Workshop Date and Location: 5/25/10, Bound Brook Library, Bound Brook NJ
Workshop Statement
The subject, How To Take Better Pictures, cannot be
answered by formulas, recipes, or strict rules (although these can help in the
beginning). It has individual and subjective meaning.
There are two aspects to photography: craft and
art/aesthetics. This workshop addresses the former and brushes against the
latter. A solid understanding of the craft of photography is needed, otherwise
one must wait for the accident to happen that results in a good picture, and
then does not know how to reproduce it.
Again, “better” is defined by the individual. The workshop
will be more interesting to you if you email me a one or more issues with your
photography that want to make better, or an area you would like to learn more
about. Please email to victorlglass@gmail.com
Workshop Leader
Victor Glass
26 Ski Hill Drive, Bedminster NJ 07921
(908) 581-1537
victorlglass@gmail.com
http://www.pbase.com/vglass
Workshop Participants
Somerset County Photography Club
Pre-workshop Questions
Thoughts About Taking Better Pictures
- Whether an image is good is a
personal matter.
- The most important thing in a
photograph is the content, not how technically perfect it is.
- Shoot what interests you. If
you don't know what interests you go shooting with no goal.
- Take good workshops and only
choose top notch instructors.
- Shoot often. It takes 10,000
hours of practice to become really good at something.
- Do not get discouraged with
your shooting; the majority of your images will be shit.
- If you find yourself shooting
the same things, try something new and different.
- When in doubt take the shot.
Take it again if it doesn't work.
- Posing a subject leads to
boring pictures.
- Do your best work and be good
to people.
- Each image should have a
single focus; Eliminate anything not contributing to it.
- Don't just take a picture and
leave. Look at the subject from different angles.
- Do not use the shotgun
approach thinking you'll edit and correct later in Lightroom or Photoshop.
- Bracket exposure which gives
you a fighting chance of getting a good exposure.
- Become very familiar with the
operation of your camera, ready the manual periodically.
Composition
- Think about
why you are taking the photo, otherwise it's hard to compose it.
- Look for
fresh perspectives on well worn topics, subjects.
- Include a
person in the shot in order to add an element of interest.
- You are responsible for
everything in your frame. Look for things you don't want and adjust
accordingly.
- Draw the
eye to the central point/theme of the photo. The eye is drawn to contrast,
brightness, color, lettering, geometric shapes (especially triangles). If
these elements ARE in the photo but you did NOT want them in the photo
then read #19 again.
- Look at the
light and shadow before taking the photo. Don't shoot from the first
position you take. Walk around the subject to find the best light.
- Develop an
aesthetic sense of the most pleasing/interesting placement of the subject
in the frame. If you must, start with the rule of thirds until you develop
your own sense of composition.
- Scale can
make a picture more interesting.
Using On Camera Settings To
Improve Your Photos
Digital cameras have many controls that can help you take a
better photo. Some are global and others are changed more frequently.
Periodically re-read your camera manual to remind yourself of what you can do.
Listed below are some important ones.
Exposure Modes: P, Tv, Av, M, Bulb
Exposure is determined by the combination of Shutter Speed
and F-stop. Both determine how much light is used for a shot. Except for modes
M and Bulb the internal light meter makes exposures decisions. The exposure
modes are listed below.
- P – Automatic. Shutter
speed and F-stop are chosen for you based on metering mode.
- Tv – Shutter Priority.
You set the shutter speed, the camera chooses the F-stop.
- Av – Aperture Priority.
You set the F-stop, the shutter speed is chosen for you.
- M – Manual. You set the
F-stop and the Shutter Speed, the internal light meter is not used.
- Bulb. The shutter stays open as long as the shutter
button is fully depressed.
Exposure Metering
You can tell the camera how to
read the exposure of the scene. How do you know which one to choose? This
depends on the tonal range of the scene, and what part of the scene you want
exposed correctly. Listed below are types of metering that your camera may
have:
- Evaluative Metering.
evaluates the entire scene and determines the best exposure. I use this
when the scene has good, general lighting, that is, no extremes in the
highlights or shadows.
- Partial Metering is
weights at the center of the frame. I use this when I want the subject to
have good exposure, for example when there is bright light in the
background.
- Spot Metering measures
only a small area in the center of scene. I use this to check the metering
in different parts of the scene; then I use the M mode to set the shutter
speed and the F-stop based on what I think is best.
- White Balance.
Regardless of the type of light (sun, florescent, incandescent, …) our
eyes see white as white with no color cast. However the camera does not
unless we tell it the type of light it is seeing. This is called adjusting
the White Balance. WB can be changed by adding some degree of blue (cold)
to yellow (warm). If you tell the camera that there is florescent (cold)
light, then it will compensate by adding yellow (warm). With incandescent
light the reverse is true. The White Balance of your camera can be set in
several ways.
(1) By type of light source, as symbolized as an icon, for example sun or
cloud.
(2) There is also an Auto White Balance (AWB) setting where the camera
tries to determine what WB to use.
(3) By shooting a white card and instructing the camera to use the
resulting WB.
(4) Degrees Kelvin.
