Kitabı oxu: «Digital Photographer»

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

INTRODUCTION

1 BASICS

2 THEMES

3 TIME AND PLACE

4 TECHNIQUES

5 KIT

6 BACK-UP

GLOSSARY

USEFUL WEBSITES

INDEX

Copyright

About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION

Photography means different things to different people. For some it is a way of capturing memories - of having a lasting reminder of special moments. For others it is a way of expressing themselves artistically. For a fortunate few, it is a rewarding way of earning a living. But for many it is simply one of the most fascinating hobbies there is to be enjoyed – a delicious blend of art and science that can be practised on its own or combined with other pastimes.

Equipment Matters

One of the secrets of success is choosing the right camera. Most of us now have one built into our mobile phone – and increasingly as digital resolution improves the quality of images produced is perfectly acceptable at relatively small degrees of enlargement. However, camera phones are extremely limited. While it is convenient to have them immediately to hand, so you can take pictures as and when the opportunity arises, they lack the versatility of dedicated cameras.

For this reason, those who are serious about taking good pictures tend to spend as much as they can afford on equipment, rather than making do with what they have already. At the very least, you need a compact camera with a decent zoom lens, and ideally a Single Lens Reflex camera with a collection of interchangeable lenses and other accessories. While you can tackle most popular subjects successfully with a compact camera, the tool of choice for serious photographers is an SLR, onto which you can fit everything from wide-angle lenses to open up perspective, and get more into the frame, to telephoto lenses that enable you to pull in distant subjects and compress perspective.

Start them young! Photography appeals to people of all ages, and because modern cameras are so easy to use, it is possible to get great results from the word go.

Want to take pictures outdoors at night? No Problem. Most cameras these days feature settings that allow you to capture the scene, no matter what the prevailing conditions are like.

Developing Your Technique

Equipment, though, will only take you so far. Ultimately it is developing your technique that will determine how good your pictures are. And that comes to down to a number of key photographic skills: control over exposure; accurate focusing; effective composition; and powerful use of lighting.

Once you have mastered the different exposure ‘modes’ you will be able to put the right amount of light on the sensor or film in your camera in the most creative way – varying the shutter speed and aperture according to what you are seeking to express. You will also learn to recognize the kinds of situations in which exposure meters are most likely to be misled and get things wrong – and then what you can do about it.

Focusing, too, can sometimes be tricky. It is fair to say that modern, advanced focusing systems work well most of the time; however, if you are not careful, they will sometimes focus on the wrong part of the subject. Consequently, you need to know when to override automatic operation in your camera and take control yourself.

Effective Composition

Effective composition is at the heart of successful photography. Faced with a particular subject, there are dozens of different ways in which the elements could be arranged in the frame. Of course, much of this is down to personal taste and choice — after all, it’s your picture! However, if you follow a few simple rules – such as using frames, dynamic diagonals and lead-in lines – your picture-taking will improve immeasurably. Colour, too, is crucial, and the way you blend tones can make or break an image.

Creative use of lenses and composition makes it possible to turn a mundane scene into a picture with lots of impact. Here, the railway tracks disappearing into the distance combined with the fluffy white clouds on a blue sky create a memorable image.

As you become a more experienced photographer, you will also need to learn how to make the most of the many moods and nuances of daylight. Once you understand how light changes from dawn to dusk, from season to season, and according to the prevailing weather conditions, you will be able to match the right light to the right subject. Quality of light is more important than quantity of light in photography, and some of the best pictures are taken when ambient levels are low or at night. This requires excellent technique to avoid problems with camera-shake and exposure.

Being able to review pictures immediately after they have been taken makes digital photography an extremely sociable activity.

Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras are the first choice for professionals and enthusiasts because of the sheer versatility that they offer and the quality of results they deliver. They are now as good as the best film cameras.

Biting sharpness and phenomenal precision are the characteristics of the high-resolution digital cameras now available. Here, every detail of the face of this street performer is clearly visible.

Making Better Images

Ultimately, becoming a good photographer is a matter of learning to make pictures rather than just take them. No matter what subject you like to shoot, you should always be looking for ways of improving what you find already there, not just accepting things as they are. Follow the advice given in Chapter Three: exploring original and eye-catching ways of capturing your subject will help your images stand out from the crowd. The most popular subjects for photography are people, landscapes, children, architecture and travel, and in this book we explore them fully, along with other subjects including sport and action, pets, close-ups, documentary and nude. As you learn specific techniques that are particularly effective in each area, so you will produce even better pictures.

