How to… Understand the basics of your camera

My sweet friend Lacy asked me to guest post on her blog about these questions a while ago but I thought it could be beneficial for everyone. So enjoy this "How To" post.

Please explain what ISO, F/stop, Shutter Speed, and White Balance?

1. ISO (Sensitivity) – Adjusts Sensitivity of the camera, “film” to the light of the subject
2. F/stop – measure of aperture
3. Aperture – diameter of the opening of the shutter. This determines how much light enters the lens.
4. Shutter Speed (ss) – How fast or slow the shutter opens. The faster the shutter speed the smaller the amount of time for light to enter the lens.
5. White Balance – Controls the temperature/color of the exposure
6. Exposure – combination of ISO, Aperature, and Shutter speed. Exposure is the outcome of these three.

From this point on, I must say all of the advice I give is going to be for manual settings. I am a firm believer that you will get the best pictures when you know how to change your settings in manual mode. Rarely do I ever use Auto. (Maybe 1-5% of the time.)

How do I shoot indoor with low lighting and without a flash?

1. First you want to check to see if you can open any windows or doors to pull in any extra natural light. Natural light is the best!!!!!
2. Then you want to check you ISO. For darker conditions you want your ISO to be higher. 800 is the lowest I will go while indoors with low light.
3. From there you will want to adjust your shutter speed. In low light conditions, you want to do lower in number. But be aware!!! If you get too low you are more likely to get blurry pictures. For my settings on a Nikon D300s I usually can’ go below 20 or 25 ss. But you want to practice by taking a lot of pictures, so you can find the limitations of your camera.
4. From there you want to adjust your F/stop. This one is more of a fine-tuning your light. I usually keep my F/stop between 5 and 7.1.
5. Then play around with your white balance. Every indoor location has different lighting. So play around and see which one gives you the best color.
6. Final thought on indoor low light: It is oksy to use a flash. Sometimes it is just needed.

Examples:

Indoor low-lighting with post-editing.

Indoor low-lighitng with post-editing.

What is the best way to shoot in direct sunlight?

1. Well my first thought is –don’t!!! Unless it is during a sunset or sunrise, it is really difficult and harsh light. Overcast days are my favorite days to shoot on. It provides great natural lighting. But if those are the conditions you are shooting in, I would suggest shooting into the sun with a reflector or your flash. This helps reduce the dark shadows on the subjects face and the squinting.
2. This is the absolute best advice I can give for shooting on a sunny day out side: FIND SHADE AND SHOOT IN IT. You can have the background highlighted with the sun and the subjects will just pop more. Again a reflector or using the flash is of benefit here.
3. Oh! And don’t forget to change your settings. ISO should go lower in number, ss will go up, and your f/stop to fine-tune.

Direct sun causes dark shadows. With post-editing.

Overcast = nearly perfect lighting. With post-editing.

Shade with sun high-lighting the back- ground and with flash. With little post editing.

How do you reduce blur?

1. Make sure your Shutter Speed is not too low. You need to have a fast ss to capture quick moving objects.
2. A steady hand or tripod is helpful.
3. Use a flash.

How do you take good close-ups?

1. It’s all about your lens. Lenses are expensive but a great investment. Macro lenses are great for close up shots. We have a 60 mm fixed lens. Meaning there is no zoom feature on this lens. But the depth of field is amazing.
2. But for those that don’t have money to spare on a new lens you can this one time use automatic settings. Switch your setting to the flower [macro]. This is the automatic setting for close up objects.

I don’t have a dSLR, so how can I maximize my picture quality with a point and shoot?

1. Find out if your camera has manual settings. Use the same principle above. As far as close up pictures there is a flower icon to signify close up shots. For fast moving object use the icon that looks like a runner. For low light use the moon icon.

This was taken with my little point and shoot. With settings on the flower icon. and the camera is in manual settings to control the flash, ISO, and White Balance. Unedited.

Finally, my 2 cents….

Learn to love editing your pictures. I for a long time used iphoto to do all my editing, which is the basic editing for any photo lover. I now use Aperture, which is professional editing software for Mac’s. There are many free services on-line to use to learn basics of editing. One that I like is Picnik.com. Editing changes good photos to great photos.

Edited. Warm color and clearer picture

Un-edited. Not as viberant color. Less appealing to the eye.

Thanks so much for reading and have a blessed day. I hope all of these tips help you understand you camera better. Have fun with it. If you have anymore questions please go to facebook.com and look up Center Point Photography page. You can ask me any more questions there.

Much love,

CPP

How To...

I totally don't post "how to's" enough but now seems to be a good time.

Lacy Tatum asks:

What settings should you use on a cloudy, blue-sky day if you want your subject still light enough but your sky not over-exposed (w/o using flash)?

