Choosing a Camera

I was in the market for a new digital camera a couple of years ago.  Nikon or Canon?  I had used Nikon for numerous years and still have a couple of Nikon film cameras.  A couple of people gave me a great suggestion.  As the features and qualities of both systems are pretty much at a par, I picked up models from both systems and held them and ‘took’ some pictures in the store with them.  I was looking to see which had the most comfortable position of the buttons that I would be using.  FOR ME.  The buttons are pretty consistent from one model to the other in either system.  So, certain things that I knew I wanted to be able to do/use.  I wanted to be able to easily ‘autofocus lock’ and for me that was easier to do with the Nikon.  It ‘felt’ better.  My son prefers the Canon (and is he is incredibly competent with that camera).

So, my advice to you, if advice is worth anything, is to take your time and hold cameras from both systems – and any others that you make like to check out for that matter – in your hands and click the shutter a bunch of times.

Does the camera feel too heavy or too light. (Remember to hold your left hand UNDER the lens not over top.  This helps give the camera support and makes for steadier picture taking.   Let the camera body sit in the heel of your hand.)

Hope this helps.

An interesting use of ‘Fill Flash’

I was wandering around a friends farm yesterday and we went in to see what was in the old barn.  It was quite dark inside – a bit too dark for taking many pictures but on the way out I thought that I would try a picture of the outside framed by the inside barn door.  I had the camera set to manual and adjusted the settings for the light outside. I then switched on the flash to light the interior.  Without some light on the interior the surrounding part of the inside of the barn would have been completely dark.  The flash gave a comparable light balance to the outside light.  This can be adjusted on most cameras so that you get a little more or a little less flash.

One could use a tripod and set the camera to get the available interior light but the result of that would be an overexposed outside.  For me this was a great balance.  And a very simple way to get the lighting balance that I wanted.

Photography: Manners and models

Keep your manners in with your models.  Some models are not comfortable with you touching them.  Particularly if they are scantily clad or nude.  ALWAYS ask before you touch or preferably find another way to show them what you need.  If you you need them to drop a shoulder or move a leg tell them or show by using your shoulder or leg.  If the model knows you and there is trust she may be fine but do not assume anything.  If you ask if you can move an arm, or adjust the hair or the like and she says yes, make sure you watch her reactions to ensure she means it.

It is OK to tell her she is beautiful and the poses are wonderful but don’t flirt.  Be professional.  I guarantee that your pictures will turn out much better.  Always ask them to bring a friend with them.  This is for both of you.  The friend should not necessarily be in the room but with hearing distance.

If you are shooting nudes or glamor make sure that you have a private spot where she can dress and undress.  Have a robe available so that she can cover up when you are not shooting.  Some may not need something like this but by having these things available and respecting her space the comfort factor will increase dramatically.

Make sure that she knows that if she is not comfortable with anything that you are asking to say something.  Also, make it your responsibility to observe if there is discomfort and change what you are asking.

Manners, even something as simple as a pleasant greeting, can go a long way to smooth any working situation.

Practice your photography by copy and trying to duplicate other photos

Here is a tip for those who want to take pictures and are not sure where to start.  Find some photos that you like.  It does not matter if they are scenic, outdoor portraits, studio shots of people or ‘things’.  start with some simple photographs and set things up to try and duplicate the shot.  Get the lighting, exposure, everything as close to the picture that you are trying to copy as you can.

Sometimes this is all you will do and other times this will give you a starting point for something else that is creative.

The idea is that you want to be able to control all the aspects of your photography and be able to call upon these skills when you need them.

If you are taking a picture of a model, figure out how the lighting works for that picture.  What was the focal length of the lens.  Was it a 50mm lens, an 80mm?  What was the depth of field?  Set up the lighting and angle that you are shooting and softness or hardness of lighting.  Take a picture.  Change your settings and keep track of the changes – if you can, write things down.

