Dave's Photo Tips

Dave’s DRAFT Photography FAQs

2008-06-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

These are some FAQs I wrote for the Mpix.com forum. They're a fun group of folks. I'll post more of the FAQ in the next few days.

I took it on myself to answer some of the questions that are FAQs to help as many forum readers as possible and relieve folks of answering oft repeated questions.

These are all my opinion(s) so far. I tired to write it as generic to Nikon and Canon,but I'm a Canon guy, with limited Nikon knowledge. Answers are not exhaustive, just covering the highlights, quickly. I’m open to suggestions, edits and updated answers. If there's nothing too controversial or just outright wrong maybe we can get a sticky on it later. If folks want to use this elsewhere, I'd like to get the credit for it....
Dave

What books do you recommend for beginners?
Firstly, you have to read the manual from the camera company. The Magic Lantern manual for your camera is a good starting point too.
Once you know where the buttons are, the books below are proven winners:
Bryan Peterson’s “Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)” Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book, Volumes 1&2 Scott Kelby’s book about whatever version of Photoshop you have Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography 2.0: Taking, Making, Editing, Storing, Printing, and Sharing Better Digital Images Featuring Adobe Photoshop Elements (Paperback). Rick is associated with MPIX. He’s also a great teacher. Any book by John Shaw

These books are linked over on the right.

I don’t understand FStops, ISOs and shutter speeds. I’ll never get it!
Yes you will, after you read Bryan Peterson’s book above.

I’m just starting out and using my on camera flash, how can I make the photos better?
Stop it! They are notorious for giving blown out, snap-shotty photos, not professional looking at all. You need to look into working with available light, a factory strobe, or moving to off camera flash and strobes.

Off camera flash is too hard to figure out.
No, you can do it. www.Strobist.blogspot.com is a great resource for learning off camera flash. Start in the 101 section.

Which off camera flash should I get?
That depends. You can get the factory flash for your hotshoe, or go with Vivitar or Metz units. Strobist likes the Nikon SBs and Vivitar Flash units. Check out Strobist.com for the normal flash units. Alien Bees are highly recommended for studio work on this board. Generally get the highest rated AB unit you can so you aren’t underpowered in the future.

Which wireless triggers do you recommend for off camera flash and strobes?
Pocket Wizards are the top of the line choice, especially for pros that are outside their studios that must have ultimate reliability, especially a long way from their camera. Ebay triggers from Gadget Infinity are much less expensive and only slightly less reliable. Their range is much less than the PWs, but still perfectly serviceable, especially in a studio situation. Radio Poppers are on the horizon, and look interesting, but aren’t ready to go yet.

Photography Mini Book Review

2008-02-05T21:14:00.001-08:00

Joe McNally has a book that just came out, "The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters" I just got it today. Joe has a long list of credentials and accomplishments, including being a photographer for both Life and National Geographic. The book is awesome! It has a rule to live by (photographically), how to apply the rule, and a story about the shot on the opposite page that exemplifies the rule. Get the book, now. I'm only 20 pages into it and I'm blown away. For your convenience, it's in the books I recommend list over there on the top right of the blog!

Air Travelling with batteries

2008-02-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

As I noted below, there is a bunch of talk on the blogs about the new rules for airline travel with lithium batteries. Here are the bullet rules from the Safetravel.gov website :

Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

Basically, the rules are for big batteries that go on video cameras and laptops. Our hand held digital camera batteries are ok. If you are going to carry lithium batteries in your carry on, put them in the case you got when you bought the batteries, in zip lock bags (one battery per zip lock), or put some electrical tape over the contacts. The point of that is that you don't want the batteries to short out, and possibly catch fire.

Memory Cards

2008-01-29T22:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a few thoughts on memory cards.

Get some extra, especially if you are going on a long trip. There is nothing worse than trying to decide which files you can delete when you run out of space and don't have any cards with you. They're cheap. I'm a big fan of dealnews.com. Go there and look at the photo and storage sections to find great buys. I've bought cards I didn't think I needed when they were super cheap. Last Black Friday I picked up a couple of 2 gig Sandisk Cards for $15 bucks each!

