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I’m another first-time DSLR user. What are some useful tips I can use to get started? - Josephine, Ilsan.

Welcome to the world of DSLR photography. I’m sure you’ll love your new camera. To help get you started, here are a few useful tips for all beginning photographers.

Keep in mind that, like all hobbies, photography takes time to master. So don’t give up or become disheartened when you realize that not everything is going your way.

The first tip is definitely the most important - get to really know your camera. It doesn’t matter whether you have a professional DSLR or an entry-level camera; knowing how it works is the key to good photography. Learn all the functions your camera has to offer. Learn its strengths and weaknesses. Learn what all the modes and menus do. Learn how to access menus and make changes quickly. Do this and your productivity and enjoyment will increase. There’s nothing more frustrating then missing the action because you don’t know how to change your camera’s ISO.

My second tip is to look for shots without your camera. Learn to look at a scene and imagine in your mind’s eye how it would look. If you see potential in the scene, pick up your camera and make a shot. It’s impossible to walk around looking through your camera’s viewfinder. So you need to learn how to see shots without relying on the camera to frame it for you.

This tip also gives you the advantage of knowing what shot you want to get before you take it. You will have a clear concept and you can shoot with that idea in mind.

Thirdly, get feedback. Join a club or shoot with other photographers. You can see how they take photos and learn techniques from them that you may find useful. Share your photos in a group or site to get comments and critiques on your work. Use this information to inspire you to take better photos.

Photographing by yourself can be fun, but it can also leave you in a bit of a void. It’s always good to bounce ideas and information off other people. It is a great way to improve your photography.

The fourth tip is to read magazines or look at websites containing photographs you like. This can help in two ways. Firstly, you can get some great ideas for how to frame a shot. If you see a photo you like, try copying it. By copying someone else’s composition, you’ll learn how to compose photos yourself. You’ll also learn how to see photos in different ways. The second benefit is that you can discover what style of photography suits you. If you are always drawn to landscapes, then it’s obvious that you may be most interested in landscape photography.

By David Smeaton

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub). - Ed.

I heard about a photography rule called ‘Sunny f16′. It has something to do with light. What exactly is it? - Jenny, Seoul

The sunny f16 rule is a very useful guide for photographers. It’s useful because it can help you shoot without the assistance of light meters. All modern cameras have a light meter. The function of the light meter is to measure the ambient light that enters your camera. Using that light, the camera guesses the desired settings for your photo.

The light meter inside a camera isn’t perfect though. They can make mistakes when gauging the ambient light. Professional photographers and studio photographers also use hand held light meters, which are bigger and more accurate. Light meters are indispensable these days and most photographers can’t shoot without them. All ‘point and shoot’ cameras rely heavily on the light meter, because there’s no way to set the camera manually.

So, what do you do if you want to shoot without a light meter? Many older cameras don’t have light meters. Or, if the light meter is broken, then the camera is un-usable. Not exactly …

This is where sunny f16 comes in. Sunny f16 is a general guide for shooting conditions without a light meter. You can use the guide to develop good estimates for light conditions when you shoot. To set your camera using sunny f16, you need to know 3 things:

1. Your camera’s ISO (or ASA for film cameras)
2. Shutter speed
3. Aperture

Sunny f16 is an aperture of f16 with a shutter speed that is the same, or slightly higher, than your ISO. For example, if your camera’s ISO (or film ASA) is set to 200, then your shutter speed should be 1/200 or 1/250. If your ISO is 800, then your shutter speed should be 1/800 or slightly higher.

On a bright sunny day, using a low ISO combined with sunny f16 will produce very good results. There are also some useful variations on sunny f16. Try using:

f11 for slightly overcast conditions.
f8 for moderately overcast conditions.
f5.6 for heavily overcast conditions.
f4 for sunrise and sunset (or in low ambient light).

All of those aperture settings work when the ISO and shutter speed are set to the same number.

