Beyond Phototips

Point and Shoot cameras are notoriously difficult to keep steady in low light situations. Here are a couple of tips that should help you steady your swaying forearms when taking these photographs.

1. Don’t use the LCD display.

Using the LCD display to compose your photographs is possibly the easiest way to shoot with a digital Point ‘n Shoot, and yes, they dont make the viewfinders the way they used to. But low light conditions are not the best situation to test your forearm stability.

Squash your eye against that viewfinder, and peer into that little glass lens. Doing this supports the camera, and it’s less susceptible to sway (unless you’re drunk).

2. Brace yourself

Steady yourself by leaning against a rigid structure such as a wall or concrete post. Put your back against it, press as much of your body into it as possible. This should get you ready for your low-light hand-held point and shoot photograph.

You could also use a wall, chair or any other appropriate support to rest your camera or hands on when taking the photograph.

3. Slow n Steady…

Remember that this is not a race, the marines have a motto that they follow “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast”. This is true here too. If you’re in less of a hurry to take the photograph and move away, you’re more likely to keep the camera steady and in-position longer. This will give you a steady, shake-free photograph and absolutely no need to take another photograph.

4. Squeeze the ‘trigger’ don’t press

Since photographers use similar terminology (e.g.: I’m going outside to shoot some brilliant photographs), I’m quoting a Firearms guide. Use the same priciples when squeezing your shutter release. It works; no matter whether you’re using a point and shoot or a D-SLR.

Poor shooting is caused by the aim being disturbed before the bullet leaves the barrel of the weapon.  This is usually the result of the shooter jerking the trigger or flinching. Jerking is an effort to fire the weapon at the precise time when the slights align with the target, and flinching is a reflex caused by anticipating recoil.

Trigger squeeze is the independent rearward movement of the trigger finger without disturbance of the sight alignment until the weapon fires.  First, the slack in the trigger is taken up.  You will then hit the break point of the trigger.  Continue applying steadily increasing pressure until the weapon fires.  If the trigger is squeezed properly, you will not know exactly when the weapon will fire; thus, you will tend not to flinch or jerk.

- FirearmsPrimer.com

Squeeze the shutter release, don’t press the button.

5. Breathe right

Shallow, jagged breaths tend to bob your head and upper body up and down, keeping the camera moving at all times, and more likely to blur your photograph. Breathe calmly, in long, deep breaths, and squeeze the shutter release either when you’ve breathed in fully, or let out all the air in your lungs.

This way you will not be gasping for your next breath, and your chest and head will not be in motion.

6. Use a higher ISO

Is this obvious or what? Yes, but many people leave it to their cameras to decide. Some point n shoot cameras have rather shameful high ISO handling, but others are pretty good. Is your camera good for high ISO, low-light photography? Experiment; take some photographs for fun, before you absolutely ‘have to’ so that you know which settings are usable. This will leave you prepared to move to the highest usable ISO when you want / need to.

7. Use the self-timer

This is a good trick. Set up the camera in a stable position on a wall, or table, or hey, just use your mini tripod. Then set up the camera to shoot a photograph by itself, with a timed delay.

This will eliminate photographer-induced (that’s you, matey) shake and (here’s a bonus) you get to be in the photograph too… How cool is that?

Um, that’s it for now.

Do you have a tip that I’ve missed out? Help out your fellow photographers by adding to this list in the comments.

This guest post is by Brian Auer – a photography enthusiast, blogger, photoblogger, and podcaster.

Skateboard photography can be quite interesting and exciting for a photographer. Skaters can be found in most cities and towns, either in skate parks or out on the streets. Below, you’ll find a collection of skateboard photography tips and great example photos.

The tips aren’t massively in-depth because the intent isn’t to lecture about these things. Instead, take what you can from them, build on them with your own knowledge, and study the photos for inspiration. You’ll also notice that many of these tips can be applied to other types of photography, so keep an open mind while reading.

1. PORTRAITS

Even though the exciting part of photographing skaters is when they’re in action, you shouldn’t forget that they’re still people with a face. If you don’t know the skaters, you might try working up the courage to ask them for a portrait. A lot of these folks are interesting and outgoing – the perfect ingredients for a great portrait.

2. PERSPECTIVE

Shooting at your normal stance is so 2005. Shooting from a crouch is a little better. But if you want some really interesting stuff, get down on the ground and make giants of the skaters. If you’re really brave, let somebody jump over your head (of course, use caution and don’t be stupid about it).

3. SUBJECT

The skaters aren’t the only good subjects out there – shoot the boards too! Focusing the attention on the board and allowing the legs and feet to become secondary subjects can be quite powerful.

