Aperture/Depth of Field

 
Image taken on Nikon D5000. Shallow depth of field to blur the background


Image taken on Nikon D5000. More depth of field to ensure a sharp, end to end image

 

Aperture priority is one of the settings on a camera that usually stands for “AV” or “A” on your spin dial. Aperture priority and depth of field goes hand in hand and is at first, a hard concept to grasp. Basically, you have the more common apertures of F2.8, F5.6, F8, F11, F16, and F22. In order to gain the more depth of field you want to be set at F22 to give you the most sharp picture from end to end. In order to achieve a shallow depth of field, you want your setting to be set to F2.8.

The best time to use a shallow depth of field would be when you want your background to be out of focus. A perfect example of this is when you are taking pictures of a flower. Using your focal points in your viewfinder you want to set the main focus on the flower so your background is soft and out of focus making the flower the sharpest in the image. A good setting that I enjoy taking my flower pictures at is F2.8 or F5.6 so I can ensure the background is completely out of focus and making sure the flower is the sharpest. Another example of when you want a shallow depth of field is when you are taking portraits. If you have your subject in a very busy background such as in a school setting, you want to blur out the background behind the subject so the background does not take away from your portrait. A great setting for this would be F5.6.

A time where you would want to use a great depth of field ensuring your entire image is in focus is in landscapes and product photography. The reason you want a sharp image for these two types of photography is because for landscapes you do not want to show any blur to the image because generally speaking, if clients are going to purchase your image, they want a sharp end to end photograph of the landscape. The reason you want a sharp product shot is because if an advertising agency is going to hire you, they do not want their product to be out of focus because they are trying to promote their product through captivating images that a photographer can produce. For both Product and Landscape photography I like to make sure my F stops are set to either F16 or F22 to ensure that the end result is sharp.

In Focus

Nikon D5000 viewfinder and auto focus points

Photo taken from Google Images

So as simple of a subject as this may be, it still needs to be touched on before I eventually start talking about manual functions. Basically, when taking a photograph you want a picture as sharp as possible. There is a button, or shutter release, on the camera that you push down in order to take your photograph. Before releasing the shutter you want to gently push the button half way down to ensure an in focus photograph. Basically if are not doing this, you are risking the chances of having an out of focus picture as an end result.

Auto Focus is a great feature. On your lens, there should be a switch that says “A” and “M” standing for auto focus, and manual focus. In order to use your camera on auto focus you must have the switch turned to “A”. When looking through the viewfinder on auto focus, you will notice little red squares that are known as focus points that help to focus on a certain part of the subject. After you have selected how you want to arrange the subject in the viewfinder, push the shutter button half way down to allow auto focus to occur, followed by pushing the shutter fully down. Probably about 90% of the time a photographer should be able to use the auto focus without worry of capturing the image.

Your other focus technique would be manual focus or “M” on the lens. Manual focus can be a great feature as well if you no how to properly use it. One reason its great is for when your auto focus will not pick up on the subject such as if it were to dark. Manual focus is basically controlled by using the end of the lens to adjust left and right or its sharp and soft focus. A good time you may find yourself using manual focus is when on a windy day and your auto focus will not stabilize long enough on a flower that may be shifting back and fourth in the wind.

Using histograms to produce good exposures

Photo taken from Google Images

A histogram on a camera is an important feature that every photographer should use. Exposure is the key to a successful photograph. You need a properly exposed image in order to produce good quality work. I, as a photographer prefer to get my exposures right in the camera so I can limit the time and effort that others like to put into Photoshop later.

By using your histogram you are able to determine if you are using the proper settings or not. If you are going to review your image on your camera after shooting something, its best to set your camera so your histogram pops up beside the picture so you can tell if you are going to produce a usable image once its loaded onto the computer. The reasoning for wanting to display your histogram is because the image you see on the back of your camera is not always accurate. It is possible that you could also have your LCD settings set to the wrong settings and therefore could be showing you the wrong results when you look at your image. A great example of shooting something and receiving inaccurate information on your camera LCD screen is when you shoot snow or something white. After shooting the white image, you look at your camera screen and it looks like it was exposed the right way. But when you find yourself uploading the images to view on your computer you may all of a sudden notice that your images are well over exposed. Now an overexposed image is defined as highlights being completely blown out. An example of where you may see this is when shooting a bride at her wedding. The brides white dress will be completely blown out, or very bright and unflattering looking. The best way to avoid overexposing a subject is by making sure you have the proper camera settings for the scene or subject matter you are photographing.

