Top Photography Tips [David Peterson]

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Photo-Secrets.com.

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Table of Contents

Copyright Information

Important Notice:

Disclaimer and/or Legal Notices

Table of Contents

Introduction

I love my digital camera!

Top Photo Tips

About David Peterson

Fixing Blurry Images

What makes blurry photos?

Camera Moved

The BLUSH System

Subject Moved

Why Can’t I Tell If My Images Are

Blurry Until Later?

Focus

Night Photos

Using A Flash

Night Photography Essentials

Night Photography Procedure

Photographing People At Night

Noise

Reducing Noise

Use A Combination Of Techniques 18

Removing Noise Using Software

Background Problems

Background Out Of Focus

Creating Out Of Focus Backgrounds

Aperture

Bright and Dark Patches

The Cause

How To Handle Both Very Dark and

Very Bright Areas

Boring Shots

Get Closer

The Rule Of Thirds

Solving Shutter Lag

What is Shutter Lag?

Eliminating Shutter Lag

White Balance

Setting White Balance

Use A Paint Program

Red Eye

Fixing Red Eye Before It Happens 35

Removing Red Eye Using Software 36

Author’s Conclusion

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Introduction

I love my digital camera!

Digital cameras have made photography so much easier than it used to be! You

get to see your photos immediately, and can instantly see if you have a problem

with your photo. No more waiting 2-3 days for the photos to arrive back from the

lab.

You may have found, however, that even with all this new technology, that your

photos aren

’t that much better than the ones you took with your film camera.

Top Photo Tips

What most people don

’t realize is that it’s really easy to take spectacular photos.

You just need to know a few simple tricks and techniques and you

’re well on your

way.

So that

’

s why I wrote this book.

’ve listed the top 10 problems that people have with taking great photos with

their digital cameras, and have provided easy answers to all!

About David Peterson

’ve been in love with

digital photography for years and have been sharing my

knowledge with the world through my website,

Digital Photo Secrets

. On this

website, I give away lots of tips for becoming a better photographer, and so far

have taught over 100,000 people these simple techniques.

David Peterson.

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Fixing Blurry Images

This is one of the biggest problems when taking photos with your digital camera.

You take what you think are wonderful shots, but when you get home and

transfer the shots to your computer, they turn out all blurry.

Fortunately, there

’s some easy solutions to fix blurry images once and for all!

What makes blurry photos?

Blurry images are caused by one of two things. Either your camera has moved

while the shutter was open, or your subject moved. It

’s easy to work out the

cause

… if the whole image is blurry, then the camera moved. If only part of the

image is blurry while part of it is crystal clear, then it was the subject that moved

while the shutter was open.

Camera Moved

If your whole image is blurry, it means your

camera moved while the shutter was open.

The camera has some sophisticated optics to

focus your image onto a small sensor inside

the camera. Any movement of the camera

(even a small shake caused by your hands)

can be enough to result in a blurry result.

With slow shutter speeds (like 1/30 second or slower), the small movement of

your hands, or your body breathing, will cause the camera to

move.

The camera will usually tell you if the shot is susceptible to

shaking by showing a little

“Hand” icon. This means that should

not hand hold the camera for this image with the current settings. You need to

Magic Tip

Blurry images are mostly caused

when there is not enough light

around. Situations like shooting

indoors or at night both have the

potential to create blurry images.

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either change the settings, or steady the camera before you press the shutter

button. Here

’s how:

Use A Tripod

The easiest way to steady the camera is to

use a tripod. Tripods come in lots of

different sizes and steady the camera by

providing a solid resting place while the

shutter is open.

However, tripods can be bulky and a pain to

carry around, so there are some other

options you can try.

Use a small bean bag. A small bag filled

with beans or rice provides an excellent

camera stabilizer for little money. Place the bag on a steady surface, and your

camera on the bag.

A String-Pod is a really neat invention. It

’s just some string that’s as tall as you

are and looped at one end. Place your foot into the loop, and tie the other end to

your camera at about eye height. While taking your shot, pull the camera

upwards so the string is tight. The string acts as a steadier and while the camera

can still move around, it

’s a lot less susce

ptible.

Steady Yourself

If you don

’t have a tripod, or another steady surface handy, you can steady

yourself and thus your camera while the shutter is open. I

’ve heard of people who

have taken crisp, sharp hand held images even with the shutter open for 3

seconds. That

’s pretty impressive (and needs a lot of practice). However, there

are some things that will help you to take clearer shots.

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The BLUSH System

I have a great system called the BLUSH system to ensure your camera is as

steady as possible.

–

Breath. Take a deep breath just before you fully depress the shutter, and

hold it while you press the shutter. Breathing causes your body to move, so

holding your breath will eliminate this.

–

Line Up Your Body. Hold your elbows close to your site, stand straight up,

and steady yourself. When your elbows are close to your body, you provide your

camera more support by turning your body into a makeshift tripod.

