Category: picture problems

2008-12-17

Quality Difference Between 6MP and 12MP

Should you set your camera to take the biggest photo size possible? Are more pixels better? You know, I would like to think people are actually asking themselves these questions, but somehow I seriously doubt it. Call me weird. If you are, though, maybe my experience recently in answering these questions for myself might help you toward find the best answer for you. I have even made up some example photos to compare the different image quality settings.

My wife recently bought a point-and-shoot for family use–honestly, it is mainly for videos. When I was setting everything up for her, one of the decisions I made was NOT to use the highest image quality setting. Call me crazy. A few factors came into play: image quality, file size, and how big the photos might be printed.

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2007-12-17

No Pointers on Nature Photography Here

I have a lot to learn when it comes to nature photography. On a recent short trip to Georgia, I went out in the morning to catch some of the very late-blooming foliage. The colors are nice, but I would rate this photo, the best of the lot, as background noise.

Fall trees in Georgia

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2007-10-12

Sunsets with No Color

Why do these blasted digital cameras seem to ruin sunsets so consistently? Honestly, I would love to give you some wonderful answer to this problem, but this is something with which I have struggled much and still do not have a good answer. At best, I can give you my hunch.

When I shoot sunsets with my film camera (with slide film), I seem to always come away with stunning colors. I shot sunsets about every other day for two or three weeks with my digital camera and came away with a few “well, that’s nice” photos. Am I the only one having trouble with this? I have heard answers suggesting white balance issues, changing the speed and aperture, and so forth, but nothing seems to really solve it for me.

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2007-09-25

Slides Are So 1970s

I have spent the last few days trying to hunt down a shop which processes slides, and it has turned out to be a confusing and lengthy adventure. I expected as much. On top of that, I am trying to find a projector to actually view them, once I have them ready to view. Neither is very easy.

Why would I even bother with slides? Too 1970s for you? Well, for one, the quality still far surpasses digital cameras. And two (the real reason), I have a lot of slides and I actually want to view them instead of leaving them stored forever, lost to all memory.

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2007-09-16

Lessons Learned in Wedding Photography

Since the couple did not seem too particular about the photography of the wedding, I decided to pretend as if they were. In other words, I wanted to put the highest expectations on myself, in an effort to force me to stretch my photographic ability and help me learn something in the process. That is exactly what happened.

After the day was over and I had a little time to think through the experience, the biggest problem I had was too shallow a depth of field. The effect was great in a way: the background was nice and blurred and the depth of field really drew the attention to one person the in the photo. The problem was that only one person was in focus, rarely even two.

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2007-08-25

Why Does My Camera Wait Before Taking the Picture?

This is what I not-so-affectionately call the “digital wait”. It is mainly a problem with “point and shoot” (aka “compact”) cameras. It is dreadfully annoying and, more often than not, makes us miss the shot we really wanted to take.

The explanation is quite simple, but what to do about it is not. Basically, the problem is that the camera is thinking. And evidentally, not fast enough, eh. So, what do we do about it?

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2007-08-18

The Problem with Close Up Shots

I have tried all kinds of close ups, and none of them were really worth much. What is the problem? What was I doing wrong? The flowers were not crisp. The rocks were dull. Just about everything lacked the detail that makes this kind of shot so compelling and breathtaking.

Well, I sure hope this is not just some excuse, but I really think the solution to all my bad close up photos is my lenses. My lenses are not really made for this. I have a 50mm f/1.4 with a closest focusing distance of 1.5ft (0.45m), and an 85mm f/1.8 with a closest focusing distance of 3ft (0.85m). I think that is my problem. I just cannot get close enough.

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2007-08-12

Printing Digital Photographs

I have run into a nasty problem the past few weeks: printing my digital photos. They just do not look the same as they did on my computer. Usually, they go from vibrant to dull. It is always some problem with color.

I recently took a couple photos of my newborn son—I have taken much more than a couple, obviously—which I wanted to print out for the grandparents. I had already spent a good amount of time on my computer adjusting the color and contrast to get the photos just were I wanted them, especially for the supple skin tones on my little boy’s face.

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2007-08-10

Film and Printing in China

Why did I switch to digital? You would almost never hear this question actually asked in publiic anymore. It is just an assumption that everybody would switch. Yes, there are many good reasons to do so, but for me, it was fiercely practical.

In a sentence, film and processing in China are unreliable. In one of the copy cat capitals of the world, you never really know what is real and what is fake in China, including that Kodak or Fuji roll of film on the shelves. Most people ask, “How can film be fake? Film is film.” Not true. Film is specific chemicals at specific amounts on specific “papers”, and trickster Chinese film makers cut costs on chemicals. Though most people have never thought about the effects of these chemicals, they would still very easily notice the difference if they compared photographs taken with genuine and fake films. The color is washed out, giving them a bluish or gray tint, and often grainy.

But that is not all! The processing stinks too! Somehow, even the most beautiful photos turn awful in Chinese processing. My guess is the same. They cut costs by using a below standard amount of chemicals, thus leaving your photos abou the same as bad film.

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2007-07-15

Playing with the Trash

tire trash cans

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