4. TILT

Adding tilt to your composition naturally creates a feeling of uneasiness and slight chaos. That type of mood goes quite well with extreme sports such as skateboarding.

5. PREMONITION

Watch your subjects (or even just one subject) and take note of what they’re doing. I had been watching this guy skate for 15 or 20 minutes and I saw him move the trash can in front of the ledge he’d been jumping from. It was obvious what he was going to be doing, so I positioned myself, got the camera ready, and fired one off right at the perfect moment.

6. ACTION SEQUENCE

If you happen to have a tripod with you (or a really steady hand), you can leave the camera pointed in one direction and rapid fire as the subject crosses your path. Then use a little post-processing trickery to create a composite, and you’ve got a slick little action sequence.

7. ALTERNATIVE SEQUENCE

Catch a bunch of different poses from one of the skaters and slap them all together. Go beyond the typical diptych or triptych – four or five makes for a pretty cool image.

8. NIGHT

Working at night can help you isolate your subject better than during the day. And depending on your light source, you can really add some intensity and contrast. Alternatively, working at a high ISO can produce beautifully gritty photos (especially if you go black and white).

9. UP CLOSE

Don’t just sit off on the sidelines trying to keep your entire subject inside the frame. Get up close and focus on different parts of the skaters – just stay out of the way or you’ll tick people off and kill your chances of finishing the session. If you’re unsure, talk with them and let them make suggestions for getting close-ups (you can bet they’ll have some good ideas).

10. SILHOUETTE

If the lighting is all wrong for your typical photos, work with it and go for the silhouette shot. This works best if the sun is somewhere other than straight above (preferably behind the skater and in front of you) and if you use manual exposure settings or play with your exposure compensation.

11. SPEED

Rather than freezing the action in every shot, try mixing it up by slowing down that shutter speed and conveying the motion of the skaters.

12. WIDE ANGLE

Using wide angles will allow you to get fairly close while including much of the surrounding scene. Pay attention to the shapes and structures around the skaters and include them in the photo for more visual impact.

13. SHADOWS

If it’s nice and sunny, pay attention to the shadows. Sometimes they can be quite interesting subjects – especially if you cut out part of the person creating that shadow.

14. FLASH

On the flip side of slowing down and capturing motion, sometimes you’ll want to freeze the subject completely. Unless it’s bright and sunny, you may need to use a flash to accomplish this. Try working with an off-camera flash for more interesting results.

15. STREETS

Not all skaters stick to the skate parks – with a little luck, you can find skaters in just about any city. Look for rails, steps, ramps, or any other structure that could be used as a skater playground. Capturing skaters away from a park can make your photos more raw and real.

16. ODDITIES

Always keep your eyes open (and your camera ready) for the oddball encounters. You never know who or what might cross your path unexpectedly.

17. CHARACTERS

Likewise, watch out for interesting characters.

18. STEP BACK

Not every skateboarding shot needs to be up close and tightly cropped. Step back a little and make the skater a small, but important, part of the scene. Also, if you’re near any structures, try going vertical and shoot down onto your subjects.

19. CANDIDS

Make good use of longer lenses to give yourself more working distance – this allows you to stay out of the way while catching true moments candidly. And don’t put the camera down as soon as the action is over. Sometimes you’ll find great shots when the skater isn’t even skating.

This is part of the Beyond Phototips Birthday Special Series. Go here to see all the posts so far.

Here’s a short list of problems that you may encounter on your journey of discovery in photography, along with an equally short list of fixes to get you back on the road.

1. Red-Eye: Red, Alien-like eyes that appear to infest regular human-beings when using on-camera flash.

REASON: On-Camera Flash being too close to the lens’ axis.

FIX: Move your flash off camera; Get a little creative with it.

2. Blur: Blur were an English alternative rock band that formed in Colchester in 1989.// Oops, wrong Blur.

Blur is when objects in the frame or photograph seem soft, blurry (duh!) or streaky.

REASON: There are two main reasons, actually. 1) Relatively fast moving objects 2) Soft, or incorrect, focus

FIX:

1) Moving Objects. Use a faster shutter speed, fast enough to freeze it, or use a flash.

2) Soft Focus: Make sure you focus correctly, get better spectacles if you need ‘em. (I know I do…)

3. Shake: Similar to blur, but instigated by the camera and / or photographer.

REASON: Incorrect posture, bad camera holding technique, or use of a slow shutter speed

FIX:

1) Make sure your shooting posture ensures that you’re well balanced and stable when you actually press the shutter release

2) Learn how to grip the camera correctly. (Video)

3) Use faster shutter speeds, use flash to freeze your subject, or just shoot in better light.

4. Flash reflected off Glass: This is the all-too-famous blotch of white light that you see in airplane windows, in aquariums and offices.

