Photography Tips ArchivesContents
Planning a wedding shoot? Here's a simple run sheet so that you know where to be and what to do: The boys Visit the home where the boys are getting ready. Some candid shots of them before and after suiting up will look fantastic. The girls Arrive at least an hour and a half before the bride leaves for the ceremony. This will give you enough time to captures photographs of the bride as she prepares as well as some formal portraits of her alone, with her parents and with her bridesmaids. The ceremony Photograph the bride, her father and bridesmaids before they enter the venue for the ceremony. As the ceremony progresses, capture the important moments - the walk down the aisle, the vows, the exchange of rings and the kiss. Shoot candid photos of the couple as they sign the register and a formal one of them holding their certificate of marriage. After the Ceremony Emotions run high after the ceremony and there's a great opportunity for candid photos at this time. Be sure to get a picture if there is confetti or rice to be thrown. It's also best to do your official family group photographs at this point before guests leave for cafes and other places prior to going to the reception. Formal Photos These are the photos of the bride, groom and bridal party. Ensure you have a full length of the couple, a midshot and a nice head and shoulders portrait. Take group shots of the entire bridal party, varying between formal, informal and fun. If time permits, some single portraits of each member of the bridal party can be tken too. Use the car(s) for photos too. Be relaxed and let everybody enjoy the session. Shooting Animals Interaction with Owner Often, placing a pet and its owner together and having them interact can lead to more interesting photos. An activity as simple as a good patting or belly rub can create some special moments worth capturing. Use their location Choosing a location to photograph animals usually means taking photos in their environment. If our subject is a dog, for instance, the back yard or your favourite park will be ideal. Familiar surroundings will keep our subject relaxed and happy. If we take our pet out of their usual environment, they may not behave normally and this will make taking the photo much more difficult. Distracting the Subject Our subject's understanding of the spoken word is very limited. Responding to basic commands like 'sit', 'fetch', 'roll over' and 'come here' is about all they can comprehend at best. So why not use these where possible to give our fuzzy friends something to do while we photograph them. Depending on our animal, we can help this along with bribes of food. Once our friend is in action we can shoot away, remembering that not all our pictures will be perfect. We may need to repeat the activity several times to achieve the picture we're happy with. Get down to their level In some ways, photographing pets is similar to photographing toddlers. Getting down on the same level (in terms of height, that is, not behaviour) and following them around will produce much more interesting pictures. Photographing them in their quiet time can also be an advantage. Cats will often curl up somewere warm and have a sleep and this can be a great opportunity for photos. Dogs, especially the active types, will be more challenging as their constant movement makes it difficult for you to position yourself. Sitting or lying down on the ground and giving them some time to settle can work. They just need to get used to you being in their space. Best times are just after the dog has been fed or just before they have a sleep. Shooting the Skies Silhouette subjects against the twilight sky At the end of the day the sky will often become very colourful. Deep reds and pinks, yellows and oranges all combine and any foreground object will be sharply delineated against this beautiful backdrop. Spot meter for the brightest area of the sky (apart from the sun itself) for the best silhouettes. Bracket your exposure up to a stop brighter than the meter reading. Obviously you'll be using a good tripod for this exercise. Grey Skies are Better than White Undoubtedly the worst sky to include in your frame is a pure white overcast one. Sometimes this is unavoidable, especially if we're travelling on a tight schedule and don't want to miss the shot. The main problem is the very mediocre light that accompanies white skies. Overcast skies, on the other hand, can convey emotion and feeling. Winter skies are often the better choice because the light has less contrast. Keep your Horizon Level Hmmm . . . crooked horizons. Deliberately crooked is one thing, but slightly crooked is another! We've all been guilty of this one. If it were so easy, manufacturers would not bother to put spirit levels on tripods. One solution is to establish your composition using your focusing eye. Then use your other eye to view the same composition. You'll usually notice any tilt. If it's a recurring problem, change the focusing screen in your camera to an architectural type that has grid lines. And take your time. Back away from your tripod to get an overall view before you press the shutter. You'll immediately see if the camera's square when compared to the expanse in front of you. If the camera's level, then so is your photograph. Make a Sun Star You can easily add a starburst effect to any picture in which the sun's included. Move around until a tree, large rock or even the side of a building has the sun partially behind it. Make sure a tiny bit of sun peeks out and then stop down to at least F11 and take the picture. The sunburst effect you