Instead of taking a picture with the sun behind the photographer, try taking a picture with the sun behind the subject. When taking a picture with the sun behind the subject, the subject will appear dark while the background will be washed out. Done correctly, it can also create some sparkle from the corner of the image, and unique effects with the shadow.

Setting the Camera

The camera’s auto light-meter will need to be shut off, and you as the photographer will need to manually adjust the settings as the sun can throw the reading off. This will need to be done by manually adjusting the aperture and shutter settings. The built-in camera light-meter will either underexpose or overexpose depending on if it is picking up on the subject or the light behind.

Since this involves shooting into the sun, it is difficult to focus manually. If users find it difficult to look through the lens with the sun in the background, a trick with autofocus is to aim at the subject with the autofocus on, let it focus, then turn the autofocus off when composing with the sun.

Playing with Light

If the goal is to avoid having the subject appear overly dark, it will be necessary to add some light on the subject. This can be done via a flash on or near the camera, or some type of reflector. By reflecting some light back on to the subject, it will counterbalance the bright sunlight behind.

Leaving the subject in silhouette can also create a nice effect as well. By shooting towards the sun with the subject in the dark, it can create a moody effect. It is also possible to catch the shadow dropping in front of whatever is being photographed.

When shooting with the sun behind the subject, it is a good idea to shoot when the sun is low in the sky such as mornings and evenings. Not only will you not be dealing with the poor light of the sun overhead, the image can also get some nice color glows from the setting or rising sun.

In Summary

It might take some practice, and thanks to digital cameras, it is easy to take the time and number of pictures to get some practice. But, when it’s done correctly, shooting into the sun will add a new light or shadow to images. Shooting with this method requires more thought and planning, as well as multiple test shots, but the results are usually worth the extra work

The post Tips For Using the Sun as a Backlight appeared first on D Studios Photography.

After doing a quick internet search, it appears that most digital point-and-shoot cameras being sold these days range from 15 to 20 megapixels, with digital SLR and mirrorless cameras even higher. The latest iPhone and Samsung cameras both offer 12-megapixel cameras built in. One of the misconceptions about these new cameras is that the extra megapixels are creating a sharper and better image when, in fact, image quality has more to do with the quality of the lens on the camera than the sensor inside of it.

What is a Megapixel?

We should start by defining a megapixel. A megapixel is 1 million pixels. A pixel is a tiny square on the sensor within the camera. To view a pixel in a photograph, open the image on a computer and zoom into the image until the little squares are visible. Once you see the square, you are seeing a pixel. The idea behind “the more megapixels the better” is that with more megapixels, crammed into a sensor the megapixel gets smaller and we can enlarge further the image before the squares become visible. Which, technically, us true.

There is only so much physical space on a camera sensor and, with each megapixel upgrade, more information is being crammed onto the sensor, creating larger and larger image files. When the images are stored on a computer, they then take up more hard drive space. This in turn requires buying computers with larger hard drives for storage and faster processors to handle the images, creating a never-ending cycle of buying.

Based on this photographer’s experience with portrait photography, I have found that most consumers order prints less than 8×10, occasionally enlarging to a 16×20 but rarely ever larger. Most images, in fact, are ordered digitally to be posted on social media with a few to be framed in a home. Sue Chastain wrote an article on Lifewire.com stating that only a 3 to 4-megapixel camera is needed for high-quality 8×10 prints. While a chart made available by B&H Photo Video shows that a 4-megapixel camera will create photo quality, 8×10 prints. Based on my experience I would say that around 8 to 10-megapixels is a good number for the average print.

There are other things to take into consideration with pixels and those are pixels per inch (ppi) and dots per inch (dpi). When printing a picture, the printer creates little dots of each color (a combination of red, blue, yellow, and blacks) to create the final image. Each printer can handle only so many dots per inch so, if printing an image with more megapixels than the printer can handle, they end up being unnecessary.

As each new year’s camera is produced with more megapixels, most manufactures also do other upgrades to the camera. Early digital point-and-shoot cameras were slow to use and, when pressing the ‘shoot’ button, the photographer would have to wait for the camera to focus and take the picture. The lag time often made the picture taken different from the picture intended to be taken. Also, the speed on new cameras has been greatly improved, as well as color quality and accuracy

Cropping and Enlargements

There are advantages to having a larger megapixel camera. If cropping the image, the more cropping that is being done, the more the zoom is increasing on that section of the print and this is increasing the pixel size. The more megapixels, the better the crop that can be made to allow for a good print.

Cropping an image involves editing it in a photo editing app and cutting out portions of the image to zoom in and focus on a specific area. This is where a larger megapixel number comes in handy. As you crop the image and zooming in to focus on a specific area on the picture you are cutting out megapixels, so by having more than is needed originally you will not necessarily see a reduction in quality.

One way to avoid the need for this is to take the image with the final output in mind. For example, if you are standing on the side of a mountain and the focus of the image is a lake at the bottom of the mountain, don’t take a picture of the entire skyline and crop it later, but take the picture of the lake that is the focus. Take the picture framing it as you intend the final output to be framed.

What Should I Buy?

