Category Archives: Learning

A Point about Focus

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When you auto-focus, do you use one focus point?

You should. That way you, not the camera, determines where sharpest focus is achieved. Wherever that may be.

But you may not know this:

    1. You need light, distance, and a subject (with horizontal/vertical lines) in order for your camera to focus.
    2. Focus points are sensitive to horizontal or vertical lines.
    3. Some, like the point in the middle, is sensitive to both horizontal and vertical lines.
    4. Some cameras have multiple such both0way sensitive focus points.
    5. Some cameras enable more focus points to become both-way sensitive when faster lenses (like those with apertures of f/2.8 or better) are in use.

      Yes, knowing all that technical stuff will make you a better focuser.

      Expose well

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      Your camera wants everything to be grey. So every time you shoot a very light subject, such as snow, the camera will make it look too dark. And when you shoot a dark subject, like this coat, it will look too bright:

      This is because your light meter labours under the engineering assumption that what you point it at is neither bright nor dark. When that is not the case, that assumption no longer holds and you need to adjust the value your meter comes up with.

      So in the case of the dark coat, you turn down exposure (use “exposure compensation”, the +/- button) by 1-2 stops and now you get this:

      Solved!

      What is Exposure Compensation actually “doing”?

      Just the same that your camera always does, except more so or less so. So of your meter is setting aperture, then exp comp means it is set to a slightly lower or higher aperture value than it would other wise have done. If your meter is setting shutter speed, ditto for shutter speed. If you are in “P” mode, your camera can set either or both.

      A few portrait pointers

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      Today, a few quick portrait pointers.

      Here’s a picture from a very recent portrait shoot:

      Why did I shoot this the way I did? What went into the decisions? I thought it might be good to share some of my thoughts.

      • I used a standard key/fill light arrangement, with the key light a small softbox aiming straight into the face, and the lower-powered fill light an umbrella-mounted flash on camera right.
      • I ensured the positioning of the key light gave me a catch light in the eyes.
      • I used a low-powered hair light in a snoot.
      • I selected a dark background (grey paper) so that I could emphasise the subject.
      • I used a background light with a Honl grid, so get that nice oval shaped light behind the girl.
      • I also used a Honl gel from the “Hollywood” and “Autumn” sets. I chose the blue-ish colour for its subtlety and for the way it so nicely contrasts with the girl’s hair and skin colour.
      • I took many pictures with the girl in many poses – mainly her own natural poses. Here, I particularly liked the S-curve in the pose and the triangular shapes in her legs. “S”-curves and triangles are good!
      • Finally, the bit of the stool that is visible and lit provided balance with the other yellow colours.

      Every shoot is different, but here you see some of the decisions that can go into a portrait.

      Tripod Tips

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      Some photographers need tripods. Like landscape photographers. Or, in fact, like almost any photographers. If you think you can consistently produce sharp work handheld, you are mistaken.

      So how do you produce good shots using a tripod?

      • When possible, use low ISO. A night shot, for example, is dark, but when using a tripod you have the luxury of being able to use long shutter speeds, so you do not need high ISO. High ISO gives noise.
      • Use the camera’s timer release. So that your finger pressing the shutter does not cause slight motion.
      • Weigh down the tripod if you can, so it is stable.
      • Put the camera as close as you can to the point where the three legs get together.
      • Use a ball head to hold the camera.

      You’ll see, a tripod makes a major difference.

      Click. Shhhh!

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      A few tips for those of you who shoot ceremonies.

      Ceremonies are important to people. Whether this is a graduation, a wedding, a signing of some sort: there will often be a hushed silence.

      A silence you do not want to disturb. So today’s tips are about blending in and behaving appropriately at such venues.

      • First, dress in a non-conspicuous way. You do not want to be the centre of attention.
      • Ask the person in charge what you can do. Can you walk around? Use flash? Click away?
      • Ask if flash is allowed
      • If it is, bounce that flash rather than use direct light.
      • If it is not, you may still be allowed to use the focus assist on your camera’s flash. That’s the little red line pattern your flash can cast to help focus, and you can use this even when the actual flash function is disabled.
      • Turn off your camera’s focus beep.
      • If you have a Nikon SB-900 flash, turn off the “overheating” beep.
      • If you use off-camera flash, ditto: disable the beeps (notably on Nikon flashes)
      • Use a camera with a quiet shutter. I will grab my 7D if I want a quieter shutter sound. Some people even wrap their cameras. If you have a pro body such as a Canon 1D or 1ds, select the “Silent” shutter mode.
      • Use a longer lens and shoot from farther away.

