Lighting Technicques

Most lighting techniques can be learned simply through observation. Anybody can take great photographs if they spend some time before working out the lighting. It is often times the main element that differentiates an interesting photograph and an amateur picture.

Especially if you are headed somewhere with different sights and nature, your photographs may be an inspiration to others who have never been there. - Learn about the types of lighting and its effects. Start by familiarizing yourself with the dramatic effects of the morning light, late afternoon and the dazzling romantic evening light. Avoid mid-day light as it tends to be too bright and results in overexposed pictures.

-          When taking a close up of an object such as a flower, avoid placing the object on the center of the frame. This important tool is essential to both amateurs and professionals alike. It is used to help you capture objects at a perfect distance; the right shot at the right time.

-          Take lots of photographs of the same object. Experiment with exposure settings and angles. - Practice is the key to taking good photographs. Take a closer look on the details of each photograph, as well as the photograph as a whole. Take part in amateur programs or exhibitions. Anybody can shoot great, professional looking photo's with a good understanding of lighting. Majority of striking photos depend on manipulating the lighting on your subjects. Because photos are a two dimensional medium, people tend to notice pictures that have a three dimensional feel to them.

-          Easiest days to shoot photos are on cloudy or even foggy days where the light is filtered through and soft, creating a nice even light without being too harsh.

-          Aim for "Golden Hour" sunlight. The sunlight during this time is soft, angled to provide 3 dimensional lighting, and has a special golden color that makes photos look great.

Tips for Indoor/Artificial Lighting, Professional photographers rarely place their light source directly facing the front of their subjects. They usually use what is called a 3 point lighting set-up. Two lights are shining at the subject from the side (one "main" light shining at 2/3 from the side of the subject's face, the second "fill" light is a softer light that fills in any harsh shadow on the last 1/3 of the subject's face). One light from the back to give the subject backlighting to separate them from the background.

You manipulate lighting set up mostly either:

1) Increase the distance from the light source and your subject to make the light softer (decrease distance if you want your light to be brighter)

2) Placing opaque filter (a sheet of wax paper or something similar) in front of the light source. This softens and diffuses any harsh light.

Taking Photo at Night

 As one of the main problems of taking photos at night is the lack of light this can cause changes to how the image is captured by the camera. Due to insufficient light the colours become more subdued and neutral while colour tones change. For example, you can widen the aperture which enables more light into the camera. You can also increase the amount of light by slowing down the shutter speed however, this makes the camera more sensitive to shaking which creates blurry images. Therefore, it is recommended that you use a tripod to steady the camera while taking pictures at night or in settings with low lighting. With modern cameras you can adjust the ISO setting. This means the shutter speeds are longer enabling the camera to catch movements in the dark more effectively. Below are some tips that any amateur photographer can use to master night photography.

You should also bring a good case for your camera as moisture during the night can easily permeate to your camera. The best camera to use for night work is actually the one with the manual exposure settings, preferably an SLR (single lens reflex). Exposures, One important thing that an amateur must remember in conducting night photography is the fact that longer exposures are needed for black and white photos compared to ordinary lighting. Use of flash, With insufficient light from the moon, most photographers will supplement the light with a hand-held flashes, a technique known as painting with light. Other more sophisticated ones may also use movie lights and torches as additional lights.

There is digital photography technique for night and low-light photography. Use your digital camera's built-in features to capture dramatic photos in dark or low-light conditions. Before you start shooting night photos, here are the some most important things to remember:

-          Disable your flash, Bring out breathtaking detail in low-light conditions by using a long exposure (the time your camera takes to collect light). Select Flash from the capture menu, then select Flash off. Press Menu/Ok.

-          Use a tripod, Long exposures require you to hold your camera perfectly still to avoid blurring. A tripod really helps. You can avoid touching the camera altogether by using the timer. The key to getting a successful night shot like this is wide aperture, low ISO, and a slow shutter speed.

-          Aperture, If your camera has manual settings, you can widen the aperture to allow more light to come through the camera lens which is vital at night when there isn't much light to begin with. Select either the Av (Aperture priority) or M (Manual) shooting mode on your camera to adjust aperture.