–

You. Bring your camera close to you. Don

’t use the LCD screen to preview

your photo. Instead, use your camera

’s viewfinder. This will force you to bring the

camera up to your face and provide even more

stability.

–

Stability. Steady yourself using your feet, or by

leaning on a post or wall.

–

Hands. Use both hands to firmly hold your

camera from each site. If your camera has a large

lens, use one hand to steady the lens.

All you have to remember is the word BLUSH. Next time you need to keep your

camera steady, go through each of the 5 BLUSH steps. You

’ll be surprised at

how quickly you

’ll be taki

ng rock steady images.

Also take a look at the ISO and Shutter Speed tricks below, as these will help

reduce blurry images.

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Subject Moved

If your subject moved causing them to blur in your image, the solution is to

increase your camera

’s shutter speed. Thi

s can be done a number of ways.

Increase the ISO

The ISO is a setting the tells the camera how sensitive the image sensor inside

the camera should be. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor

is to light. In other words, at higher ISO numbers (like 400 or higher) less light is

needed to take your shot, so the camera doesn

’t need to leave the shutter speed

open for as long.

I recommend setting your ISO one setting down from the highest your camera

can go. So if your highest ISO is 1600, set it to 800.

Be aware that having an ISO that

’s too high can mean you get noise in your

photos. See my section on Noise elsewhere in this guide.

Turn On The Flash

In low light situations (including when you are indoors), the camera

doesn

’t have as much ligh

t as in the bright sun, so it keeps the shutter open for

longer to compensate. One solution is to turn on your camera

’s flash. This will

illuminate the scene, speeding up the shutter speed and freezing your blurry

subject into a crystal clear shot.

This can cause other problems, however. A flash removes any mood lighting in

your photo. And if your subjects are too close, they will be too bright in the photo

(we call this over exposed). Also, using a flash can cause Red Eye (however, this

too can be eliminated

–

see my discussion in this guide).

Use “Shutter Priority Mode”

If your camera supports the Shutter Priority Mode (TV or S mode) try

using it. In Shutter Priority mode, the camera still does most of the work for you,

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but you can choose the shutter speed. Set a shutter speed that is high enough to

freeze any movement by your subject. 1/60 second will work for most situations

unless your subject is moving very fast (like a race car) where you

’ll need to use

a higher value.

If your camera won

’t let you inc

rease the shutter speed to 1/60 second (or

higher), it

’s probably because there is not enough light around. In this case, also

increase the ISO setting as mentioned above to make the camera more

sensitive.

Why Can’t I Tell If My Images Are Blurry

Until Later?

Most of the time we don

’t see that an image is blurry until we look at the photo on

our computer. We may not look at the photos until the next day (or next week)

–

way too late to go back and re-shoot the photos. So you

’re left with some very

disappointing results.

The reason you can

’t tell if your images are

blurry by looking at your LCD screen is the

screen is too small to see everything in the

photo. In a computer, you have a much larger

screen to view your images, but the LCD is

usually tiny

–

smaller even than a normal photo

print.

The small screen isn

’t large enough to show you every pixel, so your camera

scales down the image to show you. While this gives you a great overall look at

your photo, you won

’t see any fine detail or know if your image

is blurry.

When taking shots in situations where I suspect I might get some blurriness (like

in low light), I always use the zoom function of my camera to zoom in on the

image on the screen (this is not the zoom you use to get closer to your subject

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before you take the shot

–

this zoom gets closer to an image that you have

already taken). Zooming in to full size means I can see each pixel and can

quickly see if my image is crisp, or blurry.

Focus

Before we leave blurry images altogether, there is one other cause of blurry

images that is not related to movement. If the camera is not focused on your

subject, then the image will be out of focus, which results in an image that looks

kind of blurry.

The most common cause of this is the Auto Focus on your camera was

accidentally turned off. But it could also be that your subject moved out of the

focus point between when you half depressed the shutter button (and the camera

determined what to focus on), and when you fully depressed the button (and the

shot was taken).

Out of focus pictures can also be seen by zooming in on the LCD screen, so

make a habit of looking closely at your images just after you take them.

Don

’t come home to disappointment by finding blurry images. Make sure in low

light situations that you check your photos before you go home.

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Night Photos

“How do I take a great night

shot?

” This is another question

that I get a lot.

Unfortunately our eyes are much

better at seeing in the dark than a

camera is, so when we take

shots in the dark they don

’t tur

out as we had hoped.

Common problems are : Flash Too Bright; Blurry images; Too Dark; and Too

Much Noise.

’ll cover the noise problem next, but first I want to explain how to take some

stunning night shots.

Using A Flash

Honestly, I recommend you do NOT use a flash when photographing at night. A

flash tends to

‘drown out’ your scene in light which usually ruins the mood. First

try some of the techniques below to take your shot without flash, and only use a

flash when absolutely necessary.

