Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Understand your camera’s settings – Part 2 – Shutter Speed

one threehundredtwentieth f7point1 iso1600 water Understand your cameras settings Part 2 Shutter SpeedImage: 1/320s, f7.1, ISO 1600

In part 2 of this series on understanding your camera’s settings I’ll explain working in Shutter Priority mode.

Shutter speed can be controlled manually by switching to Tv mode. You can then select the shutter speed yourself so you adjust the time the shutter is open for and the camera will adjust the aperture to give you a good exposure.

How to use shutter speed

Setting shutter speed is a creative tool too. You might choose a fast shutter speed when photographing a moving object and where you want to freeze its motion. The image at the top of this post, for example, was captured at 1/320s.

On the other hand, where you want the water in a waterfall or fountain to appear as a silky stream you would use a long shutter speed. Shutter speeds such as 1/250 of a second will freeze motion and shutter speeds of 1/30 a second or slower are considered to be slow.

This second version of the same fountain was shot at 1/3s at f/25 and the water is much silkier:

one third second f25 ISO200 water Understand your cameras settings Part 2 Shutter Speed

When you select shutter speed, your camera will show the aperture so you can preview this – on some cameras you may have to press the shutter release mechanism down halfway to see this.

If the camera doesn’t have a large or small enough aperture for the speed you’ve chosen it will indicate this using some warning system allowing you to adjust your shutter speed setting.

Using a tripod

Take care when selecting slow shutter speeds. Anything slower than 1/60th of a second will make it hard for you to hand hold the camera and keep it steady. If you’re using long lenses on a digital SLR, for example, you may not be able to hand hold the camera successfully at even quite fast shutter speeds.

A good rule of thumb is to use a tripod for shots slower than 1/the focal length of the lens so a 70-200mm lens at full zoom would need a tripod for shutter speeds slower than 1/200th second.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 10:22 am1 Comment - links to this post

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Understand your cameras settings – Part 1 – Aperture

aperture large depth of field camera manual mode Understand your cameras settings Part 1 Aperture

All digital SLRs and many point and shoots can operate in manual or semi-manual modes. If you capture most of your photos using Auto mode it’s time to look at some of the benefits you can get by switching to semi-manual operation.

With these modes you control the aperture or shutter speed and you get a chance to capture more creative photos. So how do you do this and what settings do you use? In this series, I’ll explain your camera’s Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority (Av and Tv) modes and also explain why your ISO setting  is important to understand too.

If your camera can operate in manual mode you’ll have settings such as M, Av, Tv and P on your camera’s dial. The two settings we’ll focus on are Av and Tv where you set the aperture or shutter speed yourself.

What is Aperture?

This begs the question, what is aperture and what is shutter speed? Aperture is, very simply, the size of the hole through which light enters your camera. The larger the hole, the more light gets in.

Aperture is described using an f number which is calculated using a complex formula. A rough rule of thumb is to think of aperture being a fraction so an f number (often called a f-stop) of f/2.8 is bigger than f/22 for example.

Understanding aperture

Aperture not only has a direct relationship to the amount of light let in to the camera, it also affects depth of field. When you use a large aperture such as f/2.8 you will get a small depth of field so only a small distance in front and behind the point of focus in the photograph will be in sharp focus and the remainder of the image will be out of focus.

Depth of field is a creative tool that many photographers use to their advantage. For example, when photographing a beautiful flower, you’ll want the focus to be on the flower and not the things behind it. Using a large aperture such as f/2.8 throws the background out of focus. The photograph at the top of this post is an example of a large aperture and a small depth of field.

On the other hand, using a small aperture such as f/8 or f/11 gives you a large depth of field so everything in the photograph will be in focus – useful when photographing landscapes for example.

The relationship between Aperture and Shutter speed

When you set the aperture using the Av setting on the camera, the camera sets the shutter speed to an appropriate value. This is because there is a direct correlation between aperture and shutter speed.

When you use a small aperture, only a small amount of light comes into the camera so you need to compensate for this by using a slow shutter speed to ensure you capture enough light.

On the flip side, when you use a large aperture such as f/2.8, you get lots of light so the camera will set a fast shutter speed.

When you use Av mode, you’re effectively saying, I’ll set the aperture I want and you – the camera – are to adjust the other settings to give me a good picture. When you are in Av mode, there will be a dial or other option you’ll use to set the desired aperture value.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:52 am0 Comments - links to this post

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Simple Photoediting workflow – Step 14 – Optimize your image

Photoshop Elements resize image Simple Photoediting workflow Step 14 Optimize your image

When you’re ready to prepare your photo for printing or sharing on the web. Use the Image > Resize > Image size option to adjust the image size.

