How to Photograph Christmas Lights and Decorations

I’ve finally got my tree and my decorations up.  I know, I’m super slow but as my daughter’s birthday is in December we try to keep things separate so we don’t decorate for Christmas until her celebrations are through.  This leaves everything a bit rushed so I’m kinda late getting around to trimming the tree and taking pictures of it but hopefully I’m not too late in sharing these tips with you on how to take some beautiful Christmassy pictures of your lights and decorations.

1. Turn off your flash.  That’s right.  Do not use a flash when shooting any kind of Christmas lights or anything that is illuminated for that matter.  Most digital cameras will allow you to turn off the flash by way of a shortcut button on the back of the camera body although you might have to move out of Auto mode into P to manually override your Auto flash.  This will depend on your camera model – dig out that manual if in doubt!

2. Raise your ISO.  This will make your camera more sensitive to low light and give you a better chance and getting those beautiful sparkly lights.  Again the ISO is usually controlled by a shortcut button on the back of your camera and how you can raise it will depend on your specific model.  I suggest using an ISO rating of 800 to capture indoor Christmas lights.

3. Keep steady.  Because you have turned off your flash, the camera now has to do something to let more light in and in most cameras that’s going to be slow the shutter speed down.  When this happens, any kind of movement or camera shake will blur your image so use a tripod if you have one. If not improvise with a stack of books a table or anything steady to rest your camera on

 

4. If you want to take a picture of your little ones in front of the tree try using the night portrait mode in your cameras scene modes.  You’ll recognize this icon as it has a little image of a person with stars.  This is a combination of a slow shutter speed so that the twinkly lights are correctly exposed and a burst of flash to correctly expose your subject.  It gives a great effect and its one of the only scene modes that I recommend to my students to use.

5.  Get up close.  Fill your frame with lights and close-ups of specific ornaments so that there is no doubt about what you are trying to capture. You may want to switch your camera to Macro mode to allow you to get super close.

Have fun trying to capture that Holiday feeling!

Merry Christmas

Ingrid

How to make the most of your photographs

Although more people have access to  top quality digital cameras now than ever, fewer and fewer people actually make the most of the photos that are taken on them and the amount of great photos sat languishing on hard drives everywhere is spiraling. Here are a few simple ways to get the most out those classic snaps and make sure that they’re not lost forever after buying a new PC.

• It might sound obvious but simply taking the photo files to a printing shop or station or printing at home means that you can physically hold those photos without the expense and extra hassle of a film camera. Most supermarkets now have a facility where photos can be printed from a memory stick in next to no time, so there’s no excuse not to, and for those who don’t even want to leave the house, the cost of home printers that can print on glossy high quality paper is falling all the time, making it even more affordable to build up a collection.

 

• A great way to display your treasured moments is in the form of a photo calendar. Each month will have a different photo of your very own, so you can look back at precious memories whilst keeping organized in the New Year!

 

• Again, it might seem obvious, but sharing your photos online is a fantastic way to make the most of them, and the amount of people who actually do it is surprisingly low. After uploading the photos onto your PC, it takes no time at all to then upload them to a hosting site, most of which are free and very user-friendly. You could then direct friends and family to your personal page, or for more privacy alter the settings and give them a private link. You can also simply email the photos round for a more direct approach!

 

• These days you don’t even have to print photos out to show them off around the home. A digital photo frame will display pictures from a memory card in a slide show, so you’ll never get bored of what’s on show. The photo frame plugs into the mains and you can also select the speed of the slide show to suit. A great Christmas gift idea might be to load up a frame with some photos before wrapping it up and giving it to a loved one.

 

• One last way to show those photos is to get them printed on your own personal merchandise. Mugs, t-shirts and posters are just some of the things you can print onto, which again would make a great personalized Christmas gift for friends and loved ones.

10 Tips for Great Fall Photos

There is very little that you can do wrong when faced with the wonderful beauty of the red, amber and golden foliage that fall bestows on us for a few weeks  this time of year.   Sometimes however, our pictures fail to live up to the beauty we saw in reality. Here are 10 tips to make sure what you see is what you get.

