Jim Harmon Photography
Scenic, Portraits, Weddings, Video Production, Events
Photography Tips
I have not attended a photography school, but I have studied whatever I could find to read. I have also worked with my cameras to learn and I guess you could call me self-taught. I want to pass on a few thoughts to help you learn to use your camera beyond the full auto mode and try to keep it in laymen terms. Once you have learned some basics, you should find it interesting and you should find your photos improving. For many purposes, the full auto mode will give you nice photos, but in some situations, you have to switch from full auto to manual mode or some other mode that I will call simi-auto such as Aperture mode. In some situations, a DSLR camera with changeable lenses might be needed. All photo samples here were shot by me using a Canon DSLR. This is so you can use a lens available for more light gathering in low light situations where flash is not an option and and long exposures cannot be used to gather the light. The next image is an example of this. The stadium lights were very poor and the lens I had with an F2.8 was the only lens I had this night capable of enough light gathering. For the same reason, I had to use a high ISO of 1,600 in manual mode where I could control the exposure time for a happy medium to stop most of the action. I shot at 1/125 of a second for most situations. Not near as fast as I wanted to do, but I had no choice, the lights were very poor. I know other people that gave up trying to capture anything this night. Their camera equipment was not capable of doing what I was doing. You can see the shallow depth of field that is in focus due to the F2.8 setting on the lens. The speed I had to use could not stop all leg motion. The speed was a happy medium. If I had tried a lfaster exposure to stop all action, Iwould not have gathered enough light.
An expensive DSLR camera is not really needed for good photos to be produced in most situations. But sometimes like the previous example, a DSLR camera and the right lens is the only way to go. Flash could not be used and the distance was to far anyhow. A standard digital camera by a well-known manufacturer will also produce good photos. Sure, you can find some cheaper cameras with poor quality. Before you buy a camera, I would suggest a quick internet search for reviews on cameras you night purchase. Not all cameras are created equal in how they handle noise at higher ISO settings, etc. Buy the best camera you can afford.
Full auto vs manual settings. Not all photos can be shot in full auto. For example, one area that just does not work in full auto is Christmas lights. Many people would like to take photos of the lights and decorations, but miss the opportunity to capture the low light photos and lights because they use auto mode and flash. In order to capture the warm glow of the lights, you will need to learn a few things about shooting in manual mode and step away from the full auto mode with flash. Using a flash is another subject all together, and is controllable in manual mode. I will discuss this later. Another area of photography is action photography. If you would like to take some photos of decorations and trees in low light, or action photography, the following will help you get started. This is not meant to be a full course in photography, but enough to get you started learning.
Beyond your camera, you will need a tripod and your camera manual. The tripod does not need to be a big expensive one. You just need a tripod that will hold your camera steady for a longer exposure. If it wobbles, keep looking for a more expensive one. The tripod is a must for long exposures in low light. The manual that came with the camera is usually a forgotten part of the camera kit except to find the basics of auto mode. If your camera has the ability to use a cable release, that would also be useful to have for long exposures. I will have some samples of photos with this article so you can see what I am talking about.
Photo composition will also be discussed because the photo can be technically good, but poor composition will not make it a good photo. Over the years, I entered many Creative photo challenges on Webshots. I did not win for years until I took this into consideration. Then, I started winning the challenges. I have won or placed 20 times now. (As of November 2011).
The key is to understand a few basics and then practice. Once you understand how to use your camera, you need to work on composing the shot and proper settings for the conditions. I used to shoot a photo in multiple settings and then look at all them to see what worked best. I took a lot of photos. I still do. Especially when I know I cannot go back and do the photos again. If you take one or two and they did not come out good , you will wish you took more. Even pros shoot a lot for that one special keeper. Take your practice photos and delete the mistakes after you learn from them. The info or properties for each photo will have all your settings you used. Note what worked and what did not.