When using a flash, you need to be aware that the flash light only lasts a short

distance from the camera. That

’s why most flash photos show your subject very

clearly but no background. In fact, the background is usually completely black

–

because the flash didn

’t reach

that far. So compose your flash shots against a

close background, and ensure your subjects are all relatively close to the

camera.

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If your subjects are too close, the resulting

image can be too bright. That

’s why I always

look at the shot in the LCD screen before

moving on. If it is too bright, I move away

from my subjects a bit and try again.

Another thing to watch out for when using the

flash is Red Eye. See my Red Eye section for

tips on removing this common problem.

Night Photography Essentials

The best night shots are taken without the flash. This allows the natural light of

the scene to be shown in the image.

The way to do this is to set your camera to a high ISO setting. This makes it

more sensitive to light, so you

’ll need less light around to take your image. I

recommend setting the ISO to one or two values below your camera

’s highest

setting.

Another essential is a tripod. You absolutely need either a tripod (or something

flat and steady) to take great night shots. This is because the camera

’s shutter is

open for a very long time and any movement will cause blurry images.

You also need a camera that

’s capable of slow shutter speeds (between 2 and

20 seconds). You will need these extra slow speeds for taking photos with only

moonlight. It

’s handy in some circumstances (like taking shots of fireworks) to

have a camera with a bulb setting. This is where the shutter stays open for as

long as you keep the shutter depressed.

Using an SLR digital camera is a real advantage in night photography. SLR

cameras are usually more expensive than Point And Shoot cameras and have

better parts.

Magic Tip

When moving away, I also zoom

my camera in a fraction. This will

make sure my subjects are still

full frame in the picture, but I

don

’t get the overexposed flash

look.

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Night Photography Procedure

Here

’s my procedure for taking great night photos every time. This procedure

only works well with subjects that are not moving. If you want to take shots of

people at night, see the next section.

Place your camera on a tripod.

Increase the ISO setting to one down from the highest setting

on your camera (so if your camera

’s highest setting is 3200,

set it to 1600).

Set Shutter Priority Mode on your camera. If you don

’t have

this mode, use the Night Photography setting. Both these settings turn off the

flash which is what we want here.

Plug in your external shutter release. If you don

’t have one of these, activate the

self timer of your camera. The self timer will activate once you fully depress the

shutter button, giving you a few seconds to move your hands away from the

camera so it is steady when you take the shot.

Compose the shot you

’d like to take. Half

press the shutter to see if the camera can

find the focus. If not, then point the camera

towards a light source that

’s about the same

distance as your subject so it can focus. If

you don

’t have any other lights, shine your

flashlight on your subject until the camera

focuses.

Fully depress the shutter and the first picture

will be taken.

Magic Tip

Believe it or not, but the action

of your finger pressing the

shutter usually moves the

camera enough to ruin your

night shots. Use an external

shutter release, or the camera

’s

self timer to avoid this problem.

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At this point I look at the image in my LCD screen

–

zooming in if necessary. If it

seems too dark, my camera hasn

’t set the exposure properly. This can happen in

night photography because there is very little light around.

To fix any exposure problem, change the Exposure Value (EV) setting of your

camera. For images that are too dark, set the EV to

–

1 or

–

2 and take the shot

again. If the resulting image still isn

’t right, try again with a lower EV value.

Another way to fix an exposure

problem is to switch your

camera into Manual mode. Use

the camera

’s menu system t

display the shot record (EXIF)

data of the first shot you took.

Take a note of the Aperture and

Shutter Speed settings.

Then switch the camera to Manual Mode, set the same Aperture and then take

about 4 more shots each time varying the shutter speed to be slightly longer than

last time.

For instance, if the camera chose an Aperture of 5.6 and shutter speed of 2

seconds, I would place the camera into manual mode, set the same aperture

(5.6) and try three more shots with slightly slower shutter speeds

–

say 2.5, 3.2

and 4 seconds. These are the three next slower shutter speed settings on my

camera.

Take a look at each of these photos on your camera

’s screen. You will find each

image to be brighter than the previous images. What you want is a brightness

where you can see the darker areas of your photo, but the lights aren

’t too bright.

I take one last shot, setting the shutter speed to be slightly slower once again,

because sometimes the image in the LCD doesn

’t quite give me the same view

that I will see on my computer (or will be printed).

© pk_max

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Photographing People At Night

The above techniques work superbly for subjects that don

’t move much (like

buildings or gardens). If we want to take shots of our friends, we need to use a

slightly different technique. You can use a flash, as mentioned above, but here

’s

some other solutions you can try.

Turn On More Lights

One very simple technique is to make more light available to your camera by

turning on some lights, or having your subjects move more into the light. If you

ask people nicely, they normally don

’t mind moving around so you can take a

better shot. Who knows? With these techniques you

’re likely to be taking better

photos than anyone else there, so your friends may even want copies of your

shots!

Slow Sync Flash

Only some cameras have this mode. Usually

when you turn on the flash, the camera

increases the shutter speed because it

knows the flash will brighten the image

enough.

