Flash can come in handy when you are taking pictures. However, your picture will never feel as good with natural light. This is because you are trying to get the essence of your subjects and they look the best under natural ambient light.
So, remember, flash is just there as a supporting light source.
Still, this doesn't say that flash is created to spoil the fun of digital photography. There are instances when you need flash to save your picture.
Imagine there is a bright sun in front of you and a unique and nearly distinct butterfly just landed on the table in front of you. And coincidently you got your camera at your hand, before you snap the picture, remember to set the camera flash on so that the butterfly can be properly illuminated.
If not, your butterfly will appear dark and lost its vibrant color. This is because cameras were not built to handle this kind of situation and they seems to give priority to the back light and make your subject dark.
This phenomenon is similar with our eyes where you too can't properly appreciate the object in front of you when the back light is too strong. The object will often turn out to be dark too.
Have fun photographing,
Michael Wong. :-)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
5 Tips To Start With Digital Photography
If you are new to digital photography, I happily welcome you to the hobby and I believe you are going to enjoy it. I hope that the tips below can show you how to play with digital photography and take some pretty pictures. :-)
1. Know Your Camera
I know how excited it can be when you first got your digital camera. I can still remember how I felt when I open the box and how it smells once I unpacked the camera. It seems to connect with me when I hold it in my hand and I immediately slot in the battery and took it for a spin. It proved that I made the right decision to get the camera. :-)
It was only later that I heard that running your camera with minimal battery can damage the camera and I have been worried since. I am not sure how true that is, but I would like to advice you charge the battery to the full first before you start taking pictures. And since you are charging the battery, why not take the time to read the manual and understand what your camera can actually do. You might never imagine your camera can do something different than other cameras.
2. Flash
And to help you to get the hang of digital photography, you should learn all you can about the flash (link to my flash) on your camera. If you are using a point and shoot camera, the intensity of your flash might be different base on different manufacturers and it might cause your subject to look glaring. If that is the case, you will want to learn to control your flash with distance and zooming into the subjects.
If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can disperse the flash to minimize the glare.
3. Macro
The macro mode is ideal to take close up picture with your subjects and it is represented with a flower symbol (symbol may vary with manufacturers).
Once you have selected the macro mode, make sure that you get as close to your subject as possible to capture its details. You can compare taking picture with macro and normal mode and you will see that the macro is able to capture the detail of your subject better.
However, when you are using the macro mode, make sure that you have a tripod or steady hand so that your pictures don't come out blur.
4. Use the grid
It is common to take pictures that are out of proportion when you are new to the hobby and grid lines are great help to frame your picture. Most digital cameras nowadays come with this setting where you can have lines showing on your LCD screen.
You can then use the line as guide to properly place your subjects and get that tremendous picture that you hope for.
5. ISO setting
ISO is actually the International Organization for Standardization which is same as the organization that sets standard for the businesses and technologies around the world.
Digital cameras nowadays come with different ISO setting and you can now be free from taking different roll of ISO films for any photograph shooting. Although the cameras do come with different ISO setting, you will want to be careful with the high ISO setting. This is because less light will be allow into the camera (due to fast shutter speed) when you are using high ISO and you will suffer noise picture.
So, that marks the end of this post and I hope you enjoy the tips as much as I did it. Remember to go out more and take more pictures to build up your digital photography skills.
Happy taking pictures,
Michael Wong. :-)
1. Know Your Camera
I know how excited it can be when you first got your digital camera. I can still remember how I felt when I open the box and how it smells once I unpacked the camera. It seems to connect with me when I hold it in my hand and I immediately slot in the battery and took it for a spin. It proved that I made the right decision to get the camera. :-)
It was only later that I heard that running your camera with minimal battery can damage the camera and I have been worried since. I am not sure how true that is, but I would like to advice you charge the battery to the full first before you start taking pictures. And since you are charging the battery, why not take the time to read the manual and understand what your camera can actually do. You might never imagine your camera can do something different than other cameras.
2. Flash
And to help you to get the hang of digital photography, you should learn all you can about the flash (link to my flash) on your camera. If you are using a point and shoot camera, the intensity of your flash might be different base on different manufacturers and it might cause your subject to look glaring. If that is the case, you will want to learn to control your flash with distance and zooming into the subjects.
