Sunday, February 24, 2013

The aberration amid blur and agenda photography

There are many differences between film and digital photography. To most amateur photographers they do not matter much. They prefer the convenience, ease of use and lower cost of digital cameras and are not going to revert to the film age. However understanding the differences can help taking even better photos and can also help when debating with friends about the future of film.

Following is a list of differences that are important to understand. The differences are listed in no particular order.

The sensor: The most obvious difference between film and digital is the sensor used to take the photo. With film cameras a film sensitive to light is placed behind the lens. When a photo is taken the shutter opens for a predetermined period of time and light hits the film. The result is a photo "printed" on the film. To take a new photo the film has to be rolled and a fresh "clean" film is place behind the lens. With digital cameras a fixed electronic sensor (sometimes known as CCD) is situated behind the lens. The sensor is built from tiny light sensitive sensors each representing a pixel. When the shutter opens light hits the sensor and each pixel gets its "value". Put together all the pixels comprise one photo. To take a new photo the photo is saved on a digital media and the CCD is electronically emptied.

What does a different sensor mean? The main difference is in the Depth of Field. Since digital sensors are smaller in size than a 35mm film the depth of field will be much higher and in fact in most compact digital cameras almost infinite. The result is that blur backgrounds can not be created.

The cost of a photo: Photos taken with a digital camera literally cost nothing. The photos are kept in erasable memory and thus can always be discarded at no cost. Also the photos you would like to keep can be copied to digital media such as a computer's hard disk. With storage prices going down the cost of saving a photo on disk is practically zero. Film does cost money. With a film camera you have to pay for the roll of film, for developing the negative and for printing the photo. Every time you press the shutter button you spend money.

The capacity: With ever growing storage capacities digital cameras today can hold hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media. You can always have a few more in your pocket and changing is very fast. The result is that a digital camera has practically infinite capacity. You can shoot as many photos as you want and at the end of the day just dump them on your computer's disk. Film cameras' capacity is very limited. A roll of 36 photos can only hold 36 photos. After a roll is used changing to a new roll can take time and is not easy to do in scenarios such as darkness or a harsh environment. For that reason many professional journalists carry a few cameras on them and instead of changing rolls they turn and use another camera just so that they do not miss a shooting opportunity.

The feedback: One of the most important features of the digital camera is instant feedback. Almost all digital cameras include a small LCD screen. Once a photo is shot you can go back and watch it on that screen. The ability to see how the photo looks like results in better photos. If the photo is not good you can take another one. Being able to see the photos on the spot results in an educated decision how to fix a photo or how to better compose it. It takes a lot of the guessing away from photography. With film cameras there is no way to know how the photo on the film will look like when printed.

New shooting angles: Just a few days ago I took a great photo with my digital camera that I would have never taken with my film one. I shot a cat that was resting on little rock. I held the camera in my hand and positioned it down where it almost touched the ground and I started shooting. I probably took 50 or more photos. I immediately looked at the camera's LCD to review my photos and make sure they were focused and had the cat in them. The result was one great photo looking at the cat from the ground. I can not imagine myself just lying down on the dirty ground with a film camera looking through the viewfinder and perfecting that one shot.

With digital cameras you can actually take photos without having your eye glued to the viewfinder. Overhead shots where you raise the camera over your head are much easier to do since you can still see what the camera is shooting by just looking up at its LCD screen.

Correcting photos: With digital cameras photos can be corrected using photo editing software. Some correction abilities are built-in to the cameras but many more are available as software packages for your PC. With film cameras what you get is what you get. After the film is developed it is very hard to make any corrections. Usually if corrections are absolutely needed the negative or the printed photo will be scanned (i.e. converted to digital) corrected and then printed again (in a long and costly process).

Changing conditions: Every roll of film is designed for best results in a specific environment. For example there are indoor and outdoor films or films with different light sensitivity. If conditions change rapidly a film camera user will have to either shoot with the wrong film, change the roll (and usually lose photos that were not used in the current roll) or use another camera with a different film in it. The results of shooting with the wrong film can be distorted colors (reddish photos for example), a grainy photo and more.

With digital cameras the characteristics of the sensor can be changed instantly for each photo taken. With a click of a button the camera can be put in an indoor or outdoor mode, low light, night photography etc. Some cameras will automatically sense the scenario and set the sensor mode accordingly.

The myth of quality: While it is true that film photography has its advantages the claim for superior quality is no longer true. As digital camera evolved the quality of high end digital SLR cameras is superb and in many ways even better than film. When considering quality you should also consider the quality in terms of composition and the scenario caught in the photo. With digital cameras' high capacity, zero photo cost and instant adaptability to changing conditions photographers can produce better compositions and experiment more to get the best photo possible.

Longevity: We have also paged through old photo albums of our grandparents. The photo looked a a bit yellow, scratched and just plain "old". Storage of printed film photos or even negatives results in quality deterioration. Digital photos on the other hand never lose their quality. A digital photo will be identical today and 500 years from now. As long as we remember to refresh the digital media every now and then and to back it up our photos can literally list forever and not lose their quality.

