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Photography Tip: Questions and Answers |
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Greetings Fellow Photographers!
Last month I invited you all to submit questions about digital photography. I was able to send personal responses to many of you, but I saw several questions that had similar content, so I figured this would be a great time to answer some of those questions in a larger email. I’ve broken down most of the questions I haven’t answered yet into three main themes that I’ve answered below, and I apologize in advance for the technical jargon, but I wanted to give you specific ideas on what to do. Hopefully this will shed some light on these difficult subjects (pun intended – I couldn’t resist)! |
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How do I Shoot Night Scenes?
Do not hold the camera in your hands when shooting night scenes. You have to use a tripod, or another stabilizing device. In Manual mode, keep your ISO to 400 – there is no need to go any higher when using a tripod (see the “Photo Tips” section of the site for a previous email about Manual mode). Open your aperture wide, and use a long exposure (night shots often use exposures longer than 10 seconds). Another helpful tip is to use the self timer if you have one, as the camera often moves slightly when you press the button to take the picture. The self timer feature will give the camera time to readjust after you push the button. Finally, test, test, test! Night scenes often require several test shots before you get it just right. Keep an eye out for a long exposure email coming this fall! |
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How do I Shoot Action Shots Indoors?
The first thing to keep in mind when shooting action shots indoors is that cameras do not see what your eyes see, so Auto mode is not the best choice. Instead, set your camera to Manual mode, turn off your flash, and raise your ISO to 1600, or as close to 1600 as you can get. Then, open your aperture as wide as possible, such as 2.8 or 3.5 (remember, the smaller the number, the larger the opening). Set your shutter speed to 500 to freeze motion, or to 250 for low light situations (you will get a bit of movement in the shot at 250). |
| For color balance, try the “AWB” (average white balance) setting if your camera has that feature. AWB automatically adjusts the color balance. You can also play around a bit with the white balance setting. Then, take a test to see if it looks dark or blurry. If so, adjust accordingly, changing the white balance and shutter speed. Keep in mind that if the shot looks a little dark, it can be brightened later using photo editing software, which I will discuss in an upcoming email. If you try several settings and the test shots just are not working out, do not get discouraged. When all else fails, use your flash, and get as close to the subjects as possible. |
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How do I Avoid Color Shifts Indoors?
When shooting indoors, you have an important decision to make right off the bat: will you use available light or a flash? Available light is better for big rooms and is best when the sun is out if the room has windows to let natural light in. Using available light with no flash will help to eliminate orange overtones in your shot; using Auto mode with a flash when shooting indoors from far away will create an orange color shift (many of you asked about this!). Use similar settings in Manual mode from the previous question above, and be sure to take note of your available light source. Incandescent bulbs will give off an orange tint, and fluorescent bulbs will give off a green tint. Your camera may have different white balance settings to offset those color shifts, so be sure to use those features if they are available to you (I will also discuss white balance settings in an email this summer). |
| Your flash is better for homes or smaller rooms with little natural or available light. A flash will brighten objects closest to your camera, and darken objects that are farther away. Therefore, only use the flash if you can get close to your subjects; anything past 10 feet or so will not appear very well. You can also use similar Manual mode settings described earlier and turn your flash on, which makes your camera more light sensitive to expose more of the background. |
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Digi’s Workshop – Photography Extra Credit
Some cameras allow you to control the temperature of the light. This can be a very handy feature when shooting indoors to combat an unwanted color shift. The light temperature is represented with a four digit number. 5500 degrees (Kelvin) is equal to daylight. Decrease the number for a warmer photo, or increase the number for a colder, bluer photo.
I hope this email helped answer some of your questions about digital photography! Thanks once again for all the great questions. If I have not answered your question yet, keep an eye on some of the upcoming emails, as I have added a few topics based specifically on your questions. See you next time! |
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