With the Slow Sync Flash mode (which can

sometimes be represented as a person with a star in the background), the flash

fires, but the camera

’s shutter stays open for longer.

You can use this mode to great effect because your foreground subject will be

frozen in light by the flash, AND the background will show on the photo because

of the long shutter speed. This way you get the best of both worlds! If you use

this method, make sure you tell your subject to stand as still as possible,

otherwise you

’ll get some motion blur (as in this example image).

© searay

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Noise

Digital Camera noise is anything that is visible in your photograph that was not

present in the scene. Noise is the brightly colored little specks in your photo

when there should not be any. Noise is a really common problem with digital

cameras, but there are some techniques to reduce, or eliminate it.

Noise is caused by a technological limitation

of your digital camera

’s image sensor.

Sometimes, your camera needs to amplify

the signal coming from this sensor, and while

the amplification does boost the signal (your

picture), it also boosts the noise. It

’s similar to

the background hiss you can hear when you

turn your stereo up loud.

Reducing Noise

’s not possible to completely eliminate

noise, but when you know the most common

causes of noise, you can help to reduce it.

A high ISO value is the most common cause of noise. Increasing the ISO causes

the camera to amplify the signal from the sensor even more. And as I noted

above, when you amplify the signal, you also amplify the noise. So reduce the

ISO of your camera as much as possible. If you

’re shooting on a bright sunny

day, use ISO 100 or 50. On a cloudy day, use ISO 200 or 300. At night, use 400

or above.

Magic Tip

In this discussion I

’m not talking

about

‘JPEG Noise’. You will get

artefacts on your photo when

using the

“Low Quality” or “Small

File Size

” JPEG setting of your

camera. While this allows you to

put more photos on your

memory card, it also reduces the

quality of your images. I

recommend always using the

“High Quality” JPEG setting.

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If your camera has a Noise Reduction mode,

turn it on. Some cameras enable it

automatically when you use a high ISO

value, but it

’s worthwhile

ensuring it is

enabled. When this mode is on, your camera

uses some software to reduce the noise as

much as possible before it saves the image

to your memory card.

Noisy Image

After Noise Removal

Cameras with larger sensors are less susceptible to noise, so this is another

option. SLR cameras usually have larger sensors and the higher cost of these

cameras also means they are more likely to include better quality parts.

Magic Tip

A happy side effect of reducing

the ISO of your camera is your

images will have more vibrant

colors. So always use the lowest

ISO you can.

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Use A Combination Of Techniques

I also recommend using a combination of all the above. Use the lowest ISO

possible, turn on noise reduction, and if possible invest in a more expensive

camera. All will combine to almost completely reduce the noise in your photo.

Removing Noise Using Software

What if your camera doesn

’t have a noise red

uction feature? Lots of image

editing programs available for your computer (like Photoshop Elements,

Photoshop CS and Paint Shop Pro) have noise reduction features. These work

really well to reduce noise in a photo.

There are also specialized noise reduction software programs on the Internet.

These programs only do one thing (and do it well)

–

removing noise from your

photos. One I recommend is called Neat Image and it is available from

http://www.neatimage.com

. Another highly recommended program that also

works on a Mac (although more expensive) is Noise Ninja from

http://www.picturecode.com

To learn more about Digital Camera Noise, and how you can reduce it (including

a video that shows you how to use Neat Image), see my Noise Bonus available

in my

Digital Photo Secrets book

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Background Problems

How often have you looked at a photo and said

“Wouldn’t it be

great if the light

pole wasn

’t sticking out of Aunt Mavis’ head” or “Did that tree branch need to be

right in front of little Johnny?

”

When we compose

photographs, we tend to

concentrate our subject. And

well we should

–

because

this is the main element of

our photo. Unfortunately

when we do this, our brain

doesn

’t see anything else in

the picture, like those light

poles situated in the wrong

place.

Our brains don

’t register the unwanted element in our photos until we see the

photos again on our computer. Way too late to do anything about it.

The trick that professional photographers use

to make sure there aren

’t any ‘hidden

gottyas

’ is to use the camera’s viewfinder.

Once they are almost ready to take their

photo, they scan the rest of the scene with

their eye.

So take a leaf from the pros, and do a quick

scan yourself. Look for anything in the

background that will interfere with your

subject in the final photo (like that pesky light pole). Also look for anything in the

© r.d_collas

Notice the basket in the foreground? Very distracting. If the photographer

was to move slightly to the left, the shot would have been much better.

Magic Tip

Keep an eye on rubbish in the

frame as well. Take a few extra

seconds to remove any litter, or

unsightly objects from your

frame. You

’ll thank yourself

later.

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foreground that obscures some of your subject (like the basket handle in our

example above).

If you find anything problems with the foreground or background, move your

camera and recompose your shot. Sometimes you only need to move a few feet

to one side. Other times, you might need to look around to find a more pleasing

background.

