35mm and Digital Cameras

There are three main elements to exposure – aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. And, the relationship between these three elements can be thought of in terms of the ‘exposure triangle’. Each corner of the triangle represents one of the three main elements.

 

These three elements are all related and directly affect the exposure. One way to think about how these elements work together is to as imagine trying to fill a bucket with a garden hose:

ISO – is the measurement of the image sensors sensitivity to light. The amount of water in the bucket represents ISO, or the amount of light needed to achieve the proper exposure.

Aperture – is the size of the lens opening when the photo is taken. Imagine that size of the hose’s opening is the aperture.

Shutter speed – the amount of time the shutter is open. The time the hose is left on is the shutter speed.

All of these elements are directly related to each other.  If you decrease the size of the hose opening (aperture), then you need to increase the amount time the hose is on (shutter speed) to fill the bucket with the right amount of light (ISO).

If you have taken an amazing photograph, consider submitting it to a photo contest!  There are hundreds of photo contests out there, from free to paid contests, esteemed to just plain silly, and most offer great prizes.  Here are list of a few of some of the best free photo contests:

Smithsonian – their 8^th annual photo contest is open to all photographers over 18 and is free to enter. The deadline to submit is December 1, 2010.  There are 5 different photo categories and category winners get their photos published in a print edition of Smithsonian magazine and win $500.  And, the Grand Prince winner gets a trip!

Contest website: http://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/

Kilzoom – a high resolution photo emphasizing visual details is chosen weekly and winners receive $100. Open to everyone, and entry is free.

Contest website: http://www.kilozoom.com/customer_service/contest.htm

Shutterstock – submit your best travel-related photo for a chance to win a safari for two in South Africa! Open to U.S. resides ant free to enter. The deadline for submission is Many 12, 2010.

Contest website: http://www.shutterstock.com/photosafaricontest/

Foto Friend – prizes are awarded for the most creative photo editing.  Entry is free and open to anyone of all ages and countries.  First prize is $500 cash and a $50 Amazon gift card and category winners also receive a $50 Amazon gift card.   Deadline is June 30, 2010.

Contest website: http://www.fotofriend.com/photo-editing-contest

Have you noticed the graph that pops up when reviewing your photos on your camera and wondered what it is?  It is simply a graph that displays the range of tones present in that image. The far left side of the graph represents black and the far right side of the graph represents white, with gray tones in the middle.  Between the two are all of the intermediate tones between black and white.  The height of the bars indicate how much of that shade of light the photo contains. Photos that have a lot of dark tones or are under exposed will have more bars toward the left side of the histogram and photos with a lot of white tones are that are underexposed will have more bars toward the right side.  Check out this article on image histograms with a lot of examples of photos and their corresponding graph.

The Rule of Thirds has been used for centuries by painters and photographers, and is important to remember when trying to get a well balanced shot. This rule says that an image should be divided into nine equal parts and that important compositional elements should be placed where they intersect.  Basically, the subject is placed off balance, rather than in the middle of the frame, at an intersection of one of the gridlines. Mentally lay this grid over your image through your viewfinder and try to place the points of interest in your shot along at the intersections. Or, crop photos after a shot and try to line up the points of interest then.

Here are some a couple great articles about the Rule of Thirds that provide a lot of photos as examples:

• Pro Tip: Rule of Thirds
• Guidelines for Better Photographic Composition: Rule of Thirds

Cameras are getting better and better (and smaller and smaller) and your choices are endless.  In fact, according to 1001 Noisy Cameras, there are 50% more digital cameras on the market for 2010 compared to 2009.  Here are a couple new cameras that are about to hit the market that have been receiving quite a bit of hype:

• The new Sony Ultra-Compact Digital Camera has the small size and ease as a point and shoot, but with an interchangeable lens.  This camera also will take HD video.

 

• The FinePix F80EXR is a point and shoot camera from Fuji, and a winner of a DIMA 2010 Innovative Digital Product Award. This camera has tons of cool features and a remarkable 10x wide-angle optimal zoom.

 

• Another winner of a DIMA 2010 Innovative Digital Product Award is the Cyber-shot DSC-TX5. This Sony camera has a three inch touch screen and is billed as the thinnest waterproof camera on the market.