If you are doing a scenic shot there are a lot of variables here.  Time of day, time of season, sunny? cloudy – definitely trickier.  I find shooting outside it more ‘catching’ the moment and in the studio you can be more at cause on the results. If you are shooting a model you are still ‘catching the moment’ of his or her expressions and movements.

Some beginner’s magazines such as Popular Photography are great for this as they often put up photos with suggestions to duplicate.

As you get better try harder photos but start with something less difficult.

Wildlife Photography – manual or autofocus

I don’t really have the proper lens for wildlife photography right now (will be remedied soon!) but even so there are a couple of things that I recently learned NOT to do…or that I could do better.

Hiking in the mountains near Calgary give numerous opportunities to shoot wildlife.  I was originally mainly looking to shoot scenic but have been able to shoot not so shy mountain sheep and deer numerous times at the side of the road or along a hike.  Recently though I was close enough that I could shoot a moose and a black bear with my 70-200 zoom and get some pretty decent pictures.  Well, they would have been if I’d known what I was doing.

When I’m out hiking I generally let the auto focus do the work for me.  When we came across the moose and the bear the other day this was a mistake as there was too much vegetation.  This confused the hell out of the camera and a quick look at the image on the camera didn’t really show that the picture was mediocre.  I have taken lots of action as well and I like the ‘continuous-servo’ focus feature on the camera.  This allows me to follow the motion without constantly having to press the shutter button half way to refocus.

But again that doesn’t work so well when there is vegetation in the way.  So, if you camera has a Auto/Manual button on the lens, switch it to manual.

Narrow or deep depth of field:
Now if you are more concerned about making sure that you get a decent shot of the particular animal then try and shoot with a small aperture.  This will more likely put everything in focus including your background but at least your moose or bear will be as well.  If you have the confidence in your eyesight and focusing ability then shoot wide open.  This will narrow the depth of field and if you try and focus on the eyes of the animal you should be able to soften the background enough so that what you are shooting stands out.

When you run into a moose on the trail 20 feet in front of you it is also good to have someone with you so that you can concentrate on taking the photos while they are prepared to push you out of the way of a charging bull.  (That wasn’t necessary this time but…)

Taking pictures against the light

Try shooting against the light.  Sunsets are a good test for this.  If the light is low you may need something to steady the camera – even sit down and put your elbows on your knees.  

The thing with shooting against the light whether it be in the studio or at the beach you may have to adjust or compensate for any automatic settings on the camera.  Many have a setting for ‘backlighting’ which is essentially letting in more light.  The tendancy of a camera is to ‘shut down’ the amount of light when shooting at a sunset or studio light so that often not enough light comes in.

If for example you are taking a picture of someone at the beach with the sunset behind them, the people will be somewhat dark.  A lot of smaller cameras will have a flash that will automatically go off.  This will work if you are close enough to the subject.  Try and get a head and shoulders shot with the sunset behind instead of full body shot 20 feet away.  One the flash will not usually get that far and two: decide what you are taking a picture of, the sunset or your friend/relative.

You can get both but decide which is the focus of the picture.

In either case play around with any override features in your camera to see what works best.  When I was first learning I used to set my camera on ‘manual’ and use the in camera meter to ‘see’ if my lighting was correct.  I easily let in more light or less with a turn of a dial.

Photography Lighting Techniques

I’ve said before that one should learn one thing at a time and this goes double for camera lights.  There are dozens of photo studio tutorials out there and you can study them all but here is a bit of advice: Practice a portrait set up with one light and use it in every possible permutation you possibly can think of.  Study how to set up studio lights then see what you can do with one light.  Lighting techniques can get very complicated with getting proper balance amongst the different lights:  Have this light so many stops lower than that one, etc.

You can do amazing things with just one light.  If you absolutely need some ‘fill’ use some styrofoam board or some aluminum foil over cardboard as a reflector.  Crunch up the foil before spreading it on the cardboard so the light will be more diffused.

