How to do Night Photography

Taking night photos can be a fun and challenging activity with your DSLR camera. There's always something that you can do with the three important settings you have already known by now - ISO, shutter speed and aperture.

Night photography generally employs the use of smaller F-stops number for aperture, slower shutter speed and a reasonably high ISO settings. The reason is that you need to have a small F-stops number that indicate bigger aperture size to allow more light to reach your DSLR sensor. You should know that light source is very limited at night.

Secondly, having a slower shutter speed means that you would delay the time for the shutter to return back to its original position in the sense that the amount of light will be absorbed more by the sensor. In another word, the sensor will be exposed more to light source. If under exposed, your image will be darker or probably too dark to grasp the subject for your night photography.

The ISO refers to the sensitivity of your DSLR's sensor. During a night photography, your sensor needs to be more sensitive to light therefore you need a higher ISO number such as 400 or more.

And not to forget, you may need to use a tripod to avoid camera shake as your shutter speed might be too slow and susceptible to record your lens movement that will interfere with the result. Here's a great DSLR tip video from cameralabs that you ought to watch.

Making use of ISO

I am sure you have seen the term ISO many times even since you first had conventional point and shoot cameras where you use photographic films to capture images. When you purchase a roll of film, you would see an ISO number such as 100, 200, 400, 800, and so on. But what do they mean?

In the simplest definition with regards to digital cameras, ISO is the number representing the digital camera sensors sensitivity to light. A lower ISO number such as 100 means the camera’s sensors are less sensitive to light and a higher ISO number means more sensitivity to light.

In the previous post, I made a mistake by quoting that Exposure = Shutter Speed + Aperture. I soon to realize that ISO also plays an important role and that it does affect the exposure as well. It works hand in hand with shutter speed and aperture. So that makes them to look like having a triangular relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture.

ISO speed affects the shutter speed and aperture combinations in order to obtain correct exposure. A high ISO is good for dim light situations or low light condition such as for night photography or during dawn where light sources are limited.

The problem with a low light condition (low ISO) is that you often need a longer exposure time, so you have to set a slower shutter speed or a slower aperture setting to capture a good image. Because of the slower shutter speed, you need to use a tripod to avoid camera shake. You don’t want to distort the image when you shake the camera while the shutter is still opened.

Alternately, higher ISO means the more the sensor will register light energy, but not coming from your subject. As a rule of thumb, low ISO is good for bright situations (many light sources) or when things aren't moving much (static objects). Some digital cameras are pretty good at noise reduction and you can leave the ISO on auto, letting your camera judge which ISO would be best, unless you are trying to be creative and want to get a particular effect. But setting the ISO manually is good (ISO 100 or 200) and adjusting it according to the lighting condition during your photography.

Here’s a video to explain ISO using Nikon D60. Most other DSLRs work on the same concept in relation to this video. [Credits: LarkPhoto]

More close up on Sony Alpha DSLR A300

On this post I have included a clip of an excellent review of Sony Alpha DSLR A300 from cameralabs to give you a closer look into the features of this camera. I remembered posting about why I chose this camera earlier but this time around I found something that you can learn more or in detail about this camera. Photos included as well. Enjoy...

Nice tilt-able LCD with Live View. No tripod? No problem. Pop up the tilt-able LCD and you can shoot from different angle while "knowing" what the camera see via the LCD live view screen. Place the camera above your head, on your chest level or by the side way to see from different angle without loosing composition.

Here's a photo that I took with Sony Alpha DSLR A300X. The X simply means two lenses bundled in the package. They are SAL18-70mm and SAL55-200mm.


Check out the review made by cameralabs below.

What makes a Professional Photographer?

Perhaps this is a very subjective matter in photography. You can actually twist the words around and yet to get different meaning. You can think and compare of an amateur photographer and a professional photographer. You can think of how “professional” a photo is taken and how “amateur” the photo is.

To me, digital photography is my new hobby and I never really thought of turning it into a profession. I simply snap pictures of what I want, when and where I want. That certainly makes me an amateur photographer. But professional quality photos can be achieved because photography skills can be developed and yet you don’t need it to be a profession.