Make sure the Constrain Proportions and Resample Image checkboxes are selected so you can set the desired size correctly.

For web display, set the resolution to 72 pixels per inch and then set the Width and Height dimensions to the desired value. Remember as you do this that even a very large monitor is only 1920 x 1080 pixels in resolution so you don’t generally want an image to be more than that size if you’re just putting it up on your website, for example.

For printing, set the resolution to anything from 150 – 300 pixels per inch and set the size to your desired print size such as 5 x 7in. Because you are resizing the image (not cropping it), it probably won’t resize to the exact proportions but you can get it close to this.

To save the image, choose File > Save As and, if you are planning to display it on the web save it in the JPEG format.

For printing and storing locally on your computer, the TIFF format, Photoshop .PSD format or a high quality JPEG are acceptable.

If you plan to both print a copy of the photo and share one on your web site, for example, size it for printing first, and save that copy and then resize for the web and save this version with a different name.

Other stories in this Simple Photo- Editing Workflow series:

Step 13 – Sharpen

Step 12 – Major Surgery

Step 11 – Getting to black and white

Step 10 – Fixing Redeye

Step 9 – Fixing Imperfections

Step 8 – Fix Skin tones

Step 7 – Fix Color problems

Step 6 – Fix muddy images

Step 5 – Fixing under and overexposed images

Step 4 – Straighten

Step 3 – Crop an image

Step 2 – Make a duplicate

Step 1 – Assess the image

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:54 am0 Comments - links to this post

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Step 13 – Simple Photoediting workflow – Sharpen the image

Photoshop Elements unsharp mask sharpen an image1 Step 13 Simple Photoediting workflow Sharpen the image

When you have finished working on an image you should sharpen it to make the edges in the image look crisper so that they look better when printed on paper and displayed on the screen.

In Photoshop Elements, choose Enhance > Unsharp Mask and set the Radius to around 1.0 – 2.0 pixels. Select a low Threshold value of somewhere between 3 and 10 and adjust the Amount as required.

You will require a higher level of sharpening for images that you will print than you need for display on your computer screen or on the web, for example.

Use the Preview option to check the before and after results of sharpening to ensure you are getting the desired result. You should see the sharpening effect clearly at 100% view, but you should avoid making  visible halos around the edges in your image.

If your image was a little soft and lacking sharp focus before you begin, use a larger Radius value for the sharpening.

If you have been creating layers as you fix your image you must apply sharpening to a flattened version of the image, so choose Layer > Merge Visible to do this.

Other stories in this Simple Photo- Editing Workflow series:

Step 12 – Major Surgery

Step 11 – Getting to black and white

Step 10 – Fixing Redeye

Step 9 – Fixing Imperfections

Step 8 – Fix Skin tones

Step 7 – Fix Color problems

Step 6 – Fix muddy images

Step 5 – Fixing under and overexposed images

Step 4 – Straighten

Step 3 – Crop an image

Step 2 – Make a duplicate

Step 1 – Assess the image

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:18 am0 Comments - links to this post

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Step 12 Simple Photo-editing workflow – Performing major surgery

Photoshop Elements clone stamp tool e1295280025500 Step 12 Simple Photo editing workflow – Performing major surgery

Quite often you will find that an otherwise pleasant image has been ruined by some distracting background element.

To remove this, use the Clone Stamp tool. Start by sampling an area of the image to use as the source data to fix the problem – you do this by Alt + Clicking on the portion of the image to use.

Then “paint over” the problem area. The results will be less obvious if you click with the brush rather than drag in a painting motion.

You may need to resample the source area from time to time as you work to find a good match for the area you are painting onto.

It is best to use a brush that is an appropriate size for the task – for detail work it should be quite small, for example, and it should have a low hardness value so you don’t get harsh edges on the fixed area.

If you are familiar with using layers, apply the fix to a new empty layer so that you can adjust and blend the layer later on if need be.

If you are cloning onto a new layer, make sure to have the All layers checkbox selected on the tool options bar so you sample from all the layers – the layer you’re working on won’t have any data so you can’t sample from it alone.

