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July 7th, 2008
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Whatever camera accessories you use, the most important tools in your camera bag will be patience and preparation. Check below for the other things you don’t want to forget.
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Zoom or telephoto lens
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Chances are you won’t be able to get as close as you want. And you shouldn’t try to get too close. You don’t want to disturb a bird’s natural habitat. So use a zoom lens to bring you closer. A camera with an 8X to 10X zoom lens should be sufficient.
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Extra batteries and memory cards
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Wouldn’t you be crushed if your camera died right when a Red-headed Woodpecker landed 10 feet away? What if you filled up your memory card? Before heading out, check the batteries in your camera, and snap a few pictures to make sure everything is working. Pack extra batteries and film or memory cards to keep you taking more pictures.
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Action-stopping pictures
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From the feeding frenzy at sunrise to roosting at sunset, you’ll want to capture it all. Use the sports action mode or set your camera to a fast shutter speed and a high ISO, like 400 or 800, so no situation will escape your camera. You’ll be set to freeze the action of that dive, swoop, or flutter.
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Tripod
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Use this to avoid camera shake and blurry pictures, especially with a telephoto lens. A small lightweight tripod is also useful when photographing birds in dim light, where the camera sets a slow shutter speed. It’s even good for close-ups of vibrant feathers or an amazing wingspan where extra steadiness yields sharper pictures.
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June 21st, 2008
The most important thing to understand about photography, whether it’s digital or film, is that it’s all about capturing light. So by understanding how different light affects your picture, you can significantly change the way your pictures turn out. Ideally, whenever possible, ensure that there is enough ambient light - the light that is already available whether it’s natural sunlight outdoors or indoor light fixtures. The more that is available, the easier it will be to take a picture without having to be concerned with aperture, shutter speed, or flashes.
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The most obvious area where this isn’t always possible is indoors. No ceiling light or table lamp can be as bright as the sun, so you will almost always have to add more light with a flash. Most professional photographers prefer to have more control over the lighting so they will use a variety of stronger lights to help them. By adding more light to an indoor scene, you can avoid the need for a camera flash, which can be distracting to the subject, particularly when you are trying to capture unposed or natural shots. |
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When it isn’t practical to add more light to an indoor or low-light scene, you can often rely on a flash to help add to the available light. A common mistake with a flash, however, is to misunderstand the reach of the resulting light. Most portable cameras can only light up a subject within an average of 10 to 15 feet – so, if the subject of the photo is further away than that, then either move closer, or look for an alternate light source or option. Professional photographers will often use an external flash, which can be synchronized with the camera like a built-in flash, but can be much brighter, as well as having the ability to position it separately from the camera itself. |
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Where lighting is less than optimum, you also have a number of options at your disposal if your camera provides more manual control over its functions. Many of these options simply allow for more light to enter the camera (more depth into these features is discussed on the next page covering ADANCED TECNIQUES. By adjusting the aperture, you can widen the lens opening to let more light in at one time into the camera, thereby taking more of the existing light in than you would otherwise. You can also adjust the shutter speed – by using a longer shutter speed, you allow more time for the available light to enter, however the disadvantage of doing this is that your shots are more prone to camera shake and blurring, so be aware and mount the camera on a flat surface or use a tripod. Many cameras also offer the ability to adjust the exposure which can help to compensate for having either too much or too little light available. A more dramatic example of these kinds of adjustments is with night shots, where photographers will often use a combination of all three, sometimes with shutter speeds of 20 seconds or longer, to effectively capture nighttime traffic, starry galaxies, or unique images of popular monuments. |
| As you become more comfortable with lighting, you can change the feeling of a photo by controlling the way light hits different parts of the scene or subject. For example, having the light hit the side of a subject can add more contrast between facial features and shadows, making for a more dramatic pose. Having the light behind a subject can allow the background to be lit while the foreground is dark, which can completely change the mood of the photo. If you want to ensure that everything in your photo is visible, then try and ensure that the indoor or outdoor light is hitting from the front for the most even view of the scene. Many studio photographers will use a variety of techniques, including multiple light sources and bouncing a flash off of a ceiling or object, to further control the lighting of portraits and other staged scenes. |
June 8th, 2008
| Light can dramatically alter the appearance of your subject. By simply changing the lighting, you can transform the mood from glamorous to ghoulish. |
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Hardness of light
Bright sunlight is hard and
- creates dark, clearly defined shadows that can hide the face
- emphasizes wrinkles and blemishes
- causes unattractive squinting
Light from an overcast sky or a north window is soft and
- creates soft shadows that don’t hide the face
- minimizes wrinkles and blemishes
- reveals subtle skin tones and hues
- allows the subject to open his or her eyes wide
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Direction of light
The direction of sunlight, especially hard sunlight, changes how people look. Which direction is best? That depends on the effect you’re trying to achieve.