“If you want to photograph professionally you'll make less money, have to shoot the boring stuff in crappy locations for which you're hired, shoot it the way the client wants, and probably have to shoot everything as if it's some big emergency every time. You'll probably only be able to afford beat up old gear that's "good enough."” – kenrockwell (source: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/go-pro.htm)

Photography can be profitable profession in the sense that you need to have a big name in the market. I think what he meant by making less money is because of the number of photographers out there. More professional photographers are able to cope with photography demands therefore affecting the profitability for photography business. Subjectively, it can also depend on where you are because of different demands.

“With a professional photographer, you'll only see one in ten of the pictures he takes, whereas an amateur will show you all of his” – Kevin Gilbert (source: http://www.wellho.net/mouth/97_What-makes-a-professional-photographer-.html)

I personally like this one as in you can get to display only the best shot or shots you took but not all photos. This is likely because it makes you have and strengthen the ability to differentiate qualities of photos taken. Showing all might reveal the mistakes you made although at times you won’t get it noticed until someone does. But on the bright side, for amateurs this can be useful as a method to improve through constructive criticisms.

My take is that to be a professional photographer may require you some years developing, mastering and perfecting your photography skills. It is a form of art that can also be taught and learn. Some say it’s the “how” not on the “what” you have to come out with professional looking photos but I kind of partially agree with this because for some photos you need to have some types of lens to achieve the desired results. Working with what you have might not be able to produce all results.

It all depends on whether you want to view photography as a job or hobby. You can be called a professional photographer with tons of equipments, but that doesn’t guarantee that you can take professional quality shots. Let’s practice on getting a great shot instead.

What you can do with shutter speed

To know what sort of photos you can shoot by manipulating the use of shutter speed on your DSLR, you need to know what shutter speed is. Shutter speed is a speed made with a shutter. Haha…Just kidding.

Actually, a shutter speed is the measurement used to denote how long the shutter will allow lights to strike the censor component of your digital camera. This timing is measured in fractions of a second like 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250 or 1 for 1 second. The cool part of DSLR cameras is that you can play around with shutter speed settings and go creative about it.

We can use the analogy in the previous post to exemplify this. So let’s go back to the window curtain example we mentioned before. If earlier the curtain opening is used to depict aperture size, shutter speed can be used to refer to the time of how long you will slide the window curtain to the side and then shut it back completely so that you being the censor can see what’s outside of the window.

The idea is that if you shut the curtain slowly, you get to see more things going on outside your window. If you shut the curtain very fast, you will literally see a still representation of what’s going on outside. You won’t be able to see the leaves falling slowly outside your window pane for instance.

Shutter speed can be used to take a photo with a sense of movement or motion. For example, you can take photo of moving traffic at night. With a slow shutter speed settings, you can create an effect as if the highway consists of fast moving lights instead or actual cars or other vehicles on the road.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Set dial to “S” for shutter speed priority settings. Again, different cameras use different symbols for the shutter speed priority selection so check your manual.
2. You can set the shutter speed to 1/4 or longer like 1 second or more. The correct aperture setting will be set accordingly. Too add, you need to experiment depending on the amount of light available at the location of where you are taking the photo. Leaving the shutter open for too long may cause your photo to be too bright if they are many vehicles on the highway.
3. Don’t forget to use auto focus and choose a suitable focal reference. You can use a non moving object to use as your focusing point. Use manual focus instead, if you can't get a sharp focus in range. Also, you need to use a tripod to avoid camera shake. Press the shutter release button halfway to activate auto focus.
4. Press the shutter release button completely to take the photo. Keep practicing until you get the perfect shot.

Good luck.

Understanding aperture in digital photography

For new DSLR users, the number of terminologies used in photography can be overwhelming and what they mean can be difficult to grasp. However, if you like reading the manual and learning more about them from various sources, you will likely to get a better understanding even as easy as under five minutes.

Aperture is one word that made me dropped my jaw when I first attended my photography club meetings during high school. During that time we were only exposed to non digital point and shoot and SLR cameras. I have forgotten most part of it as I find it cumbersome to go with films and having to spend that extra cash especially when I was still in school.

Ok, enough blabbering, so what is aperture really? Aperture is referred to the lens diaphragm opening inside a photographic lens. It is an adjustable gap in which light comes in, very similar to the iris of your eye. To illustrate this, imagine the window curtain of your room. It is a bright and sunshiny day outside. The curtain behaves like an aperture that controls the amount of light that enters your room. If you close your window curtain, you will shut the lights from entering your room thus having a very dark vision from within your room.