For more detailed information about more new cameras coming out now, check out the Consumer Reports Electronics Blog.

An f-stop, f/stop or f-number corresponds to the lens’ ability to gather light, and is the numbering system representing the aperture.  (Some camera manuals actually refer to the f-stop as “aperture value”). Any lens set at f/8 will admit the same about of lights as any other lens set at f/8.

The series is:

1    1.4    2    2.8    4    5.6    8    11   16    22   32

Although the number system can be confusing, it may be easier to understand if you remember these two things:

1.)    Larger numbers mean less light (smaller apertures)

2.)    Although the f-numbers do not double from step-to-step, the amount of light does

Why is it important to know and understand these numbers? One reason is so you can adjust other settings accordingly, such as shutter speed. For example, f/2.8 admits twice as much light as f/4.  So if you were shooting at f/2.8 and switch to f/4 but want to keep the same exposure, you will need to make shutter speed two times slower.

How does it affect image quality?

As the f-number increases, so does depth of field (see photo below).  So a photo taken with a high f-number, such as f/32 will have more of the objects in the picture in focus (top left half of photo).  A similar picture taken with a low f-number, such as f/5 will tend to have one object in focus, and the rest out of focus (bottom right half of photo).  Playing with this setting can give you interesting shots, especially when used for nature photos.

Here is a fun video to help you remember how the f-stop system works.

For a more detailed explanation of f-stops, along with the math behind the number systems, read this about the importance of understanding f-stops or math behind them.

The famous photojournalist Robert Capa once said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”  I think this is the key to taking great pictures, and most (even compact) digital cameras have a pretty good zoom, so it makes it easy.  And there is always the “zoom with your feet” method! There are multiple reasons I think that getting closer makes for a better photo:

1.  Better details.  This may seem obvious, but when you’re taking a photo of to record a memory, the more details, the better.  I may take this to the extreme with my daughter, sometimes just taking a close-up of her eyelashes or her tiny hands!
2. More interesting frames.  Try to fill your frame with your subject to get a more visually appealing shot.
3. Less distraction from objects in the background.  Clutter and strangers in the background of the frame can take the focus away from your subject.
4. Better lighting.  Unless you have an external flash or are taking pictures in a bright light situation, the built-in flash on most cameras doesn’t illuminate objects very far away.

This concept goes for most of your subjects: close-ups of flowers, wildlife, and scenery.  But, I think it’s most important to remember when taking pictures of people, especially kids.  Here are some more examples of getting closer and eliminating background clutter when taking pictures of kids.

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What is White Balance?

Understanding white balance can be difficult, because it has to do with the color temperature of different light sources.  The amount of light varies whether you are outside in the sun or in the shade, inside with bright overhead lights or by candlelight.  Your eyes do a great job adjusting to these differences in light and something white – a white t-shirt for example – will look white to you in each light setting.  Your camera has a built in sensor that measures the color temperature and adjusts for it, but it may not be exactly what your eyes are seeing, and may have a yellowish or bluish cast that you don’t want.  You can fix this easily by adjusting the white balance manually. 

Basically, white balance is an adjustment to get the color you want in your photos.  (Here is a much more advanced definition of color temperatures and their Kelvin value). But for most digital cameras, you don’t need to know the actual values for each setting because the menus have picture icons that are pretty easy to understand.

White Balance Menu Options

The menu of your digital camera may look a little different than mine, but should be similar enough to get the idea.  I use a Nikon D40, and I have the following white balance settings.  Choose the one that best applies to the conditions you are shooting in.

 

Incandescent (picture of an overhead bulb) – also referred to as “tungsten” (for the filament inside an incandescent bulb), this setting makes the colors cooler, sometimes maybe a little too blue.  Try it indoors at night for best results.

Florescent (picture of a fluorescent light) – if the cast of your photos is green under a fluorescent light, try this setting.  It warms up the harsh cast of a florescent lighting.

Direct sunlight (picture of a sun) – use only when shooting in direct sunlight.  This set things to “normal”, maybe a little on the bluish side.