And this trick works for light as well. If on a scan of your image you notice that

your subjects aren

’t as bright as the background, the

n ask them to move more

into the light.

A second invested before you press the shutter will save agony later when you

see your pictures in print and discover that unwanted extra.

© hilonesome

This photo of kids running would have been better without the person in the blue jumper.

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Background Out Of Focus

© Kilian Hofmann

The number one photography aspect that makes others say

‘wow’ to a photo is

the

“Subject In Focus, Background out of focus” effect. This emphasizes your

subject because the viewer of your photo can

’t make out anything else.

This effect is a result of two features of your camera called

“Depth Of Field” and

“Circle Of Confusion”. But rather than bore you with the technical aspects of how

this works, I

’ll just show you how to use them to

your advantage

… In the same

way as most people don

’t know exactly how electricity works, but we all know

how to use it!

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Creating Out Of Focus Backgrounds

’s really easy –

change your camera to the Portrait Mode. With this mode,

you

’re telling the camera

that you will take a portrait shot of someone and it will

change the settings to ensure the subject is in focus and the background is out of

focus.

Aperture

You can control the amount of your image is

in focus, and the amount that is out of focus

by changing the Aperture value. Set your

camera to Aperture Mode and use a small

aperture number (like 4, or 5.6) to have only

a small area of your image in focus. This is

what your camera does when you select

Portrait Mode. Similarly, setting a high

aperture number will increase the amount of

your image in focus. Use a high aperture

number (10 and above) for landscape shots

where you want both the foreground and

background to be in sharp focus.

The

“

Background out of focus

”

technique is done by manipulating Depth Of Field.

To know exactly how Depth Of Field works to shift the focus of your images, take

a look at my Depth Of Field Secrets course at

http://www.dofsecrets.com

. This

video course explains this technique simply (without any jargon) and how you

can use it to take your photography to the next level and produce winning photo

after winning photo.

Magic Tip

As you increase the aperture

number, you also decrease the

amount of light getting into your

camera. With Aperture Priority,

your camera will compensate by

keeping the shutter open slightly

longer. You will mostly notice

this in low light situations

because a longer shutter speed

can cause blurry images. See

my section on blurry images for

why this is so.

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Bright and Dark Patches

Ever had this problem? You take a great shot, but

parts of the image are either too bright or too dark.

You have a perfect sky, and the foreground is too

dark; or your foreground is great, but the sky is all

white. Or your subject is very dark while the

background is perfectly exposed.

‘correctly exposed’ picture is where the

brightness level is just right. There are no areas

that are completely black, or completely white. If

these areas exist, they are said to be

‘under

exposed

’ (the black parts) or ‘over exposed’ (the white parts).

The Cause

The simple reason is that a camera can

’t pick up all the light levels that our

human eye can. Our eye can see great ranges of brightness at the one time. We

can be inside and see both the inside room, and outside the window quite well.

However, there are some limits to how quickly we can adjust to different

brightness levels. If you go from an almost dark room outside into bright sunlight,

your eyes blink while they adjust to the large change in brightness.

’s worse for your camera because it can’t see as many levels of brightness at

once as our eyes can.

Fortunately, camera makers have developed some very clever techniques to

overcome this limitation. And they have mostly done a good job.

When you half press the shutter button, the camera does a few things (to know

exactly what it does, look at the section on Shutter Lag). One is the camera

This young man is a little too dark. The

camera has exposed for the bight area

behind him,

Page 24

samples parts of the scene and finds the overall brightness. It then adjusts the

camera settings to ensure that when the photo is taken, it is not too bright or too

dark. This is called a

‘correctly exposed photo’.

When you try to take a photo of two areas

that have a large brightness difference

between them (like an indoor room and the

view outside a window), the camera can

’t

correctly expose both of these areas at the

same time. This is where you get areas of

your photo that are too dark or too bright.

Most of the time, it

’s good enough to ensure

your subject is correctly exposed. When our

subject is too dark or too bright is when we

get annoyed!

You need to tell your camera where your subject is, so it can ensure the

exposure of that part of the image is correct. To do that, give your camera hints.

Giving Your Camera A Hint

Your camera will get the exposure of your subject wrong because it doesn

’t know

where your subject is in the frame. It may see a very dark scene, but not realize

that your subject (over the right side of the image) is brightly lit. The resulting

image will have the dark scene exposed correctly, but your subject will be too

bright and be over exposed.

Your camera assumes that the object in the center of your photo should be

correctly exposed, so it reads the light from the center of your image.

The trouble is that for pleasing images, often our main subject is not in the center

of the photo. See the section on Boring Shots for why this is the case.

Magic Tip

The camera

’s exposure reading

is why your camera knows to

keep the shutter open for longer

in low light scenes. Without this

reading, you would need to

adjust your camera manually for

every single shot you take.

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Remember that your camera reads the

exposure when you half press the shutter

button. Use this knowledge to your

advantage! Just before you press the shutter,

move your camera so the subject (or the area

of the photo you want to be correctly

exposed) is in the center of frame.

