Archive for the ‘Technique’ Category
Focus In Macro Photography – Ignore the Focus Ring
When doing macro photography, every part of your camera becomes more sensitive to even the slightest adjustment. So when you’re taking macro shots freehand (without a tripod), adjusting the focus ring will cause too drastic of a change even by the slightest movement. Instead, set your focus and move the camera itself back and forth [...]
Steady a camera without a tripod
I carry my camera everywhere, but I’m not about to carry around a tripod in my purse. Even though I’ve made a case that a bit of blurriness can be a good thing at times, sometimes I just want a clear picture!
This is actually pretty easy to do. In order to minimize shake and blurriness, [...]
How to Slow Your Shutter Speed for Water Photography
There are several ways to slow the shutter speed so can capture a smooth, fog-like waterfall. One way would be to adjust the camera settings to the slowest possible operation: the ISO setting to the lowest, and the f/stop up to f/11 (any higher will affect photo sharpness and overall quality, so use at your own [...]
Taking Portraits – Simplify Your Background
When taking portraits, or any kind of photo where you want the focus to be 100% on your subject and not the background, you must remember to clear the background of distracting objects. Move your subject in front of an area with a soft, even tone, like the leaves of a tree or a solid [...]
Use a Low f/stop for Portrait Photography
When taking portrait photos, or photos of people in general, it is always wise to use a low f/stop in order to “blur” the background. This tactic will offer less of a distraction from your subject and more focus where it should be. Also, the low f/stop will make it possible to take photos at [...]
Change Perspective in Your Landscapes – Get Down
Landscapes are fun to photograph, but what happens when you keep getting the same tired shots of that tree over and over, or that mountain that everyone else seems to have too. It gets boring, but here’s an idea to pep up your pictures…change your perspective. Try getting down on the ground and taking a [...]
Slow Shutter Speed for Blurring Effect
When I first got my Canon Rebel XT and started experimenting with all of its cool functions and settings, most of my education came from trial-and-error shooting. I would read the manual and then try each lesson out myself. One of my favorite techniques learned was the blurring effect. Achieving this effect was completely accidental [...]
Create Light Outdoors with the Flash Setting
When I was visiting Scotland last spring and taking hundreds of photos, I was getting a bit frustrated with all the bad weather ruining my natural light. Faces of people especially were dark and shadowed, so I decided to manipulate the light myself and force a flash. I set my camera setting to fill flash [...]
Always Focus Manually When Using a Tripod
When taking multiple photographs of the same subject, you may notice that the focus seems to differ from one photo to the next. You didn’t move your tripod or the camera, so what happened? It may be because your camera is playing tricks on you and refocusing the image while in auto-focus mode.
While auto-focus is [...]
Photos Still Blurry with a Tripod and a Remote? Lock Your Mirror!
When taking long exposures, every element comes into play that can greatly affect the sharpness and overall quality of your photograph. If you’re using a sturdy tripod with a remote switch to avoid camera shake, but still see a noticeable overall blurriness, it may be because you forgot to lock the mirror.
Some photographers may not [...]