REASON: Flash bouncing off the glass and back into the camera’s lens.

FIX: When shooting in to glass, remember not to shoot perpendicular to it if using flash. If possible, turn off your flash, else, if you have a camera with a lens that sticks out, go right up to the glass so that the lens is almost touching the glass itself, and then take a picture. That way you wont get reflections of your flash!

5. Flare: White diffused area next to a light source, or circles of light radiating out from a light source that’s directly in the photograph’s frame.

REASON: Light that comes directly into the lens sometimes does not get absorbed, but bounces off the surface of the lens. The best lenses have great coatings to reduce this, but a cheap filter most certainly will bounce light.

FIX: Use a lens hood to keep stray light out, get a lens with better coatings, Dont shoot directly into the light.

6. Vignetting: Dark edges in a photograph

REASON:

1) Light that is focussed by the lens starts falling-off towards the edges.

2) Filters on a wide-angle lens infringing on the corners of the frame

3) A Low quality lens

FIX:

1) All lenses have some degree of vignetting. The expensive ones just have less.

2) Don’t use filters that need step-down ring adaptors

3) Some cameras like the LOMO use low quality lenses intentionally. If you don’t want a vignette, don’t use them.

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by Zamm

Keep It Simple, Stupid
Remember the K.I.S.S. principle… It needs no introduction.

First the why
Why would you want to leave things out of a frame? More the merrier, right? The bigger, the better, right? Umm… sometimes, yes… But not here. You see, when people look at a photograph, they expect to understand what it is you’re trying to communicate right away, without having to wait. Today, when everybody uploads about 20-200 pictures to flickr a day, you really do have to have an eye catching photograph for it to stand out at all… you could do that by having a great subject, or by having a simple subject and simplifying it further. Remember, less is more!

Now the how:

1. Go in close to the subject. This could either mean moving closer physically, or changing your lens to a longer focal length one or if its something small, it could mean changing to a macro setup.
2. Cut the Clutter. Very often we fail to realise that there are elements inside the frame that are not really needed. Remove anything that does not ‘belong’ in the frame. It could be as simple as taking a step to the side to remove the interfering bum of a relative while photographing your nephew at Christmas, but it could make a vast difference.
3. Keep an eye on the background. Backgrounds are very important. They contribute to the mood of a photograph no matter how much out of focus they are. If your photograph has a background, make sure that it does not interfere with your foreground elements and distract the viewer from the experience that you’re trying to share.
4. Fill the frame. This is a great way to get rid of an interfering background. Step in close, and fill the frame with your subject. If you’re doing a portrait of a child, go down to her level and fill the frame with a tight close up.
5. Use backgrounds to your advantage. This may sound like a contradiction to the previous two points, but let me assure you that it’s not. What I mean is that when you have a clean, clear background, make use of it. You can always use ‘white-space’ to de-clutter a photograph, bringing the subject into clear relief. When doing this, remember that if you can find a textured background without many distinguishing marks, this will do very nicely too.
6. Use simple light. A couple of photographers have told me, “there’s only one sun, so why should I use 4 lights” what they mean is that the more directional lights you have, the more unrealistic your photograph will look. While this is not always a bad thing, you may want to take simple photographs with clear cut lighting so that the lighting does not take meaning away from your subject.
7. Use simple colours. Yes, even the hues and shades of a photograph can make it either complex or simple. Try to make sure that your compositions don’t have too many colours. Very often, a photograph can be sufficiently varied, yet simple, by simply having various shades of the same colour.
8. Above all, keep your equipment simple, stupid. Very often we get carried away with all the lenses and gadgetry that we may own. I know that I do, but I try to remind myself to choose the lens that I’m most likely to use, with maximum advantage to me. That way, when it comes to crunch time, and there’s a photograph you’re about to take, you know exactly what you have in hand, and you’ll be able to make the most of that. It’s all too easy to find yourself changing lenses when you come across that rare tiger spotting… or while your child is taking her first few steps.

Remember, always to breathe deeply and relax when you find that you’re not sure about what you’re going to do. Then, remember these 8 simple steps and you’re on your way to taking some remarkably simple, yet memorable pictures.

Here’s a short tutorial with tips on how to take distinctive party pictures. You’ll find both equipment tips and photo tips on how to take the best party pictures ever!

There are party pictures and there are party pictures, but how do you make sure that yours stand out from the crowd? This series of tips is for all you compact digital camera users who want to make sure that every one else ogles at your pictures. The first few tips are about your camera, the rest are tips about technique.

As always, know your camera. You’re not at that party just to take photographs! You’re there to have fun! Now, where’s the fun in trying to figure how your camera goes into rear-curtain sync with a slow exposure while the rest of your pals are on the dance floor? My suggestion to you is to take a few pictures with the techniques that I’m about to describe even before you go to the party so that you’re already familiar with them.