automatically get is caused by the minute amount of light that leaks around the diaphragm blades in your lens. Make the sun or moon stand out. Using longer focal length lenses will give you a bigger sun or moon. If you also want to include foreground material in your image you'll need to retreat some distance back to include both in your frame. You need enough depth of field to cover the distance and a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the moon or sun's movement. Get Out of Bed Early The colours just before dawn in the sky can be wonderful. Often the weather will change within an hour of the sun appearing above the horizon. This soft light has less contrast, so get out of bed early and take advantage of these lovely pre-dawn skies in your photographs. Shoot in Bad Weather Don't put your camera away because a storm is brewing and you might get wet. Spectacular images can be made in bad weather. If you're lucky enough to shoot a rainbow back-dropped by black and ominous skies, try using a polariser to further saturate the effect. Very dramatic images are often captured with even the most basic subject matter when the weather turns bad. Limit Your Sky There's nothing worse in an image than to have a third or more of it consist of blank sky. Frame your picture well and emphasise the foreground shapes, features and forms and only include a small amount of sky to give the photo depth. With a wider-angled lens, shoot lower to the ground using hyperfocal distance and accentuate more of the foreground. Use Filters Carefully These filters make blue skies darker and more saturated. However wider-angled lenses accentuate the band of polarisation across your image, making the sky appear graduated. Some photographers don't mind this, but if you want your final image to be more realistic, then some restraint is required. Often less is better, so choose your lens carefully or use a wider-angled lens with a vertical (portrait) composition. Always remember to keep the sun at least one and a half hand spans away from the camera for good polarisation. Dial in the amount of saturation you feel comfortable with and shoot. Capturing the Action Get some shots building up to the event and then again afterwards - this will capture the atmosphere. If you want to photograph someone in action, a famous golf swing for instance, take lots of shots quickly to capture the moment. Also try it with a flash at night - but don't stand more than three metres away, as the flash won't carry that far. The flash is quicker than the camera's shutter, so you'll get interesting results. Shoot some shots from a low angle too, as this will add drama to your image. Use fast film to help your camera's shutter speed freeze the action. You don't need a zoom lens the length of a baseball bat to get close to the action. If you're trying to capture someone playing sport, zoom in and fill the frame for dramatic, interesting photos. Fast moving objects, like cars for instance, can be seemingly 'stopped' when coming straight towards the camera if you stand on a bend. When the subject is straight across from you, pan the camera along with the moving subject. The background will blur, but your subject will be sharp. Family portraits you'll want to frame Shoot portraits with the longest length of your Zoom. Compose your image well so that your subjects don't appear unnaturally stiff. They could be flipping through a magazine, nursing their baby or patting a dog. Choose props that will make the subject feel relaxed, and will also tell you something about the person. There's no sense in asking Dad to hold a bunch of flowers or your sporty sister to be drawing a picture for example. Use fast film and a bright room if shooting in daylight. Lighting is vital. Outdoors on an overcast day is ideal, as the fierce Australian sun throws heavy shadows on bright, clear days. If photographing indoors try to avoid using your flash, as this will throw a harsh flat light on the subject. Plain and simple is the rule. The old rule of 'keep it simple' is actually a really good one to keep in mind in the case of portrait photography. And avoid busy backgrounds in particular, as they will just distract from the subject. Be fast The best family photos are usually impromptu snaps taken when everyone is least expecting it. Children especially have little patience when it comes to posing, so work quickly! On the Beach Cool and Dry Store your camera in a plastic bag and keep it out of the heat. Sand and water are your camera's worst enemies, so its a good idea to keep it in a sealable plastic bag when you're not using it. Make sure you brush all the sand off your hands too before you go to use it. Don't leave your camera in direct sunlight (if it gets too hot you may fry the film - not a good way to develop your photos). Don't leave your camera in the car in the height of summer either, as this can have the same effect. Use a flash in bright sunlight If you're taking snaps of people who are closer to you than three metres, turn on the flash. It will help fill in the dark shadows caused by the bright sunlight. And when you are at the water's edge, a low camera angle makes the waves look much bigger and way more impressive. Be aware of reflections Watch for scattered reflections from the surface of the water flashing into the lens. A good way to avoid this is by wearing a broad brimmed hat. No, your camera won't get sunburnt, but the brim will help shade the front of the camera - just make sure it doesn't drop in front of the lens. Red Eye Red Eye Reduction Using a flash can generate an effect know as red-eye. This occurs when