The usage of aperture is highly favored, used effectively and passionately by professional photographers. The difference for an amateur photographer like me or you is that we are learning and applying what we know about aperture at a much basic introductory level and practicing as much as we could to better our photographic experience.

So what are there to know about aperture? Aperture size is usually calibrated or configured in terms of f-numbers or f-stops. The lower the number of f-stops such as F2 means the larger opening of the lens diaphragm is. In contrast, high f-stops such as F22 would mean smaller aperture size.

On most DSLR cameras, there’s an aperture priority mode that you can use to capture images apart from program or automatic modes. Aperture priority basically means that you get to set the depth of field manually and your camera will set the right shutter speed in order to get the optimum exposure. This is possible because of the built-in electronic metering circuit available in most DSLR cameras.

Aperture is used to select the depth of field and combining aperture with shutter speed, you get the exposure such that

Exposure = Aperture + Shutter Speed

What made me choose Sony Alpha DSLR A300X

There are many tips around to help you in getting the right DSLR camera for yourself. Recently I got myself the Sony Alpha DSLR A300X and I love it very much. It has been such a rewarding and satisfying experience with my Sony Alpha. Of course, I would research first on which model that clicks with me. This alone took me almost 2 months to decide.

Here are some points that made me chose Sony Alpha A300X. They can be regarded as tips for you to decide if you’re planning to get yourself a DSLR as well.

Budget

You get what you paid for. The A300X model has the best package and pricing that fits my budget. There used to be days when DSLRs are very expensive and cost too much to own. I am relatively new to DSLR and what this camera has to offer is perfect for an entry to DSLR. For the X series, the package comes with 2 standard lenses (18-70mm and 50-200mm). That is definitely a good offer to refuse for me. The A series however has only one lens.

Features

Most DSLRs are essentially the same when it comes to features. But for this new release (somewhere in April this year), the A300X has a live view LCD that can be tilted to maximize what you can do with your DSLR. For example, you can use it where it is difficult to have a direct point of sight of the subject that you are photographing. You can hold the camera above your head or at your chest level and yet see what’s on the live view for your shoot.

The Sony Alpha DSLR A300X felt solid and doesn’t feel like it’s made with cheap plastic materials. The robust rubber grip is very comfortable although I was somewhat anxious when I first held it.

Purpose

There are plenty of reasons of why you would want to get yourself a DSLR. Some wants it for professional use or just a hobby. To me, it’s perfect for my initial venture into DSLR photography. I can use it to shoot ordinary family or vacation photos and at the same time experimenting and going artistic indulging myself into different techniques of photography which is often used in more expensive competitor models. I am sure they are some very tiny technical differences that a professional photographer or electronics engineer could tell me.

Conclusion

There are other aspects such as lens compatibilities, options, pricing that ought to be considered as well. Sony is relatively a new player in the market for DSLR but for the hardware components, they inherited the technology from Minolta so that’s a good investment. Sony is a well-known leader in consumer electronics with exceptional product quality. It’s convenient for me to know that they have integrated their electronics expertise in the Alpha models. It’s really worth what I paid for.

How to use depth of field

"Depth of field" is a terminology that photographers use to refer to the range of the nearest and farthest subjects in a photograph composition that appear to be in sharp focus. Our eyes are able to choose to see subjects in sharp focus but camera lenses need to have a specific point to do that. This point is known as focal point or depth of field.

The difference in terms of depth of field created by varying objects distances can be especially useful to capture a portrait style photo. However, there must be a certain distance between the subjects and background in order for this technique to work. Subjects that are very closed together in terms of distances may not work well in the result of photo taken.

You probably have seen photos where the background is blurred but the main subject is in sharp focus. This is easily done with a DSLR camera but not necessarily easy for a point and shoot camera. The image below is taken by manipulating depth of field.

Notice that the background is blurred in the portrait style photo on the left. In this photo, there is a great distance between the boy and the background. If the boy is leaning on a wall for instance, the wall cannot be easily blurred out because the distance between the boy and the wall would be too close to reduce the depth of field. Recall on the previous post regarding the rule of third. This boy is not centered in the image. It gives more space. I would prefer that the image is zoomed out a little for a better result.