 

 

 

1. Shoot during the golden hours.

You’ve probably heard me talk about the Golden Hours before. This is the first hour after sunrise in the morning and the last hour of daylight in the evening when the light is at it’s richest. This will in turn give you the best light for shooting. It’s definitely worth your while to get up that little bit earlier just to see the impact that the light will have on your image.

2. Shoot after the rain.

This is another time when the air is at it’s clearest and hence the light has a great quality to it. It can also be really interesting to see how the we leaves reflect and play with the light.

3. Don’t forget about general composition rules .

This is the biggest mistake people make when shooting Fall Colors. They get so overwhelmed by the beauty surrounding them they forget things like using the Rule of Thirds, having a definite focal point and using lines to draw the viewer’s eye into the picture.

4. Don’t clutter your image with unnecessary stuff.

Keep it simple perhaps by concentrating on a few leaves or interesting trees.

5. Vary your angle

Look up into the trees and don’t forget the leaves on the ground.

6. Make use of contrasting colors.

Red berries contrasting with green leaves, orange leaves backdropped against a blue sky

7. If your sky is not a vibrant blue, then just omit it from your pictures.

Best to leave it out rather than have a dull washed out gray sky.

8. If your shooting with a DSLR,use a polarizer.

This will really help to saturate your colors.

9. Don’t forget to play around a little in Post Production.

Every image can benefit from a little tweaking in your photo editing software.

10. Have fun

and get out there before the display is gone again till next year

Got any more tips?

Please share them in the comments below.

Happy Snapping

 

Taking Better Food Photos

It’s hot in Georgia during August.  Too hot to be slaving over a hot stove and that’s for sure.  That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been firing up the grill so much over the last few weeks.  My hubby is a real “Grill Meister” and loves to cook out.  Suits me too as all I have to worry about are the veggies which lately have been mostly salad straight from the garden – I know, I know, I’m turning granola.

Anyways, as usual I have to incorporate photography into everyday actives and last night’s dinner provided me with a great opportunity to shoot for my new upcoming course “Better Blog Photos.“  So while Sam was slaving away over a hot grill I was setting up some great food shots.

We also seized the opportunity to try out some awesome chicken from Zaycon foods.  You can see from the pics this really was some of the freshest and tastiest chicken I’ve ever eaten.  And Yes… of course Sam’s grilling technique played a part of it too

Lighting

Like I’ve said many times before photography is all about good lighting and food photography is no different. One of the biggest mistakes for shooting food photography I see most people make is shooting with the flash on.  This results in flat images such as this:

Food is a still object and therefore it’s easier to capture without the use of flash so I suggest turning your flash off and just using whatever light you have available to you.  Remember that in order to be successful doing this you also need to hold your camera super steady or ideally use a tripod.

 

Already the picture is looking more appetizing and it’s only veggies

 

White Balance

Now we see that the next issue that we have is that the color isn’t exactly right.

The lights that most people have in their kitchen, although bright  may give your photo an artificial color cast.  This can be corrected in your camera by adjusting the White Balance setting.

Look for the WB icon in your camera menu and consult your manual to see what the different icons mean.  Change it until you get a more natural light effect.

 

Composition

Now that the settings are a little better I can think about composition a little more.

Rather than hovering above the food, lower your camera and take a closer shot from a lower angle.

Now I’m getting hungry!

Just by doing those 3 simple things -

1. turning off my flash

2. adjusting the White Balance setting

3. lowering my angle of view

I’ve improved my shot dramatically.  Give it a try for your next foodie pics.

If you’d like to try out  Zaycon food’s convenient food service,  save some bucks as well as experience great food like the chicken above, you can check out their site here to find out more information.  They have a pretty unique concept going on and it’s a great money saver.

If you’d like more detailed information on how to take better photos like this then watch out for my new course “Better Blog Photos” coming this Fall.

