Hi all! Recently a few people have asked me this and i really don't have anything much to say in return! Well, let me tell you all, you don't just click a picture and expect it to be colorful and vibrant. Its not like that at all. You really do have to go and find colorful stuff. You really need to be passionate about it. Photography is not easy because you have a digital camera and a pirated copy of Adobe Photoshop. Everybody can learn to use these things, but sadly Its got nothing to do with colors, light and stuff. But i'm not saying that its entirely required for you to take a great picture and it will be spectacular straight out from the camera. This is possible. You have to be at really good places, at the right moment and have to be pointing your camera at the right place. This has been said by many professional photographers and i'm simply echoing it.
What should you do if you are really disappointed with your photos? Think about them. Try to understand whats missing. Ask yourself: Whats supposed to be there that will make it better? Is it possible for you to obtain a better result just by shooting with different settings? Experiment! Is it possible to get a better picture by using manual mode? Try it and see!
Also, if you have observed a sunset, you will have noticed that every minute, there is a change in the light. The colors also change drastically. Make good use of the time, the weather and the light available. Its simple and basic physics that say that colors are formed beacause of light. So keep shooting under different light conditions. I guarantee you that you will get better results.
Remember that taking a good picture requires some thought before you click. Just think what can make the shot better. If you see something interesting, you will instantly think of taking a picture. But just hold on one second and observe the subject. What can you do to make it more interesting? Maybe a totally different angle? How about a different background? How would it look if the sun is shining on it during the evening? Think. Compose your shot well. As for the colors, you can't make something colorful thats really not. If it has a lot of color and vibrance, it will show in the photo. You need not worry. Just make sure your camera is set the right way. Ofcourse you can add saturation in photoshop. But thats not really great. Anyone can do that. So try to be creative and get the results you want, not by clicking things at random and expecting them to be super-colorful, but by finding interesting things around you, thinking of the shot and then clicking it. Later, if you feel you can present it in a better/artistic way then use whatever editing software you want. Its all how you want it to be. Its art. There are no rules really.
Enjoy your photography finally and stop worrying about all technical stuff.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
What is White Balance and How to choose the right one?
Hi there! Last post was pretty geeky by all means! But its hard to explain ISO and DOF in simple terms! I hope it helped! Today, lets see what White Balance (WB) is and how it can be used for normal usage as well as creatively to get the right mood and colors.
White Balance: As far as my knowledge goes, White Balance setting is the hue shift that is needed to make the color 'White' appear White! Simple. The light and its color has a major influence on everything it falls on. As a small physics refresher, we know that any object that absorbs all light is black. Any object that keeps certain colored light rays and reflects the rest will keep the color of the reflected light. Hence, if an object is pure red, its because it absorbs all colors of light and only reflects red rays of light. (By rays i mean the red part of the spectrum of visible light).
OK that was to only make you realize again that photography is majorly concerned with light.
Lets start by taking an example of a white wall in a room that is lit by a light bulb and hence the whole room looks orange-ish/yellow. Now, if you want the wall to look white and not orange, you have to change the White Balance setting in your camera. This setting is usually available on most new cameras irrespective of its class (i.e., DSLR or P&S or even Camera Phone). If you are aware of the available options, you will have to set the WB to Tungsten (named after the filament that glows in a light bulb). Now, your shot will look more natural and neutral. It will make the white wall look naturally white. Thats basically what White balance does. The usual settings for WB are Auto (the camera decides the WB depending on the hues of the light), Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Tungsten, Shade and Flourescent. All these have their own purpose and effect. To understand the effect, first, one must know what it means when someone says "the color is warm" or when "its a cooler color". Its simple. The color Red and its shades are called Warm colors. The color Blue and its shades are called Cool colors.
Creatively, the WB setting can also be used to change the way a scene looks. For example, look at the following picture.
These are two separate shots, each having its own mood. They were shot back to back. The image on the left was shot with Cloudy WB and the one on the right was shot with Tungsten WB. Tungsten WB adds blue to the picture thinking that you are in an area which is lit by tungsten bulbs and hence you want to neutralise the image by adding blue to the red shades. The other picture looks warm. Its because the Cloudy WB adds a nice warm tone to the image thinking that you are in a cloudy, gray area and the picture needs some warmth. Clearly, i have used it to the get the effect i want and i prefer the one with the Tungsten WB. I love the contrasting reds and blues. The blues are missing in the the other image. There is only some slight violet tint at the horizon. Anyway, basically what you can achieve with different WB settings is really nice and creative. Once you understand what WB setting does what, its easy to get what you want.
Some pointers:
When shooting normal situations, Auto WB works for me and it does a good job.
