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/

How do I Back Up My Pictures?

What was that I hear? “ I save them to CD…When I remember” or “ I print everything” hmmm or the best – “I don’t back up my pictures!”

Well, I’m not hear to judge you. I admit I’m not the world’s most organized person but I do try. I’m currently trying to gain control of my hard drive and it’s contents. Mostly my pictures. I couldn’t believe it when I opened Picasa last week and realized how much stuff is on there. I have so many photos on my hard drive! Especially since having my daughter. I’ve probably taken more photos this past year than I had in the previous 3 years. And they’re all just sitting there…waiting…until someday, I burn them onto DVDs and file them away, possibly even delete them to free up some space on the hard drive. Oh a girl can dream…

Now, I teach all my students the importance of a good “workflow”:

Take Pictures – transfer to computer (my choice – use Picasa) – delete Pictures off memory card – Edit –

Print or Share – BACK UP.

I’ve got to be honest. I’m great at the taking, uploading and could use a little improvement on the “share” but when it comes to remembering to Backup my pictures, I have failed miserably.

It’s constantly on my list of things do.

Or should I say it WAS constantly on my list of things to do. Now I don’t worry about it thanks to a cool online back up service called MOZY! For $4.95 a month they back up my entire hard drive . That’s unlimited storage. Pictures, documents – EVERYTHING! How awesome is that? It works away in the background, uploading any new files and storing them on their servers and I can honestly say I don’t even notice it doing it’s thing.

They’ve just recently redesigned their website and it’s super easy to use.

• Just sign up and give them your info. They even have a free service where you can get 2GB without paying a dime. I decided to go for the MozyHome Unlimited Plan though – for less than $5 a month for unlimited storage.  It walks you through the necessary steps but basically you just do the following:
• Download MozyHome
• Then select the files you want them to back up (they give you a suggested list.)
• Over the next few days or weeks, depending on the size of your files, they back up your entire hard drive. (it took me 2 weeks).
• After that they periodically backup when your computer is idle.

Cool or what? No more CDs no more external hard drives No more “long finger.”

So go check it out before you regret it!

Remember: It’s not IF your hard-drive fails, but WHEN it fails. Don’t loose all those memories. Check out Mozy here - Trust me – you’ll sleep better at night!

Use this link and the coupon code AUGUST to get 10% off annual and biennial Mozy Unlimited or MozyPro

Happy snapping!

Ingrid

Christmas Time! How to Photograph Lights

This is  a really great time of the year to get  unique and magical pictures of your kids.  One of the things that adds to the magic, is all the sparkly lights everywhere.   From the lights on the trees, to the neighbor’s vibrantly decorated yard, there are excellent festive backdrops for holiday pictures everywhere.  So why is it that when we try to photograph lights at night they disappear into the darkness?

What Usually Happens (what not to do!):

1. We see a beautifully lit up scene and position our subject in front of this perfect Christmassy backdrop.
2. We use our camera’s auto setting, the Auto Flash fires and the lights disappears into the background.

Here’s a shot I took at the weekend which demonstrates what happens when we use flash:

It’s a perfectly exposed shot but we don’t really get a feeling of the atmosphere of the picture.  The background is beautifully lit by fairy lights but when the flash fires it throws the background into darkness.

How to Photograph Lights (do this instead)

So how to we accurately portray the scene as we see it?

1. Simply set your camera to Night Scene Mode (the icon looks like a little man beside a moon and stars)
2. Hold steady and shoot!

And here is the result:

What happens in Night Scene mode is the shutter stays open for longer than normal so the ambient lighting in the background is exposed.  Then, the flash fires in order to expose your subject in the foreground.

The result is a well exposed subject and a perfectly exposed background .  So we get the overall festive feeling of the picture.

Some things to remember when using this mode:

1. Only use when the background is lit up and the lights are to be part of the picture.
2. Hold your camera extra steady – that slow shutter speed will result in camera shake if you don’t
3. Only use for very still subjects.  My model was being unusually poised for this picture!
4. If you have no subject (person) in shot you could try turning flash off altogether and raising your ISO

So go and find some cool illuminated backgrounds and take some Holiday pictures using Night Scene Mode.

Happy snapping!

P.S. This is a great method to use to photograph your Christmas tree and your living room when taking your picture for Capture the Magic!  Be sure to read my post on this great way to catch Santa in the Act!

The Best Santa Picture without even leaving home

Most of you know that I’m the proud mom of a baby girl and this year I’m anticipating that Christmas will be even more fun than usual, having her around. I know I really should go and stand in line at the mall so she can get her first Santa picture but that doesn’t sound so appealing. So, since Santa will be paying us a visit this year I thought I would capture the event on camera on Christmas Eve.

