Learning about Exposure – The Exposure Triangle
A Post By: Darren Rowse Bryan Peterson has written a book titled Understanding Exposure which is a highly recommended read if you’re wanting to venture out of the Auto mode on your digital camera and experiment with it’s manual settings. In it Bryan illustrates the three main elements that need to be considered when playing around with exposure by calling them ‘the exposure triangle’. Each of the three aspects of the triangle relate to light and how it enters and interacts with the camera. The three elements are: ISO – the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to lightAperture – the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is takenShutter Speed – the amount of time that the shutter is open It is at the intersection of these three elements that an image’s exposure is worked out. Most importantly – a change in one of the elements will impact the others. 3 Metaphors for understanding the digital photography exposure triangle: The Window Aperture is the size of the window.
Focusing Basics | Aperture and Depth of Field
Depth of Field Depth of Field (DOF) is the front-to-back zone of a photograph in which the image is razor sharp. As soon as an object (person, thing) falls out of this range, it begins to lose focus at an accelerating degree the farther out of the zone it falls; e.g. closer to the lens or deeper into the background. With any DOF zone, there is a Point of Optimum focus in which the object is most sharp. There are two ways to describe the qualities of depth of field - shallow DOF or deep DOF. Aperture The aperture is the opening at the rear of the lens that determines how much light travels through the lens and falls on the image sensor. Small vs Large Aperture Manipulating the aperture is the easiest and most often utilized means to adjust Depth of Field. Aperture Range The aperture range identifies the widest to smallest range of lens openings, i.e. f/1.4 (on a super-fast lens) to f/32, with incremental “stops” in between (f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, and f/22). Conclusion
DSLR Tips Workshop: How to use polarizing filters to reduce haze and deepen blue sky
DSLR Tips Workshop: Using polarizing filters to cut through haze and deepen blue skies Landscape shots with distant subjects like canyon rims or mountain ranges can often look hazy even under the sunniest conditions. One of the most effective ways of cutting through this haze and capturing a vibrant photo with saturated colours and a deep blue sky is to use a polarizing filter. In this workshop we’ll show you everything you need to know. The photo of the mountain range, above left, may have been taken under bright, sunny conditions, but the result looks hazy and is lacking impact. The photo above right was taken under exactly the same lighting conditions only moments later, but with a polarizing filter set to deliver its maximum effect. Checklist: Using polarizing filters 1: Buy a circular polarizing filter which matches the thread on your lens; check the end of the barrel to find out the correct size. Watch out! Sometimes polarizing filters can make the sky an unrealistic colour.
RAW vs JPEG
The RAW vs JPEG topic seems like a never ending debate in photography. Some photographers say shoot RAW, while others say shoot JPEG. What is RAW format in digital photography? What are the advantages and disadvantages of RAW versus JPEG and why? Should you shoot in RAW or JPEG? Will shooting in RAW complicate your post-production and workflow? Sand Dunes - Shot in RAW I remember my first time going through the camera options and reading the Nikon D80 manual, wondering about what RAW does and why I should consider using it. Sounds familiar? 1) What is RAW? RAW images, also known as “digital negatives” are virtually unprocessed files coming directly from the camera sensor. 1.1) Advantages of RAW format Compared to 8-bit JPEG format that can only contain up to 256 shades of Red, Green and Blue colors (total of 16 million), 12-bit RAW images contain the most amount of information with 4,096 shades or Red, Green and Blue (equivalent of 68 billion colors!) 1.2) Disadvantages of RAW format
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A Guide to Producing Beautiful Square Format Images
Medium format cameras, toy cameras like the Holga and Diana, and smartphone apps like Instagr.am are making the square format more popular than ever. In the digital age, the square format like film photography, certainly isn't dead. A Little History Square format cameras have been around a long time. The first one was introduced by Rollei in 1929. Rolleiflex original camera with Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar f/3.8 75mm lens. Hasselblad made the 1600F – a square medium format camera – in 1948, and stuck with the square format in their rollfilm cameras up until the release of their H-System digital cameras in 2002. Getting the Most Out of the Lens There's another practical reason that makes the square format attractive. Going square There are four main ways that to explore the square format: 1. 2. 3. 4. If your camera only takes rectangular photos you can experiment with the square format by cropping your images in Photoshop. The above photo is an example of that process. Composition The 35mm problem
Digital Photography Projects
Introduction - Cleaning Digital Cameras - D-SLR Sensor Cleaning.
The correct way to hold a DSLR camera (Great tips!)
Hold your mouse over the picture and click "PIN IT" to put this pic on your Pinterest! Introduction My inbox is filled each morning with questions from students in my online photography classes asking various photography questions. I’m glad to get the questions because it helps me to think of what I should write about here on Improve Photography. You would be shocked to see how many of the questions are about sharpness and how to avoid blurry pictures. “Hey Jim. This is a huge problem and it is nearly impossible to answer in an email which of the dozens of factors is contributing to the lack of sharpness; however, I also teach A LOT of in-person photography workshops, and I can comfortably say after watching hundreds of beginning and intermediate photographers that 99% of sharpness problems are caused by errors in the photographer’s form–and not by the lens. So, 99% of the blurry pictures I see are not caused by problems with the lens. Why does it matter how I hold my DSLR?