When shooting pictures of people in a restaurant that has a lot of light bulbs, use Tungsten.
When shooting sunsets, if you want it to appear very warm, then choose between Cloudy WB or Shade. For a milder warm tone, use Direct Sunlight.
For outdoor shots after sunset or before sunrise, try the Tungsten WB to get much bluer skies.
Keep experimenting. Setting the right WB will take your picture from mediocre to Great!
Happy Weekend!
White Balance: As far as my knowledge goes, White Balance setting is the hue shift that is needed to make the color 'White' appear White! Simple. The light and its color has a major influence on everything it falls on. As a small physics refresher, we know that any object that absorbs all light is black. Any object that keeps certain colored light rays and reflects the rest will keep the color of the reflected light. Hence, if an object is pure red, its because it absorbs all colors of light and only reflects red rays of light. (By rays i mean the red part of the spectrum of visible light).
OK that was to only make you realize again that photography is majorly concerned with light.
Lets start by taking an example of a white wall in a room that is lit by a light bulb and hence the whole room looks orange-ish/yellow. Now, if you want the wall to look white and not orange, you have to change the White Balance setting in your camera. This setting is usually available on most new cameras irrespective of its class (i.e., DSLR or P&S or even Camera Phone). If you are aware of the available options, you will have to set the WB to Tungsten (named after the filament that glows in a light bulb). Now, your shot will look more natural and neutral. It will make the white wall look naturally white. Thats basically what White balance does. The usual settings for WB are Auto (the camera decides the WB depending on the hues of the light), Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Tungsten, Shade and Flourescent. All these have their own purpose and effect. To understand the effect, first, one must know what it means when someone says "the color is warm" or when "its a cooler color". Its simple. The color Red and its shades are called Warm colors. The color Blue and its shades are called Cool colors.
Creatively, the WB setting can also be used to change the way a scene looks. For example, look at the following picture.
These are two separate shots, each having its own mood. They were shot back to back. The image on the left was shot with Cloudy WB and the one on the right was shot with Tungsten WB. Tungsten WB adds blue to the picture thinking that you are in an area which is lit by tungsten bulbs and hence you want to neutralise the image by adding blue to the red shades. The other picture looks warm. Its because the Cloudy WB adds a nice warm tone to the image thinking that you are in a cloudy, gray area and the picture needs some warmth. Clearly, i have used it to the get the effect i want and i prefer the one with the Tungsten WB. I love the contrasting reds and blues. The blues are missing in the the other image. There is only some slight violet tint at the horizon. Anyway, basically what you can achieve with different WB settings is really nice and creative. Once you understand what WB setting does what, its easy to get what you want.
Some pointers:
When shooting normal situations, Auto WB works for me and it does a good job.
When shooting pictures of people in a restaurant that has a lot of light bulbs, use Tungsten.
When shooting sunsets, if you want it to appear very warm, then choose between Cloudy WB or Shade. For a milder warm tone, use Direct Sunlight.
For outdoor shots after sunset or before sunrise, try the Tungsten WB to get much bluer skies.
Keep experimenting. Setting the right WB will take your picture from mediocre to Great!
Happy Weekend!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
What's ISO and Depth Of Field (DOF)?
Hi guys! Earlier you read about shutter speed and aperture. In automatic camera modes, these factors are automatically calculated and and set for every shot depending on the light on the subject. Other than the shutter speed and aperture, there are other factors that do affect how the image looks. One of these factors is the Depth of Field or D.O.F in short.
Depth Of Field means how much is in focus from near to far. That is, when the lens has focused on a certain subject, the areas closer to the lens and areas farther from the lens are out of focus. This is because, the focal point or point of focus lies at the focal plane of the subject and at other places far and near the lens, the image will be blurred due to loss of focus. Imagine that there are a number of laser beams attached to the circumference of the lens. All these beams converge at a certain point depending on the focus. Now, the point where all the beams converge, is the point of focus and will be the sharpest in the image. Now, the beams converge and then diverge after meeting. Hence, the places where the beams are divergent are the places where the image will be blurred or out of focus.
If its confusing, then just forget it. Lets just see how it can be controlled. For a shallow DOF, (that is, only the areas that are meant to be in focus are sharp and other parts of the image are blurred), the aperture must be large. That is, if the aperture is say f1.8, the DOF will be much shallower than when the aperture is smaller say f8.0. In general, for Portraits and people shots, the DOF may be shallow (aperture may be bigger) and for Landscape pictures, usually everything should be in sharp focus whether the objects are near the lens or far, and hence the DOF must be deep (that is the aperture must be smaller).