      By using these common-sense precautions, you can give yourself and all other photographers a good name.

      It's coming…

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      Coming soon: my first impressions of the 1D MkIV.

      First I shall shoot one more event with it tonight. In a few hours in fact.

      But before that, just to whet your appetite, let’s start with two 1600 ISO shots: one from my (full-frame) 1Ds MkIII, and one from my new (1.3 crop factor) 1D MkIV.

      I took shots with these cameras both with the 50mm f/1.8 lens and with indetical settings (low available tungsten light, f.5,6, auto WB, RAW, and with no post processing applied at all in Lightroom). That results in these two images. These are two real-size (once you click) small sections of a large photo:

      1Ds MkIII:

      1D MkIV:

      Much more of my first impressions coming within the next few days: stay tuned.

      I teach pros, too

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      As you probably know, I teach beginning Photographers at Henry’s School of Imaging. Yesterday I taught a dozen new photographers “Point and Shoot Basics” in Mississauga.

      I also present to camera clubs, as in here recently in Scarborough:

      In addition, I also teach pros and emerging pros, both in Oakville and in Toronto’s Distillery District. The new February/March schedule is up, right here. My advanced flash course, where among other things I teach all the subtle little differences between e-TTL II and CLS/i-TTL; advanced light balancing techniques; when to use what modifier; and more, is very popular with wedding pros.

      Both these types of training remind me how important user interfaces are. Why call a focus mode “AI Servo” if you could call it “continuous focus”? Why call metering “3D Colour Matrix” when “Smart Metering” would be understood more readily by your market?

      Ever read your camera manual? Did you learn a lot? I see thousands of students ever year and if one thing is clear, it is that camera makers could communicate much, much better. First they would have to give the job of designing terms to User Interface experts and writer, not to engineers.

      Learning technique

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      Today, a tip and a request.

      First, the tip.

      How do you learn to “pan” your camera along with a moving object (like a bicycle travelling traversely through your picture)? So that the object appears to not move much, while the background is a streak? How do you learn this in the absence of cyclists riding through your living room? You pan and follow your hand. That’s how.

      1. Set your camera to S/Tv mode
      2. Select a shutter speed of 1/15th second (a good starting point).
      3. Hold your hand out as far as it can go.
      4. Focus on it. Wait for the beep and then hold your finger on the shutter to lock that focus distance.
      5. Now rapidly move your entire body around, so your hand describes a circle around you.
      6. Half way through that circle: click. (Do not stop moving to click!)

      Try this technique, and repeat until you are happy. Your images may look somewhat like this:

      You thus get to practice the technique that gets you images like this:

      Did you find that a useful tip? Then I have a request for you.

      I teach these and many photographic techniques –  a tip a day! – because I want to give back and help disseminate information and knowledge as widely as possible. I want the world to learn photography, and I think I can be a small part of that.

      But you can help me too.

      First: send me questions. About anything photographic.  I’ll do my best to answer them in a timely manner right here. That way, your question benefits others too.

      Second: help me with the blog. Apart from small contributions, which are always welcome (see the link on the right), even more importantly, you can link to me. Mention my blog to friends and to others who many be interested. Link from your blog or from your facebook page. Tweet. Mention me on your web site. If you are helped by this, you can do me a big favour by spreading my name, and that of this blog, as widely as possible. This is an ongoing request!

      That way I get better known, and I get to help more people. In this way, we all help each other. I firmly believe that this is the way the new economy works. Social media, sharing, the Internet: we now grow value by collaborating, not by “hoarding and hiding knowledge”. People who do not yet understand this will eventually find out that the old “make money by keeping knowledge secret” paradigms are dead.

      And the world will be a better place for it.

      Michael