- Front light: Harsh sunlight shining directly into a person’s face flattens the face and causes squinting.
- Overhead light: At midday, the sun is overhead and casts unpleasant facial shadows. Use the camera’s flash to lighten harsh facial shadows.
- Side light: Early and late in the day, position your subject so the sun strikes only one side of the face. With one side of the face brightly lit and the other side in shadow, you will create a dramatic effect. To reduce the shadow effect, use fill flash.
- Back light: Occurs when you position your subject facing away from the sun. This places your subject’s face in shadow, eliminating squinting and often adding an attractive glow to hair. Use fill flash to lighten your subject’s face.
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Indoor lighting
Taking good indoor pictures is challenging because the light is often dim. Natural light is so much brighter than most artificial light that it’s usually best to take indoor pictures of people with indirect light from a north window (or any window not admitting direct sunlight).Window light: Soft, indirect window light is good for people pictures. If the side of the face away from the window is too dark, reposition yourself and the subject so more of the face receives window light. Since dim window light may force the camera to use a slow shutter speed, hold the camera extra steady or use a tripod.Artificial lights: Table and ceiling lights don’t often provide attractive lighting for people pictures. Try to avoid using them, opting for flash or window light. If you must use them, hold the camera extra steady or use a tripod.Flash: A built-in camera flash is great for indoor snapshots of people, but not great for portraits. For portraits use window light. Follow these tips for using the flash to take indoor pictures of people:
- Position your subject within the flash range for your camera (see your camera manual). When photographing a group, make sure that all your subjects are about the same distance from the flash.
- Turn on all the room lights to avoid red eye. Red eye is caused when the flash hits the back of the eye and reflects back into the camera lens. The extra brightness will help reduce the size of your subjects’ pupils letting less light in.
- Watch out for shiny surfaces-such as mirrors, windows, and eyeglasses-that can reflect the flash. Stand at an angle to shiny surfaces to prevent unwanted reflections of the flash in your photos. Ask subjects wearing glasses to turn or tilt their heads slightly.
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June 3rd, 2008
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Composition is the combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole. In photography that thought is very important in taking good pictures. The following guidelines are just to be thought about though, it is not necessary to try to use them with every picture you take or there wouldn’t be any creativity in your work. Once you learn these rules and strategies you will be more prepared to find great picture spots and opportunities.
Before you just step up and take a picture you should consider what you want your viewers to look at and how you should display main points of interest. You should ask yourself, what is the main subject? What angle should the light be hitting in my picture? Is there anything that could accentuate the main subject? Where should the main subject be in the frame? These are all important things you should consider, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to follow the rules exactly.
 The Rule of Thirds has been used for centuries and is probably the most important of all the composition techniques. The Rule of Thirds means that the frame can be divided into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections and therefore, where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect makes an ideal location for the more important parts of your picture. By locating your main subject at one of the four intersections you give the subject more emphasis than if it was right smack in the middle of the picture. This is also a good technique if you have more than one important subject, the intersections can still work even if there’s a subject on more than one. The divisions can also be helpful in setting up a picture, they can for example, help you determine how much horizon you want. Most famous photographs or paintings in the world today have the rule of thirds applied to them in some way.
Simplicity is the method of keeping the information in a photograph relatively simple. If your main subject is close, then your background should be very simple to avoid distractions. You should try to keep everything not important much less interesting than what’s important in the frame. Especially avoid lines or objects that lead the eye away from the subject.
 Framing is the tactic of using natural surroundings to add more meaning to your subject. It could be anything such as bushes, trees, a window, or even a doorway like in the picture at the top of this page. In the process of doing this you need to be careful that you don’t only focus on what’s framing your subject. Make sure you focus on the main subject, and also it is a good idea to use a narrow aperture (high f/stop) to achieve a high depth-of-field. It also wouldn’t hurt if the part of the picture framing the subject was darker so make sure you take your light reading on the main subject.
Texture can add a significant amount of interest in any picture. When people see texture in pictures they start imagining what it feels like to touch what’s in the picture. Texture is a good idea when your taking pictures of rocks, walls, surfaces, someone’s hands, or leaves. In order to make a picture reveal a texture you must make sure the light is coming almost exactly from the side of the surface so it creates shadows in places key places.
 Leading Lines are used to lure the eye deeper into a picture or to an important subject. Straight, curved, parallel, or diagonal lines are all good at promoting interest. Good examples could be roads, rivers, streams, bridges, branches, or fences but there are endless things that could be used.
Colors are what add heart and emotion to your pictures. Certain color configurations can inspire awe and amazement in onlookers. Colors can be used to add all sorts of accents and effects, but you must be careful to not draw attention away from the main subject.
It might not be a bad idea to keep these key terms with you when you practice taking pictures. The best way to learn and improve your composition is just lots of practice and
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Photographing Birds
