Tip 1: Take your camera everywhere!
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| "Sculpturally Alive" Lakeshore Dr., Klamath Falls, OR |
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| "Red Hot Leaves" Moore Park, Klamath Falls, Oregon |
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| "Catching the Last Rays" Running Y Ranch Resort, OR |
It really pays to shoot most of your photographs in both a horizontal and a vertical format. It gives flexibility for how a photograph is to be used. Many times, one is way better than the other. There is a reason why magazine covers are vertical format!
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| "Alpine Bouquet" Mt. Shasta, California |
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| "Ridgeline Bouquet" Mt. Shasta, California |
Tip # 3: Crop out all excess background in viewfinder:
Take three giant steps closer to your subject or zoom that lens....and see if tip number 2 from above also helps!
The most important tip for beginning photographers is to get closer to the subject of the photo. The subject needs to be isolated to some extent. This is called "cropping". Many photos just have too much background showing, and cropping with the viewfinder, rather than when editing later, is WAY better.
Remember the eye sees selectively, but the camera sees everything! Over-cropping can be bad too...leave a little edge for matting/framing purposes.
If you are using a camera with a built in zoom lens, make sure you stay within the "Optical" zoom range, and never, never drift into the "Digital" zoom range that will pixelate you image.
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| Way too much background!!!! |
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| "Get a Grip" Klamath County, OR |
Tip #4: Change your angle of view.
Get down lower if you want to show more sky OR get up higher and shoot down at your subject. You don't have to take every shot at eye level!!!
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| "Summer Sparklers" Higher, looking down |
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| "Sun Lovers" Low angle shooting up. |
This is the most overlooked tool for beginning photographers. What time of day you take a photo can drastically affect it's appearance. If afternoon light is just all wrong, come back in the morning and vice versa. Try a subject at dawn or dusk! In spite of what you might hear elsewhere, mid-day is not always bad! I end up having to shoot mid-day all the time because it is so hard to get to many of the places I photograph!
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| Note how lighting direction changes appearance. Note cloudy day lighting. |
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| Digital cameras have white balance settings to compensate for different light sources...rather than having to change film! |
Tip # 6: Learn to use flash at dusk, and "Fill-in-Flash"
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| "Nature's Celebration" Shot at dusk with Flash turned on. |
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| "Nightly Reds" Shot long after dark. |
| Fill-in-flash
is used during the day to throw light on dark subjects in the foreground. Only
works out as far as the flash range will reach. This second technique is an old standard called "Fill Flash". When you have a subject that has shade on the side you are photographing with a bright background, simply turn on your flash and like magic you can paint light right on the front of the subject! The background usually comes out okay too! |
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| Note how dark the front side of the tree is. |
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| With flash turned on, its light "fills in the shadows". |
Tip #7: Hold that camera "rock" steady
Hand holding your camera can work well if you do some extras:
Lean on your car or truck hood
For indoor sports photography use a high ISO such as 800 or higher if needed. Some digital cameras have a "Sports shooting mode" which can work well.
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| "Seriously?" Yes, I confess to using a tripod once in a while. |
Tip # 8: Learn how to set the image stabilization settings on your camera.
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| "Sun Lovers" was shot on a windy day with IS "on". |
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| "Chipmunks Dine Out" was hand-held braced on a director's chair arm with IS "on." |
Tip #9: Exposures need to be accurate: learn to "bracket"
This technique is huge! There is a setting on most cameras to take three different exposures of each scene using different f stops (apertures or lens opening sizes). One exposure is technically correct, one is one f stop lens setting bigger, and the third shot is one f stop lens setting smaller. This technique saves most pictures when the lighting is tricky. One of the three exposures is ALWAYS way better than the other two, and will need less correcting on your computer or at a lab. This technique does NOT work for action/sports photography.
The camera selected exposure One f/stop underexposed One f/stop overexposed
Sometimes you have a gut feeling that a photograph is going to be good...go with your gut!
Tip # 11: Watch your back-trail!
Look back at what is happening behind you. Some times the best photography is NOT what you think it is supposed to be.
Favorite in-camera tools:
Modern digital cameras come with a lot of settings that are revolutionary. It pays to read your camera manual. I recommend reading one page a day, and practicing just one thing at a time by taking test pictures.