the subject is looking directly at the camera lens and is caused by the light from the flash passing through the pupil of the eye and reflecting off the retina straight back to the camera. Most cameras overcome this problem by having a red-eye reduction flash. This produces a small flash just before you take the picture, causing the pupils of your subject's eyes to contract before the main flash goes off, thus reducing the amount of light that can be reflected back. Lower Light Levels Diffuse Lighting Although you may not think so, an overcast day is actually better lit - for photographic purposes - than sunlight. The light is diffused as it passes through the clouds, giving everything a softer, more even illumination. Low Light Levels There's no need to stop taking pictures after the sun has gone down. if you have a tripod, and a little patience, you can get some great pictures. You'll need to steady the camera because of the longer exposure times - to allow enought light to pass throught the lens - but if you don't have a tripod, you can rest the camera on top of a car, a tree stump or whatever else happens to be around. Controlling Depth of Field Short Depth of Field A short depth of field, in which only an object at a specific distance from the camera is in focus can make your main subject stand out clearly, drawing the eye to it. This is achieved by using as large an aperture as possible, which also has the benefit of allowing you to take pictures in relatively low light levels without using a long exposure. Large Depth of Field Using a small aperture will give you a large depth of field. This is ideal for landscape pictures where you want as much depth to your image as possible. It might seem a good idea to use a small aperture all the time, but since you are reducing the light that can pass through the lens, you will neeed a longer exposure, which means that any moving objects will be blurred. Return to Top |
Photographing the Landscape 7 tips for Better Landscapes 1. Use a sturdy and reliable tripod wherever you can for sharp pictures and better control over your composition. 2. Photograph at either end of the day to avoid harsh and contrasty light. Your images will be richer in colour and warmer in tone. 3. Use a polarising filter wherever you can to reduce glare and to saturate your colours. Carrying a warming filter and an ND graduated filter is also advantageous. 4. Remember to compose either vertically or horizontally depending on your subject matter. 5. Take advantage of foreground interest and make it the focal point of your composition. 6. Watch out for distracting features and crop them out or physically remove them if possible. 7. Find the best angle. Taking a look around and establishing the best position will improve your image dramatically. The Importance of Colour When we open our eyes in the morning, we immediately see colour. It's therefore natural to interpret reality as we see it in landscape photography. Our surroundings are filled with colour and we need to use this to our advantage in each landscape photograph. Slightly underexposing your picture will enrich your colours without upsetting the contrast too much. This is especially true in the early and latter parts of the day. The use of a polarising filter will also enhance your images, reducing glare and unwanted reflections and thus further saturating colours. Colour is everywhere around us and this is especially true with the changing of the seasons. Landscape photography has the potential to capture this change beautifully as light and weather are two of the most important aspects of successful landscape photography. Bright primary colours such as red, blue, yellow and green create a fresh, exciting feel. These colours contrast strongly with each other, adding impact to any landscape. Softer, muted colours give pictures a gentle tranquil feel and combining this with the appropriate season will add charm and warmth to your image. Compositional Control Before taking any pictures, explore your surroundings for the best viewpoint. Even if you're restricted to a single viewpoint, you should be able to move a little to the left or right to find the best perspective. The height from which you shoot is also critical, and this is where a tripod is indispensable because it makes you slow down and think clearly about your angle of view. A lower position nearer the ground, for instance, can stress the foreground which you may or may not want to include in your frame. A landscape can be dramatically improved by the simple inclusion of foreground interest. Selecting a Dominant Element Any landscape is a complicated mixture of colours, tones, textures and forms. if you simply point the camera at a jumble of potential subject material, it's more than likely to result in an uninspiring image. Therefore, it's important to have a clear idea of how you want the elements to relate to each other. Be selective as to what you include in your frame. This task can be simplified if you identify one element as being the dominant or principle feature. Placing the main subject in the bottom right of the frame is a classic composition technique, as is using the 'Rule of Thirds,' which is a handy trick to give your photo a more balanced and self-contained feel. The Light Factor Photographing any landscape in the best light is a combination of luck and skill. Unlike studio portraits which are controlled by moveable lighting, the landscape photographer must work with the light he is given. But this doesn't mean that you can't influence how the subject will appear in the photograph. Moving your position often alters the way light appears to fall across your subject and can enhance your composition considerable. Water, for instance, may appear black, still and lifeless from one perspective and from another, it may perfectly mirror the sky and clouds. Remember too that light reflected from a body of water can enhance an otherwise uninteresting landscape. Water is an obvious focal point for many landscape pictures so take advantage of this whenever you can. The time of day is a significant influence on the dramatic power of your landscape. During the middle of the day when the sun is at its highest, direct light can be very harsh, high in contrast and totally unsuitable for most landsape photographs. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and you'll know them when you see them. Cloudy, misty, dull light in winter is wonderful for rainforests, waterfalls, and gardens. You can photograph all day in this kind of soft, even light. Just remember to keep the sky out of your frame - its large, bland whiteness can distract and overwhelm the image. At all other times, it always pays to either photograph early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The sun's rays are transformed into wonderful warm reds, oranges and yellows at these times of day and your landscapes are immeasurably enhanced when you take advantage of these truly remarkable lighting conditions. 10 Tips for Better Digital Pictures 1. Compose correctly Always compose correctly in camera, ensuring you crop tightly and remove all unwanted elements. Cropping your image later on the computer reduces image detail; your pictures lose sharpness and overall quality. 2. Use the Viewfinder Try to avoid using the screen when composing your pictures. Using the viewfinder will probably ensure you get closer to your subject and fill the frame with it. It also means longer battery life, because the LCD screen is the most power-hungry device on your digital camera. 3. Don't suffer memory loss Ensure you have plenty of memory. The larger the card, the more pictures you can take in any situation. Smaller cards may fill quickly, requiring that you delete pictures you may not otherwise need to remove. Buy quality brand cards, just as you bought quality film. Cheaper brands often suffer corruption and picture loss. 4. Make Prints Make sure you get your pictures printed. Don't be too fussy as to your choice of prints - today's bad picture could be tomorrow's irreplaceable memory. While inkjet printing at home is convenient, it's not always cost effective. Photographic prints last longer and are usually of higher quality. 5. Control contrast For more pixel information in your pictures, set your camera to its lowest contrast setting, if your camera has this option. This setting will ensure the greatest amount of digital information in both shadows and highlights. If you wish, you can boost the contrast and colour later on the computer or when you have your photos printed at the lab. 6. Learn to Enhance Familiarise yourself with basic digital enhancement skills using the software that came with your camera, or other programs like Paint Shop Pro, PhotoImpact or Photoshop Elements. These programs can be used for functions like boosting contrast, saturating colour, balancing exposure and cropping. As you become more familiar with the program you can add borders and text, or enhance using diffusion, toning and special effect filters. 7. Back up Always back up your pictures - all of them - to CD, as soon as you can. Hard drives can corrupt and images can be lost. If you cannot do this yourself, see your local photographic retailer, who can do it for you in no time. 8. Opt for Optical Zoom Purchase a digital camera with as much optical zoom as you can afford. Digital zoom is not a quality choice as it simply crops the image and adds identical pixels to build the file size. 9. Go for Higher Resolution Always purchase the highest resolution camera your budget will allow. The higher the resolution your camera has the greater the detail in the image. While pixels can always be added in software, this does not boost detail, only image size. The more pixels across and down, the finer the detail in your image. Combined with quality lenses, your digital images will be every bit as good as your film photographs - perhaps better. 10. Get it Right in Camera Don't adopt the attitude of "I can fix it later in the computer". A bad picture is the same as it always was, and images that are overexposed or underexposed, out of focus or badly composed will never fully recuperate, no matter what level of digital expertise is applied later. Always get your picture right in the camera, just as you tried to do with your film camera. Tips for Dynamic Composition Think outside the square. Break the rules. That's what they're there for. Don't follow the crowd. Read all the foregoing and apply it when it works. Then throw it all out the window and, if you want to, be radical in your image design. That's where the creativity and individuality begins with your images, making them different to the pictures everybody's seen before. Use Natural Frames. People put frames around everything from pictures to certificates. Frames are ubiquitous and can be used effectively to highlight the subject. They can be everything from doorways and windows to over-hanging boughs of large trees. Use Repeating Patterns. Repeating patterns are usually pleasing to the eye in that they create an interesting rhythm in your images. Lines of trees, fences, recurring shapes and colours can be used effectively to add dynamics to your pictures. Select your Format. Correct