Getting close, really close

My little Canon SD10 finds pictures everywhere but it excels when it can get close. The fixed lens, with the camera set to its macro setting, does quite a fine job on close-ups of insects. The images look really fine, especially if you apply the same rules you use when shooting other kinds of pictures. This means capturing action, playing with composition and controlling colour to name just three things in a shooter repertoire.

Shooting Through Glass

For many years I taught photography to students in a masters journalism program at the local university. Teaching them how to approach flash photography was one of the hardest parts of the job. Everyone wants rules. Here's five do's, or here's five don'ts. Follow these and you'll be just fine. (No you won't!)

I tend to distrust rules. They give folk a way to deal with a situation without thinking. Good photography is all about thinking. Even using a point and shoot, even putting your trust in the little computer chip guiding your camera, demands that you and that chip have an understanding.

If you want to be photographer you have to understand a little about photography and a lot about your camera. If I could tell you one book to read to make you a better shooter, it would be the little booklet that came with your camera. The camera maker has a vested interest in seeing you succeed. They often have some really great tips.

An example of a rule that if followed will stop you from successfully shooting a lot of pictures is: avoid shooting through glass. The assumption is that you will always have a picture-obscuring-reflection in the glass. This is simply not true and you can take measures to eliminate the reflection completely.

The easiest way to get rid of the reflection is to have the flash right against the glass. (Pictures shot by photojournalists of individuals inside police cars are often shot like this.) The second is to shoot at an angle through the glass. The third is to shoot in such a way that the final picture is composed in a part of the frame not affected by the reflection. (The shot of the raccoon is an example of this.) I'm sure if I gave it some thought I could come up with more but I you get the idea.

Think.

Grain or Noise

In the bad old days of film, pushing film meant exposing the film at a higher ISO setting than that for which it was manufactured. The resulting image had greatly increased grain. The more you pushed, the greater the grain. Push 400 ISO film to 3200 ISO and the grain could get downright nasty.

Today's digital cameras also have an ISO setting at which they are most comfortable. This is the lowest ISO setting that the camera usually handles. 50 ISO or 100 ISO are common. Set the ISO higher and you are, in effect, pushing the CCD or CMOS chip with a resulting increase in electronic noise. This looks a lot like snow on a television screen.

To give you an idea of what happens when you set your ISO too high, I shot today's picture at 1600 ISO. I like the composition but hate the noise. In situations like this, if you must push the chip do it, but only if you must. If you can wait and take the picture under brighter conditions. Wait. You will be rewarded with much cleaner, stronger, more appealing pictures.

Personally, I prefer the image noise to the harsh and almost shadowless light from the on-camera electronic flash. Generally, the only time I prefer the on-camera flash is at parties when shooting couples and groups of posing friends. At these times, we are not going for art but clean record pictures.

Think support_Steady that camera

After getting the shot in the park (see yesterday's post), I returned to Horton Street to await the return of my wife with the car. There was a street sign beside the roadway that I could use as an improvised monopod. With my little camera it is best to refrain from shooting at the high ISO settings, the images get grainy or noisy. I prefer to support the camera, accept the motion blur, and shoot at the usual 50 ISO. It works for me.

This is a worthwhile tip even if your camera has built-in image stabilization. The IS system helps to keep the image pin sharp, heightening the contrast with the motion blurred automobiles. My old camera does not have an IS system.

The advantage of a one size fits all camera

If you have a bag of lenses and fully manual camera, you think you can do anything. You can't. You can do a lot but not everything.

If you have a small point and shoot, like my Canon SD10, you think, "I can't do anything." It is so restrictive. Restrictive? Yes. But, you can do a lot. And once you have faced the problem, tackle it with imagination and a whole new world of photography will open for you.

I like long lenses. If I had had my equipment from the paper, where I worked just a few months ago, I would have been much farther back from this scene with a 200mm f/1.8 lens. I'd have made a picture that was flatter, more compressed.

With my Canon SD10 I have but one lens, a 28mm* lens. For a working pro, it is a slow lens at f/2.8 but for a point and shoot it is fast as it is always f/2.8. This constant lens speed was achieved by simply not offering a zoom. A low tech solution but still the lens is always fast.

This long lens lover is being forced to get friendly with the wide angle lens. It is at this point that doors begin to open. The moment captured in today's picture is but a brief moment. The fog was thickening and thinning as I viewed the scene and the effect, when combined with the setting sun, was shifting literally by the second.

Forced to use a wide angle, I ran into the park to get close to the trees. I needed something in the foreground. I had to work with, and accent, the steep perspective that a wide angle can offer. I got close and then I held the camera high above my head to capture more of the curving sidewalk. I took picture after picture, checking the composition of each one after it was shot.

I had just a minute before the moment passed.

I also posted this image on London Daily Photo.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Got this comment on another blog. I like the line.
"Nice shot! You know they say the best lenses are those two legs!" Comment by: Christopher Szabo

f/8 and be there

The rule used to be, "f/8 and be there." When I left my job at the local television station to move to the local paper, my friends at the station gave me an f/8.

Today's point and shoot cameras have buried the f/8 part of the rule. My little Canon SD10 does not allow one to set an aperture. Aperture?

But being there is still important and if you have a little point and shoot at the ready, you've got your picture.

Is it art? Should I be proud to of today's picture, a picture which owes so much to my choice of camera? Of course it's art and I am proud. I made the choice and clearly I delegated wisely.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Is it art?

If you haven't done so, please read my take on why photography is art. You can find the essay on Rockin' On: the Blog.

Now, about this picture. Yes, like almost all the other images on this blog, this picture was shot with an aging Canon SD10. The sky was way too bright compared to the toilette in the foreground and so the sky was washing out in order to capture detail in the john.

First, I turned on the flash. As a rule I keep the flash off but rules are meant to be broken. Then I aimed the camera at the sky and exposed for the warm, sunset sky and the clouds. Then, I re-composed the picture to include the toilette. When I took the picture, the flash filled in the detail in the white porcelain throne. It even gave it a bit of a neat sparkle that takes away the dirty old john feel.

Even using a point and shoot, it helps to keep your brain in gear.