The photos on the right shows what can be done with field of depth if you have many subjects with many varying distances between them. Notice that the second girl (from right) is in sharp focus while the others are blurred. This technique is best done with manual focus, not auto focus on your DSLR camera. To try out this technique, you can set your camera dial to "A" for aperture priority mode. I prefer this mode because I don't have to worry about the shutter speed and at the same time concentrate more with the amount of light to be used. This can be done by adjusting the desired aperture opening, designated by F-stops. Do note that the smaller number of F-stop indicates a higher aperture setting. It means more light will be captured and reflected in your image.

Here's how you can do it:

1. Set dial to "A" for aperture priority mode. Some cameras use different abbreviation to denote this so you have to check with your camera's manual.
2. Set focusing to Auto Focus if you have a single subject with a resonably far background. Set it to Manual Focus if you have more than one object instead.
3. Set your aperture. In a low light condition, set a smaller F-stop number such as F5 for instance. On a bright sunny day outside the building you can opt for a higher F-stop number such as F22. Experiment with the F-stop number. You don't have to worry much since the shutter speed is determined automatically for the F-stop number that you set. But make sure your shutter speed is not too low to avoid camera shake and result in a blur image. As you set your aperture, observe the shutter speed. A shutter speed of 1/60 and above should do the trick.
   
4. In Auto Focus mode, you might need to use the steps described in the previous post (rule of third). Simply place the subject in the middle and press the shutter release button half way to activate auto focus. Without releasing the shutter, recompose your subject and press the shutter release button fully to shoot the photo.
5. In Manual Focus mode, simply compose your subject and focus manually onto the subject which you want to be in sharp focus. Turn the focusing ring on your lense to get a sharp focus of your desired subject. When the subject that you want is in sharp focus, press the shutter release button all the way down.

The rule of third

One of the common techniques when it comes to photograph composition is the rule of third. It is simply a way of how you are going to place or frame your subject during your composition. Usually we tend to bring the subject right to the middle of the composition, leaving very limited space surrounding your subject.

If let say, you are going to choose a single subject for your shot then the rule of third might be useful. To illustrate this technique, imagine a plane or photo divided into 3 columns and 3 rows as illustrated below.


Notice the red circles occupying the areas where the lines intersect? These circles would be the zone or area where you should place your subject. By doing this you will give more space to your composition, allowing the photo to have more head room and giving it a less clutter feeling in comparison to a photo taken with a subject occupying the middle section of the photo.

Here is an example of a photo taken using the rule of third technique.


The rule of third is only ideal for a single subject for composition. It may not work if you are taking a photo of a group of people for example. If you're taking a scenic shot, you can use the upper or lower horizontal lines to match with your subject's horizontal reference. Look at the example below.


The lower horizontal line is matched with the horizontal reference in the photo.

If you choose to use AF (auto-focus) feature for the shot, you may have difficulties to focus the subject because the subject is not placed in the center where your AF usually work. To deal with this:

1. Place your subject in the center of the composition.
2. Press the shutter half way to activate AF.
3. While still pressing the shutter half way, place your subject at the preferred intersections by slightly shifting or tilting your camera (left, right, up or down).
4. Press the shutter completely to take the photo.

Note that if you release the shutter before you rearrange your subject, the AF might be triggered again with the wrong AF reference point as your subject no longer stays in the center of your shot.

Welcome to lensyde digital photography

Hello everyone. I am slowly coming up to a point of reorganizing my blogs. This will undergo a smooth phasing out process I hope. Digital photography is my newly found hobby and I am already falling in love with it despite being an amateur photographer. I am sure everyone starts from somewhere. 

On this blog, as "niche" as it can be especially to you internet marketers out there, I would hopefully post everything about digital photography. From the experience that I gain, the newbie gears I just got and to sharing tips and trick I learned from people and from the world wide web.

I welcome you to share the techniques and trick to benefit everyone in the digital photography community. I know there are lots of digital photography forums and websites out there but this one is where I would share my interest on my new found hobby.

Digital photography is emerging from every corners of the earth. I believe one great factor is the affordability of equipments used compared to many years ago. Digital photography is an art and I believe the techniques and tricks to capture a good photo can be taught and learn. In the real life, you may come across events that ought to be captured and treasured. Well, capture and treasure them with a touch of art by indulging yourself into the world of digital photography.