Why a Tripod?

The monopod can at times be just as important, but I'd rather stay with my tripod.

To some the tripod is looked on as a necessary evil, but I really don’t believe there is anything evil about it at all. Very often it will get taken out on a photo shoot, just to be left in the car boot (trunk). But tripods should never be underestimated, there are times when you simply cannot do without it. So if you think you have too much to carry and there is a long trek from the car to the shoot, I’m sure the little wife will only be too happy to carry your tripod (says me, looking gingerly now over my right shoulder).

Yes, they are heavy and can be cumbersome at times too, but don’t look on the tripod as an extra burden. It should be the first thing on your list to pack - not the last. Apart from the camera of course!

I find, that once I have the camera mounted on the tripod, it gives me the (hands free) freedom to move about the scene and mentally compose my shot. Then, all that is  required, is simply to make the necessary adjustments and shoot; and my hands are free again to contemplate the next viewpoint or a different angle.

When using slow shutter speeds or shooting in low light, you cannot do without your tripod. I know, you can always lean it on the side of the car or a tree, but these sorts of surfaces can only restrict and limit your shooting angle or view point.

If you wish to shoot waterfalls and achieve that dreamy, misty look to the water like the pros, where your shutter speeds need to get down to at least ¼ - 1/3 of a second and slower, you will definitely need a good sturdy tripod, because the risk of camera movement is greatly increased at those low speeds. Also, if you want to take panning shots of a moving vehicle and have the vehicle in sharp focus whilst the background is all streaky in the depiction of movement, a good sturdy tripod is also essential.

While you have the ability to use slow shutter speeds this then allows you to set much smaller apertures, allowing greater depth of field in your pictures. You can in fact shoot at any aperture you wish and with small apertures, coupled with your tripod, you can produce some great accurate panorama shots as well. Although with these shots you will need to ensure that your tripod is level.

If I have finally convinced you now to go out and buy a tripod, give some serious thought to spending a few more dollars on a good heavy duty type. I’m not going to mention any brands here, but you don’t really have to go over the top. Simply explain to the sales assistant that you want a good heavy duty one. You need to consider weight and strength, but you don’t want to pay more than you can afford. If it is too heavy you are not going to be encouraged to take it anywhere, but on the other hand, if it is too light, it’s not going to support your camera properly.

I have seen one that converts into a monopod by removing the centre stem, which then telescopically forms into a monopod/hiker's stick. very ingenious!

I use a heavy duty steel one to put the heavy gear on, although I am still able to carry it to most places. I also have a light weight one that I mainly use for an added lighting support. With an adapter, I can fit the external flash unit onto it, by the use of a sync lead.

A few quick tips to help you get the best from your tripod.

Always spread the legs fully. Common sense really, it's going to be more stable the further you spread the legs. Some tripods, like mine, allow you to spread the legs past the normal stops to get you out of trouble in tight situations. Only use this facility when it's really necessary.

Use the minimum height you need. Don't go higher than you have to, the higher you go the more wobbly the tripod will be.

Extend the legs rather than the central column. The central column should only be used for fine adjustments, it is not as solid as the legs.

Adjust the height of the legs before spreading them. It's the only way to make sure that the legs are all the same height. This will give you the best chance of the camera being level. However you still need to check it by eye or with a spirit level.

Here's a tip:

If you are a bit light on in the ready cash department and you only possess a light weight tripod and you are off on a field trip this coming weekend, fashion a piece of strong fencing wire into a hook that you can attach to the centre stem of your existing tripod and take along with you on your shoot a fairly strong plastic shopping bag or similar, so that when you get to your destination, you can attach the hook and suspend the bag from the hook with some rocks in it. This will weigh down your tripod and provide a sturdier base for your camera. Especially if it is windy where you are going and you can never be too sure that it won't be.

Cable Release

Cable Releases or remote shutter releases are mechanisms that, when attached to the camera, allow photographers to operate their cameras from a distance. They generally consist of a length of cable or lead with a plug on one end connected to the camera and a switch lock and release button on the other.

After investing in one, you'll wonder what you ever did without it!

They perform two main tasks:

1) In low light situations, where the shutter is required to be kept open for long exposures, for example, photographing star trails where the shutter may need to be open for two or three hours and longer.

2) To assist in close-up photography or when the operator is concerned about possible camera movement as a direct result of manually operating the shutter.

The switch lock/button end of the lead is held by the photographer and once the photo is composed the button is then pressed to release the shutter. If the shutter is required to be kept open (as with the star trails) the photographer presses the button and locks it down with the switch lock and then after a predetermined time the switch lock is released and the shutter closes.

