Back in May, I had posted an Unedited "Nikon" E-mail, which provided a new photographer some pointers. This time, I talk about color calibration and some lighting conditions.
1. Color Calibration
Getting in to color calibration is a whole other mess. You can't just compare it with what you see on the back of your camera's LCD. If you really want to get into the proper way of calibration (which is very expensive), keep in mind you'll need to to calibrate everything down the line, from your camera RAW output image file to your LCD monitor to other people's LCD monitor to your printer to Kodak's printer
service, etc.
What you see on your screen, once you touch it up perfectly, might not be what other people see on their screens at home. So my personal rule of thumb is that if it is for the web, color calibration isn't that important. (Even if you are perfect, other's people's monitors
probably aren't.) If you are printing it yourself, then you have to deal with other problems. You have display profiles and printer color
profiles, etc. It's complicated. I don't know how to do it all.
There are external USB color calibrators for your monitor ($70+, maybe) if you're interested. It takes the ambient light and adjusts
accordingly, but then, of course, the color of your photo is affected by how the screen or print is lit. (That's why real photo galleries
are very meticulous about controlling lighting and positioning, among other things.)
Doing it by eye might be okay, but it's no where near what it actually should be. Apple has a built in calibrator you can use by eye. You can adjust the colors and the levels of contrast, etc. I don't know about Windows. (You can't simply download color profiles because each
monitor is physically different and your individual room lighting conditions have other needs.)
These are at the low end of things:
http://spyder.datacolor.com/index_us.php
http://pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?ca=2 (the Huey)
2. Poor Lighting Conditions
Problems with the situation you described is very common, when the sky is overexposed and the subject is underexposed. Shooting on a
cloudy day is actually preferred because everything is lit evenly (for the most part). Sun actually messes things up. Clouds actually act as a natural light box. http://www.cheapshooter.com/2007/07/26/do-it-yourself-pvc-light-box/
The easiest way to counter your problem is to shoot at different times of day or on different days entirely. (Photography is about waiting
for the right moment, and not showing up at a place and expecting things to be perfect for you. But I understand.) Otherwise, there are
processes called tone mapping or HDR that you can look into. Basically (with a tripod), take multiple shots at different exposures. You can then merge them together in post-processing and manually adjust the the level of shadow and highlights you want. Because you have multiple exposures, you have more detail over the range. (In Lightroom, you can adjust the highlights and shadows of your photo otherwise. If an image is whited-out, you have lost detail at the high end, and if an image is too dark, you have lost detail at the low end. Use your histogram to help you judge. You can recover some of the detail in post, but if it's blown-out, there is no information for you to recover. Very helpful to know and use: http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/guides/digital/histogram_101/
Another option you have are polarizers. They are considerably expensive for such a small piece of glass. For example,
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lens-filters.htm
P.S. I'd advise against shooting in "Green" Mode (aka Automatic) because then you wouldn't get a feel for the mechanics of photography. Plus, once you're good enough, you wouldn't want to shoot green anymore. Otherwise, you're basically buying a DSLR for the bigger sensor (which does deliver sharper images with more detail), but you're still treating it as a point-and-shoot camera.
P.P.S. You don't want to be using flash ever unless you have a reason to. I see plenty of people with their smaller cameras having the flash turned on trying to take a photo of, say, the full moon. The light from the flash sure as hell isn't going to reach the moon. Light from a flash also has a maximum "focal length" distance that they can reach. Light photography (strobist) is a totally different way of shooting. I really only use flash if it is an emergency or if I'm using it as a fill light to bring out the subject. My personal tip is use flash when you think you don't need it, and don't use it when you think you do. For example, a flash late summer afternoon at the park can help bring out the face of a subject, and flashing when you are shooting fireworks just isn't going to cut it. Do you see what I mean?
Showing posts with label tip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tip. Show all posts
Unedited "Nikon" E-mail
A friend of mine recently purchased a Nikon D60 kit, and came to me and asked about photography tips and ideas. This is my unedited response...Here are a few basic pointers:
APERTURE
1. Most people tend to set it to "A" (Aperture) mode. That way, you'll be changing the f-stop (the f/4.5, f/22, etc) with your thumb. Notice
how it affects your shutter speed though. The smaller the f-stop, the bigger the "hole" and the faster the lens. "Fast lenses" are considered to be f/2.8 or less, and they cost much more.
