Do you need to shoot an event? A conference? Meetings? Even if you are not a paid photographer for some event, are you just the one folks turn to for that spur of the moment shot of a guest speaker that nobody guessed would be as good as he was?
Here are some tips, gleaned both from experience and a podcast which inspired me to write this stuff down. It has been so long since I have listened to the show, I cannot remember what from my notes was the guest’s idea and what was mine.
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.
I went through a process just recently that I see as one of the most common questions asked: “What camera do I buy?” In the last entry, I happened to have answered the same question, but for people looking at entry-level SLRs. This time, I am talking only of compact or point-and-shoot cameras. Of course, we all want something a little different, but I will try to keep this to what I would consider the essentials.
So, that is the first question. What is essential in a compact camera? Honestly, all we wanted was something small to do videos of our children since I am already carrying around my camera for the photographs. I think we can safely put the video issue aside, though, because almost all compact cameras take the same quality of video. What is the most important part of any camera? Image quality.
My search was to find the best compact camera possible, but not to pay a huge price for it. My research labors where not in vain.
Anybody who has taken any photos of children knows that fake camera smile so many children have. Once they know you are taking their photo, they produce this “smile” which comes across a little different than they intend. Actually, adults’ photo smiles are not all that great either, but having a little more practice (and a little more self-perception), many adults have made it look much, much better.
Basically, you have to catch kids in their natural habitat. Well, this principle is really applicable to any portrait, unless you just have a photogenic subject. Just do not tell the adults you are using a kiddy photo how-to to take their picture. Here is an example.
I accidentally found a versatile and easy way to convert color photos to black & white, and those are two words we like to see together. I have tried out many methods of converting photos to black & white, some incredibly versatile and powerful, but difficult to use, and some very simple, but with no customization. Google’s free image editing and organizing software, Picasa, comes through again.
I just found this feature recently. I knew it had black & white conversion, but had not actually used it. If you look under the “Effects” tab when viewing a photo, you will see several (you guessed it) effects which you can apply to your photos. The first one is black & white…but not the one you want.
Good luck on me actually answering that one to your satisfaction! Recently though, I have taken it upon myself to begin shopping for what camera my brother should buy for his needs, even though he has not chosen to buy a new camera just yet. So, maybe a few of my own thoughts into what camera my brother needs will help some of you out there.
My brother has a run-of-the-mill compact camera (aka point-and-shoot). He is frustrated with the camera’s lag time in actually taking a photo. You know the story: kid makes a cute face, picture taking button is pushed, camera calculates the velocity of an unlaiden swallow, child moves on in life at a child’s pace, and camera finally records some image…albeit a kiddy version of some over-drugged 1960s album cover. I would be frustrated too. So, I started convincing him to buy a new camera (and phone/handheld too, but that is a different story).
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?
Good question. Ever wonder why your photos turn out way too blue or red? Well, unless you were shining a red flashlight on the scene, it is undoubtedly a problem with the white balance setting. I will not get too much into the nasty details of white balance here, but try to give a quick primer on how I set my white balance. We all have different solutions to problems, and this is my solution.
My solution is specifically tailored to a digital SLR, but even if you use a compact camera (point-and-shoot), you may well come to the same conclusion I did.
I have thought much about this topic the past few weeks. I have heard countless digital photographers say there is not a need for filters anymore, because the desired effects can just be edited on the computer in post-processing. Some traditional folks take it too far the other way and say that filters must be applied to the original shot and cannot be created in a computer.
I land in the middle of that debate. Some filters cannot be replaced and change the photo in such a way that would take days in the computer, if even possible in the first place. Other filters are pretty much pointless.
I remember back when I used my dad’s Nikon that I used his zoom lens. And in high school, I know the annual staff’s lens was also a zoom. After that though, all I ever bought were fixed focal length, or “prime”, lenses (or my favorite: “fast glass”). With my Vivitar V4000, I have a Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7. When I bought the D100, I bought with it an Nikkor 85mm 1:1.8D. I did not understand the issues digital SLRs have with focal length back then, and thought I was really buying an 85mm. But with the D100s 1.5 magnification (because the sensor is smaller than 35mm film), that 85mm really ends up acting like a 125mm. I will have to say it is great to achieve the purpose for which I bought it (people, face shots), but cannot be the only lens in the bag for very long. I soon…