The aberration amid blur and agenda photography

Night Photography Techniques

The aberration amid blur and agenda photography

The aberration amid blur and agenda photography
The aberration amid blur and agenda photography

Night Photography Techniques

His Most Famous Photograph (Fading Away) - Henry Peach Robinson

English photographer Henry Peach Robinson or H.P. Robinson (1830-1901) was a pioneer of 'Pictorialist Photography,' especially 'Combination Printing.' Pictorialists believed that 'Art Photography' needed to emulate the paintings of everyday life in such a way to etch it in time and remove from it the mundane of the photograph. Among the methods used for the same were soft focus, special filters, lens coatings, heavy manipulation in the darkroom, and exotic printing processes. These processes together gave an eerie and an unreal feeling of being etched in space and time to the fluid and everyday 'Modern Photography.' Henry Robinson was called "the King of photographic picture making," proving the pinnacle of his competence as a photographer. His "Fading Away" is an all time stunner.

Robinson began his career in 1850, working as a bookseller, while continuing to study art. In 1852, at the age of 21, he exhibited his oil painting "On the Teme near Ludlow" at the Royal Academy. Around this time, he also started taking photographs. After five years, he decided to make this new technique called 'High Art' or 'Combination Photographs,' his career. Robinson learnt the intricacies of photography from Hugh Welch Diamond, one of the earliest photographers in the world. In 1857, Robinson opened a studio at Leamington Spa. Along with making portraits, he started creating photographs, imitating the 'genre paintings.' These artworks showed 'scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation, depicted in a generally realistic manner.' Some of Robinson's well-known photographs are 'Juliet with the Poison Bottle' (1857), 'The Lady of Shallot' (1861), 'Autumn' (1863), and 'Seascape at Night' (1870). His masterpiece however, is "Fading Away," a 'Combination Print' that took him five negatives to create.

Generated in 1858, Henry's "Fading Away" depicts the peaceful death of a young girl due to tuberculosis. Her grieving family, her sister, mother, and fiancé precisely, are shown surrounding her. Measuring 24.4 cm x 39.3 cm, the photograph is an 'Albumen Print.' In 1860, Henry explained the creation process of the negative to the Photographic Society of Scotland, which led to huge disapproval of such 'realist manipulations.' Although, the photograph was the product of Robinson's imagination and the subjects are merely posing to create a touching albeit a realistic portrayal of a grieving family, many viewers felt that using a traditionally 'truthful' medium as photography to depict such a scene in falsity was too painful and shocking. One critic said that Robinson had cashed in on "the most painful sentiments which it is the lot of human beings to experience."

It seemed that since a photograph is usually a recorded proof of an incident that in reality took place in life, to see an 'untruthful' or artistic photograph was shocking to the viewers of the time. The public felt that though it was all right for painters to paint pictures on the themes of death and grief, it was not natural for the photographers to falsify such a setting in the name of art. This controversy however, made him the most famous photographer in England and the leader of the 'Pictorialist' movement. The exhibitions of "Fading Away" were a huge success. H.P. Robinson's work impressed Prince Albert too. He became a regular patron of the photographer's works.

His Most Famous Photograph (Fading Away) - Henry Peach Robinson

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Tube. Duration : 13.63 Mins.

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

photographyequipment.yolasite.com (Budget Equipment) razzi.me www.facebook.com twitter.com A detailed video on Night Photography. You'll find effective ways to slow down your shutter speed. In order to photograph cityscape at night you'll have to do long exposure which allows to slow down your shutter speed in order to get the proper exposure without increasing your ISO. Don't forget to subscribe as it's FREE.

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

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Event Photography - If You Enjoy Parties and Photography, Here's a Free Guide to Earning From It!

If you are considering becoming an Event Photographer this guide may be useful. I spent a long time researching all the kit needed to be a successful Event photographer, testing and costing carefully. It's all current gear available now so it's up to date unlike some of the guides I read.

I've been on training courses and I've done quite a few different Events now, so this is to help others avoid some of the common mistakes. This guide to Event photography is based on my personal experience and you are welcome to reproduce it as long as you credit this article with the website address

I do recommend anyone interested in Event photography going on the excellent training course supplied by Systems Insight, speak to Mike Orr, Stuart or Darren at systems insight. I've also found the Event Photographers Society really useful.

It is divided into sections as follows:

1, Camera Equipment needed for Event Photographers;
2. Lighting equipment for Event Photography;
3. Printers for Instant Event Photos;
4. Mitsubishi Click system for Event Photography;
5. Green Screen Event Photography;
6. Starting an Event Photography Business.

1. Camera Equipment for Event Photographers.

You don't NEED the latest high-end professional DSLR with pro glass lenses to shoot an event! It's nice to have good kit but that should be a given for any Pro Photographer. In reality the customer at a football tournament, school prom or black tie event doesn't care what kit you have as long as the results are good, and you don't want to be carrying a heavy camera with fragile glass in an environment that is often boisterous and busy!

You don't need to shoot huge resolution RAW files and won't have time to post process or mess about with hundreds of settings.You are aiming to get a sharp, vibrant and well lit photograph of enough resolution to print at your final output size. Concentrate on making the people look great!

I do recommend a wireless work flow which I cover later, and again you need the files to be small enough to send quickly. I use a Nikon D700 but that's only because I have one for Property photography as I need the full frame and low light capabilities.

I shoot jpg at just medium resolution for most events, and use a Sigma 24-70mm HSM lens so I can quickly zoom between individuals and groups. A Nikon D40 with a kit lens will do just as well. and I always carry one as a backup. It also takes my Nikon flashguns and is much lighter than a D700.