The first setting to learn is ISO film speed setting. ISO 100 to ISO 125 is the best for standard conditions, but if you need more light/speed, go to ISO 200, 400 or higher if needed for dim light or action.
Learn about White Balance Mode. Each light source has it's own distinct type of color. Your eye/brain automatically try to correct color perception, but your camera only sees what is really there. AWB (Average White Balance) is a starting point, but if you are indoors under artificial lights, or outdoors on a cloudy day, you need to change white balance settings to match the light source.
I use camera shooting modes, and rarely shoot in manual mode. Each mode has its benefits:
Aperture mode lets you start by selecting an f/stop that will help you control depth of field. F/4 has way less depth in focus, F/8 has way more in focus.
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| "Get a Grip" was shot at aperture setting F/4 |
Shutter speed mode will let you select a shutter speed that will help you stop or allow motion. 1/500 of a second is pretty much a minimum to begin to freeze most action.
In Program mode, the camera picks the best combination of shutter speed and aperture.
This mode is a better starting point for beginners than Auto mode.
HDR mode is useful at times if your camera has it. That mode layers three bracketed exposures and averages out light and dark areas. Very helpful with scenes that have a lot of contrast between light and shade. It does not work for all photographs, but when it does work, the results can be rewarding.
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| "Last Few Seconds" Running Y Ranch Resort, OR |
By far, my favorite options to turn on are image stabilization and action tracking settings. Flowers blowing in a gentle breeze are totally sharp!!!!
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| "Sun Lovers" |
Think old school: Try Black and White mode
Once in a while, go back in time and create images in black and white as well as color. One will almost always have more impact than the other. Images where form is the key element or subject, can be stronger in black and white.
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| "Winds of Change" |
Favorite Tripod:
The
seat of my pants patches and all! I also hold my breath when squeezing
shutter button. If I can't sit on the ground, on a rock, or log, then
I make sure the camera is held in a sturdy rest position. Leaning on a fence post, log, rock, car hood, tree limb, works very well. Will only resort to a tripod, when there is no choice.
Favorite Camera Accessory Must Have:
If
a camera is not equipped with thread mounts or a filter adapter on the front of the lens to
hold camera filters, I won't own it! 95% of my shots utilized either a
circular polarizing filter, or a split screen neutral density filter.
For black and white images, I use a red or yellow filter....just like in
the old school days from shooting film.
A Study in Depth:
A major portion of my photographic adventures have had to do with perceiving and creating depth in my images. Lost a whole decade between 1990 and 2000 doing 3D stereo photography with stereo cameras and stereo print technology.
The result was a major change in perception of how to create the illusion of depth in all my future 2D photographs. If you look at many of the photos in my exhibits you will see shapes that appear to “pop” forward and backgrounds that appear to recede in distance. The principle is:
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| "Visual Fences" Malin, OR |
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| "Yellow Gone Wild" Lakeview, Oregon |
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| "Root Cellar" Guano Valley, Oregon |
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| "Cashed In" Guano Valley, Oregon |
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| "Rancher"s Spring" Malin, OR illustrates the 3D illusion the best. Click to enlarge. |
The metallic photo paper that I like to print on only adds to this 3D effect as the light reflected off its surface has an added bounce!
Favorite Photo Editing Software:
Adobe PhotoShop - Have been with this product since PhotoShop 1.0.
Alien Skin “Blow-up” - superior for enlarging/sizing images
Archsoft “Panoramaker” - best stitching software...a little tricky to learn
Topaz Labs PhotoShop Plug-ins - large editing package with lots of special effects.
Nik Collection DXO is PhotoShop Plug-ins. Large editing package with lots of
of special effects.
Gimp 2.8 (FREE) www.gimp.org/downloads - easy to learn and has features missing in
in other photo editing programs.
Graphic Converter ( Mac only- demo is free) www.lemkesoft.com
Favorite Advice:
Learn to love the "DELETE" key on your computer!!! Every time you download a set of photos on your computer, go through them immediately and delete the worst/most boring photos!!! That will make you a much better photographer as your "junk" shots no longer exist!!!!
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| "Reaching For Heaven" OIT Campus, Klamath Falls, OR |
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| "Burnt Sunrise" Upper Klamath Lake, OR |
