advantage. Remember, it is just as important as the main subject.

3. Embrace Geometry

Train your eyes to look for lines, patterns and shapes. They give structure to your picture and help highlight the three dimensional quality of your subjects. Lines lead the viewers’ eyes into or out of the picture. Find a subject for the center of attraction and then find lines that lead to it.

4. Frame within frame

Used effectively, foreground framing directs the viewer’s eye right to the subject. Look for frames of different shapes and sizes. They don’t always have to be windows and fences. They could be big trees as in this example.

5. Avoid horizon in the middle

Keep your horizon level and keep it out of the center of the picture. If the sky is more interesting pull the horizon down and if the land is more interesting push the horizon up.

6. Inject life to your picture

Try to place a living being in the picture. It shows dimension and emphasizes the scale of the frame to the viewer.

7. Merges breaks a picture

When lines of the horizon intersect with your subject it distracts the viewer and moves the attention away from your subject. It can spoil a great composition. Take some time move your frame up or down, left or right to avoid the horizon merge. In the example picture below, I took extra care not to make the horizon meet the edge of the barn.

8. Lonely subjects are striking

Single subjects like trees, barns, buildings, motorcycles almost always make for great compositions. I love pulling them into the frame. Here’s a small collection of such pictures from my archives that have a single tree in the frame.

9. Size Matters

Try to include a subject that would give the viewers a scale of the scene in the frame. Use people or objects that let viewers relate size in your composition.

10. Think before you click

As is the case for any type of photography, think before you click the shutter button. Make sure there are no unnecessary objects that would affect your composition. If possible move those objects or try to move yourselves to see if you can avoid them from your composition by moving yourselves.

Following these simple techniques will improve your photography leaps and bounds and keep you ahead of the rest. These illustrations does not fit only for landscape photography but for all other types of photography. The entire collection of my eastern washington pictures can be seen here.

Amar Ramesh is an emerging photographer from Redmond WA, USA. Photography, to him is a passion with infinite opportunities and he loves to share the lessons and tips that he learned with others. Please visit his Facebook Page for more. He is also in Flickr | Twitter | Portfolio.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

10 Landscape Composition Tips: Illustrated with Pictures from Eastern Washington

Antelope Canyons in page Arizona is one of the most exquisite gifts of nature that is generally overlooked by people traveling to Arizona.

The sandstone canyons lit from the streak of light passing right through the slots makes it one the most serene places in the world. Located at the Navajo Tribal Park near Lake Powell, these canyons have narrow paths, created by water flowing through them for millions of years. It’s a photographer’s paradise. Listed below are some the quick and easy tips that would help you take better pictures in these canyons.

1. Plan ahead

Like for any travel, do your homework and get to know the place. There are two canyons – Upper and Lower – both located in Page, AZ. Mid-day(11am-1pm) between the months of March and October is the best time to photograph these slots, with the shafts of light shining down from the openings above. There are photography tours available in both upper and lower canyons. Even though it’s a little expensive than the ordinary tour, it’s totally worth it. The guides who take you along the photography tour generally do a wonderful job helping you ‘chase’ the light. I highly recommend it.

2. Gear

Use the widest angle lens from your arsenal. You have to capture a wider area with light streaks and you absolutely need a wide angle lens to do this. If you don’t own one, try renting it. Tripod is a must and make sure you turn off image stabilization. A remote trigger would help remove the vibration caused by pressing the shutter button.

3. Try not to change lens

An important note to remember if you are shooting with a DSLR is that you should not change your lenses inside these canyons because of the amount of dust in the air. Trust me you wouldn’t want to change your lenses inside the canyons. If you have a second camera, by all means, take it along with a different lens on it. You will get a different perspective. And yes, carry a cloth to clean the lenses frequently.

4. Make use of your Live view

The canyons are generally crowded. People keep streaming in and out, in large groups. So expect people both in front and behind you. With so much going around its easy to be engrossed into the view finder. So advice would be try using the live view, as well as an articulating screen (some of the newest cameras have them). When you are ready to take the shot, you can quickly check the view finder and make sure everything is good and press the shutter. This will help you be aware of things happening around you.