It is important to have a backup camera, I've even made do with a Nikon Coolpix P6000 when my D700 was being used pitch side at a Cricket Event. With proper lighting (see lighting section) I got almost identical results shooting people in front of a green screen. You must have at least one fully charged spare battery for each camera at an event, a couple of spare and preformatted memory cards, and spare batteries for your flashguns. I use the new Duracell rechargeables for the flashguns as they stay

So don't go mad on the camera kit, it will get bashed around at an event! As for settings, indoors I shoot at around f7.1 to f8 for groups so I get good depth of field, I use shutter speeds of around 125 to get sharp shots as I don't like a tripod, too restrictive, and I use ISO 400 to get enough sensitivity. White balance is easy on a Nikon, see lighting but the flash setting will do. For individuals and couples I open up to around f5 and shoot full length, head and shoulders and a close-up. Outdoors events are more dependent on the available light and the lens.

One tip, using a wireless transmitter to send the images straight to your PC, Mac or Click system avoids the pitfall of people (the ladies mainly) wanting to see each shot on the back of the camera as you take it! That gets them through quicker and lets your team at the workstation show the images properly at full size. I do actually keep the images stored in the camera as a backup though in case the wireless system stops working.

Another tip, if you are shooting groups at a School Prom or Corporate event, take a stepladder! If you get above them and shoot down it changes the angles and stops the people at the front looking much larger than those at the back! This lets you squeeze bigger groups in as well, especially useful if you are shooting in front of a green screen at an event.

Also, if you ever get a large group of girls at a School Prom or Sweet Sixteen event, take LOTS of shots! It is very hard to get a single photo where every girl is happy with how she looks, guys really are not as fussy. The girls will buy the photo that they look best in.

We tend to charge the standard rate £10 per shoot including a 6x9 mounted photograph, but do offer incentives for groups such as discounting copies of the same photograph, or offering 3 for the price of 2 if they are different shots that need processing.

2. Lighting Equipment for Event Photography

I don't use studio lighting for indoor events! Initially I used the standard large softbox above the camera and shot in front of a grey, back or white backdrop. But that's boring and old hat nowadays, the lighting is very flat and there is always the risk of people tripping over cables and the hassle of finding a nearby power socket.

At School proms, Bar-Mitzvahs and especially Sweet Sixteen parties it gets very busy and although we carry full insurance I don't want a heavy studio light falling on a guest. It's the same at Corporate events and Black Tie dinners, there's usually a huge rush after dinner for photos and even a taped down light can get pulled over by an inebriated partygoer!

So now I use a Nikon SB-900 on the camera with the wide-angle flap down and the soft diffuser fitted. This controls two other Nikon SB-600's also with the wide-angle flaps down using Nikon's excellent CLS lighting system. The two SB-600's are mounted on sturdy but portable stands and shoot through white umbrellas for lovely soft lighting.

At an Event you don't want to be messing around changing lighting when you have queues, but this setup is flexible and light enough to be safe to move quickly if you need to. The Nikon system lets me control the brightness of each flash directly from the camera without having to touch the lights.

As we use Green Screen backdrops at most events to add effects and digital backgrounds, I have to ensure the backdrop is evenly lit to avoid problems when chromakeying out the green. By mounting the umbrellas high up at either side and shooting through them, the green (or blue) backdrop gets evenly lit where it matters. The guests get a nice flattering lighting setup which I can easily adjust for large groups or closeups. I

I shoot on full manual with the on camera flash at about 1/32 power to give a little fill light, but mainly to trigger the two mounted lights. These are usually on about 1/8th power which is plenty! Recyling is very fast and I've never had to change batteries yet at an event, although I have charged spares on hand.

If I get a large group like a football or cricket team at a sporting event I can quickly move the two sidelights back and up the power.If it quietens down and we get a guest who wants some special shots, the lights can be moved so one acts as a keylight and one as a fill for classic Rembrandt lighting. We have professional makeover software running on the workstations so can enhance pictures quickly if someone wants portfolio shots.

The SB-900 on the camera can also be removed and used as a slave for hair lighting or other effects, triggered by the on canera flash. So we can do a three light setup easily! White balance is crucial, on Nikon cameras just stand where the subjects will be, set the white balance to "pre" then hold down the wb button for three seconds. When the display flashes, point the camera back between the lights and shoot. If it says "good" in the display, you are set to go. If not, try shooting again straight at one of the sb600, it will work!

The real beauty of this system is that it all fits in one calumet rolling case and is easily portable! It is very flexible for other types of photography. These flashguns are just as powerful as studio lights, and we even carry Fong diffusers and softboxes just in case we get a chance to do some glamour photography. (and yes, you can book us for private shoots!)

3. Printers for Instant Event Photos.

I used to to run a large independent company selling calibrated colour printers, scanners and displays into the corporate design market and previously worked with Canon, Xerox, Mitsubishi and Tektronix as a colour consultant. So choosing the best Event printers was an interesting exercise!

Inkjets and colour lasers were instantly dismissed as I needed portability, reliability and photographic quality. Plus I needed to know exactly what each print would cost. An inkjet will produce the quality with a bit of tweaking but will never match the quality, speed or durability of a dedicated dye-sublimation printer.

