50 tips for better pictures - popphoto - june 2004

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ps For Better Pictures - PopPhoto - June 2004 http://www.popphoto.com/howto/981/50-tips-for-better-pictures.h

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50 Tips For Better Pictures

BY THE EDITORS

June 2004

Cheap, easy, and effective

1. Too much is enough, baby Best way to expose color negative film in wrong light, low light, or mixed light: Give it one stop

(or more) than the meter reading. Shadows and color will be better, highlights will still be under control.

2. Conversion experience Get a basic color conversion set: Buy 85B and 80A

filters for your most used lens(es). They let you shoot tungsten film outdoors and

vice versa, and are also strong warming/cooling filters for any shooting. Shoot a lot

under fluorescents? Consider an FL-D filter, too.

3. Bring your own light show Use a sunrise or sunset filter: Screw it on when you

arrive at midday at any location famous for sunrises or sunsets. Want to push itfurther? Use a red/blue Cokin Variocolor filter.

4. Be a card-carrying member

Take a photo gray card along: Its

much better for setting digital

white balance, for accurate

spotmeter exposures with slide film,

for a photofinishing reference point

for color-print film, etc.

5. Finder yourselfGet an auxiliary

finder for panning shots: Scrounge

for an auxiliary finder and mount itin your SLRs flash-shoe (insulate

first with tape!) for panning shots. This gives you an uninterrupted view, without mirror blackout, and lets you pan much more

smoothly. Get a finder about the same angle of view of the taking lens, or a little longer.

6. Try mine, comrade Carry a small bottle of vodka: No, not to steady your nerves, but because its a great solvent for cleaning

up smudged lenses and finders (but dont use on color LCD monitors). The cheaper the bettercheap vodka is more highly

filtered.

7. Legal slavery Carry a cheap, old flash unit fitted with a slave trigger. Position it behind your subjects head for rim light and

against a back wall to eliminate shadows. It works fine with point-and-shoots, and it doesnt even have to be automatic.

8. Background check Scout locations: Use a digital P/S at low-res to take grab shots of interesting backgrounds and locales (add

a voice clip to remember where they are). When light is good, go back to take real pictures. Also use for a portrait setup and such.

9. Stash the glass If you simply cant keep your subjects glasses from reflecting (and he or she really wants to keep them on):

Remove the lenses. Best way is to loosen the temple-piece screws with the appropriate small screwdriver.

10. Be a pod person Always carry a minipod: Take one around in your pocket. The idea is not height, but ready steadiness and

the ability to adjust camera position; also great for those self-timer shots of yourself on vacation. One of our favorites is the

Ultrapod II by Pedco ($20 street).

11. Skins game Put darker-complexioned people in the front of a group shot with flash, and lighter people

in the back: Flash falls off over distance, so you want darker people closer. It will make for better overall

exposure and easier printing.

12. Cast eyes downward Use swivel LCDs like reflex finders: Swivel it up, and brace the camera against


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your belly. Its steady!

13. Sneaky tweak Use digital white balance for color conversion: Want a winter/rainy scene to look

deliberately colder? Set the white balance for tungsten. Use the custom white balance aimed at something

blue to get a warming filter.

14. Just do it Own a camera that gives you no excuse to leave it home: Put a film or digital

point-and-shoot in your pocket. Keep it loaded with fast film, or a high-capacity card.

15. Off the record Always take another shot after the shooting gallery picture: Get the lineup shot at the wedding or birthday

party or whatever occasion. Now say thank you! loudlyand resume shooting when people re-engage in conversation.

16. Semper snappatus Keep the camera snap ready: Many P/Ss, film and digital, have a snap mode for fast shooting. At the

very least, keep the setting on program autoyou can always adjust later. With SLRs, set hyperfocal distance, use moderate wide

angle, release-priority AF, etc.

17. On the level Carry a shoe-mount bubble level: Even with viewfinder grid lines, it can be tricky keeping the camera

absolutely square to the scene. The bubble level helps keep horizons straight, and reduces keystoning in buildings.

18. Get hyper about focusing Use hyperfocal focusing: If your lens has a depth-of-field scale, simply set the infinity mark to the

scale line of the aperture youre using. Use it for deep scenic space, quick people snaps, and such. No depth-of-field scale?

Prefocus about one-third of the way to the farthest object you want to keep in pretty good focus.

19. Ride a rail Get a focusing rail: These relatively inexpensive gizmos are great for really tight macro focusing, regardless of

whether youre using auxiliary close-up lenses, extension tubes, or a dedicated macro lens.

20. Tape out redeye Use invisible tape to avoid redeye: Foggy tape, layered two

or three times over the flashtube area (not the entire flash lens), can reduce redeye

in some instances, and wont create a problem with TTL flash exposure.

21. Stiff body language Be your own tripod: Stand with your feet apart for best

steadiness. Hold the camera with both hands, preferably with your left hand under

the camera. Keep your elbows tucked as much as possible into your torso. Squeeze

the shutter release, dont stab at it. Hold your breath or breathe slowly when firing.

22. Chinning exercise For better portraits, lower the subjects chin to make the

eyes look larger. Or tilt the camera forward slightly. This also cuts reflections on

eyeglasses.

23. Mirror, mirror in the shot: If you are absolutely, positively, stuck making a flash shot of a group standing in front of a

mirror: 1) shoot at an angle to the mirror; 2) scrunch down low so that their bodies and heads block the flash reflection; 3) move

them closer together to avoid reflective gaps.