5. Go Manual mode and shoot RAW

Set the camera in manual mode, shoot RAW. f11 to f18 is the sweet spot for aperture and open the shutter anywhere between 2 and 6 seconds depending on the variation in light to get the best shots. Frequently check your histogram to see how you are doing.

6. Look up

There will be times when you have to wait for a group of people to move before you can take a picture. So try to use that time to come up with different compositions. Look up and try to compose shots. Also remember including people in the picture is not always a bad thing to do.

7. Look for hidden slots

These canyons are spiritual to the Navajo tribes. They talk about the forms and shapes carved into the rock by water that flows through the canyons. One of the greatest pleasure in shooting these canyons is to see the unseen, find what is hidden, and put them in the center stage and show it in pictures. The stone in the picture below has taken a form of an eagle with open wings. To see more pictures of hidden forms visit my blogpost “Finding the hidden creatures”

8. Try to put people in the picture.

Bring some life to the pictures by placing a human subject. Here in this picture I requested a traveler from South America dressed in contrasting colors to be photographed which made the picture interesting.

9. High contrast

Look for frames with the most contrast to make it all that more interesting. You can find so many frames with high contrast between the darkest and brightest regions because of the shafts of light that penetrate from above make the center areas of the canyons brighter and the sides darker.

10. Carry a water bottle

Last but not least food is not allowed inside, so if you are planning to spend a good time in these canyons, have your food before entering the canyons and make sure to carry a water bottle with you.

Amar Ramesh is an emerging photographer from Redmond WA, USA. Photography, to him is a passion with infinite opportunities and he loves to share the lessons and tips that he learned with others. Please visit his Facebook Page for more. He is also in Flickr | Twitter | Portfolio.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

10 Quick tips for Photographing Antelope Canyons

Since taking on a new Mac with Snow Leopard operating system I sadly found that my marvellous image/text scanner does not work due to a lack of a suitable driver.

Now, since taking on Prizmo for Mac I can scan documents as well as perform OCR to file away the editable texts.

Then I found other but possibly less useful functions tucked away in Prizmo: curvature and perspective correction.

Let’s start with the OCR function. I made three handheld shots with my trusty Sony compact digicam, saved as JPEGs: one of a photocopied magazine article; a page from an early book of comic poetry; and finally, a page of tightly packed from a book of mine on collectable cameras.

The photocopy image was imported into Prizmo. First task was to locate the grid corners, the area in which the desired text was located; so I tapped the button Full Grid … this can square up an image that may be off level.

At this point I tapped the OCR button; by moving the cursor across the page I could preview the recognised text; following this I saved the OCR scan and could do this as a PDF file or as rich text or regular text.

If you’re running the demo version you can assess Prizmo’s capabilities in OCR and view its ability to recognise text — but the demo does not let you save it. Natch!

The result was that I had a text file that was 99 per cent perfect, falling down only where there were line breaks. Spelling? 100 per cent correct!

You may need to work with pages that are less than white in colour or ones that have text in colour. The app’s controls allow you to correct brightness and contrast in the document image or even to reduce its bit depth.

Now to the books

The comic poetry book image showed some curvature from the book not being photographed completely flat. No probs! Any bends were corrected in Prizmo.

The other book page was a bit more challenging but, by squaring it up and adjusting brightness I managed to make an OCR scan that gave me 99 per cent correct, readable text.

Curves etc

The app is handy for squaring up images but frankly is little better than Photoshop’s tools. But if you ain’t got Photoshop….

Comment

I found that correcting the squareness was the main element in achieving successful OCR.

The app is a little erratic in its behaviour: sometimes an image would load upside down and then, on occasions, the preview would appear upside down or sideways on the preview screen.

To assess its OCR talents I ran the text images through a dedicated OCR Program — ABBYY FineReader 5 Sprint Plus — and found that on most images Prizmo performed better. Nuff said!

System: PowerPC or Intel Mac with OSX 10.5.8 Leopard or later.
Get it at www.creaceed.com/prizmo/

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Prizmo for Mac [Review]