Fill-Flash

Fill-in flash is normally used when one is confronted with abnormal lighting conditions, where a resulting photo may cause dark shadows to appear over the frontal or facial areas of a subject. These conditions are generally brought on by having the light source ahead of the camera lens or behind the subject.

Problems of this nature can also come about when photographing your subject in a snowy field or on a white sandy beach.

Photography taken in this manner, against the light, is known as Backlit Photography and/or rim lighting, where your subject is being lit from behind.

When you look at an object that is lit this way, your eyes will automatically adjust to balance any adverse lighting difference, to a point. But your camera cannot cope passed certain levels of brightness, or shadow. If it sees an area behind the subject that is brighter than the remainder of the scene, its built-in light meters will read off the brightness in those areas and exposure the scene accordingly. This could then result in an image with a properly exposed background, but your subject is like to be in dark shadow. As well as anything else used as features in the foreground.

If taking photos of a subject in bright overhead sunlight, shadows will again be a problem under facial features and especially if the subject is wear a hat or cap. Fill-in flash can also remedy this situation.

So, without going into bracketing and exposure compensation, fill-in flash is probably the most common way of treating this problem, as it balances out the differences between the bright areas and the shadows.

Reflectors are also used for the purpose of bouncing light back into the frontal areas of subjects. (Click here for more on reflectors and how you can easily make your own).

So, it is a matter of assessing the lighting conditions and knowing well beforehand, if they are going to affect the shot or not.

A lot of new cameras today have fill-flash as an added feature and for those who were not sure what it was used for, well now you know!

For those who do not have this feature on their cameras, you may have to manually activate flash whenever the need arises.

If your camera has a hot shoe, you can fit an external flash gun and one operates automatically TTL (Through The Lens), will offer just the right amount of foreground brightness you need for your subject, but also have a manual switch, for when you want extra light or less.

Today’s modern flash units swivel around as well as up and down, so they can be bounced of a nearby white wall or ceiling and they can come fitted with a light diffuser to soften the light being directed at your subject to give a more flattering look. And for even better versatility, you can also get a sync lead as a link between your flash and your camera. This allows you to hold the flash unit with a free hand while the camera is mounted on a tripod. Or as an added optional bonus, you can attach the flash unit to another tripod if you wish.

If, on your camera, auto settings are not available, for fill-flash, the aperture setting flash needs to be set 1-2 stops smaller than with normal non-flash settings.

It is better to use subtle flash for fill-in - otherwise there is a danger that double shadows will be produced, and the fill-in might impact on other subtle lighting effects that were wanted from the original lit scene.

For example, in modelling, where lighting has already been set up to enhance or soften a model‘s features, care needs to be taken with fill-in flash - or it could completely ruin the overall soft, flattering effect.

Note:

The key to using fill-in flash and natural light together - is to keep the flash subtle. If an end photo has evidence of flash light - then too much fill-in flash light has been used, and such shots will look very artificial.

The aim is to only use an absolute minimum amount of fill-in flash - in order to correct excessive contrast and shadows.

White Balance Explained

The term “white balance” originates from the world of video imaging where a device (waveform monitor) was used to match or “balance” the signals from the camera’s red, green, and blue channels to make accurate whites under various lighting conditions, thus balancing your white. In this article, we’ll use “white balance” for digital cameras in a similar sense: the process of measuring your light source’s colour temperature accurately, based on your lighting conditions, and using that information to correctly balance your whites and colours.

Symptoms of poorly set white balance:

If your camera’s white balance is set incorrectly, or if your camera chose the wrong algorithm for measuring colour temperature, then you will observe a colour cast on your image: it will either look slightly blue, slightly orange, or slightly green. A low colour temperature shifts light toward the red; a high colour temperature shifts light toward the blue. Different light sources emit light at different colour temperatures, and thus the colour cast. Let’s take a look.

What is colour temperature and how is it measured?

Colour temperature is effectively the warmth that is emitted from a light source, and the effect that temperature has on the intensity of any particular colour in the visible spectrum. For example, a 200 W bulb has more intensity in the orange/red end, and shows purples and blues with very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “warm”. Daylight has equivalent intensity across the whole spectrum, so you see purples and blues with the same intensity as oranges and reds. But shade or a heavily overcast sky has more intensity in the blue/purple end, so your oranges and reds will have very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “cool”.

Here are some examples of colour temperatures from common light sources:

1500 K: candle light

2800 K: 60 W bulb

3200 K: sunrise and sunset (will be affected by smog)

3400 K: tungsten lamp (ordinary household bulb)

4000-5000 K: cool white fluorescent bulbs

5200 K: bright midday sun

5600 K: electronic photo flash.

6500 K: heavily overcast sky

10000-15000 K: deep blue clear sky

Newer light sources, such as fluorescent and other artificial lighting, require further white balance adjustments since they can make your photos appear either green or magenta.

