Digital photography
Whether taking photographs for personal use or your church's web, there are several things you need to consider
and several techniques that will make the results better.
A related session handout: Digital photography (DOC,
22KB), which includes tips on buying digital cameras.
On this page ...
Digital vs. 35mm Film
More light! Most digital cameras need more
light (wider aperture, longer
shutter speed, or higher
ISO number) to get an
exposure
equivalent to that of a film camera. Also, digital cameras' flash units often do not give the same results
as the built-in ones on 35mm cameras.
Shutter delay. With today's digital cameras,
you can't just snap off a fast shot and get the exact composition you wanted. There is a
delay between when you press the
shutter release button all the
way down and when the camera actually takes the picture. Expensive digital cameras such as the Canon Rebel series
take faster pictures. Patience is a virtue.
Pre-focusing becomes an art you must learn.
Sharpness of photos is less in the digital
world. Even 4 megapixel cameras don't yield really sharp 8x10" prints. But many people
don't care or use digital cameras for smaller prints anyway. One advantage of a digital image is that you can
always "tweak" the image before printing. Most people will never fool with adjusting photos when printing
from a film negative, so the end result is that a digital photo may still look better than one from a
non-digital camera.
Editing. The ability to touch up your digital
photos can make them so much better! And you won't get the unrealistically vivid colors or exaggerated contrast common
in some store-processed 35mm prints. That can actually decrease the quality of the image made from a film
negative.
Instant gratification! LCD screens on digital cameras are small,
but they also let you check or just show off that
tremendous shot right away!
The shakes. It's harder to
stabilize a
digital camera if you use the LCD screen a lot. And small, lightweight, yet standard height tripods are extremely
hard to find now.
Basic digital photography tips
- Preview. Take a close look at your subject on the camera's
LCD preview screen. If you're taking pictures of a person, make sure no lampposts, street
signs, or tree limbs are "growing out of their head". If you're photographing scenery or
buildings, check that your camera is level. Create interesting compositions by moving your
main subject off-center.
- Prefocus. Virtually all auto-focus systems use the center of
the image to determine focus. If your subject is off-center, the camera will focus on
whatever is in the center of the image. To avoid this problem, place your subject in the
center of the frame, then lightly press the shutter button to lock the camera's focus.
Keep the shutter half-pressed, then recompose and shoot. This technique is also useful if
you are taking pictures of two people and the background-not one of the main subjects-is
in the center of the image.
- Don't zoom. When possible, leave your camera on the
widest-angle zoom setting. To get a closer shot, move closer to the subject. At longer
focal lengths, zoom lenses gather in less light and the camera switches to slower shutter
speeds to compensate. A long lens plus a slow shutter speed usually yields slightly blurry
pictures. Using zoom also increases
red-eye when using a flash.
If you have to use optical zoom, use a tripod, or brace the camera against a
railing or other solid surface to reduce camera shake.
In any case, avoid using digital
zoom. You can almost always get better results by "zooming" in with
photo-editing software.
- Use fill-in flash. If you leave your camera's flash setting
on automatic, it probably won't fire the flash when you need it most. When taking
portraits outside in bright sun, switch the camera to manual flash mode and force the
flash to fire. The extra light from the flash fills in harsh shadows on your subject's
face and helps avoid silhouetting against bright backgrounds.
- Try available light. The built-in flashes on most digital
cameras are designed to operate in a very narrow range - only about 4 to 12 feet. If you
get closer, the flash may wash out your subject. If you get too far away, your subject may
disappear into a dark background. Try turning off the flash and shooting with available
light. Most cameras automatically adjust their exposure by switching to a slow shutter
speed to produce fully exposed pictures in low light. You may also want to change the
EV
setting to help lighten the image and use the
White Balance (WB) setting to correct any
color imbalances. Use a tripod or other camera support to avoid camera shake.
- Anticipate. Many digital cameras have very long power-up
times and slow auto-focus mechanisms, so make sure your camera is ready to take a picture
when you are. Prefocus your camera, then keep it from going into power-save mode by
maintaining light pressure on the shutter release until you're ready to take the picture.
If you're concerned about the battery running down, switch off the LCD screen and use the
optical viewfinder to save power. Carry a spare, fully charged battery.
- Use those pixels. Avoid using your camera's lower-quality
settings! For the best possible image quality, you should always use the largest available
image size with the least amount of JPEG compression. Memory cards are relatively cheap,
so buy a larger size card if you need to.
- Speed up file downloads. Buy an inexpensive USB 2.0 memory
card reader. Besides being much faster than downloading directly from the camera, such a
reader won't drain your camera's battery while you're copying your images.