Some folks swear they have to have the fastest speed cards out. Maybe they make a difference, but I doubt it. The write speed of a card affects how fast you can take photos, especially in a sports or burst mode where you are firing off a whole string of shots. So, having a higher speed card is good, but there are limits. The limits are based on the fact that cameras have little computers in them that can write at a maximum write speed to the cards installed in them. You want a memory card that writes at least as fast as the camera can write to it. If you camera writes at 5 megs a second, then a card that reads at 50 megs a second is a waste of money. Faster reading and writing cards are most useful when installed in a card reader on your home computer where the higher read and write speeds might matter. You can check the specs for your camera in the owners manual.

Formatting memory cards should only be done in the camera, not on your home computer. The camera writes some stuff in there that the computer doesn't. If the camera doesn't find the right information, then stuff might not work as planned. Generally, you should format the card each time you use it. Pros download used memory cards to their computers, sort through them and create backups of everything they don't delete out of hand. Then and only then, they format the cards in the camera they will be used on, then put them in the ready to use stack.

Dealing with Memory Card issues in the next post!

Dave

Catch Lights

2008-01-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

The last post, I talked about catch lights. Look at the eyes on these sea-gulls. Which looks more alive to you?
For me it's the second one, with the little glint in the eye.

The eyes have it

2008-01-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

If you are taking a photo of a living thing, you must show the eyes. Which of the two shots of the robin are more interesting? They should also be in focus. It doesn't matter if only one eye is in focus, if thats a look you are going for, but, at least one has to be good!
To put this in practice, make sure your viewfinder or display is set to show the focus points, then focus on the eye(s) and recompose if you like, but make sure to get the eyes right!
Its even better if you can get that little glimmer in the eye. It's called a catch light. Catch lights add interest. If you need to, wait a second to get the catch lights.

File management / work flow using Picasa

2008-01-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

2 posts ago I said I'd talk about file management the next post. I guess I lied. Anyways, here is the post:

If you talk to 100 photographers you'll hear at least a hundred different ways to handle the workflow from taking the photograph to working on it to printing and storing it.

I'm a big fan of using Picasa, available free from Google. Go to the linked site, download the software to your desktop, double click it to install it and let it do it's thing. Once it's installed, Picassa asks if you want it to look on your drive for photographs. Go ahead and let Picasa catalog your photos. Picasa will look in your documents folders, on your desktop and anywhere else you point it to.

Once it's installed, when you plug in your camera's memory card, the computer will give you the option to use Picasa to download and edit the photos. When you click on Picasa, it will pop up a window that shows the first file on the card, and a pane with all the rest of the files. I click on the import all button, and then click on the safe delete to delete the files from the memory card as soon as Picasa is sure all the files are on my hard drive. Other folks might leave them on the memory card and burn all the original files to a cd or DVD. It's on you how you want to proceed. I don't do the extra burn because I use an external hard drive to back up my files. no need to burn CDs and have the portable hard drive back up to. Your milage may vary!

When you download the files, you need to tell Picasa which folder to put them in. I use a filing scheme that is based on the date I took most of the photos, and a few key words. So, for example today I took some photos at Silver Lake, the folder I put the files in is "2008-01-07 Silver lake robins". I put the year first because if I put it 01-07-2008, then the computer will sort 01-10-2007 after 01-07-2008, which I don't like. Then, if I have 01-10-2006, all the 01s come first in the sort, then the 02s, thent he 03s.... it's a big mess. Having the key words allows me to use Picasa's search functions later to find the pics.
As I mentioned earlier, I like to go through my photos and delete the dogs immediately. Here's how I do that in Picasa. When I get to the library of photos, I use the arrow keys to move through them. Each photo that I like I use the star function on to put a star on the photo in Picasa's database. The photos I don't like because they are blurry, or whatever, I don't put a star on. When I get to the end of the files, I go back to the library, click on the "Select Starred Photos" button to select all the photos I liked. What I really want to do though, is to select the files I don't like, right? So, I either use the ctrl-i keys to invert the selection (now i have all the dogs selected) or right click on any selected starred photo and right click on the invert selection text. Either way, I have now selected all the non-starred dogs. Then I hit the delete button and watch them all disappear. Life is good!
You need to be ruthless with this. at 3-5 megs each, depending on the camera you have, it won't take long for an active shooter to fill her hard drive. So, always remember, Delete your dogs early, and often!