How does a digital camera auto-detect white balance?

Your camera searches for a reference point in your scene that represents white. It will then calculate all the other colours based on this white point and the known colour spectrum. The data measured from its R G B sensors is then run through a whole lot of numbers and predetermined equations to figure out which white balance setting is most likely to be correct. Remember, white balance is the automatic adjustment that makes sure the white colour humans observe will also appear white in the image.

Setting your camera’s white balance to AWB will provide colour accuracy under many conditions. Your camera will adjust the white balance between 4000K – 7000K using a best guess algorithm. Auto white balance is a good choice for situations where the light changes over time and speed is an issue (e.g. animal photography, sports photography). However, you should avoid using auto white balance settings in the following situations:

1) Your scene is heavily dominated by one colour

2) Colour accuracy is absolutely imperative

3) You are photographing particularly warm or cool scenes (e.g. a sunset)

White Balance Presets

Most digital cameras come with multiple white balance preset options. These presets work well when:

1) The light source matches one of the preset white balance options

2) Your scene is heavily dominated by one colour

Let’s review the most common preset options:

Tungsten - "Tungsten" is the name of the metal out of which the bulb's filament is made. The colour temperature of this setting is fixed at 3,000K. Best Use: indoors at night. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too blue. Creative Use: Set your exposure compensation to -1 or -2 and use this setting in daylight to simulate night.

Fluorescent - The colour temperature of this setting is fixed at 4,200K. Best use: Fluorescent, mercury, HMI and metal halide lights used in your garage, sports stadiums and parking lots. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too purple.

Daylight - The colour temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,200K. Best use: studio strobe lights. Otherwise, your exposure may have a slight bluish tinge.

Cloudy - The colour temperature of this setting is fixed at 6,000K. Best use: direct sunlight and overcast light. This setting will warm your photo by giving it an orange tinge, which is often desirable in landscapes and portraits. Creative Use: sunsets.

Shade - The colour temperature of this setting ranges from 7,000K - 8,000K. Best use: shooting in shade, no direct sunlight (cloudy), backlit subjects. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too orange. Creative Use: direct sunlight – it will warm up your photos even more!

Flash - The colour temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,400K. This is almost identical to Cloudy but sometimes redder depending on the camera. Best use: overcast skies. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too red.

An article from www.picturecorrect.com

Pets Photography

Photographing your pets, whatever they may be, requires, as you may have already discovered, not only a certain amount of skill, but lashings of patience and a very mild and even temperament.
So, with that in mind, I have discovered that the best opportune time is when they have either just been aroused from a deep sleep or have recently eaten a large meal.
Of course, you may be lucky enough to possess a pet which is fully responsive and quite willing to do whatever you want, but I assure you these individuals are very far and few between. Especially at juvenile age.
I would advise that you plan the shoot to be undertaken indoors, in a restricted room, where there is a good amount of natural light coming into the room from a large open window. It is important that your pet is familiar and comfortable with the room and its surroundings, but if you are unsure I suggest you set up the planned area with whatever you intend to use in the shoot, such as props, favourite toys, etc., a couple of days before hand. That will at least put the animal at ease.
By the way, natural light is best to use in these situations. You don’t want to use on-camera flash, as it tends to create nasty shadows and blown out areas as well as red eye and not to mention the fact that it could be uncomfortable and cause the animal stress when fired at close range.
It is important to note here too, that you are fully aware of your camera’s capabilities, as some of the requirements here may restrict you.
Apart from the props you use, you really need a tripod and a cable or remote shutter release would be an asset but not essential.
Your camera and its lens needs the ability to not only get full body shots of your pet, but also close-up, Macro type shots, which might include just the eyes and face.
It is important that the animal has had a recent bath to ensure the eyes and face are clean, as this is likely to be the main focal point and where you will be mainly directing you focus control at. You should also be attempting to convey the character of your pet by catching some quirky little antics that also bring out the emotion not only in yourself but those who view the images.
A classic shot to get is when they show sudden alertness such as, when have been playing quietly with something for a while and you suddenly whistle or clap your hands.
Don’t be satisfied with just one or two shots. Even if it means keeping the area set up for a few extra days, get in as many different shots as you can and from various angles and viewpoints. In particularly those shots that bring out the best in your pet.
Life is too short - even more so for our pets. And even more reason to make the shoot worth while.