When looking at a histogram there's 3 things you can look at; under exposure, normal exposure, and over exposure. When your histogram is showing the information in the middle, that means you have exposed the image properly. When the information is more to the left, it means there's not enough detail and you have underexposed. Lastly, when the slope is to the right of the histogram, it means you have to much detail and is therefore going to look overexposed. It's better to underexpose then over expose because you can always brighten an underexposed picture but you cant always darken an overexposed picture.

Tripod VS Blur

                    

                           

Sharp+Tripod

    Blur+No Tripod

Images Taken on Nikon D5000

Images cropped to appropriate size to assist blog

                                                          

Using a tripod is although a hassle to have to carry around, it is also still a good thing to have with you. Not only does a tripod make a photographer look like they know what they're doing but it also helps to stabilize your camera and provide you with the best quality image. Night photography without a doubt requires a tripod. You can not easily shoot something at night and get perfectly sharp images. As shutter speed and ISO adjustments can be made in the capturing of night photography, the motion of just clicking the button can cause the camera to shake making your end result blurry.

The two images I have provided were shots I have taken while in New York City on the Staten Island Ferry boat. On the trip from land to the island, I was able to use a tripod on the boat and capture a sharp image even with the swaying of the boat and mass amounts of wind. On the way back however, I was told to put my tripod away as you need a form of permission on paper in NYC to have an open tripod in public. My aperture was set to wide open, my shutter was dragged and my ISO was up to 800 for both images. The image on the top was the result of the use of my tripod and the image on the bottom was the result of having no tripod. From these two images themselves you can see how important it is to use a tripod, especially at night time. Now if this image was taken during a sunny day, I would have had a higher shutter speed, more closed aperture and lower ISO where I would then not need the use of a tripod as my pictures should turn out sharp due to my settings and lighting.

Monopod's are also good things to have. For those who don't no what a monopod is, it's like a tripod but with one leg. I would not however, recommend a monopod for night photography as you need to hold on to the monopod and will create camera shake and therefore blur. A monopod is good though for taking landscape photography and certain sport photography. It is less of a hassle to have to carry around as it is much lighter and more compact then a tripod is.

Both monopod's and tripods can be found at local camera stores. I would highly recommend in investing in a good tripod and not just a cheap one. The more money you spend on a tripod the heavier and better quality it will be and therefor more satisfying.

Panasonic DMC-FH20

Image taken by LG Keybo 2 camera cellphone

The Panasonic FH20 is a great camera. It's an 8x optical zoom, 14 Mega Pixel camera with an 28mm wide angle. The camera has optical image stabilization and takes a rechargeable lithium ion battery. For point and shoot, I would highly recommend this model of camera. Panasonic is great for their point and shoot cameras. One thing I love about Panasonic is that I find their colours are true to the scene unlike other cameras that add a tint of warm or cool colour to their photo.

This camera offers your basic automatic mode, movie mode, and your different scenery modes as well such as portraits,scenery, sports, baby and pets etc. These other scenes options are great for when you are taking photos that relate to the topic making the camera automatically adjust your settings and white balance to the scene to produce the greatest image possible. The basic automatic mode on this camera is a great setting for when on the go and in a hurry and for producing amazing photos.

The only thing I would complain about this camera would be on its movie mode. When taking a video you are unable to zoom during recording which is considered as a disadvantage to me but is considered not to be important to others.

As my latest, and first Panasonic camera, I would highly recommend this camera to others as a point and shoot for the year 2011. It is still a fairly new camera and is considered one of the better point and shoot cameras due to its advantage over others with its 8x optical zoom compared to 4x optical zoom on most cameras in this price range. You can find this camera at many different camera store locations priced at $229.99.

Images taken by Panasonic DMC-FH20

First Blog

So this is my first blog. It's funny because I never knew what a blog actually was until last year. So what I am trying to accomplish with this blog is to;

1) keep this up by posting daily to it
2) build customers through my photography business
3) educate people with camera equipment
4) share some random thoughts

So since this is my first time ever doing this blog thing, I am going to call it quits for today and just work on the design and template and figure out how this works.


More to come soon!