Batteries, or, I wish I owned a piece of Sterlingtek

2008-01-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

Get some extra batteries that are the right size for your camera. Batteries are the fuel for your digital camera. If they die, and you have no spares, you are done shooting for the day. If your luck is like mine, the batteries will die 5 minutes before the best light or the hottest action starts. I like to have 2 extra sets for the photographic suspenders and belt world I live in.

If I know I'm going to be shooting a bunch of photos tomorrow, I make sure all 3 batteries are charged up the night before by charging them and keeping watch, changing the known charged batteries out with the other batteries as soon as the status light goes from charging to charged.
None of the batteries are nickel cadmium anymore, so the worries about the batteries developing memories are unfounded. If you have an older camera with nicad batteries, it's time to look into lithium ion batteries, or better yet, a new camera!

I have a camera bag that has multiple zipper pockets. I keep fresh memory cards and batteries in one section, and the used ones in another zipper pocket. When the batteries are most of the way discharged, I switch out a charged battery with the dead one, and put the dead one in the dead battery/full memory card section. No confusion, no fuss, no muss. I don't wait till the battery is totally dead before changing it. I guarantee that if you do wait till it croaks, the croakage (now i'm a wordsmith!) will happen at the least convenient time. I change it out when the battery indicator gets down to one section left, and there's a lull in the action. Thats why I have 2 spares. If I ever head out of the country, where I have any doubts about power, I'll have even more spares all fully charged. Batteries are cheap. missed photos on a once in a lifetime trip will haunt you.

I know what you're thinking "But, Dave, they're expensive!"

If you're talking factory batteries, you're right. Instead, get some from Sterlingtek.com. I've had great luck with the generic batteries they carry. Sterlingtek claims they are higher capacity in milliamphours (mah) than the factory batteries. I don't have any way to test them, but, they do last longer than the factory batteries that have come with my cameras., so I'll accept the claims. The Sterlingtek batteries cost about 1/3 the factory cost. You can get 2 higher capacity spares for less than the price of a single factory lower capacity battery. More power, less cost. Sounds like a winner to me.

Some folks only feel comfortable using the factory batteries. The factories have used fears, uncertainties and doubts (FUDs) to try to convince the world that failure to use factory original batteries at 3 times the cost of gernerics can lead to explosions, halitosis, rotting body parts falling off and other maladies. On the forums I've seen, no one has ever complained about a failure of the Sterlingtek product leading to anything bad happening. So, for what it's worth, I recommend them.

There's some nonsense going on with new regulations by the federal government about taking batteries containing lithium onto airplanes. I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet. I'll report back on that later.

Take the picture!

2007-12-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest advantages of shooting digital cameras is that there is no film, and no developing cost for each photograph. After purchasing the camera and memory card(s) it costs the same whether you shoot 3 photographs or 300. So, take more photos! Take a few from in front, move to the side and shoot some more. Move again and shoot some more. Change the camera from landscape to portrait. Tilt the camera a little and try a different angle. When you get home and down load the shots, so what if 95 out of 100 aren't awesome. Just delete the dogs, and enjoy the 5 you probably wouldn't have taken with a film camera.

Now for a two fer tip:

When you look through your days photos, if you have some dogs, delete them! They won't get better with age. Just delete the ones that are badly focused, catching someone with their eyes closed or mouth full, poorly lit, blurry or whatever. Just delete them! This is going to save you from sorting through thousands of them later on. Don't ask me how I know!

Having a way to deal with your photos from beginning to end is going to make you life a lot easier. I'll write about how I deal with that next time.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

How to beat shutter lag

2007-12-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

The biggest thing I hear folks complaining about with their new point and shoot cameras is the time between when they push the shutter button and when the picture is actually taken. That effect is called shutter lag. Lag doesn't affect DSLRs, that's a major reason why folks want the DSLRs!