Collins Digital Photographer has been designed so that you can either read it from the front to the back or dip into each of the sections as you prefer – to find the information you need to become a better photographer. We have sought not only to give you clear, practical advice but also to include inspirational, powerful pictures as a spur to your creativity. Enjoy your photography!

MANIPULATING IMAGES

Capturing your subject is only the beginning. Once you have transferred the image to your computer a whole world of creativity opens up. You can improve colour, exposure and composition, or selectively lighten and darken specific areas. Unwanted elements can be completely removed. Images can be combined, filters added to creative effect, pictures transformed into black and white or toned. Some of these options are explored in Chapter Six to get your creative juices flowing.

1 BASICS

Everybody takes pictures – and virtually everyone now shoots digitally. The medium offers many advantages, and it is easy to see why digital has replaced film. You can view your pictures immediately, and digital images are incredibly accessible when you transfer them from the camera. But let’s start with the basics: what do you need to begin taking great images?

Digital compact cameras are small, portable and inexpensive. They are easy to use for beginners as well as being ideal ‘go anywhere’ cameras for more experienced photographers.

Megapixel Ratings

The ‘megapixel’ rating typically found on digital compacts is a rough guide to the picture quality you can expect, although this is not as important now as it was when digital imaging technology was first emerging. This is because these days digital photography has advanced so much that just about any camera will take a reasonable image, regardless of the number of megapixels that it advertises. Five megapixels will give you excellent 6” x 4” prints and good enlargements up to 7” x 5” or even 10” x 8”. If you regularly want to print at larger sizes, go for a higher-resolution camera with 7—10 megapixels.

Zoom Ranges

How long a zoom range do you want? Basic digital cameras usually have a ‘3x’ zoom range. In other words, this means that at the maximum telephoto setting you get a 3x magnification compared to the wide-angle setting. If you want to shoot subjects which are further away, you need a longer zoom range. Some compact cameras have zoom ranges up to 6x, but if you want more (10x or 12x), you should look for a ‘superzoom’ camera, though these are generally bulkier.

SMALL, HANDY DIGITAL COMPACT CAMERAS ARE IDEAL FOR CAPTURING IMPROMPTU MOMENTS AND EVERYDAY EVENTS.

LCDs The LCDs (liquid crystal displays) on all digital cameras - from mobile phones to high quality SLRs - offer the advantage of instant display of your image, the moment it has been taken.

Tips for Basic Usage

Most compact digital cameras are designed for simple snapshot operation, and control the shutter speed and aperture automatically. If you want to control these manually, you will need to look for cameras with ‘PASM’ (Program AE, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority and Manual) modes.

Check the battery life of your compact. Some cameras may take as few as 100–150 shots on a single charge, which is not always enough for a full day’s shooting. Aim for a battery life of 200 shots or more.

Here are a couple of tips you can use in order to take better shots. Firstly, use the LCD to compose shots when you can, rather than the camera’s optical viewfinder. Optical viewfinders are good in bright light, when the LCD can become hard to see, but they do not give an accurate indication of the precise area that the camera will photograph.

You will also notice that compact digital cameras suffer from ‘shutter lag’, in which case you press the shutter release, but the shutter does not fire straight away. This can make it difficult to time your shots accurately. To get around the problem, line up your shot first and then half-press the shutter button. The camera will focus and the focus will remain ‘locked’ while the button remains half-pressed. Now wait for exactly the right moment to take the shot, then press the button the rest of the way until it is fully depressed. The shot will be taken instantly, without any shutter lag.

HANDY CAMS Digital compact cameras come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Choose one that will fit in a pocket or handbag and you will have it readily to hand whenever you want to take a picture.

Digital compact cameras are great for taking fun snaps with friends and showing them off to anyone who is interested. If the image does not come out well, simply delete it and take it again. If you are happy with the results in the LCD, you have your image.

HANDLING AN SLR Digital SLRs are much bigger and heavier than digital compact cameras, which means you cannot just slip one into a pocket or a handbag – you need to make a conscious, deliberate decision to carry one around with you, especially if you want to have the option of using more than one lens, or fitting an external flashgun. In that case, you will need to pack everything into a bag. Unless you have extremely small hands you will find that SLRs – despite their size and weight – handle extremely well, with their chunky handgrips.