I don't believe in compatible inks as I've seen first hand the amount of R&D that goes into a manufacturers own ink. So ink-jet prints are going to be too expensive for event printing. Lasers are fast but lacking in colour quality, and extremely tricky to transport. After testing all the current offerings I decided on the Mitsubishi 9550 DW linked to the Mitsubishi Click system as our basic workhorse for producing large 9 x 6 inch photographs.

As I use a full frame camera this is exactly the size the camera shoots at, so no cropping needed! The photographs are fast and very accurate thanks to the dedicated colour profiling we use supplied by Systems Insight and fine-tuned by me!

The dye-sub process basically involves heating the ink on a ribbon until it turns into a gas and sublimates into the special paper. This is a true continuous tone process so the colour gamut is much wider than other processes, giving smooth and accurate skin tones with no dot patterns.

You can actually roll a photograph up and stand it in a pint of coke, leave it for hours and then wipe dry without any signs of running or fading, as demonstrated on the training course by Stuart! These photographs really won't fade and are fingerprint proof thanks to the special coating. They will last longer than any other photograph!

The fixed cost per photograph allows us to offer discounted pricing for pre-paid events like weddings or school proms as we know exactly what our costs will be per photo regardless of how much of each colour is used.

But we also offer a unique digital make-over service for events using a very special PC with professional retouching software so needed a printer we could connect directly. And we wanted to be able to offer instant 12" x 10" photos and other large sizes for Sporting Events like football and cricket events where team shots are popular.

So we decided on the larger format Mitsubishi as well as we have now found out it also works on the Click! Consumables for the Mitsubishi Event printers are readily available and therefore discounted prices help bring the costs down. Some of the more obscure brands like Shinko and Olmec are often tricky to source.

We are happy with the speed, quality and reliability of our printers, but more importantly, our customers love the results.

4. Mitsubishi Click System for Event Photographers.

My background is in colour technology as mentioned, but prior to that I was a DEC system manager, I have a HND in Computer Science and am a qualified programmer. Yes, I'm old enough to have done all that and spent 7 years in the Army controlling Artlillery fire by computers and by slide rules and log books when those systems were taken out.

So I'm probably more of a technical geek than most photographers. So why did I choose a dedicated turnkey solution for producing event photographs rather than use my expertise in PC and Mac solutions?

Laziness really, why re-invent the wheel! I quickly realised that to make any money at all in Event Photography you have to produce very good photographs to a very high standard very quickly! Work flow is very important. Initially I was either going to use a big 27" Mac with a studio display for quality to handle all the incoming pictures, or go down the Windows 7 route with a couple of fast Sony Vaio AW notebooks with their gorgeous Adobe RGB 18" monitors, with either system linked to a dye-sub or two.

But once I started looking at the workflow and software required I realised the Mitsubishi Click would cover all the bases. Yes, I could run either system quickly and use dedicated green screen software and professional retouching software to produce stunning results. But then who would take the photos? I needed a system that was streamlined and simple to use so I could train others to use it.

My first event was a corporate Xmas dinner and the only person available to do the green screen effects, printing, mounting and sales was my wife! The Click system is very straightforward, you set up a new event and pictures are sent wirelessly from the photographer. Selecting them by just touching the screen allows for full screen previews, once the customers have decided which photographs they want it is quite easy to drop in a green screen background and print, all by touch!

Camera cards and CD's can be easily read or burnt, multiple printers are supported and the whole system runs smoothly and look very professional. We've even had customers connect their own cameras or mobile phones by bluetooth and print their own photos! My wife managed well on our first event, and we had over thirty satisfied customers that evening, in a very short period of about 2 hours from when the meal ended to going home.

Many purchased multiple photos, with different backdrops and effects, but she handled it all while I took the shots. Now we have more trained assistants as it did wear her out a bit:) But I still wanted the flexibility and power to use more specialised green screen software to drop in overlays and fine tune some of the more tricky effects.

So with a bit of help from the techies at System Insight I worked out how to access the system directly, and underneath the smooth software front end is a powerful windows PC. So now if we get a really special request (like "put me in the Oval Office with President Obama") I can jump in and alt tab to Photokey or Portrait pro running in the background! And yes, you can print directy to the dedicated 9550DW by dropping jobs straight into the queue, email for details:)

You can also boost the processor speed, add more RAM, put in a HDMI graphics card to support external displays, even change out the motherboard if you are brave enough and don't mind voiding your warranty!

I'd recommend this system to anyone starting out, and would also recommend you buy it from Stuart or Darren at Systems Insight as they know the system well!

5. Green Screen Event Photography

To be successful in Event Photography as in any business you need a key differentiator, something to make you unique. We all provide basically the same service, photographing people having a good time and offering prints or downloads. Some specialise in niche markets like weddings or school photographs, or certain types of events like Equestrian or Motorcycling. I chose Green Screen Event Photography for a variety of reasons.

I like the portability of our lighting system and didn't want to spoil that by having to carry around various huge coloured backdrops for different occasions. I find it boring having dozens of people shot the same way, and I'm sure most people who go to events are getting fed up of the same bluey grey backdrop, or the "ultra modern" white or black high or low key shoot.