The sunny f16 rule also has a few extra advantages. Most lenses have a ’sweet spot’ between f8 and f16 where the colour and sharpness of the lens is at its best. Most lenses, even expensive ones, tend to be softer at extreme apertures.

Sunny f16 is also useful if the shooting conditions are fooling your camera’s light meter. If there’s light bouncing off glass, lots of snow, or you’re on the water, the camera will think it’s too bright and overcompensate. You can learn when the camera’s light meter has been fooled and apply sunny f16 to get a better shot.

Finally, using an aperture of f16 will give your shots a nice depth of field, which is perfect for landscape photography or shots where you want as much in focus as possible.

So get out there and learn to estimate the light settings without relying on your camera. It’ll make you a much better photographer.

Happy Shooting!

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).

Home-made ultra-wide medium format camera

Originally uploaded by Zaphod Beeblebrox

how crazy is this?? an aussie photographer, by the alias zaphod beeblebrox (perhaps he’s president of the universe) has built his own camera … BUILT a camera from parts and hours in a machine shop. it’s a rangefinder 6×9 super-wide camera. the camera has a rigid-body and a 47mm f/5.6  lens. the view finder is a right angle view finder, which is kick ass.

the camera design is modeled on hasselblad cameras … and even has a built in spirit level. the best part is that the camera is apparently quite sharp!

this super cool ultra wide medium format camera is a true labor of love. check out the flickr set and see some extra photos of the camera as well as some shots taken with it.

i’d never have the skill or patience to build a camera. however, i’ve heard about photographers taking old camera bodies (especially broken hasselblads) and fitting them with digital parts. that would be awesome - shoot with an old hasselblad box but produce digital images.

damn! i want one!!

posted via flickr … i love blogging directly from my flickr account!

What is photography?

I first picked up a camera in the 1980s when my dad gave me his Pentax K1000 SLR camera. It was a simple manual camera with a 50mm lens. I bought a roll of film and taught myself how to use the camera. I learned everything from metering to manual focus, all through trial and error. In my senior years of high school, I joined a photography class and learned the fine art of processing and developing negatives. During those years, I spent more time under the red darkroom light, than I did in natural sunlight.

My favorite memory is of standing on the beach with a high school friend. We bought some fish, sliced into pieces and my friend fed the fish to pelicans while I photographed their big eyes and gaping mouths. I processed, developed and printed the shots, and I was absolutely in love with photography and the amazing things I could achieve with a camera, film and chemicals.

I still have the negatives buried in a box somewhere. One day I’ll dig them out and remember how much fun I had back then.

For me, photography is about capturing the world through a lens. I consider myself a traveler and, like most photographers, I love to photograph the things around me. Sometimes I experiment with other styles. I like street photography, or I’ll try some studio photography. But travel photography is my passion – people and places, landscapes, nature and the thirst quenching colors that can only be found in foreign, exotic cultures.

Not everyone approaches photography the way I do though. Some people believe that photography is an expression of art or emotion. Some photographers see photography as a way to document events that shape human kind. Either way, to every photographer, our art is a way to capture moments in time that may never be repeated.

The best photographers always capture those moments in ways that inspire us and make us think about life for a moment, a kind of inner reflection. It’s a moment where you’re stunned by the wonder and beauty of life, or sometimes its horrific tragedy.

Without doubt, photography has played a huge part in modern history. Famous photographs have shaped the world and stayed with us forever. They brought us images of war, hope, courage, death and triumph. A picture tells a thousand words and award winning photographs tell a thousand stories.

I think everyone remembers shocking photos of the Vietnam War, the lone student defying tanks in Tiananmen Square, the WTC attacks on 9/11. But there are also the inspiring photos of the Wright brothers’ first flight, the first photo of the Earth from space, the Beatles walking across Abbey Road; did you ever notice that Paul was barefoot?

