digital photography 101: some tips for nonprofessionals bill hackett, cheshire cat photo

38
Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Post on 24-Jan-2016

228 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Digital Photography 101:

Some tips for nonprofessionalsBill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Page 2: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

3 Things to decide

• JPG or RAW

• Tripod, monopod, or handheld

• Multiple exposures with bracketing or single exposures

Page 3: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Equipment

• Cameras and lenses

• Tripods and monopods

• Computers and software

Page 4: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

• Canon - Excellent lenses, leads in electronics, prompt repair

• Nikon - Excellent lenses, durable bodies, premium prices

• Others - Choose on basis of lens and image processor

Cameras (and “camera backs”)

Page 5: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

The lens

• Length - 50mm “normal” lens, 70-200mm telephoto zoom, 10mm wide-angle

• Speed - f/1.4, f/2.8, f/4-5.6 (higher numbers = “slower” lenses)

• Quality (Chromatic aberration, sharpness, etc.)

Page 6: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Tripods and monopods

• Tripods are more stable than monopods (“3 points determine a plane”)

• Monopods are convenient and can be better than nothing (handheld)

• Choose a heavy (and tall enough!) tripod with fewer leg segments, “flip-lever” (rather than “turning ring”) locking, and quick-release head. Use a “cable release” or infrared (IR) device to trip shutter!

Page 7: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Platforms

• Macintosh - Choice for security, stability, and scalability, since UNIX-based. Most viruses are not written for Macintosh, but you should STILL use firewall and antivirus

• Windows PC - Use Windows 7 and the best antivirus and firewall package available.

• Others (Android, iPhone, iPad) - Screen size is limiting for the phones. Excellent camera in iPhone. iPads might be an option for processing.

Page 8: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Software

• Adobe Photoshop and Bridge, Adobe Lightroom

• Adobe Photoshop Elements

• Apple iPhoto and Aperture

Page 9: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Photographs

• Kinds (and Sizes!) of files

• Workflow

• Storage and Backup

Page 10: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Photographs: Kinds of Files

• JPG and PNG - JPG is destructive (“lossy”compression); PNG is lossless

• TIF (TIFF) - uncompressed and L-A-R-G-E

• cRAW and DNG - camera RAW and Adobe “Digital Negative”

Page 11: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Workflow

• Dictated by your end-product - What are you trying to produce?

• Must fit your needs - “KISS” (Keep It Simple, Stupid! :-) ) Methodology

• Must make “sense” - Retain all of the picture information that you need

Page 12: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Workflow Tips

• Never lose photo information - store a file that has everything you’ll need later

• Adjust exposure, white balance, and sharpness of RAW files first, then color

• The “Level” and “Cropping Tool” are your friends!

Page 13: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Storage and backup

• Store photos on >1 PHYSICAL device (no “single point of failure”)

• Back up your work regularly and as frequently as makes sense

• Back up important work at >1 physical LOCATION (e.g. at home and office; at home and online storage)

Page 14: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Organization

• Computer “Folders” (Directories) by date and mnemonic name

• Spreadsheets - Excel, others

• Data bases - I use Filemaker, the #1 data base for Mac and the #2 for PC

Page 15: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Shooting

• Philosophy

• Light

• Composition: framing and cropping, settings, exposure, focus, and depth-of-field

Page 16: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Philosophy

• ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

• What is there to DISCOVER? (NOT: “What is there to photograph?)

• In photography, we order the chaos around us, emphasizing one aspect of the world, ignoring all others, representing that subject in a way that shows how it has engaged us emotionally.

Page 17: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Light

• “Photography” literally means “painting with light”

• Dull light = dull photographs, regardless of subject matter

• Light has a direction, a character, and a color

Page 18: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Light direction

• Frontlighting - Wipes out any shadows; WORST for landscapes and BEST for tight shots of birds and animals

• Sidelighting - Shadows emphasize shape and texture; early morning and late afternoon sidelighting for landscapes

• Backlighting - Outlines shapes by creating glowing halos or even silhouettes

Page 19: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Light character

• “Hard” or “Soft”

• Hard = Direct bright sunlight or “head-on” camera flash; Produce sharp-edged black shadows from “point source” of light; Sensor (and film) cannot capture the RANGE of exposure

• Soft = Low-contrast lighting; Great for closeups and delicate color; Shadows disappear or are diffused, depth perception is limited, colors saturate

Page 20: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Light color

• Warm reds and oranges early and late in the day

• Cooler blues at midday

• Overcast makes lighting cooler; Cool light can emphasize snow and frost but you may need to “filter” (or digitally adjust white balance [light temperature degrees Kelvin!]) for brightly colored subjects

Page 21: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Composition

• SLOW DOWN! Take your time. The light on your subject is changing constantly!

• Vertical or Horizontal (“Portrait” or “Landscape”)

• Framing and Placement (keep in mind “aspect ratios” of later frame sizes); Yet another reason for using a tripod; Avoid “cutting off” the subject with the edge of the frame; Zoom lenses; “Rule” of “thirds”

Page 22: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Adobe Bridge showing Histogram, White Balance, Exposure, and Saturation for cropped DNG image of surfer, Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz

Page 23: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Exposure

• “Exposure is the major problem facing all <film> photographers.” - John Shaw

• Exposure of RAW images can be adjusted, so... it is not as big a problem!

• Correct exposure means that tonal values turn out the way that YOU wanted

Page 24: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Aperture and Shutter Speed

• Aperture = the size of the hole: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16

• Shutter Speed = time the hole is open (in seconds): 2”, 1”, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000

• With Aperature-priority, you size the hole, and the camera picks the speed; With Shutter Speed-priority, you pick the speed, and the camera sizes the hole; With Full Auto, the camera picks both (and the camera’s “brain” is SMALLER than OURS! :-) )

Page 25: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Focus and depth-of-field

• Focus is the region of sharpest definition

• Depth-of-field is the depth of this region

• Aperture-priority: large holes = shallow depth of field, small holes = greater depth of field

Page 26: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Good Vibrations?Only in the heart.... All other vibrations are BAD for Photography!

Page 27: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Presentation

• Digital: cell phones, Internet email, Facebook, Web sites, Digital frames

• Prints, photo gifts, CDs and DVDs

• Digital slideshows

Page 28: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Digital

• Portability

• Worldwide reach

• “Just-in-Time” production of prints and gifts, on demand

Page 29: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Physical

• Prints - Wallet sized to large posters, canvas, metal, etc.

• Disks - CDs are approximately 700 MB; DVDs are approximately 4.7 GB; “thumb drives” (USB “sticks”) come in a variety of sizes, use solid-state storage

• Gifts - playing cards, puzzles, keepsake boxes, coasters, tiles, clothing, etc.

Page 30: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Bear Gulch Trail (Eastern Pinnacles); Fungi, Muir Woods; Bridalveil Fall “rainbow”

Page 31: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Muir Woods: Bohemian Grove, Cathedral Grove, Understory

Page 32: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Muir Woods Redwoods

Page 33: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Bermuda Buttercup (Sunset State Beach)

Page 34: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Arbor, Mission San Luis Obispo

Page 35: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Are YOU serious? :-)

• Shoot ONLY cRAW (“Camera RAW”)

• Use a tripod whenever reasonable

• Shoot multiple exposures per setting and “bracket” your settings (... and prepare to spend HOURS and DAYS at the computer with your work.)

Page 36: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

“The Road Not Taken” - There is always more to discover!

Page 37: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

‘All right,’ said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

Page 38: Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Questions?