-          ISO,  A camera's ISO number dictates its sensitivity to light. A higher ISO (a "fast" ISO) will make your camera more light-sensitive, but will add more grain (or "noise") to your photo. If your camera allows you to adjust ISO, set it low (somewhere around 50 or 100) for sharp detail in low-light. This setting will increase exposure time slightly, but will produce a much richer photo.

-          Shutter speed, The shutter speed in this shot was at least a few seconds-pretty slow in camera terms. Select either the Tv (Shutter priority) or M (Manual) shooting mode on your camera to adjust shutter speed. Several HP digital cameras feature a Night Scenery shooting mode. This automatically disables the flash and uses a long exposure time.

Camera Spesification for Beginner

 If you going to focus on the single lens reflex style of digital camera. In the old days before many digital cameras were around, many film cameras had a dial or turn knob usually on the top right hand side of the camera when viewing from the back of the camera to set both the (ISO ) and the shutter speed.

The ISO controls the sensitivity of the digital camera to light. A low ISO generally 100 can be used for shooting when there are good lighting conditions in a variety of lighting situations such as outdoors or indoors providing that there is enough light to get a good shutter speed and aperture (f-stop) combination. When you are shooting pictures in darker lighting conditions generally you must increase the ISO and make the camera have a greater sensitivity to light when shooting in situations such as a cloudy, dark overcast day or indoors under lower lighting situations. Just remember that as you increase the ISO higher you may increase the digital noise giving your images a dotty or grainy colored look in color digital photography.

Generally on many digital cameras such as Canon cameras there will be a button labeled ISO either on the top or the back of the camera and a thumb wheel close to the shutter release on the camera. (See your owners manual for your particular camera)

Shutter Speed  is the duration of time that your cameras shutter remains open: This can be either a fast shutter speed or a long shutter speed. Shutter speeds go from very fast speeds such as 1/8000 all the way down to 30 seconds on many digital cameras of today. On a Canon Camera the dial for shutter speeds is designated as Tv ( Meaning time Value) After you set this to Tv you can toggle your shutter speeds up or down with the thumb wheel that is generally located behind your shutter release button on your camera. Long shutter speeds are used to capture images in lower light when you don't have to stop as much action: Some examples are: shutter speeds from 1/4th of a second up to 1/30th of a second. Often we start with these speeds when we are shooting an image in lower light situations because the cameras shutter is open for a longer period of time. When shooting at these shutter speeds you need to hold your camera steady and put your elbows against your chest, take a deep breath in and hold it then push the shutter release in or put the camera on a tripod to steady it. So lets say from 1/60th of a second and higher ( 1/60th, 1/80th, 1/100th and up in shutter speed )

Aperture: ( Also known as lens opening ) Imagine holes or openings that go from large ( bigger to smaller)

Depth of field governs what parts of our image are sharp and what parts of the image are out of focus. With one of the lens opening as we just suggested, if you focus your camera lens at the first box or domino you will generally have sharp focus from the front to the back cereal box or domino in the image. If you were to take a picture at a larger lens opening or aperture such as f 1.4, f2, f2.8, f4 you will most likely achieve a shallow depth of focus where if you focus on the front cereal box or domino then the cereal boxes or dominoes closer to you will be in focus and the cereal boxes or dominoes going further would appear out of focus. The larger aperture's are used in photography to get softer images in photographs such as portraits and wedding pictures as well as in images of children. About Measuring Light in A Scene, All cameras with a light meter to measure light are usually calibrated to see a tonal value of 18% middle gray! No matter what you aim the camera at it wants to get an exposure value of 18% middle gray. (read your cameras manual) Some cameras have an exposure lock button that you can push to remember the camera settings. If the image is too dark toggle the thumb wheel so that the indicator in the finder lines up more toward the + direction. Tv mode: You set the shutter speed and the camera will set the aperture (f-stop) Use this when you want to control the action stopping ability of your camera. If shooting a car going by fast use 1/200th of a second and up, if you were shooting in low light situations use a longer shutter speed such as 1/30th of a second and longer but be steady when you hand hold or use a tripod.

Av Mode: In this case you want to think about the range of focus, You set the lens opening (aperture) and the camera will set the shutter sped.

