Quick tips and Things To Remember
| 19 May 2009
Hi everyone here are some Photography Made Easy quick tips and things to remember. If you have done one of the Photography Made Easy workshops this will be a great little reminder.• Safety first
• Always dress for the weather. Did you check the forecast?
• Do you have your batteries charged and your spares?
• Do you have room on your memory card? Do you have your spare?
• Do you need your tripod?
• What ISO should I use?
Chances are if your camera is in “full automatic” it will choose the camera settings. If you have your camera on program or any of the program modes you can make minor changes.
ISO
ISO use 100 or the camera recommended closest that you can for the best quality shots without digital noise. The important thing is the ISO is another tool in you camera so use the ISO you need to get your shot’s whatever that is. Don’t miss out on a great shot just because you don’t want noise.
Check your frame
When you’re out there taking your photos make sure that you look around the edges of your viewfinder it only takes a moment. If you have things you don’t like in your frame either move in or zoom in to get the shot you want.
Fill your frame
Always subject to safety remember to fill the frame with your subject. You want to make sure that your subject is nice and bold in your photos or it will look to small in the shot you take.
How is your exposure?
Look at the shots you have taken. How do they look? Do the shots look to bright (over exposed) or to dark (under exposed)? Remember to use you exposure compensation to adjust the exposure for your shots to fine tune what you are doing it usually best if you shots are just a bit under exposed to help the colour.
For manual settings on DSLR cameras
For those of you that are using full manual on your DSLR cameras a good place to start is at 100 ISO you will want to use about a 1/125 of a second @ f8 or f11 you will need to test for your camera and lens but this is a good place to start. f11, f16 f22 will give you good depth of field this will be good for your landscapes and travel shots. f2.8, F4 and f5.6 will give you shallow depth of field and a fast shutter speed, so if your subject is close and you are focused close the back ground will be out of focus to varying degrees.
For A,S or P or for Canon users (Av,Tv or P) modes
For any of the partial automatic modes on your cameras remember to use your exposure compensation for the fine tuning of you exposure.
Remember your composition rules there are only 4 that we went through.
1. The rule of thirds
2. Framing
3. Leading lines
4. Reveals
Don’t be daunted by making sure you have every one of the composition rules taken care of, usually if you have tended to one or two of them the others will fall into place.
The colour of light
The time of day you shoot will determine the look of your image.
When you can pick the time of day to the shots you would like. If you want nice warm shots then you will need to go out at dawn or dusk to get the best results. If you are traveling then don’t be too worried about the time of day unless you have the time. If you are around water the best time if you can manage is when the sun is at it’s highest for the best colour.
Night shooting
Remember to get there in good time if you want to get the shot. Take your time, and fill you frame. Your composition rules are vital with night shooting. Experiment to make sure you get what you want. For time exposures with DSLR cameras 100 ISO start at about 8” @ F8 or F11 for your long exposures and for your quicker exposures use about 1” at F8. If you’re panning remember to be steady and only pan on your horizontal.
Have fun and stay safe and most important enjoy your photography from Photography Made Easy