Shutter lag is not your friend! If people are moving around and they're trying to capture a shot, it's blurred. Even if they are still it can be an issue. The key to understanding shutter lag , and working around it, is to understand what happens when you press down the shutter button. In the point and shoots, when you look at the screen, then press the button here's what happens (roughly). First, there is the travel time for you to push the button down (which should be the same as a DSLR). Then when the button reaches the half way point, the camera starts to "hunt" for a focus point, then focuses on that point, then the actual shutter is triggered and the image is collected. This can take from 1/5th of a second to much larger lag times, depending on the lighting and the camera itself. Dark areas take longer to focus than well lit areas. The solution lies in eliminating the hunting and focusing time. If you are taking a photo of a group, focus on them by pushing the button half way down, you'll see the camera lock on to your subject (hopefully). Now tell them to look your way and get the shot by finishing pushing the button down. Since the camera doesn't have to focus, the shot is taken right away. You can do the same thing with an action shot. Figure out where the action is going to be, pre-focus before the subject gets into the action zone, then continue to hold the button half way down till the subject gets to your preselected spot, then push the button all the way. Voila` in-focus pics!

If there is nothing to focus on that is at the point the action is going to occur, you need to pre-focus on a nearby point the same distance away from you with similar lighting, keep the button pressed down and then aim the camera at the focus point you like. Finish pressing the shutter down when the subject walks, floats, flys or stumbles into the prefocused point, then take the shot!
For example, say you are on a parade route with an empty street in front of you, and you know the float is going to make a great shot, but you don't want it blurred. If you point to the empty street, there is nothing to pre-focus on. Find a phone pole or crowd member that is the same distance from you as your predicted float spot. Pre-focus by pressing the shutter half way, keep it pre-focused by holding the button down, now pre-aim the camera where you wanted to take the shot, then wait for the float to enter the shot, and take it. Easy peasy!

Give it a shot, and report back if this tip helped you out!

Dave

Books!

2007-12-03T21:56:00.000-08:00

Get them! The books on the sidebar are all good sources of information that I have and highly recommend. They'll help shorten your learning curve and get you to better pictures, faster. The Magic Lantern books are great books that are guides to using the specific model you have. They fill in for the gaps in the user manual. Get the guide for your camera.

Those books are all going to help you with technique. Technique is half the battle. You have to know what you want to shoot, and how it will look after you get the shot. The photos I like the best are the ones that match what I saw before I even pushed the shutter. For vision, I recommend checking out the local library. There are some great books there to see how it's was done in the past. I also like going to the book store bargain aisle and buying the discounted books on photography that are sitting there. Its a great way to look at the photos, see what other photographers have done and try to figure out how they were taken if it's not already described. I like to buy any other photo guides at a discount too. There's usually a few good tips, even if the book was written 20 years ago. Good photography is good, no matter when it was written. Don't just look at photo books, look at the painting books too. The rules for paintings are often applicable to photography too.

Which DSLR should I get?

2007-11-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

Well... that depends on what you want to do and what you already have. If you already have a Digital Single Lense Reflex (DSLR) , and a group of lenses for it, then you'll probably want the next generation from the same company. For example, I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT, a few nice lenses for it, batteries and the 430ex Canon Flash. If I bought a Nikon as an upgrade, none of my current lenses (or glass as we photo heads say) would work on the Nikons, so, I'd have to start all over getting new glass and accessories. Until Canon makes me really mad, or Nikon comes out with some over the top technology, I'm pretty much married to Canon.

If you don't already have a DSLR then it's wide open for you. This is a great time to be buying a DSLR ! The technology rocks and the prices are great! For some folks, the choice between brands can take on religous overtones, similar to the Mac vs PC world. For me, I'm in the "see which one you like the most today" camp. While there are minor technical differences between Canon and Nikon, they don't really make a whole lot of difference for most folks as long as you are comparing similar price points. The $600 dollar Canon is going to give you about the same quality image as the $600 Nikon. Ditto at the $1000 units and the $2000... When folks ask me what to get, I tell them to go to the store and handle both the Canon and the Nikon units. Buy the one that fits their hands best. See if one has a better eyepiece than the other. I've not mentioned the other brands because I'm not that familiar with them, and they are playing catch up to the leaders. Most of the pros I know of use the Nikon and Canon lines.

Don't get caught up in the megapixel race! If most of your prints are going to be 4x6s, 5x7s and occasional 8x10s, then, anything over 5 megapixel is going to suit you just fine. If you are frequently going to be shooting for 16x20s then 8 or 10 megapixels is going to work well for you too.