Steve McCurry’s ‘Afghan Girl’ which graced the cover of National Geographic, is an example of a very modern photo that made international fame. He photographed a Muslim girl in 1984 and her photo appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985.  She became so famous that McCurry tracked her down in 1992. It’s National Geographic’s most famous cover.

Technology

Despite the changes in technology, and the emergence of video, photography remains as popular as ever. Even though most photographers have made the transition to digital, photography has lost none of its beauty. On the contrary, digital photography has brought with it a revolution. Every mobile phone has a digital camera. Pocket cameras are ubiquitous and digital SLR cameras are within financial reach of novice photographers.

Photography is no longer a lofty ‘art’ for people who know what ‘Velvia’ means. Photography is now the medium of the people. This has been proved by images that came out of Burma during the Junta’s crackdown on protesting monks, and photos of riots against the Chinese government in Tibet. Digital photos, which are really just computerized zeros and ones, are easily smuggled across borders and splashed on the front page of today’s newspapers.

Technology has also brought with it new techniques. HDR (High Dynamic Range) images didn’t exist before digital. Electronic cameras have broken down shutter speed barriers and flash memory means that images can be stored in their thousands on small portable cards.

But not all change has been good for photography. These days, photographers are often suspects and menaced by police or security personnel. In the United Kingdom, advertising billboards warn people to ‘beware of suspicious persons holding a camera’. It’s a sure sign that photography in public is becoming a security threat. Photographers are potential terrorists.

People are also more aware of the exploitative nature of digital technology. An image can be easily modified or changed to tell a different story. People can be grafted into or out of a picture with amazing ease. Recently, a Chinese publication used an image of deer grazing near the controversial railway linking Beijing to Lhasa. The Chinese government proclaimed it a massive success, until the photo was discovered to be completely fake; a composite of two images.

There’s also a third change to photography; one that particularly saddens me. This year, Polaroid announced that it would cease production of its famous Polaroid film and cameras. Gone are the days of instant film photographs. My grandmother loved her Polaroid camera. She’d take my photo, pull the film out of the front of the camera, wave it in the air until it developed, and stick it to the refrigerator with all her other photos.  I just don’t think a digital photo will have the same feel to it.

Film is dying but I don’t think it will become extinct. Digital ‘point and shoot’ cameras are killing the film developing industry. Most of the processing stores are gone. It’s harder to buy good film stock. Developing has become more expensive. But what photography has lost, it has made up for with other gains.

Film has always been ‘art’. It will remain the photography fanatic’s greatest prize and digital will become the mainstream medium; a little like vinyl records and CDs.

Repetition

This week, Seoul Photo Club’s challenge was “Repetition”. In photography, repetition is the use of a repeated shape or image within a shot. It’s an echo of a shape that creates an instant composition. When done well, repetition is an amazing technique and can inspire the ‘wow’ factor, thanks to its simple, but striking image style. Repetition within an image is visually strong.

 I confess that when the challenge started, I thought that it wouldn’t be well received. However, I was honestly amazed but the number of entries. The quality was outstanding and my job of picking a winner became an extremely unenviable task.

How do I choose one good shot?

This has always been the biggest issue within photography – objectivity. The simple answer is that there’s no true objectivity. People’s tastes and opinions are completely subjective. Opinions about what makes a good composition differ from person to person. However, this is a fair premise. Photography, like all other art, relies on its subjectivity. Ask museum curators which is better, Picasso or Matisse, and they’ll fight for days.

Ansel Adams, a famous landscape photographer, would certainly pick a different image than I would choose. Is his opinion any more valid than mine? Is he more ‘right’? No. Definitely not. This is the beauty of photography; everyone’s taste and opinions are equally valid.

That’s why I love websites like flickr.com, and photographic communities like trekearth.com and dpchallenge.com. It doesn’t matter how good your photos are, or how much you know about photography, people appreciate your work and help you learn more about how to make your photographs better.  In the era of blogs, photoblogs, web forums, and social networking, everyone can upload and share their photos with friends, family and complete strangers. Entire industries are devoted to image editing (Photoshop and Gimp) while other industries are dedicating themselves to digital equipment, online storage, and photographic communities.