Other stories in this Simple Photo- Editing Workflow series:

Step 11 – Getting to black and white

Step 10 – Fixing Redeye

Step 9 – Fixing Imperfections

Step 8 – Fix Skin tones

Step 7 – Fix Color problems

Step 6 – Fix muddy images

Step 5 – Fixing under and overexposed images

Step 4 – Straighten

Step 3 – Crop an image

Step 2 – Make a duplicate

Step 1 – Assess the image

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:02 am2 Comments - links to this post

Friday, December 31st, 2010

Canal Cruise Slideshow

canal cruise 2010 Canal Cruise Slideshow

A couple of weeks ago I spent four days on the Isabella – a canal boat – travelling from her moorings at Bishop’s Stortford down to Tottenham in London.

I was totally pampered by owners Grahame and Sue and got to see some wonderful English scenery as we chugged along at a princely 4MPH which is pretty fast until you realise that every mile you hit a lock and those take around 15 minutes to get the boat in and out of – so 4MPH very quickly becomes about half that speed overall. It’s a great way to unwind and to really appreciate this beautiful country and the magnificent legacy of those people who built these great inland waterways and the continuing efforts of everyone charged with keeping them navigable.

Click here to view the slideshow of images from the trip.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:09 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

New Year Project – Photo flip books

Photo flip book tutorial New Year Project Photo flip books

I recently got asked how you make a photo flip book – you know one of those little books you flip the pages from and something happens?

Well as luck would have it those cool folks over at O’Reilly used to have a magazine called Craft! and they asked me to write an article for them on just this very topic. So, click this link and you will see how to create your very own photo flip book.

I used clips from a movie file for this flip book so there’s lots of fun for everyone involved from writing the signs to making the film and then the tech side of extracting the frames and making the book.

It’s a great snow day/rainy day project.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:26 am0 Comments - links to this post

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Hyper-focal distance and DOF

depth of field calculator Hyper focal distance and DOF

I’ve been playing around this week with my new Pentax K-7 shooting a range of images to use to illustrate Depth of Field for an article I’m writing. I’ve also been drawing pictures to illustrate Hyper-focal distance – I love my job!

As I was trawling the web I found the DOF Master website which calculates all things hyper-focal and DOF.

There you can calculate the depth of field required for various situations – simply select your camera and the focal length of the lens that you are using. So, for example, if you have a 28 – 200 lens and are planning to shoot at 100 mm, then select 100 mm for the focal length. Select the f stop that you intend to shoot at at for that focal distance. Then select the distance between you and the subject and click Calculate.

So, for example, for my Pentax K7, shooting at 100 mm with f/5.6 at a subject 10 feet away, the depth of field is approximately .67 feet and the hyper-focal distance would be 290 feet.

If you’re using a fixed focal length lens, then there is also an online depth of field table available on that site. Select the focal length of your lens and the camera that you are using and click Calculate – you’ll get a printable table showing the near and far range of the depth of field at a given distance and aperture, as well as the hyper-focal distance. How cool is that?

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 1:02 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

Kangaroo Island slideshow

canola kangaroo island australia Kangaroo Island slideshow

I just recently got  back from the very wonderful Kangaroo Island off  the coast of South Australia. Here is slideshow of images from the Island. No Kangaroos, sorry.. but some great scenery none the less. Click here to view it!

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:26 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Step 10 Simple Photo-editing workflow – Fixing redeye

redeye fix e1274922289633 Step 10 Simple Photo editing workflow – Fixing redeyeRedeye is caused by the camera’s flash and is often difficult to avoid. Some photographers, and I count myself in that group, would prefer to have to deal with redeye if that means we get good photos. Often the redeye reduction feature on a camera signals to your subject that the image has been taken before it has – they relax and start moving and you get unwanted movement in the shot. When there is a balance to be struck between redeye and movement – I’ll take redeye everytime.

If your photograph has a subject with redeye you can fix it using the redeye tool in Photoshop Elements.

Click the Zoom Tool and click and drag over the eyes in the image to make them large enough that you see them clearly.

Click the Redeye removal tool and click on the red part of the eye. If necessary, adjust the Darken amount and the Pupil Size on the toolbar to get a good result. Fix each eye and then save the image.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:09 pm2 Comments - links to this post

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Step 11 Photo-editing workflow – Getting to black and white

black and white Step 11 Photo editing workflow – Getting to black and white

Some images look much better in black and white than they do in colour.

Increasingly photo editing programs are shipping with very good tools for converting to black and white. These allow you to select which portions of an image become black and which become white which is necessary when you want to differentiate between colours which have the same intensity such as green and red values which would, otherwise, be converted to the same shade of gray.

