Beyond Point and Beyond Point and ShootShoot

Ken Kay

What are the photography basics?What are the photography basics?

What questions do What questions do have?have?

How can I take or create eye catching photos?

What are all those shooting modes?

What are some curricular integration ideas?

OverviewOverview

Composition basics

Settings

Built in accessories that enhance photos

Printing

What is the grammar of What is the grammar of composition?composition?

What is the grammar of What is the grammar of composition?composition?

Rule of Thirds

• Bulls-eye composition• Image your viewfinder is divided into thirds• Locate center of interest at intersections• Rules are made to be broken

What are leading lines?What are leading lines?

• Draw the viewer's eyes to the point of interest.• Examples: fences, roads, tree branches, furrows in the ground

What do Shapes, patterns, and textures add to compositions?What do Shapes, patterns, and textures add to compositions?

Shapes, patterns, and textures produce more attention-grabbing shots.

Examples: circles, triangles and the S-curve

Patterns and textures exist in both nature and synthetic objects.

The triangle effectThe triangle effect

What is that?Abstracts

What is that?Abstracts

Do you notice reflections and shadows?

Do you notice reflections and shadows?

Why shoot into the light?Silhouettes

Why shoot into the light?Silhouettes

Subject stands out as different from everything else

More visual weight

You can use color, texture, or even shape to differentiate your focal point from the rest of the photo.

How does contrast matter?How does contrast matter?

Taking the command of light

Taking the command of light

The art and science of capturing light

Light can be altered and controlled with your camera

What are the metering options?

What are the metering options?

Average metering/Multi/Zone: whole scene

Center metering: takes a reading from the center image and averages with background

Spot: meters object that you focus onGood for backlight objects

What are metering modes?

What are metering modes?

Overall Metering (Multi Segment/Zone Metering) camera attempts to take into consideration everything in your frame it assesses overall lighting from all these zones and takes a best guess

by averaging them at times the camera guesses wrong and it’s useful to know how to use

the other metering modes

What are metering modes?

What are metering modes?

Spot metering

This mode tells the camera to do it’s metering from a very small ’spot’ in the scene.

Useful mode for tricky lighting conditions where the whole scene is either darker or lighter than the point that you want to be exposed correctly.

For example, in a back lit situation where you’re taking a portrait of someone whose face is a little too dark. Without spot metering in this situation you might end up with a silhouette

What are metering modes?

What are metering modes?

Centered weighted metering

tells the camera to focus it’s metering decisions upon the center of your image (although a wider area than spot metering).

camera will take information from numerous metering points around the frame but will give more weight to those in the center.

Are are whites the same?Are are whites the same?

Human brain adjusts to the color of light

Incandescent light has a red tint

Fluorescent light has a green tint

What is white balance?

White Balance SettingsWhite Balance SettingsSun

Shade: some cameras have a shade and cloudy setting

Tungsten: incandescent or halogen lighting.

FluorescentAlso good setting for forest shots

Auto: this setting is useful for most common shooting If you notice a tint, then use white balance modes

White BalanceWhite Balance

What is a histogram?What is a histogram?

Some digital cameras have a histogram menu item of a photo you've just taken.

This is a graph displaying the pixel count as a function of brightness.

You can determine whether the photo is properly exposed, and take another shot if necessary

Properly exposed photos have the largest number of pixels toward the center of the histogram without an overabundance at either end

. Underexposed photos have too many pixels at the dark end, whereas overexposed photos have too many pixels at the light end.

Now that you understand what all those settings are for, grab your camera and start experimenting

What is Exposure?What is Exposure?

Amount of light captured by camera

Washed out if overexposed

Dark if underexposed

Normal conditions automatic settings fine

What determines exposure?What determines exposure?What determines exposure?What determines exposure?

Lighting conditions

Aperture

Shutter speed

Film speed

Think of your camera as a cup

Your goal is to fill the cup with water. Either completely open faucet Or partially open the faucet

The water filling the cup is the Exposure

The length of time to fill the cup is the Shutter Speed

The degree you open the faucet is the Aperture

The speed of the water flow is the ISO Setting

The Overall PictureThe Overall PictureThe Overall PictureThe Overall Picture

What are the 3 Elements of Exposure?

ISO - the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light

Aperture - the size of the opening in the lens

Shutter Speed - the amount of time that the shutter is open

What is best to control the What is best to control the Exposure?Exposure?

What is best to control the What is best to control the Exposure?Exposure?

Filling the cup slowly = small aperture and slow shutter speed

If you do not choose a long enough time = picture underexposed

Filling the cup quickly = large aperture and fast shutter speed

So why is it necessary to have two choices? They control different aspects of your photo Aperture controls focus, I.e., depth of field focus Shutter speed controls action. I.e., blur vs. freeze action

How do you choose a shutter How do you choose a shutter speed?speed?

To Blur or not?

Blur 1/60 or lower

Capture action 1/125 or higher

How does direction of movement effect shutter How does direction of movement effect shutter speed?speed?