I want to have fun at an event and want the guests to experience something new. So we shoot everyone in front of a blue or more usually a green screen and then our special software can replace that colour with any of our 2500 digital backgrounds! This gives us the flexibility to add classy studio backdrops to Black Tie and Corporate Events, and lets us choose appropriate colours to enhance what the guests are wearing.

For School proms and Sweet Sixteens we can get the guests flying through space, on stage with their favourite rock bands or in the latest movies. Bar and Bat-Mitzvahs are great fun as we can transport the guests anywhere in the world, and for all events we offer free personalised overlays and designs so the event is memorable and unique.

The secret to Chromakey Event Photography is keeping the workflow fast! If you offer a guest 2500 choices, expect a huge queue or a lot of disapointed people. We tend to design 10 choices for each event and will print an example of each so they can decide before we shoot. That way if they are going to be posing alongside a Twilight Vampire or on the dance floor with John Travolta, they can strike an appropriate pose! It does slow things down having to add backdrops but we prefer the interaction and the guests enjoy the experience.

It's not all about getting them shot and printed to us, some event companies work like a slaughterhouse concentrating on quantity rather than quality, that's what the auto cameras at theme parks are for, we would rather spend a little time earning our money!

We prefer green screens to blue screens as less people wear the actual shade of green we use. Blue clothing, eyes and jewellery are more common and can cause probems unless you know how to mask out those areas. We use very special green screen material now, direct from the film studios. This is a special white backed material that absorbs light and glows evenly. Ordinary green muslin will reflect light and cause problems especially with very blonde hair. Contact me for details, it's twice the price but worth it!

Don't worry about evenly lighting the backdrop as many claim, that will just cause more spill and you need more lights power and cabling! You can't get your guests the recommended 10-12 feet away at an event, which you need to if you light the backdrop! Imagine if you were shooting a group and they all had to be 12 feet in front of the cloth!, how big would it need to be! Using pro software lets you quickly adjust for spill and reflected green light.

The trick is to light the people not the backdrop, that should only appear in the gaps anyway and if you have a light enough green it will work. Less is more, light from the sides and above so any shadows are still green and they will disappear.We use overlays and backgrounds to get realistic Magazine covers and special effects.

People don't notice that usually the models on magazines go in front of the title heading but behind the informative text! And watch out for copyrights, design your own magazine covers that are similar but not identical, you can buy these from the USA as overlays..PNG files are best but won't work on the Click, you need to do what we do and switch.

The President Obama shot is a good example, He is in the background, the guests are dropped in on top, then the desk is added as an overlay in front.

6. Starting an Event Photography Business.

Don't believe some of the salesmen out there who claim it's a licence to print money! That is their job and they do it well, but like any business you need to really work at it. Most pro photographers woudn't dream of doing a photoshoot AND supplying a framed large photograph for a tenner! And don't think just because you get a booking at a black tie event for example with 100 people that you are going to sell 100 photos!

30% of those people won't even want a photo taken! That's just the way it is. There won't be many single people wanting a photo on their own, and there's always a large group who want just one shot of all of them, but will buy additional copies at a discounted rate. That leaves the couples, so that brings you down to around five singles, a large group and twenty couples.

You will earn about £300 at an event of this size. Ok, that's a small event but just about possible for two people to cover so that's only one assistant to pay. Then there is the cost of the prints, mounts and bags, travelling costs, insurance costs not to mention an hour to setup and an hour to pack down plus sometimes many hours of waiting for a dinner speech to end.

Don't forget the website you need, the adverts to get bookings, the expense of all the gear, marketing your website, the admin and post production work to get the images online. The usual business costs of stationery, phone bills, promotional gear and all the insurance.

Also remember there are a lot of excellent photographers out there, and anyone can buy a good camera, lens, and a fast printer and go out and do this. The big companies will already have the big events sewn up, So you need to use your contacts, ask around, advertise and promote. Offer to do some small events free for the practice, but still charge the going rate. Even if you only sell 10 shoots in a night, the experience is invaluable before you tackle a busy event.

Once you get a booking, splash out on some pop up banners showing what you do, flyers and business cards. When you get there and setup, take a few test shots of the bar staff, waitresses and event organisers to test everything. Frame these up and give them out as gifts, asking them to show the guests! Great advertising! Get the DJ to tell guests where you are and what you are doing. Work the tables if it's quiet. Above all enjoy it and be polite and professional as you are representing us all!

That's enough secrets revealed for now, if anyone wants to ask any questions feel free. This is just my opinions and experience so far, I'll add more as I get time. If you find this at all useful, please tell others, I'm not charging to write all this, nor am I selling anything, but links to my site will really be appreciated, or a mention in any blogs etc. Cheers, Paul Harrison

Event Photography - If You Enjoy Parties and Photography, Here's a Free Guide to Earning From It!

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Tube. Duration : 13.63 Mins.

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

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Keywords:

Night Photography Techniques

Keywords:

Night Photography Techniques

Thursday, February 21, 2013

So You Got a New Digital SLR? Here Are a Bunch of Tips on How to Get the Most Out of It!

Here are a bunch of tips and ideas for you to learn more about your new Digital SLR camera and make better images!

1. Shutter Priority. Use this mode to control the camera's shutter speed. It's best used in these situations: a) Dark rooms, such as auditoriums, when you need to stop motion but can't use flash; b) Settings where you want to blur movement, such as a mountain stream, and c) Settings where you want to stop fast motion, such as an insect wings or water droplet.