Here are a few settings you will need to understand before shooting in manual mode:
1 - ISO- Usually cameras can set the ISO from 100 to 1600 or higher. More expensive cameras can go higher on the ISO. The higher the ISO number the faster the camera speed can be set. The faster the speed usable, the better it is for low light and for moving subjects. The higher the ISO, the more you may add noise to the photo especially in cheaper cameras. Even DSLR cameras are not created equal and some will shoot better than others at high ISO numbers. Basically, noise is little speckles on the photo caused by electrical signals in low light situations. Try to use the lowest ISO number for the conditions you have. I like to use 100 to 400 ISO for most night shots with 100 preferred for the sharpest photos. A tripod will be needed for the longer exposures needed in low light. Inexpensive cameras might have a noise problem during any long exposure in low light. Camera reviews on the web can tell you more about how your camera does in low light at different ISO settings. If I am shooting an action shot in low light, I might have no choice but to use a higher ISO number.
Noise - Here is a sample of noise so you can see what I am talking about. This was a low light photo at ISO 3200. Notice the specs in the sky. I have enlarged it so you can see the specs better on this small image.
2 - Aperture. – Know as the F stop. The opening size in the lens. The smaller the number the larger the opening. The larger the number the smaller the opening size. The larger the opening, the more light gathering power and the faster the exposure speed can be. Aperture also affects the depth of field. This is the depth in distance that is in focus. The smaller the number the smaller the depth of field in focus. So an F2.8 would have the subject in front in focus and the background would be blurred. Sometimes blurred backgrounds are used to keep the attention on the main subject. In full auto, you do not have control over this. For a big landscape, you might want a big depth of field and use a higher F stop setting number. Also a smaller the F stop number or larger opening the faster the speed of the camera for action and low light situations where you need to gather as much light as possible. If you use a DSLR camera with changeable lenses, the lens will become more expensive as the F stop number goes smaller. So, a lens that is F2.8 capable will be more expensive than say an F5.6 lens. So, it is not just the zoom capability that you need to worry about.
3 - Image stabilization - Some cameras have this function built into the lens and others into the camera. If the lens must control the IS or image stabilization, you want to be aware of this and get it if you can afford it. If you have shaky hands, you will need it. Sometimes there will be situations where you will want to turn off the stabilization.such as when you are using a steady tripod. This is not always the rule. Canon introduced tripod detection back in 2000.
4 - White Balance - In full auto, you do not need to worry about this. In manual mode, it is important. You could set the camera in Auto White Balance or select the white balance for the conditions. The wrong white balance will dramatically change your color on the finished photo. White balance depends on the light source. These could be daylight, cloudy, tungsten, flash etc. If your camera can shoot what is called RAW files, then you could select RAW and change all these settings after the files are on your computer. If the camera shoots RAW the manufacturer might have provided the software to convert the files to JPEG after making adjustments. Read your manual for more information. Personally, I always shoot in RAW mode or RAW and JPEG combo. There is so much more that you can do to edit the photo after it is on your computer. Basically, the RAW file contains all the information captured. The file size will be much larger and you will need a storage card that is larger or you will cut down on the number of photos you can take before changing to a new card.
In the following samples you can see the difference in a photo due to white balance settings. The first photo I took, is set for a white balance of daylight.
In this second image, the white balance is set to Tungsten. I was able to demonstrate this with one photo because I had shot the image in RAW format. It was a simple click of the mouse to change it to the correct white balance of daylight. As you can see, white balance can make a big difference in the color of your photo. The photo was taken using a Canon DSLR with an F2.8 fixed 100 mm macro lens. The macro lens is also useful for portraits and low light situation .
4 - Exposure speed – Exposure speed is the time the camera is in the process of taking the photo image and the lens is open. It can vary for as long as needed to gather enough information in low light. Generally, for a speed longer than 1/60 of a second you should use a tripod. A cable or remote release is ideal, but if you do not have one, a careful press of the button can work. Just try not to move the camera as you take the picture. After pressing the button, just do not touch the camera while the exposure is active. The longer the exposure the more light it can gather.
