Digital Photography 101: Some tips for nonprofessionals Bill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

Digital Photography 101:

Some tips for nonprofessionalsBill Hackett, Cheshire Cat Photo

3 Things to decide

• JPG or RAW

• Tripod, monopod, or handheld

• Multiple exposures with bracketing or single exposures

Equipment

• Cameras and lenses

• Tripods and monopods

• Computers and software

• Canon - Excellent lenses, leads in electronics, prompt repair

• Nikon - Excellent lenses, durable bodies, premium prices

• Others - Choose on basis of lens and image processor

Cameras (and “camera backs”)

The lens

• Length - 50mm “normal” lens, 70-200mm telephoto zoom, 10mm wide-angle

• Speed - f/1.4, f/2.8, f/4-5.6 (higher numbers = “slower” lenses)

• Quality (Chromatic aberration, sharpness, etc.)

Tripods and monopods

• Tripods are more stable than monopods (“3 points determine a plane”)

• Monopods are convenient and can be better than nothing (handheld)

• Choose a heavy (and tall enough!) tripod with fewer leg segments, “flip-lever” (rather than “turning ring”) locking, and quick-release head. Use a “cable release” or infrared (IR) device to trip shutter!

Platforms

• Macintosh - Choice for security, stability, and scalability, since UNIX-based. Most viruses are not written for Macintosh, but you should STILL use firewall and antivirus

• Windows PC - Use Windows 7 and the best antivirus and firewall package available.

• Others (Android, iPhone, iPad) - Screen size is limiting for the phones. Excellent camera in iPhone. iPads might be an option for processing.

Software

• Adobe Photoshop and Bridge, Adobe Lightroom

• Adobe Photoshop Elements

• Apple iPhoto and Aperture

Photographs

• Kinds (and Sizes!) of files

• Workflow

• Storage and Backup

Photographs: Kinds of Files

• JPG and PNG - JPG is destructive (“lossy”compression); PNG is lossless

• TIF (TIFF) - uncompressed and L-A-R-G-E

• cRAW and DNG - camera RAW and Adobe “Digital Negative”

Workflow

• Dictated by your end-product - What are you trying to produce?

• Must fit your needs - “KISS” (Keep It Simple, Stupid! :-) ) Methodology

• Must make “sense” - Retain all of the picture information that you need

Workflow Tips

• Never lose photo information - store a file that has everything you’ll need later

• Adjust exposure, white balance, and sharpness of RAW files first, then color

• The “Level” and “Cropping Tool” are your friends!

Storage and backup

• Store photos on >1 PHYSICAL device (no “single point of failure”)

• Back up your work regularly and as frequently as makes sense

• Back up important work at >1 physical LOCATION (e.g. at home and office; at home and online storage)

Organization

• Computer “Folders” (Directories) by date and mnemonic name

• Spreadsheets - Excel, others

• Data bases - I use Filemaker, the #1 data base for Mac and the #2 for PC

Shooting

• Philosophy

• Light

• Composition: framing and cropping, settings, exposure, focus, and depth-of-field

Philosophy

• ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

• What is there to DISCOVER? (NOT: “What is there to photograph?)

• In photography, we order the chaos around us, emphasizing one aspect of the world, ignoring all others, representing that subject in a way that shows how it has engaged us emotionally.

Light

• “Photography” literally means “painting with light”

• Dull light = dull photographs, regardless of subject matter

• Light has a direction, a character, and a color

Light direction

• Frontlighting - Wipes out any shadows; WORST for landscapes and BEST for tight shots of birds and animals

• Sidelighting - Shadows emphasize shape and texture; early morning and late afternoon sidelighting for landscapes

• Backlighting - Outlines shapes by creating glowing halos or even silhouettes

Light character

• “Hard” or “Soft”

• Hard = Direct bright sunlight or “head-on” camera flash; Produce sharp-edged black shadows from “point source” of light; Sensor (and film) cannot capture the RANGE of exposure

• Soft = Low-contrast lighting; Great for closeups and delicate color; Shadows disappear or are diffused, depth perception is limited, colors saturate

Light color

• Warm reds and oranges early and late in the day

• Cooler blues at midday

• Overcast makes lighting cooler; Cool light can emphasize snow and frost but you may need to “filter” (or digitally adjust white balance [light temperature degrees Kelvin!]) for brightly colored subjects

Composition

• SLOW DOWN! Take your time. The light on your subject is changing constantly!

• Vertical or Horizontal (“Portrait” or “Landscape”)

• Framing and Placement (keep in mind “aspect ratios” of later frame sizes); Yet another reason for using a tripod; Avoid “cutting off” the subject with the edge of the frame; Zoom lenses; “Rule” of “thirds”

Adobe Bridge showing Histogram, White Balance, Exposure, and Saturation for cropped DNG image of surfer, Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz

Exposure

• “Exposure is the major problem facing all <film> photographers.” - John Shaw

• Exposure of RAW images can be adjusted, so... it is not as big a problem!

• Correct exposure means that tonal values turn out the way that YOU wanted

Aperture and Shutter Speed

• Aperture = the size of the hole: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16

• Shutter Speed = time the hole is open (in seconds): 2”, 1”, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000

• With Aperature-priority, you size the hole, and the camera picks the speed; With Shutter Speed-priority, you pick the speed, and the camera sizes the hole; With Full Auto, the camera picks both (and the camera’s “brain” is SMALLER than OURS! :-) )

Focus and depth-of-field

• Focus is the region of sharpest definition

• Depth-of-field is the depth of this region

• Aperture-priority: large holes = shallow depth of field, small holes = greater depth of field

Good Vibrations?Only in the heart.... All other vibrations are BAD for Photography!

Presentation

• Digital: cell phones, Internet email, Facebook, Web sites, Digital frames

• Prints, photo gifts, CDs and DVDs

• Digital slideshows

Digital

• Portability

• Worldwide reach

• “Just-in-Time” production of prints and gifts, on demand

Physical

• Prints - Wallet sized to large posters, canvas, metal, etc.

• Disks - CDs are approximately 700 MB; DVDs are approximately 4.7 GB; “thumb drives” (USB “sticks”) come in a variety of sizes, use solid-state storage

• Gifts - playing cards, puzzles, keepsake boxes, coasters, tiles, clothing, etc.

Bear Gulch Trail (Eastern Pinnacles); Fungi, Muir Woods; Bridalveil Fall “rainbow”

Muir Woods: Bohemian Grove, Cathedral Grove, Understory

Muir Woods Redwoods

Bermuda Buttercup (Sunset State Beach)

Arbor, Mission San Luis Obispo

Are YOU serious? :-)

• Shoot ONLY cRAW (“Camera RAW”)

• Use a tripod whenever reasonable

• Shoot multiple exposures per setting and “bracket” your settings (... and prepare to spend HOURS and DAYS at the computer with your work.)

“The Road Not Taken” - There is always more to discover!

‘All right,’ said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

Questions?