2. The other reason why a smaller f-number is so expensive is because of the awesome bokeh (bokay, not boka [it's Japanese]). It's basically
the blurriness of the background. The smaller the f-number, the shallower the depth of field, which makes focusing really important. Shallow depth of fields make the subject pop from the background. You're probably used the a point and shoot which has a huge depth of field, meaning everything will be in focus no matter how hard you try (because of the small sensor size more than anything else). Example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usumbs/2928331506/in/set-72157607890358270/
SHUTTER SPEED
3. Shutter speed is basically x, where 1/x is in seconds. A shutter speed of 500 is plenty fast, shooting at 1/500 seconds, etc. Pay attention to your focal length. As a rule of thumb, you don't want to be shooting less than 1/(focal length) as your shutter speed. So if you're zoomed all the way out to 200 mm, you don't want to shoot slower than 1/200 sec or 200. This is a simple way to avoid camera shake.
ISO
4. For a D60, I'd recommend staying within the ISO range of 100 to 400. It isn't much, but it's usable. Anything beyond 400 will get you a lot of grain. ISO is basically sensitivity of the sensor. The higher it is, the more sensitive. The higher it is, the more noise you're going to get. Sometimes, it has a nice effect. Most times, it doesn't. The higher end models D3 ($7000+) can shoot without noise up to 32000 ISO. It's a different generation of stuff. Pretty amazing.
LENSES & CROP FACTOR
5. For lenses, Nikon uses DX to mean crop body, for digital. Older lenses, or more "pro" lenses don't have the DX, meaning it's a full-frame lens. For camera bodies, they are crop-body be default, and are full-frame cameras with FX. Full-frame is real 35 mm and is simply awesome. bodies cost more. lenses cost more. and you get real focal length as printed on the lens. For a DX lens, if you zoom in to 200 mm, at a 35 mm equivalent, it is 200mm x 1.5 = 300mm (where 1.5 is the crop factor of your camera body). Canon is typically 1.6. If you apply a full frame lens at 200mm on your DX, you'll get 300 mm also. But.... if you throw a DX lens on a FX body, you'll get problems. Because the sensor is so much bigger in the FX, the DX lens is smaller and you'll get a black "border" around your photos. Do you see what I mean? DX is cheaper if you're not looking for full frame but it won't work on the FX bodies. Full-frame lenses work on all.
6. For the D40 and D60, you'll want to look out for AF-S lenses. These are the newer lenses with the focusing motor built-into the lens. This is because the D40 and D60 cannot control it from the body. D300, D3, etc, higher end ones, can focus with lenses without these motors. It kind of sucks because older lenses that are AF rather than AF-S can't automatically focus on the D40 or D60. You can still use it, but only with manual focusing. And manual focusing sucks... for casual shooting. It's useful sometimes.
OTHER
7. Nice choice with the Nikon. What kind of things are you interested in shooting? And any particular lens are you looking to buy in the future?
8. Click some ads:
http://blog.usumbs.com/2009/01/what-you-leave-out-photography-tip.html
9. http://kenrockwell.com/ This guy is crazy, and I don't think he's a good photographer at all. He has a lot to say and he is very controversial online. Don't take anything he says as opinion seriously, but you can learn something from this guy. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/index.htm I think he is a jerk and most people online don't like him (says he's a quack).
(Do you have a photos page or site I can follow?)
Please excuse my writing. I do not want to proofread it or fix capitalizations.
Good luck. Write back.
The "What You Leave Out" Photography Tip
Compact digital cameras have gone the way of the computer and now it is a safe bet to say that nearly all people with access to a computer have a digital camera. I want share a little tip that I have discovered for myself in my shallow study of photography. The main idea is that every photo has a purpose and it is up to the photographer to express the intended and unintended subject of the photo. I found the following tip to be the simplest way to do it.
It is more important to think about what to leave out than what to actually capture.
I have found that in every good photograph, whether technically or artistically, there is some truth to this. What is not shown draws more attention to what is shown, and what out of focus draws more attention to what is in focus. I will use some examples of mine to illustrate what I mean, but I do not claim to be a good photographer by any means.