If you do not have a light meter to help with this setting, set the ISO you want. Then put your camera in Aperture mode and set the aperture size to what you want. Then press the button part way as you would to focus. Look at the display while doing this. It will show the exposure speed needed for the light. If it is 1/60 of a second or shorter, you can hand hold. If longer, you will need a tripod. Sometimes a handy railing will work in a situation where you do not have a tripod. If you want, you could try Aperture mode to finish the shot. Most times it will work, but sometimes you might want to adjust the speed a little longer or shorter than what the camera selected. Especially with Christmas lights for example. The camera will over expose the lights. Once you know about what you want, you can put the camera in manual mode and set your settings for the exposure you want to try. Try a few different exposures and check them on your computer for the best. A quick look at the photo on the camera display will tell you if you are close to what you want.
Aperture mode is useful for action shots. You can select the ISO you want and the F stop opening. Once these are selected, the camera will adjust the speed automatically for you depending on the light available. In low light, this might not work for you since the exposure might be too long for hand held or the action. In decent light, I like an F6.3 and an ISO of 400 in bright light. It will stop a speeding motorcycle if the light is good, It will be in focus if you focused on the motorcycle. This brings up another point to note. Focus points will be discussed next and why you should use single or multi point focus.
First, here is an example of Aperture Priority being used for an action shot. I used an F6.3 for the lens opening and increased the ISO to 400 to allow for a faster camera exposure that is set automatically. If the auto exposure is still too slow to stop the action, you could increase the ISO more or increase the lens opening to a smaller F setting. In this case, the camera set the exposure to 1/1600 second. Plenty fast enough to stop the action and the water on the raft. The speed will vary depending on available light.
5 – Focus Points - Focus points on some cameras can be multiple points or single point. It is a setting you need to find. If I am shooting a speeding motorcycle on the Tail of the Dragon, I will have single point or the camera might decide to focus on the background instead of the motorcycle. Same thing if I am shooting a specific subject with backgrounds that could distract the camera and cause it to focus on the background or even a foreground object. For landscapes, I might put the camera into multipoint focus.
In this next photo, the subject was a smaller piece of the photo. If I had it in multi-point focus as I was following the running horse, the camera could have focused on the background instead of the horse.
The same thing could have happened here as I panned along the moving motorcycle. I kept the single focus point on the motorcycle as I followed along. The result is that the background is out of focus and the motorcycle is in focus.
Low light and flash
6 – Flash – Here we are going to look at using the flash in manual mode and compare it to using the flash in full auto mode. First you need to understand how a camera reacts with a flash in the manual mode. There is a more involved explanation, but I will say it in a simple way. The flash is a very quick flash of light. You can set the camera speed to different settings and you will only affect the brightness of the background with all other conditions being the same. The long exposure is only capturing the “available light” that existed. So if I took a photo of a person at 1/50 second with a flash and another at 1/150 of a second, the person would have the same value of light from the flash, but the background would be lighter for the longer exposure. . Also affecting the outcome in a different way is the distance from the back ground to the subject and the distance from the flash to the subject. If you changed the last two variables the photo would have different results. The farther the subject is from a wall behind them, the darker the wall will appear. This same situation can be used with a sunset behind a subject, here the distance is not a factor from the background to the subject, but the length of the manual exposure is. A longer exposure will make the sunset for sky behind the subject lighter even though the subject will be about the same for a 1/50 or a 1/150 second manual exposure. In full auto, the camera will set a wider opening F stop to gather more light and will set a 1/60 second exposure . Thus the sky will be light and the subject light. The samples of a sunset with flash and a close Christmas tree with different flash uses are next. Practice with this and watch what happens with different conditions setup. It can be very useful compared to full auto flash.
In the following photo, no flash was used. The people are dark. Perhaps someone would have wanted a silhouette photo. Then again someone might want to see the faces. Go to the second photo that used a flash. Everything else was the same.
In this photo, a flash was used in manual mode. I kept the same ISO and F stop setting of F8. Notice the sky value stayed about the same even though a flash was used. If I had used a longer exposure, the Sky would probably have been much lighter because the longer expose was only collecting existing available light,
The second photo here is a full auto flash from a farther distance than Photo one. It is an improvement because the light is less the farther away you are.
In this next photo, I did a manual exposure with no light for 15 seconds at ISO 100 and an F8. I can now see the lights on the tree. I could make the exposure longer and pull more detail but the lights might be too bright.