To learn about this, set your camera to Shutter priority and experiment with various things that move. You'll be able to see the difference in the motion of the subject by varying the speed and letting the camera do the rest of the exposure settings.

2. Aperture Priority. Use this mode to control the camera/lens aperture. Often this is used to force a "wide open" shutter, which will focus your subjects but blur the background, or a "stopped down" shutter, used to put every item in the viewfinder in sharp focus.

To learn about this, experiment with a couple of staged "still life" images and vary the aperture or "f-stop" from wide apertures such as f/3.5 (wide opening), to small apertures such as f/8 or f/11. Let the camera figure out the rest of the settings, and then compare the images to see how the sharpness of the background changes as the f-stop gets smaller.

3. ISO settings. The ISO is a measure of the sensitivity of the image sensor. Similar to the different film speeds of the film cameras, you can vary the ISO to get specific results. Remember that the smaller ISO number means better quality but less light. So if you want the sharpest, best image in bright daylight, ISO 50-100 may be your best setting. Shooting in low light? Maybe ISO 800, 1600, 3200 or higher would work for you. You'll get exposures with more noise in them, but the subject movement will be minimized.

To learn about this, Change your ISO out of Automatic, to 100, choose Aperture Priority of around f/5.6, and then take a series of shots in a somewhat dark setting, such as an indoor room out of sunlight. Then change ISO from 100 to 200, 400, 800 and as high as your camera will go. You'll find the camera choosing faster and faster shutter speeds, but the images will start to become noisy.

4. Macro mode. Your camera has at least one removable lens. It has a minimum focusing distance, meaning that it can't focus sharply on images closer than that.

To learn about this, check in your lens manual or look up online the minimum focus distance and experiment with some close-up imagery. Some suggestions: pull out some kitchen items like grains or beans and do a close-up. Vary the f-stop and camera angle to get some of the material sharply in focus and some blurred. Try it with office supplies, pets, you name it. The key is to play with the "world of the small".

5. People perspective. It's not intuitive, but the best images of people may be taken at the farthest end of your zoom lens. When you use the wide angle setting, you have to approach your subject and in doing so, your lens will distort the closest features, such as the nose. By stepping back and zooming in, you place the subject's features in more of the same distance, so distortion is minimized.

To learn about this, get a cooperative subject and make a series of head and half-body shots in the full zoom range of your lens, starting with wide angle, and stepping back as you zoom in to keep roughly the same body proportions. Then look at the series of images and see if you can detect the difference between wide/close faces and zoom/far faces.

6. Monopod. This handy and inexpensive device will let you create many good images in lower light. It has a thread that connects to the bottom of your SLR. Use lt like a walking stick when out and about, but put the camera on if your shutter speed is below around 1/250 second, and it will keep your camer from moving too much.

To learn about this, get a monopod and experiment with some hand held shots, then put the camera on the stick and take the same images. It works!

7. Anti-shake. It's called many things - Anti-shake, VR (Vibration Reduction), and IS (Image Stabilization) to name a few. Some cameras have it on the body (Sony), and others in the lenses (Canon, Nikon). Some don't have this at all. The trick is that the camera/lens compensates for some amount of camera motion from your holding it, allowing you to get sharp images at much lower speeds.

To learn about this, find out how to turn it on (if you have it), and experiment with hand held images with it on and off. Note that this feature is not useful if your camera is on a tripod.

8. Night Images. If you can keep the camera very still, you can get some amazing images after dark. Usually you use a tripod and sometimes a cable release or a timer release to keep the shutter open and minimize the vibration from the camera's mirror.

To learn about this, put your camera on a tripod after dark and shoot your neighborhood or indoors at various exposure times. Take that next birthday photo only using candle-light, or try "light painting", where you illuminate part of your set with white or colored lights for a creepy effect.

9. Reflectors. You can take some wonderful natural light shots, but sometimes the contrast from bright side to dark side is too high, leading to blown out highlights or black shadows. An external reflector can help to smooth out the contrast and provide highlights.

To learn about this, make a cheap reflector from a flat white object such as foamboard, white cardboard or a ceiling tile. place it to the opposite side of your subject from the bright light source, and let it reflect some of that bright light back on the subject to lighten the shadows. Try another one to divert light from the back or side to provide highlights for hair or the back/side of a subject. Experiment with "negative light", where you place black objects near the subject to reduce the level of light on that side of the subject.

10. Put it all together. Go through these exercises and then build an assignment for yourself. Try to set up and photograph some of these things to show your knowledge and skills with your SLR:

A. Compose a still life with nice side light and narrow depth of field and clean background. Try a fruit basket.

B. Compose a portrait with a subject lit nicely from window light, with and without fill light.

C. Photograph a piece of fruit falling into a container of water. Provide enough light and a short enough shutter to capture water droplets.

D. Take an image of a moving person or animal where the subject is frozen.

E. Take an image of a person or animal where the subject or background is blurred.

F. Compose a portrait in or of your residence and shoot it after dark.

Note that I didn't mention that little flash on the top of your camera. I think of it like a fire extinguisher - use only in emergency! The camera flash will do more to harm your images than it will do to help. Learn to work without it. If you really want to use flash, consider a separate flash unit, especially one that you can remove from your camera and fire from other locations.

