Archive for the 'PERFORMANCE METRICS' Category

Have you ever tried to know about your camera shutter speed while clicking the image of a fast moving object? Have you tried clicking a fast moving animal and missed the shot in fraction of seconds? Every apprentice photographer might have experienced this problem while capturing a fast moving object.

The time lapse of clicking the shutter button and capturing the image on the image sensors will be very short. If the time lapse is not short, then you will click a shot and capture another shot.

The time lapse should be very less to capture the exact shot what you have clicked. All this process can be controlled by maintaining shutter speed. The other important aspects in exposure triangle which are supported with shutter speed are aperture and ISO!

What is shutter speed?

Shutter speed in normal terms is explained as “the amount of time the shutter is open”. The image sensors present in the camera captures the pictures. Light supports the image’s sensors to capture the pictures.

You might have observed the aperture priority mode in the camera.

Many photographers know the use of this aperture mode, but do not understand what exactly aperture priority mode is.

When you see the technical specifications in digital camera, the first priority mode is the aperture: maximum aperture or the aperture range.

Aperture is one of the important elements in the exposure triangle. The exposure triangle is very important in yielding good photographs. The other components of the exposure triangle are ISO and shutter speed [Techniques to take sharp digital pictures].

What exactly is aperture?

If explained in simple terms: “aperture is the size of lens diaphragm opening when the image is taken”. If you can master the aperture, you can grasp the real creativity and control over the clarity of the images.

It is the size of the diaphragm opening which regulates the amount of light to pass through the lens to yield an image. When you hit the shutter button in the digital camera, a small hole is opened allowing the image sensors in the camera to catch the glimpse of the scene or the picture you want to capture.

Portrait photography is “clicking the person not the pictures of the person”. Portrait photographs should have full of life in them, i.e. it should be natural. You should not pose for a portrait photograph. Portrait photographs highlight the facial expressions of models.

So, lighting is very important for warmer skin tones of the model and to highlight the face for facial expressions [Photography lighting techniques].

There are two types of lightings to consider in photographs:

• Natural lighting
• Artificial lighting

Natural lighting for portrait pictures:

Many think that natural lighting is only available for shooting outdoors.But you can divert the outdoor lighting to indoor with the means of window and light reflectors.

Providing lighting indoors with the means of a window is an easy way of proving light indoors without any artificial set up.

When shooting outdoors, it’s advised by experts to have a photo shoot between 4-6 pm or if you are inside, you can try window portrait pictures at mid-evening or mornings. Photos shot in natural light yield beautiful results [Perfect light source for good clarity].

Contrast! How can one exactly explain what is contrast and its importance.

Before you know how to improve contrast in the photographs and its importance in the photographs, let’s know what is contrast.

Contrast can be explained as the amount of difference between the two tones in the photograph.

To understand this visually, open a photo in image editing software workshop such as a Photoshop, open the channels in the tool bar and click on the red, green, blue or any other channel.

Now you see a black and white representation of the image. By adjusting the black slider to the right and white slider to the left in the image, you will adjust the contrast in the photograph.

The contrast in the photograph makes the ugly photograph look better but it cannot make the photograph look good. One thing to remember before you start editing your photograph is, your image should be 16-bit color depth.

Different editing techniques for best contrast in photographs:

1. Curves and masks: These are the most powerful and useful image editing tools for improving contrast. If you want to master in ‘editing contrast techniques’ in pictures, you can limit yourself to this 2 techniques to yield fruitful results. The curves correct color balance, lightness channels and adjusts layers in the photos. The masks correct the visual strength, offers flexibility for vector masks, layer sets and adjustments layers.

Taking photos at night time is not a tough job if you follow the necessary tips while taking the snaps.

Other than the photos taken in the sunlight, the photos which are taken in the moonlight when the sky is dazzling will express something more.