I said it was important to know what kind of photography you're going to be doing. If you are interested in action photography like football and soccer games then you'll want to take into account the number of frames per second (FPS) and the number of shots that the camera can store in a burst of shots. My Digital Rebel is good for ~3.5 fps. I'm interested in getting the new Rebel 40 D because it can shoot ~6 fps when I'm photographing horses and riders. The extra FPS help to be sure to catch all the action and expressions.
If you're mainly interested in shooting snapshots of friends, landscapes and some nature shots, then maybe you don't need the additional frames per second. There may be some other features that would drive me to the 40 D over the Rebel, Rebel XT, Rebel XTi, 5D, 20 D, and 30D, leaving the Mark cameras out because they are high end pro cameras costing $3-8K.

I'd say if this is your first DSLR, then it's probably a good idea to spend $800 to $1000 for the kit and see how much you are really going to get into it. After a while with the kit, you add some decent lenses and then work your way up the camera ladder, using the high end lenses I'll recommend later!

Next time... Books!

Where To Buy Your Next Camera

2007-11-24T23:32:00.000-08:00

My first tip for you!

This is going to be a U.S. specific tip for now. International readers can chime in in the comments if they know of reputable dealers in their part of the world.

Having been in retail for a while in my past life, I have no problem recommending making a purchase at your local store, especially if it is staffed by knowledgeable sales staff. If they don't know a thing about the cameras and lenses and can't give you good advice, then I'd certainly not feel bad about going in and looking at the camera you might be interested in and seeing how it looks and feels. Don't string the clerk along though and waste their time if you have no intention of purchasing there. I'd be willing to pay a premium to make the purchase at the local store if they
1) give good service
2) Stand behind the purchase (really a subset of the service qualifier)
3) Are willing to work with you to hold your hand for the purchase.

How much of a premium is up to you, but 10-20 percent seems fair. If you are pretty sure you want a certain model, it can't hurt to ask them to price match the price you found on the net, including the shipping. Even if they can't match the price, they may throw in some valuable extras. You've got nothing to lose...

Lets say you can't find a local shop worth a darn though. Which Internet store should you consider. Well, princess, you have to remember what your mom always told you "If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true". I highly recommend Amazon.com, Adorama.com, and B&H Photo for new purchases. You can use Froogle.com to look for lower prices, but, it's very much a buyer beware world out there, especially for sites for stores in Brooklyn New York. No one seems to know why Brooklyn is a center for sleazy photography suppliers, but it's just a fact of life. I know that not all Brooklyn stores are bad, it's just a red flag....

I like the recommended sites because they have been around for a while, they have a reputation for taking decent care of most of their customers (no store is going to please every single customer) and fair prices.
They are NOT known for scams like selling you a camera then calling you "to verify the order" and trying to "sell" you things that should already be in the kit that they've stripped out. I've heard of some of the scammers actually cursing out the customers for failing to purchase the add ons, then cancelling the order if the sale doesn't include overpriced add ons. If you do some price searches and find a camera that sells for $800 at all three recommended sites on sale for only $379, that should set off some alarms. Before making the purchase, check resellerratings.com for the company in questions reputation. Be skeptical... that $379 bargain may be a big nightmare.

What about Ebay? Ebay has some awesome bargains. It's also full of scam artists if you aren't careful. It's truly caveat emptor on Ebay. All the usual Ebay precautions are in place. Check the sellers reputation. I wouldn't buy from any store that has less than 500 or so ratings, a couple of thousand is better! If it's an individual, use good judgement, but look for a bunch of good ratings, hopefully by different buyers. Read the description. Make sure you know what's in the package, and how that compares to what's in the Amazon package. Don't forget to check shipping! $49.95 to ship by mail for a 99 cent purchase kind of kills the pleasure. In the end, you have to weigh whether the money you save buying on Ebay is worth the agitation/risk... If it's your first Ebay purchase, I think I'd stick to the recommended sites above.

I don't have any connection to any of the companies I listed above, they're just companies I know of that I can recommend.

The New Blog

2007-11-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

Greetings!
Those of you that know me, know I'm way into photography. I've learned a few things that I'd like to pass on, to benefit both of us. I'll try to show examples if the tip is mine. I'll be updating the blog frequently with new stuff from me, or links to other sites of interest. Leave your comments so we can do this photo thing together. Onwards!

Dave