With a little constructive play, you can learn a lot about photography, improve your composition and shooting skills, and create some great art!

So You Got a New Digital SLR? Here Are a Bunch of Tips on How to Get the Most Out of It!

Night Photography Techniques

So You Got a New Digital SLR? Here Are a Bunch of Tips on How to Get the Most Out of It!

So You Got a New Digital SLR? Here Are a Bunch of Tips on How to Get the Most Out of It!
So You Got a New Digital SLR? Here Are a Bunch of Tips on How to Get the Most Out of It!

Night Photography Techniques

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Photography Project Ideas II - 10 Assignments to Stimulate Your Creativity

In my last article on photography project ideas, I talked about the need for photographers to think out of the box, and stimulate their creativity by photographing subject matter outside of their comfort zone. Here, I present 10 self-assignments that you can use to get your own creative juices flowing. Many of these projects are best executed over a period of time, rather than in a single session.

1. The Park Bench. Take your camera and a tripod to a park, and find a busy park bench. Set yourself up some distance away with a long lens aimed at the bench and pre-focused. Settle in, and for the next few hours, take images at fixed time intervals, say every ten minutes. This is really an exercise in time lapse photography. I think the resulting images would make a fun photo essay. The setting stays the same, but the subjects change at random.

2. Evolution of Construction. Find a nearby construction site, and take a picture every day. If you choose the same vantage point each time, you'll end up with a series of images that show the building in progressive stages of completion.

3. Through the Seasons. This exercise is similar to number two, but is best done in a less urban environment, and over a longer period of time. Find a landscape that you can shoot in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The works especially well if you live in a place that receives snow in Winter, and where the leaves on the trees turn colour in the Autumn.

4. Self Portrait. The concept of this is simple: take a picture of yourself every day. It helps to use a tripod and shutter release, rather than limiting yourself by trying to shoot with the camera at arm's length. You are the most patient subject you could ever work with, so use this to your advantage. Get creative, overact, dress up, and use props. You decide how you want to show yourself to the world! If you do an internet search on this topic, you'll find related Flickr and Twitter groups, where you can share your images.

5. A Day in the Life of... This is a great project to document a particular occupation. For example, you could take photographs of a nurse at work to show all the various aspects of his or her job. It may take you more than one day of shooting to capture a representative set of images.

6. Get to Know Your Neighbourhood. So often, we never really take a good look at our own neighbourhood. Make it a point to walk around, and shoot ten images of the area where you live. Do this once a month, or even once a week, if you really get inspired.

7. Colour Challenge. This is a fun challenge for an urban environment. Take you camera downtown, and give yourself a few hours to take pictures. Choose a colour (or for added challenge, have a friend pick the colour for you), and shoot only objects of that colour. By the end of the session, you'll be surprised how that colour jumps out at you! When you're finished, it's great to take your best images and assemble them into a collage or mosaic. You can do this using Photoshop, but for something free and simple, try this tool.

8. A Collection of "Somethings." Whenever you're out, carry your camera, and be on the lookout for whatever "something" you choose. It could be feet, garbage cans, vegetables that look like faces, bicycles - you name it! Get creative, and pick a theme that you don't usually see in pictures.

9. Pet's Eye View. Pretend that you are your pet. How would you see the world if you were a dog? A hamster? Shoot a series images from the perspective of your pet's eye level.

10. After Dark. We don't always think to take our cameras out at night. Try shooting after dark. If you're in the country, you can shoot moonlight or star trails. In the city, you can shoot vehicles' tail-light trails or downtown buildings. Wherever you are, you can try light-painting - using a long exposure, and moving a flashlight over parts of the scene.

Hope these ideas inspire you to get out there and start shooting!

Photography Project Ideas II - 10 Assignments to Stimulate Your Creativity

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Video Clips. Duration : 13.63 Mins.

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

A Guide to Digital Night Vision - Using the Latest Pulsar and Yukon Digital Night Vision Devices

The evolution of Night Vision

Everyone has seen though a night vision device before in some form or another, whether it's through an actual handheld device, or through the eyes of a movie star in a spy film on TV

This grainy green blurred image is synonymous with Generation One night vision which often were ex military products from the Eastern Bloc and were unreliable and not the best in terms of performance.

These devices were very fragile and had a short life span as they were easily burnt out with light ingress from sources such as daylight, car headlights, torches etc

With a limited viewing range, the original Gen 1 night vision devices required a powerful ambient life source such as starlight, or an infrared light source to be able to see to any distance.

These image intensifier type devices have evolved using better quality image intensifier tubes and electronics into Generation 2 and now Gen 3 devices which give incredible viewing performance to long distances, but at an eye watering price and still with the restraints found in the original devices.

They were still dependent on the fragile image intensifier tubes, and could not be used in daylight, which poses a problem when you have to zero your rifle before a night hunting as zeroing at night is not the safest form of shooting!

With the advent of Digital Night Vision along came a range of devices with Gen 2 performance, at a fraction of the cost.

Digital Night Vision

Digital Night Vision does not rely on a fragile image intensifier tubes and instead used a CCD sensor much like you would find in a Digital SLR camera, and an electronic circuit board which processes the images onto a LCD screen which is viewed through the eye piece as a crisp black and white image.