Water PressureWater PressureWater PressureWater Pressure

Water pressure affects the flow speed

ISO settingHigh ISO = high light sensitivity = need less lightLow ISO = low light sensitivity = more light needed

Auto good except when you have a different vision for a shotThen you will want to adjust settings that control exposure

What about the ISO?

What are the two types of zooms?What are the two types of zooms?

Shooting ModesShooting Modes Auto: default

Landscape: max. depth of field Foreground and background in focus

Portrait: face in focus

Action: fastest shutter speed

Sunset: strong backlighting/high contrast

Some cameras have night settings for landscape and portraits

Aperture Priority: automatically sets an appropriate shutter speed

Shutter Priority: automatically picks appropriate aperture

Best Shot: Quickly set-ups for the above Especially good for night Some cameras have a night setting option separate

Manual: chose both aperture and speed

Aperture: depth of field

Aperture: depth of field

Large aperture (lower f-stop) Shallow depth of field Background out of focus

Small aperture (higher f-stop) Greater depth of field Background in focus

Shutter SpeedsShutter Speeds

Focus LockFocus LockSpot focus technique

Focusing on a subject not in the center

Frame subject within focus area

Push the shutter halfway down

Reposition your frame

Bracket your shots for best results

Bracket your shots for best results

When unsure about aperture setting

Take 2 or 3 shots at 1/2 to 1 stop intervals

Optional Shooting Modes

Optional Shooting Modes

The following modes may be in your menu separately of in Best Shot options

• Landscape• Captures detailed scenes of distant objects, such as mountains or city skylines.• Camera selects a high f-number, increasing the depth of field so objects near and

far away remain crisp and in focus.

•Steady Shoot•Avoids blurry photos due to camera shake or a moving subject. Best used when lighting is at a low level such as indoors.•Your camera increases its sensitivity to light (ISO) resulting in a shorter exposure time. This helps freeze motion for sharp, clear photos.

• Panorama• Captures grand landscapes or group pictures where you need to take a wider shot than one image can capture.• Stitch up to five shots from right to left (or left to right) into one seamless photo.

• Night Portrait• Provides clear, focused shots of people while capturing background lights at night.• This mode uses the flash to ensure your subject is well lit, followed by a long exposure for bringing out background detail. A tripod is recommended when using this mode.

• Night Landscape

• Captures dramatic color and detail at night andin other and other low-light situations.• This mode uses a long exposure (longer than auto mode) with no flash for rich colors and detail at night. A tripod is necessary in this mode.

Burst or continuous modeBurst or continuous mode

Film Speed: ISO settingFilm Speed: ISO setting

Here are some settings where a higher ISO is desirable:No-flash zones: Low-light concerts,

museums, recitals, and churches where flash photography is not allowed

Candle-lit scenes: Christmas or holiday events or birthday parties where the subject is blowing out the candles in a dark room, which would be ruined by a bright flash

Indoor sporting events: Photographing a moving subject in limited light where stopping the action is your main goal.

Grain increases as the ISO increasesGrain increases as the ISO increases

Use a higher ISO speed where flash would ruin a scene

A good rule of thumb is to set your ISO to 100 when shooting outdoors, and 400 indoors.

Manual Mode: the driver’s seat

Manual Mode: the driver’s seat

Greatest creativity and choice

Unlike aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode, the camera doesn't determine any of the settings to help you.

Exposure Compensation

Exposure Compensation

Advanced control

EV Compensation allows you to adjust the image brightness in difficult lighting conditions.

Increasing the EV Compensation allows the camera to restore the original brightness of white objects in an overly bright scene. Try increasing the steps to get a more natural appearance.

Decreasing the EV Compensation will darken the scene, restoring the original black tones to black.

Shoreline ice photographed without exposure compensation and with +1 stop of exposure compensation.

Red Eye Removal

Menu

Flash button (usually near flower) will cycle through optionsFlash onFlash offRed eye: double flash

SharpnessSharpness

Sharpening increases the contrast of focused image and background

Turning off sharpness softens harsh edges Smooth the wrinkles on a person’s face

SaturationSaturationColor saturation = how vivid colors appear

Good for autumn foliage or when shooting in dull grey day

Too saturated can look garish or

Saturated settings: High: bold colors

Loss of detail Can adjust saturation with image-editing software

Medium: default Low: soft, less intense colors

Often used for portraits

Dawn and SunsetDawn and Sunset

SunsetsSunsetsMeter on the sky near the sun

Underexposure leads to vivid colors

Cloudy daylight setting also punches up the color

Experiment with f-stops

Try shooting a few minutes after sun drops below the horizon

Lens SettingsLens SettingsMost digital cameras have zoom lens 35mm to

105 mm

Often you can buy auxiliary lenses

Getting in CloseGetting in Close

Macro or close-up

Sharp photos up to about 5 inches away

Use LCD monitor is more accurate

TripodTripod

Dim light

Flash not natural