ISO is a standard number denoting a camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light the camera will be. The more sensitive it is, the more noise it gathers and hence, high ISO images will have noise (grainy). Most new DSLRs have excellent high ISO performance and the images are often very usable even at ISO 1600 and sometimes ISO3200.
ISO is generally pronounced by saying each letter separately. It is the same as ASA which used to be the way sensitivities where numbered back in the 1980's.
OK, how do we use it? Simple, just set the lowest ISO possible to get the shutter speed and aperture you want. If you want a smaller aperture and a faster shutter speed, then increase the ISO. At low light, there is not enough light to shoot a picture at small apertures or faster shutter speeds. Just increase the ISO until you can use a fast enough shutter speed and/or a smaller aperture. Higher the ISO, more the noise. This is less in newer cameras because of how technology just gets better. Also, on pocket cameras, the sensors are not as large as the sensors in DSLRs. Hence, the pixels are smaller and are less sensitive to light. This is why the low light shots taken with your P&S camera is much noisier. The highest ISO possible in P&S are generally ISO 800. New (and more expensive) DSLRs can pump up the ISOs to even 12800 and are still usable.
That's about it. Just use the lowest ISO at which you can comfortably shoot a picture.
Remember, all these technical stuff has nothing to do with taking good pictures. They only help you to understand what to do if you want to take control. Enjoy taking pictures the way you like. There is no thumb rule here!
Depth Of Field means how much is in focus from near to far. That is, when the lens has focused on a certain subject, the areas closer to the lens and areas farther from the lens are out of focus. This is because, the focal point or point of focus lies at the focal plane of the subject and at other places far and near the lens, the image will be blurred due to loss of focus. Imagine that there are a number of laser beams attached to the circumference of the lens. All these beams converge at a certain point depending on the focus. Now, the point where all the beams converge, is the point of focus and will be the sharpest in the image. Now, the beams converge and then diverge after meeting. Hence, the places where the beams are divergent are the places where the image will be blurred or out of focus.
If its confusing, then just forget it. Lets just see how it can be controlled. For a shallow DOF, (that is, only the areas that are meant to be in focus are sharp and other parts of the image are blurred), the aperture must be large. That is, if the aperture is say f1.8, the DOF will be much shallower than when the aperture is smaller say f8.0. In general, for Portraits and people shots, the DOF may be shallow (aperture may be bigger) and for Landscape pictures, usually everything should be in sharp focus whether the objects are near the lens or far, and hence the DOF must be deep (that is the aperture must be smaller).
ISO is a standard number denoting a camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light the camera will be. The more sensitive it is, the more noise it gathers and hence, high ISO images will have noise (grainy). Most new DSLRs have excellent high ISO performance and the images are often very usable even at ISO 1600 and sometimes ISO3200.
ISO is generally pronounced by saying each letter separately. It is the same as ASA which used to be the way sensitivities where numbered back in the 1980's.
OK, how do we use it? Simple, just set the lowest ISO possible to get the shutter speed and aperture you want. If you want a smaller aperture and a faster shutter speed, then increase the ISO. At low light, there is not enough light to shoot a picture at small apertures or faster shutter speeds. Just increase the ISO until you can use a fast enough shutter speed and/or a smaller aperture. Higher the ISO, more the noise. This is less in newer cameras because of how technology just gets better. Also, on pocket cameras, the sensors are not as large as the sensors in DSLRs. Hence, the pixels are smaller and are less sensitive to light. This is why the low light shots taken with your P&S camera is much noisier. The highest ISO possible in P&S are generally ISO 800. New (and more expensive) DSLRs can pump up the ISOs to even 12800 and are still usable.
That's about it. Just use the lowest ISO at which you can comfortably shoot a picture.
Remember, all these technical stuff has nothing to do with taking good pictures. They only help you to understand what to do if you want to take control. Enjoy taking pictures the way you like. There is no thumb rule here!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Shutter Speed and Aperture. What do these terms mean?
Hi everybody! I'm happy to see comments and suggestions from friends on my earlier posts! Thanks guys! As always, feel free to comment, ask a question or correct me if I'm wrong somewhere!
Today, i thought i will explain photographic terms like Shutter speed and Aperture. If you get a grasp on these terms and how they work, you will make good photos quickly without much fiddling around with settings and stuff. I will try and keep it short and simple. There's lots of detailed info on the internet.
Shutter Speed and Aperture:
As you've read (if you have!) on my earlier post about "How a Digital Camera makes a Picture?", when you take a picture, the shutter opens and closes for a small amount of time, during which the sensor is exposed to light. This duration, for which the shutter remains open is called Shutter Speed. It is usually expressed as a fraction of a second.
