Taking pics and lighting

[Trussrod]

Yes, for a given light density incident on any subject, the aperture and dwell of the shutter are the only two variables left. If the aperture is small in order to get depth of field (increasing the focal ratio), you'll have to leave the shutter open longer if you can' increase brightness. The longer you hold open the shutter, the longer the effects of your hands trembling will have to show as a fuzzy image.

So, use bean bags, bags of ground foam, blocks of wood, or a tripod head, anything where the shutter will open and close without a lick of movement.

Hi Crandel,
Don't forget the ISO in the sequence of adjusting for proper exposure too. If the light is on the dimmer side as in my shot then a bit of an increase in the ISO, assuming your using a low setting already can bump up the shutter speed enough to help prevent camera shake.

What you suggested are good choices if your going to trip the shutter using your finger, and there's a trick that can help even then, but if the camera is on a stable base of one type or another and somewhat secure just using the self timer within the camera will alleviate all camera shake too. The next best thing is a shutter release Flexible Cable or Air release to trip the shutter if your camera's shutter release has a threaded center or you get an attachment ment for your camera like the Cannons have.

If your using your finger, practice placing only a portion of the tip of your finger on the bezel around the shutter release button and slowly roll the tip of your finger over the bezel edge while very slowly depressing the shutter release button.

Also your breathing is important as taking a breath while attempting to trip the shutter will most certainly cause movement too if the camera is hand held or even being tripped with your finger while on a tripod unless it's Rock Solid.

Also most all images from digital cameras can be sharpened at least once to help correct unsharp images also.

That should give a bit more info to help.

 

[kenw]

Since we seem to be expanding the thread (for very good purposes, I might add) some other things to watch for:

1. understand your camera's minimum focus distance. regardless of what settings you use, nothing that is less than the MFD will ever be in focus. on a dSLR, the lens determines the MFD. On non-dSLRs, the MFD may vary according to the zoom length.

2. As stated, use the minimum (biggest #) aperture to maximize the depth of field. There are several ways to do this. For those cameras where it can't be adjusted directly, zooming in (largest mm) will force the camera into the mimimum aperture, but you'll have to back up a bit. If you camera can do Aperture Priority (Av on Canon and Nikon), set it directly to the biggest # you can and let the shutter fall where it may. Realize that on a dSLR the LENS determines what that minimum aperture will be so you may have to experiment with various lenses. Also on dSLRs, most zoom lenses get bigger # apertures when zoomed in compared to when zoomed wide (not all, but most).

3. As has been mentioned, using very big # apertures will result in very long shutters. Several methods to help stabilize the camera have already been mentioned. A few more tips on this: If your camera has mirror lockup, use it along with time release or a remote control for even more shake reduction. Set the legs of your tripod on beanbags or pillows to dampen nearby vibrations (just walking across the floor can hurt!). Regardless, hand holding the camera is NEVER going to give you good results. Even a $1 flex leg tripod from Dollar Tree is going to make a ton of improvement.

4. I tend to use aperture priority for these shots since that's what I care about and the length of shutter is of no interest if I have taken all the precautions I can. Since the shutter is so long, the ISO can be left slow (100-ish) since that will normally give you the best performance and least noise. Long shutters can increase noise, so increasing the ISO (gain) can only add to the noise problems.

 

[Dougget]

I agree with the tripod comments. Long exposure and handheld just don't go together.
I have found that even pushing the button on the camera when it's on the tripod causes it to move a bit. So I use the timer function on my camera.

Set up the tripod, hit the timer, take a few seconds to make any final adjustments and step back. Works great.
Doug

 

[tankist]

Say Anton,.
Your reference to pixel count is very incorrect indeed. If you were anywhere near correct then why would all the camera manufactures be increasing the Pixel count size of their sensors?? Just a few years ago Canon for example went from 6Mp sensor to 10 and then 12, as I recall, and now the camera Rex has is 18Mp. seems just the opposite to what your saying.

that would be self induced MP race. with the lack of other numbers, MP was (and i guess by some still is) perceived by consumer as the main quality metric. hence there was demand for higher MP cameras and manufacturers found them self in a race. this is not pro-photo forum, we display our pictures on web in 1024*764 or print 4x6, 5x7 tops. how do you substantiate the need for extra pixels ? at least here i see no need. nor do i see difference between 6 or 3 MP pictures.

You learn to use your equipment as best you can and the better Digital cameras have many correction variances to keep in mind when shoot in anything but auto mode.

perhaps it is hard to admit but lots of things are done better by computer then by human these days. i'm not going keep in mind the many variances when shooting, i'll let the camera do its magic and instead concentrate on the picture. if i kept everything within limitations, in the rare event of camera mistake, the software has the "magically fix everything" button that does it 99% of time. and if it doesn't it probably means the picture was not worth it anyways.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not suggesting everyone run out and invest in a fancy camera as for model photography, at least for here on the forum it really isn't necessary in most all cases so sure shot with whatever you have now.

for a moment it kinda did sound like that.