Induced Blur

There are times when blur in your images can be really useful.
We have discussed in other chapters, blurring the background to enhance our subject or to disguise any unwanted background elements, such as bright spots, intrusions or other distractions. Working with slow shutter speeds you can also induce blur to create a sense of movement. As with “light trails”.
For example, in broad daylight, inner city street scenes of crowds walking to the subway or traffic stopped at an intersection, whilst other vehicles are speeding away or a train pulling away from the station or subway.
To achieve these effects, a good sturdy tripod is really quite essential, because of the slow shutter speeds you are working with. I would also recommend a cable release. And because we are working in broad daylight, you may have difficulty in getting down to your required speed, as slow shutter speeds mean wider apertures which means more light is getting in to the lens.
If you can operate your camera manually, it is best set to “Shutter Priority” and whatever it is you are shooting will determine the speed at which you set it.
There are three main factors to take into consideration: the speed or rate at which your subject is moving, how much blur you want to give and how much light you have at the scene, because obviously, a person who is walking or even jogging is moving much slower than a bus or train and if you photograph the moving vehicle the pedestrian may totally disappear from view. So you need to find a happy medium there.
It is with this type of photography that the Neutral Density filter will really come in handy. They allow you to get down in speed, come in various densities and will not alter the colours in your scene. Also “Grey Grads” are handy for street scenes where one side of the street is in bright sunshine and the other is in shadow. As Grads (graduated shading), they are shaded at one end, then feather off to clear at the other.
A polariser will also drop your speed by a couple of stops, but will probably not be enough in bright sunshine.
A good versatile lens is all you really need for this sort of work. A zoom lens in the order of about 28 - 200mm will do the job admirably.
So, if your kit fit’s the bill, before you go rushing off to the big smoke, may I suggest that first you get in some practice a little closer to home. This will ensure your confidence for the task ahead.

Sport and Action Photography

Sports photography, which comes under the category of photojournalism, can offer photographers quite a reasonably well paid career if they become proficient enough at it. But if it’s just the kids at school sports meets or if you just want to know how to take action shots, then I hope this tutorial will help accomplish that at least.
For the NOVICE, sport or action photography does not require specially sophisticated gear. A good point and shoot digital camera will certainly give you some good results, but for versatility and a better range of options, the DSLR has got to be out on its own. In fact, I will continue this tutorial based on the SLR camera, but a great deal of it will still refer to the point and shoot and I am sure that by reading this, those people will see where their limitations lie.
I say the SLR is preferable because of the option for manual operation, to change lenses and fit various filters whenever the need arises. The point and shoot is fairly useless too when your boy has possession of the ball but he’s right over on the other side of the field. So you are also restricted where distance is concerned.
I suppose distance can be a bother with the SLR too, unless you are prepared to spend big money on a long telephoto lens. And that can run into many thousands of dollars.
So, I would advise that if you are just interested in having a go at it at this stage, then you should read up as much as you can on the subject, get in some good practice and take it from there.
It would be favourable too, with your SLR to have a good knowledge on the manual workings of your camera and plan to use them with this type of photography. This includes shutter speeds, aperture settings, ISO ratings and focus control (reference link below).
For the action enthusiast it is recommended to switch to aperture priority, which will allow for faster shutter speeds with large apertures of f2.8 or f4 (if your lens will allow). This will give your subjects sharpness and clarity, but plenty of isolation, with a blurred background.
Also take a look at "Panning". (reference link below).
No matter what subject you take on, it is a good thing to know a little about what you are shooting and sport, or any action photography for that matter is certainly no exception.
Which means that if you are going to shoot a football match, you should have a good idea about how the game goes, so you can anticipate each move and know ahead of time when the action is about to happen.
Another aspect about football matches and many other field games, is that the players spend a lot of their time looking down at the ball, so invariably your correct shooting angle will be from below eye level. In fact you have probably seen at football matches how the photographers on the side-line are actually sitting down. It’s not because they are lazy, but that is their chosen angle at which to shoot the players. I have spoken to one fellow who says a lot of his time is spent on his belly.
Also a major piece of their equipment is the Monopod, which I suspect is a little easier to manipulate than a tripod and anyway with everybody rushing here and there in that confined area, you wouldn’t want anyone kicking the leg of your tripod when you are just about to get that favoured shot.
Other things to take into consideration are:
To work with auto focus
Have the camera in continuous shooting mode, so as not to miss any of the action.
From the camera’s menu switch to centre weighted metering.
Also check out your exposure compensation facility, because if there is a lot of white in the players’ dress you might need some minus exposure values of say minus 1 to 1-1/2 to keep some detail in those areas.
To keep everything sharp use your biggest possible aperture setting (smallest number) and depending on the ambient light you should be operating on shutter speeds upward of 1/250 sec. So the brighter the day, the better.

Reference:

Depiction of movement by panning

Shutter speed and aperture settings

Altering the camera's exposure settings