Flash (picture of a lightning bolt) – use in settings when you are using your flash.  The light from a flash can cause the colors to be a little cool, so this can warm up your pictures a little bit.  Similar to the cloudy setting.

Cloudy (picture of a cloud) – this is a little warmer than the daylight setting.  You can also try playing around with this in direct sun to get a warmer cast. 

Shade (picture of a house casting shade on the ground) – since shade is so blue, this setting is very orange to compensate. This can also work for partly cloudy days, since the light of the open sky is bluish. Try this and pictures of people will look a lot warmer and more realistic.

Many of these settings allow you to fine tune them from a scale of -3 to +3.  This will let you adjust the amount of coolness or warmth in your photo, – being cooler and + being warmer.  The best thing to do is take a picture, look at the results and keep adjusting until you get the cast you are looking for.  If you end up with a picture that you don’t like the coloring of after the fact, you can correct it using Photoshop.

You can play with the white balance to get the most “true” coloring to your photo, or you can also try to change the white balance settings to get a more interesting shot.  Check out some examples of using the white balance to create warmer or cooler casts based on the feel you are trying to achieve with your photo.

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What is ISO?

This number originated in film photography, where it was used as an indication of how sensitive film was to light.  In other words, ISO measures the speed of the film and how much or how little light was needed for proper exposure.  On today’s digital cameras, The ISO number indicates how quickly a cameras’ sensor absorbs light.  In both film and digital photography, the lower the ISO numbers, the less sensitive your camera is to lights and the finder the grain.  The higher the ISO number, the less light you need to capture a photo; however the picture is generally noisier (grainier).  Here is an example of two pictures taken of the same subject (one at 100 ISO and the other at 3200 ISO) where the graininess is apparent.

When Should It Be Used?

Many people tend to leave their digital camera on Auto mode, and the camera automatically adjusts the ISO, aperture and shutter speed depending on light conditions.  Generally, our cameras are smart enough to do a pretty good job at this, but there may be some situations when you want to adjust it yourself, such as:

• You are shooting at night (or in any low light situation). In low light conditions, the shutter speed automatically slows down to create a balanced exposure, but when the shutter stays open longer, any movement creates a blurry picture. By increasing the ISO, the shutter does not have to stay open longer, because the sensor absorbs light faster.  You are shooting indoors (generally lower light conditions) where no flash is allowed (churches, museums, etc.)
• You are shooting at high speed, such as sporting events or children playing, especially indoors or at night when there is limited light. 
• You are not using a tripod, which most of us don’t when taking snapshots.  In low light conditions, the shutter stays open longer; even your hand movement can create a blur, especially when combined with shooting moving subjects.
• You want grainy images.  This may be the look you are going for, which can create a very cool effect, especially with black and white photography.

When increasing the ISO, the effect may be a little bit grainer, but it’s better than blurry!  But many new digital cameras are good at reducing noise, and every camera is different.  So play around at different ISO settings to see how your camera responds.  For a more advanced explanation, as well as some very handy tables to explain when to use what ISO number and shutter speeds, click here.

Now is the time of year that people are decorating their homes with Christmas lights, and many of us are visiting light displays and want to take pictures.  But getting good shots of lights can be tricky.  The lights are sometimes blurry or don’t show up well at all. 

 Here are some tips on getting a great photo:

• Time your picture right.  Although we usually think of taking pictures of lights when it’s pitch black, try taking them when there is a little light left in the day.  Twilight, somewhere between sunset and full dark, is your best bet.
•  Turn off the flash!  Most night shots are better with the flash off anyway.
• Adjust your white balance for “tungsten”.  This will cause your lights to gleam and the sky to glow slightly blue.  Check out this example of what the tungsten setting can do for your colors.
• Steady your camera with a tripod.  If you don’t have a tripod, use both hands and try to brace yourself against something sturdy.  The slightest movements can cause your lights to blur.
• Consider using your cameras timer.  This will decrease the movement from pressing the shutter button. 

Remember to take lots of pictures!  The more pictures you take the better chance you have of getting the best shot possible.  And check out flickr for lots of creative ideas for taking shots of Christmas lights this year!