Photography has changed a lot since I first started taking photos with my Pentax K1000. Now I own a Nikon D200. But I still own a film camera, a Leica, because I think that the old ways are worth remembering.  I’ll still shoot film for fun, but the majority of my photographs will be digital. I love editing in Photoshop then uploading photos to my gallery, or my blog, or tending to my flickr group. I also love talking about photography in forums and message boards. Photography has grown up and is embracing the digital age.

So despite the demise of film, photography is definitely moving in the right direction. Film will no longer be an easily accessible medium, but those who are fanatical about photography can learn it and love it. In fact, when I buy a house later in life, I’ll probably build a darkroom in the basement. For everyone else, digital is the way of the future.

One thing’s for sure, there’s no point trying to fight progress.

I guess I’ll just have to buy my grandmother a digital photo frame. I’ll glue it to the front of the fridge and teach her how to upload images via USB. It’ll never be the same as her wonderful Polaroids, but I’m sure she’ll learn to love it.

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).

Q: I’m not very familiar with RAW files. What’s the difference between RAW and JPG? What’s the best way to handle and edit RAW files? - Billy, Seoul.

A: RAW files are becoming a very popular format, as more and more cameras offer to handle this useful file type. RAW is the equivalent of a digital negative and was developed for DSLR cameras.

RAW is clearly superior to JPG. RAW is lossless, which means that image quality is not lost due to compression. RAW files also retain all of the shooting data from when you took the photo. This information is called EXIF data. It includes focal length, aperture, white balance, focal point, a full histogram of your image, and other useful statistics.

One of the biggest advantages is that many settings, such as white balance, can actually be changed in post-processing. RAW also has advantages during editing, since the file quality is much higher. Lossy file types, like JPG, suffer from artifacts when the image is heavily edited. Artifacts are portions of the photo that are missing because the image is compressed. This problem is much less common in RAW file types.

RAW currently has a few disadvantages. RAW images are much bigger in size, meaning that you’ll get less shots on your memory card. You can compress your RAW files to reduce their size. Some people say that this reduces the quality, but there’s no definitive evidence yet. I compress my RAW files and have never noticed any problems as a result.

Also, RAW is a specialised file type. Windows XP doesn’t natively handle RAW files. So to view these files, you need to download a RAW viewer or use photographic workflow programs that have RAW codecs, such as Adobe Bridge, Lightroom, Gimp or other specialised photo handling software. One way around this is to shoot RAW and JPG together. You can review the JPG images, then use the RAW files for editing. The obvious downside is that you’re making two copies of every image, further reducing the number of images on your memory card.

These days, since portable hard drives are prevalent and memory cards are growing in capacity, all serious photographers should be shooting in RAW. The result means much higher quality images and greater flexibility when editing photos. However, don’t switch to RAW because someone ’said so’. If you’re a casual photographer and don’t do much editing, then JPG may be for you.

Happy shooting!

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).

Q: I was reading about the ‘rule of thirds’, but I don’t understand why it’s so important to photography. Can you explain more about it? – Joanne, Seoul

A: The ‘rule of thirds’ is an interesting topic and it’s important in most visual arts, not just photography. RoT represents a system of producing an image that is visually aesthetic. Sure, it seems natural to put the subject in the middle of the frame, but the shot looks better when the subject is placed in one of the thirds, slightly off centre.

RoT is easy to understand. Use four lines to break the frame into a grid containing nine equal boxes. It looks just like a tic-tac-toe board. The aim is to frame your shot so that the elements in the shot fall close to those four lines. The horizon, a person, trees, buildings, and other strong visual markers in your shot can be made more powerful by placing them along the Rot lines. The four points where the lines cross are even more powerful. Placing your subject here will give the shot a very good aesthetic feel.

Of course, RoT can be broken when shooting repetition or portraiture, but photos that are the most visually appealing always make good use of RoT.