In Photoshop Elements, choose Enhance > Convert to Black and White and select a style from the list at the left of the dialog. These include Infrared, Newspaper, Urban Snapshots, Scenic Landscape, Vivid Landscape and Portraits. While the names suggest the type of image they are well suited to it is a matter of personal preference as to which you use.

Once you have chosen the image type you can select from options at the bottom of the image to adjust the various colours to darker or lighter shades of grey. You can also select the more or less contrast options to adjust the image contrast.

When you have a result that you like, click Ok.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:12 am2 Comments - links to this post

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Worth the price of admission – CS5

Photoshop CS5 Save As options Worth the price of admission CS5There’s been a lot of excitement over the Content Aware Fill feature in Photoshop CS5 (Edit > Fill > Content Aware). It’s a big new feature but it’s often the little day to day changes that really make a difference. For me there are two big “little” changes that I love.

One is the ability to stop Photoshop wanting to save files to where they came from. So, now, when you choose Save As, Photoshop doesn’t have to default to where the file came from and it can be made to point to the last place you saved a file into. This could mean the difference between using Photoshop for day to day screenshots and not.

Until now I’ve used PaintShop Pro and I’ve done so for around 10 years because it defaults to the last save location which works best for me. Now, at last Photoshop can be configured to behave the way I want it to behave. You will find this setting in Edit > Preferences > File Handling – disable the Save As to Original Folder checkbox.

The other big plus is that the Ruler tool now includes a rotate feature. In the past you’d choose the Ruler tool, mark the horizontal line then go to Image > Image Rotation > Arbitrary to make the rotation. Now there’s a Straighten option on the tool options bar when you select the Ruler tool.

Still on my wishlist is a one step paste to new image option. I’d love to be able to have something on the clipboard and choose Paste to New Image and have a new image the size of the clipboard object automatically created for me. Shouldn’t be too difficult – really! For now I have an action which does it but it would be nicer to have a menu item.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:25 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Harajuku and Yoyogi Park

tokyo harajuku cool Harajuku and Yoyogi ParkOn Sunday I spent the day in Harajuku and walking with hundreds of Tokyo residents in the beautiful Yoyogi Park. The park is slap bang in one of the busiest areas of Tokyo within spitting distance of Shibuya and Harajuku and around 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku a major shopping area and with the largest railway station you ever want to get lost in. Yet this park is a peaceful oasis where kids run and play, people walk, sit and throw frisbies and laughter fills the air. The Japanese laugh a lot – and the sound of laughter is something that I really noticed here.

Harajuku didn’t offer up quite the wealth of photo opportunities I had hoped for but I still got some great images. Click here to view the final Tokyo 2010 gallery.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 3:42 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Neon and street art in Tokyo

sekaido 3 e1273365220517 Neon and street art in Tokyo Yesterday I spent a few hours in Sekaido, a 7 storey art supply store in Shinjuku then headed out to Ginza as I hadn’t been there before. There are some seriously funky things here – it was Saturday so they close some of the main streets and put tables and chairs out for people to sit at. The neon is pretty amazing the shops – well let’s just say expensive and big name. In the Sony building the stairs play music as you climb them! All in all – fun and well worth a visit but it’s far from being my favourite place in Tokyo.

For my money, Shinjuku is far more interesting and colourful and there are way fewer tourists there. I’ve found some cool graffiti and sticker art around Shinjuku too which is an unusual find in Toyko.

But today is Sunday so I’m headed to Harajuku with high hopes of some amazing shots – it’s the centre of youth culture and dress up is the name of the game.

For now, click here to view a gallery of Ginza and Shinjuku street art images.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:44 pm0 Comments - links to this post

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Ameyoko and the Tsukiji Fish Market

tokyo hello Ameyoko and the Tsukiji Fish MarketI visited Ameyoko last night to get some Japanese crackers that are hard to find and cost a fortune at the duty free store at Narita. This is an old market – used to be a black market in WWII and it runs along the Yamamoto railway line between two stations. In the evenings it’s busy with commuters stopping by to purchase food for dinner or to shop for clothes - new and second hand. It’s a fun and vibrant place to visit.

This morning – early – it was fish market time. I’ve missed  this the last two times in Tokyo once because it was closed to tourists and the other because it was closed for New Years. Today I got to see what all the excitement is about. It’s packed, noisy, smelly and so much fun. You really have to be on your guard as the market workers are there to work which means moving fish around at a blindingly fast pace and tourists aren’t given any priority at all!

Click here to view the first of my Tokyo galleries.

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