 

Happy Snapping

How Changing Aperture affects Depth of Field

Although I have many titles I am of course, a mommy first and foremost. The addition of my baby daughter in late April has mean’t that I have to be very creative in trying to make time to work, blog not to mention spending some fun time with my other little girl Sophie. So last Saturday I decided to roll these three things into one. We made these delish cupcakes and Sophie decorated them. She was very proud of her work as you can see spending 15 minutes decorating and 2 minutes devouring them!

Meanwhile I seized the opportunity to put together this mini tutorial for you on How Changing Aperture affects Depth of Field.

A lot of my students bemoan the fact that there is too much math involved in photography. And they are right – there is a lot of math! If you got down to it, it’s all about math and physics but where would the fun be in learning about that? What about the creativity of manipulating light and dark? Evoking emotion in your viewer. Perfecting your art?

So let’s get visual and forget about the math for a minute.  What I wanted to demonstrate here is how I can alter the Depth of Field by Changing Aperture settings on my camera. 

Depth of field refers to the zone of acceptable sharpness in a photo.

I took the following pictures of Sophie’s cute cupcakes in succession, everything else been held constant, just changing the aperture of each shot.

You can see how increasing your f number (aperture) REDUCES the size of the opening in the lens  and hence increases the depth of field – the amount of the “in focus portion” of the picture.

Your Turn!

Try this at home by lining up several similar objects – wine bottles, tomatoes, flowers, crayons – whatever you have easy access to.

• In order to make this as easy as possible for you make sure your in a well lit place
• Set your camera to Aperture Priority mode- Usually either A or Av on your Mode Dial.
• Keep your focus point set to the same point each time. In the above pictures I kept focused on the orange cupcake.
• Turn the mode dial wheel of your camera to adjust the aperture values.
• Take a shot at every aperture value or f/stop that your lens will allow.
• Pay attention to what happens to the shutter speed values as you change your aperture.
• Upload to your computer and view the images side by side. This will be much easier than trying to use your camera LCD screen to view the images.

Can you see the difference between shooting wide open with a low f/stop and shooting with a narrow aperture and a high f stop?

There is a lot more to depth of field and aperture than just this including concepts such as “The circle of confusion” – Ha! but I think we’ll stop there for now.  If you get the above you’re doing good!

I’d love to see some of your shots so feel free to post them on the CameraShy Facebook Fan Page.

Happy Snapping!

 

Growing As An Artist

This is a guest post by Larry Lourcey.  Hope you enjoy!

Photography used to work kind of like this…. there were the pros, who had the high-end, mega cameras and the amateurs who had point and shoots.  The line between great artists and everyday shooters was pretty easy to spot.  Things have changed now with digital.  Technology has allowed even a part-time amateur to have a camera that isn’t much different than what the pros use.

So how do you set yourself apart from the pack?  Quite simply, you do it by growing as an artist.

Now there are two components to this process – input and output.  I wrote a blog article a while back about the first part.  Basically, you have to feed your brain with creative nutrition if you want it to work for you.

The second part is practice.  You won’t get better at photography by thinking up great concepts, you have to actually try to create them.  Are you going to fail on some of this projects?  Absolutely.  Is your vision always going to translate to the printed image?  Nope.  Will it help you to grow as an artist?  You bet!   So where do you start?

I’m a big fan of self-assignments.  What this means is that you come up with an idea and give yourself a deadline to get it done… then actually DO it.  I’ll even give you a few ideas to get you started:

Do a series of self portraits.  I’ve done this one and it is much tougher than it sounds.  The good news is, you always have access to the model!

Grab your favorite CD and create an image to illustrate each song on the album.  It can illustrate the meaning of the song or maybe just a literal portrayal of the title.  Lots of wiggle room here!

Do a series of 12 portraits, each representing a month of  the year.

Photograph landmarks of your hometown – just do it in a creative way.

There are literally thousands of ideas you can come up with.  The concept isn’t nearly as important as the execution.  Pick one and go for it.  You’ll be surprised what you come up with!

