« Birds of Feather | Main | Digital Storytelling - MarcoTorres »

February 19, 2008 08:04 AM

Taking Digital Pictures Effectively

Leslie Fisher is telling us how she got into digital photography. Reed Hoffman, former White House photographer, formed a company, Blue Pixel, to support digital work and hired Leslie. This presentation is one that Blue Pixel gives in its workshops for a big fee.

http://www.bluepixel.net/

Top Issues with Taking Pictures:

Reading the manual for your new digital camera is really, really helpful.

1. Not being close enough - Take a picture and then take it again at closer range - Take lots of pictures and just save the best. Frame around your photo - look at the edges of your picture before you shoot. You can always crop the photo later. Fewer megapixels, with cropping you lose resolution, so can't crop too much.

The flower icon on your camera is Macro Mode - says you're 1-3 ft. from the target. Check David Schloss' site of Lady Bugs - funny.

2. Not being in focus - We rely too much on view finder. Figure out how your camera sets the focus point. Usually you hold down the shutter button halfway. Get your subject focused!

3. Camera Shake - Nothing is going to be in focus. Usually low lighting contributes and exposure times are very long. You can't hold camera still for that long. Want to get a camera with image stabilization. Some cameras have a low light or night time mode. Can also use tripods.

She likes Canon digital cameras.

4. Boring Composition - Ask what's important for the shot you want to take. Use the Law of Thirds: Act like there's a tic-tac-toe grid in your view finder. Put your point of interest at the intersections of the grid. This establishes good flow in the picture. Can crop to get this - useful for sporting events.

5. The Squint Test - Look at the scene with your eyes slightly squinted. What stands out? You'll notice the strong lines are the backbone of the image.

Look for Lines - some can help, some can ruin the picture.
Space Makes You Think - Have fun with open spaces. Put subject in one corner of the picture.
Shoot High/Shoot Low - Scenery shots have a cool perspective when shot low. People shots are more flattering shot high.
If I see another - Posed pictures near a view are great and wonderful, but how about a picture of you doing something?

6. Ignoring the Background - Pay attention to the background. Try to make sure there's nothing distracting in the background.

7. Missing the Moment - Chances are your camera is trying to expose for everything around it. Need to set your camera to take a fast picture (Often the running man icon - Sports Mode) Need more light to make this work.

8. Too Much Flash - Flash kills natural light. Try to use natural light if you can.

9. Too Little Flash - Can get camera shake with too little. Can use fill flash when subject is in shadow and background is in sunlight. Most camera flashes will work only at a distance of up to 8-10 feet.

10. Why Not Vertical - Use for creative composition.

11. Digital Zoom - Optical zoom is lens moving in and out - want a big number. Digital zoom just crops the picture - cuts out pictures. Suggests turning off digital zoom.

12. Wrong Settings -
- Pixels: You cannot change the number of pixels per square in.
Screen and printing resolutions are different.
Good printing resolution min. is about 160 per sq in.
Uncheck "resample image"
Need to know what resolution (pixels per sq. in.)
your camera is using.
- Image Size - Changes width and height of image. Bad setting.
Leave it set to large.
- Shutter Priority - Tells your camera that speed is the most
important factor in the picture you are about to
take.
- Aperture Priority - Allows you to select the Aperture and
then the camera will select the appropriate shutter
speed. Controlling the aperture will change the
Depth of Field. Smaller Aperture = less depth of
field. Larger Aperture = more depth of field.
- Exposure Compensation - Controls entire exposure of picture -
makes things lighter or darker overall
- White Balance - An adjustment that can be made to the camera
to ensure that the colors are captured accurately
without any other color cast from lighting
being used.

www.lesliefisher.com
geek@lesliefisher.com
www.lesliefisher.com/gbu
Her photos: lesliegolf.smugmug.com

After the break, Leslie starts a presentation of photo editing.

Before going into image editing, always, always save the originals.

1. Make sure color is correct in image. Scott Kelby has a good book
on photo adjustment.
2. Using Levels - If image is too dark, don't try to fix
with brightness adjustment. Make a new adjustment layer and
make adjustments there. Change histogram of input levels; pull
outlier areas into range of most of picture.
Can use a white balance card to help adjustment color.
www.rawworkflow.com - has nice plastic color balance card
3. Shadow Highlight - Clears up objects that are in heavy shadow.
4. Sharpening - Damages the photo - deletes pixels but reduces
fuzziness.
5. Crop and Straighten -

Leslie demonstrates lots of features of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Leslie has handsouts for her workshop on her web site listed above.

Posted by johnballing on February 19, 2008 at 08:04 AM in | Comments (0)

Comments

Post a comment