Simple Photo Tips

Image via Wikipedia OK it’s not a rumor anymore, the Canon 50D is coming.  We listed the rumor not long ago, and now you can find the official press release on Canon’s site.

Just a couple of highlights:

• …”reduce noise and expand sensitivity up to ISO 12800. The faster processing speed of the camera’s DIGIC 4 image processor contributes to the fast 6.3 frame-per-second (fps) continuous shooting capability (for bursts of up to 90 Large/Fine JPEGs or 16 RAW images on a UDMA CF card) “…
• “The EOS 50D Digital SLR camera offers multiple levels of noise reduction during high-speed shooting. Users can choose from one of four settings- Standard/Weak/Strong/None - to help reduce digital noise that can result from poor lighting conditions. “
• …”Canon’s enhanced Auto Lighting Optimizer analyzes the brightness of subjects and automatically adjusts dark images so that they appear brighter, perfect for subjects in shade or in backlit situations”
• “A significant upgrade to the Canon EOS 50D camera is its large, clear 3.0-inch Clear View LCD screen which features 920,000 dot/VGA resolution, four times the pixel count of the EOS 40D camera’s screen”…

All that and more for an estimated selling price of $1,399.00.

Popularity: 14% [?]

One of the biggest draw backs to shooting a lot of photos, is that the camera’s flash needs time to recharge to shoot again.  This is one of the reasons I don’t like to use a flash.  Granted, there are times when one is necessary, but overall I prefer to use the available light.

This means I normally have to shoot with a higher speed film (400-800 ISO), a larger f-stop (3.2-5.6 - remember smaller number is actually a larger size), and/or longer shutter speed. However, I get a more natural photo, in my opinion.

Here are some reasons to avoid using a flash is possible:

• You draw attention to the camera so people automatically start to pose. The people around you aren’t as natural looking as people have been “trained” to pose and smile for the camera.
• The artificial white coloring overwhelms and eliminates the color of the natural lights, reds and oranges in the dawn/dusk, and colored lights of buildings, etc.
• It takes time to have the flash recharge. Flashes generally cannot shoot numerous times in a row.  They must recharge for anywhere between 2 and 10 seconds before they can set off another full shot.  During this time, a photo worth getting might be missed.

These are just my opinions, and I of course also shoot with a Flash when needed. But what about others out there.  Do you like to shoot with a Flash or not? Leave a comment and let us know.

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A recent article on photography at Digital Photography School gave 5 Reasons to Take Your Camera Everywhere in 2008. A great follow on given the recent post here, you have to shoot more subjects.

I think 3 of their 5 points are right on:

• You’ll end of taking more photos.
• You’ll be more comfortable with your camera.
• You’ll miss less of those moments.

The other two, you’ll have to work on yourself. But with time, and the ability to experiment (which you can’t do if you don’t have your camera) you’ll get those as well.

Take a look at their article, and start shooting more.

Popularity: 53% [?]

In the previous tip I mentioned how you need to take more than one photo of any given subject.

In addition to that, you have to learn to shoot more often. On a recent trip out with my family, I started looking for things I wouldn’t normally take photos of.  I started to feel “uncomfortable” with what I was photographing. At first, taking photos of walls, and other textures felt odd.  However, as time progressed, it felt better and when we got back to review the photos, we had some nice shots.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t delete a bunch either - but it did allow us to keep some we wouldn’t normally get.

While many people out for a day will shoot 30-40 photos, my wife and I shoot over 500 that day.  Why, we just followed the two rules given:

1. Shoot multiple shots - it saved us with our kids which are always moving
2. Shoot more things - it expands your comfort zone and gets you looking in ways you wouldn’t expect - which leads to that nice shot you would have missed.

I’ll be posting some of the photos we took the other day in an upcoming tutorial on shooting moving water.  Look for it next week.

Popularity: 100% [?]