Then depress the shutter button half way.

Your camera will set the exposure according

to what is now in the middle of the image

(your subject).

Then move the camera back so your subject is where you want them in the shot.

Finally, fully depress the shutter button. Your subject will now be correctly

exposed.

This works for any scene. With our

‘indoors and looking outside a window’ scene,

if we wanted to ensure that the indoor room isn

’t too dark, we move our camera

so that the center of the frame is looking at the inside wall. Then we half press

the shutter. Move the camera back to recompose our image, and fully depress

the shutter to take the photo.

To ensure we see outside (so the indoor room is dark), keep the center of frame

pointing at the bright outdoor area when you half press the shutter. Recompose

and then shoot.

Metering Modes

Another way to give your camera a hint is to change your camera

’s Metering

Mode. This tells the camera where in the image to sample for brightness.

The three most common metering modes are:

Magic Tip

When you half press the shutter,

your camera also sets focus. So

make sure that if you move the

camera to set exposure, ensure

the new center of frame is about

the same distance to your

camera as your subject.

Otherwise your subject will be

out of focus.

Page 26

Matrix Metering. Also known as Multi-Zone

or Average metering. Your camera looks at

the whole scene and takes an average light

measurement. Use this mode you

’re your

whole scene has brighter and darker

sections, but no areas that are very bright or

very dark.

Center Weighted Metering works similar to

matrix metering, but it places more weight on

the brightness level of the center of your

image. Because most of the time your

subject will be close to the center of your

photo, this ensures your subject is correctly

exposed.

Spot Metering takes a light reading from the

very center of your photo and ignores the

rest. This is handy when there is a small part

of your photo that you need to be correctly

exposed. For instance taking shots of

sunsets is problematic because the sun is

very bright. Setting Spot Metering, and pointing towards the clouds will fix this

problem.

Some more expensive cameras even allow you to select specific areas of the

image to read when setting the exposure. I find it

’s usually easier to set Spot

Metering and point the camera to the area I

’d like to have correctly exposed

rather than trying to work out how to tell the camera what parts of the image to

read.

Page 27

How To Handle Both Very Dark and Very

Bright Areas

So how do we correctly expose a shot where we have both very dark and very

bright areas?

Unfortunately, when there is too much of a difference between the bright and

dark areas of the photo (like our inside window and outside example above), the

camera just isn

’t capable of correctly exposing both areas at

once.

You can get around this by taking two shots. One exposed for indoors, and a

second exposed for outside. You merge these two photos in a paint program

such as Photoshop. This is quite hard to do, however.

Another option is to use a camera filter. Filters (particularly a graduating filter)

change the amount of light getting into a camera at specific parts of the image.

Graduating filters are of most use when you have a bright sky and a darker

foreground. You can place the filter in front of the camera in such a way that the

filter doesn

’t let much light through where the bright sky is. That way the camera

can correctly expose the foreground, and the sky will still look great.

Neither of these options are perfect though. My recommendation is to stay away

from situations where you have a large brightness range. Either change your

composition (to remove the bright sky), or move to shoot from a different angle.

What if you have taken a photo already that is too dark or too bright

–

or has

areas that are very dark or very light. Find out how to fix these problems with a

paint program. My Image Editing Secrets at

http://www.imageeditingsecrets.com

show you exactly how to do this (in video 2) for Photoshop CS2, Photoshop

Elements, Paint Shop Pro and Picasa. Plus you

’

ll get lots of other helpful hints for

fixing your photos.

Page 28

Boring Shots

No matter how hard you try, your shots always end up being boring. You look at

the photos in newspapers and magazines and see that they are better, but don

’t

know why.

’m about to let you in on the

secret!

Change just two things in almost

any situation and your boring

photo will turn into a

masterpiece!

Get Closer

It doesn

’t get any simpler than

that! Next time you

’re taking

photos of your friends (or

anything for that matter), take a

few steps closer or use the

optical zoom on your camera.

Don

’t take a shot of a person with

their head and half their body

… get really close and fill the frame with their face.

That

’s

it! You

’ll be surprised at how much better your photos look with this simple

trick. I remember the first time I realized this. When I was young, I took some

photos at a relative

’s wedding. My uncle (who at that time knew quite a bit more

about photography than me) took pictures of the same event. For a long time I

wondered why his pictures were so much better than mine. It was only years

later when I heard the

‘get closer’ technique that it dawned on me. Getting closer

(and filling the frame with the happy couple

’s faces) was exactly what he did.

Page 29

The Rule Of Thirds

This is another really simple trick.

Most people place their subject in the center of the frame. Very boring!

When next taking a photo,

imagine your image divided

into 9 areas by placing a two

lines vertically and two

horizontally. Like a Tic Tac

Toe board. Place your

important elements (like your

subject) along these lines, or

where the lines intersect.