[For more information, see PC Magazine online, Sep 16, '03]
Composition: The Rule of Thirds
To give your photo maximum interest, mentally use straight lines to divide your viewfinder frame into horizontal thirds and vertical thirds. Place the most important visual element — usually the face (or eyes in a close-up) — on one of the points where the lines intersect.
Crop a photo to get composition that fits the Rule of Thirds better
When a person moves across your camera's field of view in an open space, the final image usually has much more impact when the subject is off-center. Leave the open space in the direction in which the subject is headed. Similarly, if a subject is looking off to the side, it's best to leave more space in that direction.
A couple of other techniques will help you compose photos better, too. One is the
Golden Spiral and the second is
Golden Triangles. Each is a way of visualizing points of interest in the scene. The "Photo
Tips" pages by ACD Systems offer information on these and many more techniques.
Composition: Plan ahead for the output media
Digital cameras take photos at a 4:3 ratio size (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x1600, for example). But standard printed photos are 6"x4" - a 3:2 ratio. So at the same 6" printed width, the digital camera image is 4.5" inches tall. So printing from an uncropped digital photo cuts off the top or bottom of the image. If you choose to print the photos at one of those self-help machines in many stores now, you can usually select to "Edit" the photo. This will let you reposition where the crop takes place. The default crop on Kodak machines is to automatically crop off the top.
To make the situation even more complex, other standard printed photo sizes are different ratios. An 8"x10" print (or, in the order to the digital world, 10x8) is a 5:4 ratio. And a 5"x7" is, obviously, a 5:7 ratio.
So how do you cope? You have two basic choices when you want to print a photo. Plan ahead and leave "extra" room at the top and/or bottom when you take digital photos or else lose a bit of the photo when you print. Remember, you can always crop the image as needed if you leave a bit of room all around the edges. This goes against the urge to "crop" when you take the photo by carefully composing the photo image and perhaps "zooming in" on the subject or scene. But if you plan to make multiple media use of your digital photos, leave some "adjusting" room all around the edges.
Depth of field
The smaller the aperture (the higher the f-number) the greater the
depth of field.
For portraits and to "concentrate" on a subject, use a smaller depth of field (larger aperture, smaller f-number).
For landscapes, you usually want a small aperture, but you can create artistic effects using a larger one to deliberately throw some foreground or background objects out of focus.
Photographing people
People like to see photos of people. So do newspaper editors. Make your shots
people shots. It's hard to make group photos look interesting. Furthermore, having a lot of
people in a photo means that each face is pretty small and may be hard to "make
out". So try the following...
Outdoors shots
-
For variety, have members of the group strike up varied poses.
-
Try to create two or three different small arrangements within the bigger
group.
-
Use a plain background that doesn't distract from the group.
Indoors shots. Arrangement of indoor group pictures is
normally limited by having to use a
flash.
-
Keep the group inside the maximum flash distance range.
-
Position the group so they are no more than two rows deep.
Environmental portraits
Sometimes surroundings are essential to depicting a subject's personality.
-
Use soft, diffused lighting, such as indirect window light indoors or
overcast conditions outdoors.
-
Show the entire person, so you can also include the environment. If you
have a built-in zoom lens, take a few pictures at the wide-angle setting to include more
of the surroundings.
-
Try unusual angles too. For example, lie on the ground (you or you and the
subject). Or shoot down from a second-story window
Portrait tips
When you take photos for a church directory or picture directory supplement,
you'll be taking portrait photos. Use the following tips…
- Framing. When framing your photo, zoom in or get close enough that
you're filling your frame with your subject and not the background. This can be especially
important when there is a distracting background, such as a crowd.
- Portrait Mode. This camera mode gives you the smallest depth of
field, thus making it easier to put the background out of focus. Remember to pre-focus on
your subject before changing your point of view if your subject isn't going to be exactly
in the center of the photo.
- Aperture Priority Mode. Shooting in aperture priority mode (if your
camera has it) is another way to reduce the distraction of the background. By using a
large aperture, you reduce your depth of field (range that is in focus). This puts your
subject in focus, but softens the background.
- Lighting. For outdoor shots, try using fill flash to lessen shadows
falling on the subject's face. Indoors, experiment to develop some flash/lighting
configurations that work well.
Improving photos using digital camera features
EV Compensation
Exposure Value (EV) settings let you adjust the unrealistic and color-drained
scenes that often result in bright or dark situations. Adjusting EV compensation can help you
capture the colorful scene the way it really looks.