How so I hear you say? You’ll never catch Santa in the act!

Well, thanks to a new website called Capture the Magic you can!  These guys help you get a picture of Santa in your very own living room.  You could even get a picture of him talking to the dog.

Set up your camera on Christmas Eve before the little ones head to bed and in the morning you have the proof of the pudding to show that the big man himself made an appearance.

Thrill your kids this Christmas! Catch Santa in YOUR house!

Continuous Shooting Mode – Learn a Mode Monday

Hi Guys,

For today’s Learn a Mode Monday I thought I’d try something a little different and post a video of how to use your continuous shooting mode.  This mode is perfect for capturing fast moving subjects like wildlife, athletes and 11 month old babies!

Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

• So remember, for shooting fast moving objects look for your camera’s Continuous Shooting Mode button

• Keep your finger fully depressed on the shutter button and capture all that action!

A great way to use up an entire memory card

Keep snapping!

Ingrid

Say Cheese Jack O’Lantern! – Using Exposure Compensation

There was great excitement in the Owens house last night when we carved out the pumpkins which have been sitting on the porch since last weekend’s visit to the pumpkin patch. I have to say that I love this American tradition! In Ireland, Halloween is more about fireworks and bonfires than pumpkin carving. Anyways, when we were finished making our jack-o’-lanterns we had, of course, to take photos and I thought that it would be a great opportunity to show you how sometimes, even when shooting at night, it’s better NOT to use flash.

This first shot was taken with automatic flash. I just set my camera to automatic and this was the result:

Pretty bad huh? And not at all spooky! The flash totally overwhelms the subject, throws the background into darkness, and we don’t get to experience any of the lights inside the pumpkins.

For the second photo I turned off the flash altogether.

• I did this by selecting “Flash off” in the flash modes setting.

The problem with this method is that although we do experience some of the ambient light coming from inside the pumpkin, it’s way too underexposed, i.e.too dark!!

In photography exposure is everything.  Most people don’t even realize that their compact digital cameras have the ability to change the exposure and we rarely change the ISO but that’s exactly what I did to achieve my final result.

To do this on my camera (Canon Powersot SD 1200IS) I had to

• select M for Manual in the Functions  settings

• Then, I raised my ISO to 400 by pressing the ISO shortcut button on the back of the camera.
  

  ISO Button

  If I only raised the ISO setting I would still have gotten quiet a good shoot so this is worth remembering when shooting in low light conditions.

• Finally I increased my EV or Exposure Compensation to .33 (or 1/3 of an f stop for all the techies out there) in order to allow more light into the camera and hence a longer shutter speed.
  

  Exposure Compensation

It’s important when you are shooting in low light conditions to hold your camera very steady because the long exposure will magnify even the slightest camera shake. In order to counteract this I used two of my favorite tricks – I used my best pal the Gorrillapod and I used the self-timer instead of pressing the shutter button. This will eliminate any camera shake from the action of your pressing the shutter button.

Pretty scary huh?

Now, what do I do with all this pumpkin?

Happy Halloween!!!

Ingrid

P.S.  Please let me know if you try this technique – it can be used for any subject which is self- illuminated!

Flash Photography Tips at the Pumpkin Patch

It’s Pumpkin time! And of course what does one do if one has both a baby and a pumpkin?  You sit on on top of the other of course!  Well, in my case the baby won’t stay on the pumpkin and tries to eat everything around her in the great outdoors – grass, gravel, bugs…(she doesn’t get outside much.)  So for my pumpkin picture we had to have daddy in the frame too.

It was quiet a gloomy day in Smyrna, so check out the two photos below to see what happens when I used my “Fill Flash.”

This first picture was taken in Auto Mode and as we were outside the camera detected that no flash was necessary.

But I know better than my camera!!!

The second picture is so much more vibrant and bright.  I did this by simply switching my Flash to “on” or “Fill-in” so that it will fire outside. this is one of my top flash photography tips!  This give just enough light to brighten up the shadows on my subjects’ faces and adds a bit of sparkle in their eyes.

To do this…

• First, find your Flash button (usually denoted by a “lightening strike”  ) and a “shortcut” button on the back of your camera.
• Select Fill In flash from your flashy type choices – Usually denoted by the” lightening strike” symbol again.  This will ensure that your Flash will fire regardless of lighting conditions that the camera senses.
• Don’t forget that you have to be within about 3 to 4 feet of your subject, otherwise the flash effect will be lost.