24. Reference set Make reference slides: Shoot a sequence of a gray or

dull-colored wall (or a gray card) with your favorite slide film, 2 stops in half

stops. Put them in a slide sleeve and keep them in your bag/pocket. Spotmeter an

important area of the scene youre shooting, then pick the slide with the tone you

want to match. Use that exact exposure compensation.

25. Zap lens gremlins For outdoor shots, never shoot a big sky at the first two

maximum apertures (to avoid light falloff) or the smallest two or three apertures in

backlight (to avoid ghost images).

26. The unreflector Block unwanted light: Get a folding gobo (a black reflector) and use it to shield your lens from stray light, to

cut down glare from reflective surfaces, or to keep the sun out of your subjects eyes. Alternative: Carry a big piece of heavy

black paper, folded, in

your camera bag.

27. Discover the ordinary Run out of ideas on what to shoot? Stieglitz shot cloudy skies, which he called equivalents. Shoot

36 different pictures of the same tree. Make a collection of interesting manhole covers, hands, feet, mustaches, alphabet letters.

Shoot the insides of a piano. Use your kitchen tools for a still life.

28. Post fact-o Tripod too flimsy to be useful? Employ your own weight: Grasp the tripod collar or centerpost firmly in your left


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fist and press downward while operating the camera with your right hand.

29. Holy macro! Force yourself to shoot close: Put your camera on manual focus, set the focusing at its closest distance, make

close-ups of items in your house or around your neighborhood without changing focusing distance.

30. Manual labor Read the fact-filled manual: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the same old boring advice, but once you get the basics of your

camera, sit down and read the manual with the camera in your hands. Youll be amazed what you learn. Put tabs on the pages with

features important to you.

31. Street beat Dont be timid with street photography: Wade into the fray and get up close and personal. Try putting the

widest-angle lens you have on a camera and shooting close-up pictures as people are waiting for a traffic light to change.

32. Observe yourselfPractice holding your camera while looking in a mirror: This is particularly important for teeny

point-and-shoots. Make sure you can aim the camera quickly without blocking the flash, covering the lens, shading the

viewfinder.

33. Dots the trick Check the steadiness of your camera on your tripod: Attach a

laser light to the camera (use gaffer tape), pointing at a wall. Photograph the laser

dot at various shutter speeds. If you dont get a round dot in your images, youre

going to get blurry pictures.

34. Face backward Shoot your friends from the back: Try it with them looking

forward, and to the side. Use different focal lengths and try various lighting

directions.

35. Track em down Distance sequence a portrait: Start at full figure, then approach closer and closer, shooting one or two

pictures every few feet until you are crawling up inside a nostril.

36. Regroup the group When shooting a group portrait of your friends or family: Dont group them all together! Have some sit,

lie on the floor, lounge on the couch...

37. Monochromania Print casual snapshots (parties, short trips, etc.) in b&w: Its much more forgiving of redeye, pasty skin,

and other imperfections. Your friends will love you.

38. Orientate orientation Take a vertical photo: Snap one immediately after taking a horizontal. And vice versa. Youll be

surprised how often the second one turns out better. You can get two good shots, too.

39. Reach for the ceiling Use bounce flash when possible: It makes for more natural lighting in indoor flash pictures. Forverticals, try side wall bounceit usually works quite well.

40. Spec out your specs Get better glasses: Progressive lenses, such as Varilux, work like bifocals except they offer continuous

correction from very close to far distance. You can make all camera adjustments, see LCD screens, and frame and shoot without

juggling glasses on and off or extending your arms back and forth. Expensive, but worth it.

41. Crosswalk fandango Shoot spaghetti headlight trails: Find a busy intersection, set up your tripod just before dusk, set the

camera to aperture priority and f/22. Without moving your tripod or changing camera angle or settings, shoot a series of pictures

until its totally dark.

42. That syncing feeling Drag the shutter in indoor flash portraits: Its called slow-sync flash, or night flash, and it leaves the

shutter open longer to capture more of the background detail than plain autoflash. But hold the camera steady!

43. Weight watch Pose according to girth: Put heavier people centrally (where they will look thinner) and thinner people alongthe edge (where the lens fattens people).

44. Narrow your wide-angle The most effective use of a wide-angle lens: Emphasizing a foreground feature. Place it to the side

of the frame (in horizontals) or to the bottom (in verticals) and move in close to crop out other clutter.

45. Quick pix fix Use 5-minute Photoshop (or another image-editing program: Try auto levels/contrast to add snap and lighten a

little, add small catchlights (especially in pet photos), and crop out as much junk in the background as you can.

46. Beauty in the beasts For easy, charming pet shots: Use available light, fast film, or high ISO capture. Fill the frame with

their faces and throw the background out of focus, in warm indoor or soft outdoor light.

47. A different gloss Try different print options: white border instead of borderless, matte instead of glossy, textured surfaces,


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sepia, and such. Its a subtle but effective way to change the look of a picture.

48. Sight reading Look at great photography: Open a book, go to a show, browse online galleries. No one ever learned to

compose music without listening to music. No one makes good photos without seeing good photography.

49. Flash dance Great fun while dancing: Hold a small point-and-shoot, set to slow-sync flash, and shoot from the hip or

reaching overhead on the dance floor. Wild pictures guaranteed.

50. In the zone For fast shooting in low light: Use the cameras manual-focus mode and scale or zone focus. Practice estimating

distances. Hint: Use floor tiles as a guidemost are exactly one foot square.

50 tips for better pictures - popphoto - june 2004

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