White Balance
Dull yellowish and/or brownish color caste photos can result, especially in strong fluorescent
light and well-lit indoor settings in which your flash doesn't fire automatically. Adjust the
white balance (WB) to compensate for this. Many cameras have several different white
balance settings. Some examples: Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Tungsten, and Flash. As you
change the WB, the LCD viewer lets you preview the result.
Flash strength
Increase or decrease the strength of the flash unit to get the best amount of flash light.
This is very useful when using the flash to fill in shadows.
Memory card care
-
Always turn your camera off before removing or inserting a memory card.
When your camera is on and your card is inserted the two are interconnected, passing
information in the form of magnetically charged particles. Yanking out your memory card
can cause problems.
-
Format your card regularly and always do so while it is in your camera,
not connected to your computer.
-
Never delete individual files from a card using your computer. That is,
only "copy" the files -- do not "move" them. Trying to delete files
from a memory card can corrupt them.
Photo Editing Steps
- Edit in a Lossless Format
Save the pic in a lossless format (e.g. TIFF), if it's not already. Some
file formats, such as JPEG, lose quality every time you save an edit. This is called a
"lossy" format. If you are performing a long series of edits, you may actually make
things worse despite your efforts. With a lossless format no quality is lost when you
make edits.
- Initial Clean-Up
Some edits, such as cleaning up
noise, are best done at the beginning so
you don't exaggerate them during later steps.
- Adjust Color Balance
Adjust the RGB (Red, Green and Blue) or CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black)
values. Until you learn the theory of color adjustments, it is best to make very small changes
and see how they look. Often, these adjustments lighten the image and reveal additional noise,
so a bit more clean-up may be required. Some image editing software has a color balance tool.
- Adjust Contrast and brightness
Image editing software always includes contrast adjustment. Many
programs also allow separate brightness adjustment. Intermediate editing programs
include a "Histogram" function that allows more fine tuning.
Some programs even have a "Clarify" function that can bring out the main subject.
- Adjust Color Saturation and Hue
Color saturation and hue affect the appearance and richness of the colors in
your photo. You will usually want to increase color richness. Again, the best results are
normally had by making small adjustments. After this step, re-evaluate your color adjustments
to ensure they still look right.
- Final Edits
For best results, zoom in to work on these. Often, the image areas that need
editing are quite small relative to the whole picture. This way, you will be less likely to
make unseemly blotches instead of fixes. Some possible actions:
-- Remove blemishes from skin
-- Whiten teeth
-- Smooth out wrinkles, etc
-- If major edits are made at this stage, some additional color and
saturation tweaks may be needed.
- Scale
Perform the final cropping and resizing. Remember not to crop too close to
important subject matter. If you leave plenty of space, the photo will look more balanced and
you will be less likely to cover up nice parts of the photo up when adding framing.Also, remember to consider pixel depth and the rules of thumb for printing
before making your photo too big. Minimum print quality requires 150 PPI (pixels per inch).
Maximum quality, which is recommended for enlargements, requires 300 PPI.
- Sharpen specific areas
Perform sharpening last because it can exaggerate other problems. Because of
the potential side effects of sharpening, select only specific areas for sharpening, usually
the main subjects. Using the "unsharp mask" tool often gives better
results than a general "sharpen" tool.
Image types
- "RAW". Many digital cameras can save in a "RAW"
or "native" lossless format that is of very high quality. The format also
usually results in extremely large file sizes, though. "Converter" programs can
let you save the edited file as a TIFF or JPEG.
- TIFF - A "lossless" format. The image does not
"lose" pixels or data when you save it. TIFFs can be quite large, though.
- JPEG - A "lossy" format that can be
"compressed". The stronger the compression, the more overall pixels are
"lost" and the less the sharpness and color differences. Each time you save a
JPEG type file, you lose a bit of data. So it's always a good idea to do editing work in a
"lossless" format such as TIFF or one used by the image editor, then "Save
As" a JPEG for a final run. Keep the original lossless format file around in case you
need to do any more editing. The advantage of JPEG over TIFF is that JPEG files are much
smaller than TIFF files. JPEG files cannot designate a color as "transparent";
GIFs can. Some image editors let you save a JPEG as a "partial transparency". In
such cases, as the image "partial transparency" percentage or number goes up,
the more white pixels replace others in the photo, making it "wash out" more and
more.
- GIF - This format is not for photos, but rather for
"artwork", where the number of colors in the image is 256 or less. GIFs can
designate one of the palette colors as "transparent", which can be very handy on
Web pages. The file size of GIFs increases in binary increments of the number of colors
(2, 4, 8, 16,. 32, 64, 128, 256 colors). So specifying either 128 or 150 colors will
result in the same file size.
Online photography resources