> >
Now about your comment dealing with the color correction I mentioned referring to Canon, just go to the web and type in 'Canon Color Correction', meant for Rex or others, and run down the list or articles on the subject of correcting Red/Cyan [bluish green] that even Canon has software to correct.

sorry, but I'm not even going to bother. as much of an issue as it might have been, it is way in the past now, i see no need to bring it up let alone dwell on it. especially when talking about new camera purchases.

I'm a former pro photographer and know many other pros like my very long time buddy who shoots with a 5D, I use a Fuji S2.
...
I've been involved with photography for almost as long as I've been involved with MRRing which dates back to 1952 till now.

Congratulations!

 

[RexHea]

I could have this completely wrong, but my understanding of having a high resolution photo is: when reduced to a smaller size photo, there is more photo information (pixels) available for the reduction than you would if using a lower resolution, providing you with a sharper image. The lower doesn't have it "all" to begin with, giving you a lesser quality photo. I may be in left field on this, but I can certainly tell the difference even on a forum. As an example, look at some of Eric's (Grande Man) compared to others. While all are good, Eric's has a much sharper image. What is good'nuf?...well, isn't that an individual's opinion.

Regardless of differing opinions, I am getting a lot out of this thread and I hope to continue getting advice and opinions from those out there that know. I think by covering all areas of a camera, manual and auto operation, is important since not all auto settings fit all situations. Many times, with my old 'point and shoot camera', I just couldn't get what I wanted in Auto. Even though it had limited manual adjustments, I didn't really understand what the "H" I was doing. Now and with my Canon T2i, I hope that I will not be restricted to only certain types of shooting opportunities. All of this is relative to the original poster and with his permission, I hope you will keep it coming in.

 

[Trussrod]

I could have this completely wrong, but my understanding of having a high resolution photo is: when reduced to a smaller size photo, there is more photo information (pixels) available for the reduction than you would if using a lower resolution, providing you with a sharper image. The lower doesn't have it "all" to begin with, giving you a lesser quality photo. I may be in left field on this, but I can certainly tell the difference even on a forum. As an example, look at some of Eric's (Grande Man) compared to others. While all are good, Eric's has a much sharper image. What is good'nuf?...well, isn't that an individual's opinion.

Your correct in what you said above Rex, the greater the Pixels count of the cameras sensor* the greater the image quality will be, especially when reduced in size as is needed in most cases to post an image on the forum. [*] Different cameras use different size sensors and the smaller the sensor the less the pixel count count is. That is the reason some of the better Canons even use full frame 35mm size sensors to retain more image data hence an image that can be expanded more and retain the clarity of detail required.

As you also stated, the higher the resolution an image is photographed at
the more information is available when that image is reduced. Now there is a point at which each photographer has to determine just what is enough, in his opinion, from the standpoint of pixel count & image quality to give him an image that is suitable for the job at hand. Along with this is just how much storage space and time is he willing to devote to any given image for the purpose it's being used for? While most images we put on the forum here are of very decent quality most were not shot with the idea of being used for a magazine advertisement and hence, at least in my case I don't try to shoot at an very high pixel count for that reason. That is also the reason why the forum needs to limit file size so images will load fairly readly as compared to taking a considerable length of time due to hugh file sizes such as can be encountered with high pixel count images. I shoot at a fairly moderate pixel count of 3.5Mp which produces an image of 2304 x 1536 pixels and generally reduce this down to 905 x 603 so it is acceptable for downloading to the forum as well as not taking up a lot of file size on my system.

Of course the lens quality and focal length also certainly has something to do with image quality as does lighting to some extent. I'll have to admit I get a bit lazy and generally leave my 28-105 lens on the camera body as it gives a more normal perspective to the images with fairly decent clarity and I most often trip the shutter using my finger to live a bit dangerously but sometimes it's necessary too.

Regardless of differing opinions, I am getting a lot out of this thread and I hope to continue getting advice and opinions from those out there that know. I think by covering all areas of a camera, manual and auto operation, is important since not all auto settings fit all situations.

That too is very correct Rex, as to get the shot you or I want, depth of field is often an important issue and in most cases needs to be adjusted to through the focus onto the main subject of interest while allowing enough depth as we feel necessary for the rest of the shot. That's why, like Eric brought up, shooting in Aperture priority is required to accomplish this. Also, while a Wide Angle lens will give the greatest depth of field it's fairly hard to control getting too much background due to that fact too.

Many times, with my old 'point and shoot camera', I just couldn't get what I wanted in Auto. Even though it had limited manual adjustments, I didn't really understand what the "H" I was doing. Now and with my Canon T2i, I hope that I will not be restricted to only certain types of shooting opportunities. All of this is relative to the original poster and with his permission, I hope you will keep it coming in.

There's nothing like being able to control the various aspects of the image your trying to create.

Good shooting and look forward to seeing what your coming up with.