While digital compacts are fine for snapshots, a digital SLR is required if you want to create more advanced images such as this stunning still-life study.

What is an ‘SLR’?

The acronym SLR stands for ‘Single Lens Reflex’. When you use an SLR, the picture is composed and taken through the camera’s single lens. ‘Reflex’ refers to the mirror which is used to reflect the image up into the viewfinder until the moment the shutter is released. The mirror flips up and the image then passes to the sensor at the back of the camera.

Low-cost digital SLRs have 6—10 megapixel sensors which can yield very good results, but it is worth paying a little extra for a camera with more pixels. The difference in fine detail is visible.

Lenses, Kits and Accessories

You can use different lenses on a digital SLR and manufacturers sell them in ‘body-only’ form, in which case you have to buy a lens separately, or as a camera ‘kit’, when a generalpurpose zoom lens is included. If you already own compatible lenses, it might make sense to buy the body on its own. However, if this is your first digital SLR, you should get a kit with a lens included. This will be much cheaper than buying the body and the lens separately.

Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras are technologically advanced pieces of equipment capable, with the right lens or accessory, of taking virtually any picture you could imagine.

The Benefits of SLRs

Digital SLRs are as easy to use as compact digital cameras. All have ‘point-and-shoot’ fully automatic modes, so beginners can explore the more advanced options at their own pace. Having said that, it may be necessary to modify your shooting technique a little if you are used to a compact digital camera. This is because digital SLRs have much less depth-of-field (near-to-far sharpness) than compacts, so when you graduate to an SLR you will need to get to grips with lens apertures and how these affect depth-of-field. SLRs also have faster focusing systems than compacts, so there is less risk of shutter lag.

Finally, because the pictures are sharper than those from compacts (and digital SLR users will be expecting more from their photos anyway), it is a good idea to invest in a tripod to help avoid camera-shake in low light and to aid careful composition whenever time and space permit.

YOU CAN TAKE GREAT IMAGES ON AN AFFORDABLE DIGITAL SLR WHICH CAN BE BLOWN UP TO A3 AND BEYOND.

Many photographers want a wider zooming range or more photographic control than an ordinary compact digital camera can provide, yet they do not want the size and weight of a digital SLR.

Alternative Cameras

A ‘bridge’ camera may be the answer. These offer many of the advanced controls of digital SLRs but in a smaller and less expensive body with a fixed lens. This lens may offer a very wide zoom range, perfect for photographers who want a single, ‘all-in-one’ camera.

Camera phones are becoming more popular, but the picture quality is still not of the standard you would expect from even a basic digital camera. Another alternative is to use a camcorder – most will take stills as well as video footage —but again, image quality can be an issue.

OTHER MEDIA Most images from a camcorder are only 1–2Mb or so in size, which means that the quality is a long way short of what you get from a digital camera.

Images taken with a mobile phone look fine when reproduced reasonably small, but as soon as you enlarge them they appear ‘soft’ and lacking in sharpness.

Single lens reflex cameras enable you to change lenses to achieve a variety of effects. The camera’s standard lens will give an angle of view roughly similar to that we perceive with the naked eye, a wide-angle lens enables you to get more into the frame, while a telephoto magnifies distant objects.

Lens Properties

There are other lens properties to take into account, apart from their focal length, including the maximum aperture. The larger the maximum aperture, the more light the lens can gather. This is useful in poor light or whenever you want shallow depth-of-field in your photographs.

Zoom Lenses

In modern cameras, zoom lenses have largely taken over from lenses with fixed focal lengths (’prime’ lenses). The versatility of zooms means that you do not have to carry around a number of different prime lenses, or keep changing lenses for different subjects. However, zoom lenses do have a couple of intrinsic disadvantages. One is that their maximum apertures are lower than those of prime lenses. Whereas a 50mm prime lens might have a maximum aperture of f/1.8, a typical ‘standard zoom’ might have a maximum aperture of f/4 at this focal length.

If you want to make much impact on subjects such as birds and motorsport, you will need a super-telephoto lens like this Sigma 800mm f/5.6.

Lens Mounts

Each digital SLR brand uses a different lens mount. A Nikon lens, for example, will not fit a Canon camera. However, you do not have to buy lenses made by your camera’s maker. Independent companies such as Sigma, for example, make lenses which can be supplied in different mounts according to the brand of camera you are using. These lenses are just as serviceable as those supplied by leading camera firms.