When shopping for a new digital camera, any camera on the market today is going to have more than enough megapixels for the average consumer’s needs. Instead of looking for a camera with the highest megapixel count, there are other camera features to be looked at.

The most important thing to look at is the quality of the lens on the camera. Look at sample images taken with the camera and assess the clarity of the image. Also, does the lens have optical zoom or digital zoom? Optical zoom will create a better image.

Another thing to look at on the camera is the image color quality. Is it an accurate representation of the scene? Look at the blues in the sky and people’s skin tones to check for accuracy. How well does it take pictures in low light or bright light? Finally, look at the other camera features, such as screen display and autofocus options.

With people usually using the default settings on a camera read some reviews on the quality of the auto-focus and how fast and accurate it is. Additional features like follow focus are also handy if you are using the camera for video as well.

Quality Over Quantity

When buying a new camera don’t fall into the megapixel hype. Since most consumer prints are less than an 8×10 anything over an 8-megapixel camera is unnecessary. Most cameras being sold these days already exceed that it is more important to focus on the other features a new camera offers.

Megapixels tend to be emphasized when it comes to new digital cameras. Although more is usually better, it might not always be the case for cameras and megapixels. When it comes to buying a new camera look at the other features of the camera and ignore the megapixel count.

The post The Megapixel Myth appeared first on D Studios Photography.

Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) and some digital point-and-shoot cameras provide users with the option of shooting in either a .jpg or RAW file. A .jpg file is a standard and universal format for digital images; RAW files are not as standard and universal. Many professional photographers shoot in RAW. What is a RAW file, why do professionals use it, and why should people consider shooting in RAW?

RAW Files

RAW files are images that have not yet been processed and are not printable without further work. A RAW file must be imported from the camera’s memory card to photo processing software. Each camera manufacturer has image processing software that can convert the RAW file to a .jpg or other image format. Adobe also offers a variety of popular products for processing and editing images that work with RAW files; Photoshop and Lightroom are two examples.

One issue with RAW files is that each camera manufacturer has its own RAW file format. This requires either obtaining their specific, proprietary software, in order to process the images, or locating a third-party product that is compatible. For example, Photoshop will usually need to have updates installed so as to be able to view RAW files from a camera manufacturer’s latest camera.

Why Shoot in RAW?

The advantage of using a RAW file is that it contains more information and has a higher range of digital data than what a .jpg file would contain. If the scene is too dark, with a RAW file, it will be possible to obtain more detail out of the shadows. If the scene is too light, it will be easier to process the image and bring out detail, if it is available.

The best way to think of a RAW file is as a film negative. The negative holds all the image details. It can’t be used to view the image directly, but the negative is used to create the final print. The final print can be thought of as the .jpg. When making copies of that film negative, it would be better to use the negative over the final print. The same relationship exists between RAW files and a .jpg.

Disadvantages of Shooting RAW

As mentioned, each camera manufacturer has its own version of RAW for each camera. This can vary from similar cameras within the same manufacturer’s line. Often when a camera company launches a new version of a camera third-party manufactures have to do updates even though they were compatible with the previous version.

As technology evolves, it is possible that later versions of software won’t be compatible at all with older cameras’ RAW files. Users might have RAW files that they will eventually be unable to process. Just like people who still have musical 8-tracks but can’t find stereos with 8-track players anymore. People may one day be hard pressed to find compatible RAW processing programs. Adobe is attempting to offer an archival file format known as Digital Negative (DNG) in order to solve this possible problem. According to Adobe, they will always provide support for DNG files in their products.

File size can be another issue for RAW images. Since each RAW image holds so much information, the file size is much larger than it would be if it were a .jpg. A camera will also spend a few macro seconds longer to process a RAW file with each click. Photographers need to have larger memory cards and more space on computers for the files. On top of that, since the image has to be converted to a .jpg for printing, users have to store and track two files of the same image, the RAW file and the .jpg.

In Summary

When shooting large scenes such as nature or scenes with a high contrast between the darks and the lights, shooting in RAW will provide a photographer with more options and control in the development of the final print, making the additional file size and processing time worthwhile.
Yet, if shooting friends and family during the weekend barbeque, and the images will most likely just get loaded to a website for printing in 4×6, shooting in RAW might be more than is necessary.

The post An Explanation of Camera RAW Files appeared first on D Studios Photography.

The f-stop is a camera setting that adjusts the size of the camera’s aperture, which has an effect on two things. The first is that by adjusting the f-stop, photographers can increase or decrease the amount of light reaching the sensor or film. The second is that adjusting the f-stop will increase or decrease the depth of field.

The Light

Besides the shutter speed, it is also possible to use the camera’s aperture to decide how much light reaches the camera sensor or film. To increase the size of the aperture, the f-stop needs to be decreased in size by setting it to a lower number. Likewise, to decrease the aperture, the f-stop needs to be increased by selecting a higher number. For example, a camera set at f/2.4 will be allowing more light through the aperture, while a camera lens set at f/22 will allow a much smaller amount of light through. This is where you might hear a term called a “fast lens.” What a fast lens means is a higher quality lens that will widen the aperture to f1.8 or 1.4. these lenses are generally higher quality and more costly, yet offer a nice narrow depth of field.