*****
Larry Lourcey is a professional portrait artist, located in Plano, Texas.  In addition to his Photography Blog, he also has a website dedicated to photography education .  You can follow him on Twitter at @larryphoto

Optical Zoom vs Digital Zoom – What’s the difference?

This week on the blog I did a review of the Nikon P100.  I was inspired to do so because of a video my dad , Joe made about it at Diamond Imaging.  You can check out the video here and see him do a hands on review of some of the best features of this camera.

One of the most powerful features that struck me is the size of it’s Optical zoom lens.  You can see the pictures we took with the camera, standing from the same spot and you’ll notice how much you can see with that optical zoom lens without loosing any quality  – it’s pretty cool!

Nearly every digital camera has some form of an optical zoom lens these days and it’s almost something that we have come to expect.  It’s rare to see a compact camera with a fixed focus lens – usually this is left up to the camera phones although these are even beginning to have zoom lenses too.

Most camera have both an Optical Zoom lens and a Digital Zoom lens – so what’s the difference?

Optical Zoom Vs Digital Zoom

An Optical Zoom lens will allow you to take subjects that are much further away without loosing any quality.  The camera uses the true optical capacity of the cameras lenses to magnify you subject hence rendering a clear crisp image.  You’ll see the size of the optical zoom of your compact camera denoted somewhere on your camera body or perhaps on the side of the lens e.g. 3X Zoom, 5X zoom, or in the P100′s case 26X Zoom.

A Digital Zoom is quite different  Instead of using the optics in the camera lens to bring you closer to your subject, the digital zoom simply digitally magnifies the image that you already can see through your viewfinder.  This has the same effect as what happens if you zoom in on a picture on you computer, in effect magnifying the pixels.  You loose resolution or picture quality.  Lot’s of compact cameras will boast a large digital zoom but in reality this means little to what your camera can do.

Most compacts have a combination of an optical and digital zoom.  When buying a new compact camera always be clear if the zoom size advertised on the box is the true optical zoom or if iti is in fact the combined size of the digital and optical zoom.  Some manufacturers have been known to use this misleading marketing ploy.

How do I know which zoom is working?

You can see which zoom is in operation on your camera by one of the following methods:

1. Listening – You can usually hear the mechanics of an optical zoom in action.  A digital zoom is silent.

2. Look at your lens in the front of the camera – is it moving in and out? -If yes then it’s the optical zoom lens in operation. No movement while you zoom usually means you are now using your digital zoom.

3. Look for the icon on the back of your camera that indicates that your zoom is in operation.  This is usually a scale with a bar illustration from W – T.  (W meaning wide angle and T meaning Telephoto.)  Sometimes when you begin to use your digital zoom the color of this bar will change to red.  And sometimes there’s an indicator on your camera LCD screen like a dividing line showing you that you are now in your digital zoom area.  Check out your own camera manual to see which one applies to you.

I always suggest to my students, to turn off the digital zoom capabilities of their camera so that they will not be tempted to use it and hence loose quality.  You can do this simply by going into your cameras set up menu and turning off the option for Digital zoom.

All in all a digital zoom really doesn’t add any value to your pictures with the exception of that one time where you really just want to see what’s going on really far away from you.  You might be able to make out the scene but the resulting picture will not be too hot.

My advice – if you really need to get closer then firstly – Move Your Feet!

Happy Snapping!

Learn a Mode Monday – Digital Macro Photography

Welcome to the first ever Learn a Mode Monday – my new mini-series on learning all about one of those little icons on your camera!  Today we are all about that little flower on your mode dial i.e. Digital Macro Mode.  This is absolutely one of my favorite modes for really making Wow Pictures and one of the easiest skills to acquire in beginners photography.  Want to capture that ickle bumblebee sitting on the azalea bloom?  How about getting that close-up of the detail on your wedding dress?  Digital macro photography is what you need to master!

1. First find your subject – something small like a bee, a bloom, a coin – anything tiny.

2. If you are indoors switch off your flash as it will only bounce back off your subject and the picture will appear blown out.  If you do this you will most likely need to use a tripod or have a very steady hand!  Best option – head outdoors into natural daylight.

