When I started using a camera autofocus was something out of science fiction. I mean … it would never work in real life, would it? Apart from anything else, how could it know what you wanted to focus on?
Now fiction has become fact, and pretty well every camera has AF as standard. It works, and works well. But it doesn’t always work perfectly. It can pick up the wrong thing or fail to find anything to focus on, causing the lens to ‘hunt’ back and forth. Sometimes it won’t even let you fire the shutter.
Getting your gear together and in working order, choosing the right lens, having a tripod set up and then preparing to take the image. Pause and examine your subject before pressing the shutter. Some questions to ask:
how to crop it – get in close or take a wider angle shot?
what is the focal point/point of interest? Insect, stem, colour, texture, shape etc?
what angle will you shoot from to get the best perspective?
how much depth of field do you want?
how is the subject lit?
which flower is the best specimen for your photo?
what distractions are there in the background and foreground?
which is the best format to shoot in? (horizontal or vertical)
Every DSLR has a display feature called histograms. It looks like a graph with random data that any new photographer don’t know what it actually is. And maybe, won’t even care. Here’s a peek, it’s a reader that records how much light (how bright or dark) a picture is .
You should know that every LCD screen – camera, TV, or digital frame – could display different brightness level of a particular picture. What you see bright in this screen might not the the same in that screen.
This is why histogram comes in. It is the standard reader to record how bright a pic. A sample, you had an underexposed pic. So this should looks quite dark as shown in histogram. Now in your camera, it looks dark as expected, but it is quite bright in your computer screen. Chances are, your computer screen are set a little brighter than normal.
This week, Christina Dickson of DPS share her tips of how to look for the best lighting condition for beginners. I find this tips very useful during my early days of learning photography. And I believe that it may applied to any beginners as well. Here it is.
Lighting is the single most important element of “Still Life” photography. The way a photographer uses light for still life will add mood, give context, provide interest, and ultimately, create a dynamic still life photograph. Lighting for still life is not complicated. In fact, stick to these 5 tips, and you will nail your still life shots every time.
1. Use an simple backdrop: Wrinkles and ridges in a still life photograph – unless a part of the setting – will be distracting to your main subject. Be vigilant about keeping your backdrops smooth and simple.
PhotoSketch is an internet-based program that can take the rough, labeled sketch on the left and automagically turn it into the naff montage on the right. Seems unbelievable but—as the video shows—it works:
According to authors, their software can take any rough sketch, with the shape of each element labeled with its name, find images corresponding to each drawn element, judge which are a better match to the shapes, and then seamlessly merge it all into one single image.
Hi, I'm Robin. I write this blog to share my knowledge, news, and all the fun to everyone. Hope you enjoy!