This is not only easy on the eye at night, but offers a much sharper resolution and finer detail viewing than the old image intensifier green image.

Combine this technology with a high power Infrared or laser illuminator and you will have a viewing device capable in many circumstances of viewing between 250 and 400meters and beyond.

As there is no intensifier tube to "burn out" you can use these devices during the day as a handheld monocular or in the form of the Pulsar Digisight, a weapon sight that you can zero during the day, and even hunt with in daylight

At night however they come into their own.

Take the Yukon Ranger Pro handheld monocular for example, this device will allow viewing out to 400meters perfectly clearly, and is ideal for monitoring wildlife, or for security applications.

We recently had a customer buy a Ranger Pro to take to Kenya on safari, and he contacted us to say that at night he watched a pride of lions only a hundred meters from their lodge.

Whether you are viewing wildlife through a handheld monocular, or hunting at night, the ability to watch wildlife without using a light source is such an advantage.

These devices use a high power infrared illuminator to enhance the image when there is not enough starlight or ambient light.

As infrared is invisible to the eye, you can view wildlife without them knowing you are there, which is a big advantage when hunting compared to hunting with a riflescope and a high power white light lamp.

Recording what you see

Devices such as the Yukon Ranger and Pulsar Digisight for example, have an onboard video out, which allows you to connect the device to a television or a recording device such as the Yukon Mobile Personal Recorder.

You can then record the footage you view, which is brilliant for watching nocturnal animals such as badgers, foxes and otters.

You can then replay the footage on your PC or television back at home, and keep the memories of a safari trip night time expedition for ever.

The Truth is Out There...

Digital Night Vision such as the Yukon Ranger with its onboard recording facility, has become the favourite tool in the UFO watchers arsenal.

You Tube is full of suspected UFO's captured on these devices, and as they use infra red, a whole new perspective of viewing is released with digital night vision.

Whether or not little green men exist, or the objects are shooting stars or research aircraft, the footage captured by the UFO enthusiasts on the Yukon Ranger has to be seen to be believed.

Types of Digital Night Vision

Pulsar Recon X550 Handheld Monocular

The Pulsar Recon X550 Night vision devices features a greater range of view (up to 500m) due to a more sensitive CCD array and advanced program technology employed.

Recon X550 is a compact and lightweight digital NV scope which is designed for hunting, security purposes and wildlife viewing at long ranges.

Recon X series nightvision features a greater range of view (up to 500meters) than the Recon models due to a more sensitive CCD array and advanced program technology employed in this model - Sum Light

Traditional NV devices emit the image to your eye using green light, which many believe to be the most comfortable viewing colour at night. Digital Night vision emits the image in black and white, however the Recon X 550 has a LCD Emission control system allowing you to choose the preferred LCD display colour.

Yukon Ranger and Yukon Ranger Pro

Yukon Advanced Optics has staked its claim for leadership within this field by offering a new line of Digital NV Ranger models that cover several performance and price categories.

The Ranger's high magnification, increased observation range and stealth IR illuminator are just a few characteristics that separate Yukon's Ranger from the rest of the market.

Ranger Pro is designed to be the most powerful and versatile unit available, complete with a rugged body packed with a sizeable amount of innovations. By integrating Yukon's well known Dual IR technology, which extends the traditional IR range into a capable multi zone unit, the Ranger satisifies even the most demanding applications. Yukon Ranger features up to 250meters detection and the Yukon Ranger Pro up to 650meters detection

Pulsar Recon R Handheld Monocular

The Pulsar Recon R series of Digital Night Vision scopes are equipped with a built in appliance which allows video recording and photography immediately during observation.

This footage can then be played back on the device or on an external monitor. Ideal for wildlife safaris where you want to capture memories, or for security purposes for court or police viewing at a later date.

The recordable Recon's are available as the Recon X550R with a viewing range of up to 500meters, or the Recon 550R with a viewing range of up to 250meters.

Both units feature a Video Output/Input facility as well as the LCD Emission control system to select viewing colour.

The Recon R devices use an SD memory card to record footage, and can be used during the day as a 5x monocular or at night as a night vision device.

Pulsar Digisight N550 Digital Night Vision Weapon Sight

The long anticipated Pulsar N550 is a revolution in night vision and is designed to fit firearms and airrifles for hunting at night.

Features market leading image resolution combined with switchable reticles and one shot zero, has made the N550 THE most wanted product in our marketplace.

Traditional NV tubes meant that shooting during the day was not an option, and you had to switch to a day scope should you wish to use your rifle during the day, with the N550 you can shoot during the day as well as at night, as the high performance CCD sensor and digital image processing is compatible with sunlight and Infrared at night.

A Video out facility allows you to record your evenings hunting, by streaming footage to a personal media recorder.

With a detection range of 400meters, the N550 is ideal for centrefire rifles for vermin control at night over long ranges, as well as for rimfire and air rifles for small vermin control in barns and around the farm etc

Built in IR illumination allows you to use the N550 in complete darkness, although a high power IR flashlight can be added to boost the detection of the unit further.

The future of Night Vision is here

With Digital Night Vision, the performance of high end NV Gen 2 and Gen 3 products is available to the consumer at a price of between £300 and £1000 depending on spec, which will allow you to view wildlife at night, without them ever knowing you were there.