Depth of Field

Besides affecting the amount of light to reach the sensor, adjusting the f-stop will increase or decrease the depth of field. The depth of field is the range of distances over which a camera gives quality definition when its lens is in the best focus for a specific distance. In essence, the depth of field is an area within the image that is in focus.

Setting the f-stop to a wide setting such as f/1.4 allows the photographer to have more control over the area that will be in focus for viewers of the image later on. But if photographing large groups or cityscapes, where a user wants the whole scene to be visible, an f/22 might be the right selection.

In Summary

Adjusting the f-stop can seem counter-intuitive at times, as the smaller number equals more light reaching the sensor or film and the larger number equals less light. But by using the camera’s built-in light sensor, and remembering the settings and how they work, setting the f-stop is one more item a photographer can use to have more control over the mood of the image.

When shopping for a new camera, or a camera lens, take some time to look at the f-stop. What is the widest and narrowest setting the camera offers? Most consumers tend to look at the megapixel count, but all modern cameras come with more than enough megapixels for the average consumer. Instead of looking at megapixels for a camera, take some time to focus on lens quality and the range allowed with the f-stop.

The post Using the Camera F-Stop appeared first on D Studios Photography.

Shutter Speed

It can be hard to notice sometimes when the shutter speed is set too slow, and often this is a result of a cameras automatic settings. But when it comes to keeping an image sharp even the slightest movement can have a negative impact on the picture if the shutter is too slow. Sometimes this is intentional but most of the time it is not.

A workaround for this is to select the shutter priority mode on your camera. This allows you to set the shutter manually and the camera will automatically set the aperture. Then you can set a faster shutter speed if necessary to capture the movement.

The rule of thumb for capturing sharp when hand-holding the camera is, that you shouldn’t handhold a camera at shutter speeds slower than the equivalent focal length of the lens. For example, let’s say you have a lens set at 50mm, then don’t set the shutter speed to less than 1/50 second. Or, if you are using a zoom lens at 100mm aim for 1/125th second. Note: if you are shooting super wide at 10mm for example, don’t think you can handhold at 1/10th of a second. I’d recommend a tripod if going that slow.

Use a Tripod

A tripod cuts down on camera shake from the photographer’s hand. During times of night photography or even in bad lighting it is recommended to use one if you can.

Another tip when using a tripod is using a shutter release or the cameras built-in timer. This is especially useful when doing night photography in combination with a tripod. Just like the shutter release causes a little camera shake, so does pressing your finger on the button to take the picture. Check and see if your camera has a shutter lock feature. This lifts the shutter before taking the picture to reduce camera shake from the shutter for night photography.

Image Stabilization

There are two types of image stabilization. The first is built into the lens and the second is built into the camera. Depending on the company who makes it, it might be called something different but it works the same.

When the stability is built into the lenses. The lenses have elements suspended inside that are constantly moving to compensate for the movement caused by not holding the lens still. Instead of placing the stabilization in the lenses some camera companies will design it into the camera. The sensor shifts to compensate for the camera movement. Stabilization is really useful for longer heavier telephoto lenses because the extra weight ads to lens shake.

Note: stabilization does not help with capturing moving objects easier. It really only works to compensate for camera shake when photographing still objects. It also isn’t necessary when using a tripod, so if you don’t need it, shut it off to save on battery life.

Lens Quality

When it comes to buying cameras and lenses your money will always be better spent on a lens than a camera. Every year camera manufacturers come out with new cameras, but spending money on a good quality lens and taking care of it, the lens can last much longer than a typical camera will. The lens that comes with most camera kits is crap. When buying a new lens look for a lens with a wide aperture, often referred to as a fast lens. Read reviews and once you get the new lens, take care of it. Add a UV filter on the front to save the glass from being damaged. Store it in a dry warm place when not in use. And don’t let your kids get their grubby hands on it.

Focus

It seems pretty clear, right? If using the autofocus function on the camera make sure it is focusing on the correct location. When focusing pay attention to where you are focusing. For example, when taking a picture of a person or an animal you want to focus on the eyes.

Sharpen in Post

Depending on your camera settings, if shooting in RAW or not, and any of the previously mentioned your image likely won’t be perfectly in focus. When looking at the image it can look at little soft. If that is the case it can be sharpened a bit in post. Your cameras RAW processing software will have a sharpening option, or if using Photoshop or Lightroom you can sharpen the image a bit. But be aware sharpening does not solve the problem of an out of focus image. If it is out of focus it is out of focus. A soft image, however, can be sharpened.

Depth of Field

When playing with aperture and using a narrow depth of field we can get some lovely shots but it also means you need to be more precise on making sure what you want to be in focus is. Any movement might move the subject out of focus.

In Summary

When it comes to keeping it sharp it isn’t as simple as just pointing and shooting a picture. There are a lot of things that can affect sharpness to keep in mind depending on the situation you find yourself photographing in.

The post Tips for Keeping Your Photography Sharp appeared first on D Studios Photography.