selection of a vertical or horizontal viewpoint is essential for dynamic images. While the words "landscape" and "portrait" are often used to describe vertical or horizontal framing of a shot, don't restrict yourself to these descriptions simply because you're shooting landscapes and portraits. Break the rules, using vertical formats to create sweeping landscapes, and horizontal formats for unusually composed portraits. Always check a scene both ways before deciding on the format. Depth and Distance. Use depth of field to highlight and create depth and distance in your pictures. Minimising depth of field will highlight your subject and create an impression of distance and depth. Conversely, maximising depth of field leads the eye through the picture as the eye naturally examines every sharp element in the image. Fill The Frame. To avoid distraction from the subject, remove any unnecessary elements. When framing your picture, continue zooming or moving closer, until only those essential elements needed to tell the story remain in the frame. Dynamic Viewpoints. Rather than taking every picture from a standard viewpoint, try gaining elevation or perhaps lowering your perspective. Few people look at the world from a viewpoint other than their standing height. Images depicting the world from a different perspective always add an element of interest and increase the image's dynamic potential. Show Your Subject. Placement of your subject is vital for dynamic images. Make the subject obvious to the viewer. A standard placement often used is the Golden Mean - which essentially means you divide your frame into vertical and horizontal thirds, placing the subject where the thirds intersect in the frame. Creative Perspectives. Creative use of lens dynamics will add further interest to your images. Wide-angle lenses expand a scene, making elements within the frame appear further apart than they really are, while telephoto lenses achieve the opposite. Select lenses not only because of their magnification, but also the perspective they give to the world. Use Leading Lines Leading lines are found everywhere and can be used effectively to lead the eye through the frame or towards the key subject. Leading lines can be anything from lines in the landscape to roads and pathways, to fence lines and cloud formations. Weddings are a Piece of Cake The bridal couple will be busy and moving a lot, so work quickly. The trick is to shoot all the formalities of the day, from the walk down the aisle and exchange of vows and rings through to the toasts, bridal waltz and leaving the reception. Make sure you get a few full-length photos of the bride's dress too. It's also a good opportunity to photograph two or three generations together. It's equally important to 'set the scene' with some less staged shots, like the bridal party laughing and the musicians playing. Also take some still-life pictures of the table arrangements, the bouquet and the food. These will all help to capture the atmosphere of the day. Keeping the Kids in the Picture Overcast weather is best For a portrait-style photo, look for a good setting with a plain background. If you'd rather be outdoors, opt for an overcast day - this will give you soft and even light. Toys will help you get babies and toddlers to look in the right direction. The anti-red-eye function on some cameras means you'll lose some spontaneity, so if you want to try it without, just wait until the object of your attention isn't looking straight into the lens, to avoid that oh so attractive red-eye look. Always have your camera ready The little rascals are always unpredictable. You never know what they're going to get up to next, so always keep your camera handy, loaded with fresh film or, if you have a digital camera, make sure the batteries are always charged. Try to remain unobtrusive, but be snap happy Fill the frame of the photo by using your zoom, and get down to the children's eye level so that you're not photographing the tops of their heads. The best photos are the ones that seem natural, so try to take them without the kids knowing. Don't be afraid to take plenty of shots so you're sure to get one that's great. Setting the Scene Time of Day The view always looks spectacular when you're on holiday, but when you get your prints back it always seems pretty unspectacular. Shoot early in the morning or late in the afternoon for perfect light. A huge consideration for professional photographers is light. If you want to capture a landscape like a pro you'll need to think like one, and that means getting out of bed and starting to snap early. But if missing a lie in is not your idea of the perfect holiday, the golden light of late afternoon will give your images wonderful long shadows and warm tones too. Composition is the key Check the horizon is level in your viewfinder, and if you can, set your camera to the wide-angle setting. To give your picture perspective, include something of interest in the foreground, like a pool, palm tree or seagull for instance. Stay away from the light To avoid flat looking photos, it's best not to shoot straight into the light. If you do have to shoot on this angle, try not to include the sky in your picture, so that your camera's automatic metering system can adjust for the light. Hold it steady. When photographing landscapes, the most common cause of poor definition is camera shake, so make sure you hold your camera steady. A small, inexpensive tripod is invaluable for landscapes. And there's no hurry, so take a breath, hold, then squeeze the shutter gently. |
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