ISO
ISO stands for the International Standards Organization
which sets the standards for many things including the sensitivity of the light
sensor in your camera. ISO can range from 50 to 100,000+ depending on the
camera. So, when should you shoot at what ISO? There are two important factors
in choosing an ISO: Noise and Shutter Speed
.
The Bad. The higher the ISO the more Noise in your
photo. Higher end cameras (Nikon D3, D3x, D700, Canon 1Ds mark III, 5D Mark II)
have little Noise in higher ISOs. Other cameras have too much noise beyond ISO
200.
The Good. A high ISO allows us to shoot at lower
shutter speeds and/or wider apertures Why would we want to do this? If you've
set ISO to 100 and find that the fastest usable shutter speed is a 10th
of a second (will result in camera shake) then increasing the ISO will allow
you to shoot at, say, a 30th of a second.
Exposure Compensation
If I find that my shots are coming out too dark or light
even when I'm metering “correctly”, I use EC to help the situation. EC allows
you to increase and decrease exposure by a certain amount, specified in stops
(F-Stop).
Exposure Bracketing
Exposure Bracketing allows a scene to be shot multiple
times, each with a different exposure: normal (what the meter is reading), an
amount less, and an amount more. The amount more/less must be the same and is
in stops. A note: when using bracketing you must also set drive mode from single
shot to continuous. Then when you depress the shutter bottom three shots will
automatically be shot, each having a different exposure.
Other Parameters
You can make global changes to
your camera to improve your (jpg) images. In doing this you may be able to use
images straight from the camera without the need for adjustments in LR or PS.
- White Balance. In
processing images I consistently had to reduce the amount of blue (what
should have been pure white had a blue cast). So, I compensated for this
IN CAMERA and I no longer have to do so while post-processing images on
the computer. Some cameras have the ability to change the WB and the Tint.
With WB you control the amount of blue and yellow. With Tint you control
the amount of green and magenta.
- Sharpness. First be
aware that digital images usually require some sharpening due to the
nature of digital capture. Sharpness can be increased in-camera and/or
during post-processing. Experiment with in-camera sharpening to see if it
helps.
- Noise Reduction. Noise
is an electrical phenomenon that occurs in digital camera sensors. Some
cameras have more noise, particularly at higher ISOs, than others. Noise
can be reduced in-camera or during post-processing.
- Contrast. Contrast
increases the “pop” of an image. It can be changed in-camera or during
post-processing.
- Saturation. Saturation is the “strength” of a
color. It can be changed in-camera or during post-processing.
Answers To Pre-workshop Questions (from a previous workshop)
- Taking better close-ups.
Use a lens designed for close-ups, a macro lens. I don't have one and plan
to buy one when I have the money.
- Talking to people I'd like
to photograph. This was well addressed during the workshop. Suggestions:
(1) don't sneak or hide; (2) use good judgment – don't put yourself in
danger; (3) you can ask permission or just shoot ; (4) if the person
objects don't just walk away, be friendly, wave to them, talk to them,
explain why you are taking the picture, etc. (use your judgment); (5)
practice.
- Light. I seem to take some
pictures that lose color and look pale. ON WHICH DISPLAY device do
they lose color or look pale? On the camera's LCD? On your computer
monitor? In a print? The point I'm trying to make is that there are lot of
reason why this can happen. What you can do IN-CAMERA is play around with
these controls: exposure, saturation, contrast. Also what you see on the
camera's LCD will NOT necessarily be a good representation of your picture
- it is only a thumbnail. Also each computer monitor has its own color idiosyncrasies.
Monitors need to color calibrated to honestly represent the colors of an
image. So, when you adjust these problems during post-processing note if
they occur consistently try to make in-camera adjustment to compensate.
- Night shots.
Explanation of lens that can be used at night w/out flash. I get some good
effects but weird. By the way, weird results can be very good. To shoot at
night without a tripod you need a fast lens, a lens with a wide maximum
aperture, like at least 2.8. Image Stabilization (IS) in the lens or
camera helps. If you are not using a tripod brace yourself using a wall,
column, horizontal surface. Hold the camera with your elbows close
together. If you are able to use a tripod use one.
- Flash photography. Oh
my gosh, this deserves a separate workshop.
- I would like to take
better travel pictures. Don't shoot scenes that are commonly found on
postcards. Shoot anything that interests you, even if it seems weird – I
like to shoot my meals. If you see something you want to shoot but the
lighting is wrong, come back when the lighting is right. Shoot early in
the morning and/or late in the after noon – this can be in conflict with
what your traveling partner wants to do.
- Understand how to
override the automatic settings. We covered this, but not as much as
deserved due to time constraints.
- How to compose more
interesting pictures. We covered this, but to really deal with it you
should take a workshop where you shoot and then review. Shot what
interests you. Make it your own by adding something to it that is unique.
- How to shoot a scene where
natural light from the background doesn't interfere with the subject in
the foreground. Use fill flash. If no flash then change the metering
mode to either center weighted or spot and meter the person and not the
bright background.
Photography Workshops
You can get a lot out of good
photography workshops. But like any other education thing, the teacher makes or
breaks the course. Below is a list of people that give good workshops – I've
either taken these workshops, met and talked to the person, or heard from good
sources that the workshop is worth it.