Take a Picture of Moving Object

 If you are new to taking photos of Moving Object, lets cover some general photography tips:

    Learn and understand your camera settings. Even simple digital cameras have an array of settings to adjust from lighting, shutter speed and mode. Take a household object of your choice and take a picture of that same object multiple times, each time change the camera mode, turn the flash off or change the shutter speed.    Take pictures of moving objects, if you live by a busy road try panning shots (hold the camera and follow the vehicle as it crosses your path horizontally).  Take your camera everywhere!     Edit your photos, if you have a good photo editing program you should try to learn the basics such as how to adjust the lighting or make quick changes - you won't need anything to advanced but you'll find that touched up photos can make a simple photo even more extraordinary.

Still photography freezes a scene. You have probably experienced shooting blurry photos usually as a result of wrong camera settings or the object moving while you were taking the photo. Such blurriness is not something you would like to see in a photo but if controlled some blurriness can actually be used to capture and convey the feeling of motion in a still photo.

Shutter speed is what determines if a photo is frozen or blurry. The faster the shutter the more frozen the photo is. The slower the shutter the more motion is captured in the photo in the form of blurriness. Open the shutter for too long and the photo will be completely blurred.

There are two ways to capture motion: to blur the moving object while keeping the background in focus or to blur the background while keeping the object in focus:

Blurring the object, Blurring a moving object captures its motion. If you freeze such a scene with high shutter speed the viewer can not tell if the car is moving or if it is parked. However if you use a slower shutter speed the moving car is blurred and the feeling of motion conveyed.

Blurring the background (panning), Consider the same car from the above example. Another way to convey its motion is by blurring the background while keeping the car in focus. The concept is simple: set the camera to a slower shutter speed. Pan the camera in a way that it follows the car. The car stays still at the same spot in the photo. Then shoot the photo as you continue panning the camera to keep it aligned with the moving car. What is the right shutter speed needed to capture motion? If the object is very fast 1/50 of a second can be all that you need.

It is very important to keep the camera steady when taking photos using slower shutter speeds. Photos that capture motion are impressive. Start with experimenting blurring the moving object.

How to Choose the Proper Camera

Can you name the three best rated ultra-compact, compact, and SLR digital cameras ? There are so many choices in digital cameras these days, it's very difficult to get consensus. Those categories being ultra-compact (subcompact), compact, and SLR digital cameras. Ultra compact cameras are, (as their name implies) very small cameras. Like your pants pocket, a shirt pocket, small purse or accessory pocket on your backpack. Those choosing a ultra-compact value portability above other features. Compact cameras are bigger than the ultra compact cameras, but offer several more features. While not as portable, they do take better pictures, and offer more control over camera settings like shutter speed, and ISO settings. While both compacts and ultra compacts have large LCD screens, your more likely to find a viewfinder included with the compact digital camera. While both ultra compacts and compacts could be considered point and shoot cameras, our next category is not. The SLR digital camera is the choice of many professionals and serious hobbyist photographers worldwide. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. With SLR camera, you get complete control over all camera settings. In addition SLR cameras have interchangeable lenses. The Canon Digital Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40 are both popular and well rated cameras in this category.

While there are many highly rated cameras, the consumer needs to understand the different features and skills required for each camera type. From there, it's simply a matter of choosing the best rated digital camera that fits within your budget. I'm a firm believer in the power of choice. Choice in cars, choice in cable providers, choice in which movies I watch, and choice in how I live my life. Take digital cameras for instance. I did promise a SIMPLE guide to digital camera buying, and I meant it. Let's only look at the top cameras from whatever category / budget were interested in.

-          image sensor size (bigger is better, not megapixels, that's different , if the salesperson can't answer this, find another salesperson)

-          image stabilization (great for shaking hands and slow ISO settings)

-          face detection / auto focus ( not essential, but could save a few bad pictures)

-          flash recharge time (slow recharge times can result in missed pictures)

-          size (choose from ultra compact, compact, or extra case need just for lenses)

-           SLR or point and shoot ( professional or Amateurs)

-          ISO settings (if your into manual tweaking)

-          Built in camera editing (things like removing red eye)

Once you have your short list of features, it's time to try a few cameras out. I like to visit the camera store, and take lots of pictures. Ask question, take pictures, ask more questions. Wash rinse repeat with a couple of cameras, and even a couple of salespersons if necessary.