Another concept related to RoT relates to action. When your subject is moving, try to have them moving into the frame, rather than moving out of the frame. The shot will look and feel more natural. The same goes for your subject’s eyes. If you are photographing people, have them look into the open two thirds of the frame.

These days, most cameras have the ability to turn RoT guidelines on in your camera’s viewfinder. I use guidelines because they’re handy for helping me frame shots quickly.

Visit my website to see a visual demonstration on how the ‘rule of thirds’ works.

Happy shooting!

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).

Here are some examples:

	The “rule of thirds” is actually quite easy to understand. Use 4 lines to break a photo into a grid containing 9 boxes pieces. Those lines are the thirds. The green dots represent the perfect positions for any photographic composition.
	This cyclist photograph is a good example of the rule of thirds in action.
	His body follows the left vertical third. The track follows the top horizontal third. His chest is marked by the top, left green marker. Perfect positioning.
	Another perfect photo. The tree follows the left vertical third. The horizon follows the bottom horizon third. The tree is marked by the bottom, left green marker. Perfect positioning again.
	The windsurfing image is poorly framed. The strong lines of the river and surfer don’t follow the rule of thirds.
	This is much better. Can you see the two lines that the photograph follows? Also, the windsurfer now has space to move into the frame. The photo has a good strong feeling this way!
	Want to shoot portraits and faces? Here’s the best way to do it. Use rule of thirds to line up the face and eyes. The girl is in the left third, looking into the open space at the right. Perhaps her face could be a little higher in the frame, but it’s still a very good composition.
	Sometimes you need to be more careful with your shooting. If not, you can always “crop” your photo later. In this photo the horizon is nearly central. Crop it to bring the horizon up to the top third; placing the girl’s upper body right on the important cross point. It becomes a very strong image.

*All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.

Q: I don’t really understand how aperture works. I’ve done lots of reading online, but I still don’t get the meaning. What is aperture and how exactly does it work? - Gary, Seoul.

A: Aperture is one of the hardest things for beginner photographers to understand. The best way to think about aperture is that it’s the same as an iris, like the pupil in your eye. Simply, a big iris lets lots of light into the lens and camera. A small iris means less light. For cameras, the measurement of light entering a lens is referred to as an f-stop. Where most people are confused is that the numbers are the opposite to what you’d expect. A small f-stop such as f2.8 represents a big iris and lots of light into the camera. A large f-stop number like f22 means a small iris and only a little light into the camera.

A lens will generally have an f-stop range. An 18mm-70mm f3.5-5.6 lens, means the maximum aperture at 18mm is f3.5, the maximum aperture at 70mm is f5.6. The maximum refers to the maximum amount of light that can enter the camera; a big iris. This is where dedicated lenses, or prime lenses, have an advantage. They can have better maximum apertures. Some lenses can go as wide as f1.2 or f1.4, which allows a lot of light into the lens. A dedicated lens is a zoom lens that can hold the same aperture throughout the focal range. For example, an 80mm-200mm f2.8 lens means it’s f2.8 regardless of the focal length. Prime lenses have no zoom and are often much cheaper.

Aperture has another important use; it controls the depth of field. DoF is the area in focus when you take a photo. A wide aperture, such as f1.8, has a very small depth of field. As a result, your focal point will be sharp, but the rest will be out of focus. However, at f22 the focal range is often considered to be infinite, giving the appearance that everything in your photo is in focus. Because f22 allows very little light into the lens, this aperture is difficult to use.

Photographers love to exploit depth of field. Intentionally keeping the DoF very shallow allows for nice blurry backgrounds, which we call Bokeh. Landscape photographers like larger DoF because they can create the impression that their entire scene is in focus.

Finally, an important point to remember is that a lens is engineered to work best at wider apertures, especially around f8. So try to keep your aperture range between f1.2 and f11, which will give you maximum quality photographs.

Happy shooting.

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).