Here are some useful tips to take the better pictures at the night time:

1. Long exposures: Generally in the daylight photography, you will be focusing more on close exposures where as coming to night photography you should not take the snaps in close exposures. That means you must use long exposures while taking the pictures at the night time. Light will be allowed into your camera if you take the pictures in long exposures. But, the picture will shake while taking the pictures in the long exposures. So, the one and only solution to take beautiful snaps at night time in long exposure without shaking is tripod. Tripod will reduce the shakings which are obtained while taking the snap.
2. Control shots: The other option to get the better pictures at night time is by taking control shots. The hot pixels which are present in your camera are used while taking the control shots.

Think photograph without light! Sounds unusual, right? There is no photograph without proper lighting.

Lighting is often out looked by many amateur photographers. But, lighting is one of the important aspects of photography.

When particularly dealing with photography lighting, every one will think those big large flood lights adding light to the picture.

But, in simple terms photograph is an art of light and shade.

There are specifically two types of light

• Natural :natural sources like sun and moon
• Artificial: man made light sources.

When compared with artificial light photographs, pictures shot in natural light have greater clarity.

Professional photographers say that the natural light at sun set or sun rise is the superlative light for photography and gives perfect light for pictures.

Some photographers believe that the spam of 10 minutes before sun set and sun rise is the awesome time for photography and the snaps taken in this time will be perfect. If you are a beginner, try at this time rather than starting at night or afternoon.

Photography in the mid afternoon when the sun is sharp, bright and hot is not preferable. This time is avoided by many photographers as this light does not support photography.

Photography is all about capturing light or electronic sensor. Lens acts as censor for capturing.

Lens is the most important feature that will affect the quality of the picture. Lens is the most sensitive part of the digital camera.

Same lens is not used for all digital cameras. There are different ranges and varieties of lenses varying in focal length, speed and other specifications.

The camera which gives the flexibility to change or attach another lens is an ideal camera for professional photographers. Some types of digital camera lens which will give you an idea of selecting lens in appropriate ways are mentioned here.

Based on focal length

• Standard lens: This is a usual lens supplied with digital SLR camera lens. Good for angles close to human eye and for general purpose. These are sharp, light weight and compact. The focal length range is 35-70mm.
• Wide angle lenses: Common choice to shooting natural scapes, sweeping landscapes and outdoor scenes. Used as wide angle, group shots without excluding any element in the frame. The focal length range is <50mm.

Lighting is the essential aspect which has to be considered while taking the snaps.

The clarity levels of the picture will decrease if necessary lighting is not available while taking the snaps.

Basically, the light sources required for photography are divided into two types; natural light source and artificial light source.

Sun is the Natural light source where as the artificial lights are man-made sources.

Mostly the pictures or snaps which are taken in natural light will have more clarity levels when compared to artificial light. In natural lighting also, you have to consider certain timings in which you can get great photographs i.e., during sunrise time and sunset time.

These timings are mostly preferable for professional photographers because the snaps or photos which are taken in these timings will have high clarity levels with perfect lighting.

You must avoid taking the snaps in the middle afternoon time, because shadows will appear on the snaps which are taken at this time.

This situation arises because in the afternoon time the sun will be more powerful and it will produce more amount of lighting at that time. Due to that over lighting, shadows will obtain on your snaps.

Resolution is the essential feature which has to be considered while buying a new digital camera.

The efficiency and progression of your digital camera can be determined by its resolution.

Different digital cameras will have different resolutions and the resolution of the camera will be dependent on its pixel count.

If your digital camera has high pixel count, then the resolution of the camera will also be high or else if the pixel count of the camera is less, then the resolution of the camera will be automatically less.

The cameras which have high resolution can be named as the most advanced cameras.

The camera with high resolution are more useful for professional or expert photographers because they can manage to use different modes present in it in the right way and they will have enough experience to maintain it in the correct way.

The various modes which are present in the high resolution cameras cannot be used properly by the normal photographer where as the professional photographers might have known how to use all the modes properly and in which mode they have to keep the camera in that fixed time to attain better picture.