If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can disperse the flash to minimize the glare.
3. Macro
The macro mode is ideal to take close up picture with your subjects and it is represented with a flower symbol (symbol may vary with manufacturers).
Once you have selected the macro mode, make sure that you get as close to your subject as possible to capture its details. You can compare taking picture with macro and normal mode and you will see that the macro is able to capture the detail of your subject better.
However, when you are using the macro mode, make sure that you have a tripod or steady hand so that your pictures don't come out blur.
4. Use the grid
It is common to take pictures that are out of proportion when you are new to the hobby and grid lines are great help to frame your picture. Most digital cameras nowadays come with this setting where you can have lines showing on your LCD screen.
You can then use the line as guide to properly place your subjects and get that tremendous picture that you hope for.
5. ISO setting
ISO is actually the International Organization for Standardization which is same as the organization that sets standard for the businesses and technologies around the world.
Digital cameras nowadays come with different ISO setting and you can now be free from taking different roll of ISO films for any photograph shooting. Although the cameras do come with different ISO setting, you will want to be careful with the high ISO setting. This is because less light will be allow into the camera (due to fast shutter speed) when you are using high ISO and you will suffer noise picture.
So, that marks the end of this post and I hope you enjoy the tips as much as I did it. Remember to go out more and take more pictures to build up your digital photography skills.
Happy taking pictures,
Michael Wong. :-)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
3 Tips For You To Take Good Pictures
Do you know how far we gone from digital photography? It just seems 10 or plus years when we just start to see the power of digital photography. And people nowadays are mostly using digital camera and taking pictures can not be any easier than the older days. But how do you take good pictures with digital photography? Below are some tips to share with you. Enjoy. :-)
1. Lighting
It is a well known fact that the pictures taken from digital SLR cameras have better quality than normal compact digital camera. However the point and shoot camera can still give good quality picture when you have proper lighting to illuminate the subject.
And talking about lighting, most people will have no problem taking picture at the day time. Problems usually arise when you are taking picture at night when you need to use the flash.
For the standard compact digital camera users, it is common for a lot you to suffer glaring picture when you use the flash. This is because you were not given the power to control the intensity of your flash.
You can however stand further from the subject and zoom into it before you snap the picture. Although this step can solve the issue, it still have a challenge that how far you have to stand from the subject and this often require you to trial and error to get the hang of it.
Or, you can try to disperse the flash manually by sticking a piece of white paper in front if the flash, this somehow makes the pictures look odd. And if you have the patience you can run your own experiment to how to stick the paper so that you can disperse the flash properly.
2. Camera
Just like what you saw just now, camera plays a definite role in the quality of your picture. If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can take your picture in the RAW format so that the picture you took retains the details as you capture it. The camera will not do anything to alter the picture so that you can edit it as you like.
Although digital SLR cameras gives you the best quality picture, how do you know which camera give you the best? You obviously can't see the difference when you are testing the cameras at the shop.
Besides, the more testing and explanation you get from the sales person, the more confuse you will be. So, it is only logic that you spend some time research the cameras online, look in photography magazines and ask other experienced photographers for advice.
3. Techniques and skills
I am sorry to say that despite of all the things you can get, you still need a set of skills to get good quality pictures. And this is unlikely something that you get together with the camera.
Luckily, these techniques and skills to good quality pictures are easy to learn. All you need to do is to spend time studying the art, take pictures, hang out with like minded photographers and ask for their feedback. Sometime you can send your pictures to magazines to have the professional photographers to comment on it.
So, go out more often and take picture. Since you have the camera, it is a waste to let it lay there and collect dust. You are missing a lot of beautiful things uncaptured.
Happy taking picture,
Michael Wong. :-)
1. Lighting
It is a well known fact that the pictures taken from digital SLR cameras have better quality than normal compact digital camera. However the point and shoot camera can still give good quality picture when you have proper lighting to illuminate the subject.
And talking about lighting, most people will have no problem taking picture at the day time. Problems usually arise when you are taking picture at night when you need to use the flash.
For the standard compact digital camera users, it is common for a lot you to suffer glaring picture when you use the flash. This is because you were not given the power to control the intensity of your flash.
