Isolating the subject can assist in moving the viewers attention from the background to the main subject. IIn the case of the image below an aperture setting of f/4.0 and a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second was used. This low aperture with a 105mm telephoto lens helps to throw the background out of focus.
Author: Geoff
Moving Images
A slow shutter speeds can be used when you wish to gain a sense if movement or blurring of the image. In the image of the amusement park below, the shutter speed was several seconds long, allowing the lights of the wheel to move around the image.
Saturation
Increasing the saturation of an image is a great way to give it a lift. With film we used to use polarising filters to reduce reflections and to improve the saturation of our images.
Solarization
In the days of film photography solarization resulted from extreme overexposure. A pseudo-solarization can be created in the darkroom by taking the picture normally and then during the development phase exposing the image for a few moments to white light.
Street Photography
Walking the streets will present many opportunities for photography. In general a 35mm size camera is ideal for street photography and a zoom lens of around 17-70mm will prove to be of great value.
Look for simple uncluttered object to photograph with a clear background to make the main subject stand out.
Create a Photo Essay
A photo essay is in effect a short series of photographs which tell a story or document a series of actions. A photo essay is illustrated by a series of images which you may see in a magazine to tell a story. In general it will show a series if actions to illustrate the story.
Insect Photography
Insects can be quite difficult to photograph due to their size and some special camera equipment may be required to enable close focussing.
Humor in Photography
There is always room for some humor combined with your photography. This photographic series of a horse at the Silverton hotel near Broken Hill, Australia is a good example of what can be acheived with some foresight combined with a little bit of luck.
Auto ISO
In general people tend to avoid the Auto ISO feature on the latest cameras in fear that the camera will automatically increase the ISO up and introduce noise into the image. It is a known fact that higher ISO settings do introduce more noise. While this is very much a concern, the Auto ISO feature is very useful and generally applies conservative settings.
Constructing a Panorama Image
This tutorial covers the making of a panorama with Photoshop CS3 using layers. The two original images used to form the panorama are shown above. These two images are opened in Photoshop and the two images are merged together in layers to form one image. Both images were taken in Raw format and converted in Photoshop. Any vignetting of the images is corrected prior to combining the layers.
High Shutter Speeds
Any image of a moving subject will require a high shutter speed to avoid blurring of the subject. The kite surfer above was moving very fast and required good long lens technique and a very high shutter speed to avoid movement of the subject.
Nikon Lens Terminology
Nikon has one of the most sophisticated range of cameras and lenses available from any manufacturer. Lenses range from wide angle, telephoto, micro and tilt and shift. There can be some difficulty in understanding the Nikon terminology and the following may assist to help you understand.
Helicopter Photography
Helicopters are great as a photography platform, it is possible to get an exceptional view.
Try to get the pilot to fly with the doors off, as it will allow you to photography without looking through windows and gives a far better view. Photograping through the windows will give great loss of contrast in the images.
Graphic Images
The simplest of subject matter can be changed into fascinating images. The image below was a straight image from the camera. All that was done was to create a high contrast image to exagerate the normal contrast between black and white.
Fireworks Photography
Fireworks displays are generally very stunning and colorful. To capture those moments with a camera can be quite is a challenge. It is essential to use a tripod to hold the camera steady. Tripods can be inconvenient to use however they are almost essential to get stunning images. A cable release can also be very usefull to eliminate camera movement.
Photography At Night
Great images are to be had by venturing outside at night time. A dull city can become a colorful blaze of bright lights at night.
Most cameras are capable of exposures up to 30 seconds, however once you start to exceed exceed this then the camera control moves from the precision of the camera’s light meter to some guess work on your part.
Making a Nikon Camera Remote Control Release
This article is a general guide to building a remote control cabl for Nikon cameras with the 10-pin socket.
Fill in Flash
Many images can be improved significantly by using a small amount of fill in flash to eliminate harsh shadows. The use of fill in flash will give a more diffuse and even lighting.
Unsharp Mask
One of the mysteries of digital photography is the Unsharp Mask, why is it needed, how is it done and what does it do to the image. The idea behind unsharp masking is to exagerate the light dark contrast between any edges in the image. Any light dark boundary becomes more distinct.
Post Processing for Quality Images
In order to produce the highest quality images it is essential to establish a professional workflow through the complete imaging process from download, through organisation, editing, manipulation and saving the files. Downloading Some downloading software now provides image editing functions through the downloading process, however this is generally less than the best optimised results possible.… Continue reading Post Processing for Quality Images