1. Composition - Photo Link
When choosing what to leave out, the first step is to consider composition, i.e. what is in the frame and how things are oriented and positioned. In this first image there's a lot of negative space at the top of the photo. This empty space forces the viewer's eye to the lower half of the image, where it is darker. There is little else in the photo than can distract the viewer—no clouds, no boats, and in fact, no color.
2. Bokeh - Photo Link
Bokeh (bo-kay) is a Japanese term that refers to the "blurriness" of the background (optimally achieved at lower aperture with a shallow depth of field). With the bokeh blurring the background, the focus of the image is thrown on the actual subject. What is left out of this image is this blurred background. Photographers pay for SLRs and expensive lenses for this kind of effect. Bokeh makes the subject pop a whole lot more than if everything is in focus (unfortunately endemic to all point-and-shoot cameras by virtue of being compact).
3. Macro/micro - Photo Link
This is the photography of things very close or very small. Because of this, the background is typically blurred as a result of getting very close to the subject and the background is relatively further away. Most cameras have a macro mode (usually with the image of a flower). Of course, it is not as good as a dedicated macro lens. Consider a macro lens as being the microscope used to see the invisibly small. Because of the enhanced bokeh effect with macro photography, I would argue that it isn't too difficult to get a good macro shot no matter what the subject is. Still, it is an art and world unto itself.
4. Background - Photo Link
A simple background simply gives whatever is in front of it more emphasis. It is essentially left out of the picture, as it were.
5. Lighting - Photo Link
With lighting and shadows, it is all about what is included and left out. The word "photography" essentially means "light-recording". It is about how light is captured and how shadows, i.e. the lack of light, gives a subject texture and depth. In this photo, the subject is clear and it is the way the light affects the rest of the image that is interesting.
I am a firm believer that it is more important to think about what to leave out than what to actually capture, merely as a means to emphasize the subject of the photo. It doesn't actually matter how that is achieved. I just keep this guideline in the back of my head when I do go shooting. Let me know how it works for you.
It is more important to think about what to leave out than what to actually capture.
I have found that in every good photograph, whether technically or artistically, there is some truth to this. What is not shown draws more attention to what is shown, and what out of focus draws more attention to what is in focus. I will use some examples of mine to illustrate what I mean, but I do not claim to be a good photographer by any means.
1. Composition - Photo Link
When choosing what to leave out, the first step is to consider composition, i.e. what is in the frame and how things are oriented and positioned. In this first image there's a lot of negative space at the top of the photo. This empty space forces the viewer's eye to the lower half of the image, where it is darker. There is little else in the photo than can distract the viewer—no clouds, no boats, and in fact, no color.
2. Bokeh - Photo Link
Bokeh (bo-kay) is a Japanese term that refers to the "blurriness" of the background (optimally achieved at lower aperture with a shallow depth of field). With the bokeh blurring the background, the focus of the image is thrown on the actual subject. What is left out of this image is this blurred background. Photographers pay for SLRs and expensive lenses for this kind of effect. Bokeh makes the subject pop a whole lot more than if everything is in focus (unfortunately endemic to all point-and-shoot cameras by virtue of being compact).
3. Macro/micro - Photo Link
This is the photography of things very close or very small. Because of this, the background is typically blurred as a result of getting very close to the subject and the background is relatively further away. Most cameras have a macro mode (usually with the image of a flower). Of course, it is not as good as a dedicated macro lens. Consider a macro lens as being the microscope used to see the invisibly small. Because of the enhanced bokeh effect with macro photography, I would argue that it isn't too difficult to get a good macro shot no matter what the subject is. Still, it is an art and world unto itself.
4. Background - Photo Link
A simple background simply gives whatever is in front of it more emphasis. It is essentially left out of the picture, as it were.
5. Lighting - Photo Link
With lighting and shadows, it is all about what is included and left out. The word "photography" essentially means "light-recording". It is about how light is captured and how shadows, i.e. the lack of light, gives a subject texture and depth. In this photo, the subject is clear and it is the way the light affects the rest of the image that is interesting.
I am a firm believer that it is more important to think about what to leave out than what to actually capture, merely as a means to emphasize the subject of the photo. It doesn't actually matter how that is achieved. I just keep this guideline in the back of my head when I do go shooting. Let me know how it works for you.