You can however stand further from the subject and zoom into it before you snap the picture. Although this step can solve the issue, it still have a challenge that how far you have to stand from the subject and this often require you to trial and error to get the hang of it.
Or, you can try to disperse the flash manually by sticking a piece of white paper in front if the flash, this somehow makes the pictures look odd. And if you have the patience you can run your own experiment to how to stick the paper so that you can disperse the flash properly.
2. Camera
Just like what you saw just now, camera plays a definite role in the quality of your picture. If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can take your picture in the RAW format so that the picture you took retains the details as you capture it. The camera will not do anything to alter the picture so that you can edit it as you like.
Although digital SLR cameras gives you the best quality picture, how do you know which camera give you the best? You obviously can't see the difference when you are testing the cameras at the shop.
Besides, the more testing and explanation you get from the sales person, the more confuse you will be. So, it is only logic that you spend some time research the cameras online, look in photography magazines and ask other experienced photographers for advice.
3. Techniques and skills
I am sorry to say that despite of all the things you can get, you still need a set of skills to get good quality pictures. And this is unlikely something that you get together with the camera.
Luckily, these techniques and skills to good quality pictures are easy to learn. All you need to do is to spend time studying the art, take pictures, hang out with like minded photographers and ask for their feedback. Sometime you can send your pictures to magazines to have the professional photographers to comment on it.
So, go out more often and take picture. Since you have the camera, it is a waste to let it lay there and collect dust. You are missing a lot of beautiful things uncaptured.
Happy taking picture,
Michael Wong. :-)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Taking A Look At Your Digital Camera.
Ever since you have adopted digital photography? Have you ever really look at what made up your camera? Let's do it now. :-)
At the heart of your digital camera, it sits the image sensor which is responsible to convert light to electrical signal for storage in your digital camera or to display on your LCD screen as the picture. The most popular image sensors nowadays are,
At the heart of your digital camera, it sits the image sensor which is responsible to convert light to electrical signal for storage in your digital camera or to display on your LCD screen as the picture. The most popular image sensors nowadays are,
- Charge-coupled device (CCD) - although you are practicing digital photography with digital camera, CCD is actually an analog device. Although they might not be related, personally I just think it is amazing that we are using analog material for this digital art. (Do correct me if I misunderstand the meaning of analog here).
- Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) - due to this technology, your digital camera use less energy to operate. However, also due to same technology, the picture taken by a CMOS digital camera tends to be "noisier" than the CCD digital camera. I am not going into the details here because it can turn out to be a confusing lesson.
So, it depends on you of which kind of digital camera you are looking for. And looking at the current market trend, CCD image sensor is more popular than CMOS.
Just now we mentioned about storage in your digital camera right? And I believe a lot of you will think about JPEG (Joint Photography Expert Group). It is true that your pictures are being stored as JPEG file, then, is that all?
There are actually the TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and RAW format. Unlike JPEG, TIFF and RAW files are uncompressed and they are more resemblance to what the camera sees.
By the way, JPEG files usually are compressed in a weak method and that is one of the reasons why the pictures created with TIFF and RAW files look better than the JPEG. With that being said, you probably understand now why people are aiming for digital SLR cameras for their photography hobby. :-)
Please understand my intention is not to put JPEG technology down. What I want to say is that you ought to think about upgrading to digital SLR camera whenever you have the chance.
And besides giving great quality pictures, what other benefits do digital SLR cameras offer?
Personally, I like the camera because of it challenges my skills as a photographer. It is a totally different experience compare to a compact digital camera. At least it is a lot heavier and it shutter sounds better. My friend once said that he even build up his arm muscle for carrying the SLR camera around. I wonder why he didn't use the neck strap.
And how can I forget the RAW format of the pictures? For the pictures you have taken in RAW, you can't print them out unless you process them with software. And that is when I can refine the pictures, remove the "impurities" and make them look better. I sometime do add some special effect to the pictures to make them look more unique. :-)
But I don't do that much because it eats a lot of my time (I am not so using the editing program actually. Hehe......).
I hope that you enjoy this quick tip and we will meet again. :-)
Until then, be happy and keep taking pictures. :-)
Have fun photographing,
Michael Wong. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