In this next image, I kept the 15 seconds, ISO 100 and F* settings in manual mode, but added a flash. Now I can see more detail of the tree and ornaments. Showing that flash can be used if used with manual mode. Settings.
Low light and No flash
Let's look at photographing Christmas lights without flash. In order to capture the warm glow of the lights, you will need a tripod and long exposures. Below are some samples of the same tree indoors and from the same position with different techniques. they are not meant to be well composed photos. They are for demo purposes only. In the first is a simple flash photo in full auto. Notice that the tree is a little out of focus. The camera in full auto selected an F3.5 lens opening and this caused a shallow depth of field. It also selected flash and the lights and tree are now washed out. Each photo has three elements that we are looking at. The tree, raccoon, and fireplace. We are going to note what happened in each photo.
In the next photo, I wanted the tree and the fireplace to be captured with the light settings covering them. Notice the fire and the lights can now be seen. This was an 8 second exposure at F8 and ISO 100. No flash was used. The walls are lighter because the available light continued to be gathered for the 8 seconds. I could have increased the ISO and made the lens opening large by selecting say F5.6. The time for exposure would have been a lot less. The raccoon that was in the dark has some detail shown, but could have been improved by having some available light on the raccoon only.
In this next photo we are going to select the same F8 and ISO 100, but are going to let the camera select the exposure time by using the Aperture mode. In this case, the camera decided it wanted a longer exposure of 30 seconds compared to my manually selected 15 seconds. Note that the lights are brighter and the raccoon now has more detail available. The F8 manually selected compared to the F3.5 selected in full auto also gave me a greater depth of field. More is in focus from front to back in the photo. I would have liked the tree and walls to not be as bright. Some available light in the room to light the raccoon could have caused the exposure time to be shorter and the three elements to be more balanced.
As you can see, ISO, F setting, available light, flash or no flash, and exposure time each affect a photos final look. Using what I have shown, you can experiment and see what works for you in the conditions you have. This is where you will really learn. You can read a lot and get basics, but until you start applying and seeing the results, you will not learn everything,
In the next image, I show how you can use a flash in a low light situation when the background is fairly close and you want to capture the lights like on the Christmas tree used here. I used manual settings of ISO 800, an F5.6, and an exposure of 1/4 second. I kept the people about 9 or 10 feet in front of the tree and the camera was on a tripod about 8 or 9 feet in front of the people. I did not want too large of a lens opening so I only went down in the F stop to F5.6 to keep more of the depth of field in almost focus. The flash illuminated the people but not the tree due to the distance from the flash to the tree. the 1/4 second longer exposure captured the lights of the tree after the flash.
Composition - Once you understand your camera settings and how you want to use them, you want to look at composing your shots. Don't just take snap shots. Get down low and shoot low subjects like kids and pets. Don't shoot down at them. Pick a good background. By composing, use the rules of thirds. Simply put you subject in the 1/3rd point of the picture, vertical or horizontal as needed. A child holding a present could be in front of tree with the child in the left or right 1/3rd vertical line you imagine or can set on your camera. A small F stop number could make the tree in the background blur so the child is the focus of the shot. Practice practice and practice. In the long run, you will be happier with the photos. Doing group shots during the holidays? Take them early in the day while everyone is at their best. Best time for photographing outdoor lights is 30 minutes after the listed sunset time for that day. You will get a pretty dark blue sky instead of a black background.
I have been shooting for many years, but became more serious about 10 years ago. Scenic photos of the north Georgia mountains and old buildings are some of his favorite subjects. Flowers and wildlife are also favorite subjects. I like doing close up macros of flowers. Doing action shots of whitewater rafts and kayaks is a lot of fun to try. Portraits requires some understanding of posing and lighting. A subject can be a good poser and naturally do what is needed. Some people just cannot smile or look good for a camera. They are too stiff or too boring in the way they look at a camera. You have to work at pulling a good smile or pose out of them...The following couple never stopped smiling and had a great time.
I hope this helps expand your world with photography. There are many on line courses in different types of photography. Some require a fee, but many are free to read and study. Happy shooting... ...Jim Harmon