When your subject is looking to the right, place them on the left side of the photo

(so they have something to

‘look into’. Similarly, when looking to the left, place on

the right. When they are looking into the camera, make sure you have some

interesting background in the rest of your photo.

Doing this will result in more aesthetically pleasing and professional looking

photos.

One note: This rule should be more of a guideline than a rule. You do not always

have to place your subjects on one of the third lines. Or even use the

‘rule’ at all.

You can often make pleasing shots by ignoring this rule completely.

So don

’t always place your subject in the middle of the frame. Experiment, and

you

’ll have a much better result.

These two tips are so essential that they are included in my

“

21 Digital Photo

Secrets

”

course that go along with this book. If you haven

’

t received any of these

tips yet, sign up from

http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com

© Abbey

Page 30

Solving Shutter Lag

’s always very frustrating! You have a great shot lined up, and press the shut

ter

button. But your camera takes an extra second to think about the photo before it

opens the shutter. By the time the photo is actually taken, your prefect shot has

vanished! This is called Shutter Lag.

What is Shutter Lag?

Shutter lag is the time between when you press the shutter button, and when the

shot is actually taken.

’s the combination of two different processes:

Time To Autofocus. As soon as you depress the shutter button, the camera

needs to find the correct focus for the shot. On most Point and Shoot cameras,

this can be very slow as the camera moves the focusing lens using a motor until

it finds the correct spot. On SLR cameras, it

’s quicker as more advanced

technology is used to speed the motor up.

Time for the Shutter Release. This is the time the camera takes to open the

shutter (either a physical or an electronic shutter), and prepare the sensor for the

shot. It is a lot less time than the time needed to Autofocus, but on cheaper

cameras is still noticeable.

The shutter lag is the combined time of the above. The Autofocus lag is the one

we notice the most because it

’s the longest of the two.

Shutter lag time varies greatly from camera to camera. Usually the more

expensive cameras have less of a lag than cheaper cameras.

Page 31

Eliminating Shutter Lag

While shutter lag can

’t be completely eliminated, you can do a number of things

to speed up the time between when your mind wants to take the photo, and when

your camera actually takes it.

Depress The Shutter Half Way First

Almost all cameras have a two step shutter. If you press the shutter half way, the

camera will perform the Autofocus step, but won

’t actually take the shot. When

you are ready, fully depress the shutter button and the image will be taken.

On some cameras, your

camera can keep tracking the

subject

’s focus as you keep

the shutter button depressed

(called AI Servo, or Dynamic

Area DF). This means that if

you keep holding the shutter

button half way your camera

will keep sharp focus on your

subject - even if they move

towards or away from the

camera.

Depressing the shutter release

button half way is the absolute

best way to reduce shutter lag

because the camera can

actually take the photo at the time you want the photo taken because the long

focusing process is already complete.

© tlekshay

Page 32

Anticipate The Moment

On fast action shots, anticipate your camera

’s shutter lag by fully depressing the

shutter slightly before your subject is where you

’d like it to be. So by the time

your camera takes the shot, you have a perfectly composed photo.

This takes some skill to master, but if you anticipate the moment and ensure you

depress the shutter half way beforehand, you

’ll get some very good results.

Prefocus

This is where you focus your camera on a specific region where your subject will

be in the future. Then when your subject is in the correct place, take the shot.

You can also turn off auto focus (if your camera allows you to) and manually

focus on the desired spot. If your camera has a focus lock, this is another handy

trick because you can lock the focus where you want it.

Take Lots Of Photos

The more shots you take, the more chance (particularly if you use the above tips)

of you not missing the crucial moment. And in the digital age, you can simply

erase the ones that don

’t work out.

Upgrade To A Better Camera

I don

’t often recommend this, because my philosophy is that you should be able

to take great shots with the camera you have! But sometimes the only way to

reduce shutter lag is to get a better camera. Almost all SLR cameras are much

quicker at focusing, and if you prefocus there is almost no delay. Look for a

camera with a shutter lag of less than 0.5 second. The quicker the better!

Shutter lag can be a big problem with digital cameras, but with a little pre-

thought, can be almost eliminated!

Page 33

White Balance

Ever taken a photo where the colors

were very mediocre or even have blue,

yellow or brown tints? Do your images

have dull colors or lack vitality? This is

a very common problem and results

from an incorrect white balance.

White Balance is the ability of a camera

to adjust the color of an image based

on the lighting situation.

You see, different lighting sources emit

color tones. Sunlight has a slightly

different color than tungsten lights,

which are slightly different again from

florescent lighting. Our brain is very

good at deciphering these different

colors, so we

‘see’ normal colors.

But all a digital camera can do is represent the actual colors and lighting of the

scene. Unfortunately when we look at the photos later, we see a blue, yellow or

brown tint.

What White Balance does is correct these hues in the camera, before the image

is written to the memory card. It does this by looking at the brightest spot in the

image, and calling that

‘white’. Usually, in outdoor scenes, the white parts are the

clouds in the sky. The camera then slightly changes all colors in the photo so the

bright spot is pure white.