Your flash is your friend. Most parties aren’t lit all that well and you’re going to need the flash that’s on your camera to light up almost every scene. Knowing how to use your flash along with the existing light, is the first step to in creating stunning pictures!

Stay away… Going really close to your friends will usually end up with them looking like they were lit by the light from an atom bomb’s explosion. Stay at least 5-6 feet away from them to ensure that they retain that pearly complexion.

…but not too far away! If you go too far away you’ll end up seeing only the whites of their eyes, in spite of the flash. Most compact digital cameras have a tiny flash that can illuminate objects only at a maximum of 12-15 feet. Each camera is different, so experiment with yours to find the best distance to take pictures at, and maintain that distance.

Use red eye reduction mode. Nobody likes their eyes looking like they’re a deer caught in a car’s headlights! It’s true that programs like Picasa and Photoshop Elements have tools to remove red-eye from your photographs, but why bother when all you need to avoid it is to push a button?

Turn the flash off; sometimes. Sure, the flash is your best buddy at a party but you don’t want to be hanging around together all the time, do you? Especially if there are coloured strobes or lasers… If you’re at a club or a disco and there are a lot of coloured lights, you will most probably be able to get some really good photographs in those lights. Wait till your subject is lit up with one of these lights and press the shutter, or get some really good silhouettes. You won’t know where to find your friends’ jaws when they see your pictures.

Zoom out. Most low-light photographs come out better when your camera is zoomed out fully. This is because the pictures end up with less shake. This also ensures that you don’t cut off somebody’s head or feet by accident.

Try slow shutter speeds. Use the night exposure mode and set the flash to rear curtain sync. You’ll need to hold the camera steady in this mode because the shutter will stay open for a while before the flash goes off. The payoff is that you’ll be able to see things which would otherwise be too dark. You can get really artistic with this mode. Try moving the camera around to get some streaks of light, but make sure that you have the picture framed as you want it when the flash goes off. You’ll end up with some really amazing shots of your friends swirling in a sea of lights if you do this right! (Hint: this is really great on the dance floor at discos & clubs) you can also try this mode without the flash if there’s enough ambient light around you.

Use a higher ISO. Your camera can be set to be more receptive to light. Setting a higher ISO ensures that you can take pictures with a faster shutter speed so that there is less shake. You have the disadvantage of more noise though, and with older compact digitals this tends to be quite a problem. However, you can always turn a disadvantage into and advantage by using it creatively. Think of the noise as a photoshop filter that adds a gritty texture to the photograph and take pictures with that in mind.

Try different angles. Try taking pictures from high up, and from low down. Try taking a picture of the entire room from as close to the ceiling as you can get, try taking a picture through the fish tank, or through a book shelf, there’s no limit to where you can position the camera to get a different view of the party.

Find Uniqueness in every party. Try to find something unique at each party, say a funky decoration, lamp, rug or maybe just a great balcony with a view, and make sure that it plays a key part of some of your pictures. If it is something that your host takes pride in and they like the way you’re showing it, you’ll be invited to every party that happens for the rest of your life…

Take sequences. Take a sequence of pictures that relate to each other. It could be a sequence of people with a cigarette in their mouths, or one with different people standing next to the same lamp, or sitting in the same chair from the same camera position. This will give people something to look at and compare the different reactions that people have alongside something that does not change.

Use multi-fame capture. If your camera can take more than one picture in a row, take some pictures of people dancing or laughing in that mode. Make sure that the camera does not move too much so that the effect is heightened. Seeing a progressive sequence in the midst of a lot of still photographs makes for some interesting viewing.

Put new batteries in. This may sound really duh! but very often you’ll find that having new batteries in the camera or spare batteries in the camera bag can make all the difference when that new band comes on and you find that they’re really cool, or when one of your friends decides to convince you that David Blaine is just a glorified party magician.

Free up that flash card. You never know how many pictures you’re going to take at a party! You may find that you have space for only 10 pictures and you’re about to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger’s PR manager! A good practice is to delete pictures from your flash card when you transfer pictures to your computer, and to transfer pictures frequently.

Have fun at the party. Remember, the party’s not worth taking pictures of if you’re not having fun… so put the camera down for a while or let somebody else have a go at it while you take centre stage. (Added Bonus: you can laugh at the other pictures when you’re showing off your art pieces)

Remember that with party photographs, anything goes, so don’t be afraid to explore new settings on the camera and new ideas in your mind…

Note: Photographs have been used with permission of their respective owners and copyright remains with them. Please click on the images to be taken to their respective flickr pages.