So no need to worry if it’s not the perfect Fall day when you have your trip to the pumpkin patch – Use Fill-in Flash!

Black and White Photography

At a family gathering this weekend I was reminded of the beauty of black and white photography. Instead of the usual family snapshots of people posing , fakey smiles and bright colors, our efforts were rewarded with a set of timeless pictures where we are not distracted by fashion or fads and the true personalities of our subjects can shine. A lot of times we forget how beautiful Black and White can be, choosing instead the “reality” of color. I have to be honest and say that in the past I’ve kept Black and White for Lansdcapes and Scenery and the odd posed portrait shot. So think about using this mode for an unusual twist on what could otherwise be another set of snaphots.

Black and White mode can be found on most cameras within the scene mode menu. Look for BW icon or a color mode. I feel it works best in situations where you can forgo flash so if your inside, turn off your flash and push up your ISO to 400 or 800.

If you’d prefer you can desaturate the color from your images after they have been taken by using a photo manipulation program such as Adobe Photoshop Elements or Picasa 3. This will certainly give you more control over the black and white effect you apply but can sometimes be quite laborious if you have several shots to work on.

Learn a Mode Monday – Discovering Landscape Mode

Since it is now the middle of summer and thoughts of vacations with pretty scenery and breathtaking views are all around, this week I thought we could talk a little about Landscape Mode. Landscape photography is one of the most rewarding types of photography and the easiest to achieve astounding results, as mother nature has usually done most of the hard work for us!

This mode is usually denoted by a symbol representing a mountain range and is sometimes called infinity mode. When we set our cameras to to Landscape mode the focus will switch to focusing at infinity and the lens will be set to a narrow aperture so that when taking a landscape shot, all of the scene will remain in focus (i.e. have a deep depth of field). This may result in a slow shutter speed being used, so wherever possible, use a tripod for a steady sharp shot.

In some digital cameras, using landscape mode will actually put a filter on your images to enhance blue skies and make green grass greener thus helping to make your scenic shots pop!

Use this mode when you are trying to capture a wide cityscape or a beautiful vista from your hotel balcony and you won’t be disappointed! You’ll bring back some pictures for your home well worthy of a mat and a frame which will serve as a great reminder of your awesome vacation.

Much better than those tacky souvenirs now isn’t it?

Top tip: Try capturing landscapes at different times of the day for really stunning shots – early morning and evening light make great pictures and are well worth the extra effort!

Parents Magazine Offers Photography Tips to Moms and Dads Entering Pictures of Children in Cutest Baby Photo Contest

I’m really impressed with all the pictures so far! But I’m even more blown away by all the cute kids. I’m so excited to find out who the winners will be! New York, NY (PRWEB) April 29, 2009 — Parents magazine is offering photography tips to hopeful moms and dads who are entering pictures of their chidren in the annual Parents.com cutest baby photo contest. The editors of Parents are holding the amateur photography contest to find the cutest pictures of babies 3-24 months old and pictures of kids 2-6 years old. Two winners will appear on special dual covers for the magazine’s November 2009 issue. Parents magazine cover kid photo contest Sharon Elcock, Sittings Editor at Parents, shared 10 photography tips for moms and dads entering pictures of children in this year’s cutest baby photo contest: 1. Take photos with a really simple, but pretty background. You can keep the dirty dishes in your kitchen sink a secret! Instead, go for natural scenery in front of lush greenery or pretty flowers. 2. Pictures with food on the face are cute for Grandma’s refrigerator – but not so much for the judges. 3. Try to capture your child in a care-free, happy moment. Photos that are too posed usually don’t show your child’s true energy and personality. 4. Try not to submit extreme close-ups please! It makes it hard to see the whole child. 5. Be honest with yourself about your child’s temperament. Does he truly enjoy taking pictures or does he burst into tears the moment you point the camera at him? If he doesn’t enjoy posing, get shots while he’s engaged in an activity. 6. Avoid taking photos of your child with hats on, or with a towel draped over their head – we’d prefer to see the kid hiding under the towel! 7. Try taking pictures using interesting, fun angles. 8. We like happy photos! Leave the cranky faces for family members. 9. Have your camera ready at all times so you don’t miss the money shot! 10. Take tons of pictures! Don’t edit yourself as you go along, Professionals take hundreds of pictures to get the keeper!Elcock says, “I’m really impressed with all the pictures so far! But I’m even more blown away by all the cute kids. I’m so excited to find out who the winners will be!”