This is a great question! I know so many people that have asked the same question. There are a few ways to accomplish this but I will focus on one. Also know that all my advice is based on a person shooting in manual mode. Because that's what I encourage everyone to shoot in.

1) A main key to be aware of is the time of day. Most of you know that the best time to shoot is sunrise and sunset. This is also true when setting up this type of shot. You most definitely cannot get good light on your subject and the clouds when there is sun directly above you because it will create shadows all over your subject's face.

2) Face your subject toward the sun. This will be your light source to light up the subject's face while not over-exposing the beautifully blue and fluffy clouded sky. Depending on how much the sun has set and how bright the sun is, will determine when you need to take your shot. If the sun in BRIGHT!! then wait for a cloud to cover the sun. The cloud will soften the light on the subjects face. If the sun is farther along in the "setting" process, then shoot it that way.

3) From there it is just adjusting your settings. Your ISO is usually down low, your aperture is usually a little higher, and your shutter speed is... well all depends on how much the sun has set.

Sun fully out!

f/13, 1/200, 200 iso, 35mm

Here are two other ways to get that effect...

1) USE YOUR FLASH. Its not the end of the world to use a flash. Just manually control the power of the flash.

Using a flash. :)

f/11, 1/200, 200 iso, 35mm

2) Use a reflector. Like a white wall, garage door, brick, concrete, store bought reflector, ect. In this situation the light would be behind the subject, you being against or in front of the reflective surface, and adjusting your manual settings as needed. This would require the sun not to be in full blown out setting mode. Just catch the sun a little higher in the setting process.

Hand held reflector. Mountains are acting as clouds in this example.

f/7.1, 1/800, 400 iso, 35mm

And just to give the opposite view...

Shooting into the sun! Great sun beams!

f/2.8, 1/320, 250 iso, 35mm

I hope this is helpful!

Love,

CPP

How to....

Pick a camera.

So I presented this to all our Facebook followers....

Center Point Photography I need and want to blog but am having some serious writers block...
Anybody got any question about being a photographer, cameras, editing, or anything? I would love a topic to write about.

Jodie Coher good camera choice for beginners... DSLR and/or point & shoot. We're considering a new camera for Christmas.
And how about the advantages and ways to use the MACRO -- I like it, but don't think I use it correctly :)

November 16 at 7:52pm ·

Thank you so much Jodie for the question! I will start of with saying that everyone has a different opinion on this. There is a huge DSLR "tug of war" about Nikon Cameras vs. Cannon Cameras. It will ultimately come down to preference but I will give you my favorite brand and good choices within that brand.

So my favorite brand is Nikon.

I like Nikon because if you decided to upgrade you camera body in the future then all of your lenes will fit any Nikon camera body... Cannons do not. When you get a new camera body with Cannon you must get all new lenses. Not very cost effective. I also perfer the shape, build, and grip of the Nikon. It is a really comfortable hold. So I love NIKON! I would say for cost and quality get the D90. It is a great camera. The closest you can get to a semi professional camera without the cost. Its nearly half the price.

My other advice it to invest in on solid lens. If you by the camera with the standard lens with it.... great keep it! Nikon has a pretty good standard. We usually use ours at each wedding. But consider purchasing a macro lens 60mm it is a fixed lens NO zoom but the crisp clearity is amazing! I use it for most everything i shoot. Close up or I move back farther to get full images. I rarely switch lenses. If you want to try it out... rent it here.

The 60 mm f2.8 Macro provides a compact, versatile lens appropriate for Macro and general photography. Like all true macro lenses it is extremely sharp, even wide open and at close range. It provides a true 1:1 reproduction and focuses as closely as 7.3 inches, has silent wave motor for quick autofocusing, a non-rotating front element, 9 bladed aperture ring, ED glass, and new Nano Crystal Coat – basically every high end technology Nikon has in a reasonably priced Macro lens.

Let me take this time to explain what a Macro is used for. It is made for close up photography. You get great clearity with these type of lenses. You can get close up ring shot and crisp clear portraits.

These were both taken with the 60mm f/2.8

Or get a 24mm-70mm. This has some zoom capabilities but also great close ups and clearity. This is considered a great staple to have in your camera bag. We are debating if we are going to purchase this in the next few months. We have rented this lens and I loved it. When I shot the Leja Wedding I never switched lenses. The lens is what really takes a great picture! One down side is that it is really heavy! I also found that I prefer really do prefer fixed lenses. But that is just a preference. Tyler loves the 14-24mm f/2.8. So it is simply a preference.

24mm-70mm f/2.8

Bottom Line:

So look at a D80 or D90. These have great prices for it starting as a hobby and perfecting how to use it to and growing as a photographer. Also, really consider getting another lens. This is where you will get an amazing picture.

Love, CPP