3. Next, find the Macro Mode on your camera – it’s usually an icon of a little flower something like this :   

4. Position your subject so it is well lit and that you are not casting your own shadow over it.  Opt for a plain background if you have the choice, something with little or no distractions in it.

5. Rather than using your zoom to get closer to your subject, leave your lens at it’s widest setting and physically move yourself closer to your subject until you have filled the frame with your subject.

6. Slightly depress your shutter button so that your camera finds it’s focus.  If you can’t focus, move slightly back and retry.  Repeat this process until your camera allows you to take a sharp, in-focus shot.

7. Bingo!  You’ve managed to capture the full beauty of that tiny, little flower  Well done!

It may take you a while to get the hang of this process but once you do you will be hooked.  Ask my mother in law – She turned from a photography novice to a real pro at taking macro shots all over the Costa Rica rain forest!

Please post your best Macro shots below with any questions or just to show off!

Bonus Tip: Compact cameras are usually way better at getting close up macro shots than DSLRs.  If you have a DSLR, and you want to do lots of specific Digital Macro Photography you’ll need to invest in a good macro lens such the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens for Canon users or the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR for Nikon users.

If you’re just trying to get the best digital macro shot check out the new Powershot G12 from Canon.  It will allow you to get super close ups with a closest focusing distance of  you a mere 1cm.

For more Learn a Mode Tutorials from Ingrid click here

Your Camera Mode Dial Explained

It’s been a while, I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you guys!  I’ve no excuses other than I’ve been super busy with my new online course “Getting to Grips with your DSLR” So I’ve decided that I’m going to make a better effort to post here at the blog and in particular, make some more videos.  I recently got an email from Katie, in Dublin who chastised me for not making more videos and I really feel like I’ve let you guys down.  So lots more to come – I promise…

In the meantime, check out the video below and leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts.

Your Camera Mode Dial Explained

What’s that spot? – DSLR Cleaning

I just had an email from a student of mine who has started to notice some blurs and spots on her images.  She’s cleaned her camera lens and her filters – where can this dirt be?

Well the fact of the matter is that there are tiny specs of dust inside her camera on the actual camera sensor.  A DSLR’s sensor or CCD is an electromagnetic device and because of this, dust particulars are easily attracted to it.  It’s a bit like the way dust attracts itself to your TV screen like a magnet – same concept.

Does my DSLR need Cleaning?

If you want to see if your camera has sensor dust try the following:

Set your camera’s aperture to f22 in the Aperture Priority mode.

Then take a few shots of a plain white piece of paper or if you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements take a picture of a blank white canvas on your computer screen.

The result will look something like this:

Ugh! Black spots! that’s one dirty sensor!

The can be removed in Photoshop but it really is a pain to do lots of shots like this.

What you need is a little sensor cleaning!

DSLR Cleaning Tips

The problem is that cleaning this sensor can be a tricky job one and having been in the business, I never recommend doing it yourself.   In my opinion, unless you are very confident and know precisely what it is you are attempting, leave this job to the professionals.  Find your local camera service centre and ask for a service quotation which should include sensor cleaning.  Then shop around till you find the best deal.

The best thing you can do is try to avoid this problem in the first place.

• Keep your camera body attached to a lens at all time.  There is no need to separate the lens from the body unless your are changing lenses.
• When you are changing lenses do it as swiftly as possible and try not to do it in very dusty/sandy windy environments
• Store your camera in a specific camera kit bag link
• Vacuum out the inside of the bag on a regular basis
• If you do have to get your camera senor cleaned try and go to a local service centre where possible so that you can have a faster turn around time than mailing off your camera body back to the manufacturer.

If you are interested in cleaning your sensor yourself this is a really great website which goes through the procedure step by step.

Be warned though this is not my recommendation and if you mess up your sensor – bye bye warranty and sometimes byebye camera….

Best idea – keep it clean people!

Happy snapping

Image thanks to  petar_c http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceklic_petar/1208075186/