Most of the time, the camera can find the correct white balance and automatically

correct this problem. Sometimes though, when there is no white in the image, it

This is the image with the camera’s original white balance.

It looks too blue.

© BlackdoG

The same image after white balance correction. It now

looks a much warmer image – corresponding with the leaf

colors.

Page 34

has a hard time. You

’ll know your camera is having troubles when you look at the

image after it has been taken and you notice a slight color tint.

One way to overcome the problem is by using a flash, but the flash can present

more problems. The flash will reflect against shiny surfaces, has a limited range,

and takes a while to recharge (meaning you can

’t take multiple shots quickly).

’s usually better to manually set the camera’s White Balance setting.

Setting White Balance

Cameras come with two types of white balance settings

–

preset and manual.

The preset white balance modes are: Auto, Daylight, White Fluorescent,

Standard Fluorescent and Incandescent.

The Auto setting is the one that has trouble if there is no white in the image. So

to be sure the white balance is going to be correct for your image, change the

white balance preset that corresponds to the lighting in the room. Look around

–

if there are mostly Incandescent lights, use the Incandescent setting.

Some more advanced cameras allow you to manually set a white balance from a

white card placed in front of the lens. This is the most accurate way to correct for

color imbalance, because you take into account the light coming from all light

sources (even different types of light, such as incandescent and fluorescent

lights). Any white card will do

–

I use the back of a business card!

Use A Paint Program

Fortunately, if you forget to set the correct white balance in your camera, it can

be very easily changed afterwards in a paint program. Picasa, Photoshop

Elements, and Photoshop CS all have a setting called

“Auto Color”. Paint Shop

Pro users can use the Color Balance setting.

Page 35

Red Eye

Red Eye is the unsightly bright red eyes that can occur in a photo of a person

that you take.

What causes it? Red Eye is caused by the

following situations:



There is low light (for example, at night)



Your camera

’s flash is turned on.



Your Subject looks directly at the camera



Your camera

’s flash is very close to the

lens (any camera with an on-board flash

will have the flash very close to the lens).

Because of the low light, the pupils of your

subject

’s eye will be wide open

- a lot more open

than on a bright sunny day. Red Eye occurs

because the light from the camera

’s flash enters the eye, reflects off the red

retina at the back of the eye, and bounces back to the camera's lens.

The red of the retina is why you see a red eye.

Fixing Red Eye Before It Happens

Being aware of the causes of Red Eye (as above

–

night shots when you use

your flash and your subject is looking at the camera), you can take some steps to

minimize, and even eliminate this unwanted effect.

If your camera has it, turn on the Red Eye Reduction flash. This will pre-flash the

flash (or show a pre flash light). The extra light before the shot is taken causes

Page 36

the pupils on your subject

’s eyes to close. When the photo is taken, not as much

light gets into the eyes and so not as much is reflected back to the camera.

If your flash is external, or if it can be moved around, point your flash away from

your subjects. I usually find a white reflective surface (like a wall, or even the

ceiling). Because the flash light bounces off something before it hits your subject,

you won

’t get any light reflecting from their eyes back to the lens. Stopping Red

Eye in it

’s tracks!

Keep your flash off. A flash is what causes Red Eye in the first place, so leaving

it off will eliminate the unwanted effect entirely. If your camera doesn

’t have

enough light to take a good (and non blurry) photo, add more light to the room by

turning on some lights. Even with the flash on, with more light around your

subject

’s pupils won’t be as open and this reduces any red eye.

Finally, you can ask your subject not to look directly at the camera. This can help,

but your subject needs to be looking almost 90 degrees away from the camera to

completely eliminate the effect. I recommend instead to use one of the options

above.

Removing Red Eye Using Software

If you have a great photo that has been wrecked by Red Eye, you can use

software to remove it. Google

’s Pic

asa is a great (and free) program that does a

great job at removing Red Eye. Most good image manipulation programs will also

automatically remove Red Eye too.

Download Picasa By Clicking Here

To watch a video that shows you step-by-step how to remove Red Eye using

popular programs like Photoshop CS2, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro and

Picasa, sign up for my Free Image Editing Secrets at

http://www.imageeditingsecrets.com

. The Red Eye Reduction is video number 3.

Page 37

Author’s Conclusion

Well, 37 pages of free valuable information on taking better photos.

What was I thinking!!!

Was it worth paying for? I think it would have been. You won

’t find these simpl

explanations anywhere else on the Internet.

The only thing you need to do right now is login to

http://www.topphototips.com/members/

to share this compilation with everyone you know. Wouldn

’t they ap

preciate

knowing the tips and secrets to better photography that you now know?

Make sure to read our referral offer. This is the gift that gives twice! Your friend

gets great photograpIt can make you some nice and easy extra money.

To Your Photographic Success,

David Peterson

P.S.

My Plug. If you think I earned the right to ask you to review my best selling

product

…

Then Just Click Here

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