For your portrait set up get a model that is willing to sit with you for a while so that you can experiment.  Arrange to give him or her a set of pictures in exchange.  Set the light close, then far, up then down, front, then back.  Place your light then take a couple of pictures. Then place your reflector and take a couple more.  As far as getting the right amount of light – you can use a light meter but if you do not have one – with a digital camera you can take a few until you get it right by checking the pictures.  This drill is about geting the lighting angles and balance.

Practice this until you are happy with two or threes angles and like the results.  This gives you a portrait set up that you can confidently set up and get consistently good results.  If you are in a situation where you can only use one light you will know that you can get a good product and your model/customer will be happy.

Once you have this down and can get good results in your sleep search out some other lighting tips for photography and see what you find.  Remember the rule: keep it simple.  You can build on that but if your basics are solid you will only get better as you expand.

Don’t show them everything!

I’m my own worst critic but maybe that’s not an entirely bad thing sometimes.  Most people don’t want to critize an artist.  Particularly in front of his face.  (That is generally a good thing.)

I learned very early not to show ‘customers’ all of the pictures that I took of them or their children, family,etc.  Only show them the good ones.  If you take a hundred photos and you end up showing them only 30, that is OK.  As long as they are your best 30.  They will be blown away by these and won’t even ask if there were more.  Even the best photographers will take some crappy or mediocre photos when shooting pictures.  Maybe more than some.  I freely admit that I do.  I’m so happy with digital.  I can take lots more crap that no one sees but me.

When you are looking at your photos with respect to showing them, take out the obvious bombs.  This would include out of focus, lighting that creates unflattering shadows, noisy backgrounds or poles sticking out of the top of the head.  Even if it is otherwise a good picture a pole sticking out of the top of the head is too distracting. Then look for any that are could be OK if the flaws that can be cropped out.  Like a head stuck in at the side or missing feet.  You can always go back later to see if you can salvage some.

Once you have done this, look at them again.  Look for any photos that don’t really stand out or are in any way unflattering to your subject. If you can fix them great.

If you have only 10 stellar photos out of 100, show only those. This will do two things: one, it will make you take better pictures and two, generally people will be more stunned with the impressive quality of them.

Create in abundance.

Don’t cut off their feet!

It’s no fun.  Unbalancing.  That’s the truth though – when you take a photograph in which someone is standing and you cut the picture off at the ankles or thereabouts the photo or the person in it looks off balance.

When you frame the picture with the person you are shooting either get the whole body or cut them off above the knees somewhere.  Next time you are doing a photo shoot with a model shoot several different pictures of the same person: full body top to bottom; cut off at ankles; cut off above the knees; waist; bottom of rib cage; etc.

Now if you have a picture that looks unbalanced because you have cut the photo off at the ankles and other than that it is a good photo you can still do something to salvage it.  Crop it.  Crop it in a few different places to see what looks best.

In the first picture the feet are ‘cut off’.  I’ve cropped the second one a little to get better balance.  The third still communicates fully and is more focused without any distractions.

How did they set up the lighting for that photograph?

Studio lighting.  There are a ton of books out there and lots on the web to show you how to set up lighting for portraits and models.  I generally like my lighting simple.  I like working with one light and a reflector or second fill light but sometimes one needs the third light.  This tip, though is not about telling you how to set up what lights for a particular portrait shot but how to figure it out yourself.

Grab a bunch of magazines that have studio pictures and start checking the eyes and shadows.  The highlights in the eyes can tell you a great deal about the size and shape of the lighting used to light the face.  You can often tell if the photographer used an umbrella or box or some other type of light.  Even outside shots need that highlight in the eye and by looking closely at the reflection in the eye you can figure out placement, size and shape of the light.

Match this information with the shadows on the face, body and background.

Check to see if there is a light on the hair and what angle it is coming from.  Is there a light on the background? Is it behind the model shooting up to light behind the head or are there a couple of lights to either side completely filling in the background?

Use what you learn to try and duplicate the lighting for your models and portraits.