Example: This picture of water flowing out of a faucet was shot at a Shutter speed of 1/60 seconds.
What this means is the shutter remained open for one sixtieth of a second, or simply written 1/60. In general, 1/60 usually freezes slow moving subjects if they are well lit. Faster subjects like people and animals running, etc can be frozen with shutter speeds of 1/200 or faster.
The shutter speed alone, however will not decide how the picture looks. It also depends on the Aperture.
The Aperture is simply the size of the lens iris. It is the size of the opening, that allows light to enter. The bigger the opening, more light can enter at given shutter speed. It is just like how our eye pupils dilate or contract when they are exposed to bright or dark surroundings. The aperture also decides the Depth of Field (DOF) and i will discuss this in the next post.
Shutter speed and Aperture work together to create a well exposed image. Aperture is expressed as a fraction of the focal length. It is also denoted as "f-number" or "f-stop".
Lets consider another example:
This shot was made at a shutter speed of 1/200 and aperture of f/7.1 . This means, to get a well exposed image, the shutter had to remain open for 1/200 of a second, and the iris had to open to a size equal to 1/7.1 of the focal length. Now, the focal length at which this image was made is 31mm. Thus, the aperture is 31/7.1= approx 4.4 mm.
OK, now the fun part is that all the digital cameras and most modern film cameras calculate the shutter speed and aperture automatically. So you get perfectly exposed pictures always. But if you want to get creative, you will want to adjust these by yourself. That's where Manual mode come into play! More on shooting modes next time!
As a summary, remember, the most important factor in getting a good photo is the light. So, the shutter speed is used to control the time for which an exposure is made. Fast moving subjects need faster shutter speeds to freeze them, otherwise they will look like a blurry ghost like object. (This might be used sometimes to accentuate speed). The aperture is the size of the opening of the iris. It determines how much volume of light enters during the shutter duration. It might be a little confusing, but its simple physics. Just remember that the two terms are important and are linked closely.
Hope it helped. Next post will be about Depth Of Field and ISO.
Thanks!
Today, i thought i will explain photographic terms like Shutter speed and Aperture. If you get a grasp on these terms and how they work, you will make good photos quickly without much fiddling around with settings and stuff. I will try and keep it short and simple. There's lots of detailed info on the internet.
Shutter Speed and Aperture:
As you've read (if you have!) on my earlier post about "How a Digital Camera makes a Picture?", when you take a picture, the shutter opens and closes for a small amount of time, during which the sensor is exposed to light. This duration, for which the shutter remains open is called Shutter Speed. It is usually expressed as a fraction of a second.
Example: This picture of water flowing out of a faucet was shot at a Shutter speed of 1/60 seconds.
What this means is the shutter remained open for one sixtieth of a second, or simply written 1/60. In general, 1/60 usually freezes slow moving subjects if they are well lit. Faster subjects like people and animals running, etc can be frozen with shutter speeds of 1/200 or faster.
The shutter speed alone, however will not decide how the picture looks. It also depends on the Aperture.
The Aperture is simply the size of the lens iris. It is the size of the opening, that allows light to enter. The bigger the opening, more light can enter at given shutter speed. It is just like how our eye pupils dilate or contract when they are exposed to bright or dark surroundings. The aperture also decides the Depth of Field (DOF) and i will discuss this in the next post.
Shutter speed and Aperture work together to create a well exposed image. Aperture is expressed as a fraction of the focal length. It is also denoted as "f-number" or "f-stop".
Lets consider another example:
This shot was made at a shutter speed of 1/200 and aperture of f/7.1 . This means, to get a well exposed image, the shutter had to remain open for 1/200 of a second, and the iris had to open to a size equal to 1/7.1 of the focal length. Now, the focal length at which this image was made is 31mm. Thus, the aperture is 31/7.1= approx 4.4 mm.
OK, now the fun part is that all the digital cameras and most modern film cameras calculate the shutter speed and aperture automatically. So you get perfectly exposed pictures always. But if you want to get creative, you will want to adjust these by yourself. That's where Manual mode come into play! More on shooting modes next time!
As a summary, remember, the most important factor in getting a good photo is the light. So, the shutter speed is used to control the time for which an exposure is made. Fast moving subjects need faster shutter speeds to freeze them, otherwise they will look like a blurry ghost like object. (This might be used sometimes to accentuate speed). The aperture is the size of the opening of the iris. It determines how much volume of light enters during the shutter duration. It might be a little confusing, but its simple physics. Just remember that the two terms are important and are linked closely.
Hope it helped. Next post will be about Depth Of Field and ISO.
Thanks!
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